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Hurt ACL at end of first tour(not qual'd yet)

SharkBait

Well-Known Member
At the start of my tour I hurt my knees and due to our OPTEMPO I wasn't able to really able to get it fully checked out till the last 6 months of my tour. Now the doctor wants to do 1, maybe 2 ACL reconstructions that could put me out of the game for 12 months. I'm just missing my OOD but I cant get it before I get the surgery and the captain is holding off on handing out letters till atleast summer due to the collisions. I was planning on putting in a lateral transfer package after I qualified. Any advice on how I should handle this?
 

FormerRecruitingGuru

Making Recruiting Great Again
due to our OPTEMPO I wasn't able to really able to get it fully checked out till the last 6 months of my tour.

This is seriously what’s wrong with the SWO community. Dude, you should have gotten it checked out in the first place. Don’t worry about ship schedule, if you have an medical issue get it checked out immediately and worry about quals later.

For course of action, seriously go talk to your DH assuming he or she is capable.
 

AllAmerican75

FUBIJAR
None
Contributor
At the start of my tour I hurt my knees and due to our OPTEMPO I wasn't able to really able to get it fully checked out till the last 6 months of my tour. Now the doctor wants to do 1, maybe 2 ACL reconstructions that could put me out of the game for 12 months. I'm just missing my OOD but I cant get it before I get the surgery and the captain is holding off on handing out letters till atleast summer due to the collisions. I was planning on putting in a lateral transfer package after I qualified. Any advice on how I should handle this?

The good news and bad news is that you won't be transferring anywhere until you're qualified. Go to talk to your DH and your XO and explain what's going on. You're likely going to be on LIMDU and pulled from the ship for the duration of your recovery (crutches aren't compatible with sea duty), and that is going to seriously hamper your progress. While LIMDU, you're probably going to be stashed at DESRON/PHIBRON/LCSRON/etc. which could mean you have plenty of time to study and talk to SWOs of all backgrounds and brush up for your SWO board. The bad news is that you won't be able to demonstrate that knowledge to your CO which is going to hurt your progress. It's fucked up that your CO won't qualify anyone, that's bad for your careers and has long term effects. Now, here's the secret your CO, XO, and DH won't tell you: It looks really bad on them if there are multiple officers at the command who don't qualify on time or don't qualify period. If that happens, PERS-41 is going to be up his ass asking questions and both he and you will have to write letters to PERS to explain why. So he has incentive to get you qualified. First step, go talk to him. Second step, go under the knife and focus on getting healed up.

What are you planning on trying to redesignate to? If it's to another URL designator (Aviator, NFO, SEAL, etc.) you may have a tough road ahead. Depending upon how long your recovery and qualification process takes, you may be too senior to transfer into those communities. They want you to be able to have enough time to get through the training pipeline and then make the necessary career wickets before being screened for O4 and Department Head. Once you're healthy and close to qualifying, call the community manager and pick his brain: http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/officer/communitymanagers/Pages/default.aspx.
 

FormerRecruitingGuru

Making Recruiting Great Again
To add on to @AllAmerican75 Big Navy maybe take 1-2 aviator, NFO, or SEAL lateral transfers a year. I will need to check the past few LATXFER NAVADMINs but I don’t think I’ve seen any of those communities select anyone as of recent.
 

SharkBait

Well-Known Member
This is seriously what’s wrong with the SWO community. Dude, you should have gotten it checked out in the first place. Don’t worry about ship schedule, if you have an medical issue get it checked out immediately and worry about quals later.

For course of action, seriously go talk to your DH assuming he or she is capable.

I started the process 12-18 months ago but surface medicine moves at a snails pace, they wanted to do physical therapy and have me on a bunch of pain medication before they would even think about giving me an MRI. Since being in 7th fleet means we are always underway I ended up burning a lot of time begging for treatment until finally I found a semi-competent doctor willing to really take a look and it ended up costing me most of my ACL in the process.
 

SharkBait

Well-Known Member
The good news and bad news is that you won't be transferring anywhere until you're qualified. Go to talk to your DH and your XO and explain what's going on. You're likely going to be on LIMDU and pulled from the ship for the duration of your recovery (crutches aren't compatible with sea duty), and that is going to seriously hamper your progress. While LIMDU, you're probably going to be stashed at DESRON/PHIBRON/LCSRON/etc. which could mean you have plenty of time to study and talk to SWOs of all backgrounds and brush up for your SWO board. The bad news is that you won't be able to demonstrate that knowledge to your CO which is going to hurt your progress. It's fucked up that your CO won't qualify anyone, that's bad for your careers and has long term effects. Now, here's the secret your CO, XO, and DH won't tell you: It looks really bad on them if there are multiple officers at the command who don't qualify on time or don't qualify period. If that happens, PERS-41 is going to be up his ass asking questions and both he and you will have to write letters to PERS to explain why. So he has incentive to get you qualified. First step, go talk to him. Second step, go under the knife and focus on getting healed up.

What are you planning on trying to redesignate to? If it's to another URL designator (Aviator, NFO, SEAL, etc.) you may have a tough road ahead. Depending upon how long your recovery and qualification process takes, you may be too senior to transfer into those communities. They want you to be able to have enough time to get through the training pipeline and then make the necessary career wickets before being screened for O4 and Department Head. Once you're healthy and close to qualifying, call the community manager and pick his brain: http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/officer/communitymanagers/Pages/default.aspx.

I went and talked to the CoC and they all basically said the would prefer me waiting for an additional 3-4 months so I could attempt to qualify before the surgery. The downside is my knee is so unstable i've already slid down a couple of ladderwells and almost bashed my face against a pipe in the p-way from my knee giving out and dont really want to risk hurting myself worst.

I'm trying to redesig to crypto warfare or something similar, I have my TS/SCI, worked in the field on my current ship, enlisted info dominance pin from being prior and enjoy the field. I was planning on trying to transfer after my pin but I might try to figure out a way to get there before the pin. I'm also at 10 years in right now so I'm not super worried about making O-4 since i can retire at O-3E if that makes a difference in the transfer game.
 

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
begging for treatment
FFS. This should never, ever happen. You (and your CO) should prioritize your health concerns over professional ones - period. Being warfare qualified doesn't do anyone any good if you go LIMDU because you've exacerbated your injury. Get healthy, then worry about how and in what capacity you'll continue to serve.
 

FormerRecruitingGuru

Making Recruiting Great Again
FFS. This should never, ever happen. You (and your CO) should prioritize your health concerns over professional ones - period. Being warfare qualified doesn't do anyone any good if you go LIMDU because you've exacerbated your injury. Get healthy, then worry about how and in what capacity you'll continue to serve.

I heard @Brett327 ‘s squadron he tells sick JOs to grow a pair and fly- even if they need ACL surgery.
 

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
I went and talked to the CoC and they all basically said the would prefer me waiting for an additional 3-4 months so I could attempt to qualify before the surgery. The downside is my knee is so unstable i've already slid down a couple of ladderwells and almost bashed my face against a pipe in the p-way from my knee giving out and dont really want to risk hurting myself worst.

I'm trying to redesig to crypto warfare or something similar, I have my TS/SCI, worked in the field on my current ship, enlisted info dominance pin from being prior and enjoy the field. I was planning on trying to transfer after my pin but I might try to figure out a way to get there before the pin. I'm also at 10 years in right now so I'm not super worried about making O-4 since i can retire at O-3E if that makes a difference in the transfer game.

I feel for you, I had a screwed up knee for years, they never wanted to give me an MRI, instead told me to exercise more or lose weight, then they said it was my feet, finally a doc gave me an MRI.
 

AllAmerican75

FUBIJAR
None
Contributor
I went and talked to the CoC and they all basically said the would prefer me waiting for an additional 3-4 months so I could attempt to qualify before the surgery. The downside is my knee is so unstable i've already slid down a couple of ladderwells and almost bashed my face against a pipe in the p-way from my knee giving out and dont really want to risk hurting myself worst.

I'm trying to redesig to crypto warfare or something similar, I have my TS/SCI, worked in the field on my current ship, enlisted info dominance pin from being prior and enjoy the field. I was planning on trying to transfer after my pin but I might try to figure out a way to get there before the pin. I'm also at 10 years in right now so I'm not super worried about making O-4 since i can retire at O-3E if that makes a difference in the transfer game.

Get healthy and then worry about your pin. Your CO sounds like he's more worries about his reputation and FITREP than the well-being of his people.
 

Spekkio

He bowls overhand.
FFS. This should never, ever happen. You (and your CO) should prioritize your health concerns over professional ones - period. Being warfare qualified doesn't do anyone any good if you go LIMDU because you've exacerbated your injury. Get healthy, then worry about how and in what capacity you'll continue to serve.
I think that you are misunderstanding that a component of this is Navy medicine. He isn't the first case of someone who needed an MRI and appointment with an orthopedic surgeon but instead got told by an E-5 'Here is some motrin and some exercises, come back in 3-6 months.'

The bean counters make it tough to get specialized care.
 

Spekkio

He bowls overhand.
I don't think I'm misunderstanding anything.
Then you must've missed this...
I started the process 12-18 months ago but surface medicine moves at a snails pace, they wanted to do physical therapy and have me on a bunch of pain medication before they would even think about giving me an MRI...
I know everyone loves a good SWO bashing here, but there's 3 sides to every story. SharkBait has been going to medical for 12-18 months (which is it?) for treatment on his knee and just now is informed that he needs surgery. It's not unreasonable to ask what's another 3 months if it's already been a year and a half. Was that merely a question asked by the XO/CO or direction? Did Shark Bait respond by telling them about how serious his knee issue was and that it took forever to see a surgeon? Did he tell them and the ship's doc 6 months ago that he needed this? A year ago? Do they know he's falling down ladders, or do they just know that he has some pain? Were they watching Shark Bait run on the treadmill and do squats last month before this all came out? What does the ship's doc/corpsman say about the issue?

Bottom line is that we weren't there, we just know Shark Bait's interpretation that the front office prefers him to wait so that he can finish his quals. That isn't unreasonable since professionally it would be in Shark Bait's best interest to get his pin, provided that the issue isn't so major that he needs surgery RIGHT NOW. So did that conversation happen in the framework of a question like "can you hold off until June so you can get your pin?" or in the framework of "I'm not letting you go get this surgery until June?" Also, does the CO actually think Shark Bait is ready for his board, or was "I'm holding off until summer for OOD letter" a polite way of telling Shark Bait that he's not there yet? Better yet, is that just a rumor spread among the JO underground or something that was actually said?

Based on this thread and Shark Bait's comments I would be willing to bet that Shark Bait hasn't clearly communicated to his CoC the seriousness of the issue. I seriously doubt that his XO/CO are so manic as to prevent him from going to medical and getting treatment that he needs out of convenience or FITREP points.
 
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