Just stumbled onto a relatively new site called Our Marines. The site attempts to better connect America with the Marine Corps, and features the blogs of 6 candidates at PLC (Platoon Leaders Class). Though there isn’t much content, it’s a cool idea and has lots of potential. Check it out.
Had my physical at Newport on Monday; it was as bad as I expected.
After leaving Boston at 5AM we arrived at Newport Naval Hospital at 6:20AM. I checked in and was given a blood test, urinalysis, a hearing test, eye test, a full physical, dental exam, and this was all before lunch. After lunch I had my meeting with the orthopedic doctor, who didn’t feel comfortable starting a med board without knowing what is wrong with my leg. He orders some x-rays (which didn’t show anything) and told me I’d have to get a CT scan and come back down to Newport.
Yesterday I spoke to a SSgt at Quantico who tried to explain things to me as best she could. When a candidate it hurt at OCS, he/she is sent home to heal. The healing process is only supposed to last 6 months. Because my injury was so bad, we had to ask for extensions beyond that 6 months to allow time for the leg to heal.
It has been a year and a half since the injury happened, and I’ve started losing hope that things will ever get better. I was given the option to go to my primary orthopedic doctor at BMC and have him write a letter saying that we shouldn’t do the med board now and that I “should get better soon.” I can’t bring myself to give up not knowing if I’ll be in good enough shape to return in 6 months. I don’t want to end things with the Marines and regret making the decision the rest of my life. So I’ve decided to see my primary ortho doctor and get his opinion and possibly get that letter from him. I see him 11 Sept.
(By the way, the little good news that came out of my trip to Newport was that my eyes are still perfect, my hearing was the best the examiner has ever seen, and my blood tests were near perfect)
The time has finally come: I have been cleared by my orthopedic doctors at Boston Medical Center to return to full duty! They don’t need to see me anymore and as far as they’re concerned I can return to OCS whenever I am physically qualified to. I can finally start jogging and begin building my strength back up. I celebrated with a 20-minute jog around Fenway.
This doesn’t mean I’ll be back in the Marines anytime soon. I still need to get off disability, be cleared by the Navy, and finally have my waivers approved by the Marines and NOMI (Naval Operational Medicine Institute).
I have been looking forward to this for quite a long time. First step: get off disability.