Update: July 22

So that Major that I've talked about in the last two blogs? Well, Michael has been trying to contact her personally ever since we found out that his INCAP packet did not get processed, because she is the one person who can fix that. She finally called him back yesterday and he explained everything to her. Apparently she did not sound pleased with the way Michael's unit as well as the people at DCSPER MED or whatever it is called, in Little Rock (Camp Robinson) were handling (read: not handling) his case. She told him that she would have answers for him soon.

As to whether we'll get a paycheck sometime before the 15th of next month, I doubt it. And I will continue to doubt it until perhaps we get one earlier than that. That way, it's like a surprise...like Christmas! Woohoo!

Update: Monday, July 20

Since it seems like it doesn't matter whether this blog is public or not - people still aren't doing their jobs - I have decided to make this thing public again. I cannot imagine why people with the power to change our lives, i.e. make our credit score even worse, not get child support sent to give Jesi the things she needs, and about a million other things, would openly DECIDE to not do anything about our situation. We have been told, albeit this is just hearsay, that the Major who can call an emergency board to send Michael's pay through for this month (read previous post) refuses to do so because of the history of his INCAP packet paperwork. In other words, even though it is the fault of Michael's superiors and not Michael himself, she decided that we don't get paid this month.

It's like they don't even realize that this is someone's LIFE they are dealing with! Again I say I am frustrated and angry but surprised? Not a bit.

INCAP update

Michael's INCAP paperwork was not filed on time for this month's paycheck (pay from last month). Allegedly the Major who makes the decision as to whether to do an emergency board has decided to not do an emergency board because of the history of Michael's INCAP packets always being late. Does that make logical sense? To me it makes NO sense. Michael did his part early enough that the paperwork could be filed and passed through the board on time, but because someone did not do their job, we will not get a paycheck this month. I am annoyed and frustrated, but not shocked. The Army usually always makes decisions illogically. It seems to be the norm.

Michael is still working on calling numerous people about this to see if he can get the packet passed via an emergency board, but it is looking like (even if they do pass it through now) we won't get paid until August for June. Adding to all of this, Army personnel like to take off early on Fridays. Also, we still aren't positive when the INCAP will be over and the TDRL pay will take its place.

*sigh*

Update: July 15

We finally got Michael's PEB stuff back, they have awarded him 50% for PTSD and 20% for his shoulder which comes to 60% (Army math). They've put him on temporary retirement, and he will receive 60% of his base pay. He will also be re-evaluated every 6-18 months and after 5 years they will either find him fit for duty or retire him out. This also means he and dependents (me and Jesi) will be eligible for Tricare Standard (which we will hopefully be able to bump up to Tricare Prime/Extra).

In other news, Michael submitted his paperwork in person for last month's INCAP pay on June 26, however, it was not received in Little Rock until the day (July 7) of the board that determines pay. They got the packet at 3:47pm and the board met at 2:00pm, so it didn't get to them. Casey Jackson is in Little Rock now, and said he would go talk to the board people to see if we can get that ever elusive "emergency board" to pass it through so that we might get paid this month.

And more good news! I got Michael to call the VA hotline today to check on the status of his VA claim and they told him that they made the determination two days ago and he should be getting the letter in the mail soon, but they couldn't tell us that percentage over the phone.

Update: Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Michael got an INCAP extension for October 2008 through March 2009, so he's been paid on a regular basis up until this month. They just got the next extension approved, so pay should be regular for 6 more months or until they finish with his MEB/PEB proceedings. Hopefully the latter will happen before the need for another extension.

Michael got his DA Form 3947 from Ft. Sill (MEB Proceedings) along with his NARSUM (Narrative Summary) a few weeks ago. He has had some trouble contacting his PEBLO officer, but we found that was because she was in meetings/lectures all week last week. He signed part of the DA 3947, but wants to add some documents from his Army PERMED (Permanent Medical) files that we didn't receive copies of until after his MEB appointments in Oklahoma, so we are in the process of contacting our PEBLO officer, Susan, about this.

There is a woman who works in the MEB office at Fort Sill, her name is Kimberly, and she just received an award for Employee of the Quarter or Month or something. She rightly deserves the award. Any time we cannot contact our PEBLO officer, she is always more than willing to help us. She is always pleasant to speak with and never short or unpleasant over the telephone like so many people we deal with and she goes (however cliche it sounds) above and beyond her duties to make sure we are taken care of. This is always a welcome and refreshing change to what we are used to.

Michael's new POC at the unit level is SFC Burns, who was in Iraq with him on the 39th's first tour. Burns has been very professional in his correspondence with Michael regarding his duties at the unit and his INCAP documents.

Also, it seems that this blog was found by someone within the ARNG, or Army or by JAG. Basically, and I would never be able to prove this in a court of law, the ARNG has bullied Michael into getting me to remove the blog. So, instead of just deleting the whole thing, I made it private, invitation only. I am not sure why they were so insistent that it be removed, or if they even were (but I think it was an underlying theme in their talking with Michael today) since it's already been seen by whoever needed to see it, apparently. And I would never have taken it down had my husband not asked me to do it. I do not want things to be harder for him than they already are, so I acquiesced.

Censoring?

My husband asked me to take this off of the public blogs, so now it is only available by invitation. I don't want the Army to make it any harder on Michael than it already is/they already do, so I have removed the blog from public viewing. I will re-publish it to public viewing as soon as Michael is discharged from the military.

Update: we got a paycheck!

Well, we did receive four months worth of pay on February 18 and it was nice to pay the bills. What I would really like to complain about today is the fact that even though we get to pay our bills, we are paying late fees and interest and it's a really depressing way to go through life. Like today, I noticed that after I paid our vehicle insurance through USAA, they wanted us to pay the amount in full on our next bill! That's over $600 a month! So I had to sign us up for an automatic payment with them in order to get it down to a more reasonable monthly installment. Now my problem with that is, I don't know if there is going to be money in the account because the Army can't get anything right. Alas, I will just have to call ahead by 3 or more days to cancel the payment should this occur.

Now I am working on getting our taxes filed so that we can get a copy to Bridgette O'Connell by the 15th of March. I'm not sure why she wants a copy of our taxes to file his next INCAP extension, but it doesn't matter, if they want it, they will get it with no complaints from me! We still have to contact someone with the VA in order to get that stupid release signed and get his medical records released to Bridgette as well. I'll have Michael try to contact them tomorrow, as I have tried emailing and calling them to no avail. Once they get all the relevant paperwork, they will file another extension and hopefully we will get paid on a regular basis.

Also, our old unit POC is no longer our POC at the unit level. They have shifted the job over to someone new who has never done it and was not told anything by our old POC as to how to do the INCAP paperwork. *sigh* same ol' same ol.'

By the way, in my last post, I should have mentioned that the MWR loan only paid "necessary" bills like electricity, gas, etc. We still have numerous things that didn't fall into the category of "necessary," though the entity collecting for each bill doesn't seem to understand that. They want their money.