The Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) is a board within the United States Department of the Navy that makes fact finding decisions when members of the United States Navy or the United States Marine Corps challenge a discharge on the grounds of physical disability.
10 U.S.C § 1214 provides that "No member of the armed forces may be retired or separated for physical disability without a full and fair hearing if he demands it." The Physical Evaluation Board was created by the United States Secretary of the Navy in order to provide a forum in which a member about to be retired or separated for physical disability can achieve the "full and fair hearing" required by law. Its procedures are set out in Secretary of the Navy Instruction 1850.4E (Disability Evaluation Manual). The Board consists of experts who make findings as to the nature, cause, degree of severity, and probable permanency of the disability concerning the service member referred to the board. The Board then weighs these fact findings against the physical requirements of the service member's particular office, grade, rank or rating and then issues a final decision as to whether the individual should be retained in the service, or retired or separated on grounds of physical disability.
The PEB is a member of the Secretary of the Navy Council of Review Boards and is overseen by the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Manpower and Reserve Affairs).
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