Discharge, No Care, for Sick Recruit

Discharge, No Care, for Sick Recruit
November 25, 2008
United Press International

LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- The Air Force is denying healthcare benefits to a recruit who was diagnosed with leukemia during his basic training, the recruit said.

Joseph Weston, 21, was weeks into boot camp at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, when he learned he had leukemia, but an Air Force evaluation board ruled that Weston was ill before he arrived at camp, the San Antonio Express-News reported Sunday. The board ordered Weston's dismissal with an administrative discharge that would render him ineligible for medical and retirement benefits, the newspaper said.

The board's ruling was in conflict with the medical opinion of an Air Force cancer specialist who determined there was "absolutely no way" to conclude that Weston was sick when he arrived at Lackland.

Weston, of Cadillac, Mich., is appealing the decision to deny him benefits. He told the newspaper he joined the Air Force with the United States at war, and will try to get a discharge that will enable him to receive medical care, and perhaps a pension as well.

"I feel I'm entitled to that," he said. "I definitely feel that the Air Force owes me a medical discharge, if not retirement."


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/discharge-no-care-for-sick-recruit.html?col=1186032310810

in the Navy, you also get an entry-level separation. This is not new. You could have passed your physical, sign on the dotted line, then gotten knocked up---they still fire you. I think if you are diagnosed after Boot Camp--which is like an entrance requirement (if you can't hack boot camp, you are cut loose), they cover you.

I had a patient who had CLL (chronic leukemia) who the Army kept wanting to send back to Iraq. He was in the hospital getting treatment and they shipped out his unit and his CO reported him AWOL and took all his medical records overseas. He used to keep his room frigid because of his experience with the heat in Iraq. He was having a difficult time getting out of the Army. I had another patient who was in the military and stayed in long enough for them to pay for his transplant and then subsequent brain tumor treatment. After the brain tumor (which was a complication of his bone marrow transplant treatment) was resolved, he retired and moved to Germany (his wife was German).

and it's basically a daily occurance at Lackland AFB.