Questions about Navy nuke getting out.

[ELT101]

I am currently a navy ELT assigned to an aircraft carrier in VA. I have been fighting with depression in the navy ever since power school and i kept being told it would get better when I got to prototype. Still depressed there and was told it would get better when I got the the fleet. Let me make it clear that I'm not looking for an easy way out but that i am actually concerned with my mental well being and worry that if i stay in i will do something irrational that will either end up with me masted. I have been on the ship for 8 months and enjoy my job as an ELT and enjoy the chemistry aspect of it. I just have problems with the ideals of the navy. I am worried to get help because I'm so unclear about how it would effect my career. No one in the navy that i can talk to seems to have any legitimate answers to any of my question. Assuming I did get help and got discharged medically, lost my NEC (as many people that get medically discharged do) how would it effect my ability to get a job afterward? How important is an NEC really? Would companies look down on someone with only did 3 year as a nuke in the navy? I'm pretty clueless about the wold situation outside the navy so any suggestions/knowledge would help. Thank you! -MM3

[GLW]

..... I am worried to get help because I'm so unclear about how it would effect my career......

get the help,...

the Navy may be unsympathetic, but your long term health is more important,...

it is also important you do not endanger yourself or others in the short term,...

you can always build another career, to endanger yourself or others is tantamount to gross negligence on your part should yourself or anyone else be injured or worse,...

....if i stay in i will do something irrational that will either end up with me masted or...dead.....

you have no prerogative to take other people with you, in the close confines of a USN vessel taking someone else with you is more likely than it would be in many other endeavours,...

[HalfHazzard]

Go here: http://www.militaryonesource.mil/non-medical-counseling

or talk to a Chaplain.

I don't know when "it gets better" in life/Navy, although I can certainly say I've enjoyed time in the Navy, I've hated time in the Navy, I've enjoyed life as a civilian, and I've hated life as a civilian, all at different times.

I think the best thing you can do long term is finish your commitment as an ELT and then think long and hard about what turn your life needs to take afterwards.  Three years of "free" college isn't a bad time to figure that out after 6 years in.

[GLW]

....I think the best thing you can do long term is finish your commitment and then think long and hard about what turn your life needs to take afterwards.

I promote your perspective with one glaring complication,...

The OP introduced death as a potential if not likely end result,...

If you're not a samurai or a stoic, death is a five alarm mental health alert,...

Immediate intervention is needed,...

If the OP is sincere (or, even if the OP is a self-aggrandizing drama queen), the OP needs to be removed from where the OP's actions can bring harm to others or the mission, as both scenarios are indications of significant mental health debilitation,...

All else will follow as it does,...

Thank you for your service,....

[Utavon]

I don't know that this applies in your case, but about a year ago in Power School I was having issues along these lines. Not as drastic, I didn't want to hurt anybody and I was functioning at my job, but I was very upset. I scheduled a meeting with the chaplain and he spent an hour talking with me about my feelings and sorting them out. It helped, a lot. To this day, I don't really know why, but I guess it helped to have someone listen to my problems and guide me to the solutions.

If you haven't already, seek out the chaplain and talk with him/her. They will not talk to your CoC, they won't recommend a medical discharge on your first visit, and it'll give you the opportunity to sort through your issues and get your head on straight. Best of luck to you.

[spekkio]

I promote your perspective with one glaring complication,...

The OP introduced death as a potential if not likely end result,...

If you're not a samurai or a stoic, death is a five alarm mental health alert,...

Immediate intervention is needed,...

If the OP is sincere (or, even if the OP is a self-aggrandizing drama queen), the OP needs to be removed from where the OP's actions can bring harm to others or the mission, as both scenarios are indications of significant mental health debilitation,...

All else will follow as it does,...

Thank you for your service,....

One thing to note is that the Navy will swiftly move to separate him if he says he is a suicide risk. The financial burden of suddenly being unemployed may exacerbate the problem, and he won't be qualified for either unemployment or disability. He also will not receive any mental health counseling from the military once he is discharged.

OP, I don't know why you are 'having issues with the ideals of the Navy.' I would strongly advise you to find someone outside the Navy to discuss your problems -- family, old friends, whoever, before you decide to go to medical. See if you can work out the source of your problems and do anything to make it better. Also, tell your Chief what is bugging you. He's your father away from home. If friends and your Chief can't help, then go to medical. Just be advised that they are not bound by any confidentiality, and it will result in you being medically discharged. This will be reflected on your discharge paperwork regardless of whether the doc and your CO recommends an honorable or general discharge; ergo, it will probably negatively affect your future career potential in the near-term. If you receive a general discharge, you also won't be eligible for the GI bill.

So to be clear: if you really, really feel like you are trapped and the only way out is to get out of the Navy or harm yourself, then go to medical and sort out the rest later. Your well-being comes first. But if this is just a rough patch, talk to your Chief and some non-Navy people who you can trust and try to work it out.

[GLW]

One thing to note is,.....

The OP edited his initial post to remove the "dead" stuff,...

So,.........the drama phase is over,...

all else is WKWB,...

[GoWest]

One thing to note is that the Navy will swiftly move to separate him if he says he is a suicide risk. The financial burden of suddenly being unemployed may exacerbate the problem, and he won't be qualified for either unemployment or disability. He also will not receive any mental health counseling from the military once he is discharged.

OP, I don't know why you are 'having issues with the ideals of the Navy.' I would strongly advise you to find someone outside the Navy to discuss your problems -- family, old friends, whoever, before you decide to go to medical. See if you can work out the source of your problems and do anything to make it better. Also, tell your Chief what is bugging you. He's your father away from home. If friends and your Chief can't help, then go to medical. Just be advised that they are not bound by any confidentiality, and it will result in you being medically discharged. This will be reflected on your discharge paperwork regardless of whether the doc and your CO recommends an honorable or general discharge; ergo, it will probably negatively affect your future career potential in the near-term. If you receive a general discharge, you also won't be eligible for the GI bill.

So to be clear: if you really, really feel like you are trapped and the only way out is to get out of the Navy or harm yourself, then go to medical and sort out the rest later. Your well-being comes first. But if this is just a rough patch, talk to your Chief and some non-Navy people who you can trust and try to work it out.

This is one of those things that infuriates me. If you do the right thing and get help, the government will punish you and permanently mark your record (PADS). But if you hide it you can continue to work in the field that you spent your life qualifying for. This is ridiculous. The people who designed this stupid system where honest people are punished deserve to be tarred and feathered. Seriously.

We have a depressed but competent worker who is being told that the only solution to his depression is to screw his career. Really? Really? And the advice we have to give this poster is that he should hide the depression to protect a career or ditch the career to save his life?

[HalfHazzard]

This is one of those things that infuriates me. If you do the right thing and get help, the government will punish you and permanently mark your record (PADS). But if you hide it you can continue to work in the field that you spent your life qualifying for. This is ridiculous. The people who designed this stupid system where honest people are punished deserve to be tarred and feathered. Seriously.

We have a depressed but competent worker who is being told that the only solution to his depression is to screw his career. Really? Really? And the advice we have to give this poster is that he should hide the depression to protect a career or ditch the career to save his life?

You're spreading bad gouge right here.  Stop.

The OP can get plenty of help and none of it has to go into some "record".  Some actions and treatments are disqualifying for future jobs; that's the cost of desiring stable rational people to do those jobs.

Other posters have provided plenty of information for help to include counseling from various parties, none of which is inherently "career ending".

To the OP, see a chaplain or go through military one source as a start.  Neither of those two will lead to any sort of automatic retribution or consequences.  You have nothing to lose by contacting those two options.

[GLW]

We have a depressed but competent worker who is being told that the only solution to his depression is to screw his career. Really? Really? And the advice we have to give this poster is that he should hide the depression to protect a career or ditch the career to save his life?

read much?!?!?!

the OP is depressed because the OP has:

...problems with the ideals of the navy....

and so the Navy is supposed to conform to the OP?!?!?

perhaps the OP's problems with the ideals of the Navy is the ideal that the Navy exists to break things and kill people,...

or the ideal of a chain of command?!?!?

maybe the ideal of going to sea?!?!?!?

perhaps it is the ideal of wearing a uniform to work?!?!?!

the OP does not elaborate, and really does not owe anybody on an internet forum that elaboration,...

in any case the Navy is not a jobs program, it's a service, a military service, existing to break things and kill people,...

from that benchmark your rant is a just a rant,...

....But if you hide it you can continue to work in the field that you spent your life qualifying for....

nuke school, prototype and less than a year in the fleet is hardly a lifetime of effort or a lifetime wasted,...

taking the course to securing a GI bill, a medical/general discharge or better, going to college, finding a career in a place where the ideals suit the OP's sensibilities and proclivities is much better advice than suggesting the US Navy transform into a jobs program for people unsettled with the ideals of necessity when operating a 24/7 global killing machine,...

as to the notion of sticking things out just long enough to earn that coveted, six figure civilian employment NEC, and then need to bug out for personal reasons with the ideals of the Navy?!?!?!?

well, that's just BS,...

mentioned because the "under duress" OP does seem to be every bit as worried about the OP's NEC as the OP is depressed about Navy ideals affecting the OP's mental health,...

lucid and clear in one part of the mental equation, depressed to the point of dead (original, unedited post) on the other part of the mental equation,...

I'm, just saying,...

of course, you and the OP can now be sympatico cyber friends,...

like me on Facebook!!!!!!,...

[spekkio]

This is one of those things that infuriates me. If you do the right thing and get help, the government will punish you and permanently mark your record (PADS). But if you hide it you can continue to work in the field that you spent your life qualifying for. This is ridiculous. The people who designed this stupid system where honest people are punished deserve to be tarred and feathered. Seriously.

We have a depressed but competent worker who is being told that the only solution to his depression is to screw his career. Really? Really? And the advice we have to give this poster is that he should hide the depression to protect a career or ditch the career to save his life?

Well, when you enlist in the military you fill out forms that state that you've never had a history of mental illness or depression. Less than two years into service, the majority of which has been spent in TRACOM, OP suddenly has thoughts of harming himself or others because he has 'issues with the ideals of the Navy.' So where was he lying, when he filled out his paperwork to enlist or right now?

I can understand if he has been in for a few years, his marriage is on the rocks because he spent 18 of the last 26 months out at sea, he suddenly lost a close family member, whatever.  And if that were the case, the people in his CoC would do their best to enable him to sort everything out, and he wouldn't get a medical discharge for it. Alternatively, if he saw some brutal stuff in combat and couldn't handle it as well as he thought he could the military would continue treatment/disability for PTSD because the nature of his service caused the mental illness. Neither case has happened here.

It may sound cold, but given the above information, why does the military owe him anything more than ensuring that he doesn't become another suicide statistic?

If he really feels like his job is giving him urges to harm himself or others, he should seek help and the military will remove him from that situation. But that's all they will do, and that will have near-term post Navy career consequences due to a combination of either not being able to live up to a commitment he made or being actually mentally ill. If you were a future employer, would you hire someone who threatened to harm his coworkers because he didn't agree with the ideals of the organization?

If he's just upset because he's being treated like a nonqual gets treated, then there are people he can talk to and things he can do to unwind that don't involve going to a psychiatrist, purposefully going to mast, or hurting himself or his coworkers. If that's the case, I simply was suggesting some non-Navy resources so OP doesn't risk get pegged as mentally ill and discharged.

To the OP, see a chaplain or go through military one source as a start.  Neither of those two will lead to any sort of automatic retribution or consequences.  You have nothing to lose by contacting those two options.

If he tells the Chaplain that he intends to harm himself or others, then the Chaplain will not keep it a secret.

[MMM]

You can talk to the Chaplain or a the ship psychologist without them telling anyone, unless you tell them you are thinking of hurting yourself or others. They are required to report that. Otherwise, just tell you LPO you're feeling stressed and need to make an appointment to talk to someone. I don't think I've ever seen an LPO refuse to let one of their stressed out sailors talk to the appropriate person, unless you make you appointments for before noon and don't come back to work.