Kimyen Soto

During the past 19 years in the Marine Corps, I hurt my knees during training during bootcamp, MCMAP, OCS and TBS. I would push through the pain in my knees and would periodically come in and start physical therapy or get a shot in the knee to help the pain subside for a bit. During the time of my Bi-lateral partial knee replacements in 2022, the right knee was in March 2022, six months later in September was the left knee surgery. Three months after the second surgery, the first knee surgery started swelling without any reason. The pain was so intense, it felt like my knee was going to explode. I couldn’t put any pressure on my leg, or an excruciating pain would shoot up my entire leg. I went to the hospital, and they had to drain it. There was so much extra blood in the knee, they couldn’t explain where it came from.
They thought it could be from an infection, but the knee surgery occurred nine months prior. They did multiple tests to rule everything out, and everything came back negative. During this time, I was working as the 1st Marine Division Adjutant with 25 units under me and holding the Security Manager billet for the entire Division.
I was in the position for 11 months and had six different SNCO’s rotate within my section. I did not have the required support I needed to recover and complete the work I needed, so I pushed through as all Marines try to do. My knee swelled up almost every other week from December to February making it difficult to work since I required to keep my knee elevated and to walk, I required a walker or crutches for months. Finally, the Orthopedic Surgeon recommended I be transferred to WWBn. My unit started the process in April, and I was transferred by the middle of May 2023 to WWBn.