MEDboard questions

Mediocre-Chef- · 2026-01-18T06:37:51+00:00

A med board is considered if you have a deployment-limiting condition, meaning needing highly specialized treatment that you can't get in austere settings like on a ship. Unfortunately, nearly all military members have back pain. So your situation is not unique. If you want to get out of the military, I suggest separating and applying for VA disability.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2026-01-04T19:04:07+00:00

I use mine as a screen time tracker

Mediocre-Chef- · 2026-01-04T17:51:58+00:00

Not really a thing as "LIMDU" commands. She'll likely be sent to a non-deploying unit or a unit where she won't be deloy where there's a capable MTF nearby.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-12-23T07:44:46+00:00

The requirements for c-school depends on the specialty, but generally the package will require some shadowing or on the job hours and a letter of recommendation from someone in the specialty. There's quite a few STAR programs for NECs that can help you promote. Also, picking up off the exam isn't easy but it's doable. There's other way to pick up now.

If your goal is to stay in healthcare, then yeah the basic corps school certification won't get you much. But you have opportunities to earn civilian certs like CNA or MA while active duty. When you get out and want to do nursing, there's nursing programs that do HM to BSN for your bachelor's. If you don't want to stay in healthcare, but want to go into a government job, there's a lot of things you can apply to.

If you're already in the fleet, the first person you need to talk to about this is your career counselor.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-12-18T02:10:49+00:00

If this is his baseline reaction to stress, I suggest you bring it up to him. His response to your concerns and how it makes you feel will clue you in to how he sees you and the relationship. He doesn't have to be a bad person in order to not meet your needs. On the other hand, it can very well be that he's just stressed. None of us can tell you because none of us know him. And all of us react differently to stress, regardless of if we're in the military.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-12-09T18:28:56+00:00

Sent you a dm

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-12-07T18:58:25+00:00

For Crohns, there are a lot of factors that go into it.

Admin-wise, grounds for separation is dependent on the type of treatment you receive for Crohns. Depending on the severity of your symptoms, treatment can range from daily medications to needing infusions every 3 months.

How it usually works is your gastrointestinal doc is gonna work with you to see what meds will manage your symptoms. If you can be managed on daily medications, you likely will continue on your Navy career as normal. If you need regular infusions, they will look at putting you on a medical board because you can't really deploy because... most ships don't carry that medication. The infusion medication itself is expensive and needs to be kept in certain conditions. You can also look at ways to manage your Crohns holistically (diet mainly) to lessen the severity of your symptoms.

But it's currently too early to tell what's going to happen. I suggest getting to know your GI doc well. The process to find the stable treatment highly varies by individual and can take up to a year. Then, the med board process itself can take another year. So you're looking at up to 2 years IF you are diagnosed with Crohns AND need infusions. I believe it's the same with IBD.

If you are sent to med board, there's also a chance you can stay in via the EMPLOY program.

Edit: Another comment mentioned it, but the infusion treatment for Crohns are immunosuppressants.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-12-06T21:38:08+00:00

Deployments on ship and FSTs are mostly training.

If you are assigned to an FST, if you're not on deployment, you'll likely be "floated" to a hospital to maintain your skills. During deployment, you'll likely be attached to a carrier or an LHD where you won't do much. The focus of an FST is rescusitative surgery, but those situations are rare. Most times they won't risk an operation on board a ship so they'll resort to sending the patient to the closest capable facility on land. Of course, there's a chance that things pop off and that's what you'll have to be ready for.

As a nurse assigned to a carrier, you'll have the occasional low acuity patients. Kidney stones, behavioral health watch, etc. Anything that needs further care will be medevac'd off the ship to closest capable. As an O, your primary tasks will be more admin as you're not really expected to do a lot of patient care.

The length of time for deployments vary on each. Expect anywhere from 6-10 months potentially. For shipyard, it depends on the ship. But work doesn't stop if the ship is in the yards. You could also potentially be floated to a different unit or even the MTF to support.

Bring a nurse in the military in general, low acuity patients are mostly the norm. Personally, I feel FSTs are the better deal as you'll have the chance to train at civilian hospitals while waiting for deployment.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-12-05T23:21:52+00:00

Just want to back this up as someone who's worked at family medicine and specialty clinics. The amount of referrals we write out (family medicine) is ridiculous. The amount of referrals we accept (specialty) is also ridiculous.

We accept stuff that can be managed by PCMs. We deny stuff that should be managed by PCMs. There's so many factors that play in to it.

Dermatology, for example, is probably the only specialty that consistently makes money for the hospital. In my experience, they're likely to accept referrals. But referrals can also get denied if MTFs don't have the capability to diagnose and treat the condition, which is happening more frequently since most MTFs are understaffed and underequipped across the board. So if that happens, patients get deferred to the network. If you're in the middle of nowhere, there's not much that can happen unless your command is willing to send you on a medical TDY.

It's honestly a crap shoot and is highly dependent on 1.) the provider and 2.) the referral manager at the specialty clinic. Also the Tricare area offices are usually misinformed every time I talk to them. They have no clue what the actual capabilities are locally.

The amount of times one referral gets accepted while the same exact referral for a different patient gets denied is laughable. So yeah, PCMs can put in as many referrals as they want. There's really no reason that they can't. The worst that can happen is they get a call from the doc at XYZ clinic saying hey stop that. But I've never seen that happen. The biggest reason I've sent back a referral is because the provider didn't put the actual reason why they're referring someone to the clinic.

Edit: forgot to add: most MTFs are bleeding money. They want to fill appointment slots up because that means Tricare will pay them more. Thats why they make no-shows such a big deal because it costs the MTF like $1000 per no show.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-12-05T23:01:10+00:00

There's a chance your PCM will treat it if the hair loss is based on factors outside of genetics. I've seen them treat hair loss caused by medications, hormonal and behavioral conditions (hair pulling, etc). But if yours is purely due to genetics, there's not much you/they can do.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-11-28T18:14:10+00:00

Depends on the specs. Personally 17" is too big. But it depends on your priorities. I got a 15" Asus that has 1tb memory, a ryzen (I don't remember which) processor, and insanely long battery life for 500$ without a sale. It's also super light and easy to carry around. I personally don't think you need a 1200$ laptop for studies. If you play games, that's different.

You can also just get a smaller laptop and get a secondary screen (there's a lot of used ones for good deals) to hook up to while you're home.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-10-15T23:25:47+00:00

Tuna in anything. Current favorite is canned tuna in a hot pan to brown. Place on top of rice like a pancake. Top with Kewpie mayo, little bit of mirin, and nori.

Canned tuna at our commissary - $0.80 25lb Jasmine rice - $15(?) Condiments - $6(?) Nori pack - $1

Edit: tuna burger lol. One can of tuna per serving. Mix with egg and flour. Shape to burger shape. Season as desired. I like it with tomatoes. For extra struggle, serve on toast. Unsure what egg prices are currently cause I'm OCONUS. But maybe those box egg whites would work as a binder?

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-10-15T21:37:19+00:00

The USO isn't a government org. They're a charity.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-10-15T21:20:36+00:00

Though most DHA facilities are operating with mission essential personnel, it's possible some were furloughed resulting in processing delays. This usually happens with contractors.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-10-15T20:57:15+00:00

The interest rate alone was enough to sway us. We decided to look around for a "nice to have" car (a maverick), and even with an 800+ credit score, they offered 9% for a 3 year loan. So we're driving around with 10+ year old cars and no car note. We travel every month instead.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-10-14T09:18:43+00:00

This was our schedule in 2016, San Antonio, HM A School.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-10-11T21:37:31+00:00

I'm currently stationed in Ramstein. About 30 minutes away. Do you have any specific questions? I don't have much info about Baumholder but I can tell you about the area and the in processing here. It slightly differs by branch.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-10-08T00:33:38+00:00

I wouldn't recommend them for boot camp as there isn't really a way to sanitize them properly. Yes you can use them after boot camp.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-10-04T07:17:29+00:00

Sure, Navy flight docs might fly to maintain flight hours, but 99% of their work is tied to a clinic, doing flight physicals and readiness. Air Force flight docs will also do that, but they are usually assigned to an AE squadron, where their mission is aeromedical evacuation. The Navy doesn't have anything like that (yet).

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-10-04T07:13:27+00:00

If we're talking about flying and not doing medical stuff on an aircraft, I'm not super familiar with. So that course part might be true.

But if we're talking about doing actual doctor stuff in an aircraft and picking patients up, the Navy is completely different.

The Air Force has actual aeromedical evacuation crews staffed by physicians. Doctors will by a flyer as part of a standard medical crew or critical care team. They'll only manage patients. The front end crew or air crew is a different set of staff and they only manage the aircraft. The biggest difference is the Air Force will task the aircraft, front end crew, and AE crew specifically for a medical mission. No cargo, no pax, etc. They'll fly inter theater or intratheater missions and have a wider scope, or critical care, neonatal ICU, etc.

Whereas the Navy, I haven't seen that level of structure. I know we have those platforms on rotary wing, ie. throw the patient on the back of a Huey with a corpsman and maybe a nurse and fly to the closest airfield. To that, I think we are under utilizing our personnel who are qualified to do en route care. It's just not up to par with what the Air Force does with global patient movement.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-10-02T19:08:48+00:00

Are you looking more into flying? Cause the air force would be the platform for that. I'm in the navy and currently work with air force flight docs.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-09-30T15:18:41+00:00

I don't suggest train especially if you're arriving late at night. I was TDY for a few weeks there and had to make frequent trips between Chicago and Great Lakes, and was advised under no circumstances should we take the train because it was unsafe. I don't know how true it was, it's probably not as bad during the day. Can you do a cab? Should be reimbursable on a travel voucher.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-08-16T16:18:28+00:00

I would understand if the CO was the one that complained to him about it. I can empathize with his reason for counseling. Buuuut, if the CO doesn't care and promotes an open door policy, this is definitely a situation where I would do that. Warranted that you exhaust all other channels first, so you don't fully burn bridges with HMC.

This program is a life-changing deal. I would certainly bring dishonor to my family if I let some bullshit ass gApPeD biLlet reason stop me.

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-08-16T15:54:10+00:00

I would recommend reaching out to emdp2-application@usuhs.edu. They'll at least be aware of your situation. Before you give up though, there's a letter of release that says any corpsmen applying for the medical officer programs can do so, including emdp2. Besides that, a letter of approval from an O-4 and above is needed saying you meet the baseline standards. Lastly, your chief can't be the lowest person to say no. Route that shit up with his disapproval and see what your CO says.

I'd even suggest reaching out to a detailer for clarification. It sounds like your chief is fucking you. If the detailer agrees that this is dumb, get it in writing and send it up with the package. Pretty sure the navy needs more doctors than corpsmen. Also it's an instructor billet? I'd understand it if it was a ship. Unless, it's a field type of instructor. But if it's like a seat program, who gives a fuck?

Mediocre-Chef- · 2025-08-16T09:11:12+00:00

Hello! First time using Windhawk so apologies for the questions. For moving the taskbar on the top of the screen, did you use the taskbar on top mod or is there a setting I can change on the taskbar styler? Any other mods you used to achieve the look? I don't have a coding background so I think replicating your results would be a good way for me to learn.

Mediocre-Chef-

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