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Michael Gregg sounded eerily quiet on their October phone call, his mother said.
His mother, Farrah Gregg, said she and her son are very close and talk on the phone several times a week. On that October evening, he confided in his mother the words she never expected to hear.
“He said ‘Mama, I almost committed suicide. I worked the night shift and I almost jumped off the boat,’” Farrah Gregg said. Michael Gregg had never been stationed on a Navy ship before and one night during underway, which is a training operations session out at sea in preparation for deployment, he had found himself at a point of the ship where only a thin rope separates an individual from the 40-meter drop to the water below.
. . .
Michael Gregg said he was presented with three options, including taking medication, which was discouraged due to his religion; a six-day therapy session; or voluntary commitment on the ship.
Each option had Michael Gregg returning to the USS Eisenhower, and doctors had determined the ship was a trigger point for his suicidal thoughts.
“I’ve never heard of somebody going back the third time in two days after being rejected to still be rejected,” Farrah Gregg said of her son’s multiple attempts to seek professional help.
. . .
Psychologist Dr. William Bates also evaluated Michael Gregg, urging Navy command to assign him shore duty as his progression of panic attacks made him “fear not performing his duties could result in personal injury or injuries to his aviation team and command,” and that “being aboard [the] ship exacerbates symptoms of his mental health disorders.”
Very disturbing read. If things went down like this (and acknowledging that we only have one side of the story), this would be very troubling. That said, while I don't have reason to doubt the story provided here, I'll just add that ASAN Gregg's treatment is vastly different from what I've seen happen with my Sailors. I have had suicidal Sailors in my unit and they were hospitalized for well over 6 days (one in particular was hospitalized for three weeks) and then reassigned elsewhere en route to out-processing, which is not a simple process (and shouldn't be as the Navy wants to make sure that you're medically cleared to even be separated).
That said, I can't discount the offer by the Navy to medicate ASAN Gregg . . . curious to know what the religious reasons against medication were
If you are suicidal and legally diagnosed as such, you should be booted out of armed services, much like how you wont pass screening for firearm purchases.
If you are suicidal and legally diagnosed as such, you should be booted out of armed services, much like how you wont pass screening for firearm purchases.
I agree. In this case, the story is that the guy's family was trying to get him discharged. But after reviewing things more thoroughly, I question exactly what they were after as they are now trying to have his general discharge under honorable conditions changed to a medical discharge (with money attached, most likely). I'm also concerned that someone won't take medication on account of religion and then still tries to have a case for medical discharge if the meds could have helped make him suitable for service.
I agree. In this case, the story is that the guy's family was trying to get him discharged. But after reviewing things more thoroughly, I question exactly what they were after as they are now trying to have his general discharge under honorable conditions changed to a medical discharge (with money attached, most likely). I'm also concerned that someone won't take medication on account of religion and then still tries to have a case for medical discharge if the meds could have helped make him suitable for service.
Seems like they are trying to get some free benefits all along.
Every suicidal type person I have known about, was booted pretty quickly.
Wondering what religion this guy has, one that allows him to be part of the support for war/armed conflict, killing and injuring people, yet not take a medication, lol.
I also seen more than a few people playing the BS game, hating ship life, so they want to game the system and get put on shore duty due to mental health issues.
So I decided to actually read the whole thing, scrw this guy. They offered him some options, part of the escalation of treatment, but all of them have him still on board, which seems he has one goal, shore duty, lol. He did not even entertain the options, engage in any of them, because the poor baby would still have to be on board the ship. He just does not want to be on the ship, anything that has him on it, he will be against, including his BS religion excuse for the meds.
I have seen times when our HM corpsmen determined that a sailor had 'seawater allergy' right before a deployment, they urged the command to charge the sailor with 'malingering' [which is a charge under the UCMJ].
One time a sailor working under me was in that situation. I admit that I fell in line with the Chain of Command directions to 'ride him hard' and to make his life miserable. After he was finally discharged I met him on the street on day, and I learned that once he was finally a civilian again, he had gone to a civilian doctor, he was properly diagnosed and given medical treatment. I apologized to him, and that event had a lasting effect on me.
The Navy is terrible when it comes to treating sailors with mental issues.
If charged with violating the UCMJ a sailor could easily be fined half of his pay, reduction in pay-grade, restricted to the boat, and possibly put on a 'bread and water' diet [the bread and water diet was removed from the UCMJ in 2018 and is no longer a common sentence] or even worse 'diminished-rations'. I have served on boats where the cooks put up a poster they had made displaying the measured portions of food that a sailor gets when put on 'diminished-rations'.
Not in the military but as with any job, and particularly one as important as the military, if you cant do your job then you should be relinquished of the job.
A sailor who cant go on a boat? Not fit to serve and should be separated. A sailor who is not happy with the myriad of options being given to him the requesting a medical discharge to collect benefits as opposed to a honorable discharge? Definitely separated and no benefits.
If his issue is with the boat then he can live the rest of his life never stepping foot on a boat. Problem solved.
Why did a guy who doesn't like being on a boat enlist in the Navy in the first place?
To be fair to him, he may not have known that he had issues until he actually got to the ship and got underway. I'm more so peeved at the efforts to change the discharge status to medical when the guy refused medication to treat his condition.
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