Military Families

Ok, my dh was active army for 13 years when they finally told him he wasn't fit to do the job anymore (between all his injuries and his last shoulder rebuild) and sent him on his way. He was planning on retiring etc. Well a few years later he runs into a National Guard guy and he was stoked, he could train these guys and still serve his country. They also told him with his years in service and rank he would get $500 take home a month and that with his time in rank he had that he would be promoted within 6 months. Yeah. Well let's talk reality. We saw $500 only 1 month, the rest were around $300-$350(not enough for the car payment we talked about) and 2 years later he is still the same rank, big surprise right? Well my only stipulation to any of this was that whatever unit he went to would not be deploying until at least 2010. We have 6 children and when he signed up we were done. Well we are now having #7 in February which I was still ok with(only slightly stressed) as he wasn't supposed to leave until March '10. With all the other things going on the schedule got moved up and he went to JRTC today. I am extremely concerned as he had gotten injured again and got his shoulder rebuilt in February(for the third time) and he is now worse than when he was active army. My BIGGEST concern is he had a P3 profile and someone went in and changed it to a P1(equivalent of a 17yo with no injuries). He just found this out a couple of weeks ago and called the docs again. NO NATIONAL GUARD DOCTOR EVEN LOOKED AT HIM AFTER HIS SURGERY EVEN THOUGH HE REQUESTED IT. He was doing the deployment medical stuff and brought his records. He had 4 doctors tell him there was no way he was deploying as he was not fit to do so and gave him a P3-non deployable profile. The LAST doctor that needed to clear it decided that dh only needed a P2 profile and was fine to deploy.

My issue is I live with this man, every day. He only has 40% use of his arm, he is a combat MOS. He can't even hold a weapon for long and can't raise it past shoulder height so if there were enemy on rooftops for example, he couldn't even do anything about it! He has a hard time holding the baby(2yo) with that arm. With his traumatic brain injuries this is a man that I don't usually let drive if we are in a hurry. I tell him at a light to take a left and he goes straight! He has processing problems that are not his fault but in a combat situation I am concerned. It is not that him being gone is an issue. I did this for many years and he is a combat veteran, ex Ranger etc., I am just concerned he won't make it back this time because I don't think his body can handle it anymore. The other thing that affects me is I have to withdraw from my college classes, I would have had time to finish this semester with the initial schedule but since they got bumped up......

I just don't understand that if my dh has all these medical issues how can he be OK to go? My pregnancy hormones are killing me and I have been crying all day. I am not one to normally cry but I feel so helpless......

Thanks for any help, ideas, support you can provide

Krista

The doctors at the Mobilization Station should catch these medical issues and will not deploy him if he isn't fit. These are active duty doctors that will evaluate him.

He needs to make sure that he gets copies of all his civilian and military medical records when they send the unit to the mobilization station.

Now here is the bad news. They can keep him at the mobilization station after his unit deploys for more evaluation and could deploy him later.

thank you for your reply. I guess my biggest problem is that his records magically "disappeared" when his profile got changed to P-1. The only records they had were all his immunization and dental, just what they needed for him to deploy. The breaks, surgeries, traumas, etc. just went away. Also I think it is funny that he wasn't able to do the same job as active Army (per Army dr's) after his second shoulder surgery; but after another injury, surgery and worse off than it was then he is OK to do it for the National Guard? Just sounds asinine to me. I really wouldn't care if they sent him if he was really fit, but I know his limitations. He is no longer an Army Ranger(not since his first extensive rebuild, his shoulder is mostly plastic), his time has passed.

I don't want to seem inexperienced, I was with him for 9 of the 13 years he was active Army. I just never questioned anything. It was always him saying he was going somewhere and we just waited for him to get back, ya know?

Krista

I was talking to my DH about this because he is in the process of getting a permanent profile right now. He is under the impression that once you get a P3 profile and get out of the service, you can't get back in unless a doctor says that profile is no longer correct.

DH use to be a recruiter and knew some pretty shady recruiters. He said that if your DH had one of those shady recruiters, then his past medical records may have disappeared due to that recruiter getting rid of them so that your DH your re-enlist.

I would start calling all the doctor's that your DH has seen in the past and asking them if they still have any of his records. You DH should go to his doctor and get a proper profile and go from there.

I hope you guys get things straightened out soon. I can't imagine going through all of this once, just to go through it all again.

Thank you to mom2jess_n_ky for my beautiful siggy!                                                                                                                                                                                             

Oh, this keeps getting better and better. I got a chance to speak to him briefly today. He told me that one of the doctors that told him he was non-deployable told him that because he had a permanent P-4 profile when discharged from active Army he shouldn't have been allowed in the Guard unless there was some way he got a waiver. Dh wasn't told any of this when he joined. No waiver, no doctor clearance, nada. He hasn't even taken a PT test and he has been there almost 2 years now. I think I have a copy of his medical records but my sister (prior active military and was married to an officer later on) told me not to bother, there was nothing we can do. If they wanted him, they would keep him regardless of his limitations.

He did tell me that the P-3 profile was there awaiting the Colonel's signature to finalize it and his commander went him in before him and when he got in there the Colonel took away his profile and made it a P-2. The commander is pissed at dh(both ex-Rangers) because dh wouldn't voluntarily sign a waiver of his injuries and take on a pet project the Captain wanted him to do(he asked dh a couple months ago). Let's just say dh would have been the ONLY American among many, many men. Dh told him it was suicide and had he caught him 15+ years ago there would have been no hesitation, but he wasn't going to volunteer for a job that he had minimal chance of returning when he has a family that is waiting for him. Not to mention his body just can't do it anymore. The Commander is doing this out of spite and I really have no idea what to do.

I did write a letter to my Senator and if I don't get an answer in a few days I will go to the local paper and see if I can get something accomplished. I don't know who else to contact, I haven't done this before. Dh is a highly decorated combat veteran so his integrity should not come into question. I am just so frustrated. I have sat by so many times wondering if he would be coming home(when he was healthy) but now I am scared as his body can't do what it used to....

Krista