Advice needed regarding medical

[small_dog]

I'm meant to be starting officer training in the near future as a pilot, have passed the final medical and have signed and sent off a form declaring that I have not suffered any injuries since then

However, by an unfortunate twist of fate, I have subsequently just had an emergency operation to save the vision in one of my eyes following an freak injury that the doctors cant explain.

I would like to get a bit of advice as to where I stand.

As I have not started training yet and have suffered a major injury, what is likely to happen?

a)immediate discharge (or something similar) and start looking for a job in civvy street.

b) put on sick pay and wait and see if I manage to recover my vision totally (a slim possibility)

I have no intention of deceiving the powers that be and they will be notified very very shortly, but I would just like a bit of info/advice about where I stand before I tell them and gets things put in concrete so to speak. I was wondering if I had any rights or if I can expect anything in this situation.

I am pretty much resigned to option a, but I thought i'd sound it out on pprune in case anyone has come across something similar with a positive outcome.


Thanks

small dog

[BEagle]

Firstly, my sincerest sympathies.

Did you occasion the injury doing something associated with the military, or was it a freak accident?

Have you had a full specialist's report giving some idea as to your chances of a recovery?

Can you afford the time to recover, both in terms of income and actual time off?

Would you consider a non-pilot job in the mil?

Is there any merit in seeking financial compensation - or was no-one else involved?

Lots of questions - sadly, no clear answers. Very best of luck to you.

[small_dog]

Thanks for the reply and your thoughts, it does mean a lot to me at the moment as I am going through a bit of a rough patch.

The injury just occured randomly whilst I was sitting down watching tv (no blow to the head, no penetrating trauma), thus it was nothing connected with the military as such.

I'll get a better idea of what the prognosis (sp?) is when I return to the surgeon in a few days. When I have this info (be it good or bad), I 'll tell the relevant authorities and accept the inevitable.

I'm not really interested in chasing for financial compensation (it is hardly anybody's fault, it just happened), I was just wondering if it fell into a similar category to the eye sight/corrective specs argument (once you have passed the initial med, you can wear corrective specs to bring you back up to the required level). I do accept that my situation is a rather extreme example and may not be a direct and fair comparison (however, if by some miracle my eye sight was fully/nearly fully restored would there be a possibility of me regaining my med fitness?).

Additionally, I'm not too sure of my present status; I am a civvy and was about to start training and had signed everything so, am I in the military presently or are you only in the military once you have completed your first day?

If the pilot door was closed to me, I would strongly consider another mil job if allowed to. I have wanted to fly in the mil all my life but if I cant do that anymore, I would still like to join and have a constructive career in the mob.

The only thing I am taking some pleasure in at the moment are the words of one of my QFIs at uni

"Stick at your degree and do well at it, it is your guarantee for a decent wage in life if things go wrong"

I'm relieved I followed his advice.

[small_dog]

Cheers for the info, its confirmed what I have suspected and thought all along. Hopefully option c is a possibility, but time will tell.
Fingers crossed for some positive news from the docs.

Thanks

small dog