OCS USN Waiver Process

[Kyle42]

Hello all,

I've been working with a Navy OSO to hopefully attend OCS in the near future. We've got everything done for me to be ready for the selection board except receive a medical waiver for a hip surgery I had done over the summer. I've been consistent on asking for updates regarding possibly getting a MEPS appointment or a Walter Reed physical readiness exam. I've been waiting for months for some sort of progress to be made. My recruiter has said "At this point MEPS is pointless so we'll have to keep calling Walter Reed to get you seen there." I'm just curious as to why MEPS is pointless, my medical records are about 75 pages long which I get will take a long time to review but wouldn't it be better than not being in line at all? Are there any other options to try and get a med waiver other than trying to call Walter Reed everyday and schedule something even though they are always booked? I know these questions would probably be best answered by my recruiter but they seem to be always very busy and it's hard to get in depth responses. It feels like my recruiter is giving me the minimum required effort but maybe that isn't the case. Any and all feedback would be appreciated, thanks everyone!

 

[maowczykowski1]

Meps is so pointless. It’s literally a base line screening of medical. What is the designator? FYI, you will go through a much more intensive physical at OCS that does a full eval however each eval is done by a corpsman who’s education and skills are much more questionable. I had to get blood drawn and I’d swear it was the first time for this doctor ever doing it. If you SNA, join the club at student pool

 

[Kyle42]

Meps is so pointless. It’s literally a base line screening of medical. What is the designator? FYI, you will go through a much more intensive physical at OCS that does a full eval however each eval is done by a corpsman who’s education and skills are much more questionable. I had to get blood drawn and I’d swear it was the first time for this doctor ever doing it. If you SNA, join the club at student pool

Yeah SNA, ASTB is done and everything else, just doesn't seem like they're even trying to help so I'm not sure what to do.

 

[maowczykowski1]

Honestly, don’t waste your time with the navy if you have anything that is possible disqualifying. I’m here, a week from graduating, just found out I have some other random appointment on something Thats not even a predisposed condition, on the verge of being qualified or not based on someone’s opinion. If I could do it all again, I’d go marines where the flight doc appointment is before meps. You already told the military about the surgery so you’re just going to have to wait this one out. Just know there is a much more comprehensive eval here at OCS, and pilots are being DQed and designated as SWO left and right.

 

[Kyle42]

Honestly, don’t waste your time with the navy if you have anything that is possible disqualifying. I’m here, a week from graduating, just found out I have some other random appointment on something Thats not even a predisposed condition, on the verge of being qualified or not based on someone’s opinion. If I could do it all again, I’d go marines where the flight doc appointment is before meps. You already told the military about the surgery so you’re just going to have to wait this one out. Just know there is a much more comprehensive eval here at OCS, and pilots are being DQed and designated as SWO left and right.

The marines DQ'd me and couldn't get a waiver unfortunately, but the Navy's N3M list of "generally waiverable conditions" lists the procedure I had done on my hip (arthroscopic surgery) so I'm hoping that bodes well for me.

 

[maowczykowski1]

Well I think you’ve answered you own questions and will be doing whatever it take and kudos to you. Just know the same thing could easily happen to you here, just way further down the road.

 

[Kyle42]

Well I think you’ve answered you own questions and will be doing whatever it take and kudos to you. Just know the same thing could easily happen to you here, just way further down the road.

Thanks! I'll make sure to keep that noted.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

The marines DQ'd me and couldn't get a waiver unfortunately, but the Navy's N3M list of "generally waiverable conditions" lists the procedure I had done on my hip (arthroscopic surgery) so I'm hoping that bodes well for me.

That could be an issue as the Navy does the medical for the USMC, I never had a person who was shot down by USMC for a medical issue that was accepted by the USN, this could be an uphill battle.

Where did you get seen at before for your medical exam? There is lots of info you haven't provided that is also vital.

 

[Kyle42]

That could be an issue as the Navy does the medical for the USMC, I never had a person who was shot down by USMC for a medical issue that was accepted by the USN, this could be an uphill battle.

Where did you get seen at before for your medical exam? There is lots of info you haven't provided that is also vital.

Thanks for responding. I was actually never seen by anyone for the USMC. I mentioned hip pain in my first medical package with them which of course I was DQ’d for, then BUMED didn’t give me a waiver so I got the surgery to fix the hip pain and resubmitted to BUMED for the USMC with all of the new medical records and still no luck with the waiver. As of now I am trying with the Navy because as I mentioned N3M does list arthroscopic surgery as a waiverable condition. Hope that helps fill in the gaps.

 

[Metromedic]

Hello all,

I've been working with a Navy OSO to hopefully attend OCS in the near future. We've got everything done for me to be ready for the selection board except receive a medical waiver for a hip surgery I had done over the summer. I've been consistent on asking for updates regarding possibly getting a MEPS appointment or a Walter Reed physical readiness exam. I've been waiting for months for some sort of progress to be made. My recruiter has said "At this point MEPS is pointless so we'll have to keep calling Walter Reed to get you seen there." I'm just curious as to why MEPS is pointless, my medical records are about 75 pages long which I get will take a long time to review but wouldn't it be better than not being in line at all? Are there any other options to try and get a med waiver other than trying to call Walter Reed everyday and schedule something even though they are always booked? I know these questions would probably be best answered by my recruiter but they seem to be always very busy and it's hard to get in depth responses. It feels like my recruiter is giving me the minimum required effort but maybe that isn't the case. Any and all feedback would be appreciated, thanks everyone!

I cant give specifics on your condition and can only speak on my behalf. In order to apply for the upcoming board, I had to receive a waiver for ADHD. I had to submit my packet to MEPS who only is "legally obligated" to read a maximum of five pages of your chart per day. With that in mind, it can take you some time to hear back from them considering you have 75 pages at 5 per day. In other words, it could take up to 15 days before you even hear anything back from MEPS, and that's only to get approved for an appointment. I submitted my initial and MEPS wanted more information. Overall it took me two weeks to get the green light.

Once you actually hear back from MEPS and get the green light, your recruiter will make an appointment and you will have a medical examination just like everyone else. The doctor will see you and give you a Permanent Disqualification as that's what MEPS is good at. As long as you didn't state anything else that you didn't pre-disclose on your 2808, you'll be fine. Your recruiter will pick up the completed packet from MEPS in 3-5 days.

Once your recruiter has your complete packet, they'll submit it to N3M to make a determination and that is all case-by-case. In my situation, it was sent back from N3M as pending additional information which I had to provide. Once I gave them the completed information, I waited approximately two weeks before I heard back from them that they granted me a waiver.

All in all, it'll take about a month for simple cases. Complex will be even longer. With the holidays coming up as well, you'll definitely see more delays.

I don't know much about Walter Reed, but I do know that the authority to grant a medical wavier is from N3M. But they'll want a MEPS examination before anything.

Something else you can check out is the wavier guide. Here's the link. Just find your condition and it'll give you a rough idea as to if your qualified. Helped in my process some.

https://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmotc/nami/arwg/Documents/WaiverGuide/Complete_Waiver_Guide.pdf

Hope this was some good advice for you! I just finished all this about a week or so ago, so I feel where you're at.

 

[Kyle42]

I cant give specifics on your condition and can only speak on my behalf. In order to apply for the upcoming board, I had to receive a waiver for ADHD. I had to submit my packet to MEPS who only is "legally obligated" to read a maximum of five pages of your chart per day. With that in mind, it can take you some time to hear back from them considering you have 75 pages at 5 per day. In other words, it could take up to 15 days before you even hear anything back from MEPS, and that's only to get approved for an appointment. I submitted my initial and MEPS wanted more information. Overall it took me two weeks to get the green light.

Once you actually hear back from MEPS and get the green light, your recruiter will make an appointment and you will have a medical examination just like everyone else. The doctor will see you and give you a Permanent Disqualification as that's what MEPS is good at. As long as you didn't state anything else that you didn't pre-disclose on your 2808, you'll be fine. Your recruiter will pick up the completed packet from MEPS in 3-5 days.

Once your recruiter has your complete packet, they'll submit it to N3M to make a determination and that is all case-by-case. In my situation, it was sent back from N3M as pending additional information which I had to provide. Once I gave them the completed information, I waited approximately two weeks before I heard back from them that they granted me a waiver.

All in all, it'll take about a month for simple cases. Complex will be even longer. With the holidays coming up as well, you'll definitely see more delays.

I don't know much about Walter Reed, but I do know that the authority to grant a medical wavier is from N3M. But they'll want a MEPS examination before anything.

Something else you can check out is the wavier guide. Here's the link. Just find your condition and it'll give you a rough idea as to if your qualified. Helped in my process some.

https://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmotc/nami/arwg/Documents/WaiverGuide/Complete_Waiver_Guide.pdf

Hope this was some good advice for you! I just finished all this about a week or so ago, so I feel where you're at.

Thanks for responding! You laid that all out very well and made the process a lot more understandable. I hope my path can go something like that. I’ll check out that site and see if I can gain some info.

 

[Metromedic]

Thanks for responding! You laid that all out very well and made the process a lot more understandable. I hope my path can go something like that. I’ll check out that site and see if I can gain some info.

I assume you had hardware retained if you had hip surgery which would be under 13.6. Its case-by-case so you may not even need a waiver if its simple enough.

 

[Kyle42]

I assume you had hardware retained if you had hip surgery which would be under 13.6. Its case-by-case so you may not even need a waiver if its simple enough.

There actually wasn't any retained hardware. They used Athrax suture anchors in the surgery which dissolve after some time I believe but I checked anyways and they aren't mentioned.

 

[Metromedic]

There actually wasn't any retained hardware. They used Athrax suture anchors in the surgery which dissolve after some time I believe but I checked anyways and they aren't mentioned.

Do you have any post-surgical complications? If you don't have any hardware, I don't know why you would need a waiver unless it was a complex surgery?

 

[Kyle42]

Do you have any post-surgical complications? If you don't have any hardware, I don't know why you would need a waiver unless it was a complex surgery?

No issues whatsoever. I've actually never been in better shape, but the military seems to have a problem with this surgery because the Marines were quick to DQ me. I don't think it was too complex, they shaved the bone down a little and fixed up the surrounding labrum so there was a couple parts but neither of which took very long to recover from.