Expert: Cynthia Bedell - 7/11/2007

Question
I have been speaking to a local recruiter about getting back into the military.  I was med boarded in 2003 and have an RE-3 code.  I was payed disability pay upon seperation.  I was initially informed that I would need to pay this back and that they usually work out payments (I have no issue with this).  2 weeks later I was told that the severance would have to be payed back lump sum (this I cannot afford).  I have a feeling the recruiter is no longer interested in me, but I cannot find anything in any AR or DoD instruction that states that disability pay has to be recouped, aside from me being unable to qualify for re enlistment bonuses.  Any info would be greatly appreciated, especially with a reference I can print.

Answer
Dear Will --

Your severance pay would have to be repaid to the government before you could return into service.  However, it's highly unlikely that you would get a waiver for a medical condition that was bad enough to require a medical separation.

Unfortunately, my understanding is that the total amount of the severance pay would have to be recouped before you could return to service and receive military pay.

I recommend you check and see if you really can get a medical waiver to allow you back into the service.  If that can be done, then I would worry about making arrangements to garnish your wages to pay back your severance pay from your future military income.

You might be right that your recruiter does not want to put the effort into doing multiple waiver requests for you to get back into the service, first for your health and then for your severance pay repayment.

I am not sure what job you wish to do in the military.  Have you considered a service support contract job or a government civilian job in a similar field?

Good luck to you.