Public Prayer Request For Jason Brewer

Feel free to repost this…I am coming to everyone today with an urgent prayer request for my younger brother, Jason.

Jason is a Specialist in the US Army, serving as a paratrooper down in Fort Polk, Louisiana. He has told stories of going on jumps from helicopters, airplanes, etc. — and also going on long marches with 50-pound rucksacks on their backs.

Unfortunately for him, it was during one of those ruck marches a few months ago that he developed a kidney problem. He was drinking water and was hydrated, but his kidneys still developed issues and he required hospitalization.

Jason came home a couple months ago and attended a church service with us at James River Assembly where he said he felt the Lord speak to him and tell him what direction to go with his life once he got out of the Army. He looked okay then and he was — he kept on doing what he did, jumping and marching and we thought everything was allright.

At least we did, until last month when this condition popped up twice again during field training. No one seems to know what’s going on, but he seems okay as long as his body isn’t being exerted in a weird fashion.

I believe it was around last week that he told me his unit leadership told him to either reclassify into another job or receive a medical discharge from the Army. Acting upon this, he called Mom, Dad and I asking what to do and for prayer support. Naturally, we encouraged him to seek a medical discharge because that seemed to be in line with what he felt the Lord was speaking to him.

Jason spent most of yesterday at the base hospital, initiating the process for the Medical discharge. They told him the papers would have to be sent to Fort Hood for review, after which they would make the determination whether he is eligible for discharge or not.

Now this is where it gets hairy, and the prayer request part comes into play. Jason’s been suffering pretty bad over the past few days from headaches and the like, but thankfully he’s still ambulatory and able to get done the things he needs to get done. Apparently today he was told by his leadership, I am assuming the same ones that told him to reclassify or receive a medical discharge, that if doctors cannot find what is wrong with him, he will be charged with an Article 15 and potentially face a reduction in rank and loss of pay for faking an illness. This along with continuing to suffer from his physical illness and being pretty much unable to do what everyone else in his unit can do.

Article 15s are generally pretty serious (Google it and you’ll see what I mean), and Jason definitely doesn’t deserve one of those. He told me about twenty minutes ago that if he gets charged with an Article 15, he will fight it and take it to a court martial. This could be pretty serious, and it’s all because of typical military bureaucracy — obviously the “rules and regulations” are more important than the very people they serve.

I’m asking everyone who reads this to uphold my brother in prayer, that the doctors first off will be able to find what is wrong with him and find reasonable cause to medically discharge him from the Army. If the doctors find what’s wrong, his unit obviously cannot serve him with punishment of any sort and he is home free. If they don’t, there’s no telling what’s going to happen, so we just need to pray.

Pray that God’s will be done in this situation, pray that the peace of the Holy Spirit would reign and that wisdom would be imparted to everyone in a position of authority, that they would make the right decision for Jason and ultimately themselves.

I will continue to post more updates as Jason feeds them to me. Thank you for reading and praying, and I will forward all comments of support for him to read.