waitin on meps

[donttreadonme]

The doctor is in !! Should chage my name to "Dr. Renegade" :icon_smil.


Anyway... so, based on what you are saying, you were diagnosed with depression about 2 to 3 years ago and have been off medication and released from your doctors care for your depression for about 1 to 2 years ago. I can?t comment on Army standards with any authority concerning the Army accepting individuals with a history of psychological impairment, but the increased suicidal rate in the Army could have contributed to your disapproval. However, your disapproval does not mean you can never apply. Check with your Army recruiter to see when the Battalion would be willing to entertain a reconsideration of your medical waiver. The Army may require you to wait a few months to a year, or get another psychological evaluation, or complete college to show a progress and improvement in your mental state. But like I said, I?m no expert on what the Army wants.

If you decide to go Navy, your depression -- given the length of time you were under a doctors care and on meds (which was over a year ago) -- could be approved. You may need to undergo a psychological evaluation. This is because when a history of psychiatric treatment or serious offenses involving moral turpitude exists, then a referral is made for psychiatric evaluation at an outside psychological facility (either a contractor's office or a local military medical branch). If the Army already sent you to one or if you had a current evaluation performed on you by your personal doctor, then the Navy may use said evaluation to make their determination.

Depression, depending on your state of mind at that time, is a condition that is waiver-able in the Navy. I suggest that if you want to go Navy that you talk to a Navy recruiter and give him/her all of your medical documentation and have it sent for a waiver and see what our officials say. Your condition is not complicated, so I suggest you get the ball rolling if you want to play Navy.

Thanks for the help, doc! :icon_wink

I haven't actually been dq'ed by meps yet. I've been holding off making a commitment with the army until I figured out whether trying to go army and then failing to get approved would prevent me from trying another branch later on. But it seems like that shouldn't be a problem.

Also, btw I was diagnosed almost 5 years ago and have been completely off the meds for 3 1/2 years. And I will be graduating in May with a bachelors in engineering. So, hopefully that'll increase my odds of getting a waiver. Again, thanks for the help!

 

[Makk85]

Good news, I just got a date for my eval! Should be done with this whole waiver thing by the 17th.

 

[cgoetz]

Well good luck Makk hope everything works out for you.

 

[Makk85]

Cgoetz, any news on your waiver process, or still stuck waiting to get word?

 

[cgoetz]

Yeah I'm scheduled to do my eval on May 12. So until then I'm just kind of hangin out. Good luck to you man. I'll pray evrything goes well for you.

 

[cgoetz]

Anyone have luck with evals yet?

 

[Makk85]

I just finished my evaluation today for depression, all went well. The doctor found me fit for duty as a pilot and my report is being sent to the surgeon general for a final stamp of approval to get my waiver. I should know about my final select in 1-2 weeks according to my OR.

Here is how the evaluation for depression went if anyone is curious:

The doc invited me into the office and grabbed the magazine I was reading while waiting. We sat down and he asked some basic questions like DOB, age, name. You can tell right off the bat that he is reading into your personality, even with these simple questions.

He then started asking more personal questions about my family, if I had ever beat up my sister and if I had a good relationship with my parents, stuff like that.

He then dug into what my depression was like for me. He would repeat some of the questions with different wording as if to try and catch me in a lie. He wanted to know how it affected me when it was at its worse, if I ever had hallucinations, attempted or thought about suicide, or if I felt depressed recently. His final depression related question was what I would do if I was on cruise and my girlfriend called to tell me she was dumping me and running off with my best friend. He was pleased I didn?t answer that I would jump in a fully armed jet and b-line for her house kamikaze style. Apparently I answered these all to his satisfaction and he deemed my case related to a private school my parents tried sending me to when I was a middle schooler and doubted that I ever actually had depression. He concluded that people may be put in situations where they become depressed; it is the people that are depressed without a cause that the military really worries about.

After a few questions about the capital of Iraq, Afghanistan and which continent Somalia is on (Baghdad, Kabul, Africa) he gave me a short term memory test. He asked me to remember 3 things: purple book, yellow shirt and green car. After a few minutes of random conversation he asked me to recall the items he had mentioned. It seemed these questions were more to learn about my personality than they were being graded for accuracy. I got most of them, but sadly I thought Somalia was in Asia (Last geography was in 3rd grade).

The doc was satisfied and he recommended that I was fit to serve as a pilot in his report. At the end I asked why he took my magazine. He said he just wanted to know what I was thinking about. Guess this means you shouldn?t be reading ?Guns and Ammo? and ?Emo weekly? while you?re waiting for your appointment.

Good luck to those still waiting to go for their evaluation

 

[nikiterp86]

Makk85, please standby for PM

 

[m26]

Sadly, I thought Somalia was in Asia (Last geology was in 3rd grade).

But when was your last geography class?

Seriously, Makk, thanks for posting that. I'll probably need one of those and it's great to have a feel for it.

 

[Makk85]

But when was your last geography class?

Seriously, Makk, thanks for posting that. I'll probably need one of those and it's great to have a feel for it.

Thank god I didn't need a waiver for being retarded : )

 

[Makk85]

Now that I have a waiver from MEPS, does this waiver transfer over to my NAMI flight physical?

 

[nyc100]

hey makk,

did the doctor ask you if there was any history of mental illness in your family during your eval?

 

[Makk85]

Yeah, they do ask about your family's medical history.

 

[nyc100]

hey renegade,

i was wondering if I could ask you some questions, since you seem to know all about meps. I've been to a mental health professional twice in my life, once about a year ago, once about 12 years ago. I've never been prescribed medication, hospitalized or diagnosed with anything. I was near the top of my class in college and have completed grad school. Now I want to be an officer, the only problem is there isn't any documentation for my visits. I'd be fine with going for an eval, the only thing is that there's been some mental illness in my family, although I've never experienced any. Any advice? any thoughts on what my chances of getting through meps is?

 

[Makk85]

hey renegade,

i was wondering if I could ask you some questions, since you seem to know all about meps. I've been to a mental health professional twice in my life, once about a year ago, once about 12 years ago. I've never been prescribed medication, hospitalized or diagnosed with anything. I was near the top of my class in college and have completed grad school. Now I want to be an officer, the only problem is there isn't any documentation for my visits. I'd be fine with going for an eval, the only thing is that there's been some mental illness in my family, although I've never experienced any. Any advice? any thoughts on what my chances of getting through meps is?

Having some family history shouldn't be a big deal, at least it wasn't for me during my eval. I am sure it depends on what mental illness is in your family and the likelyhood of it effecting you in the future, but you should still definately go for it and apply.