Chief West's Comments

Chief West,

Thanks for contacting me.
Rachels first and only choice from the get go was the Navy. Her Grandfather and Great Grandfather both served. She mentioned an an interest in the Military, she said Navy would be her choice and we went and spoke with a recruiter. She took the ASVAB test the first day we went in. We weren't expecting a test but Rachel took it, & scored above 700. A week later she decided she wanted to sign up.
As far as choosing to be AECF; it was in no way forced or thrust on her. They gave her an idea of what it entailed, the pay, the ranking, etc, & she decided to go for it. Her specific job will be a FireControlman. She has a bit of schooling ahead, but I think she is/was ok with that. She started getting discouraged due to a delay between Bootcamp and start of A school. There was almost 6 weeks delay before she finally started.
When she joined, she had a boyfriend, a Marine, who is 5 years older than she. Her mom & I didn't approve but she continued a long distance relationship w/him. He has been in Afghanistan for the past several months & will probably be there for awhile. He recently sent her a ring, said he wants to marry her. Again, her Mom and I do not approve; we hardly know this young man. Shes 19, only out of High School for 6 months! This is when we started seeing unusual behavior,saying she "wants out" of the Navy, she's stressed out, etc. We now think this guy is pressuring her. I was able to speak to him a few weeks ago. I asked him to back off and let Rachel grow up, focus on her career and committment to the Navy.

I apologize for the long story but this is what I believe is happening. Chief West, please keep this confidential. I actually called Rachels recruiter,he was going to try contacting her. He also knows this is not like Rachel. I will be seeing her over Thanksgiving and am excited to spend time with her!

Any advice you might have I welcome. Thanks very much Chief West for contacting me.
Sincerely,
Thomas

Chief....I'm lurking here, but read your reply to Jim...his sailor's rate is AECF according to Thomas' profile.......

Hi Chief West: thought you might enjoy knowing that the sailor of the week is mine :)

Chief'
My younger son went to visit his recruiter. The Chief in the office requested more information. Good news! They are really working on his request.

I just heard from the recruiters Chief. The problem is the paperwork that we got from the hospital it says "Renal failure" (Kidney failure) as the initial diagnosis. The Chief said it is at a courtesy med view, if cleared he can do his physical then it will go to med view for the real approval.

Lee

Hi Chief
He took the ASVAB on 3-4-2010. He was supposed to go back the next day to take the physical and get his job in the CT or IT field. We were told the next day that the MEPS Dr. needed to get a clearance from our Dr. so we did. He said it would be a week or two before we heard back from MEPS. On 4-1 the recruiter said to get everythin we could from the Dr., Lab and hospital so we did. Almost 3 weeks went by with no word so I called the recruiter. The recruiter said the the main base was flooded back east from a river going over the banks so it would be some time before we hear back. In early May the recruiter said he needed a list of Charlie's work outs, times at the Gym and swimming times.... Why??? I don't know he just said it would help. This past Monday I went to the recruiting office and was told" Wow, Charlie may have to wait six month and maybe up to a year before he will know something!! It's now almost 4 month since his ASVAB test, still has not gotten a physical at MEPS, He goes to the DEP meetings on Thursdays and DEP events, he has brought in other recruits and they already have ship out dates...but now the recruiter seems to be blowing us off.

Lee

He tagged along with a Marine Depper buddy to check it out. The Sgt. PT'd Charlie with out our consent. We found out the next day when he started to complain about his back hurting, that's when he told us that he worked out with the Marines.

All documentation from the Dr. and hospital was sent in per the recruiters request "to help things along" as he said... that was in April, He has no seen anyone from the Navy in regards to this issue, and that's what frustrates me. On Wed, this week I went to the recruiters office to find out if there was anything new. He said "Charlie is in for a long wait, it could be 6 months to a year before he gets seen. My sons Dr. said he would call or go to MEPS if he has too because " there is no reason a simple case of dehydration should cause this much delay"

Lee

Opps, I hit the button to fast, We also supplied the recruiter with all copies of the hospital report, lab results, Doctors reports, Nephrologist (Kidney Doctor) findings, two week check up and 6 month check up report. The diagnosis was a Myoglobin build up due to severe exertion and dehydration common in marathon running or calisthenics... They WHOOPED his newbie butt at the DEP event!

Hi Chief,
His recruiter said he had to clear the medical review board before he could do the Medical screening. He has uncorrected 20/15 vision & no childhood illnesses.

Hi Chief
My 17 yr. old son Charles has wanted to be in the Navy since he was 12. He took the ASVAB in Feb 2010, no police contact, He just graduated High school (3.8 GPA). He is 6'1" 157 lbs Varsity basketball player and he is very athletic (2-3 hours in the gym daily). His only issue is that in Oct. 09 he went on a 6 hour 102 degree DEP workout with some Marines buddies and got dehydrated. He had to spend the night in the hospital because of dehydration.
He was discharged the next day and cleared by his doctor and a kidney Doctor about 2 weeks later. His recruiter said his paperwork is stuck at "Med View" and has been for sometime & it may be 6-9 months before he knows anything...

Is this common or is there some other way to speed the process up??

Thanks for your help
Lee

Hey Chief, Just checking in. How's your sailor?
Mine is still at MCBH as an AE withVP-4. He really likes his job and is considreing wether to reenlist or extend where he is . Still a year away, but this Dad is grateful he is looking down the road and think his options through. He is looking forward to his deployment later this year. He seems to have a good balance between military and a personal life.
It was our great joy to visit him this spring. We met some of his friends and recieved some very nice words about him from the chaplian.

Thank you for responding. Aaron needed a waiver ADHD meds. We took him off of them his junior year of high school. Our family doctor gave him a letter of clearance for the ADHD and determined he had either grown out of it or developed other coping methods. He completed high school, but he did have to take one summer school class to get his diploma. He will turn 21 in May and he got an 83 on his ASVAB's. He was DQ'd because the Final Waiver Authority said his grades weren't good enough after he went off of the meds. My daughter scored a 35 on ASVAB and got in with a C average, yet he's not good enough? He was recently accepted to the local community college's Police Academy after scoring a 123 on the exam. 85 was the minimum required. The only other thing that came up was when our doctor thought he might have heard an unusual heartbeat so we went to a cardiologist and he said there was nothing and gave Aaron a letter of full clearance for military service. My personal opinion from the whole experience was that since recruitment goals have not been an issue, people who needed waivers were being routinely DQ'd, even if they were performing well. Once he completes his Associates Degree in Criminal Justice (with good grades) can he reapply or ask for reconsideration of his denial?
Thanks, Kirk

Chief West-makes sense now, thank you. Does training follow the schedule on the boot camp page or does that vary from div to div ?

John,
The first week is known as P-Days (Processing), after that the week/days are put together [i.e. 2-6 (Week 2, Day 6)].
Make sense?

Chief

Chief West-could you explain how they count days in boot camp...(ex. 2-6)just wondering .thanks , john

John,
You're very welcome!

Chief West-thanks for the info.

Thank you again Chief West! I contacted James Herin and he wrote back. I appreciate your help! He was happy to have the update.