Q: I retired from Department of Defense (Civil Service) in 1990. At that time I was declared 40 percent disabled by the Veterans Administration. The retirement clerk at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, did not mention anything about disability retirement. In 1993, I was declared 100 percent disabled by the Veterans Administration due to a skin disease I contracted while stationed in Thailand. I never requested disability retirement from the civil service because I didn’t think I could receive two disability checks from the Department of Defense. Can I still request a disability retirement from the DOD under the Civil Service Retirement Act?
A: No, you cannot. You would have had to apply for disability retirement within one year of the date you left government. Further, your agency would have had to certify that because of your disability you were incapable of performing the work of your current position or any other vacant position in the activity’s commuting area at the same grade and or pay.
