Expert: John L - 12/27/2009

Question
QUESTION: I have recently gone through MEPS, and was advised by my recruiter to withhold some of my medical history. I suffered an eye injury at the age of 15 and underwent cataract surgery at 17 to correct some of the damage done. I was completely honest with my recruiter and he told me not to say a thing. I am now in the DEP and due to ship 23 March. My MOS. 35 N has a TS/SCI clearance and I am wondering if my medical history will come up at some point, and if so what are my chances of rectifying the situation.

ANSWER: They can't and don't check medical history, but the surgery will show up in an eye exam in training.  then you will be kicked out for fraud.    They might n ot cathc it, but probably will.  Your surgery was no big deal and you could have gotten through it wth the proper medical documents showing what you had done.  If you wait until March to bring it up, they will not let you ship to training and you will lose your MOS.

Bring it up now, go to the recruiting station and speak to the station commander about it.

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

QUESTION: IS the eye exam in training more in depth than the exam at MEPS?

Answer
it will come up at some point when you get a thorough eye exam.  It may not happen for a year, but it will come up, when they see that it was not claimed, they can boot you out. You can still join with it, you just need to get it open now, that is not something you can hide forever.