Careers: Military--Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard/Medical discharge from boot camp

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Expert: Rod Powers - 3/6/2007


Question
My daughter just called, frantic. She's getting medical discharge from Air Force boot camp for something to do with her bladder. Now, the connection was poor, but I thought she said it could be 6 months (or maybe she said weeks) before they let her go...could this be and why wait so long? Also, when they find out what's wrong with her, will they fix it and if they can/do, is there any chance they'll let her stay in? If she can't stay in the Air Force, can she go to another branch? She's wanted to join the Air Force for SO many years, she's crying her eyes out right now. Thanks for any info you can give me.

Answer
Hi Stacey,

A medical discharge doesn't happen fast. I doubt that she said "six months." It was more likely "six weeks." It could, however, be longer. It depends on the extent of the medical problem.

There are several things that Wilford Hall (the Medical Facility at Lackland AFB) has to determine: (1) Exactly what the medical problem is (2) Whether or not the problem is short-term, or long term (3) Whether or not the problem is inconsistent with military service (4) if so, whether or not she should be discharged......

Lots of decisions to be made yet.

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com

Careers: Military--Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard

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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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