Question:

Can you confirm to your viewers that the Military can not discharge a serviceman for a preexisting condition after he/she have served on active duty for more 180 days. There is the presumption of soundness once you complete boot camp and if you are honorably discharged for preexisting condition after a year on active duty you can file a CUE for that injury dating back to when you were discharged example 1978.

Jim's Reply:

Can I confirm that an active duty soldier can't be discharged after 180 days because of a preexisting condition? No, of course not. You say, "the Military can not discharge a serviceman for a preexisting condition after he/she have served on active duty for more 180 days". Using that logic we'd have a lot of people who can't perform military duties sitting around in uniform.
 

If a preexisting condition that was either unknown or known and thought to be of no consequence on entry to the armed forces should become worse during active service, it must then be evaluated as to how it will affect the soldiers MOS duties.
 

Let's consider a known preexisting condition...this soldier had a badly broken bone in the left ankle that happened during high school athletics. The injury was repaired with routine surgical procedures and the individual returned to athletics and physical normalcy for 4 years before entering service. The well healed injury with surgical scarring was noted during the intake process and the soldier went on to complete 2 1/2 years of service with no issues. Then during normal and routine military duties the previous injury was reinjured (during a fall from a ladder) to a point that the ankle was surgically fused, limiting all motion of that lower leg and foot and requiring orthopedic footwear in the future. This soldier will be medically discharged and receive a disability rating by VA as having aggravated a known preexisting condition.
 

Then we consider the soldier who has an unknown intracranial aneurysm. An aneurysm (a swollen artery) in the brain is very rarely identified before it bursts and causes a significant hemorrhagic stroke or often enough, death. In this case the soldier entered active duty after college and was fast tracked to OCS and a bright military future as an officer. She was in outstanding health and had completed Airborne training before going to a more permanent station in remote Alaska. After arrival at her duty station she served 13 months before she had a sudden severe headache, collapsing to the floor. She was evacuated to the closest facility that could manage a brain injury where the diagnosis was grim and the long term prognosis was poor. This soldier will be medically discharged because of a preexisting condition and she will receive a VA disability rating for aggravation of the unknown preexisting condition.
 

The rules and regs regarding presumption of soundness are flexible in many ways, particularly with recent advances in genetic sciences. There are few absolutes in these adjudications.