The 30% Cliff: Your One-Time Reconsideration Window

During the informal PEB (IPEB) stage of the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES), you have a single, one-time opportunity to ask for the proposed rating on your unfitting conditions to be reconsidered. It must be in writing and must be based on a mistake in the rating or new medical evidence. It is not a hearing — it is a written request reviewed on the record. Authority: DoD Manual 1332.18 and VA M21-1 IDES rating procedures.

Under DoDI 1332.18 and 10 U.S.C. Chapter 61, a DoD disability rating below 30% (with fewer than 20 years of service) results in separation with a one-time severance payment. A rating of 30% or higher results in disability retirement — monthly pension for life, TRICARE for you and your dependents, commissary/exchange access, and SBP eligibility. The jump from 20% to 30% is the difference between a single check and a lifetime annuity, often a six-figure swing.

The one-time reconsideration is a written request at the informal stage to fix a mistake or submit new medical evidence on the unfitting-condition rating. A formal PEB (FPEB) is a separate, later step where you can demand an in-person or video hearing, present evidence, and be represented by counsel to contest the fitness determination and findings. They are different levers at different stages — reconsideration is the fast, in-process shot at the rating percentage.

No — and this is the trap. After separation, a VA appeal can raise your VA disability rating, but it cannot change the DoD rating that already decided severance versus retirement. The only way to convert a medical separation into a medical retirement after the fact is through your service’s Board for Correction of Military Records (BCMR/BCNR/ABCMR), typically after a successful VA appeal — a years-long, uphill process. The in-process reconsideration is the cheap shot; the post-separation board fight is the expensive one.

A mistake is the rating misapplying the 38 CFR Part 4 schedule to your documented condition — for example, rating a condition at 10% when the documented severity meets the 30% criteria. New medical evidence is documentation that was not before the rating authority: a specialist evaluation, updated imaging or test results, a corrected diagnosis, or records that capture the true severity. Vague disagreement is not enough; specific, evidence-backed corrections are.

The window is short — measured in days, not weeks — and it runs from when you receive the proposed findings. The exact number of days varies by service and process; confirm your specific deadline with your PEBLO (PEB Liaison Officer) the moment you receive your proposed ratings, and do not let it lapse. Treat it as urgent.

Your PEBLO coordinates the process and can tell you your exact deadline. Free legal representation is available from a military attorney (the Army’s Office of Soldiers’ Counsel, or your service’s equivalent); use it. Accredited Veterans Service Organization (VSO) representatives can help with the VA side at no cost. You do not need to pay a private firm thousands of dollars to file a written reconsideration.