Hello,
I’ve recently talked with a navy recruiter and told him about a metal rod in my left thigh that was the result of a car accident three years and said that while it didn’t disqualify me, I was going to need a clearance letter from a doctor so that they could allow me to join with it. I talked with my primary care doctor and said that while he didn’t agree with the idea of me joining the military with my injury I was going to have to see an orthopedic if I was going to get a clearance letter. Every orthopedic clinic I’ve gone to and called does not take my ambetter insurance and cannot afford paying up front and no other doctor wants to write the letter for me. This thing is really holding me back from joining the Navy and don’t know what to do anymore, any advice?
The leg is not even painful and am thinking of going to another recruiter and not say anything about it to them.
Did he specifically state that he required you to bring a letter from a civilian doctor before he would proceed with anything else? Ultimately, when you go through MEPS a military or military contracted doctor will make the final determination on whether you meet standards. It should have been on the recruiter to make clear, but it’s worth asking if there is any doubt in your mind.
Can your primary care doctor provide a referral to an in network orthopedic doctor? Does your insurance company maintain a list of specialists in your area that accept your insurance? That might be on the web but a call doesn’t hurt. A longer distance specialist might require making a day trip. It’s only one visit instead of regular care so that’s a possibility too.
You might also try “recruiter shopping” if the Navy won’t send you to MEPS without a civilian doctor letter unless your heart is dead set on the Navy. Depending on specialty you want you might be able to do basically the same job functions just in a different environment.
What you’re seeking is a Waiver. Without a letter and imagry of the rod in question, you’re not even going to get a consult. The Nav has sufficient prospective Recruits, over-all, that they’re not going to jump through hoops to get you qualified. The individual recruiter might try - but only if desperate. If you want tto join, it’s up to you to find a way to amass the necessary documentation. Consider it proof of dedication.
DON’T.
You WILL be found out sooner or later, and at the very best will be perminantly disqualified from enlistment. At worst, you mght face fraudulant enlistment charges (yes, that’s a thing), depending on how far you get.
Play it straight, figure out a way to get your documentation legitimately.
He did specifically make it clear because this was one of the documents that’ll be sent to MEPS along with my Doctor and Surgery documents which I already have along with other medical records.
He did but they don’t return my calls when I try to make an appointment. They say “we’ll call you back in 2 to 3 business days to schedule an appointment” but they never do. My insurance company has given me a list of urgent care/walk-in clinics but according to my mother, they won’t do it there
I’d be VERY suprised, should you go to MEPS for a consult, that the doctor you see won’t want imagry. Things may’ve changed 'since I was ‘On The Bag,’ but that would be a startling change.
I’m not sure you should be taking this so casually. I’ve seen more than one of my friends kids not make it through boot camp due to stress fractures from running and carrying things at levels they had never been subjected to before. And these were kids without pins in their bones. If you have a steel rod in your bones you NEED to make sure it’s going to be OK to do extremely stressful physical activities.
Realistically it’s a potential skeletal weak point. You WANT to have a specialist give you clearance.
It will probably cost $500-$1000 cash to have an orthopedic specialist evaluate you assuming x rays are taken. Call a local orthopedic specialist and ask what the non-insurance CASH price is to have this done. It will often be a fraction of the insurance price. Shop around. If you are cash buyer of medical services prices are often dramatically reduced.
The good news is, I was able to find an orthopedic doctor who’d take my insurance and would be able to write me the letter I need.
The bad news is when they took x-rays to see the condition of the leg, they found a fracture line between the rod and the bone indicating that the leg didn’t heal properly and while he said it may not be that big of a deal, he doesn’t want to take a chance if something were to happen overseas. I now have to get a second surgery to correct this which puts off joining the military for at least 3-4 months till I fully recover.
I’m not that upset about this I just hope by then the military will still be taking GED holders.
Accepting GED holders is a sometime thing, depending on the needs of the service, but if the District’s EdSpec has qualified you, you’re still in a decent place.
Generally, getting some College credit under your belt is a good way of making the GED a moot point - when I was On The Bag, two full-time (9 credit hours per, minimum, for a total of 18 - as I recall) quarter credits from an accredited college (including Community College!) was sufficient to fully qualify your education, HS diploma or not. Obviously, the Needs of the Navy change from time to time, and so do the qualification requirements. Check with your Recruiter for full details.
The most important advice I can give is don’t lie, don’t conceal. Otherwise you could get into a lot of trouble and besides the military wants men and women of integrity.