January 09 Boards

[Gills]

Sooner is always better than later (pun intended). I'm just glad that I already know that I am for sure on the January Boards for SWO. And i submittted OCT 28!... so on second thought, everyone submit NOW!:icon_rage

Sooner,
any word if you have made any January boards?

 

[OUSOONER]

Sooner is always better than later (pun intended). I'm just glad that I already know that I am for sure on the January Boards for SWO. And i submittted OCT 28!... so on second thought, everyone submit NOW!:icon_rage

Sooner,
any word if you have made any January boards?

Usually the 'at board' list comes out a week or so prior to the actual board convening. So for pilot/nfo I should expect to hear around the 8th or so...however, sometimes I've heard that you don't even find out until after the fact.

I try to not worry about it and just let nature take it's course. It's out of my hands once I gave my kit to my recruiter to submit.

 

[NTXRockr]

Well I had some surprises at MEPS today...in addition to already knowing I needed to lose about 20lbs and that I was at body fat % limits, I discovered that my bloodpressure was rediculously high - 152/88 down to 140/89 - so now I get to do the whole 3 checkups with my doctor and submit it to them for review.

On top of this, my flight surgeon said my ears appeared to have "chronic otitis" and moderate damage from previous ear infections (which I had several as a child), and that I had to have my ear-nose-throat doctor forward my records to MEPS. Then I have to see their ENT doctor and get his opinion, since mine has already said it shouldn't even affect my flight status or really be considered as a serious threat. I already know that that is why I have slight hearing loss, plus working around and on jets everyday since junior high hasn't helped that either.

My question is, what's the likelihood that I will get a waiver for the otitis? I know that if I lose the weight and continue to work back into shape that my BP will come back down to normal - plus I was still pumped up about yesterday's ASTB, and then stressed out from then on after the initial 152/88 reading - so I'm not too worried about it. But I am worried that they won't grant me a waiver since the Navy's been stricter than any other branch on the hearing part. The flight surgeon said that if the Navy wants me bad enough they'll make anything work out in my favor, so hopefully the ASTB scores will be enough of a statement to them that I'm what they're looking for. Any ideas or comments about this?

 

[NTXRockr]

Oh, and one other issue that may or may not come into play...they marked that I failed the depth perception test, even though I got 23 out of 24 examples right. Is it an "all or nothing" exam or did he write the wrong thing on my records? My flight surgeon said the Navy has been scaling back the emphasis on depth perception in flight consideration so it shouldn't affect me anyways, but I hate having something on my form that says "fail" whether it affects me or not. Again, any input or insight on this as well?

 

[OUSOONER]

^---- Not a doc but there are a couple on here. I would post my medical concerns in the appropriate area and start a thread asking those questions. They should be able to answer your questions and if not, at least direct you to areas that can.

As far as depth perception...it is pass/fail. You need to pass the depth perception to be physically qualified to fly. I'm not sure "how many" of the little exercises that must be passed, but also ask that question as well in the "Doc's Corner" forum on this site.

Good luck man..don't give up.

 

[NTXRockr]

Yeah I just finished reading up on the depth perception thread...apparently many people have failed it and still got on without it, or went to a civ doc and had a "more thorough exam" performed to confirm that it was good. The machines are terrible to use, and I should have moved or worked at the last one a little bit more to get it (I found slightly turning your head made it pop out better), but I didn't realize just missing the very last one would fail me...oh well, hindsight is 20/20, right? (pun intended, lol)

Hopefully everything will work out with the ears, as I think they try to over-analyze or diagnose something that isn't there since it's their one shot at you. My doc already said there shouldn't be anything to worry about, and I thought nothing of it until he mentioned it. I didn't want to have to go through the waiver process, especially after reading some of the examples on here...but hopefully mine will be a good example showing that even if you have to jump through hoops and hurdles it still can be done.

Thanks for the reply. I'm off to workout and then some ASTB celebration - even with MEPS' attempt to dampen my spirits. I've put a lot of effort into it so far, and it's time for a short R&R break before another stretch and work at waivers before final select.

 

[Charity]

That sounds a little extreme that you would fail for missing one item on the depth perception test. It could have just been a mistake. Now that I think about it, I don't think they did a depth perception test on me. My recruiter also said they should have dilated my eyes but they didn't. I'm a little concerned that my left eye was only 20/30. The doc gave me something with small holes in it to look through to see if it helped. It was hard for me to use it but I finally got it to where I could barely see the letters on the row he wanted me to read. He wrote on my paper that my left eye is not correctable to 20/20 for near vision, only far vision. I think it is just my inability to use that stupid thing he gave me. I got an eye exam about a month before going to MEPS and the doc didn't say anything about my eye not being correctable. He told me I have some slight astigmatism and showed me how I would see if I corrected it. He didn't recommend correcting it since both eyes together see 20/20. From what I understand your vision has to be correctable to 20/20, right? I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't go from 20/30 to 20/20. That sounds stupid to me.

 

[OUSOONER]

That sounds a little extreme that you would fail for missing one item on the depth perception test. It could have just been a mistake. Now that I think about it, I don't think they did a depth perception test on me. My recruiter also said they should have dilated my eyes but they didn't. I'm a little concerned that my left eye was only 20/30. The doc gave me something with small holes in it to look through to see if it helped. It was hard for me to use it but I finally got it to where I could barely see the letters on the row he wanted me to read. He wrote on my paper that my left eye is not correctable to 20/20 for near vision, only far vision. I think it is just my inability to use that stupid thing he gave me. I got an eye exam about a month before going to MEPS and the doc didn't say anything about my eye not being correctable. He told me I have some slight astigmatism and showed me how I would see if I corrected it. He didn't recommend correcting it since both eyes together see 20/20. From what I understand your vision has to be correctable to 20/20, right? I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't go from 20/30 to 20/20. That sounds stupid to me.

You guys have to look at it this way. MEPS= being physically qualified for a commission.

Now, NAMI is a whole different can of worms..it is more thorough and MEPS is a joke compared to the NAMI flight physical. NAMI is what you go through to get physically qualified for flight, which is different and more in depth than MEPS's physical for commissioning.

Many people get through MEPS only to have their dreams dashed with the "NAMI WHAMMY". Get checked out, keep in shape...and also HYDRATE yourself big time before eye exams...if you read on here many of the people who go through eye problems have found that if you are dehydrated your vision becomes f*cked.

I hope everything works out for the both of you. Just peruse the site and you will find many threads related to NAMI.

 

[Charity]

You guys have to look at it this way. MEPS= being physically qualified for a commission.

Now, NAMI is a whole different can of worms..it is more thorough and MEPS is a joke compared to the NAMI flight physical. NAMI is what you go through to get physically qualified for flight, which is different and more in depth than MEPS's physical for commissioning.

Many people get through MEPS only to have their dreams dashed with the "NAMI WHAMMY". Get checked out, keep in shape...and also HYDRATE yourself big time before eye exams...if you read on here many of the people who go through eye problems have found that if you are dehydrated your vision becomes f*cked.

I hope everything works out for the both of you. Just peruse the site and you will find many threads related to NAMI.

I see what you're saying. My OR said if selected for aviation it is best to get a flight physical before going to pensacola. That way you will know beforehand if you can pass. I'm not as worried about the heart murmur and 20/30 eye as much as before. If I have a murmur I highly doubt it is more than 'mild'. If it comes down to it I will go to my eye doctor and get a contact for my left eye to prove it is correctable to 20/20. Hopefully I won't encounter any other problems.

 

[atrickpay]

Oh, and one other issue that may or may not come into play...they marked that I failed the depth perception test, even though I got 23 out of 24 examples right. Is it an "all or nothing" exam or did he write the wrong thing on my records? My flight surgeon said the Navy has been scaling back the emphasis on depth perception in flight consideration so it shouldn't affect me anyways, but I hate having something on my form that says "fail" whether it affects me or not. Again, any input or insight on this as well?

I know you don't have to get a perfect on the depth perception test. I was told that I could either miss 2 or 3, definitely more than one though.

Also, I had high blood pressure at MEPS as well, but I normally do not. I just went to the local Walmart and did the readings from their digital 'sit and check' blood pressure machines. My girlfriend was the witness that I listed for it, and I never had any problems. I received my final select, so if it would be easier than visiting a doctor, i'd say just go to a local pharmacy. Plus, you can check to see what helps the readings go down. I leave my legs extended, close my eyes, and relax like i'm about to take a nap. In a minute or two I can drop it from 140 to 110. Just food for thought.

 

[NTXRockr]

Wal-Mart pharmacy BP test? Really? I figured they'd balk at that considering it may not have been calibrated recently, etc. They told me to visit my normal physician and try to keep it at the same timeframe each day (8am, etc.). I'm sure that I was a little excited/stressed about it, but to be that high isn't good. So losing the weight will help, and I figure that I'll give it a couple of weeks and observe my weight loss, BP and heartrate to make sure it was a fluke.

The doc also told me that the depth perception doesn't totally count towards flight consideration anymore, but if that's true I haven't heard otherwise. So with that in mind I will also request to retake the depth perception test as well, considering my NRD instructed me to fast the night before until after MEPS (and MEPS told me I should've done the exact opposite, since it was a pain to do the piss test and for the blood test find a vein that's flat from no water intake). I'm sure that the lack of food and fluids made me miss the one, but I know for certain I got the others right as he only corrected me on the last. Maybe he miswrote it, I don't know, but I'll retake it anyways.

I'll see what my OR says about the Wal-Mart BP test...if it's that simple, I'll either do that or have a nurse/doctor friend take my readings and sign off on it.

 

[nugget61]

NTX - With regards to the blood pressure, also cut sodium out of your diet. And I mean entirely out of your diet. My dad had high BP and would be NPQ (he was something like 170/95) and no sodium for ~10 days brought it down to something like 110/85. And I don't think that water intake will affect your blood pressure negatively.

 

[NTXRockr]

That's good to hear, I'll do that as well. I normally don't salt my food but I'll pay more attention to how much sodium I'm intaking as well in addition to calories, fats, and cholesterol. Hopefully I'll get it within regs pretty quick and have both my BP and weight back down to normal in a month or two.

 

[redsox06]

January

Hopefully, I will be at the January boards. I submitted around November 20th. Here are my stats:

Going for SWO and Supply, BDCP
Junior, Arizona State, Political Science, Graduating December 2010
54 OAR on the ASTB
3.45 GPA, might go up once finals are over
LORs from USAF Ret. colonel, college advisor, high school coach
Lots of extracurriculars, fraternity, community service
Haven't been to MEPS yet, PRT next month

 

[Charity]

My packet has been sent and I am hoping it's not too late for the January boards...I guess I will find out.

I did my own unofficial PRT and had a friend count and time. So I know it's not completely accurate but I have time to improve them before I do the real thing

sit-ups 81
push ups 30(I'm a wimpy little girl)
1.5 mile run 10:54(I'm out of shape)