My junior in college ROTC / NG SMP son sustained an ACL tear during his ROTC PT time. They had them playing dodge ball and he jumped and landed wrong. Confirmed by MRI and surgeon discussion this morning. Surgery scheduled for Dec 19 after final exams. Surgeon made it very clear this morning that son's past history on this knee (ACL tear Aug 2021 with full recovery and clearance by DoDMEB a year later) did not affect the tear this time. Rather, it was the jumping, twisting, and landing on one foot weirdly that tore his ACL. This surgeon is top notch in his field with lots of primarily football / athlete ACL reconstruction and lots of research into best techniques.
My questions:
- How likely is he to be medically disenrolled from ROTC / medically discharged from National Guard? While I know that there is always the chance for him to be deployed, his goal has always been medical school and serve his time as a doctor. He doesn’t need a perfect knee to do that. He scored 97% on ASVAB so I know they had told him as long as his grades are good (3.8 gpa in a STEM major) he could almost ask for any position and get it. Earned all kinds of awards and honors during basic training after his freshman year. He's 6'3" and 240 and has had one of best scores in his batallion for physical fitness in spite of size. Also has been one of fastest as well.
- How long does that process take and when would it start?
- If the process doesn’t start until after surgery or they say they need to wait….how does that affect his summer since he is a junior and he has ROTC training all summer?
- And I’ve read that his insurance may deny his claim since he was in PT at the time. If that happens what do we do? I don’t really want another surgeon who isn’t familiar with his knee to work on him but we certainly don’t have the money for his surgery either.
- If he is disenrolled / discharged we know he loses his tuition benefits and stipend but is there anything that would help pay for school?
I apologize for this long email, but I wanted to make sure I gave you my take on your DS unfortunate situation.
1. I doubt your DS will be disenrolled from ROTC and discharged from the ARNG. For the latter, he will go on a temporary profile and has up to 365 days to get back up to speed. The 12 months should be enough to rehab from a 2nd ACL surgery. Your son will be non-deployable while on the profile.
As for ROTC, your DS will have to work with the unit to stay in the program. The PMS can grant a 6 month medical leave of absence. Your son will need more than 6 months though, so another 6 month medical LOA (for a total of 12 months) is possible with approval of the ROTC BDE CDR. If your son is a good cadet, then the program will figure out a way to get to the "yes."
During a medical LOA, his tuition and stipend benefits will stop. IF he gets back to normal, then I believe the program can get a ETP to get his tuition retroactively paid/reimbursed. However, the stipend cannot be retroactively paid. The stipend is lost forever. Confirm what I just said with the ROO regarding retroactive benefits.
2. Are you talking about getting a medical waiver for the 2nd ACL tear, or ????
3. At this point, your son does not meet the medical standards (per DODI 6130.03) for accessions into the military because of the 2nd ACL tear with surgery.
Based on what you've told me on how he was injured, it is very possible to get a waiver for the 2nd ACL tear. A situation in which a waiver is very unlikely is someone who had ACL surgery a few years ago. He's walking around campus, steps off a curb, and tears his ACL. This type of 2nd tear in which there was really no trauma involved is not likely to get a waiver, but probably a higher chance of getting one than the Dallas Cowboys getting ring in the next few years.
It was clear that your son had some trauma involved. Granted, it's not like a trauma of getting tackled at the knee while playing football, but your son was jumping and landed wrong.
I think what will be needed for your son to get a waiver is the following: submitting all the medical records, to include the operative report, to the US Army Cadet Command Surgeon's office; getting a release from the orthopedic surgeon stating no activity restrictions or limitations; and some type of proof that the knee can withstand stressors (does he play intramurals? Passing the ACFT is a good indicator his knee is fine).
He most likely cannot go to CST in 2025. He needs to talk to the unit cadre and see he can get programmed to attend CST in 2026 and then get commissioned right afterward.
The complicating factor is he wants to attend medical school right after college it seems. This is the route I took (ROTC at a SMC + HPSP to a civilian medical school), so I am aware of the nuances involved with your son being out of cycle so to speak. This can be another discussion, but I won't go into it.
4. Laws affect what funding cadets/mids get while in ROTC. In other words, the "wrongness" of the system isn't because the Department doesn't want to take care of its kids. Laws are in place that prevent the Services from using Tricare, for example.
If a cadet/mid are injured while on active duty for training such a summer cruise or CST, then they are eligible for care at a MTF. Relatively new now is cadets/mids who are injured while on ADT during the summer are covered under Tricare just like a reservist is who is injured during a summer.
The black hole is when a cadet/mid is injured while doing military things on campus during the academic year. Many private insurance companies have exclusions that stop coverage if the condition or injury occurs while doing military activities.
Right now, cadets/mids are covered under Workers' Compensation if injured while doing ROTC activities on campus during the academic year.
I know that's not what you want to hear, but your cadet will have to go through the Department of Labor's Workers' Comp system if you want everything to be covered. The ROTC unit HRA will know how to start a Worker's Comp claim. It sucks, I know.
Does the previous orthopedic surgeon take Workers' Comp?
5. Can't help you here... loans? taking out a HELOC? That's a huge disadvantage of doing ROTC on a scholarship.
A kid attends a school like Notre Dame or MIT but can do so only because ROTC will pay for tuition. The tuition benefit goes away at no fault at all to the kid. Now the kid is stuck with a tuition bill that is astronomical. My oldest went to a USNWR top 20 school. When she started, tuition was $57K. By the time she graduated 4 years later, it was $65k... ridiculous.
Caveat to the above... admin issues are not my forte so your son will have to work with the unit PMS, ROO, HRA, etc... to figure out the way ahead. I am more familiar with the medical aspects.
