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Walter Reed soldier wins small victory

After being told his depression existed before he joined the Army — even though physical evaluation board members couldn’t verify that because his medical records had been lost — Spc. Ruben Villalpando received a 10 percent disability rating Monday morning from a second board.

“They said my depression was aggravated by service,” the Iraq veteran said. “I was happy. It was more than I expected.”

Villalpando was featured in the Military Times newspapers as an example of soldiers struggling through the medical retirement process at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. He spoke in an interview Monday morning, before Army officials ordered troops in Walter Reed’s Medical Hold Unit to stop talking to the media.

Villalpando found himself in paperwork purgatory when his medical records were lost in Germany. This was key to his case because he said he became depressed in May 2005 when his cousin, Marcos Omar Nolasco, was electrocuted in a faulty shower in Iraq. Villalpando was also serving in Iraq when his cousin died.

His lost records showed he had never gone to a doctor before his cousin was killed, Villalpando said. Doctors in Iraq prescribed him antidepressants, he said, but when he returned to his unit in Germany after finishing his tour, he became so depressed that he took a handful of pills in a suicide attempt.

But at his first informal physical evaluation board, board members found his depression to be a preexisting condition not aggravated by his service in Iraq, and gave him no disability rating.

According to Defense Department regulations, board members are supposed to give soldiers the benefit of the doubt in situations where proof doesn’t otherwise exist, and board members are also supposed to give medical evidence for their decisions. In Villalpando’s case, they could not because his records were lost.

And Villalpando could not present his own case because service members do not attend their initial formal board. He did present evidence, including a newspaper article about his cousin’s death, during his formal evaluation board hearing Monday.

“It’s all over with — thank God,” he said. “I had to show them how stressful and how hard it was to get through my cousin’s death. I’m just concerned about getting help when I get out of here.”

His 10 percent rating does not earn him disability retirement — only severance pay. However, he will automatically qualify for Department of Veterans Affairs treatment for his depression because the Army said his illness is service-related.

A Military Times investigation found that experts throughout the system believe soldiers are not getting the ratings justified by the extent of their injuries. In 2006, about 54 percent of 13,145 soldiers who were medically evaluated were discharged without disability retirement benefits, while just 9 percent received retirement benefits in the form of a monthly percentage of their military paycheck, along with commissary privileges and health care for themselves and their families.

Villalpando agreed the system is faulty. “It’s unfair that they were doing a medical board and came up with results without my medical records,” he said. “I’m ready to go home.”

Related reading

* Gates' candor on hospital woes lauded

* Awarding disability pay: Comparing DoD vs. VA systems

* Tour reveals renovations under way at Walter Reed

* Wounded and waiting: A slow medical evaluation process leaves many injured troops in limbo