Can a Commander start a MEB?

in my own personal experience, yes "some" doctors dont care if you are actually sick or hurt. A good example is when I went through AIT in ft leonardwood. Long story short, my drill sergeants were taking me to the TMC EVERY DAY because I had bronchitus and I got the same doctor every single day who literally told all of us that we didn't know shit from a hole in the ground. I finally passed out in the middle of the barracks and was taken to the emergency room two weeks later, where I was diagnosed with double pneumonia; mutated over from bronchitus.

When I left the Army 6 years later, I was going through my out processing medical exam. I had two years worth of medical documentation testifying to bad knees and that I was NOT to do any type of squats, or put undue pressure on them. The Major insisted that I do twenty squats, and when I POLITELY mentioned the history which he had on the counter behind him, he literally told me "shut the fuck up soldier, I am a doctor, I will fix you if your knees go out. Two squats in and both knees locked (as I was squatting). It took almost half an hour to unbend both of them.

I did not say anything about docs caring, but since you brought it up, there are some docs working in TMCs who are not given the time to give every single person the most thorough exam. Several reasons exist for this, first, no one (leaders) is willing to step up and say, suck it up and you are fine or take it easy today. Because, face it, men and women between 18-30 are pretty damn healthy with very few serious medical issues. We have put ourselves into a position where no one can just simply make a call as a leader or with personal responsibility say I am sick today. There are ridiculous unwritten regulations that say, that everyone must be evaluated everyday for the most benign signs and symptoms. Second, the military healthcare system makes 15-minute appointment, give the provider about one minute to evaluate you and treatment plan. This is because more patients are more money, plus everything is documented in a computer system that takes the majority of time we have. We have the most expensive healthcare system in the US when the numbers are broken down per person. We as the military are not efficient, just look at the systems in place. We create systems upon systems; nothing is taken away, only added. Then there are those who have either been doing this too long and have burn out or just have some apathy. This is a small issue, but becoming ever more prevalent in medicine as people are seeking care at emergency rooms and urgent care clinics for the most mundane issues.

Now to your case, pneumonia does not mutate from bronchitis. You probably had pneumonia all along and because of the some of the above said reasons, you were either looked over very briefly and it was missed in a rush, or the actual clinical symptoms of pneumonia did not present itself until a couple days/weeks later. I have never seen a case where I have ever advise someone not bend his or her knees. I get it, arthritis sets in and it can become more painful, but one of the most natural positions that humans have is squatting. Now, I do not know you case, therefore I cannot intelligently comment on your condition nor do I know the docs side of what happened, because there is always two sides to every story.

Chances are, others have a similar story to your, but when you look at the overall big picture, the chances of a doc “not caring” or even “out to get someone” is extremely rare.

I've never thought a doc was "out to get me", but I did have a grossly incompetent captain look at me BCT. Went in with flu-like symptoms, loss of breath, etc... She gave me some meds for an upper respiratory infection and sent me to med quarters. When I went back a couple of days later because I wasn't getting better (fevers 103+ when the motrin wore off) she basically said I was faking. I finally got a civilian doc who sent me for a chest x-ray. When I brought the x-ray to his office he put it up on the light board, looked at it for 5 seconds, and then exclaimed "no wonder!" Apparently I had pneumonia. He changed my meds and I was back with my training unit a couple of days later. I saw the first doc to get my release to go back to training and she was stunned at the pneumonia diagnosis. She couldn't see it on the x-ray, even though I could see it clear as day once it was pointed out to me (and I've never had any medical training past first aid/CPR type stuff). There's some good docs in the Army, but there's some horrible ones, too.

MAJ (Join to see) - My apologies for the misunderstanding regarding doctors caring. I think I was referring to both to you and something someone else had said, and it was the other person who had said something to the effect of some doctors not caring. I know and understand completely what you are saying regarding the reasons why the medical exams are the way they are, and why doctors react different ways; I even agree, for the most part. But the two examples I brought up are the (less common) exceptions.

In regards to the bronchitus/pneumonia, I only know that it appeared I had bronchitus, even to the point that my drill Sgts were taking me to sick call themselves. ANYONE who saw me, knew I was sick, but the original doctor literally would say "you don't have bronchitus" and send me back to training, without trying to find out what WAS wrong. Then two weeks later, I was diagnosed with the double pneumonia and spent several days in the hospital. When I brought up the fact that I had been going to sick call for bronchitus I was told it mutated from not being treated. Maybe mutated is the wrong word, though. And maybe also it started just as a bad chest cold and got worse from being untreated? At this point it doesn't matter to me since I am out and can see a different doctor if I don't agree with the way one treats me. I was just trying to point out a couple of examples of where the doctors were not (in my own experience) performing appropriately.

If the Commander makes this request will the soldier be notified first?