Yeeeaaaa.....maybe not. That diversion tactic isn't going to work on me. While I'm not an aviator, I did do 14 years of service. I had my fair share of chances to go "tac med down" and conversely, to not disclose medical conditions as appropriate per the standard form. You can slice it anyway you want. Whether a person pulls the tac med down maneuver or knowingly fail to disclose what the question on the form asks them...the integrity of the individual has been compromised. In both cases, the person isn't telling the truth.
As far as the medical history survey forms go I don't really see them as a question of honesty. Two incidents in my experience, albeit brief, that make me say this.
First, way back in high school when I was trying to get into ROTC the form had a box about any history with reactions to bee stings and insect bites. As a little kid I had reacted severely, but I hadn't had trouble with it since (and yes I had been stung). I marked yes on the form. It took me 4 years to get that off my record, even though it was no longer a problem. I almost was NPQ for aviation because of that.
Second, when I was getting my precommissioning/flight physical it asked if I had ever had bronchitis. I had been sick with it 3 months prior, taken the meds, got better, and moved on. I marked yes. The flight doc looked at it and said, "That's not something you want to admit. If there is something wrong with you, trust me, we will find it." He changed the box to say "no" and that was that, no tests or anything.
If they are going to change my answers to "no" for me then what is the point of the form. Moreover, the questions are along the line of "have you ever in your life had condition x?" Answering honestly, like with my bee sting issue as a kid, can end your career even if there is nothing wrong with you anymore. What the questions probably mean is "do you have a chronic problem with condition x", and that's how I answer them now. The impression I get is that you would say this is dishonest or compromising my integrity, but my experience hasn't given me the impression that 100% full disclosure is what they are looking for on those forms. Just my 2 cents. I agree with you on the "tactical" med downs though.
