Please read.....

[supernavymommy(PIR MAY 04/04/811]

Recruits normally get a cough or a cold while in ANY boot camp, Air Force, Army, Navy or Marines. But most of them will not go to a Doctor in fear of being recycled BUT we must encourage them to go when they are running a fever.

I don't want to scare anyone but all of our children are precious to us so we/them need to be informed

I found this on the Navy for dads website.

PLEASE PLEASE keep these families in your prayers as they have lost a child.

PLEASE KEEP THESE IN MEMORY OF SAILORS WHO DID THEIR BEST,

UPDATED 01/12/12 8:56 a.m.

NAVAL STATION GREAT LAKES, Ill. (CBS) — A 19-year-old U.S. Navy recruit has died during boot camp training at the Great Lakes Naval base.

Seaman Recruit Christopher Walker, 19, of Kittaning, Pa., died Wednesday morning at Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes, according to a release from the Naval Service Training Command.

Walker was participating in a standard physical fitness assessment, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2ND Recruit dies at Great Lakes RTC

A naval recruit who aspired to be a military police officer died Friday of causes related topneumonia, marking the second recruit death in a month at Naval Station Great Lakes.

Navy officials said it is not clear when Elizabeth Richardson, 19, of Zimmerman, Minn., contracted her illness, but that there was no sign others in her battalion had been stricken.

Richardson arrived at the base Jan. 30, and 10 days later went to the nearby Lovell Federal Health Care Center with a fever and a rapid heartbeat, said Navy spokesman Mike Miller. She died the next day, the first time in memory that a recruit had died of pneumonia, Miller said.

[Denise-- Seabee Mom]

Yes this was posted here before.

[aj2daway]

Even if it has been posted here before some of us that just joined are getting only the tail end of this story. Being medically minded, I did want to know the cause-if possible.

Are the SRs encouraged to go to the clinic when having a fever or do they feel that they have to suck it up? Both of these young kids' lives could have been spared maybe?

 

 

[lemonelephant]

My Sailor said they were encouraged to go to medical if they need to and get things taken care of early, but it all depends on how far along they are and what is happening with the division if they actually go.  I'm sure it is probably the same now.  My Sailor was on crutches for 2 days at one point, but he went through BS-21 with a fever.  He didn't go to medical about the fever until the next week at A School because he didn't want to risk being delayed.  I've heard of others who did the same.  I think they are less likely to go to medical for fever the first 2 weeks and the last 2 weeks unless it is very obvious to those around them that they are sick for fear of missing out on something or being delayed--that is just my thoughts on that. 

[Mom2aSailor]

My SR was sicker than a dog when we went to PIR.  She said the same thing, 'No way was she going to go to medical!"  It took her several weeks at A school, before she started to feel better.

[CaptainFatso]

I love what you and lemon just shared. It tells me that the capping ceremony is justified.

The Navy is not ignorant of the fact that most recruits are never quite rid of the recruit crud. Nor are they ignorant that they are frequently running on fumes in terms sleep. Still, despite not being one hundred percent, they are expected to preform.

[CaptainFatso]

Being medically minded, I'm sure that you know that certain percentage of all people between the ages of 18 and 34 (the ages of those in boot camp) will contract pneumonia and the flu. More, a small number of those who do have these illnesses will die.

That said, the fact that someone in boot camp would eventually have pneumonia and die is a statistical certainty.

I make this point because see no evidence of a trend here and barring that evidence, I see no reason for those of us not directly affected by this tragedy to get in the middle of it. For the moment, I am confident that both the Navy and Richardson's family are all over this. More, I am quite confident that Navy will not hesitate to take any necessary corrective action.

[Denise-- Seabee Mom]

SO many people have come to N4M very upset that RTC has found something wrong with their loved one

These folks that yell about the Navy shattering their loved one's dream of enlisting should be the ones that are thankful that RTC caught medical problems before it was to late.

[CaptainFatso]

Yep. I also think that people forget that disqualification from service is not a new phenomenon. In fact, being designated '4F' was not an uncommon occurrence during the height of World War II.  There were lots of young men with medical issues at that time as a result of the preceding Great Depression.

That said, I do wonder if we've gotten a bit nit picky. I suspect that Vietnam draft dodgers would've loved to have had our current standards in their era. It seems we've come a long way from the barefoot army in a very cold Valley Forge.

I guess therein lies the truth of the matter in that the standards are a bit arbitrary in that they tend to change with the demand. A troop shortage means lower standards and a surplus means higher standards.

In other words, I hesitate to credit the military for altruistically setting these standards. If toothless one eyed people hobbling on one leg were the only ones available to defend this country, that's who would defend it.

In the mean time, while completely understanding and respecting the military's position, I can't help but to also respect the frustration of someone who was denied the privilege of enlisting. From their position, the denial is if they are being told that their hang nail disqualifies them from volunteering to take a bullet if need be.

<shrug> Whaddya gonna do?

[Angie]

When you really look at the numbers it is really a very small % of people who find out they have something wrong with them and are seperated from the Navy or even a smaller % who pass away due to something while in training. 

 

 

[CaptainFatso]

While I think that the observations on this thread are legitimate, I think those observations need to colored by the realities of the job they signed up to do.

These SRs are training to be warriors. Warriors don't get to have a cold when they are fighting a fire or going to GQ.

If you're in GQ and you've got the runs, you had better find a trash can to squat over or be prepared drag your dungarees over the side of the ship once GQ is secured.

In you're getting underway while you're throwing up and your critical piece of equipment is not working, count on working on it with a barf basin next to you. The Skipper is not going to call Cincpac to tell him that the ship can't fulfill the mission because Seaman Jones has a sour stomach. Especially when it's a deployment ordered by the POTUS.

In my six years of service, I was SIQ once. I worked sick a lot. While I can't speak to shore duty, I'm sure that other veterans of sea duty will tell you the same thing.

[Anti M]

Shore duty, all depends on your job and the command's manning.  When I got to my first command, the gal who had the same NEC had been working nearly 24 hours a day, and was nearly hospitalized for exhaustion.  Crypto techs get like that, no one else can touch the system, and if it is critical, you are married to it.  I had others come in behind me with the same NEC, so I didn't have to work as sick as often, but yes, I've done it.  I've pulled 72 hour "days".  

You can't "call in" unless you're calling from the hospital, or you can get ahold of the LPO and you're told to go straight to walk in sick call.  Then you'd better bring proof you were there.  We had a tech who tried to fake going to sick call when she'd actually just slept in.  She lost her crow eventually over stunts like that.

Then again, the other gal could never let go of being tough.  She was doing heavy lifting the day before she delivered, even though we all were trying to make her go sit down.  I think she was trying to go into labor.  

I have also put my foot down with a chief.  Wanted to send me TAD, but I had an ultrasound scheduled.  High risk pregnancy, and we had two other techs who could go.  He wanted me, as I was both diplomatic and a good representative of the command. I flat refused.  Good thing, I was in surgery less than an hour after the ultrasound.  

In boot camp, everyone tends to suck it up.  This isn't always good, but it is realistic.

[CaptainFatso]

Yep... you just shattered the myth that those on shore duty are on a cake walk :)

Seriously though, I don't know that duty gets much more arduous than being an RDC... which is of course shore duty.