I have been reading this site for a few hours now and plan on following it for the remainder of my process.
Does anyone have any experience with getting found fit and then switching to a different branch?
I am in the Navy and my doctor initiated my MEB process with an IPEB recommending me unfit for duty. When I initially joined, I was selected to become a Student Naval Aviator (Student Naval Flight Officer as backup). Unfortunately, on the 8th day of OCS, I found out that I was not physically qualified because my arms were a centimeter too short (non waiverable). So I continued through OCS (most fallen angels quit, but I didn't) and by the end of OCS I finally recieved the NAMI letter that I was officially NPQed. I tried to redesignate for Intelligence and Crypto, but unfortunately my Public Service Management degree was not really what they were looking for.
So I finally got picked up for the infantry for Naval Officers as a Surface Warfare Officer. Anyone with a pulse and a degree can become this. Unfortunatley, I joined a branch where I knew nothing about ships and was not passionate at all about them. I still drank the kool aid and when to school for it, getting a 91 GPA and second place in the shiphandling competition. When I was integrated back into my command we were underway helping an amphib ship do workups for a deployment. I was on a DDG, which if you know anything about doing pre-deployment workups as a DDG for an LHA, it is an extremely high op-tempo. I was one of three people who got medflighted due to mental health and fatigue. I was medevac'd for fatigue after being up for three days straight. When I got to the hospital, I was disoriented and didn't know why I was there. When I was placed in the psychiatric department, I panicked. It was 1am and they were putting me in a room with three other psych patients that had very acute disorders. Before I joined the Navy, I was an AEMT and had been assaulted by several psych patients, so naturally this was the way I behaved and the hospital staff responded by giving me heavy doses of antipsychotropic medications. This caused me to lose four days of my life. When my wife noticed I had those medications on board, she made a one-way flight to the hospital I was at and when she arrived she said I didn't even recognize her. I have no memory of her visiting me for 3 of those 4 days I was medicated. I eventually got discharged out of the hospital following a very long week and a half of trying to figure out a) why I was there and b) what was wrong with me and sent back to my home port. I was seen by a psychologist and psychiatrist while they weaned me off the medication for a month and observed me afterward to see if my symptoms returned.
They never did. After I got out of the hospital, all I wanted to do was return to sea and continue my career. Unfortunately, It took me poking at my detailer, PSD, admin, and IDC to finally get me back to full duty due to some fluke in the computer system that wouldn't reset my ACC code to be released from my previous command. Once I was found fit for full duty, I was immediately sent out to a ship that was forward deployed in the middle east. After flying the farthest I have ever flown in my life and experiencing the worse jet lag I have ever felt, I lasted only a few days before having an anxiety attack in the mess decks. I was having a hard time adapting to sleeping on a very noisy ship and I was also placed in overflow berthing with enlisted sailors which prevented me from being completely relaxed in my own living quarters. I was sent to a clinic and they recommended to sleep off the ship for a night to recalibrate my rest. Unfortunately there was no vacancy, so I returned to the ship where my condition got worse. I was unable to sleep and I began to fear I had a medical condition that was missed when I got re-evaluated back in homeport, like diabetes or cancer. After that I was taken off the ship and put into a local hospital where I recovered even quicker than last time after getting a solid night of rest. I was then medevac'd back to homeport again and upon my first appointment with my doctor (after the safety check) she diagnosed me with Unspecified Bipolar II because I don't meet all the criteria for the diagnosis.
My PEBLO and attorney seem very hopeful in my case as my doctors don't have a strong case to dismiss me from service. If I go through the PEB and get deemed fit, is there any possibility that I could switch military branches? I'm not very useful to the Navy without a STEM degree and I feel as though there are more opportunities for me in the Air Force or Army. I am eventually interested in getting my MD and becoming a doctor for the military, but at this point, I am just trying to stay in.
Thank you for any and all help.
Does anyone have any experience with getting found fit and then switching to a different branch?
I am in the Navy and my doctor initiated my MEB process with an IPEB recommending me unfit for duty. When I initially joined, I was selected to become a Student Naval Aviator (Student Naval Flight Officer as backup). Unfortunately, on the 8th day of OCS, I found out that I was not physically qualified because my arms were a centimeter too short (non waiverable). So I continued through OCS (most fallen angels quit, but I didn't) and by the end of OCS I finally recieved the NAMI letter that I was officially NPQed. I tried to redesignate for Intelligence and Crypto, but unfortunately my Public Service Management degree was not really what they were looking for.
So I finally got picked up for the infantry for Naval Officers as a Surface Warfare Officer. Anyone with a pulse and a degree can become this. Unfortunatley, I joined a branch where I knew nothing about ships and was not passionate at all about them. I still drank the kool aid and when to school for it, getting a 91 GPA and second place in the shiphandling competition. When I was integrated back into my command we were underway helping an amphib ship do workups for a deployment. I was on a DDG, which if you know anything about doing pre-deployment workups as a DDG for an LHA, it is an extremely high op-tempo. I was one of three people who got medflighted due to mental health and fatigue. I was medevac'd for fatigue after being up for three days straight. When I got to the hospital, I was disoriented and didn't know why I was there. When I was placed in the psychiatric department, I panicked. It was 1am and they were putting me in a room with three other psych patients that had very acute disorders. Before I joined the Navy, I was an AEMT and had been assaulted by several psych patients, so naturally this was the way I behaved and the hospital staff responded by giving me heavy doses of antipsychotropic medications. This caused me to lose four days of my life. When my wife noticed I had those medications on board, she made a one-way flight to the hospital I was at and when she arrived she said I didn't even recognize her. I have no memory of her visiting me for 3 of those 4 days I was medicated. I eventually got discharged out of the hospital following a very long week and a half of trying to figure out a) why I was there and b) what was wrong with me and sent back to my home port. I was seen by a psychologist and psychiatrist while they weaned me off the medication for a month and observed me afterward to see if my symptoms returned.
They never did. After I got out of the hospital, all I wanted to do was return to sea and continue my career. Unfortunately, It took me poking at my detailer, PSD, admin, and IDC to finally get me back to full duty due to some fluke in the computer system that wouldn't reset my ACC code to be released from my previous command. Once I was found fit for full duty, I was immediately sent out to a ship that was forward deployed in the middle east. After flying the farthest I have ever flown in my life and experiencing the worse jet lag I have ever felt, I lasted only a few days before having an anxiety attack in the mess decks. I was having a hard time adapting to sleeping on a very noisy ship and I was also placed in overflow berthing with enlisted sailors which prevented me from being completely relaxed in my own living quarters. I was sent to a clinic and they recommended to sleep off the ship for a night to recalibrate my rest. Unfortunately there was no vacancy, so I returned to the ship where my condition got worse. I was unable to sleep and I began to fear I had a medical condition that was missed when I got re-evaluated back in homeport, like diabetes or cancer. After that I was taken off the ship and put into a local hospital where I recovered even quicker than last time after getting a solid night of rest. I was then medevac'd back to homeport again and upon my first appointment with my doctor (after the safety check) she diagnosed me with Unspecified Bipolar II because I don't meet all the criteria for the diagnosis.
My PEBLO and attorney seem very hopeful in my case as my doctors don't have a strong case to dismiss me from service. If I go through the PEB and get deemed fit, is there any possibility that I could switch military branches? I'm not very useful to the Navy without a STEM degree and I feel as though there are more opportunities for me in the Air Force or Army. I am eventually interested in getting my MD and becoming a doctor for the military, but at this point, I am just trying to stay in.
Thank you for any and all help.