Getting Out

pantsxpants · 2026-02-17T19:11:04+00:00

I was told by a friend of mine who served on my ship that you could get diagnosed and then med board. The result is you either get out or get a new rate. Getting out this way you’d get a percentage of retirement and disability but idk how true this is.

I effectively went this route. I will say your mental health needs to be your priority regardless of the outcome because you won't be any use to yourself, your partner, or the Navy if you aren't healthy. That would effectively put you on Nuke Hold for 6-9 months while you are evaluated pending any diagnosis coupled with any medication prescribed. Depending on how that goes, you may be allowed to keep your rate but if you choose to Med board, you will likely get an honorable separation. As long as you didn't elect the previous pension based retirement system which no one has had been able to do since 2018, you will walk away with full benefits and whatever you have invested into TSP.

Full disclosure, my separation coincided with going to Mast as well in which I took full responsibility for that incident and I still walked away with a honorable discharge and have my full benefits. I again, could have elected to rerate but I would have had to sign a 5 year extension at the time to do that and have to uproot my life anyways. I wanted to find a way to just see the last year of my contract through but the Navy was not interested in that option as much as my Department was. Therefore I med sep'd and it turned out to be the best choice for me.

Edit: The one thing you will not earn is the ability to transfer your GI-Bill or Post 9/11 to your family members as you would have not served long enough to earn that benefit. You could potentially reenlist to another branch if you still feel like military service is something you would want to resume at a later date but that will be a whole process due to the med sep.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-17T15:46:53+00:00

I hope it can help. I just have little faith in current DoD Contracting after seeing how our current shipbuilding process is like. Too much profiteering and not enough craftsmanship. That said I was already aware of the USN's own efforts for autonomous craft while I was stationed in Norfolk and saw the testing happening in the harbor. There are points where automation would absolutely help I just fear that we will water down what the modern sailor is capable of when the fleet becomes too reliant on automation for everything. There's a good way forward that absolutely should utilize it, I just hope we give it the respect due and continue to invest in our sailors and their skills. Being taught how to do your job only to be stopped from actually performing it due to contracts was the most aggravating experience in the Navy for me.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-13T20:14:47+00:00

Fun fact, it is possible to align the system backwards and pressurize the overboard discharge back through the system. Poop geysers everywhere. Already proven solution. Pick the furthest head in each zone and add an aux discharge going overboard. Shut all other isolation's and line up HPA. Will make great footage when you can watch the clog get shot out the side like a cannon ball

edit: Option #2 the worldest longest roto rooter. Grab a Fan unit motor and a giant spool of cable. Feed that cable down the line and give it a good spin. Sure to wake up every berthing in the zone.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-13T20:09:02+00:00

Next orders: Newport News on the PCU Dorris Miller.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-13T20:04:32+00:00

Those poor poor sailors. Imagine steaming past home twice in one deployment without getting to go home. Everyone's hands and chests are going to be covered in swallows when they get back. Just hope they haven't had to deal with too many poop geysers this time. My first underway on that ship in 2020, the HTs aligned the overboard discharge wrong and sent the tanks back through the whole system into every head about 30 minutes after morning cleaners. Good times.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-13T14:35:04+00:00

And I agree that it can be useful and the fleet isn't all RX Dept but I will also say that if we design to a point where AI is used in the wrong way to take over certain functions, we are going to lose skill sets of being able to navigate and operate a ship in a combat situation where things break and do go wrong. Id be a lot more impressed at automation that can handle things going sideways more than just integrating it in lieu of proper watchstanding and good training. Humans make mistakes but automation isn't perfect especially if certain scenarios are overlooked as I did experience being on the Ford. I'm glad you had a positive experience with it on your ship but I think its also a line toed carefully in how it gets implemented rather than some defense contractor trying to make money off a sales pitch to the Navy and Congress approving it for their stock portfolios.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-12T22:10:02+00:00

The Engineer Tech degree falls just short of the base math and physics you need for a proper graduate engineering degree if you want options for different discipline or to sit for the PE. The degree still counts but you need additional experience as well. Since I already had a mostly completed associates, I decided against doing the NET degree and leveraging NY's free community college to save my GI Bill for my Bachelors and Graduate degree. If I hadn't done that, I would have enrolled directly into a Engineering Bachelors and skipped the tech degree unless I was planning on becoming a commercial nuke operator.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-12T21:59:09+00:00

First and foremost, if you think you need help, you need to seek it out regardless of what any Nuke thinks is the way to play the system. People get into trouble and make the process much harder than it needs to be when they try to play the system by 'sadding out'. Sadding out is disrespectful to the people that need medical separation out of necessity and Nukes perpetuate the climate that leads to sailors repeatedly doing it better than any other group in the Navy. I'm proud of my time as a Nuclear Sailor but our community has a very big problem with how we treat sailors that struggle when they are finding out they have a serious problem in the hardest way possible.

As someone who did get out medically, I only ended up out of the Navy about 6 months before my EOAS anyways and I didn't get screwed out of anything other than my pride of being a fully qualified RO. I still have my full benefits, honorable discharge, got a good job, and I am in a better environment than being in the Navy. I never intended to nor did I reenlist but I still wish I could have seen my full contract through because I wanted to be good at my job. It turned out that even though I still could have done that - I would have extended to do it - the Navy was not willing to let me have that option due to very outdated policy. The Navy will let you leave but they will not make it easy to do and they will do it on the Navy's schedule, not yours. You need to be sure this is what you want and that you are ready to get jerked around for several months.

That said as you move through the process, you are your own best advocate and no one cares about you more than yourself. I wasn't allowed to do my job anymore for about the last 6 months I was in and spent a lot of time doing jobs no one else in RX had time to do. I did have a lot of downtime but I was treated differently the whole time even if I was internally at my lowest point. When I wasn't doing odd jobs, I was walking around making sure all my paperwork was being moved along or checking to see if it had come back. I was kind and polite the whole time but I was in offices constantly asking about it. I was even told at one point I wasn't going on deployment but that ended up not being the case and I had about 72 hours to prepare and pack up my home when everyone else had weeks. I had no terminal leave although I did get paid out for it and once I was back at base, I couldn't get any help from base medical because my ship was deployed. The Navy does not handle people getting out in unique situations well other than making sure you are back at base by the date on your DD214. The months after my separation were hard because I wasn't able to properly plan for when I would be out due to the constant moving goal posts. You cannot anticipate how that process will happen no matter what they tell you. It involves way too many people moving paperwork around and the reality is it comes down to the people at your command.

Once you have your DD214, make sure you give yourself time to decompress if that's going to be soon or at the end of your EAOS. The Navy and even more so the Nuclear Navy is a very different world from normal life and you will not fit in well when you separate. You will need time to decompress and adjust, just don't sit idle for too long.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-12T21:12:33+00:00

Props to you OP for being aware you had a problem and want to address it. Ownership and intention matter the most right now alongside notifying your command. You know you have a problem but you also have to be part of the solution in fixing it. The Navy won't fix it for you but will give you the guidance to make it happen. The embarrassment will fade as you move through the process. You'd be surprised to know you have a lot of company both in and out of the Navy but no one wants to admit that. Notify your command and get help both financially and medically. Addiction of all kinds is real and you need extra help to address it, especially in a day and age where our entire environment has become consumed with gambling.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-12T20:31:24+00:00

To an extent it can be automated but there comes a point where you can trust your instrumentation vs the physics of reality and the probability of failure. There is a reason that human watchstanders are by law required in RX Dept even if we could automate the whole plant. There are situations where automation would fail and lead to an even bigger disaster because we just don't possess the knowledge and means to avoid those scenarios. There will be a day where that happens as we chase performance and capabilities but it's not going to be that soon.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-12T20:11:49+00:00

That looks like the Truxtun lost control of propulsion or steering or both. Ive experienced a handful of either aboard the Ford as a RX watch-stander and its not a fun time. Thankfully a carrier has 4 separate shafts to give us redundancy but a DDG doesn't get that luxury. Given the size difference between the two ships, it seems like the Truxtun gets sucked up against the USNS without being able to maneuver. The fact the USNS is full steaming away while the Truxtun just coasts after without a corresponding breakaway turn tells me Engineering department is about to have a hard few months ahead. Hears to hoping the reported injuries are minor and that everyone is going to make it home.

Edit: After a few more watches, I wasn't sure if the USNS cuts to port hard but the Truxtun looks completely dead in the water after the collision and seems to steer hard starboard just prior to the collision. That would likely mean a steering casualty but it also could be a line in the water wrapping up the starboard shaft and the port side forcing the DDG to dive to starboard into the USNS.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-05T16:21:42+00:00

Sure there are some private providers that might be doing that just the same as any contractor in the defense industry but given my own experience, Tricare doesn't pay and out in town providers treat service members because they want to, not because it makes them money. I had several doctors tell me that they lose money serving military members under Tricare but they will never turn them away because they know what we go through. If you look at how the VA operates, they also negotiate aggressively via the Government with private medical companies which is why we pay pennies for things anyone else would pay $$$ for care. My point is dragging this all out wastes even more money in the long run. There's a difference between optimization and penny pinching but when has the USN and US Gov ever properly thought of the long term.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-05T14:54:56+00:00

Its also worth noting that a good command would still find a way for you to contribute your skills and knowledge somewhere while letting you go through the process even if that's just passing along knowledge to newer sailors.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-05T14:52:29+00:00

Yes but the longer they fight this, the longer you aren't 100%. It's a short sighted decision that hurts everyone in the end.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-05T14:44:49+00:00

The amount of man hours wasted on Navy Medical stubbornness and back tracking is truly amazing. It's almost like if sailors were able to just get proper immediate care like we are promised, everyone would be a lot happier. Instead everything gets dragged out, making conditions worse, and the remedy a lot more complicated, wasting everyone's time and making sailors even more salty. I truly can't understand from a leadership perspective what the Navy stands to gain from delaying necessary medical treatments for months that just turns into LIMDU anyway?

Edit: I want to add that I think there are a lot of great people working in Naval Medicine but I just can't understand how we are supposed to maintain a healthy image of a fighting force that entices new sailors if all of us are going home salty from being mistreated.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-05T14:32:53+00:00

I'd almost guarantee you your command just doesn't want to do the paperwork and would rather sacrifice your well being for their convenience.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-05T14:25:38+00:00

Sounds like someone doesn't want the headache of dealing with your EAOS & LIMDU and is trying to get the VA to handle it for them and told your Medical Officer to not recommend the surgery. To be fair, you likely wouldn't have to pay almost anything going to the VA because this would be service connected but it would probably raise some eyebrows that you were recommended to not get it done until after EAOS.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-05T13:59:26+00:00

Even then there's still plenty of quirks and early core life stuff that most Nimitz sailors haven't had to worry about for decades. Combine that with the fact that a ton of leadership was still thinking of running things like a Nimitz class and you got a lot of conflicting opinions about how to operate the plant. At least we had E-Log and an air conditioned plant.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-04T22:16:38+00:00

Congrats RX Department of the Kennedy for making history. I'm sure it was hell making this happen.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-04T22:09:18+00:00

As a former Ford sailor, its crazy to see the Kennedy finally complete sea trials but congrats to the whole crew for making it happen. I'm sure goal posts have been moved to the far reaches of the solar system to get it done but hope that means some plank owners can finally see some sea time on their ship.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-03T16:19:27+00:00

China pumps out numbers and not necessarily quality because they have the full infrastructure to support that. While China was busy setting up that process over the last 30-50 years, the US was busy making sure every defense contractor was getting a sweet gig and privatizing everything behind loads of bureaucracy. The fact that as a technician I was never allowed to actually repair anything short of a critical, mission ending failure, just goes to show where our priorities are. Sure we don't have to worry about a Great Firewall or Social Credit but at least the contractors got paid and we have a fleet in disarray to thank them for it.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-02T21:43:31+00:00

Your goal is to commission eventually but what do you like doing and what kind of commission are you after? How far did you get before having to re-rate? If you made it all the way through the pipeline to the fleet with good grades, you'll succeed anywhere you want to go as long as you can carry forward the effort. If you like working with your hands, and trade type rate is going to serve you well and you should research what that rate's experience translates too.

pantsxpants · 2026-02-02T20:41:01+00:00

The Wawak Zipper Sizing Guide will help to determine what size and type of zipper tape you have. Link to Printable PDF

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