You won't believe it?

[Barry]

You will find this hard to believe, but I promise this is all true! My son has wanted to join the Navy since about 13 years old because I am a Navy veteran. He wanted to do something special, so decided on the SEALS. For the last 2 years he has dedicated his life to this goal. He is now 19 years old. He spent 3500.00 of his own money for corrective eye surgery, worked out four nights a week with a local SEAL whos job is to physicaly prepare young men while they are in DEP. He was so dedicated to this career path he was made leading petty officer to guide others in this, in the absence of their instructor. He is hard core and would do this without compensation, just room and board! He was told that he had to wait 6 months after the eye surgery before he could sign up. In the meantime. He spent his time training and assisting others in their training. Spent much of his own time and money getting others to and from the training at the request of his SEAL instrucor and his recruiter. These were kids who wanted to try out, but often had to be picked up and taken to the training by my son. Kids would come from about a 60 mile radius to attend these training sessions. My son waited the required six months and completed his formal PST testing for the SEALS. Hoorah! All the training paid off. Not only did he pass, but his scores were considered "Elevated". When you have elevated scores the Navy agrees to give you $2000.00 up front of your $40,000.00 signing bonus that you will be given if you complete BUDS training. A nice bonus to your first pay check! Right!! Anyway, my son was given his SEAL contract. Gave up his guaranteed Master at Arms A School. He had a very thorough physical at MEPS and was given the green light to head off to the very elite divsion 8 at Great Lakes. Now here is when things went bad and I promise this is all true. My son was in day 3 of week two. Divsion 846. They were all going for a routine follow-up physical to insure everyone was okay and no reactions to the many shots etc. A physician pulled my son asside and told him "you have acne" My son was shocked about the statement and not sure how to respond. He of course knows he has acne they have mirrors in bootcamp! My son has had teenage acne for several years, like many teenagers do. Not disfiguring serious acne that you see some kids with, just your normal everyday acne that he will grow out of in his early 20's. The Navy told my son that he could not continue his training in this condition and transferred him to Ship 5 to be seperated!! What? Thats right. You cannot join our US NAVY at a time of war if you have pimples! We are going to lose the war due to Zits! He lost his contract and was sent home. It gets better...He was told this was all his recruiters fault. The recruiter should have told him he would have to clear up the acne before he would be allowed to go to Great Lakes. He would have done so, had we known, while we waited the six months recovering from the eye surgery. The recruiter did not recognize this as a problem. His SEAL instructor did not see this as a problem. The MEPS doctors did not see this as a problem? How much of your tax dollars was waisted during this process? Here is another kick in the boys! I had a farewell party for him just before he shipped off. His SEAL instructor had to schedule his last PST before he left and it happened to be the day of his party. My son had to drive 4 hours one way to the test location and head out at 3 AM to get there in time. His scores was elevated! $2000.00 bonus...Right? During week one of bootcamp they made division 8 take this PST all over again? They had SEAL instructors on site and used kids that were aspiring to be SEALS to keep the count of the number of pushups, situps, pullups, etc. My son completed the test and was still well within the "elevated" numbers. WRONG! The kid responsible for counting, told the instructor that on a number of the pushups, my son did not go all the way down and the same on the pull ups. No more bonus! The Navy saved a lot in bonus money on this day. All the boys suddenly forgot how to complete a proper pushup!! My son was given a medical discharge with the option to return to the Navy when he clears his face. His discharge however indicates that he was responsible for defrauding the Navy. He should have known he was not a candidate for the Navy in his condition. My son indicates he intends to do as the Navy asks and see a dermatologist to re-enlist as quickly as possible. You can bet I will be trying to talk him out of this and will be setting down with our Congressman to tell this story if I can talk him out of going back. One more bit of info before I close....My son was in boot for a total of almost a month between division 8 and ship 5. Most of what my son paid for with his first Navy check for uniforms, the Navy took back. Now they are telling us he owes them $40.00 and will be getting the bill in a couple weeks!!

[Kirk Brooks]

Hi Barry, while what my son went through isn't nearly as crazy and devastating as what your son went through I can certainly feel his pain, and your frustration. They made Aaron bend over backwards for clearances for four months due to childhood ADHD. He completed everything, scored an 83 on his ASVAB's and even though he has his high school diploma they decided that his school grades from 2007 weren't good enough. It's 2+ years after graduation and they say his high school grades are more important than his ASVAB's and clearances from doctors including a specialist who listed him as a "Healthy, normal, 20 year old adult male capable of serving in the armed forces with no restrictions whatsoever." Aaron wanted to go in for MA school so he could pursue a career in law enforcement. His denial came from the navy's final waiver authority and it now appears as if he may never be able to serve in any branch. He currently plans on going to a local police academy and then from there he'll see if he can get in or get on with a police department. My daughter is currently serving in the navy and so far she loves it. It's too bad that the "Powers that Be" can't seem to use common sense consistently.

[Chief West]

Hello Barry,
Sorry to hear of your family's problems with the Navy so far! It is very frustrating. I had a similar incident with one of my office's recruits - through no fault of the recruiters. (He had kidney stones show up in boot camp!)
I have a question if I might (to see if I can help in any way): do you or your son have a DD-214 that has been issued yet? This will tell you whether he is re-enlistment capable or not (which can be changed by the way). This would be a good starting point.
As for writing your Congressman, by all means. It is not only your right, it is our duty to ensure that we involve them when necessary.

Again, I apologize for what you and your son have gone through and should you and he decide to continue this, I am certain that your son will be a top-notch sailor.

Hooyah!

Chief West
DCC USN

[E.G. - ND's Creator/Admin]

Ouch! This is crazy!

Barry I feel for your son. Tell him to keep his head up. Hope this all works out in the end. Sounds like he would be one Hell of a SEAL. Not sure if he shouldn't follow it through again to prove he's one of the best. This will only make him stronger and more determined. Keep us informed on how this plays out.

Regards, EG