Medical discharge?

miamoo

My son joined the army at 16, he is now 18 and has been suffering with a knee injury for the last 6mths.
He fell during phase 2 training, and it hasn't been right since.

He has been able to complete all of his phase 2 training apart from the 1wk final exercise, but he has to complete this to pass out.
It is looking like he might get medically discharged very soon.

I have googled, but it is very difficult to find out any information, about what will happen next, and anything he will be entitled to.
How long (if at all) he will be paid his wages?
Where he can get advice on what he can do now (work college etc)
Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

He is really upset and disappointed, the army is all he has wanted and he is really happy there.

s1lv3rdal5

Hi. Do NOT let the army carry out a regular discharge ! ! If he is Injured during his army service, and that includes basic training, they he may be able to get a "Medical Discharge", if his knee is really bad, he may even get a War Disability Pension.
For more information, the Royal British Legion should be able to help you.

G8311374

Hi I have been medically discharged myself. Your son will get written notification that he is to be medically discharged and when his last serving day will be, he will be paid up to that day. As it is a medical discharge your son should receive an army pension straight away although it will not be enough to live on as it is based on time served, but it helps. He will receive quite a lot of leave before his last day in the forces. He will be entitled to full resettlement from the Army, so he needs to think about what he may want to do and there are grants out there to help him do courses. Once he receives a decision on his medical discharge the resettlement team should be his first point of call and his unit should have someone that deals with this. He also needs to try and keep a diary of events surrounding his injury, who was at fault, were there witnesses etc and if possible get copies of any medical records etc as he may wish to pursue a claim under the armed forces compensation scheme, the Royal British Legion in London will represent him for free. Off the top of my head this is all I can think of for now, but if you have any questions PM me.

G8311374

https://www.ctp.org.uk/

This is the link for the careers transition partnership that run resettlement. Hope it helps

oddjobbers

sorry Im going to have to disagree with you there Helen.
He's not automatically entitled to an army pension as soon as he leaves. it purely depends on the severity of his injury. i myself was medically discharged from the army with life changing injuries. i have been fighting for years to get my pension. There is a grading scale of injuries and the amount of compensation you are entitled to. this scale also relates to whether or not you are able to get your pension now or later.

may i ask what the reason for the discharge is? as it may be possible that he can apply for a 204 instead, which would allow him a year out on civvi street with the option to rejoin within this year where he left off ( this is dependent on where he was to begin with)
if you've any query please ask im now an army wife aswell as ex squaddie so can get hold of info if needed

exarmydreamer

He will come under the new pension/compensation scheme, which came in for all new recruits and those willing to change their current provision back in 2004.

Please, do not let them discharge him under anything else but medical grounds. He is in a training establishment and they are notorious for not following procedures that an operational unit would.

The best thing to do is seek advice from The Royal British Legion and the Veterans Agency, they will fight his corner. I was actually medically discharged in 2007, under the old scheme, so don't know to much about the scheme he now comes under. I know it's a tiered scheme, working on level of disability and time served but apart from that, the above charities is your best bet. He needs to make sure he keeps copies of all correspondence and is quite within his rights to ask for MRI's etc to be done before discharge. He is entitled to a copy of all his medical records under the data protection act

He can get assistance from the above charities, no matter how long he was in, and I found the veterans agency very helpful when dealing with the War Pensions people. The MOD, frequently get things wrong and I could of lost a couple of thousands pounds in compensation had I not been an administrator and knew what the score was. Hope this help's, and i'm sorry about his injury.

exarmydreamer

Veteran's Agency:

Service Personnel & Veterans Agency
The Shrubbery
Birmingham Road
Kidderminster
Worcester DY10 2BY

01562 825527

Hope this is useful to you.

G8311374

If you are medically discharged you automtically get your service pension which you would have got at 22 years, to get your AFCS/War Pension you need to apply for it. I was medically discharged because of my mental health, and am still battling with AFCS with regards to severity of condition.

Jamie_Carter

If it is an injury that will heal with treatment, then can't he be back squaded, and receive treatment whilst still in the army?

G8311374

I agree with Jamie, he should see as a first option if he can be back squadded and get some proper rehab on his knee. There are plenty of people in the forces with knee injuries. It may be with time and some proper intervention it will heel. He should ask his unit Medical Officer for a referral to an orthopaedic specialist to examine thoroughly, to be medically discharged he would need to see one anyway. Training units tend to have a habit of messing people with injuries around so that they will put in their papers rather than MD so please ask him to be proactive and see an orthopod.

peteuk

Can you RECU from phase 2 training?....

my basic understanding of the RECU process is following a perminant downgrade, you are told you are no longer fit for the role. You are then given the oppertunity to retrade...

If that doesnt work then you are given an admin discharge on med grounds.

I am sure someone on here can add the meat to the bone so to speak.