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Careers: Military--Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard/Prior Service/ dissability
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Question
Hi, I am 4 years prior service air force with no major medical problems but with the advice of the VA went ahead and applied for dissability for some minor things. Will this prevent me from returning to the military? Thanks.
Hi James,
Okay, first of all, unless you are qualified in one of a very small handful of AFSCs that the Air Force considers "critical," (such as linguist, pararescue, or combat controller), you're not very likely not going to be able to reenlist in the active duty Air Force, in any case. The active duty Air Force is currently overmanned, and are undergoing a "downsizing," and will be between now and the year 2014. To put it bluntly, the active duty Air Force are not accepting very many prior service applicants, unless they already hold a "critical" skill.
Now, as for the other services, it depends exactly what your medical conditions are. If they are medical conditions which are disqualifying (see: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/a/intmedstandards.htm), you would then require a medical waiver to join (see: http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/a/medicalwaiver.htm).
If a medical waiver was approved, and you were accepted for enlistment, you would then have to sign a form to waive any VA disability compensation during any period of military service.
For more information about the United States Military, feel free to visit my U.S. Military Information Site at: http://usmilitary.about.com
Hope this helps!
Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com
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Answers by Expert:
Rod Powers
Expertise
Rod Powers is considered one of the premire experts about U.S. Military career information on the planet. He has more than 30,000 articles about U.S. Military career information on the About.com U.S. Military Careers Information website at: http://usmilitary.about.com. Additionally, he is the author of "ASVAB for Dummies," "ASVAB AFQT for Dummies," (available in Dec 2009), and "Veteran Benefits for Dummies," all published by Wiley Publishing. He is also the author of "Barrons' Guide to Officer Candidate School Tests," published by Barron's Educational Series.
Experience
Rod Powers is a retired Air Force first sergeant, with 23 years of active duty service, 11 of those years as an Air Force First Sergeant. He has helped thousands of military members, recruits, and military applicants since he took over the About.com U.S Military Careers Information site in 1999. He has a reputation for "telling it like it is," so questions may not be answered based on "what you want to hear," but will be answered based of the bast available information, concerning the service/situation.
Education/Credentials
Rod is a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Noncommissioned Officers Academy, the Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, and the Air Force First Sergeant Academy. He also holds an Associates Degree in Personnel Administration from the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF).
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