Expert: Rod Powers - 9/5/2006

Question
is it true that if a person is permanently disqualified from the Air Force they can still try to join another branch of the military? Or is it a disqualification for the Armed Forces all together? The disqualification was medical because the person was put on a perscription that was a permanent disqualification.(is it only a disqualification to the Air Force?)
Thanks  

Answer
Hi Joe,

DoD (Department of Defense) sets the overall medical standards for joining the U.S. Military. If one is disqualified by MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station), based on the DoD standards, the disqualification applies to all of the services.

However, that's only part of the story. Each of the services are allowed to individually waive medical disqualifications, if they feel it is in the best interest of their service. Whether or not to consider a medical waiver is completely up to the individual branch of service.

Waiver consideration depends on several individual factors:

There is simply no way to even guess whether or not a waiver will be approved by a particular branch of service, even if someone has gotten a waiver for the same condition in the past, or -- conversely -- if nobody has ever gotten a waiver for the condition in the past. Each and every waiver is evaluated INDIVIDUALLY, using SEVERAL individual factors, including but not limited to:

1. Is the condition progressive?

2. Is the condition subject to aggravation by military service?

3. Will the condition preclude satisfactory completion of prescribed training and subsequent military duty?

4. Will the condition constitute an undue hazard to the examine or to others, particularly under combat conditions?

5. Is the recruit *EXCEPTIONALLY* qualified, otherwise? (ASVAB scores, etc.)

6. How are current recruiting goals? How bad does that particular branch of the service need this particular applicant at this particular point-in-time?

There have been several cases of waivers approved for a specific condition, only to see a waiver disapproved for the same condition just a few weeks later. There have also been several cases where one service will disapprove, or refuse to consider a waiver request, and another service will readily approve the waiver request.

Remember, if you require a waiver, that means that you are disqualified for military service. The waiver procedure is the process of you "begging" the particular military branch to make an exception in your particular case. There is no "right" to have a waiver approved.

Right now, the Air Force and Coast Guard need the fewest new recruits, so they are the two branches least likely to consider waiver requests. The Army needs the most new recruits, so they are probably the most likely to favorably consider medical waiver requests (depending on the condition). The Marines and Navy are somewhat in the middle.

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com