FY14 Long Blue Wait

[lost_in_asia]

I thought I would start this thread for those who were selected at the September board so we could post our progress on the path to commissioning.

I am trying to arrange my physical now but my recruiter has told me that I can just take the physical form to my regular doctor and have him complete the physical. Does this sound right to anyone? I was pretty sure that I had to go to MEPS.

I'm pretty sure the shutdown will slow the process down but it would be great to know where everyone is in the process.

 

[Bam Bam]

I was selected for AMDO July 2013 but I thought my experience might be somewhat helpful.

My OR also told me that I had the option to go to a civilian provider and get my physical done. So, I started looking into it and I would have had to go to three or four different places because nobody in my area could do the complete physical. I would have had to go to separate places for the audiogram, drug test and vision test. I’ve been told that some people have had luck with all of these services being provided at the same location but not in my location. I opted for a day with the professionals at MEPS. It took six hours and then I was good to go.

 

[lost_in_asia]

Thats great....I went to MEPS when I was 17.....Once in a life time is enough for me.

 

[Bam Bam]

Me too! The second time around I was 33. The experience was much nicer the second time!

 

[IntelNinja]

I went to MEPS back in January (first appt. I could get after returning from Afghanistan). It sucked just as much as I remembered. Apparently I go to MEPS every 18 years...enlisted in the USMC around my 18th birthday, went this time just after my 36th. It's a loss of a day, but as Bam Bam said, it's all in one place, and you're done in 1/2 to 3/4 of a workday. Plus, no co-pay.

The most fun part, though, was messing with all the young, small-town-Missouri Army enlistees who were so scared of being in their underwear wondering "just what exactly is that doctor go'n' do to me in that office and why I gotta drop my draw's?"

One hangup I had, at MEPS, they used a pinhole refraction method to test my vision. Perhaps it was because I had LASIK, but N3M said they wouldn't allow pinhole refraction as a method for determining refractive correction, so they wanted additional tests. Luckily, I had just been to the eye doctor a couple weeks prior and faxed over that information.
Just be prepared that N3M might want additional tests/information, above and beyond what MEPS does to qualify you. It might not happen in your case, but it's all part of the Long Blue Wait.

However, the best part: Getting the letter from N3M that I'm fully PQ'd and can be commissioned.

Just waiting on COMDOCs at this point.

 

[JasonB]

I just went to MEPS about a month ago, and it is MUCH smoother now than when I went at 18.

 

[lost_in_asia]

Medical was completed this week through a private doctor and is currently under review. My recruiter seems to think that I might be able to commission by the end of November....I am keeping my fingers crossed.