Heart surgery and BUD/S training

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Look, you won't know until you speak to a recruiter and that won't occur until you're at least 17. While I believe the advice/ hard reality given to you already, you won't 100% know until you try.



Piece of advice: drop this from your lexicon. I'll bet 99+% of all failures said the same thing and frankly, it sounds silly to adults.

I know exactly what you mean. But I'm not expecting anyone to understand this. When I did talk to the recruiter, he said come back when I was 17. I did tell him about the thing, and he didn't say no. So maybe that's a sign. I'm sorry if I came off as rude or arrogant to anyone. I hope this experience will allow me to grow as an individual, learn to be more humble, selfless, and face adversary with courage. Thank you for your response. I appreciate it.
 
Shoot for the moon. I was wounded in Baghdad during the surge and ruled unfit for service in 2006. I was, ahem... "offered" full medical retirement for my injuries. That didn't stop me from taking the Recon indoc and becoming a Force Recon platoon commander. My Dive Medical Officer at my unit found me unfit for special operations service (and all military service for that matter). I asked HQMC for a waiver and the Operations Officer of the entire Marines Corps (DC PP&O) said, "cool story bro" and here I am. Navy BUMED said I would die if I kept serving. Two combat deployments, and over a decade later, I'm still MFF and dive qualified getting DOD pay checks. Nothing is impossible.

Thank you for that inspiring piece of advice. And also, thank you for your service (As goes for all of you, if I forgot to mention). Guy's like you and others, all military personal who I look up to. Hopefully I can strive to be a better person. I won't stop trying though, I don't care if I "Waste" the next 2 years of my life training and fighting for this. If I give up now, I would never know, and that would leave to a life of remorse. I don't want to have to have that. I will continue on, and hopefully discover more about my self in the process. What I am capable of. Thank you for sharing that, I appreciate it.
 
Check it out folks, this goes for anyone looking to join. Why should the government take on the responsibility for your pre-existing condition, basically for the rest of your life. If they let you in, they are on the hook for your care. Forever. While I would argue all day for your right to insurance, I don't think you should be overburdening our already overburdened VA and military healthcare system.
 
Check it out folks, this goes for anyone looking to join. Why should the government take on the responsibility for your pre-existing condition, basically for the rest of your life. If they let you in, they are on the hook for your care. Forever. While I would argue all day for your right to insurance, I don't think you should be overburdening our already overburdened VA and military healthcare system.

To add to TLDR. Not to mention the pre-existing severe cardiac condition that could come back to bite you in the ass, with strenuous activity of any SOF selection, hell, for any extremely strenuous activity. I am not an M.D., just a paramedic but I see all kinds of things going south, a thoracic aneurysm being 1 serious issue. Good luck on what ever you do J.V. Seems like the heart and want you have, being a killer doc, as Red Flag posted would be pretty cool. Good luck in what ever....

M.
 
The death in training thing is stupid. You'd rather die? No you wouldn't. You'd rather live and do something else well. There is more to life than SEAL teams.

Lots of cool jobs out there doing cool things. You don't necessarily have to be in the military for them.
 
The death in training thing is stupid. You'd rather die? No you wouldn't. You'd rather live and do something else well. There is more to life than SEAL teams.

Lots of cool jobs out there doing cool things. You don't necessarily have to be in the military for them.

I do agree with that to an extent. It was more of me making a point. But how would you know? How would you know I would rather live for something else? Maybe there is more to life. But I haven't found it yet. To me it's a gradual learning process overtime. As stated many times before, I'm not expecting anyone else to understand. Until then, I will only continue to strive for this, even if people think I am just wasting my time.
 
I'd suggest you read my post properly. It wasn't a statement but rather a suggestion.
 
I'd suggest you read my post properly. It wasn't a statement but rather a suggestion.

I understand that it was a suggestion. I just don't feel that way to tell you the truth. If you wanted something so much that it was the only thing you have striven for, something you took reservoir and solace in, to the point that you believe it becomes your sole purpose, would you give up on it so easily?
 
Issues with the ticker and the respiratory system often come at odds with the physics in diving. I am not going to say it's can't happen, but I will say the risk is enormous.
 
J.V. - my response post above was to give you the guidelines for medical fitness to enlist. The remainder of this thread has shown that you really need to learn balance to soften your intense focus, you have no backup plan, you have no contingencies- why is that?

Yes, there is a brotherhood created by shared experience in any SOF unit, but you still deal with people, their personalities, foibles, and faults - you won't like or be liked by everyone in whatever unit you might join - but you will have a common bond that allows you to work with them.

Broaden yourself, look around you, be a kid, stay out of trouble - currently, you seem to be forcing yourself into a bubble of "SEALness" that is isolating you from the greater reality that is the world.

these are observations and advice from years of experience - you are setting yourself up for disappointment and regret from your single minded focus in becoming a SEAL - be a fully functional teenager first, grow, mature and reset your focus if need be. maybe the big guy upstairs is telling you that you need to be somebody other than what you think you desire.

Don't allow failure or a medical inability to follow this dream to destroy you or make you bitter. There is more to life than being a SEAL, PJ, SF, Ranger or whatever else - really, there is.
 
@JV some very knowledgeable and experienced people that include SOF, medical and in some cases both; gave you some solid advice. You're 16, enjoy life, focus on school and learn new things. You have no idea of what's out there.

As someone who's almost died, your comment that you'd rather die is not only idiotic, it's insulting to those you aspire to be. None of us want to die but we're for the most part ready and accepting that it's part of the job we chose. There's an epidemic of suicide in our community if you haven't noticed.
 
@JV some very knowledgeable and experienced people that include SOF, medical and in some cases both; gave you some solid advice. You're 16, enjoy life, focus on school and learn new things. You have no idea of what's out there.

As someone who's almost died, your comment that you'd rather die is not only idiotic, it's insulting to those you aspire to be. None of us want to die but we're for the most part ready and accepting that it's part of the job we chose. There's an epidemic of suicide in our community if you haven't noticed.

I realize that and believe me, I meant no disrespect. So sorry if I offended anybody here. I still see myself as being immature and selfish, needing improvement to grow. So once, again, sorry for that.
 
Yo, JV I hope you either make the cut or get a waiver. Just keep pressing on, and shoot for the stars. One thing I have learned is if you shoot high, you will high higher than if you aimed low, so if you put in the work, it will pay off in some way.
 
Yo, JV I hope you either make the cut or get a waiver. Just keep pressing on, and shoot for the stars. One thing I have learned is if you shoot high, you will high higher than if you aimed low, so if you put in the work, it will pay off in some way.

Or if you aim high you will miss. Aim center mass.
 
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