Question:

Jim, Greetings from Germany! So, I have a few questions. I joined the United States Air Force in 2015 and in Basic Training, severely injured my ankle. They claimed it was a bad sprain, and pushed me through yet have continued to have issues and documented every such occurrence. I deployed last year and found out I had a small hair line stress fracture in my upper ankle that was healing, which immediately pointed out that in-fact, the military doctors missed it. Fast forward to last month, I rolled my ankle just like in 2015. Went to ER and they claimed nothing was wrong. Saw my PCM the week after and was told I need to do physical therapy. I complied, kept my walking boot and went about my day and went on leave to the states. Long story short, I was in pain constantly walking around and thought it was unusual so I got back and saw a different doctor whom immediately noticed something was wrong and ordered more x-rays and an appointment with Orthopedic. I now have surgery next week, my AFL and CFL are completely torn etc etc. Just trying to weigh options as I'm married mil-mil and if I can get medically retired and claim both military and va benefits. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Respectfully,

Jim's Reply:

I'm really happy to know you're putting so much thought into this. I can't predict just what sort of benefits package you'll end up with, there are way too many variables between now and then to even try. What I can tell you is that you're doing it right...documentation is the key. Document everything twice and then do it once more just because. No matter what happens between now and the time you separate, the only sure bet is that records will be lost. That means that ten years from now you'll want to file a claim and there won't be records...unless you have them. What happens next depends on your MOS, your fitness for duty, the needs of the military at this moment and a lot more. Keep doing just what you're doing...good luck.