Once more, into the breech!

[MacGruff]

The family is excited right now and I thought I would share the news with you all, for the wonderful encouragement you always provide.

When the saga was last explained, my son was not given a waiver to join due to being labelled with an "Asperger's" label. As I mentioned back then, he is determined to join the Navy so we went and got a psychiatric evaluation of him. Today, we got the results.

I won't go through the complete thing, only the important part: "After interviewing A. and after careful review of past medical records, I [That's the psychiatrist] feel that Aaron does not currently and has never met the diagnostic criteria for Asperger's Syndrome."

So, now it's back to the recruiter to give this letter to the MEPS folks who rejected the waiver request and ask for a review of the waiver rejection. Along with that comes my question to you: as you may recall, the recruiters were never interested in helping us out - my son and I have pushed through every part of this - should we go back to the same recruiter? Or, should we seek a new one and explain the background to them?

On the one hand, we kind of want to get some revenge by giving some other recruiters the "points" for the recruit. On the other hand, there is a small chance that A will find the recruiter as his Chief at some future point - and will remember that "revenge". So, Pistol and others, what do you recommend?

[denmom]

Congrats on the good news from the DR. A word of advice make sure you have many copies of all the paper work especially before you turn any over to any recruiters or others.

As to your question about the recruiter I would suggest asking to talk to the recruiter in charge of the office unless that is the first recruiter you dealt with. On that hand I will wait to see what others suggest.

Good luck to you and your son.

[NavyMomx2]

Congrats on the good news - full steam ahead! I personally would go to another recruiter in another area of town, but make sure you let him/her know who you were talking with before hand. Remember: The squeeky wheel gets the oil. Squeek away and best of luck. Please let us know how things progress, you and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers.

[Kristie]

Congratulations.....that is wonderful news.....keep us posted!

[Retired Navy Chief]

Hey ... that is an encouraging return from the Dr. I don't believe that it would hurt anything to seek assistance from a different recruiting office. Remember that unless you travel quite a distance to find a different recruiter ... you will be using the same MEPs and the same people who are familiar with your son's case. If this doesn't matter ... then I would say roll into the next town and see the Recruiter-In-Charge.

As for the "revenge" idea .... I wouldn't even give that a second thought. You are not in the wrong for seeking assistance somewhere else (especially in this situation) and the recruiter understands this. People give WAAAAY too much attention to these "points" that recruiters get for putting people in the military. Bottom line is, if the recruiters don't put people in the Navy .... they get to go back to the fleet and their real job. While noone wants to fail at their job, 99% of them are ready to go back to the fleet anyway ... recruiting duty sucks for a real sailor !!

Keep us updated ... oh yeah, and having your son's case catch the attention of a state representative might not hurt either (hint, hint).

Cheers,
PISTOL

[MacGruff]

The story goes on ...

I spoke with the recruiter and let him know that if he is not interested in following up with my son, that's OK, we'll move on to a different recruiter. Within two hours we got a call from the Chief in charge of that recruiting station ... Seems like he was very eager to get a copy of the report ...

AFter I faxed him the complete report, he (the Chief) arranged to visit my son's school (the very next day no less!) and had him fill out some of the forms that were needed. The Chief said that he will now submit this to MEPS and see if they can process my son immediately.

Personally, I think that the local MEPS folks will not want to take a chance on this and that they will submit the new report to the MEPS folks in Tennessee who will give the waiver. So, now we wait some more.

It is interesting to note how quickly the Chief reacted though. And to Pistol's point, by now both U.S. Senators and our U.S. representative's office are involved in this situation...

:smile:

[NavyMomx2]

This is a huge step in the right direction - best of luck. I will be anxiously awaiting more news.