How to handle a situation?

Question

My son-in-law has passed MEPS and is due to ship to Marine basic mid october. his doctor just notified him he has a torn rotator cuff that will require surgery and 6-8 weeks of self-rehab. My question is how should he handle this with the marines. Joining is his lifelong dream and it would be a bitter blow if this were to prevent his joining. How should he handle this in communication with his recruiter? should he tell him what happened or just ask for a later ship date so he has time to rehab and keep this to himself? Thank you in advance for any advice.

Answer 1

If he asks for a later ship date he WILL have to reprocess through MEPS, and if the doctors catch it when he goes back through, he could be screwed.  Get the recruiters involved..they should push his ship date back to whatever he needs and, if he ends up needing a waiver because of it, they'll be able to have that base covered when he hits MEPS again.  If he doesn't tell them and then tries to sneak one past the docs at MEPS..and they catch the problem...it will be much harder to get around that than if he had just walked in with his waiver already approved.

Answer 2

As a recruiter myself (Army), this is something that would need to be brought to the recruiters attention. As was stated by some of the other answers given, the recruiter will have the ability to work with your son-in-law if he is aware of the situation. Waivers can be processed for medical affilictions and would be wise on his part to make sure he was in good working order before he shipped to basic. As long as he heals properly, and gets cleared through his personal/family physician, there shouldn't be any reason that would keep him from shipping at a later date.

Answer 3

Your SIL is no longer fit to go to Boot Camp; he has no other option available to him to seek a postponement of his enlistment until such time as he is once again physically fit to endure Boot Camp, of course they will require him to submit to the entire MEPS process once again to confirm his fitness to serve.  Better to fit the problem while he can than try to conceal it and wash out of Boot Camp later.

Answer 4

He needs to tell the recruiter his situation becuse if they find out later once he is enlisted its possible that they will give him a Dishonorable Discharge for lying, and that is something that you definately do not want to happen.

Answer 5

His recovery will likely take more than 6-8 weeks to get back to anything near normal.  He needs to level with his recruiter so there's no chance of him going too soon and doing more or permanent damage.

Answer 6

Have him request a push back on his shipout date. Have him tell them it is due to personal/family problems and he will need an extra month.

Have him recieve the sergury immediatly.....Dont have him tell anyone about the operation!

Answer 7

Something like that would be hard to hide and he would not make it through boot camp. He needs to tell his recruiter as soon as possible.