It has been a long time since I have posted to the forum. Today is my last day at the Academy. (Processing out took a long time.) Like trackandfield08 I was really unlucky medically this summer. Before everything started going downhill swab summer was an amazing, if incredibly difficult experience. It was incredibly hard from the moment you wake up in the morning to the moment your head hits the pillow after Taps you are always going, always striving, and always in some sort of pain (mental or physical). But I loved it in a twisted slightly masochistic way, the cadre pushed us so hard, and we improved so fast.
Things went downhill quickly for me though after I fell in a pothole on our way back form our first set of morning cals, I severely sprained my ankle and was on limited duty for almost two weeks which was awful. Within days of being cleared for full duty I caught swine flu, and was finally released the day before mystic, only to be re-admitted after mystic Libo for pneumonia. I so much of swab summer because I was always in the ward, so I was never able to properly bond with my company, and I was never really able to fully recover from anything. What happened for me during the last day before my company was supposed to go on eagle was the last straw for me medically. I ended up passing out twice, for no apparent reason, this has happened many more times since then, and it is one of the reasons why I am being medically dis-enrolled, as no one is able to find out what is causing them.
After speaking with my parents and people at the clinic it was decided that it would be a better idea for me to go home, get well, and try and do it again next year. I was recommended for a deferral but as of today I haven’t heard anything offical yet. I have been healthy all my life, and this summer was horrible, I love the Coast Guard and everything that it and the academy stand for. If for some reason beyond my comprehension I am not offered a deferral then I will reapply, the Academy and especially a career as a Coast Guard Officer is what I want to do with the rest of my life.
No mater what happens though, I will be SEMPER PARATUS AND SEMPER GUMBY.