Turned Down on I Day

If it’s the Diana Zamora (USNA plebe) and David Graham (USAFA doolie) case, she made comments during plebe summer to roommates that had them concerned enough to go to a chaplain. In a round of roommate “what’s the worst thing you have ever done” chat, her responses were disturbing - either she was being scary honest or something else was wrong with her. Chaplain asked if he could share with leadership. Dant’s JAG was a bit of a cowboy, who called Zamora’s county police to ask about an unsolved murder in the preceding year. David Graham was her boyfriend, and the victim’s brother had heard her on the phone with a “David.” The case progressed quickly from there, with facts gathered, LE flying into both SAs and both questioned at the same time to preclude them talking to each other. Nasty, premeditated, violent murder.
I had just arrived as a BattO - quite the introduction to the place. “Texas Cadet Murders” is the applicable awful movie.

They broke up…now back to normal I-Day chat.
wow!! I remember this case being I am in texas but totally forgot about it and that she was a plebe......
 
Keep in mind in the course of this discussion -- USNA is not looking for reasons to send someone home on I-Day. That Offer of Appointment means that the Admissions team (and by extension, the Superintendent) thinks you have what it takes to be a good Naval /Marine Corps officer. Sure, if someone gets hurt or something changes between now and then, you can be turned away (but in the case of injury often with the opportunity to come back next year). The mission of the Naval Academy includes producing young officers for the Fleet, and attrition doesn't help accomplish that mission.
 
Hi, I wanted to ask where does it say that 6 months prior to iday no surgeries? I am an applicant for this year and I had a minor ganglion cyst surgery removed from last month from my wrist. I reported it to dodmerb but will this be a problem? I have my exam this Wednesday.

Tactically speaking, I wouldn't have reported such a minor surgery. I know you did the right thing and I'm sure it will turn out fine for you. Larry Mullen is probably going to have a cow for my posting this but, personally, I would not have reported such a minor thing because it has the potential to trigger some bureaucratic hamster wheel that would be completely unnecessary.

I forgot where I read about the "no surgeries six months" prior to I-day. Maybe that restriction does not exist anymore. I don't know. I'm sure there can be surgeries that are so minor that, even if reported, they might consider it minor enough to not be disqualifying. It might be different if you had reconstructive surgery on your knee 3 months prior to I-day, however.
 
Tactically speaking, I wouldn't have reported such a minor surgery. I know you did the right thing and I'm sure it will turn out fine for you. Larry Mullen is probably going to have a cow for my posting this but, personally, I would not have reported such a minor thing because it has the potential to trigger some bureaucratic hamster wheel that would be completely unnecessary.

I forgot where I read about the "no surgeries six months" prior to I-day. Maybe that restriction does not exist anymore. I don't know. I'm sure there can be surgeries that are so minor that, even if reported, they might consider it minor enough to not be disqualifying. It might be different if you had reconstructive surgery on your knee 3 months prior to I-day, however.

Except that I feel like this opens a slippery slope of self-assessment. Many, many times candidates/parents post here about how such and such is minor, does affect me, or DR says I’m good’, without knowledge of the bigger picture. Ie ‘asthema’ or ‘eczema’.

I agree a cyst maybe isn’t a big deal. And that will come through appropriately in the subsequent process. But respectfully, I don’t think we can say ‘don’t report this, do report that’ and still talk about ‘a medical record exists to candidates, so don’t lie’.

Answer the asked question honestly. And let the experts handle the process. If it’s no big deal, it’s no big deal. Imo.
 
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Tactically speaking, I wouldn't have reported such a minor surgery. I know you did the right thing and I'm sure it will turn out fine for you. Larry Mullen is probably going to have a cow for my posting this but, personally, I would not have reported such a minor thing because it has the potential to trigger some bureaucratic hamster wheel that would be completely unnecessary.

I forgot where I read about the "no surgeries six months" prior to I-day. Maybe that restriction does not exist anymore. I don't know. I'm sure there can be surgeries that are so minor that, even if reported, they might consider it minor enough to not be disqualifying. It might be different if you had reconstructive surgery on your knee 3 months prior to I-day, however.
Hi I just took my dodmerb exam. She marked it as completely healed but I think I should be all set as long as dodmerb approves of this. thanks for your help!
 
I agree a cyst maybe isn’t a big deal. And that will come through appropriately in the subsequent process.

Everybody has a story about dealing with some bureaucratic organization where something seemingly unimportant created needless complications because somebody clicked the wrong box on their computer screen that set off a chain of events that needlessly spiraled out-of-control. If that same issue was directed toward a different person on a different day, they might have dealt with it differently and it never would have been a problem in the first place.

Take my example of my identical twin sons. They graduated in 2013. When they were going through the application process, they each had to do the DoDMERB medical exam. They did not do it at the same time. They were wearing braces on their teeth. The braces were going to be removed prior to I-Day. Certainly, they were not the first candidates in history to have braces on their teeth during their DoDMERB exam. One gets a thumbs up and the other gets a thumbs down. Some nurse, doctor, technician or somebody clicked a box that caused us a lot of aggravation to correct. I remember Larry Mullen (Deputy Directory) had to intercede - and I thank him for that. But it took that! He told us that that should not have happened. Yeah - but it did!

Remember, I had one son who passed his DoDMERB with braces on his teeth but he had a slight hernia. The other one only had braces and did not pass. Maybe he would have been better off if he told them that he had a hernia, too.

The DoDMERB is the medical version of the DMV. You don't want to deal with Doris. You want Katie!
Doris: "I'm sorry, I cannot renew your license without a notarized copy of form D-4223(B). Also, I'm going to need written references from five non-family members attesting to your competency to drive. Also, we're going to need your Instagram password and a stool sample."
Katie: "Step over there, we'll take your photo and we should have your new license processed immediately."

People have to decide for themselves how to deal with these gray-area medical issues. But I would not leave discretionary things to their discretion. One might see this as a matter of honor. I see it as a matter of using common sense in trying to circumvent arbitrary, inconsistent, bureaucratic decision making.
 
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