BCT and Injuries

<p>For those of you who may have gone to Beast in years past, what types of injuries did you or other cadets incur while at Jack’s Valley? I assume there are plenty of scrapes and bruises and even a stitch or two… did you see any major injuries while you were there? Blown out knees is one I have heard of, and a shoulder sep (but that was at West Point and I read about it in a magazine).</p>

<p>Come on! Put this mother’s heart at ease, or shock me into reality!</p>

<p>My brother had blood poisoning that started from blisters on his feet. It went all the way up to his groin before he reported in. They kept him in the hospital for several days between Basic and the starting of classes. The blisters started before Basic. He did a ten-mile hike in the mountains on the Sunday before I-Day, wearing boots that were a size too small. Not a smart move and not a good way to go through Basic. He passed those boots down to me.</p>

<p>As long as he stays away from pushball on field day, he'll probably be alright. Serious injuries during BCT are fairly few and far between. I've heard of a few falls on the O-Course, for example, but the vast majority make it through without any problems. The safety personnel, EMTs, and cadre do a good job of looking out for the Basics.</p>

<p>Well I remember in the log relay someone hitting their face on the log as they were doing the transition... It was kind of funny, but not if it would have happened to me. Most injuries I saw were knees (my problem) and other sprains. I know of one who had to wear a neck brace after s/he fell off an obstacle in Jacks Valley.</p>

<p>Don't forget about the mountain lions... bears...</p>

<p>Well, aside from stupidity - it doesn't seem like I'll have too much to worry about!</p>

<p>Until they start jumping out of a good airplane, or fly one without a motor, or go into the field with a live rabbit.......... :)</p>

<p>I strained my knee on the A-course (nothing serious, just annoyingly painful). The sad thing was, during all of BCT, the only injury I had was from a jump off a two foot ramp!...of all the things...not even an interesting story out of it, lol.</p>

<p>As a mother of a class of 2011 medical turnback, I will give you a different perspective. Basic cadets are required to complete 30 of 38 days of BCT. If their injury is too severe to complete the 30 days, they will be given a medical turnback. It throws your life into an emotional rollercoaster for the next year, but we have survived and look forward to Inprocessing June 26th for the class of 2012. We wish the best to the class of 2012 and pray that no cadet has to go through a medical turnback - especially a second time. I think that would be just too much.</p>

<p>Advise your son or daughter to stay away from Push Ball during field day and they should be fine. More turnbacks come from that than anything else.</p>

<p>I'll be sure to give the scoop on injuries to everyone during 2nd BCT. :)</p>

<p>soaringhi: did you have a contingency plan in place (local college maybe?), or was your child's injury too severe to attend school that fall?</p>

<p>I'm trying to keep a contingency scholarship going at ASU. If I maim myself, hopefully all will still be okay. ;)</p>

<p>We're trying to find a contingency school that starts AFTER BCT. That's tough, since most of them seem to want the kids there in the last 3rd of August.</p>

<p>My son developed a soft tissue infection from a puncture wound he had in the bottom of his foot before he went to the Academy. We didn't think anything of it, but the stress and the pounding developed into a full blown infection - ankle, foot and lower leg all swollen - followed by a fever. They were worried it was a staph infection, but thank God that is was not. Once we found out that he was going to get a medical turnback, we went into overdrive to find a place for him to attend this past year. We were able to get his AFROTC scholarship reinstated and since he was ROTC, Texas A and M would have a dorm room for him as well as reinstating his acceptance to A and M. However, in order to accept an AFROTC scholarship, he would have had to resign his appointment. He just was not going to do that. He enrolled in our local community college and took Calculus 1 and 2, Chemistry 1 and 2, Physics, English composition and a comp sci class. All should help him his 4 degree year at USAFA. He has spent the year studying, getting in amazing shape and took a job at the community college as a math tutor in the math lab. </p>

<p>For those who find themselves in the unfortunate position of a medical turnback please feel free to ask questions on this forum. It helped us so much last July. There are quite a few of us families out here!! It is so disheartening when it happens and all the planning for the past years seems to be in vain. But, I will tell you that it has been a blessing also. Our son has grown up so much facing this adversity. He also knows that he wants USAFA and a military life after visiting friends at Texas and Texas Tech. We also have enjoyed our adult son for one more year. </p>

<p>It has been an emotional rollercoaster but we are only 87 days until BCT. We are looking forward to being part of the USAFA family. My suggestion would be to not turn down any college acceptance letters. That way, your child still has a place to attend (albeit without a dorm room) in case something unfortunate happens during BCT. All the best class of 2012!!</p>

<p>Soaringhi:</p>

<p>thanks for the advice, I actually tore my ACL towards the end of last year and I am really hoping to overcome any sort of conflict that it might bring up in my first BCT this summer. But although my knee is looking great, I have realized that anything can happen. Having alternate colleges (just incase =/ )
is something I had never thought about!</p>

<p>My flight during basic had three injuries, two of which were medical turnbacks. One had a leg injury, the other had a arm injury. The arm injury was due to a previous injury though.</p>

<p>Like everyone else has said, just stay away from Pushball, and don't be stupid, and you should be fine.</p>

<p>I've heard that Pushball is endearingly called Medical Turnback Ball. Can anyone explain to me why it is so named and the hazards associated with it?</p>

<p>The idea is to "push" a GIANT ball to the goal line (like on a soccer field). The teams are large and its a complete free-for-all with almost no rules. This includes throwing people out of your way, tackling them, shoving, and other things of that nature. Not unusual to have someone break a limb playing it. Always funny to see a large football player literally TOSS a girl out of his way!</p>

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<p>Broken bones, dislocations, ...one kid lost an ear this year.</p>