So I have 2 or 3 things that I know I need a waiver before flight physical and the Navy would know because I already told them about it. I would need to pass MEPS first but I'm wondering if I could apply for a NAMI waiver before I go physically, or would they ask for info before that. Its not like they need to see me physically to tell I need the waivers due to my medical history.
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How do DQs that are before flight physical work.
- Thread starter JKC@
- Start date
FormerRecruitingGuru
Making Recruiting Great Again
You won’t start the NAMI process until OCS but navy recruiting command can still review the basic things for commissioning / aviation.
All other questions ask your officer recruiter.
FormerRecruitingGuru
Making Recruiting Great Again
It depends
Check out the NAMI guide and the docs corner on here if you have specific questions on a condition / injury.
If you’re at OCS, a request for a waiver will be sent to big NAMI (in Pensacola). You’ll continue to go through OCS while you wait, but typically you’ll either be advised by the flight doc to redesignate to a different community or not depending on what he/she thinks is likely to be waived.
As a side note, you are not officially NPQ from your original designator without the official NAMI letter saying you are, which you generally do not receive until you’re complete or near complete with OCS. With that said, even if the flight doc tells you to redesignate and you end up receiving a waver, you can keep your original designator - HOWEVER the opposite also applies where you can go through OCS and get NPQ’d at the end.
It sucks, and I’ve seen it happen. My advice if that happens to anyone is to make peace with getting another community if you’re serious about serving.
This happened to me. I received the NAMI letter with about 1.5 weeks left at OCS. I redesignated to SWO and didn't get my orders until the week of graduation. Depending upon what you get NPQed for, you might also have to go through a larger medical waiver process with non-aviation doctors. I had to go get checked out by the chief medical officer at OTCN and have him provide a letter to BUMED in order to stay in the Navy. He was pretty chill and said if I wanted to stay in, he would recommend I get retained but he said if I didn't want to stay that he totally understood and would recommend a full medical discharge. I'm not sure if that medical discharge would have come with VA ratings or not. He was one of the few Navy doctors that I actually felt was a good doctor and not a sniveling bureaucrat with an MD.
In my particular case, I have a ADHD diagnosis in my history that also caused me to not be able to clear my FAA class 3 medical. The military’s testing requirements for a waiver are pretty much the same as the FAA’s so I’m hopeful that if I spend my own time and expense on that process for the FAA, that will at least give me a better chance with NAMI
FormerRecruitingGuru
Making Recruiting Great Again
I would take a cautious approach on this. I’ve seen and worked with candidates who had an approved FAA physical only be DQ’d for aviation and / or commissioning overall.
It is an unfortunate situation given that I want to go SNA but my personal policy is nothing but honesty. If the end result is a dq from aviation, so be it, hopefully the Navy will have other opportunities for me. If I’m unable to commission at all, well, I really did put forth my best effort and I guess it was not meant to be.
The best way around this is to go to your original doctor who diagnosed you with ADHD and have him or her provide you with a letter saying that you have no signs or symptoms of the disorder and do not require medication and likely the original diagnosis was not accurate. That is the tried and true way to do this. If you no longer have access to the original doctor, then go see a trained psychiatrist who can write you that letter.
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
They will review all the documents, things that will affect what the result is are for instance, were you prescribed medication, if so for how long? Did you see the doc on a regular basis? If so for how long? The best situation is that it was a one visit thing, and not meds were prescribed. The worst is if it was a many visit event, you were prescribed meds and needed to take them throughout school.
Does an FAA physical even matter to NAMI?
No.
Hey,
Might have to go through something similar for SNA in the USMC. How did this end up going? I know it's been over a year. I would love to hear how this has gone for anyone else too. I want to know what my chances are. Has anyone been diagnosed and on meds for a time and cleared to be a pilot by NAMI?