Expert: John L - 8/20/2009

Question
My brother is wanting to join the Navy to ideally become a Fleet Marine Force Medic or "DOC", but his situation doesn't seem to allow it. He has two misdemeanors, One for Complicity to Theft back in 2004, and one that just happened due to do being laid off. He has an SR22 on his license that states he must carry insurance or they're suspended. Unfortunately his insurance lapsed and was out looking for a job when he was pulled over, giving him a driving while under suspension. The other obstacle is his experience with drugs. He has smoked marijuana habitually for a while (few years) and has only experimented with others :LSD, MDMA (ecstasy), cocaine, oxycontin and psychedelic mushrooms. One good thing is that he has not used anything of that sort in the last 2 and a half years, and i have seen to that, but he has just gotten away from the marijuana in the last month but is completely clean, with no signs of going back. He has started to attend church and believes that the last misdemeanor was a sign to change to his ways. He's made a complete turnaround and wants to serve his country to: 1. Actually do something good for the country by serving and 2. Try and earn back some self respect. He wants to be a medic because he's pursuing a Nursing degree at Miami (Oh), is excellent at science, and is very intelligent. But it seems to me that he'd be happy serving in any of the 5 branches. Being his brother i want to see his aspirations come to fruition especially now that he has seen he needs to straighten out. Hes a great guy and would give you the shirt off his back if you were to ask, just made some dumb moves in the past.

I've been doing some research on the adjudicative guidelines and mitigations concerning security clearances and it seems that if you stay away from drugs and trouble for a certain amount of time that the board might be able to over look these transgressions

First, does he stand a chance to become an FMF HM? or Army medic?
Second, would it help if he finished his degree first (B.S. in Nursing)
and Third, Does he have a chance in any of the other branches?

If you could be in depth that would great,
Thank you

Answer
No branch of the military will allow him to be a medic.  The regulation is clear on no history of drugs, period.  He made his choices and hsotory has shown that ones who were this off track usually go back off track easily.  So the military does not like to take chances.  They choose those with cleaner backgrounds.
I know this does not apply to everycase, some screw ups turn out to be great, but the stats don't lie, and that is what they look at.

His chances of joining period are going to be slim due to his drug history as well.  If he wants to join, he will have  a hard road ahead, but medical is off the table for good.