OH-Army diet caused my son's death

http://www.whiotv.com/news/27374173/detail.html?cxntlid=cmg_cntnt_rss


I'm all for personal accountability.. but if an army Dr. signed off on this weight loss regime... i think he/she was negligent....

peeples said:

http://www.whiotv.com/news/27374173/detail.html?cxntlid=cmg_cntnt_rss


I'm all for personal accountability.. but if an army Dr. signed off on this weight loss regime... i think he/she was negligent....

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I doubt that was the case here peeples. Sounds like the recruiter was giving him dangerous advice in hopes of getting that much closer to his own enlistment quota.

IMO, the commission incentive for military recruiters is ripe with opportunities for abuse of all kinds.

Giving someone dangerous advice is not a crime. It's sad but this guy chose to do it.

People need to stop being so sue happy and stop playing the blame game. This guy did this to himself. It's sad and I mean no disrespect to the guy or his family. But someone could advise that I go jump off of the Mississippi river bridge. If I do it, it's my fault.

JMO

I'm sort of torn on this one. Yes, he was an adult, and should have known better, however, he was also young, there is no indication that he knew the effects of radical dieting, and if the recruiter led him to believe that the Army had supplied him with medical or dietary training, then it's on the recruiter.
For example, if the recruiter told him, "Look, you need to go on a diet, maybe even a drastic one..." that's still the young man's responsibility to consult with a doctor.
But if the recruiter said, "Look, they teach all of us how to make the weight requirement, and personally, you need to take some drastic measures like making yourself sweat more, eating very little and possibly even considering throwing up anything high calorie to make the weight. It's perfectly safe, a lot of us had to do it to make weight." then that's the recruiter.

If someone is not getting enough electrolytes or nutrition, the heart is going to malfunction.

Doctors blame Wilsey’s death on an irregular heartbeat, but the dieting was a contributing factor.

In this day and age of the internet and the copious amount of information out there, I am going to err on the side of caution and not blame the army. Who goes on an 800 a calorie a day diet while running miles a day. You're asking for trouble -- regardless of what a recruiter says. Kinda like saying "if you jump off this bridge....".

I am so so sorry for the mother and what she's going through. This tradegy could have been so easily avoided.

Hugz,

Mel

Sad that he poo pooed his mom, women know about dieting. I don't think he was under orders... foolish and naive.

First and foremost let me say that I'm deeply sorry for this family's loss. It is unimaginable to have to bury a child, even if that child is an adult.

Second, I've only been a military wife for close to 2 decades and I was unaware that recruiters make commision on the soldiers they sign up. When was that implemented?

If it can be proven that the recruiter that handled his file told him to lose weight this way then that recruiter can not only kiss his career goodbye but he can also be held legally responsible in military and/or civil courts. Recruiting is a position that one must work up to and it is usually not the end of the career path for that particular soldier that is the recruiter.

Off topic but one of our children (adult) is comtemplating enlisting. She is too heavy by about 50 pounds (she is classified as obese). She was told she must lose weight in order to enlist. She was not told how to lose that weight. She was told to lose it and then come back in to test and enlist. But that has no bearing on this case, just adding that as an aside.

This is a confusing story. An Army Doctor would not have been treating him if he had not been fully inprocessed. I'm not thinking that he was, I think he might have been on either delayed entry or he may not have signed off on his contract yet. If that is the case then he wasn't a recruit he was a potential recruit. Even if he had signed the contract but hadn't gone to MEPS to raise his right hand and swear in---he technically wouldn't qualify for military medical care and he wouldn't be considered a private in the military he would still be seen as a civilian. Enlistment is a contractual agreement. It sounds to me that he went in and tested and because he tested so high he qualified to be in the MOS that he was wanting to lose weight to qualify for---meaning to me he hadn't completed his enlistment process.

But all of the above is neither here nor there. This Mother has to bury her child and I extend my deepest sympathy to her and her other family members.

My brother has spoken w/ recruiters repeatedly since 9/11 and they have all told him to lose weight. However, no one on this board or on earth would say he is overweight. Muscle weighs more than fat and he began body-building at the age of 14 because he was small (bullied). He is seriously ripped now, and it is all from very hard work and daily training sessions. (I can't even get motivated to Wii--obviously he got the "work out" gene.)
Fortunately, although he has always wanted to go into the military, he knows enough about health to realize losing that muscle mass would be really stupid. Plus, I'm pretty sure he likes the ogling he gets from girls.

I feel bad for this woman as I have no doubt her son was told to lose weight and "how" to do it. Sadly, nothing can bring back her son.

peeples said:

http://www.whiotv.com/news/27374173/detail.html?cxntlid=cmg_cntnt_rss


I'm all for personal accountability.. but if an army Dr. signed off on this weight loss regime... i think he/she was negligent....

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I don't believe a doctor signed off on it. According to the mom it were recruiters who told the son how to lose the weight.
First of all, maybe it's time that army relaxed it weight requirements a bit considering a lot more people are fatter. Second of all it's awful what happened to this young man.

Kimberlyd125 said:

Giving someone dangerous advice is not a crime. It's sad but this guy chose to do it.

People need to stop being so sue happy and stop playing the blame game. This guy did this to himself. It's sad and I mean no disrespect to the guy or his family. But someone could advise that I go jump off of the Mississippi river bridge. If I do it, it's my fault.

JMO

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She isn't suing anyone as far as I can tell. She just doesn't want the same thing to happen to other young people.

jjenny said:

She isn't suing anyone as far as I can tell. She just doesn't want the same thing to happen to other young people.

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It was a general statement about how people are today. I did not mean to imply this lady is suing anyone.

This is my take in this.
You are responsible for your actions. He took bad advice and it killed him. It's very sad and my heart breaks for his family. But, he made the choice to follow the advice. It was not an order. It was advice. Horrible advice.

As a side story of what I'm talking about... It has nothing to do with this incident.

When my nephew was in middle school he dared another kid to lick the ground. The other kid did it. A teacher saw him and asked him why on earth he would lick the ground. He told her because my nephew dared him to.
Well, my nephew was sent to the office and got suspended. The kid that licked the ground was not punished. That makes no sense to me.

We all have minds and make decisions.

Kimberlyd125 said:

This is my take in this.
You are responsible for your actions. He took bad advice and it killed him. It's very sad and my heart breaks for his family. But, he made the choice to follow the advice. It was not an order. It was advice. Horrible advice.

As a side story of what I'm talking about... It has nothing to do with this incident.

When my nephew was in middle school he dared another kid to lick the ground. The other kid did it. A teacher saw him and asked him why on earth he would lick the ground. He told her because my nephew dared him to.
Well, my nephew was sent to the office and got suspended. The kid that licked the ground was not punished. That makes no sense to me.

We all have minds and make decisions.

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We all make our own decisions, but when someone in position of authority gives advise, it's a bit different than one kid daring the other kid, no?

jjenny said:

We all make our own decisions, but when someone in position of authority gives advise, it's a bit different than one kid daring the other kid, no?

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I said it was different. I was just giving an example.
The recruiter did not have authority over the man. He did not give him orders. He gave him bad advice.

Kimberlyd125 said:

I said it was different. I was just giving an example.
The recruiter did not have authority over the man. He did not give him orders. He gave him bad advice.

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I agree with this. He followed some really bad advice that probably worked on 100 other guys. This was not an order or situation where he did not have a choice.
I feel so sorry for this young man and his family and the whole thing is such a tragedy. However, he did this of his own accord, as I understand it.

A few more detailsof the situation...

he was being weight checked weekly, tape measured and pressured..
i still don't think the mom should sue or anything.. but i think the recruiters should at the very least feel bad

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and...y-vermilion-army-recruit-dies-from-binge-diet

Another article including photos

http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/...h-regimen-to-make-weight-killed-army-recruit/

peeples said:

A few more detailsof the situation...

he was being weight checked weekly, tape measured and pressured..
i still don't think the mom should sue or anything.. but i think the recruiters should at the very least feel bad

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and...y-vermilion-army-recruit-dies-from-binge-diet

Click to expand...

I've never heard of such a thing, that's above and beyond (if accurate) what I've ever seen at a recruiting station. I can't imagine why in the world with so many people trying to get into the military (you wouldn't believe because of the economy how many are trying to do so esp. what you would consider older people who are at their wits end trying to support a family in this economy!) that this one particular recruit would be monitered like that. JMHO.

We are getting ready to have another drawdown in recruitment numbers and also a drawdown in numbers of troops. It's going to be more and more difficult to enlist and there won't be as many numbers to be filled per month so it's going to get more competative to join. Especially if one doesn't want to serve in the MOS's that have more slots but in what is considered elite MOS's. JMHO (and facts too, we are getting ready to drawdown a bit and the numbers for recruitment were already being cut in the AF as of a little over a year ago).

I just don't have enough info to say yea or nay if this recruiter is responsible. This Mom is going through one of the most excruciating painful experiences of her life and she is acting and speaking from the position of grief.

Grief is one of those emotions that I, personally, think is unique to each individual. We all know love, we all know hate, we all know any other emotion that the human can experience but grief is a monster in that it lays us asunder and it it takes away our ability to not only see the situation clearly but to apply logic and reason as well.

I have to wait and see but this woman is in enormous pain so I'm not going to say that her son was at fault. God bless her. What she is living through is my worst fear in life-to lose one of my children.