Does Anyone have son or daughter on Ship 17 as of June 2008?
Hi everyone,
My son has been on Ship 17 since June 13 for misinformation by his recruiter. My son left for Great Lakes on June 12th, and the following day we received the phone call that he was put on Ship 17. He is in Division B-01, and it seems his letters, date-wise, got increasingly worse after June 15th.
I have been receiving letters on a daily basis, and he is miserable. He said they cannot leave without an escort. He has been promised time and time again that he will be seeing Legal "today," yet today never comes.
His letters are asking us to help him get out of there, but when I talk with him on the phone, he says otherwise. I know when he's on the phone, there is someone right there listening, so I know he is limited in what he is saying. I finally got up the nerve and called Legal. My son called from Legal the next day and I was told he would not sign a waiver so that they could discuss his case with me. As it turns out, he didn't sign the waiver because he was yelled at and intimidated by them before I spoke with him and told that if he signed the waiver, it wouldl prolong his stay on Ship 17. He sounded horrible. Plus, he was sick and was afraid to go to the doctor because they also told him that would keep him there longer.
Today, I received four letters from him, two dated June 15th. Both of those letters were positive letters, he was training at that point. From June 16th on, he has been begging me to help him. So, I emailed the Ombudsmen, a Melanie Tomkins who turned my email over to her "point of contact," which turned out to be my son's RTC. Today, I received a phone call from him at my office. It was quite obvious that he was ordered to tell me to back off and tried to reassure me that he would be coming home, but to quit calling (Legal) and quit emailing. I know the phone call was staged.
My point being that no matter what I try to do, I always get a phone call from him telling me to stop. I just don't know what to do anymore. As of his letter dated June 19, he wants to give it two weeks from that date and if nothing happens then he will call me and tell me what to do.
I have tried Legal, I have tried his recruiter's office, I have tried the Ombudsman. The only thing left is possibly our US Senbator, but I don't know what to tell him or her because I don't know what the actual charge is. That's another thing: My son said he will be receiving an RE-3 for code 2309. There is no code 2309. He said the discharge is a general discharge, whatever that means. Can anyone advise me?
Thank you in advance.
My son has been on Ship 17 since June 13 for misinformation by his recruiter. My son left for Great Lakes on June 12th, and the following day we received the phone call that he was put on Ship 17. He is in Division B-01, and it seems his letters, date-wise, got increasingly worse after June 15th.
I have been receiving letters on a daily basis, and he is miserable. He said they cannot leave without an escort. He has been promised time and time again that he will be seeing Legal "today," yet today never comes.
His letters are asking us to help him get out of there, but when I talk with him on the phone, he says otherwise. I know when he's on the phone, there is someone right there listening, so I know he is limited in what he is saying. I finally got up the nerve and called Legal. My son called from Legal the next day and I was told he would not sign a waiver so that they could discuss his case with me. As it turns out, he didn't sign the waiver because he was yelled at and intimidated by them before I spoke with him and told that if he signed the waiver, it wouldl prolong his stay on Ship 17. He sounded horrible. Plus, he was sick and was afraid to go to the doctor because they also told him that would keep him there longer.
Today, I received four letters from him, two dated June 15th. Both of those letters were positive letters, he was training at that point. From June 16th on, he has been begging me to help him. So, I emailed the Ombudsmen, a Melanie Tomkins who turned my email over to her "point of contact," which turned out to be my son's RTC. Today, I received a phone call from him at my office. It was quite obvious that he was ordered to tell me to back off and tried to reassure me that he would be coming home, but to quit calling (Legal) and quit emailing. I know the phone call was staged.
My point being that no matter what I try to do, I always get a phone call from him telling me to stop. I just don't know what to do anymore. As of his letter dated June 19, he wants to give it two weeks from that date and if nothing happens then he will call me and tell me what to do.
I have tried Legal, I have tried his recruiter's office, I have tried the Ombudsman. The only thing left is possibly our US Senbator, but I don't know what to tell him or her because I don't know what the actual charge is. That's another thing: My son said he will be receiving an RE-3 for code 2309. There is no code 2309. He said the discharge is a general discharge, whatever that means. Can anyone advise me?
Thank you in advance.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rose R on -
Hi, Debi,. The numeric codes are impossible to find out . I was given several web sites, to look it up, finally found one that said the Dept of Defense no longer allows it to be publicized.It is a deliberate effort to prevent the recruit from knowing what they are saying about him, in my opinion. There is a website run for conscientious objectors, that has a good explanation of the various discharges. An RE 3 tells you little, because it has a letter after it. The page you found on About.com gives the breakdown on that. The objector site is
www.objector.org/girights/gettingout/other.html
I hope I got it right. I just can't cut and paste!
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Permalink Reply by Rose R on
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Yes, I am I just checked quick to see what is going on. Gotta go pack now.lol
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Permalink Reply by Janell on
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Hi, Debi--my daughter is still in Ship 17 as well. I was able to talk to her yesterday for quite awhile and learned that they are probably going to get her on 'fraudulent enlistment' because she hadn't been off of depression meds for a full year and that she denied having been in counseling after she was physically abused (she was never asked about her meds at MEPS and her recruiter told her to lie about the counseling, which she did). She said she won't get to see Legal until they are able to get the records of her counseling sessions.
I just want to know when some of these recruiters are going to be held responsible for killing dreams. If she had known she had to wait a year (after the meds) to get in the Navy, she would have done it. But her recruiter knew of a 'loophole' and she trusted him. So more than likely she'll end up with an RE-4, and won't be able to try to go in again without jumping through a bunch of hoops trying to get it overturned (which is still unlikely).
She also told me that she isn't allowed to have me send her clothes back to her to wear on her trip home (whenever that is). She will have to wear the blue jumpsuit that they currently wear on Ship 17. Not only does that make her a target (in my opinion--that's why the military recommends it's members not to wear their uniforms when they fly anywhere on civilian aircraft) if there is problems on the plane, it also is humiliating to these kids who are already depressed about being in Ship 17 and getting more depressed every day they are there. Is it any wonder she told me yesterday that she figures she'll need counseling after she gets home just to back to normal!
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Permalink Reply by Debi on -
(((Hugs))) for you, Janell. It is a horrible thing to know our kids are going through absolute hell, and it seems as though no matter what we, as parents, do to try and help, we too get slapped in the face. My husband and I both agreed that with the manipulation and intimidation that our son is going through, that doesn't stop us from doing whatever we can to help him get out of there -- we are not in the Navy, our son is.
I am so sorry to hear about your daughter, Janell, My heart is breaking for you, and I will continue to pray mightly for your daughter as well as the others who are on Ship 17. I know there is a number, but don't know what it is, that you can report the "abuse" from a recruiter. I saw it referenced somewhere on this site, but I don't know of an actual phone number. Have you tried contacting your US Senator?
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Permalink Reply by Karen on -
HELP! My son sent a letter stating he lost his job classification due to a depth vision test failure. He is being encouraged to sign an unrated contract which he is refusing to do. (Thank God we had that discussion during his sign up period) His letter seems to point towards processing out or separation??? Not sure what this entails or the consequences of doing that. Will he be sent to Ship 17? How will I know if this happens? How can i expedite this if it does? I live 5 1/2 hours away from Great Lakes and I will drive there to kick some RTC booty if he get stuck like I'm reading some of these poor kids are having to deal with. Any suggestions?
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Permalink Reply by Debi on
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Karen,
I am not sure if that means that they are going to discharge your son or just change his job. I am very new at this Navy thing and it seems as though everything that I have tried to do for my son and blown up in his face; in other words, it has been taken out on him.
When I knew for sure that my son was on Ship 17, I called Legal. They were very nice to me and explained to me that my son could sign a waiver allowing them to discuss his case with me. They said I would hear from him the following day. When they called the very next day, they said my son refused to sign a waiver, therfore, they could not discuss his case with me. I then spoke to my son, very briefly, because they were standing right there while he spoke with me. He sound scared and very intimidated. And now, he is still on Ship 17 and has not even seen Legal yet to start the process of discharge.
It sounds like your son is not on Ship 17 yet, I'm not sure what an unrated contract is. How long has your son been there?
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Permalink Reply by Karen on
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He's been there since the 13th of June. He sent a letter to his girlfriend and said they were probably going to process him out and it takes 2 to 4 weeks...
I do not want to make anything worse on him, but I don't want him taken advantage of. God I feel so helpless. I know you understand. I will keep you posted if I hear of anything.. I'm assuming if he gets moved out of his div I will get a phone call?????
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Permalink Reply by Debi on
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I don't know if you will get a phone call or not. My son arrive in bootcamp on June 12 and I thought he went to Ship 17 on the 13th, but it wasn't until the 15th and I didn't get a phone call when they moved him. He just happened to call his girlfriend and told her they moved him, so may you will.
I totally understand your feeling of helplessness, Karen, believe me, I do. I don't really know what else to say because I know from my own experience that everything I did to try and help my son was taken out on him and it made me feel worse.
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Permalink Reply by Denise (Michael's Mom) on -
Janell, Could you tell me a little more about the "fraudulent enlistment" issue? My son was 'encouraged' not to reveal certain things by his recruiter and now I am very concerned about his upcoming BC -- he leaves in 7 weeks. I'm afraid he'll end up on Ship 17 which sounds pretty bad from everything I'm reading. Also, I am concerned about saying too much on this website, because apparently there is some discussion about Navy personnel reading the posts.
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I have pretty much stayed out of things at the Great Lakes end--I haven't called Legal, etc. The only reason I would do that would be if my daughter specifically asked me to do that, and she hasn't yet (and I spoke to her for quite awhile 2 days ago). She is almost 21, she is an adult, she didn't need my permission to enlist, and she grew up a military brat. She knows that if she is old enough to fight for her country, the military expects her to be able to fight her own battles.
That being said, if she were physically ill and in the hospital, I would be there at her side already, doing what needed to be done. Yes, I believe she has been treated unfairly and I am mad enough at her recruiter to spit nails and I think something needs to be done about him (and other recruiters like him), but we will decide what needs to be done about that after she gets home again.
As for the 'fraudulant enlistment', I'm sure there are a lot of recruiters out there who encourage these recruits to keep their mouth shut on certain things. Very few people have a perfect past. I also know that not everyone who lies is caught. It's pretty much the luck of the draw, so to speak. The reason my daughter was caught was because she injured her knee 3 days into training and was sent to a military doctor who found in her medical records that she had been on anti-depressents. I think what finally did her in (from what I've been told) is that she had actually lied about having been in counseling (saying she hadn't been) because her recruiter 'strongly encouraged' her to not disclose that information. (But who wouldn't need counseling and antidepressents after being physically abused by her ex-boyfriend? So pretty much what it comes down to is that because someone else beat her up and she sought help, she is being further punished.)
Anyway, that all being said, she will do what she has to do to get home again. And then, if she still wants to try to go back in again, she will work it from this end. But if she does try to go back in again, she will be honest and up front about everything from the start, I'm sure.
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Permalink Reply by Debi on
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He just wrote and finally told me what he was on Ship 17 for. I don't know if I should say, only because of who reads this site, but suffice it to say, it's nothing bad, and I was correct in what I thought it was. The thing is, my son was saying he is getting depressed watching people who came to Ship 17 after he did, go hom before him, go to Legal and get discharged. He still hasn't seen Legal yet and it's been ten business days! He is so frustrated, and I just don't know what to do for him. I wrote him back and encouraged him to stay strong and hang in there and suggested he go talk to the Chaplain. I think that not having anybody to talk to is doing him more harm than anything else.
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