Medical Retirement: PDRL, TDRL, and Your Money

TLDR

You are a retiree. TRICARE continues as retiree coverage — enroll within 90 days of your retirement date.
The Permanent Disability Retired List (PDRL) is settled. The Temporary Disability Retired List (TDRL) is probationary — exams at least every 18 months, hard stop at 3 years.
The money trap: under 20 years of service, a high Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) rating does NOT unlock Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP). Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) is the application-based path, and nobody applies for you.

You are a retiree now

Your status changed. You are a retiree, and your family's coverage follows that status. You and eligible family members can receive retiree TRICARE. TRICARE's guidance gives you a 90-day enrollment period after your retirement date — mark that date and act inside it.

This has to show correctly in DEERS, the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System. New identification (ID) cards follow once your retirement processing is complete. Do not assume that's done on any specific day — confirm it.

PDRL vs. TDRL

PDRL — Permanent Disability Retired List. Your condition is permanent and stable, and you meet Chapter 61 eligibility: generally at least 30% disabling, or qualifying under the 20-year rule. This is settled. There is no further review.

TDRL — Temporary Disability Retired List. You otherwise qualify for disability retirement, but your condition is not yet permanent and stable. Medical opinion says it may become so. This is not settled. Read the next section closely.

If you're on TDRL, your obligations

TDRL is not finished business. Treat it like it matters, because it does.

You will be examined at least once every 18 months. If you're properly notified and fail to report, your disability retired pay can be terminated. It can be restored for just cause, but don't count on that as a plan.

There is a hard stop at 3 years. A final determination is required by then. If your name hasn't been removed from TDRL before the 3 years expire, your disability retired pay terminates.

At that final determination, one of three things happens:

Permanent and stable at 30% or more: you move to permanent disability retirement.
Permanent and stable under 30%, with 20 or more years of service: you retire.
Permanent and stable under 30%, with under 20 years: you are separated, not retired.

One more outcome: if you're found physically FIT. If that happens, the Secretary must either return you to duty under 10 United States Code (USC) 1211 or discharge, retire, or transfer you under another law. Return to duty requires YOUR consent. If you don't consent, and there's no other disposition, you are discharged and TDRL retired pay stops. Your family's TRICARE follows whatever your actual disposition turns out to be — not what you expected it to be.

Your pay

While on TDRL, your retired pay cannot be less than the 50% disability multiplier. That's a floor, not a target.

General rule: accepting VA compensation waives your military retired pay, dollar for dollar. That is the default. It is not unconditional — two statutory programs change it. Read the next section before you assume either applies to you.

CRDP vs. CRSC

CRDP — Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay.

Requires 20 or more years of qualifying service AND a VA rating of 50% or higher.
Chapter 61 retirees with under 20 years are excluded — no matter how high the VA rating is.
Qualifying Chapter 61 retirees get restored pay limited to the hypothetical longevity retired pay, not the full disability amount.
No application. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) pays it automatically when you're eligible.
Taxable.

CRSC — Combat-Related Special Compensation.

Requires retired-pay entitlement, a VA rating of 10% or higher, and a combat-related disability under 10 USC 1413a.
You must apply to your service. Nobody does this for you.
Tax-free.

You cannot receive both CRDP and CRSC for the same entitlement at the same time.

The line that matters most: if you medically retired with under 20 years, a high VA rating alone does not get you concurrent pay. CRDP is closed to you regardless of rating. CRSC may still be open — but only if you apply.

The Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) decision

SBP — Survivor Benefit Plan. This is the one decision on this page you do not get to revisit later.

The election is made before retirement, on DD Form 2656. If you make no valid election, automatic spouse coverage rules apply — silence does not mean no coverage, it means maximum coverage by default. To decline or reduce spouse coverage, your spouse must give written concurrence. It is not your decision alone.

Once you're retired, this election is generally locked. There are statutory and regulatory exceptions, but don't plan around finding one. Decide this before you sign, not after.

The traps

TDRL is not done just because you're drawing pay. Exams, the 3-year stop, and the consent rule on a fit finding are all still live.

"50% VA rating means I get both checks" is false if you're under 20 years of service. CRDP doesn't open for you at any VA percentage.

CRSC is not automatic. No application, no money — even if you qualify on paper.

Silence on SBP is not the absence of a decision. It's automatic maximum spouse coverage, made for you by default.

If DEERS isn't updated, you have no coverage in the system — regardless of what your retirement orders say. Orders are not the same as DEERS reflecting them.

Where to go

DFAS — pay questions, and CRDP status once you're eligible.
Your service's CRSC application office — you have to find it and apply; ask your Physical Evaluation Board Liaison Officer (PEBLO) where to start if you're not sure.
DEERS/ID card office — status updates and new cards.
Your PEBLO — while any board paperwork is still open.