I am reaching out to my fellow shipmates here, hoping you all in your experience can help me. I have recently been told that I may have bone cancer of my right tibia, as of right now they pathology report is unconclusive on weather it's Cancer or not but if it is the only treatment for it is cutting off my leg below the knee. My question is is there any active duty Coast Guard amputees? I am a First Class Machinery Technican that has been in for a little over five years, the only thing I can find on the internet is about Army Amputees and as my username says I am truly Hard for the Guard. Need less to say I would be highly upset to be seperated from my dream job, is there a chance that I could stay Active? Thanks for any help you could offer.
Have you talked to your local clinc admin or Doc yet? It all comes down to fit for worldwide deployment and that is usually determined by a Medical Board. There can be many factors that can play into the decision... Best to have a sit down with the local clinic administrator.
That's what turned my accident into a career ender. The med board felt that having my leg bolted together would rule me out for sea duty. I diagreed, but they won.
THats what I am afraid of. I am still as of right now just on light duty and recovering from surgery. There hasn't been any talk of med board yet but I have an appointment on Thursday I will talk to him then. Thanks for the input.
Take it day by day. There is a Med board process and you do have rights. If you want to get familiar with it, look at the Physical Disabilities Evaluations Systems Manual.
Med Boards are there to protect the member and the CG. If you get one, and you do not like what it says, you can rebut it. If it comes back and don't like what the board found, you can fly to DC and fight it. Educate yourself on the process. Don't just listen to what the Doc and Med Admin officer says as absolute.
