Posted on Sep 9, 2014
SGT Retired
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I am trying to help a friend. He is currently stationed in Fort Lewis Washington and going through a divorce. His wife and children are moving near Fort Campbell, KY. He talked to his chaplain to get a compassionate reassignment but his commander will not sign off on it. His battalion commander has no interest in helping him, should he just keep trying to go up the chain or is there another option for him?
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Responses: 7
MSG Senior Career Counselor
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It is processed up through the Commander who is the General Court Martial Convening Authority (GCMCA)which is going to be your first General Officer in Soldiers Chain of Command / some (few) BDE CDRs have been granted GCMCA authority. The GCMCA can disapprove the request and it will not be processed further. However, HRC (Compassionate Branch) is final approval Authority.
That being said, I have a hard time believing a Divorce warrants an approval, unless there are some underlying situations which would warrant approval (medical reasons).
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SGT Retired
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two of his three children were efmp and their therapist both wrote letters stating that a pcs from his last duty station (fort Campbell) would be counter productive to their mental health. since one has ran away three times along with some other things that are to bad to mention. their therapist also stated that being separated from him may cause more distress.
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MSG Senior Career Counselor
MSG (Join to see)
10 y
My recommendation would be to have him go directly to the Compassionate office there at his installation. They can let him know if his issues warrant a compassionate and if so, exactly what documentation they would need. One thing that will be needed is a very strong letter from the therapist. Hope this helps.
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SFC Mark Merino
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Compassionate Reassignments are not going to help for a divorce. They are actually hard to get approved. My infant son has a 106* fever and was in the hospital for 2 weeks. After running the gamut of every test known to man, the head allergist for Fort Rucker came in and told me to immediately get him out of the south (DO NOT FLY!!!! Just DRIVE!!) Within 100 miles, he was breathing normally for the first time in 10 months without coughing. He had some non-specific environmental allergy (most likely peanut dust he said). I was told to bring my son BACK o get the exact allergy determined BEFORE they would approve it. NO COMMON SENSE!!! I finally got my branch manager to reassign me to the first place that was about to deploy just so I could rejoin my family.
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SFC Mark Merino
SFC Mark Merino
10 y
SFC James Sczymanski Didn't work out for me in the long run either, brother.....but it was worth every penny in divorce court to be free.
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CPT Aaron Kletzing
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I concur with SFC Jerry Crouch - I had a Soldier in my platoon who was in almost an identical situation, and he was unable to get a compassionate reassignment, for the basis laid out by SFC Jerry Crouch in #2 in his post. I also agree with the point made by SGM Matthew Quick that based on my experience, this issue tends to be initially signed off on by the first O-5 in the individual's chain of command. Again, this is based on my experience, and I have also had SMs in my units successful receive compassionate reassignments, though I did not have great visibility on the details there.
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