Should I hire a lawyer for my medical board?

Get all of your medical documents together and start looking through everything for your claims. They will provide a medical laywer if you need to appeal once you get your 199 (Details your unfitting conditions) and NARSUM (Narrative Summary). I would recommend that you tell the VA everything that is going on with you to include the who skeletal system, mental health conditions while aggravate or incurred in the line of duty or service. Don't be afraid to reach out and ask questions, I was perplexed at first and just received a 80% VA and 70% Army disability rating and placed on the temporary Disabled retirement list.

I would also ensure that you reach out to Veteran organizations to include VFW as they can help with claims and give you a good understanding of what the Armed Services will try to weasel ratings down to and will be your advocates.

Take a look at your rating, manning levels, promotion rates, etc. and get an idea if the CG is "fat" or "slim". That will tend to tell you if there is a possible tilt in any direction. Medical boards can be neutral, looking for ways to toss, or looking for ways to retain. More localized bias can come into it too. Unfortunately I've seen more cases of impurity vs. purity in my time. Suggest you hold off on legal until you have something to show them. Your local legal aide is limited as they're oriented to serve the Service, not necessarily the service member. The information already posted will help you sense what way things are going. BTW, it's hard to fight medical diagnosis if it is a disqualifying condition. If it does, see if there's a service connection tie. Then get it documented with a line of duty determination. I won't guess anything here, but also make sure it's "medical" and not "admin by medical proxy" going on. That can be a different can of worms.

Katie, the answer will be dependent upon whether you want to stay in or not.

If not, no problem - I would talk with a medical officer from another unit (possibly a TRACEN) to get advice to ensure you get as much as you can for a "parting gift."

If you want to stay, know that the odds are stacked against you. The Board begins with the attitude that they need you gone - and it will be the toughest job interview ever. Consider your TIS/TIG and how close you are to High-Year Tenure. If you made rate fast, bring that up - sell yourself on how damned important you are to the Coast Guard, and what all you can do to take care of whatever medical problem you may presently have.

Have you received awards or accolades since the med condition started? If so, "Hey, look what I can do even though I have XXX!!!"

Talk with your Rating Force Master Chief to find out how YN is looking billet-wise, and if YN2 (or YN1 if you are at/above the cut) is overstrength, it's another problem to be surmounted. If you are under-strength, then that's a BIG feather in your cap to possibly stay in.

Really hit up any YNCM's, HSCM's, and even the crusty, old F&S's for advice.

Good luck to you!!