Classof83
10-Year Member
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2010
- Messages
- 166
If your cadet is targeted for medical separation, you can expect, based upon the experience of my cadet and others, for things to happen very quickly if his case is referred to the Medical Examination Board/Physcial Examination Board (MEB/PEB) process. He will not be allowed to complete the semester (with no support by the academic authorities in transferring to another university) and the depiction of his condition by the medical authorities will be over the top just to make the case a "slam dunk." They depicted my cadet as someone who couldn't be in a military vehicle never mind drive one. In contrast, for example, just last week my cadet took part in two extremely demanding cross-fit classes.My son is in his second year and will likely be medically separated because of a childhood skin disorder that is no longer even an issue in his life. He had multiple full ride scholarships to other colleges, but he turned them down because he wanted to go to West Point. When applying, my son was up front about this childhood issue and he was still accepted. Only now are they making a big deal of it without any basis. I know that West Point does not hold his future in their hands - ultimately God does. However, my son feels called to military service and as he is a National Merit Scholar, having studied the military and its history since he was a young child, I have difficulty seeing him just joining the regular Army outside of West Point. He's ranked #162 out of 1,180 cadets - top 15%. He's been invited by WP leaders to numerous academic travel activities but he turned them down to pursue a leadership position that would be more helpful for him in a military career. We will know by early March whether they will separate him or not but we are all very frustrated because he does not have any health issues and yet they have made up their mind to end his career with no real basis for doing so. And we have no recourse or say in the matter, despite my son's meeting with numerous people regarding this.
In addition, medically separated cadets are sent home on a medical administrative leave. The key word is administrative - this is the same category used if someone had been sent home for bad conduct and allows them to be sent home WITHOUT PAY. When I questioned this practice, I was told that it was allowed under new regulations passed in 2019 (AR 40-501). The difference in being sent home on administrative leave given a medical disqualification versus bad conduct, is that under the MEB/PEB process, your cadet must be available for medical exams by civilian medical examiners. The Physical Evaluation Board Liaison Officer (PEBLO) told my cadet that it was their military duty to participate in the process, all without pay. The lowest ranking private in the Army still receives pay during the MEB/PEB process. It is at this point that our legal and political support was valuable - we were able to stop the out-processing (the academic company had attempted to clear out my cadet's locker and send everything home) of my cadet until the conclusion of the MEB/PEB process.
My suspicion, only based in observation, is that to make up for cadets being allowed to remain, even given accusations of cheating (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/west-point-cheating-scandal-cadets-expelled/), sexual assault and failure (in one case, failure of three of the same class and in another case a failure of a combination of eight classes - I know these to be actual cases), to "balance the ledger," medical separations are being used to decrease numbers.
I urge you to contact your U.S. Senators now. Mine have been ardent in their support. If we can get a number of U.S. Senators to fight this policy of unwarranted medical separations and the "No Golden Handshake" policy, we can help end this unfair treatment.