mb1685
Well-Known Member
I attended OCS with an SNA slot at the beginning of this year, and while I was there, my pregnant wife was admitted to a hospital and found to be at severe risk for pre-term labor, and was ordered strict bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. Because we unfortunately didn't have a sufficient support system in place to reliably provide even basic necessities like groceries, I felt I had no real choice but to come home, so I dropped from the program. The OCS chain of command was very understanding of my situation and many of them told me they'd love to have me back, and a fairly high up member of the COC (specific details withheld for privacy reasons) told me I could get in touch with him if I had any trouble re-applying. I haven't seen my DD785 yet but I was told that I would be marked as Recommended. I know that unexpected family issues can of course come up at any point in life and the military doesn't want someone who is going to jump ship and abandon their training and/or mission, but I fully believe that having access to the the support systems available to those already integrated into the military community could have prevented (and would prevent in the future) having to abandon military obligations.
Luckily, our baby was born full-term and is healthy. I would still like to pursue my dream of becoming a military aviator. I am currently preparing an Air Force OTS application and sending applications to Air National Guard units, but being in naval aviation is still my first choice, and as you can probably understand, I'm still pretty disappointed that I was close to achieving that goal. I would still like to exhaust every possible effort to make it happen, even though I know the chances are practically null.
I was recently in contact with the Aviation OCM and although he said that my stats are highly competitive, he does not have the authority to grant an age waiver that does not apply to the conditions stated in the Program Authorization. I had spoken with a few members of this forum beforehand who had been granted special circumstance age waivers many years ago and I respectfully mentioned some of these cases and the name of a former AOCM who was in that position at the time, but the current AOCM wouldn't budge and mentioned that policy may have changed since then. I was able to track down references to past Program Authorization requirements from the timeframes of some of these examples and it appears the age limit was the same then, so it is my (possibly flawed) inference that the Program Authorization can be overridden in EXTREMELY rare cases.
I know that the AOCM is the primary authority on aviation age waivers and that there is a 99.9+% chance that this door is closed for me, but I can't help but want to try to respectfully press my attempts a little further since this was a truly unforeseen occurrence and I felt that I chose the only truly responsible option. As I mentioned before, it is possible that a member of the OCS COC might be willing to vouch for me and make a recommendation. Are there any other points of contact I could get in touch with to try to respectfully pursue this, such as who the AOCM reports to? I fully expect that the answer is 'no' and I know that I am entitled to absolutely nothing (emphasis added to hopefully soften the backlash I am expecting for essentially asking to be given special consideration after already being told 'no' -- I am aware that I'm treading on thin ice and possibly need a reality check), but I would appreciate hearing any insight on this matter.
Luckily, our baby was born full-term and is healthy. I would still like to pursue my dream of becoming a military aviator. I am currently preparing an Air Force OTS application and sending applications to Air National Guard units, but being in naval aviation is still my first choice, and as you can probably understand, I'm still pretty disappointed that I was close to achieving that goal. I would still like to exhaust every possible effort to make it happen, even though I know the chances are practically null.
I was recently in contact with the Aviation OCM and although he said that my stats are highly competitive, he does not have the authority to grant an age waiver that does not apply to the conditions stated in the Program Authorization. I had spoken with a few members of this forum beforehand who had been granted special circumstance age waivers many years ago and I respectfully mentioned some of these cases and the name of a former AOCM who was in that position at the time, but the current AOCM wouldn't budge and mentioned that policy may have changed since then. I was able to track down references to past Program Authorization requirements from the timeframes of some of these examples and it appears the age limit was the same then, so it is my (possibly flawed) inference that the Program Authorization can be overridden in EXTREMELY rare cases.
I know that the AOCM is the primary authority on aviation age waivers and that there is a 99.9+% chance that this door is closed for me, but I can't help but want to try to respectfully press my attempts a little further since this was a truly unforeseen occurrence and I felt that I chose the only truly responsible option. As I mentioned before, it is possible that a member of the OCS COC might be willing to vouch for me and make a recommendation. Are there any other points of contact I could get in touch with to try to respectfully pursue this, such as who the AOCM reports to? I fully expect that the answer is 'no' and I know that I am entitled to absolutely nothing (emphasis added to hopefully soften the backlash I am expecting for essentially asking to be given special consideration after already being told 'no' -- I am aware that I'm treading on thin ice and possibly need a reality check), but I would appreciate hearing any insight on this matter.
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