USAF, MEPS MEDICAL DQ / WAIVER QUESTION

[CFederation]

Good afternoon all,

I'm an Air Force OTS Rated applicant with my package currently before the 15OT01 Review Board. We're expecting results within the next 2 weeks, and due to my age, I'm a priority for the next May BOT class. If selected, I would have to go to the May BOT class, or else I would be age disqualified.

During my medical screening paperwork I filled out last year, I admitted to having dislocated my left knee in 2005 when I was 19 years old. My recruiter told me this would require a waiver, so this summer I visited an orthopedic surgeon and had a full consult with X-Rays. He filed a report with my recruiter stating that there is no long-term damage from the injury, that my knee has full range of motion, and that it is 100% and would not pose any issue for military duty. My recruiter filed the paperwork and notified me in December that I received a Surgeon General's waiver on my knee.

She then scheduled me for a MEPS physical, before she had to transfer and I was assigned a new recruiter. On Thursday, I visited MEPS for my physical and I passed all the requirements, but during the medical consult with the head doctor, he Permanently DQ'd me due to the paperwork stating I had had this knee dislocation in 2005. He did not do an evaluation of the knee, nor did he send me out for an additional consult.

I called my recruiter and she was pretty surprised. She had though the orthopedic surgeon's report and the waiver would have been sufficient, or at least that would have prompted the MEPS doctor to do an evaluation of send me our for another consult. Instead he DQ'd me. I'm now aware that according to DOD Instruction, any dislocation of the knee/shoulder (718.86) is disqualifying. However, what is the purpose of the Surgeon General's waiver I received granting me permission to proceed with the MEPS physical, if the MEPS doctor isn't going to even look at the knee, send me out for a consult, or consider the orthopedic surgeon's report?

Further, now my recruiter is putting in another waiver request to the AF Surgeon General's Officer seeking a final waiver on the knee that I assume would supersede the MEPS medical disqualification. Anyone have any insights on this process? How long it would take? Likelihood of acceptance?

As mentioned, I'm age critical and need to be ready to process in early May for BOT. I still need to have a Flight Class IA physical since I'm a rated applicant, and that can't be scheduled until MEPS qualifies me. Am I out of luck here, or can these types of things be expedited? My recruiter said she spoke with her commander and he's pressing for this waiver to be a priority. I just don't know whether that's a realistic hope or not...

Thanks for any input.

[deaddebate]

I'm not totally understanding everything you're saying, because your terminology is a little mixed up (and I'm not a recruiter) but I believe somebody at MEPS is confused. Continue to work with your recruiter, make sure you get a disposition from the CMO (Chief Medical Officer), not merely the local doc.

At a guess, I believe you should've brought a copy of the waiver approval with you to MEPS and attached it to your 2807 to force the doc to review it. This isn't your fault, but something you will learn (if you haven't already) is you often need to know other people's jobs as well or better than they do to get what you need.

[CFederation]

Thanks, deaddebate.

The waiver that my recruiter put in for was issued by the AF Surgeon General's Office. She never shared a copy with me prior to her transfer, but she stated it covered my knee injury. So, heading to MEPS, the knee injury wasn't really a concern for me; I was more worried about the eye exam and other aspects that I could fail. That all went fine, but then the doc took a look at my medical history and simply DQ'd me based on that.

So, now my recruiter has to put in for a new waiver. Do you know anything about this process? Is this something that would likely take too much time for me to still be able to get a Flight Class 1A physical and get processed before May OTS?

FYI, the initial waiver apparently was just a waiver clearing me to go to MEPS.

Apparently without this waiver, they would never have even been able to schedule my MEPS physical because the injury is technically disqualifying. The waiver was based on the orthopedic surgeons report stating my knee is fine and was meant to allow for MEPS to make a determination on the status of my knee. Unfortunately the MEPS doc didn't do any evaluation. He simply DQ'd me.

[deaddebate]

You always needed an accession waiver. Your waiver for flying duty from the Air Force likely included the accession clearance, however that waiver is processed at MEPS in concert with multiple offices. Again, I think this is just a big disconnect at some clerical level.

I wish I had more information for you, but I focus on the application of medical standards within the AF, which you've already done. These deeper administrative processes at MEPS and recruiting are a bit beyond my expertise, and a recruiter would have more answers, especially regarding the time frame. There aren't any recruiters (so far as I know) here on BO.net, so I might recommend you ask your question on afforums.com or PM one of the several recruiters there.

[jcj]

@deaddebate - a few years ago I had a nice young kid get transferred in in to my place after being in an MVC - he was an Army NG Spec4 - he & a couple buddies had just came back from Iraq and had an accident (hit a tree - not drinking). he had a head injury - was on the vent - had one of the worst liver injuries I've ever seen in someone who lived - had bad ARDS, had to be prone positioned & on APRV vent, got an emergency trache @ 3AM because he lost his airway, a couple of emergency angio's, a couple of surgeries, etc. And he had a knee injury (ligament not a fracture) that just required a brace for a few weeks.

He gets over all of that, leaves the ICU to go to rehab & next time I see him is a couple of months later he's up in the ICU with his Mom visiting the nurses & he looks great. His unit was getting ready to deploy back to somewhere in the sandbox & he wanted to go so the Army was having him go over to Ft. Sill for a medical evaluation - of his knee! Apparently they didn't give a damn about all the other stuff that almost killed him he just needed a good knee because his unit was an infantry bde. Go Army!

[deaddebate]

"Army Strong" is the same as saying "Hulk Smash" because it's all about putting bodies on the battlefield, but there's not thought. Good anecdote.