Expert: Jason Grabill - 1/16/2008

Question
Hi,
I am in the early stages of applying to OCS, and Irecently filled out my MEPS screening paperwork.  Let me preface this question by saying that when I was a freshman in college I joined a fraternity and started smoking marijuana to the extent my grades suffered (not terrible, but not up to my parents standards) and my parents sent me to a treatment facility. Not a year I am proud of.  At any rate, when my recruiter asked me about my drug history, I downplayed my past, saying I had smoked marijuana but less than ten times. I also answered no to having ever been to rehab/treatment.     Now that I have had a day to think about how I answered I find myself distraught about how I answered because I feel as though I compromised my integrity (My recruiter also strongly hinted that it was acceptable for me to answer no, as long as my answers matched on the form I filled out with him and the one I will have to fill out again at MEPS).  I plan to set things right on with my recruiter asap, and explain my situation.  I know that was a lot of background.  My question is will I be immediately disqualified from application to OCS for having misstated the truth?  If I haven't sent in my actual application for review, is it possible to start over, in a sense?  Thank you very much for your time.

Answer
Graham:

 Likely you are going to face a large hurdle even getting enlisted if you were committed to a treatment facility for any length of time longer than a day or two.  Long term treatment for drug addiction means you've certainly smoked more than 10 times.   That's going to cause major issues.  

 Lying about something like that not only won't help, it will be found out eventually since all officers have to have a complete background investigation done on them.  Therefore, you could be in the middle of training and subsequently discharged for a false enlistment.

 I'd suggest telling the recruiter and working from there.   However, don't get your hopes up on this one.  It's going to require a waiver from HQMC, and quite frankly, I don't think they grant those for this...however, I could very well be wrong so it's worth checking out.  

Jason