What is the maximum amount of terminal leave I can take after a medical board? How soon from starting the medboard should I go for SLF-TAP?

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 14:10:27 -0400

Long story short diagnosed with chronic PTSD from an accident that occurred in my old unit motorpool around 2018. (Will not go into detail). My COC and my behavioral health therapist are in favor of beginning a medboard. Never been through the process so I was wondering about terminal leave. Currently got 122 ETS balance & 65 regular. What’s the max terminal I can take? Also are they likely to force me to sell back a lot of those days?

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 21 at 2021 8:13 PM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 20:13:24 -0400

The maximum amount of leave you could be allowed to take is every day of leave you will have accrued up to your final out date.
Your ETS balance of 122 suggests your ETS is around APR-MAY 2023.
If you med board out, you will be separating sooner than that, so the total possible leave will be less than 122.

For example, if a med board gives you a final out of 30 MAY 2022, then your total possible leave would be the 60 you carry over on 1 OCT, and the 20 you will earn 1 OCT-30 MAY, or 80 total possible leave days.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 21 at 2021 9:55 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 21:55:56 -0400

You need to go sign up for TAP tomorrow. You can only take the 65 that you have, the 122 is how many days you would have if you went all the way to your ETS date.

Response by SSgt Christophe Murphy made Jul 22 at 2021 8:51 AM

SSgt Christophe Murphy — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 08:51:51 -0400

Being med boarded doesn't change the amount of terminal leave you can take. Terminal leave is normally capped at 60 days but there have been exceptions made in the past. Anything over that you will be selling back. Med boards generally take up to 6 months to process once submitted. That isn't including any limited duty time before hand or processing time after the board results come back. If you are being put up on a med board you will be assigned a case manager who will help you schedule everything you need ranging from tap class, VA evals and everything in between.

Response by SFC Marc W. made Jul 22 at 2021 9:29 PM

SFC Marc W. — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 21:29:17 -0400

My suggestion would be to use some of your leave before the medboard, try to get it under 60 days. You want to sell as little leave as possible, because you're only getting base pay when it's sold. Once you actually enter the medboard process, you may be limited to when you can take leave. I wasn't even allowed to take Christmas leave because I had to be available for appointments.