I just talked to my officer recruiter today, and he told me that the board is meeting on the 20th. Has anyone else heard this? That would be next Saturday. Everywhere I look on here says the 15th, so I am pretty confused by the conflicting information.
Also, I called my recruiter to ask about MEPS, and he said a law just passed today that put officers on hold for going through MEPS. Anyone hear any word of this as well? He told me that it will not affect my package negatively, which I have read several times on here before, but I am concerned about what this new law means. He said it will mean that officers will no longer go through MEPS, but something else. Hopefully someone will help explain this!
Thanks in advance for clarifying for the confused folks like me!
Not sure of a "law" being passed that would prevent OCS recruits from going to MEPS. Although from the perspective of how other officers get medically qualified, it would almost make sense in a weird way. I'll explain:
If you are commissioning through ROTC, AFROTC, NROTC, USNA, USMA, USAFA, and other select officer programs you go through a process called DODMERB. It stands for Department of Defense Medical Exam Review Board. Its basically a board of medical officers that decide whether or not you are medically qualified to be commissioned. They contract out the medical exams to local clinics in the candidate's area prior to acceptance for these commissioning programs.
The downside (or in some cases upside) to DODMERB is you do not deal with military docs as you would at a MEPS. The physical is conducted at the contracted clinic, and sent off to DODMERB for processing.
Ultimately the point I'm getting to is that I believe a majority of officers who enter a commissioning program encounter DODMERB at some point in the application process. It does NOT however apply to OCS, PLC, OCC, and OTS candidates for the time being. If a law was passed, it may be an attempt to consolidate all officer medical evaluations under one umbrella.
