Getting started

When I was a Soldiers' Counsel at the Texas Physical Evaluation Board, we sometimes had Soldiers retain civilian counsel. It was relatively rare that this happened,maybe once every other month, but I was able to observe a few things.

First, I never saw the same civilian attorney twice. That told me that there were very few attorneys that you could call expert practicing in this area.

I also saw a real mixed bag as far as quality of representation. I recall one attorney calling me to "consult" on his clients case. He basically asked me to explain the body of law covering the PEB. He obviously did not understand the concept of fitness v. unfitness and he was indignant when the formal PEB found that his client was not unfit due to his PTSD. He didn't understand that diagnosis has little to do with unfit finding.

Over time, I also saw that in many cases clients did not have a good understanding of the law, had been given bad information, and would have gotten a higher disability rating if they had good legal advice or information early in the process. I got to thinking about this and decided to put up a website, www.pebforum.com.

The idea was to put out expert information to those going through the process. I started the site while on active duty, really before I decided to leave the Army and to go into private practice. Since then it has grown into a springboard for my practice.