Nurse trying to become the first pre-service amputee to join the Navy
Hannah Cvancara
This fetching young lady is a civilian nurse and the daughter of a former USAF flight surgeon. She wants to serve, but had her left lower leg amputated as a baby due to a birth defect. If her waiver is approved, she’s believed to be the first pre-service amputee to enlist. At the very least, she’d be the first such in modern time.
From Navy Times;
Hannah Cvancara was born with a birth defect called fibular hemimelia that resulted in her left leg never growing correctly and the amputation of her left foot when she was just a year old.
But 25 years later, she hasn’t let her reliance on a prosthetic leg stop her from living a full and physical life that includes surfing, rock climbing and long shifts on her feet as a civilian nurse.
Now, Cvancara is trying to make history by becoming the first pre-service amputee to join the Navy, and the Nurse Corps in particular.
Cvancara’s dad was an Air Force flight surgeon, so she grew up a military brat and felt the pull of military service from an early age.
“It’s always been a part of my life, we moved around every few years,” the Spokane, Washington, resident told Navy Times. “I just really have always been interested in joining.”
Cvancara graduated from civilian nursing school in 2019.
She tried to join the Navy before she began school but was turned down because of her condition.
But now, she’s trying again, and she’s got a raft of endorsement letters, stellar physical readiness test results and other evidence that she hopes will lead Big Navy to grant her a waiver to join up as an officer.
“There’s this need, and I’m going to really push this time,” she said. “I think I would excel.”
In addition to her Air Force family, her ex-husband is a Navy officer, so Cvancara feels she understands what military life entails.
“I’ve been born and raised in it, I married into it,” she said. “It’s in my blood.”
Navy Recruiting Command officials said they believe that, if approved, Cvancara would be the first to receive such a waiver.
“I’m not aware of any pre-service amputees getting waivers,” Cmdr. David Benham, spokesman for Navy Recruiting Command, said in an email. “I don’t know if this has ever come up before.”
More at the source. If we’re enlisting transgender troops, then I can’t see how any reasonable person would deny Cvancara’s waiver.
Category: Navy
NO.
Change my mind.
Definitely leaning to the NO side of the fence, as well…
However, in the interest of integrity, it’s all about the ability to do the job and contribute to the mission.
We have service-connected amputees still serving (I believe at least some in hospital settings) – I’ll admit that they’ve “earned” that exception while she hasn’t; yet it’s evidence that her handicap doesn’t prevent her from doing the job.
Obviously, deployment to forward positions is a risk I would never want to take (this applies to our amputee brothers and sisters who continue to serve with honor). I never liked using an interpreter I couldn’t trust with a weapon – any asset who can’t contribute fully to the fight shifts from asset to liability when the shit hits the fan. Then again, terps (especially good ones) are a limited resource, and even the ones I couldn’t arm were worth the risk. Nurses are a limited resource, as well.
100% concur. This is a very impressive young lady, but not everyone gets to serve in the military. The issue of deployability is foremost in my mind. Not everyone has to deploy, but everyone has to be able to deploy. Unless we divide the military into a stateside, non-deployable section, and a separate deployable section (and that’s a seriously bad idea), the answer has to be no.
Yeah.
This could open a door that might not need to be opened.
You beat me to it Brother. Once that door is open it will never be closed. People wheelchair-bound can do their computer programming just the same. Those with one hand can be the pivot man. Sounds ridiculous but once it starts it will be a nightmare for the military and a further burden on taxpayers. I have the greatest respect for this lady for wanting to serve. It’s just not the place she can best serve in my mind. Why not the VA?
That door has been opened for some time already. Trannies being but one in a continuing series of example. She will never deploy to a war zone, and Most nurses, particularly Navy ones, work in hospitals, hospital ships and such where she would not be at any significant disadvantage.
The only real issue I have with that argument is the fact that service-connected amputees are still allowed to serve. Not every deployed serviceman leaves the wire, and there are plenty of physically-intact fobbits who concern me more in an overrun scenario than do any fit amputees.
I’m not saying those service-connected amputees shouldn’t be there – their training and experience are not easily replaced; a veteran green beanie has more to offer a B-team or HQ than some guy who just barely finished Robin Sage that no one wants on their ODA. The same could be said for the skillset of a civilian nurse.
I’ve had to CASEVAC a friend. We weren’t without medics (we even had a full-fledged trauma MD on that patrol), but the real work had to wait til we got to the FOB.
I don’t want her in my truck and I don’t want her on that patrol; but, when push comes to shove, I don’t care if the nurse has one leg or three – if she’s willing and competent, I want her at that aid station.
It’s not so much whether she “gets to serve” as much as whether or not the service could utilize her to its benefit. The problems only arise when we confuse the two.
The bureaucracy is great at fighting like a machine, and it’s why we’re back-to-back World War champs – but it has a bad habit of stepping on its own dick.
I hate that it would be setting a precedent, and standards have already dropped too far, but I like to extend the benefit of the doubt. You never know who the next Audie Murphy is until someone’s willing to take a chance on him/her.
I’m absolutely certain the service could use her. We also have to maintain deployability standards. She has the training and skills. Her physical proficiency has to be considered under the worst possible condition. And that condition is minus her prosthetic.
Again, that’s foiled by allowing service-connected amputees to continue serving.
You’ll get no argument from me on that. I’m very much on the fence there, I can argue both sides of that and still not make up my mind.
I remain on the fence, as well. I will admit, I’d argue far less vehemently if she weren’t so photogenic.
The military will just become another federal job in the near future, minus the fat federal retirement. Ever gone down to your local federal building and seen the freakshow of employees? The fall won’t be complete until every unit has at least one person who has autism and only gets to clean up the office and cut grass.
I admire her drive and initiative, but unless she can climb a shipboard ladder in protective gear without holding up everyone else, she should have no place in the Navy.
Or in a worst case scenario, be able to perform her duties without her prosthetic leg.
Just don’t allow any SAS near her
KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Shack!
Jeff has won the internet today. Everyone go home.
Beat me to it Jeff. SAS prolly already trying to recruit her. She would have a leg up on all the rest. Her cup would runneth over. Surely to goodness and mercy sakes, IDC SARC would hit that.
Beat ol’ Poe, too, who was about to say she’d be more than welcome in the SAS.
Great minds and all that…
For any of you who would care to know more about the origins of the SAS, ol’ Poe found this very informative video:
The Origins of the SAS – WW2 Special Episode – YouTube
Lots of leg room out there for the leg comments. Looks like we are all on the same wave lenghth on this one
Fuuuuck that’s funny
Something tells me there would be a line to drink out of her leg.
I’m first and starting the line to let her drink out of *mine*. 🤨😳🤔😄
Y’all know I have no first-hand experience, but my thoughts (worth what y’pay for ’em):
With surfing & rock-climbing on her resume, her strength, balance, and dexterity appear to be at least standard. I would expect her to handle the rope ladder in gear.
Working the 12-hour shifts of most nurses she evidently is able to endure long periods of time on her feet.
If you’ve not done it or watched it done, nursing is physically and emotionally challenging.
Now, I don’t have a clue about the ordinary nor the extraordinary things a Navy nurse needs to be able to do.
However from my perspective, if and only if she is able to do everything, I repeat everything any other nurse is expected to do in their Navy position(s), I have no problems letting her have a go at it.
There is the very real issue of opening up a can of worms for the “enablists” to exploit, though.
YMMV.
Here is the issue. See all those legs on the wall up there? I bet that isn’t even a tenth of the legs she has. Each at $10k+ a pop. Some are a lot higher. Leg amputees require a lot of regular maintenance just to walk with a normal gait. A different leg to climb, run, swim, stand long hours… etc. Then if there is a lifestyle change (lose weight, gain weight, etc) then it starts all over again.
Signing up for that really doesn’t make sense from an economic standpoint.
As someone that has a birth defect( mild Cerebral Palsy)and has served four combat deployments(as a medical provider) for a total of 36 months down range, I say, let her serve as long as she can meet the physical fitness standards.
I am a Physician Assistant, I was forward on all my deployments and on the first one, I was outside the wire almost everyday. We did not have enough medics to support our mission.
I carried all my own gear, and was not on any type of physical profile.
I don’t think allowing some of us non perfect individuals the opportunity to serve will make the military just like the federal government.
Thanks for serving when you obviously didn’t have to, Doc.
As your experience demonstrates, each one of these situations needs to be carefully evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
You’re welcome! I was honored to do so!
I also thank you. But please read my comments above.
Good point. I will admit that my opinion is biased and bias clouds logical thought process
“A local nurse’s dream is to join the Navy, and she can pass the physical test. But the Navy says they can’t accept people with a prosthetic leg”
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/nov/28/a-local-nurses-dream-is-to-join-the-navy-and-she-c/
“Concerns about Cvancara’s physicality and mobility were also raised. So, instead of explaining, she realized showing was better than telling. She participated in the Physical Readiness Test, an examination of participants’ general fitness before boot camp.”
“For women ages 25 to 29, the satisfactory score for the test requires 15 pushups, a 1-minute, 20-second plank and running 1.5 miles in under 15 minutes, 45 seconds. Cvancara, tallied 30 pushups, planked for 2 minutes, 30 seconds and ran the distance in 13 minutes , 29 seconds. Her only
complaints: Not a big fan of cardio, she prematurely stopped the she prematurely stopped the plank to save energy, and the prosthetic she wore during the test was a “brick of a leg.”
“I took it to say, ‘Here’s my objective results from the PRT. Here’s what I can do. Give me a chance,’ ” Cvancara said. “I know what the rules say, but I’m looking past that to try to get you to see. Look, I’m already a nurse, I work full time, I’m on my feet all the time. Nothing would change for me. I don’t require accommodation.”
“One of the biggest concerns is, once deployed, Cvancara may require emergency treatment on her leg. But Cvancara was on remote-duty with her ex-husband in Portugal for almost three years. She said she did not require any assistance then.”
“Critics have suggested Cvancara just become affiliated with the local Veteran Affairs officers, but it does not scratch Cvancara’s itch to make change immediately. Instead of aiding veterans’ conditions, she wants to work with active-duty soldiers, solving health issues as they arise.”
“Cvancara, 26, has fibula hemimelia, a birth defect where the bones in her legs, ankle and foot do not grow with the body. For Cvancara, societal constructs of able-bodiedness were an afterthought. She played seven sports through grade school, hails from a
hiking, outdoor family and stays active through swimming and running.”
Actually, she was only in Portugal August 2020 through January 2021 when she left after reporting an drunken and egregious sexual affair with a navy seal and a girl that happened 13 months prior while her husband was deployed.
I have actually argued myself to a point where I believe she should be granted an exception.
Some will argue that she should be judged on how she performs her fitness test sans prosthetic (understandable), but we don’t require servicemembers to remove braces/slings/splints before performing their various PFTs. We have alternate events for joes who can’t run. I’ve known forward deployed medical personnel who haven’t fired their weapons since basic training. To draw the line at a woman willing to meet the standard despite her handicap seems anathema to a system that has done everything it can to accommodate handicap for the last 30 years.
Her skills are in-demand. She wants to serve. She has met the fitness demands of the service. If the shit hits the fan, and I have to work with a nurse to survive a harrowing situation, I’d choose her over any random, able-bodied person because she’s proven that she wants to be there.
Hate_me:
All we kept thinking is here is a person who WANTS to serve our Country, while there are others who seem to be AGAINST our Country…
We think she should be given the opportunity, the chance. She sounds as if she will do well in the Navy despite her situation. She has demonstrated persaverence her entire life. We wish her the best of luck.
“Miss Spokane Wnners Selected”
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/feb/28/miss-spokane-winners-selected/
“The Miss Spokane Scholarship Program and Pageant selected its titleholders Feb. 17. The winners will go on to state and perhaps national pageants in addition to representing Spokane at community events.”
“Miss Spokane is an official preliminary pageant of the Miss America Organization.”
“Hannah Cvancara was crowned Miss Spokane. She’s a senior at The Oaks Classical Christian Academy and her community service project is “Honoring Their Sacrifice: Recognizing and Supporting our Disabled Veterans.” Cvancara won $4,325 in scholarships, including a $3,000 scholarship from
Gonzaga University. Cvancara will represent Spokane at the state pageant in July.”
Whatever she chooses she will probably kick ass.
She’ll be busier than a one-legged seaman in an… well, um, you know, the thing.
Ass kicking contest
*puts cursor over photo….clickclickclickclickclick to embiggen…(nothing) MASON!!!!!
(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ
凸(ಠ_ಠ)凸
😀
If it makes you feel any better, Chipster, we tried uploading Braxton’s High School picture…with no results…
Oh, Well….😉😎
Chippy, that picture is probably not the only thing you haven’t been able to embiggen! 😛 😛 😛 😎
Hey now!!!
No little blue pill here.
Cock this !!!!
http://thumbs.gfycat.com/LittleFeminineFirebelliedtoad-size_restricted.gif
I’m all for it, good for her. I bet she can out perform more than half the poolies that we have going to basic. If she was forward she could be an asset in a BAS, plus she probably has mental toughness. I don’t usually comment, and I do respect a difference of view, but I’m ok with her getting a shot at least. GLTA
This article and others written about Hannah are void of any mention of other problems she has, including poor anger management, depression, bulimia, and alcohol abuse. She has demonstrated raging, lying, misrepresented the number of surgeries on her leg she has had in the time she was together with her husband, many times which lended her to be wheelchair bound during recovery. It is not true when she reports in a couple articles she was in Portugal for almost three years, as she was only there August 2020 through mid-January 2021, leaving after finally disclosing the druken sexual encounter she had in San Diego with a navy seal and another girl 13 months prior while her husband was deployed. Based on character alone she should be disqualified from joining the military in active service.