What are my chances??!!!

[dkrusemark]

Hi, my name is Dusty Krusemark and I am currently in the process of applying for OCS and I'm having a few problems. First of all I was diagnosed as having asthma when I was in about 5th grade, but I've never had any problems with it since. I'm 22 now. I am also a college track athlete and all-american in the 400m. I also ran a little cross-country. I guess what I'm getting at is, what are my chances of getting cleared for OCS? Right now I am just waiting to get cleared for MEPS. All of this is foreign to me. I'm just waiting to here from my recruiters now.

 

[Sins]

You use an inhaler? medication?

What's a good quater time for you?

I just read something about current asthma (being defined as "since age 12") being a disqualifier. Hope that helps.

 

[dkrusemark]

I was prescribed inhalers when I was younger but never used them, and I have not had one since I was a freshman in high-school. My quarter time is 47.4

 

[dkrusemark]

I have already seen a pulmonary specialist who has cleared me saying that he saw no signs of asthmatic activity and that my breathing was normal. Those papers were sent with my med docs to Washington D.C.

 

[Sins]

47's is fast. I was never able to break 51

You should be good to go. But I am not an authority.

 

[TBag463]

They are probably going to ask you to take a methacoline challenge. It's a test where they administer regulated doses of a chemical called methacoline, which is a lung irritant. You breathe it in and then blow as hard as you can into a flow meter hooked up to a computer. Basically, if you have asthma at all, it will cause an attack of some form and they can tell by the computer's read out. Hope that helps.

 

[polynikes]

what you need to do is sit down with a doctor that will hook you up. he needs to be able to say that instead of asthma it was something else. I had the same problem (severe asthma when i was young, but no probs since age 5) and a doc from DODMERB said it was 'an erroneous diagnosis' and that I really had 'infant brochitis'. If your chart says you had asthma and your breath tests are poor, you are done. get in touch with your doc, explain to him what you are trying to do and ask him if its possible that there was a mis-diagnosis. if he won't help you, find someone who will.

 

[EA-6B1]

I ran a 50.2 in the Open 400m in high school, dkrusemark. Also ran the the first leg of the 4x400m relay. Save the best race for last. Brings back a lot of memories...

 

[Aggiechad11]

I was told you have a 50% chance of getting selected, but also heard if it was before 12 that its not really a problem at all. They said as time goes on the military is getting smarter about stuff like that. They know that doctors misdiagnose people with asthma/allergies all the time. Good luck man
chad

 

[Citizen]

When it comes to somthing like that, I was told by some older devil dogs about the "just a cold" explanation.

Any medical problem, no matter how severe or seemingly different from a common cold, is/was "just a cold" as far as any military docs are concerned.

If you admit that you had something, they have to check it out. In your case, it was never a real problem, just a cautious doc that diagnosed you.

So all that "asthma" was "just a nasty cold" if anybody asks.

good luck

 

[dkrusemark]

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm waiting around to hear back from medical headquarters (or whatever you call it). My recruiters said I would get in, but I just got to wait around now...its frustrating. Anyway, thanks for the replies. It helped.