Naval aviation

[Mos]

Ok, what the fuck.

I went on a quest this morning to track down all my records from my hometown before I head back to school in the fall. Cracked my arm up pretty good wrestling a few years ago, was in a cast for a few months with a arthroscopic bone reset procedure. Once again, non issue, all paperwork is present and accounted for and no retained hardware.

Get a load of this, I went digging in the patient portal at the hospital I got treated at. Couple years ago in 2015 when I was running JROTC cross country I had some chest pain (as I was running 5ks every week day after school, bench pressing, etc). Decided to get it checked out by a cardio guy at that same hospital outpatient office. Given an EKG, unremarkable, vitals are fine, sent home saying it was non cardiac. Felt better after I took a week off. No problems since.

Low and behold as I am digging through these I see a diagnosis for "Hypertension/Palpitations" on my problems list. FUCKING hypertension as a 15 year old healthy eating athletic kid. To put in to perspective how ridiculous this is, right next to the statement is my vitals for that visit, BP 110/60., no where even close to hypertensive. Kinda comical actually.

Was never notified of this, never took any tests to show this, never given medication, nothing. I don't have hypertension, never had it in my life. Hypertension is no fucking joke, and requires actual treatment and stuff. I don't know if this is a formal diagnosis, but its on my records.

My parents said that he probably had to put something in so he would get the sweet insurance money because he needed a billable code, but what the actual shit. This is another thing I have to go through the process of getting fixed.

Until it looks like I'm a fat, smoking, salt eating 58 year old man I guess. What a fucking mess.



now you see what I mean, its like whack-a-mole

Jesus, stop bitching.

 

[Swanee]

Ok, what the fuck.

I went on a quest this morning to track down all my records from my hometown before I head back to school in the fall. Cracked my arm up pretty good wrestling a few years ago, was in a cast for a few months with a arthroscopic bone reset procedure. Once again, non issue, all paperwork is present and accounted for and no retained hardware.

Get a load of this, I went digging in the patient portal at the hospital I got treated at. Couple years ago in 2015 when I was running JROTC cross country I had some chest pain (as I was running 5ks every week day after school, bench pressing, etc). Decided to get it checked out by a cardio guy at that same hospital outpatient office. Given an EKG, unremarkable, vitals are fine, sent home saying it was non cardiac. Felt better after I took a week off. No problems since.

Low and behold as I am digging through these I see a diagnosis for "Hypertension/Palpitations" on my problems list. FUCKING hypertension as a 15 year old healthy eating athletic kid. To put in to perspective how ridiculous this is, right next to the statement is my vitals for that visit, BP 110/60., no where even close to hypertensive. Kinda comical actually.

Was never notified of this, never took any tests to show this, never given medication, nothing. I don't have hypertension, never had it in my life. Hypertension is no fucking joke, and requires actual treatment and stuff. I don't know if this is a formal diagnosis, but its on my records.

My parents said that he probably had to put something in so he would get the sweet insurance money because he needed a billable code, but what the actual shit. This is another thing I have to go through the process of getting fixed.

Until it looks like I'm a fat, smoking, salt eating 58 year old man I guess. What a fucking mess.



now you see what I mean, its like whack-a-mole

Here's a complete list of people who care:

You.



This isn't the place.

 

[velociboilerraptor]

Inefficient in that the Navy issued him a scholarship BEFORE the medical screening. In any world that is inefficient, especially when his entire motivational statement was about his “overcoming” his autism (why did no one on the board notice that?). About 25000 students apply to NROTC each year…are you really saying Navy med can’t process 25,000 medical review forms (essentially yes/no questionnaires) in half a year BUT boards can easily process 25,000 sets of applications, transcripts, LORs, motivational statements, and background checks?

I am not arguing against the standard, I get that in every way and he is not medically qualified, but this genuinely makes the Navy look, well, inefficient.

Thats the way the Navy's done it for a while now I guess. I got my scholarship and then found out I was DQ for something and had to get a waiver for it. I wish they did it they way USNA does it where you go to DODMERB half way through your application, because that then weeds out a good amount of the 25,000 kids who apply.

On another note, I never saw whether or not the kid in the article is trying to get a waiver, got a wavier denied, or is appealing his denied waiver. All of which makes a huge difference in his scholarship getting taken away. He could also join his unit as a College Programmer, or Marine Option and prove that his diagnosis actually has no bearing on him doing everyday activities within his unit. That would make his case much better...

 

[Brett327]

I don't think Autism is waiverable.

 

[wink]

The board members aren’t qualified to evaluate an applicant’s medical history. How many of those 25000 get selected? Do some arith, and there’s your efficiency. Doing the opposite makes zero sense.

The Navy also offers aviators a commission before they’re screened by NAMI. Some may not survive. That’s not necessarily inefficient. That’s just natural friction in the process. What’s your alternative? Send every applicant to NROTC, OCS and USNA to NAMI before processing their applications? That’s what you’re advocating... and it would be absurdly wasteful. All of this to prevent some hurt feelings? Come on, dude.

Back in the day ALL prorec AOCS candidates were flown to Pecola and completed the entire NAMI process (and physical fitness eval) before final select. NAMI whammy occurred right there. NPQ or fail the PT In test you didnt get the finselect. No one quit their job and got shafted at AOCS. No one struggled with redesignation over just a couple days. Only folks that went home with a shaved head were the seriously injured and DORs. And I might add the number of folks processed was far more than now.

 

[velociboilerraptor]

I don't think Autism is waiverable.

Then the family doesn't have an argument do they?

 

[Swanee]

He could also join his unit as a College Programmer, or Marine Option and prove that his diagnosis actually has no bearing on him doing everyday activities within his unit.

The DoD simply isn't there. We've only just recently allowed women in all career fields. For all of the "wokeness" that people complain about around here, the military tends to lag behind the rest of society. Only recently could you be openly gay without facing UCMJ action, a dishonorable discharge, and potential jail time.

Right, wrong, or indifferent it is the same when it comes to mental health and spectrum conditions. Are there people who have served in the past, or are serving today, who have successful careers in the military that would have been diagnosed with autism, or ADD, or ADHD? Without a doubt.

But the way the DoD works and understands things- no one with an official autism diagnosis from a doctor has served in the military.

 

[Brett327]

Then the family doesn't have an argument do they?

I'm not aware of any argument from them other than "it isn't fair."

 

[Griz882]

I'm not aware of any argument from them other than "it isn't fair."

This I agree with. The story hit the TV news here in D.C. and the family notes they were aware of the medical rules (and as I understand it expected or are looking to get a waiver).

 

[Short]

I don't think Autism is waiverable.

And yet I would ask you to take a look at the average CVN RX Department...I would guess that we have a significant number of undiagnosed Sailors who are in the spectrum.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

And yet I would ask you to take a look at the average CVN RX Department...I would guess that we have a significant number of undiagnosed Sailors who are in the spectrum.

That has been the joke for years, but it would be difficult for most that were on the spectrum to get through boot camp and such with everything they need to go through, not impossible and I know this because on my second sea tour we had a conventional MM in RX that came to us and he was "off", I had little interaction with him so I didn't see all the behaviors but we had one MMC who could see it, he went to medical and was blown off, he compiled a list of his normal behaviors and went back and they blew him off, finally he was able to get someone to listen and he was sent off ship for evaluation and the MMC was right and the kid was medically discharged.

We were all confused how he could get through MEPS, boot camp, A-School and then to the ship without someone asking a question, but each of those interactions/times are fairly short so we figure it was just missed, and most of us didn't know much about Autism and the wide spectrum it has.

 

[Swanee]

That has been the joke for years, but it would be difficult for most that were on the spectrum to get through boot camp and such with everything they need to go through, not impossible and I know this because on my second sea tour we had a conventional MM in RX that came to us and he was "off", I had little interaction with him so I didn't see all the behaviors but we had one MMC who could see it, he went to medical and was blown off, he compiled a list of his normal behaviors and went back and they blew him off, finally he was able to get someone to listen and he was sent off ship for evaluation and the MMC was right and the kid was medically discharged.

We were all confused how he could get through MEPS, boot camp, A-School and then to the ship without someone asking a question, but each of those interactions/times are fairly short so we figure it was just missed, and most of us didn't know much about Autism and the wide spectrum it has.

Was he a bad sailor? Was he bad at his job? Could he not do his job?

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Was he a bad sailor? Was he bad at his job? Could he not do his job?

He was having difficulty in qualifying his watchstations, I know he had problems communicating with people but don't know if there were other factors, we did have worse sailors but those sailors were able to qualify watchstations even though they were difficult sailors in other areas.

 

[Brett327]

And yet I would ask you to take a look at the average CVN RX Department...I would guess that we have a significant number of undiagnosed Sailors who are in the spectrum.

No argument on that, but not the point. Also, "on the spectrum" =/= Autism, necessarily.

 

[picklesuit]

Ok, what the fuck.

I went on a quest this morning to track down all my records from my hometown before I head back to school in the fall. Cracked my arm up pretty good wrestling a few years ago, was in a cast for a few months with a arthroscopic bone reset procedure. Once again, non issue, all paperwork is present and accounted for and no retained hardware.

Get a load of this, I went digging in the patient portal at the hospital I got treated at. Couple years ago in 2015 when I was running JROTC cross country I had some chest pain (as I was running 5ks every week day after school, bench pressing, etc). Decided to get it checked out by a cardio guy at that same hospital outpatient office. Given an EKG, unremarkable, vitals are fine, sent home saying it was non cardiac. Felt better after I took a week off. No problems since.

Low and behold as I am digging through these I see a diagnosis for "Hypertension/Palpitations" on my problems list. FUCKING hypertension as a 15 year old healthy eating athletic kid. To put in to perspective how ridiculous this is, right next to the statement is my vitals for that visit, BP 110/60., no where even close to hypertensive. Kinda comical actually.

Was never notified of this, never took any tests to show this, never given medication, nothing. I don't have hypertension, never had it in my life. Hypertension is no fucking joke, and requires actual treatment and stuff. I don't know if this is a formal diagnosis, but its on my records.

My parents said that he probably had to put something in so he would get the sweet insurance money because he needed a billable code, but what the actual shit. This is another thing I have to go through the process of getting fixed.

Until it looks like I'm a fat, smoking, salt eating 58 year old man I guess. What a fucking mess.



now you see what I mean, its like whack-a-mole

You go to doctors too fucking much…these are the consequences of your actions…not gonna lie dude, you sound like a real pain in the ass to have around.

Apply, take your chance, live with the results…stop kvetching to random people on the internet and move on with your life.