NSMAN HAS SPINE INJURY & CAN’T WALK WITHOUT PAIN, CO SAYS STILL MUST COME RESERVIST

Why cant I defer ICT due to pain from a spinal injury? What should I do?

I dont understand it. I cannot walk for more than 10-15 mins without experiencing pain and obviously i have to walk/stand for more than that in order to travel to the camp. I tried explaining this to the MO, and they just told me they cannot excuse me from ICT because that is up to my unit.

I filed a deferment application with all my medical documents (including a memo recommending that I be excused from travelling), explained my situation to Training Cadre and that i cannot travel to the camp without experiencing pain.

They said they would inform the DY CO and give him my contact number. He rejected my application by just saying they would make accomodations for me in the camp, but didnt address the problem of how im supposed to travel to the camp. Didn’t call me to discuss it further with me either.

I dont understand why the SAF doesn’t seem to be taking my injury seriously. If someone sprain their ankle or something like that and has trouble walking, they obviously do not need to go ICT. So why is my injury not considered serious enough? I am the one who has to live with the pain.

Netizens’ comments

1. Why didnt you get an MRI and official diagnosis?
   Get your specialist to issue a long mc covering the ICT. Done deal. They’ll ask u to come down to endorse but honestly no MO in their right mind will dare override a long mc like this for a spinal injury.
   • (OP) I did. The MO accepted the documents and said he would forward my case to the medical board. But again, he insisted he could not excuse me from training and that was up to my unit.
     The problem is i do not have the time to see the specialist before the ICT starts. I was told to do the medical review first and then try to defer, and the medical review just happened to be shortly before the ICT (they said it was the earliest date they could give me). My specialist is also currently on leave and it would take me at least 3 months to get an appointment anyway (hooray public healthcare waiting times).
     The impression that i had up till now was that i would do medical review, get some temp status or something like that to cover my ICT and then i can defer. Since i had a specialist memo recommending that i be excused from travelling, i did not think my unit would just reject my deferment like this.
     • Ouch. If you really wanna skip ICT for the sake of ur health and dont mind the cost, you can go see a private specialist, bring along ur MRI so u dunnid scan again at private rate, and ask the doc for a mc. Private specialist v fast, no queue lol. And ur specialist should’ve been more specific in his memo i guess.
       Or risk it, go into ICT and ask the ICT-tagged MO for mc after showing ur docs. The MO u spoke to is right as he is not tagged to ur ICT.
       • (OP) There is only one working day before the ICT starts, i dont think i can see any specialist at this point.
         Could you explain the ICT-tagged MO thing to me? Is it not just the regular MO? I dunno why, but everyone in the SAF seems to think the injury is no big deal.
   • Every ICT batch will have at least 1 reservice MO officer tagged to em as far as I know. So during ICT, u dun see the NSF MO. You can only see ur ICT MO. And he’ll tag along during high key stuff like field camps etc. But this is for large ICT batches like Infantry units. If u r those ad hoc security trooper type of ICT then idk liao.
     So basically any stuff related to that ICT u need excuse or mc for, that MO handles it.
2. You don’t need to see specialist to get MC la. Just go to any clinic and show them the diagnosis or Xray. Ask them issue you a 30 days MC. Pay for your consultation. That’s all.
   • (OP) I tried before at a private clinic. They only gave me 2 or 3 day MC even after i show them the MRI report and said i am experiencing pain.
     Also tried asking polyclinic GP for long term MC as well because i am experiencing pain. They said they are not allowed to for this condition, am only allowed to give 1 or 2 day MC and seemed very reluctant to discuss it further.