a SNAFU

H

hopeful1998

5-Year Member
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Feb 17, 2015
Messages
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Today we went for a second remedial for a hip injury DS had in 7th grade. It required X-rays, which had to be done only by the Dodmerb's chosen doctor (no private option). We arrived at our assigned rural location some 3 hours later to a vacant office ( did I mention we are only 45 minutes from LA?). We find out after calling the office they had moved - 4 years ago!

We got to office number two and noone there had ever heard of Dodmerb or NROTC physicals. We assume that we come upon a new employee and there has to be an error. Soo, the lady at the front desk calls her boss, her bosses boss and so on and finally we reach an employee that has heard of Dodmerb. However, we walked away without our required X-RAY because they claim they had to have a physicians signature. These orders were written by Dodmerb, not a physician. By this time, all the Dodmerb and contractors offices that can help us with this are closed. Has anyone ever had to have an XRAY for a remedial who can fill me in on the procedure?? Nothing was mentioned on our orders except to take our printout from the portal and bring a picture ID - which we did.

We invested 8 hours of our time - no x rays and no closer to being medically qualified. All this for a kid who runs CIF sectional level sprints and captains his tier one level club and HS soccer teams. It was a very frustrating day indeed.
 
Call DODMERB. Ask for a new location and new appointment. When you get the name, call and verify location, appointment, etc. I think when I did my physical I had 3-4 sets done for all my old broken bones.
 
Welcome to the government where one hand doesn't talk to the other, websites have 10 year-old information and it is rare to find someone who cares about customer service.

I'd be beyond frustrated, but at the end of the day you'll look back and remember it as a small blip on a long journey. I would recommend writing to the customer service rep or whoever and detail what happened so they can get the old information corrected for the next person.
 
Odd how they do things. My DS had his fibula (small lower leg bone) fractured during a senior HS football game. DODMERB did not ask for anything except maybe a note from doc saying it healed well. Perhaps because it was a small bone? Still, with all the marching etc, a poorly healed bone could be problematic.
 
It's understandable that the injury would be questioned. It was a break of the femoral head in the hip joint. My DS was a small but ferocious :)wide receiver in the 7th grade that was tackled by 2 kids twice his size. The femoral ball is supported by 4 delicate veins, any of which are interrupted could result in necrosis of the hip joint. We were incredible lucky that it healed 100 percent and suffered no malformations or necrosis. I feel very comfortable saying that once they see all the data, he will pass as qualified. My issue is the prolonged time frame and inefficiency to get this taken care of. My poor DS is convinced this will spoil his efforts to get in, because of the delays. Nothing I can say or do comforts him. Any words of wisdom I can pass to him?
 
Good things come to those who wait?

On a more serious note there really is nothing any one can do to speed up the process. This is bureaucracy at work and you find it everywhere, not just the federal government. Since there is nothing you can do about it, there is no point worrying about it.

One thing your son will need to learn is patience (I know I'm preaching to the choir). He'll wait what seems like forever to hear what his next billet will be. He'll wait for MOS selection. He'll wait for orders, only to have them change and maybe even wait longer. Welcome to the military. I truly understand the frustration and anxiety as we went through it ourselves (although not with DoDMERB). We waited until April to hear DS did not receive and NROTC scholarship..Fortunately plan B was in place.

If he needs to keep occupied he should be working plans B, C, D, and E. That is to say, spend time working on the things he can control and put what he can't control in the back of his mind.
 
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