Knee injury one week into Basic

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nicmo92

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Registered Member
My son is 8 days into Basic. He had a pre-existing knee condition for which he had surgery in 2020. He was given a medical waiver. Due to the footwear and running, he has now aggravated both knees and is on crutches. The DS does not believe him and repeatedly insults him. They agreed to do an X-ray which is not going to show anything because his issue is soft tissue —
- knee patella chondromalacia
- knee recurrent patellar dislocation
- Medial patellofemoral ligament incompetence

It appears this was not a one time issue. It’s genetic and affects both knees. The Army should have never granted the waiver.

We only learned this today during the regular 30 minute call. They aren’t letting him talk to anyone and are threatening him. What options do we have? I want to hire a lawyer and get him out of there, but I don’t want to make it worse for him.
 
Maybe consider mailing your son a very small amount of documents showing the diagnosed condition and waiver used to enter the service. He can then present those to medical. He will then have printed evidence of the pre-existing conditions. They would likely place him on a medical profile and possibly move him to a medical hold platoon if there is no sign of improvement. And based on how much it's interfering, medical would likely start the process for non-duty separation.

I am not sure what, if anything, a lawyer would be able to help with in a situation like this. Your son is an adult who signed up to serve his county. He must now go through the process he signed up for to include the medical screening process. Additionally, if he is unable to complete boot camp, he will be separated as well. So either way, time will resolve this. It's only been 8 days as you said, so all this is very very fresh. Give it time for the processes to happen. It will likely take weeks to months for this all to play out. He's being housed, fed, paid and provided medical care. He will be ok.
 
Thanks, @DaveK . I appreciate the advice. I have mailed him info on the diagnosis. I will ask his recruiter for a copy of the waiver because he didn't provide it to me before he left.

Regarding the lawyer, my main concerns were denial of rights such as refusal to believe him, refusing to give him pain meds, refusing to let him talk to anyone, threatening him with discipline, and sending him to an unqualified medical person. They are doing an X-ray on a soft tissue injury which is completely ineffective and will erroneously validate their opinion that he is faking it. He's devastated at not being able to do the training. He has wanted to do this his whole life. Then to be accused of faking it combined with severe insults and threats is very demoralizing. Even adults who volunteer to serve their country have rights and deserve to be treated like a human.
 
Sure thing, and if he is on crutches, that means he's already documented as light duty. The process has started to him help. And trust me there are endless checks and balances in place to protect new soldiers through boot camp. They will go above and beyond to protect his well-being even if he doesn't realize it as they mentally give him a hard time.

You can do as you feel you need, but in my opinion you are likely to bring even more unwanted attention on him. Remember, he went in recovered/healthy per his own statements and then the medical entrance exams agreed. It's only been 8 days as you said. While yes, there is a fine line of unacceptable behavior, it's also not summer camp. It is to be especially hard and unfriendly during the first few weeks.

They will try to do the least amount of interventions in order to give him the best chance of retention. That is unless he has decided he does not want to be there. Does he wish to stay in? You said he's wanted this his whole life...maybe just give him time to work through this on his own.

My knee cap slid up my leg in boot and then I broke my hand/wrist. I went on to graduate with an extra few weeks in there. I then had a great career ending in retirement a lifetime later. Maybe he can find a way to work through this, but he needs that chance.
 
I would add, that your job is to support your son. The military views him as an adult and thus they will not engage with you. Help him by having his back. Let him lead the fight. In the long run he will be stronger.
 
Old thread, I know, but found it now and it might help someone if I leave a comment. If everything played out the way these cases usually do, your son has probably either completed the process or been medically discharged by now. Still, a lot of people end up finding threads like this through Google after dealing with the same kind of knee instability during training. The giving way feeling is the scariest part. I had knee instability issues years ago and every sudden twist made me paranoid as hell walking downstairs lol.

After I was finally back in the civilian medical system, I ended up using knee specialist Austin M. Tyrrell Burrus because regular scans and quick appointments weren’t explaining why the kneecap kept shifting around. Huge difference once someone focused specifically on dislocation mechanics instead of treating it like a simple sprain. If your son did end up getting out and still had lingering instability afterward, that specialist type of evaluation became way more useful for me than trying to just push through it.
 
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