Expert: Eric Ernst - 11/24/2009

Question
QUESTION: hey My Name Is Janie Carroll & I'm 14 years old I'm Doing A Project For Health Science Class Its On What I Want to Do When I Grow Up & I Want to Be A Nurse Practitionar In The United States AirForce(: But I Have A Little Problem... I Was diagnosed with type 1 Diabetes & I Have Heard Tons Of Stuff On The Subject But I Would Really Like To Know For Sure... So Could you Find That Out for Me?

ANSWER: Hello Janie,
I must commend you for knowing what you want to do as an adult and wanting to join the military. I do have a bit of bad news for you though unfortunatly as a type 1 diabetic the military does not allow members in the military if you are diabetic. There is a reason for this, military members are subject to deployments to remote areas of the world where there may be no medicine to treat the diabetes.
I'm sorry I know that it is a hard thing to understand, but you do have your entire life ahead of you and I know that you will succeed in what you do. If you have any other questions please let me know.
Thanks,
Eric

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: That stinks... so like no military would take me even if i had real good control over it? Are you in the airforce or another type of military? i just really want to be in the airforce or any kind of military i want to be the first girl in my family that was in the military...

Answer
Hello Again Janie,
I really do hate to be the bearer of bad news. But here is the current regulations on Type 1 Diabetes  http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/a/endocrine.htm  I am currently Coast Guard, but I was in the Army in the past. All of the branches use the same exact medical process. The doctor who says yes this person can serve in the Army is the same doctor who says Yes this person can serve in the Air Force.
I know that it is a bit hard to understand and I know that it can be especially hard if it's something that you really want to do. But the military is extremely picky and like I said previously sometimes we are deployed to areas where there are no medications to treat certain illness or diabetes.
If you have any other questions please let me know.
Thanks,
Eric