Preserve the injury chronology

• Date, place, duty status and orders
• Incident and witness records
• Emergency and follow-up treatment
• Profiles, duty limitations and return-to-duty assessments
• Line-of-duty records where applicable
• MEB/PEB evidence and member submissions
• VA examinations and proposed ratings in IDES
• Final fitness/disposition and separation/retirement documents

MEB is not the final personnel decision

Health.mil explains that the MEB evaluates whether long-term medical conditions meet retention standards and documents medical history and duty limitations. The MEB’s findings are referred to the PEB when retention standards are not met.

PEB and IDES

The PEB determines fitness or unfitness, disability-compensation eligibility, disability coding/rating and disposition. In IDES, DoD’s fitness process is coordinated with a proposed VA disability rating before separation.

Reserve-component line of duty

For Reserve-component cases, duty status and an in-line-of-duty determination can control access to medical treatment and related benefits. DoDI 1241.01 sets the department-level framework, while the service/component controls the actual processing. Preserve orders and evidence of qualified duty status from the beginning.

Official sources

• Health.mil — Medical Evaluation Board
• Health.mil — Physical Evaluation Board
• Health.mil — Integrated Disability Evaluation System
• DoD — DoDI 1241.01 Reserve Component Line of Duty

Source status: SRC-047; SRC-048; SRC-049; SRC-050 verified October 4, 2026. Recheck current service-specific instructions and deadlines before acting.