Posted on Sep 17, 2021
SSG Human Resources Specialist
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Been a hell of a past month. In the past week I was notified I was deploying, a few days later my MRI came back diagnosing me with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, which is a heart disease. I am currently in the National Guard as a 42A, however I spent my first 7 1/2 years as a 19D. About 4 or so years on Active Duty and deployed for OIF and OND, then transitioned to the Guard in 2013.

I have an appointment with my cardiologist on Tuesday. He has already mentioned over email that he does not think I should deploy, and he will be discussing with me about treatment options.

What will this do to my National Guard career? I have a bit less than one year left to fulfill my 4 year obligation to transfer my GI bill benefits to my son. I have not brought it up to my leadership yet because I want to talk to the Cardiologist first. Anyone have any experience with this? If the Dr. recommends me unfit for service, is there a med board? I have no idea about any of this because I planned on doing a full 20. Any help/guidance is much appreciated.

For anyone wondering, I had been having chest pains the past year, and slowly unable to work out without being light headed and almost passing out, and bouts of extreme vertigo, which I brought up with my VA Dr whom sent me to a Cardiologist.

Rock of the Marne.
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Responses: 6
PFC David Foster
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Good luck man. I had open heart surgery a few years ago, it was life changing.... Time to listen to the doctor....
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SSG Human Resources Specialist
SSG (Join to see)
3 y
I plan to take any advice/avenues they want to go. Time to listen to my body/doctors for once. I appreciate the kind words. When you say life changing, do you mean you felt better?
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PFC David Foster
PFC David Foster
3 y
Yes, definitely.... I got to the point I was having a hard time breathing. I had never had a minutes heart trouble in my life and woke up one day gasping for air... I definitely feel better now....
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SSG Edward Tilton
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You no longer have a National Guard Career.
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LT Brad McInnis
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SSG (Join to see) First and foremost take care of your body and health. Doesn't do your family any good if you aren;t there.
Second, explain to the Doctor what your goals are about staying in. Maybe they can "massage" the reports so that it says you may be deployable in the future.
Third, this med stuff takes a long time in any branch, so I wouldn't sweat the year.
Lastly, I am not a NG expert by any means, this is just the same advice I gave my sailors when they were dealing with med issues.
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