NPQ'd from the Navy

[Metal Hornet]

I decided to title this thread and post it in this community based on my short experience in the Navy.

To make a long story short, I was going to be an SNA, and I got accepted to a May OCS class; unfortunately for me, I came up broken and I was age critical (turn 27 in October). I had a small window of oppurtunity to get to OCS, and I had a small window of oppurtunity to finish; both windows closed. I had to go before the end of May because all the Sub Nukes filled all the spots in the June classes, and at the time, there were no July classes. You can see why I had to rush getting to OCS; I had to come knowing that I might be NPQ'd from the Navy. It would have looked bad if I did not show up.

I was like most SNAs; I wanted to fly jets. My question is for experienced fleet pilots; are you happy flying your airframe? I know most pilots don't get their airframe of choice, so, if you could do it all over again, and you could choose your own airframe, would you choose a different airframe?

The only way for me to be a pilot now is to get fixed and reapply (age waiver for AD time, 90+ days at OCS); however, the surgeon, and the civillian second opinon, painted a bleak picture. They said I have two options, both lousy: stay the way you are for the rest of your life, or take a chance on surgery to be a little bit better, and still be NPQ'd from the Navy. Which one do you choose?

I would have liked to join you, but I do not know if that is going to happen.

I am interested in hearing what you have to say; I won't take it the wrong way. I will appreciate any, and all feedback.

The last thing I want to say is I do not blame the Navy, or anyone for what happened; the Navy took care of me while I was in OCS, and the Navy has given me a second shot at SNA (if I can take it) and at school. I just wish I could have made the best of the oppurtunity that I was given; a lot of people don't get the oppurtunity.

Take care, and I look forward to hearing what you have to say.


Respectfully,
Metal Hornet

 

[Beans]

Good luck to you, whatever you decide. From the sounds of your docs' advices you don't have a chance either way to un-NPQ yourself. Is that true?

As for platform/community choices: I and almost anyone here will say they love(d) flying in their aircraft or community and many will say they liked both the aircraft and the community (as in the people/work). I currently like my aircraft and its missions, and I'll have to get back to you on the community. Would I be happy in another type of aircraft and in another community? Probably, but I kind of like all this flying stuff. Point is, go for pointy-nose stuff if you so choose, but know that there are happy and miserable people in every community. If a guy like you makes it, you'll probably be happy just to be airborne. Again, good luck.

 

[Calculon]

Sorry to hear about that!

If you don't mind telling people, what were you NPQ'd for?

 

[feddoc]

MH, with regards to your surgical/non surgical options...kinda hard to form an opinion without more details.

 

[el douge]

What did you break? Was it at OCS or prior to??

 

[Mos]

I was facing NPQ possibilities at OCS as well, so I think I understand a little bit what you might be going through, though I was fortunate to pass the tests and get the waivers I needed.

Sounds to me like you need to decide how much you really want to pursue this career. If the Navy doc is telling you that you have a small chance of qualifying with this surgery, that small chance may be all the hope you need if you REALLY want this. If you're not sure you want to take the emotional and medical risks with this second chance, then perhaps it's time to look for another pursuit in life, or at least consider other designators if that's a possibility. At that point, the time and commitment you've invested in this will probably make it hard to let this go, but the silver lining to this is that you probably have nothing to be ashamed of, considering how hard you tried.

I guess all I can say is to make sure you have all the info you need to make a good decision. Find out the pros and cons and decide if this cons are negligible enough to you that you can take that leap of faith. Some things I'd want to know if I were in your position are who will pay for the surgery (Navy or you), and what possible risks or side effects there are.

Good luck.

 

[Metal Hornet]

Thank you everyone for your responses; I appreciate the feedback.

To answer your questions, and to clear things up a little bit, I came to OCS with a bad knee; I can't stand or walk straight, and my range of motion is half of what it is supposed to be. I physically could not do the training; I was medically discharged.

The CO said I could come back, and my recruiter said my stay at OCS can allow me to get an age waiver; me going back is all depending if I can fix my knee, because the way I am, I cannot be in the Navy at all. The Navy will not fix my knee becuase it is a pre-existing condition.

Once again, thank you for the feedback; If I can't come back, I look forward to seeing all of you at airshows, wether you are flying in them, or have your airframes as a static display.


Respectfully,
Metal Hornet

 

[tk628]

Metal Hornet,
Here's my take, I'm just a stud at Meridian, so fleet airframe, I can not comment on.

Medically on the other hand, 2 months after starting T-45's and 2 flights in the jet, I was hit by a typical uninsured pregnant Mississippian on my 10 day old Harley. I had all my stuff on, and survived, obviously, but had shattered my right elbow, right hand, and broke my left wrist. Doc told me may never fly again, could be 8 months to be back to normal or could never be back to normal, he couldn't really tell until he operated, which happened the next day.

Well after 8 hours of surgery on my elbow alone, and a half hour for the hand and wrist, things looked ok. Should have been back up in 8 months....

Then the fun began, I developed a bone overgrowth which was surgically corrected 4 months later, and the hardware was removed I went from 20 degrees of total elbow movement, to 140 in a day. Things were looking up.

This good news came with a hematoma, which would not drain. It was lanced, and then turned into a staph infection 2 weeks later which was surgically removed (surgery #3 if you are counting). During this time, my range of motion was limited by the fluid sac and then infection, and the doc pushed a little too hard after clearing the infection and refractured my elbow. This was corrected by reinstalling hardware the next day. (surgery #4).

So I am now 5 months into this ordeal, CNATRA gives you 6 months med down, with an option for a 6 month extension at the request of your command and doc reccomendations. Which I thankfully got.

Four months after the hardware was put back in (month 9, 1 month past prognosis), the bone was not healing, and I had a bone graph using harvested pelvic bone, but one of the pins supporting the graph had been placed such that it was irritating a nerve. Should have been 8 weeks to med up, without the nerve issue.

Eight weeks later the pins were removed, at month 10.5, and things were fine. But I needed 4-6 weeks for the surgical site to heal, swelling to go down, ect. I started ground school 2 weeks after this sixth and final surgery, and got med up 8 days before the 365 day mark... yes it was so close, I measured it in hours.

When I was finally good to go, my waiver package went from Meridian, to NAMI, back to Meridian, in less than 90 minutes (for everyone who has a waiver, you know the odds of this happening again).

I'm not going to say I wasn't lucky, because the horseshoe is so far up my ass I can taste it, and I know this. I did work my tail off while med down, and was viewed favorably by everyone who I worked for even though I only had 1 arm for most of the time. I did count the 178 occupation therapy visits too, basically, therapy was my job, and it sucked. Yes, I am the reason healthcare is bankrupting this country. But, and while I know it was a longshot, I'm the exception to the rule. Who's to say that you couldn't be too?

Good luck with whatever you decide, if it works great, if not, oh well, just don't look back and think what could have been if only.....