HELP!!!!! husband in the navy failed bca and know want him gone

April.L

April.L

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
Hello,
My husband joined the navy in 2010 and he has been struggling with his weight just to get into the navy which has been his dream to join and he was so excited when he got in but as of April, 27th 2013 he failed his BCA and know want to kick him out and no one is telling us anything this is our first duty station we was placed in FEP the first time that he failed the BCA because when we got here he had to take the PRT and he was not aware that he had to weight in first and instead he took the PRT first with out weighting in and passes but they marked it as a fail because he didn't do the BCA first and also the BCA the 2nd time so they though something might be wrong so they had us talk to a dietitian which we went and talked to and fallowed what she told us to do and also had him go to our doctor at the va to see if there was something medical wrong with him which we found out that he has sleep apnea which he needs a cpap machine and our doctor told us that could be a reason that it is hard for my husband to keep the weight off and when the 3rd PRT came he failed the the BCA but they wouldn't give him a medical waver because at the time we where still talking to the doctor and still trying to figure out what is wrong and they gave him some extra time which he passes the BCA and the PRT we have done everything the navy has asked of him and know it feels like they have given up on him and they will not tell him anything far as we know the paper work has not been started and all they have done is give him a list of websites to go to and start looking for a job dose anyone know what we should do i am a navy wife looking for answers to how this could happen and what should we do next or who should we even talked to since no one wants to take the time to help us
 
Did he have a sleep study? If so, what did it say about his sleep apnea (severity, AHI's, pressure on the CPAP)? It is late in the day to get this addressed, but if he is referred to the PEB, administrative separation for non-misconduct (i.e., BCA failure) is set aside until the PEB is completed. (Technically, in my opinion, even if the PEB has not been initiated, he should be retained; however, Navy practice is to only "hold" separations if the case is accepted by the PEB).
 
April.L said:
Hello,
My husband joined the navy in 2010 and he has been struggling with his weight just to get into the navy which has been his dream to join and he was so excited when he got in but as of April, 27th 2013 he failed his BCA and know want to kick him out and no one is telling us anything this is our first duty station we was placed in FEP the first time that he failed the BCA because when we got here he had to take the PRT and he was not aware that he had to weight in first and instead he took the PRT first with out weighting in and passes but they marked it as a fail because he didn't do the BCA first and also the BCA the 2nd time so they though something might be wrong so they had us talk to a dietitian which we went and talked to and fallowed what she told us to do and also had him go to our doctor at the va to see if there was something medical wrong with him which we found out that he has sleep apnea which he needs a cpap machine and our doctor told us that could be a reason that it is hard for my husband to keep the weight off and when the 3rd PRT came he failed the the BCA but they wouldn't give him a medical waver because at the time we where still talking to the doctor and still trying to figure out what is wrong and they gave him some extra time which he passes the BCA and the PRT we have done everything the navy has asked of him and know it feels like they have given up on him and they will not tell him anything far as we know the paper work has not been started and all they have done is give him a list of websites to go to and start looking for a job dose anyone know what we should do i am a navy wife looking for answers to how this could happen and what should we do next or who should we even talked to since no one wants to take the time to help us
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I am a little bit confused. Near the end of your post you said he passed BCA and PRT. When was that? You then say he failed his BCA 27 April 2013. Did he pass one and then fail one after?
 
He can be admin sepd for BCA. He should talk to his Career Counselor about this to get further clarification about what he can do to protect himself here. A doctor saying that Sleep Apnea could be making it hard for him to control his weight is simply not enough to garner any protection here. There would have to be solid medical evidence that he has some medical condition that causes weight gain for there to be any hope of fighting the process.

Not to burst your bubble but sleep apnea is not typically considered unfitting and there are thousands of service members that stay within standards with sleep apnea. We are required to stay in standards at all times, including when we first check onto a command because there is no “acclimation” period anymore. A BCA waiver, as per the PRT instruction spoken of above, can only be granted if a member is in an approved limited duty status and meets one of these criteria: surgery was conducted in an area that will interfere with normal taping procedures (ie neck surgery or abdominal surgery), a surgery that makes an appropriate weight measurement unattainable (ie leg cast), or if it is documented that the service member has weight gain in the previous 6 months associated with prescription drug treatment. Ultimately a BCA waiver is at the commands discretion and the CO has the final say. They are extremely hard to get. I had a very large and involved neck/back surgery and I had to fight tooth and nail to recieve a BCA waiver due to having lost 2 full inches in height after the surgery and being unable to stand up fully thus interfering with the height measurement pice of the BCA/weighin.

Unless a waiver for readiness has been approved his paperwork for admin separation will be initiated within 14 days of the most recent failure (third failure in a 4 year period) as per the instruction (OPNAVINST 6110.1J). Failing the BCA portion is a failure of the entire PFA now so each BCA failure is a full failure. His three BCA failures should garner Admin Separation. He should recieve a letter from his Commanding Officer within thirty days as notification of his failure and its ramifications.

This is the link for the MILPERSMAN dealing with admin sep for failing to pass the PFA. http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/milpersman/1000/1900Separation/Documents/1910-170.pdf

And this is the NAVADMIN concerning his being able to receive half separation pay for being processed out for BCA failure http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/messages/Documents/NAVADMINS/NAV2010/NAV10420.txt
 
April, I was just medically retired from the Navy in February for Crohns. I was active E5 for 9 years. The Regs state that 3 failures result in Admin Discharge. There is nothing you can do. I feel for you but the BCA and PRT Regs are the same for everyone whether officer or enlisted. He needs to start college or start looking for a trade that will pay the bills, and help you out for the time being. That is why I don't agree with the Military allowing people to join that are borderline on their weight. What happens is people go to boot camp, get their butts kicked and they lose enough weight to get thru, then they get to their duty station, get comfortable, or they are overwhelmed with the new command, and people start to eat more, work out less, and gain the weight back. God Bless you and you will be alright, for anyone willing to sacrifice for their country, deserves a smile on the way out.
 
Jason Perry said:
Did he have a sleep study? If so, what did it say about his sleep apnea (severity, AHI's, pressure on the CPAP)? It is late in the day to get this addressed, but if he is referred to the PEB, administrative separation for non-misconduct (i.e., BCA failure) is set aside until the PEB is completed. (Technically, in my opinion, even if the PEB has not been initiated, he should be retained; however, Navy practice is to only "hold" separations if the case is accepted by the PEB).
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yes he had a sleep study done june and july of last year and our doctor informed up that he has sleep apnea and that he needs a CPAP machine and i though that he could only be referred to the PEB if he was in for more than 4 years
 
ranger2992 said:
I am a little bit confused. Near the end of your post you said he passed BCA and PRT. When was that? You then say he failed his BCA 27 April 2013. Did he pass one and then fail one after?
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yes he passes the one before he failed the most recent one in April since we where still going though our doctor and trying to figure out what is wrong they gave him a extra week and was able to take it and pass
 
bpreachers said:
He can be admin sepd for BCA. He should talk to his Career Counselor about this to get further clarification about what he can do to protect himself here. A doctor saying that Sleep Apnea could be making it hard for him to control his weight is simply not enough to garner any protection here. There would have to be solid medical evidence that he has some medical condition that causes weight gain for there to be any hope of fighting the process.

Not to burst your bubble but sleep apnea is not typically considered unfitting and there are thousands of service members that stay within standards with sleep apnea. We are required to stay in standards at all times, including when we first check onto a command because there is no “acclimation” period anymore. A BCA waiver, as per the PRT instruction spoken of above, can only be granted if a member is in an approved limited duty status and meets one of these criteria: surgery was conducted in an area that will interfere with normal taping procedures (ie neck surgery or abdominal surgery), a surgery that makes an appropriate weight measurement unattainable (ie leg cast), or if it is documented that the service member has weight gain in the previous 6 months associated with prescription drug treatment. Ultimately a BCA waiver is at the commands discretion and the CO has the final say. They are extremely hard to get. I had a very large and involved neck/back surgery and I had to fight tooth and nail to recieve a BCA waiver due to having lost 2 full inches in height after the surgery and being unable to stand up fully thus interfering with the height measurement pice of the BCA/weighin.

Unless a waiver for readiness has been approved his paperwork for admin separation will be initiated within 14 days of the most recent failure (third failure in a 4 year period) as per the instruction (OPNAVINST 6110.1J). Failing the BCA portion is a failure of the entire PFA now so each BCA failure is a full failure. His three BCA failures should garner Admin Separation. He should recieve a letter from his Commanding Officer within thirty days as notification of his failure and its ramifications.

This is the link for the MILPERSMAN dealing with admin sep for failing to pass the PFA. http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/milpersman/1000/1900Separation/Documents/1910-170.pdf

And this is the NAVADMIN concerning his being able to receive half separation pay for being processed out for BCA failure http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/messages/Documents/NAVADMINS/NAV2010/NAV10420.txt
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he has talked to a career counselor about this and they gave him a brief power point which was nothing but websites about jobs and that's fine but we wanted to know more about what is going to happen as far as how long we have here, benefits, things like that and we had no idea that he had sleep apnea when the doctor told us i figured that would have been caught sooner with the hole process of him even going into boot but we where shocked and as far as receiving a letter from his commanding officer we have not received one yet and i know that he was going to go talk to legal department today to see what they can do i just want to make sure all of his bases are covered i just don't feel like they gave my husband a far chance it was hard enough trying to get in to even talk to our doctor and as of right know every time we try to get in he has been booked up for weeks we haven't even be able to get the CPAP machine that my husband needs from what they say
 
I don't mean to sound rude but the Navy did give him a fair shot. Physical standards are physical standards and we all have to stay to them. He was given the tools to stay in shape (free access to baswe gym, FEP, and sat down with a dietician). It isn't the Navy's fault he failed to meet standards.

As to the CPAP issue I am sorry for your difficulty but still yet Sleep Apnea will in no way help him with having failed the BCA three times in a 4 year period.
 
bpreachers said:
I don't mean to sound rude but the Navy did give him a fair shot. Physical standards are physical standards and we all have to stay to them. He was given the tools to stay in shape (free access to baswe gym, FEP, and sat down with a dietician). It isn't the Navy's fault he failed to meet standards.

As to the CPAP issue I am sorry for your difficulty but still yet Sleep Apnea will in no way help him with having failed the BCA three times in a 4 year period.
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your not rude at all any information is good at this point i know that it is our fault that he failed to meet standards i get that im more discouraged that they can't give us dates as far as ok this is when you need to leave and no one seems to be helping us with that or other people that he knows that are in the same boat as us then that way we can plan accordingly as far as moving and things like that i don't expect the navy to keep him that has been made very clear i just wish that they would take the time to help out with the questions we have instead of look for a job which yes is important i would be ok if they would just say ok you leave on this date, you need to do this and talk to these people i would be all cool with that and since this is the first time that this has happened to us maybe my post looks like that i am blaming them and i am in a way but i am not mad about it i figured that they would take the time to help out sailors that have problems since they decided to take the time to devote there life and serve there country but maybe i excepted to much
 
It may be in your best interest to contact Jason Perry and se eif he can assist your Husband in getting a MEB. It is worth a shot as there are possible future medical and finacial benefits that you may be entitled to.

If seperation is immenent then you have nothing to lose.
 
It will take a few months before he is out. Also remember that depending on what state you will move too, most states allow discharged military members to get max unemployment for up to 18 months as long as you are looking for a job. That amount is usually around $400 a week, and you can live off that in most places. Also he will get some college, and health benefits. Just try not to be overwhelmed get your finances together. Again, I wish you guys the best.
 
Welcome to the PEB Forum! :)

Please remain positively proactive and stay the course throughout your interactions in life to secure the best possible solution(s) for yourself and your loved ones.

Thus, I quite often comment that "possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer."

Best Wishes!
 
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