Simply Appalling!!

[Navy_Mom (Ship 9 Div 215)]

I just received a very unexpected call from my son!  He is being medically discharged from the Navy!  My mind is racing with anger and sadness.  Angry because I don't understand how this can be after all my son has given to the Navy and all the Navy has taken from him.

My son graduated from bootcamp on 6-7-2013 and was suppose to leave for A-school, but for medical reasons went to THU.  Apparently, they discovered something on an xray taken during his physical, but decided not to tell him until he completed bootcamp!!  Two weeks later, while in THU, they tell him they are going to do a biopsy.  He has the biopsy (BTW...this is the 1st time my son has ever been sedated). FOUR weeks later and only after he ask...they tell him the biopsy was inconclusive and they will have to schedule a second biopsy!  They also inform him that if the next biopsy comes back inconclusive they will have to "crack" his chest open to do further testing!!!!!  Who tells a 23 year old this???  The answer: the US Navy!  

So with no other option and still having a strong desire to serve, he undergos the 2nd biopsy.  Meanwhile since day 1 of THU, my son has done everything the Navy has ask of him.  To the point where leadership was telling him he would get "letters of recomendation".  The 2nd biopsy was conducted last week and due to "complications" my son spent the night in ICU!!  YES....ICU!!!  After talking to the attending physician at the Federal Hospital, we were assured that our son would be ok and the doctor said he would contact my son with the results as soon as he got them (unlike the 1st biopsy that took 4 weeks).  Just as promised, the doctor contacted my son yesterday with the news that he was going to release himso he could attend A-School.  My son was so excited and went immediately to Tranquility to speak to the base doctor about next steps needed for his orders.  Well.....he met today with the base doctor who informed him he was going to be medically discharged!!!  What the heck happened?

Now my son is being stripped of everything and sent upstairs to the separation unit where he will be held "hostage" until all paperwork is completed.  No more phone and no more privileges.  He is being tossed aside by the same Navy that once valued him....just like that with the snap of a finger. 

My heart is filled with sadness as I try to make sense of this and wonder with every minute that goes by how my son is dealing with this rejection by that one entity he so willing served.

 

[Navy_Mom (Ship 9 Div 215)]

CodyShip12DIV325, I am so sorry to hear this about youur son. Especially when I see his picture (assume the picture you use on this site is your son) he looks so young and innocent.  Do you know why he is in seps?  Was he in bootcamp at the time he went to seps?  

I will pray for your family!

[AZNavymom]

Your story breaks my heart. How awful. My son was sent to ship 5 early on in BC, and even then, we are so upset about it. But to go all the way through BC and PIR and then be SEPd? Has anyone told you what this mass is? Is it on his heart? Letting him go all the way through BC and then pulling him is awful.

[Navy_Mom (Ship 9 Div 215)]

AZNavyMom- Believe me it is breaking my heart so much that I haven't been able to sleep but maybe 2-3 hours a day.  Supposedly, they found through a chest xray that he had enlarged lymph nodes in the area between his lungs. They said it was probably sarcoidosis which can be caused by pneumonia and with time the spots would go away.  My son never, ever had pneumonia in his life and if he somehow unknowly caught pneumonia in boot camp than he must be superhuman because he passed all PFAs and battle stations and looked extremely healthy at graduation.  They said the biopsy was needed to confirm what they saw in thhe xray.  Well...Biopsy #1 was "inconclusive"....hmmm and the results were not even shared with my son until 4 weeks later!!!  Very very fishy to me.  My son is perfectly healthy!   Based on information I was able to gather on thiss website and others the Navy had an overflow of Sub School Sailors already in Groton, CT and so much so that several were just waiting around until a class opened.  My son was suppose to go to Groton for sub svhool and unfortunately was in the wrong place at the wrong time when the Navy decided to take re-action to "thin the herd".  What I can't wrap my head around and maybe I never want to is this...did my son really undergo medical procedures (one of which caused him to be in ICU) that were not necessary.  We will know more when we get our hands on the medical records. Simply Appalling!

[AZNavymom]

To Navy_Mom Ship9

I am hearing a lot of this thinning the herd thing is going on all around. I just wish they'd recruit fewer people, instead of having them alter their entire lives and plans to join and then be separated shortly thereafter. There are men supporting families who gave up jobs they can't get back, teens giving up college scholarships etc. It's really such a shame. Do you know why they took a chest xray? It's that part of the MEPS procedure or when they get to bootcamp or something else? I'm not sure if they took a chest xray of my son. I have read many stories of recruits who reported their entire medical history on their enlistment papers, were accepted and sent to bootcamp and then later told various conditions made them ineligible. Again, part of thinning the herd.

Hugs to you.............I really feel sad for you and your son. The weekend we found out my son was being separated was the worst - I was a mess. It gets easier, but then out of the blue I just start crying about it or get very angry!

[boiler7879]

As a mother and one who has also had her son's heart broken by the Navy...I understand your pain. The unfortunate thing is that even after a year & a half I'm still very frustrated. Especially after reading post after post of other mothers going through the same horror....my son is a college graduate from Purdue university, had a hard time finding employment when he quit his part time job and entered the Navy....maybe they need to make some cuts in the recruiting process....the unfortunate thing is they recruit and recruit not knowing how many will or can actually make it through boot camp. When the numbers out of whack...whomever and whatever they can find or possibly find, even if that find is subject to the future...that person ends being the fall guy. It's all about numbers. Sadly they don't explain that to these young men...
I hope and pray your son gets home quickly and is able to adjust back into life at home....he needs to hold his head high. He's done nothing wrong and should be proud of his accomplishments....God Bless him and your family as you go through all of this.....hang in there and take care!!

[AZNavymom]

What is so hard about this is we are discouraged on this site and others, from saying anything bad about the military. If we gripe too much, someone jumps in and says how we need a strong Navy, not to bash our military and they are doing their best. I'm sorry, I don't feel they are doing our best with those in SEPS. They often have weak reasons for sending them there, and once they are there, the Navy is DONE with them and treats them terribly. It takes 4+ weeks to get them out due to paperwork issues, not because they are working on clarifying medical issues etc. The legal staff has admitted to my son and others that they are backed up and can't keep up. In private industry, they would hire more workers. And yesterday's holiday has reduced the number coming home this week tremendously. Are the rest of you allowed to cut your work output by 80% this week because Monday was a holiday? It's disgraceful.

[Angie]

You need to complain to the government, not just complain about the Navy...that does nothing.  They are GS workers and the Navy can only hire so many to do the work they do and they can only work so many hours, so if there is a holiday they don't work those 8 hours.  There is a BIG difference between government workers and civilian workers. 

[Navy_Mom (Ship 9 Div 215)]

Angie, there is one very obvious root cause to the current crisis we are witnessing at the Navy Recruit Training Center and that is the Navy Recruiting Process.  One thing I forgot to mention in my original discussion was this unbelievable event....The day after my son  transferred out of ICU, my 17 year old son got a call from a Navy Recruiter!! 

[Angie]

I agree the recruiting process needs to be fixed, they need to dig deeper into peoples back ground and do more tests on them before they let them go to bootcamp.

[momofcct]

or simply stop lying by deceit. how about a little honesty starting at the recruiting. level. puuuulleeeaasseeee! i've heard it all.

[momofcct]

Angie...with all due respect...i'm in reality now. seriously??? there is no talking to our "govt". they cannot even talk to each other....let alone care about our situations. 

[AZNavymom]

Angie, everyone my son and I spoke to so far were petty officers, not civilians. In addition, it's the navy making the policies and procedures. I think if I complained to my congressman, his staff would investigate it. They're great at that. But my son doesn't want any attn drawn to him and I have to respect that. These guys come out of seps feeling ashamed, embarrassed and defeated.