Sirs and Ma'ams,
I find myself in quite a predicament concerning my Navy career. I will be omitting some specifics about my medical history and certain events for privacy reasons.
A couple months ago, I came down with a medical condition that required me to be removed from my boat for an extended period of time. The condition in and of its self was both submarine and nuclear field disqualifying, but not permanently. The Navy referred me out to a civilian doctor out in town for treatment. During the course of the treatment, I was prescribed a medication by said civilian doctor that I took for roughly a month and a half before seeing the UMO for a scheduled appointment. After glancing over my medical record, he asked me if I had really been taking XXXXX for a month and a half, and of course I said yes. He rushed out of the room, picked up the phone, and the yelling commenced. It turns out, taking XXXXX for greater than 30 days is permanently disqualifying for both submarines and nuclear field duty, and is non-waiverable. The medical condition has been resolved and I am otherwise fit for full duty in all regards.
I now have a couple options:
1) I can be force converted to any other CREO group 1 rating that will take me, which pretty much means anything CT. This will require me to reenlist for minimum tour requirements up front before I can be cut orders to an A school.
2) I can request Early Separation in Lieu of Forced Conversion IAW MILPERSMAN 1910. I applied to multiple schools as a contingency when I found out I was permanently de-nuked, and have been accepted to all but one of them. I'm a little fuzzy as to all the details here, mainly because my CCC doesn't know anything, and the JAG is never around. I tried talking to the LN's, but they know next to nothing about how to handle a nuke who's lost his NEC getting out of the navy. I can't even get a clear answer on what type of discharge it would be let alone what type of RE code I would get.
My goal in life is still to earn a commission in the Navy, but I'm not quite sure how to proceed. With my degree almost 1/3 of the way complete thanks to a lot of work on my part over the past year, my first thought is that getting out, going to college and then applying to OCS that way. But then I start to wonder if taking the voluntary separation will prevent me from ever getting selected for a commission. Choosing to stay in and reenlist for a job that I may or may not be any good at or enjoy seems very risky and would take a lot longer to finish my degree, but also has benefits to it.
My preference would be to take the discharge and my GI Bill, and go finish my degree and then apply to OCS, but again, I don't know the far reaching effects of doing so on my ability to ever be selected for a commission in any branch, let alone the Navy. Nobody here on base seems to know where to start to find the right answers, and most of them don't care. I am in this situation because I followed a civilian doctors orders.
As an afterthought, I do understand that STA-21 is still an option. My concern there is that depending on which Crypto rate I choose, it could be years before I'm in a position to put in a strong package. (Between A-school, any C-school, qualifying in my new community, etc. )
Any guidance that the members of this board can provide is deeply appreciated.
I find myself in quite a predicament concerning my Navy career. I will be omitting some specifics about my medical history and certain events for privacy reasons.
A couple months ago, I came down with a medical condition that required me to be removed from my boat for an extended period of time. The condition in and of its self was both submarine and nuclear field disqualifying, but not permanently. The Navy referred me out to a civilian doctor out in town for treatment. During the course of the treatment, I was prescribed a medication by said civilian doctor that I took for roughly a month and a half before seeing the UMO for a scheduled appointment. After glancing over my medical record, he asked me if I had really been taking XXXXX for a month and a half, and of course I said yes. He rushed out of the room, picked up the phone, and the yelling commenced. It turns out, taking XXXXX for greater than 30 days is permanently disqualifying for both submarines and nuclear field duty, and is non-waiverable. The medical condition has been resolved and I am otherwise fit for full duty in all regards.
I now have a couple options:
1) I can be force converted to any other CREO group 1 rating that will take me, which pretty much means anything CT. This will require me to reenlist for minimum tour requirements up front before I can be cut orders to an A school.
2) I can request Early Separation in Lieu of Forced Conversion IAW MILPERSMAN 1910. I applied to multiple schools as a contingency when I found out I was permanently de-nuked, and have been accepted to all but one of them. I'm a little fuzzy as to all the details here, mainly because my CCC doesn't know anything, and the JAG is never around. I tried talking to the LN's, but they know next to nothing about how to handle a nuke who's lost his NEC getting out of the navy. I can't even get a clear answer on what type of discharge it would be let alone what type of RE code I would get.
My goal in life is still to earn a commission in the Navy, but I'm not quite sure how to proceed. With my degree almost 1/3 of the way complete thanks to a lot of work on my part over the past year, my first thought is that getting out, going to college and then applying to OCS that way. But then I start to wonder if taking the voluntary separation will prevent me from ever getting selected for a commission. Choosing to stay in and reenlist for a job that I may or may not be any good at or enjoy seems very risky and would take a lot longer to finish my degree, but also has benefits to it.
My preference would be to take the discharge and my GI Bill, and go finish my degree and then apply to OCS, but again, I don't know the far reaching effects of doing so on my ability to ever be selected for a commission in any branch, let alone the Navy. Nobody here on base seems to know where to start to find the right answers, and most of them don't care. I am in this situation because I followed a civilian doctors orders.
As an afterthought, I do understand that STA-21 is still an option. My concern there is that depending on which Crypto rate I choose, it could be years before I'm in a position to put in a strong package. (Between A-school, any C-school, qualifying in my new community, etc. )
Any guidance that the members of this board can provide is deeply appreciated.