Help Me Win This Fight!

My name is Skyler Robinson, and I am a second year college student at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. As many of you might already know, I typically refrain from posting my life for the world to see. My FB page is mostly covered in posts dedicated to me from my mother, whom I love dearly. However, today I felt the need to share a story about the past few months of my life. I have been blessed with the opportunity to attend Hampden-Sydney College to receive my education while also developing my skills as a leader for a career in the Army. What many of you might not know is that I was supposed to contract as a scholarship cadet back in the beginning of September, but I have been on hold for one reason that has continued to haunt me all year. As a freshman in high school, I was diagnosed with acute kidney disease, Buerger's disease to be exact. While this condition has never negatively affected me physically, the Army felt unsure about confirming my contract before checking out the full extent of this disease. My contract was put on hold, and I had to undergo another round of medical examinations to satisfy the Army. Much to my surprise, my medical status was determined to be unfit for the Army, but because I was a national scholarship recipient, a waiver was submitted on my behalf by the Army.

I have been completely in the dark since September 25th, the first quarter of my semester...until today. Upon returning to campus from lunch with my fellow cadets, I received a call from cadre, the Army officers in charge of running Spider Battalion. After waiting until four days before the end of my first semester, the Army finally reported to me that I have been disqualified on account of being a possible liability to the Army in the distant future. Despite having excellent PT scores and grades, I was declared unfit for service. While I by no means mean to criticize the Army for their choice, I wanted to share with those of you whom I am close to that I will no longer be able to serve my country in this regard. I will no longer be funded through college, and I have only four days to gather enough money to cover the cost of enrollment for another semester at this home away from home. On top of having to find the money for another semester, I will also have to reimburse the Army of this semester, something that will cost me between 25-30,000.00 However, I have no intentions of cowering into a corner, and I have realized that while one door closed today, I have taken the proper steps necessary to secure a bright future for myself. I wish the Army the best of luck in the future, but they lost one hell of a potential officer today. Thank you to all of my friends and family. You have served as my rock through these hard times, and I might need to lean on you a little longer as I finish up my final exams.

I am not ordinarily someone who likes to ask for help, but my friends and family have encouraged me to set up this fundraiser so that I can reimburse the Army for this semester since it was too late to obtain financial aid to offset some of the costs. I don't have the income needed to be approved for a loan of this size. As much as I don't want to ask for help, I need it. So, any donation, no matter how big or small, will be appreciated. I am incredibly grateful for the support & prayers.

~ Skyler M. Robinson