injured during reserve duty

[andym]

last month while on army reserve duty i fell off an eight ft-high wall on an obstacle course and broke my elbow, which required surgery. the surgeon recently told me that i should be able to return to my civilian job shortly; however, while my elbow is healing i will not be able to drive my 5-speed car for the next several months because shifting gears may aggravate the injury(the doctor said i can drive an automatic instead). however, the army is claiming it is not responsible for providing me w/ an alternate form of transportation, such as an automatic vehicle. instead, they want to put me on active duty status, which will pay significantly less than my civilian job, while my injury heals. my question is, shouldn't the military be required to help me acquire alternate transportation while i'm unable to drive my own car? i'd very much like to return to work and resume my regular life and i don't think this is too much to ask. also, is it possible to sue the military for negligence? obviously i'm pissed at the army--i've had more than enough of their bureaucratic idiocy!!

 

[lawrat]

I am a law school graduate. What I offer is mere information, not to be construed as forming an attorney client relationship.

I don't know about MILITARY LAW but as far as your suing the military for negligence...for what? You undertook the obstacle course voluntarily and assumed the risk of injury (hi, military is all about casualties and FIGHTING). So, that takes care of that.

If under MILITARY LAW, somehow, they owe you a reasonable duty to replace the vehicle with an automatic transmission to promote your arm's healing, then you need to pursue it. TO find out if there is such MILITARY LAW precedent, call your STATE BAR and ask for a lawyer referral: a lawyer with significant experience in military law, possibly an ex-military.

Hope this helps.