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Careers: Military--Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard/days in bootcamp
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Question
My son is in Great Lakes, and was a week from graduation when he found out he had a stress fracture in his thigh bone. It broke when he slipped in some water someone left after mopping. He was put in a cast and moved to a another ship as they call it. They removed the cast to start rehab. He is now worried because he was told the maximum days they keep a recruit is 180, and after 180 days they release them as a sailor with benefits. He has heard that the Navy is starting paper work at 150 days to release recruits so they don't hit the 180 days. My son wants to stay and become a sailor like his brother was. I have allot of questions but will ask two. Is it true about the 180 days. If so is there anything he can do or anyone he should talk to about staying in?
Thanks for any info you may have...Jerry
Hi Jerry,
It doesn't have anything to do with benefits. It's just that it's much easier to process an administrative discharge if a military member has less than 180 days of service. If a member has less than 180 days of service, it takes half the paperwork, and the discharge is characterized as "entry level" (It's not honorable, it's not general, it's not other than honorable -- it has no characterization, at all).
Your son should make an appointment with the JAG (Navy lawyers on his base) to examine his options.
Hope this helps!
Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com
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Rod Powers
Expertise
Rod Powers is considered one of the premire experts about U.S. Military career information on the planet. He has more than 30,000 articles about U.S. Military career information on the About.com U.S. Military Careers Information website at: http://usmilitary.about.com. Additionally, he is the author of "ASVAB for Dummies," "ASVAB AFQT for Dummies," (available in Dec 2009), and "Veteran Benefits for Dummies," all published by Wiley Publishing. He is also the author of "Barrons' Guide to Officer Candidate School Tests," published by Barron's Educational Series.
Experience
Rod Powers is a retired Air Force first sergeant, with 23 years of active duty service, 11 of those years as an Air Force First Sergeant. He has helped thousands of military members, recruits, and military applicants since he took over the About.com U.S Military Careers Information site in 1999. He has a reputation for "telling it like it is," so questions may not be answered based on "what you want to hear," but will be answered based of the bast available information, concerning the service/situation.
Education/Credentials
Rod is a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Noncommissioned Officers Academy, the Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, and the Air Force First Sergeant Academy. He also holds an Associates Degree in Personnel Administration from the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF).
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