MEPs Experience

[Mighty Mighty]

Hello all,

Wanted to share my MEPs experience for anyone who might be going soon or in the future - for you "off the street" folks like me.  I had some nerves about it because of the horror stories I've heard (some of my friend's got DQ'd for stuff that would make you cringe - pilot slot gone forever) but I definitely would say personally that my day got better as it went on. A couple of key points:

 

1. Dress professionally - you are going for a pilot slot aren't you? I wore khaki's and a button down tucked in with dress shoes. There were some kids who looked like scrubs - and I noticed they got treated very differently. Sit up strait, stand up strait, don't slouch, yes sir, and yes maam's exclusively.
2. Follow.the.instructions. - don't do anymore, any less, cut corners, or jump ahead, - just follow instructions. It's that simple! If you don't you will definitely hear from them. Sometimes they would correct you with a quick snap, sometimes they would just strait up yell in your face. This didn't happen to me but I saw it first hand with folks who just couldn't follow the directions.
3. Have a positive attitude. Obviously no one wants to be there, but if you make some conversation you'll find that (some) of these people are very nice just doing their day to day job. I was close to failing my blood pressure/heart rate exam (do NOT drink coffee morning of the exam) and the doc just told me to sit back and relax - to take as much time as I needed. We did that test 4 times before I was within limits - no big deal.

 

We started out by getting a briefing at the entrance of the MEPs. You'll line up, listen to the security folks give their spiel and start going through the metal detector. After that, you will meet with your Air Force liaison who will hand you your medical packet so you can get checked in. You'll get in line, get your blood pressure and heart rate taken, and wait to enter the medical briefing which I was told could take anywhere from an hour to 2 hours. In the medical briefing you'll be told not to lie, don't sexually harass anyone, and fill out some paperwork. A note - make sure to fill out the scar/tattoo form as detailed as possible (more on this later.) I would suggest studying what you wrote previously on your 2807-1 because they will cross check your answers.

 

After your briefing you will do a breathalyzer and then wait in line for the p*ss test. Do not get in that line unless you are absolutely positive you can go - a few guys got REEEMMEDDD out because they said they were ready when they weren't...don't be that guy. If you aren't ready - you can begin the other components of the medical exam until you are. They said we had to p*ss before 11:30AM. After that, you do your hearing exam, doc interview, blood work, and eye exam in no particular order. The doc interview was a simple conversation, nbd, mine didn't even run down the list point by point like I thought he would. I had a few surgeries that weren't disqualifying but they did not ask me for any of my medical records either which I thought was strange (maybe they will just pull them from the source?) Once you have those done they took our height and weight and we did the duck walk and some other funky mobility exercises. During the mobility exercises which you do in your underwear, the doc also looked for scars on folks and cross checked them with what they put on the tattoo/scar form. Folks got asked to stay behind and explain them if they were not previously listed.

 

You will do a read aloud test since you are AF and they will ask you to pop your ears for a valsalva test. Again, nbd.

 

I was the only one there that was commissioning as an officer out of about 40 or 50 people.  They wrote "commissioning" on my name tag - which all of the doc's and tech's saw during each test.  I don't know if that worked to my advantage or not - I'd like to think I did well because of my good looks. Most were enlisting in Army or Marines.  I didn't see many people get outright DQ'd, maybe 2 or 3.  There probably was more than that though.

 

The day was a lot was a lot of hurry up and wait - but i was done by 12PM. I hope this helps.  I was looking for as much gouge as possible for this exam and I wanted to leave something behind for any future guys unsure about the whole thing. If you have any questions feel free to DM!

[DifferentViper]

Good post. Just to add a bit, no bacon or orange juice either. My blood pressure was a over the first 2 times too because of the bacon. I have never seen my blood pressure that high before.

The experience must be different depending on where you go. My group was maybe 20 people. I wore jeans and a polo untucked. All the staff were super nice (except one doctor and the check in guy at first but he chilled out later) and joking around with us. We could talk amongst ourselves and if we got too loud we would get a polite shushing. It was a bit chaotic since they had all the tests in different rooms you would just go where there was an opening in no specific order. I was the last to be seen for the physical exam because i had a longer medical history than the all the youngsters in my group. I got finished around 4pm. I expected the worst but it was actually a pleasant experience. 

I got DQed for a past knee injury and was denied to be seen for the flight physical so get familiar with the DODI if you have a questionable medical history. I didn't see anything in the waiver guide about it so i thought i was good.

[TotableMink]

Has anyone gone through MEPS in the last two months or so? Currently waiting to go, just curious how much Rona has affected the process and if anything else has changed compared to the previous posts.

[ryleypav]

I went in April. Seemed pretty much the same as described above. Except you have to wear masks now and they try to keep up the social distancing part to the best of their ability. Other than that, pretty much the same deal. The physical was probably a little less intrusive because of the social distancing deal, but still thorough. (I.e. the physicial couldnt really check out my throat or nostrils or get close to do those kinds of checks. Interview with the doc was easy. Keep to what you wrote on your form. No new information needs to be given and dont lie about anything. It seemed like there may have been a bit of preferential treatment since I had the "red" commissioning folder instead of the regular enlistee tan folder, but not much if any really. Just listen to directions and you'll be in and out. Its amazing how many people cant follow simple directions because they are so uptight/concentrated on not screwing up lol. 

[LJ15]

I went for testing a couple of weeks ago.  Can’t comment on the medical aspect, but the only difference I saw due to ‘rona was everyone had to meet in a conference room at the MEPS hotel and get their temps taken, and the recruiter had to sign a form saying that you were appropriately quarantined.  This wasn’t a huge deal (though me and 2 other AF OCS potential were the only ones with paperwork issues, figure that), but something additional.  The AF liaison got us all squared away with our messed up forms.