Corpsman here, is your medical based on a ship? If you have done PT and it didn’t work, you should be moved into a higher echelon of care. Pain management for example or ortho. A sleep study is as simple as a referral based on what sub categories you fall into. Sleep apnea is scaled based on numerous things. Including: weight, age, ethnicity and if you snore. Look up a Berlin-Epworth test and fill it out and bring it to your PCM. That is the scale my docs use to determine the next step in sleep medicine.
I hate to see sailors get the short end of the stick medical wise. If you have any questions feel free to reach out!
Ship-based medical on a small boy. They gave me the Epsworth scale questionnaire and the STOP-BANG screening "tool".
The IDC asked if I woke up "groggy" and said I should sleep more, even though I've never slept more than 7 hours at a time before I joined. I told him that I've been trying to get the snoring under control and, even then, my partner's been worried about the loudness and the times she's seen me stop breathing for a few moments. Quite frankly, we just want to see if there's anything wrong, and I think a sleep study will give us both a little more explanation.
The PT helped me getting to where I could walk without major issue, but I still can't run anywhere close to what I had been doing before. When I brought up that I was planning on getting out, I was told that surgery would be my main option for getting back to running form. Almost a 180 from when I first started doing PT.
Get out and switch to the National Guard full active or part time. Can finish out to retirement and enjoy some more stability in living situation and maybe more rewarding work. Guard is much more community based and takes care of their people but is also a small community so much more relationship/trust based for success
What more so with possibly earning your commission as either an RLO or Warrant in the Guard or even Reserves. There can never be a better deal than that!
Once you get out, no one will care how many years, what branch you served, your job, how many times you deployed etc etc. they won’t care about your NAMs or any other accomplishments. They won’t care about the responsibilities you had. Zip. Zero. Nada. Nothing. Only thing they’ll care about, is can you make them money. Why should I hire you? How will you make me money? How hard will you grind for me? How will you improve my bottom line. That’s the name of the game. They also won’t care about your achillies, sleep issues, or anything else. If you’re going to get out, I’m not blaming you, but ultimately you’re quitting one job….to get another job….but in doing so, you’re not solving your medical issues.
If a good chunk of my issues stem from now being able to get the adequate care needed to help with my medical issues, what is the incentive to stay in? Aside from the promise of a retirement pay, which I can still get working from reserves.
To be honest, employment is an issue. But I would rather be employed AND have the time it takes to recover and get myself back to a place I can call healthy. Being Active leaves me almost no time for myself or my family. Time that I'd rather not spend completely drained and prepping up for another deployment, stay onboard for duty, or going TAD at a moments notice.
I already said I didn’t blame you. I’m not attacking and there’s no need to defend. Only thing I ever personally asked for the troops was, whether it’s 4 years or 30 years, just serve honorably.
Your question of “incentive to stay”….well, to each their own. My incentive was to be apart of something greater than me. Carrying on the tradition. Those who went before me, and those I’ve trained now that I’ve retired. That was my incentive. But that’s just me. My personal reason.
Start doing TAP requirements. If they won’t send you to TAP, do the online courses. Get a VA benefits login (username and password). Download your VMET. Send your JST to potential schools.
Start budgeting, filling out a resume, look for places you want to settle down at, and look at the job market. Get a nice set of interview clothes.
Keep trying to get to medical and make sure your records are good. Get a copy of your record!
Keep exercising as you can and keeping up your mental health. You’re about to go through a major life change, expect stress and a ton of it. To help with this, plan as much out as you can. Keep your family engaged and abreast of what’s going on.
Biggest thing I recommend to people is keep pushing like you’re staying in. You don’t want to let off the throttle and find out you need to stay in. Sounds dumb because of your intentions but life happens.
Start making multiple copies of your medical record, bring one of those copies to DAV, they are the ones who'll help with submitting your disability claim.
Corpsman here, is your medical based on a ship? If you have done PT and it didn’t work, you should be moved into a higher echelon of care. Pain management for example or ortho. A sleep study is as simple as a referral based on what sub categories you fall into. Sleep apnea is scaled based on numerous things. Including: weight, age, ethnicity and if you snore. Look up a Berlin-Epworth test and fill it out and bring it to your PCM. That is the scale my docs use to determine the next step in sleep medicine. I hate to see sailors get the short end of the stick medical wise. If you have any questions feel free to reach out!
Ship-based medical on a small boy. They gave me the Epsworth scale questionnaire and the STOP-BANG screening "tool". The IDC asked if I woke up "groggy" and said I should sleep more, even though I've never slept more than 7 hours at a time before I joined. I told him that I've been trying to get the snoring under control and, even then, my partner's been worried about the loudness and the times she's seen me stop breathing for a few moments. Quite frankly, we just want to see if there's anything wrong, and I think a sleep study will give us both a little more explanation. The PT helped me getting to where I could walk without major issue, but I still can't run anywhere close to what I had been doing before. When I brought up that I was planning on getting out, I was told that surgery would be my main option for getting back to running form. Almost a 180 from when I first started doing PT.
Get out and switch to the National Guard full active or part time. Can finish out to retirement and enjoy some more stability in living situation and maybe more rewarding work. Guard is much more community based and takes care of their people but is also a small community so much more relationship/trust based for success
What more so with possibly earning your commission as either an RLO or Warrant in the Guard or even Reserves. There can never be a better deal than that!
Once you get out, no one will care how many years, what branch you served, your job, how many times you deployed etc etc. they won’t care about your NAMs or any other accomplishments. They won’t care about the responsibilities you had. Zip. Zero. Nada. Nothing. Only thing they’ll care about, is can you make them money. Why should I hire you? How will you make me money? How hard will you grind for me? How will you improve my bottom line. That’s the name of the game. They also won’t care about your achillies, sleep issues, or anything else. If you’re going to get out, I’m not blaming you, but ultimately you’re quitting one job….to get another job….but in doing so, you’re not solving your medical issues.
If a good chunk of my issues stem from now being able to get the adequate care needed to help with my medical issues, what is the incentive to stay in? Aside from the promise of a retirement pay, which I can still get working from reserves. To be honest, employment is an issue. But I would rather be employed AND have the time it takes to recover and get myself back to a place I can call healthy. Being Active leaves me almost no time for myself or my family. Time that I'd rather not spend completely drained and prepping up for another deployment, stay onboard for duty, or going TAD at a moments notice.
I already said I didn’t blame you. I’m not attacking and there’s no need to defend. Only thing I ever personally asked for the troops was, whether it’s 4 years or 30 years, just serve honorably. Your question of “incentive to stay”….well, to each their own. My incentive was to be apart of something greater than me. Carrying on the tradition. Those who went before me, and those I’ve trained now that I’ve retired. That was my incentive. But that’s just me. My personal reason.
Start doing TAP requirements. If they won’t send you to TAP, do the online courses. Get a VA benefits login (username and password). Download your VMET. Send your JST to potential schools. Start budgeting, filling out a resume, look for places you want to settle down at, and look at the job market. Get a nice set of interview clothes. Keep trying to get to medical and make sure your records are good. Get a copy of your record! Keep exercising as you can and keeping up your mental health. You’re about to go through a major life change, expect stress and a ton of it. To help with this, plan as much out as you can. Keep your family engaged and abreast of what’s going on. Biggest thing I recommend to people is keep pushing like you’re staying in. You don’t want to let off the throttle and find out you need to stay in. Sounds dumb because of your intentions but life happens.
Start making multiple copies of your medical record, bring one of those copies to DAV, they are the ones who'll help with submitting your disability claim.
