Anyone had any experience with a pre-separation physical? What does it entail?

Didn't know you needed one for it but I guess it makes sense. I think they check out your legs, making sure you can jump for joy. Measure your back deflection now that she'll be off it. Check your hearing to see if there's any permanent damage from the loud complaining......... oh.. military section, so probably not that kind of separation.... never mind.

Mine was pretty basic, just had me fill out a questionnaire and ask me some questions, particularly if I was going to apply for disability on anything, and gave me a once over. Pretty low threat.

It's actually the opposite of low threat. This is the time when the AF should "threat". You tell them every little crink, and ache you've always been holding back cause you were afraid of going DNIF while acumulating hours to punch out and go to the legacy of your choice. It's your last chance to have anything documented and by now you know whats that's worth.

$.02----I'm personally not the kind of guy who wants to be a victim of poor VA care for the rest of my life but from what I hear it's damn near free. I'd rather not be another c&@t cap vfw "remember me" victim of identity who holds dear to the messed up care that is VA cause guess what? It's 2012 almost 13. Everybody's a veteran and they're still trying to figure out how to deal with your grandpa or your father/father in law from Vietnam. We've all been to the desert a million times and we've all "seen the s$%t" You can rely on the that metal plate in your head "cousin eddie" to compensate for your RV or you can go above and get a regular job and have any VA on the side, as a back up. You guys voted in the best option for president so what's to worry right we're all good... HA!

To piggy back... after you tell them about every single problem you have, ask for a copy of all your records. Don't trust that your records will automatically get forwarded to the VA. In the end, my records were transferred correctly but I have heard of stories of guys applying for disability and the VA saying that they had no records.

I ended up being awarded a disability... but at 0%.

BLUF: Be prepared to fully disclose to the FAA anything you disclose for your military records or the VA. Anything TBI or mental-health related could be iffy. Felt a little dizzy once? That could ground you for years even in the civilian world.

The FAA has, on at least one recent occasion, accessed other government medical records (specifically non-military disability recipients) and compared those to their list of pilots holding medicals. Some of those folks told two wildly different stories to the disability check writers vs. their AME's. Some of them actually went to jail.

If you have no ongoing issues and are not reporting any new issues, the "exam" is virtually non-existent. If you can breathe, talk and have a pulse, it's over that quick.

If you make the request (there is a specific form available at the records desk, takes 60 seconds to fill out), your local medical hobby shop will make a complete copy of your med records for you. It may be a couple of weeks before you get the copy, so factor that in.

People went to jail over this?

Yes, the target group was in California IIRC. They were collecting disability (not military/VA) and also possessed active pilot medicals. Their medical application forms did not match their disability applications, and they got nailed for lying on a federal form (read the fine print on your medical FAA app).

Dishonesty will eventually catch up to you. I'm hoping for an easy once-over, not "is that your whole fist doc"?