Expert: John L - 7/18/2009

Question
hi john,

sorry for the long question.

i know you are a National Guard recruiter, but i am going into the Marine Corps. my question doesnt relate to the Marine Corps in particular though, but rather to the process of getting into the military itself so i assume the process would be somewhat similar for any branch.

so my situation is that i was encouraged to lie before i went to meps because my recruiter told me that my childhood asthma would just make the meps process take longer and could possibly get my DQd. i didnt want to, but he convinced me they wouldnt find out, so i did. and i got through meps without a hitch. i actually lied about everything actually, not just my asthma. my medical questionaire was all no's. speeding ticket, acne medication, chickenpox, minor things.

after a few days, i realized that it was a stupid mistake to do that and i read on the internet that it could get fixed before i went to bootcamp so i went to my recruiter and told him. at first he tried to insist i just leave it as is and he kept insisting no one would find out. but i just insisted i didnt want it. so he gave in and told me he would send up my medical records and stuff to the people upstairs to get it fixed. a couple of weeks later, i asked him if i could see some sort of proof or something to make sure it was all good, and he told me that he had sent it and that he hadnt heard anything back from them, and that we would only hear from them if there was something wrong, so he said since we didnt hear anything, that meant it was all good.

so my question is, is that really how it works? is it that simple? he says its all good but i am not too fond of putting my trust in him, due to the fact that he was the one who strongly insisted lying would be the best thing to do in the first place. how do i know hes not lying to me now? is there anyway of making sure that my paper work has been corrected? i dont really want to keep bringing it up after he told me it was all good and accuse him of lying if he is in fact telling the truth.

he is the head recruiter of the office by the way, so i wouldnt know who else to go to.

Answer
nThe speeding tickets, chicken pox, most small medicla stuff is no big deal if you told them or left it off, would not make a difference in you being eligible, so he was stupid for telling you that, however, the childhood asthma is an issue.  That could have disqualified you.  If you have no issues wirth asthma since 12 or under, you would PROBABLY be fine, but he didnt want to risk it.  If you fess up to it, you may not get to join.  If you had issues with asthma after age 12, you need to say something when to go to meps to swear in again, because you could die if you have issues while in bootcamp.  Don't worry about anything else, only the asthma.

If you have had no issues with asthma,  keep it as is.  getting records for when you are a kid is hard and they can still say no, and no military for you.  It is your choice in the end, but make sure you re 100% over the asthma.  If you played HS sports and all and are active, you are fine.  

Plus, you only had asthma if you were told by a doctor and carried a e rescue inhaler to save your life in the event of an asthma attack.  That is asthma, not breathing hard as a kid if you exercised.

Let me know if you have anything thing else.