Expert: Aaron Shifferly - 6/23/2009

Question
Good Evening Captain, I'm currently a MIDN in a Navy ROTC unit. Having completed my first year, and in the process of applying for a Navy scholarship, I was deemed unqualified for service by the DoD Medical Evaluation and Review Board because of "Sleepwalking after the 13th Birthday." This was not diagnosed by any doctor, and was a result of a short questionnaire that I hurriedly filled out (I was more preoccupied with a possible heart issue that turned out to be nothing). DoDMERB sent me my rejection letter, and my XO immediately sent a waiver request to the Bureau of Navy Medicine. After one week, BUMED declined my waiver. As it stands, I have not been officially diagnosed with sleepwalking, and upon further review of available information, I believe my symptoms do not indicate sleepwalking.

The incident in question occurred during a NROTC training evolution. My fellow MIDN and I were sleeping in our berthing. I dreamed that I was being told to report in, and got up and started sounding off. One of my shipmates got up to see what had happened and told me to get back in my rack. I came to my senses and sheepishly went back to sleep.

I believe that this is insufficient information for disqualification. Can you offer me any advice? Thank you, Sir.

Answer
Brian:
First, you answered a question on the questionnaire and they made a decision based on it. Your only real chance would be to argue that you answered the question incorrectly.  Each service is free to set the requirements that it will commission on and the Navy and Air Force tend to be more selective as they are smaller services.  Go back and try to re-answer the questionnaire if you can, or apply to other services and see if they will accept you.