I have tried for over an hour to frame this right, but I can’t. I had to tell an 18 yo high school girl that she may never be able to serve her country. Her twin sister got in at the same time that this young woman was being told she was disqualified from service in the Army. I had to tell the young woman, I will call Donna, that she could not serve at this time as her twin sister, “Dawn”, was being accepted.
Seems a Doctor thought that Donna had eczema. Donna had never even heard the word eczema before. We submitted a waiver, but five days later it was disapproved. Donna has talked to three other doctors who say she doesn’t have eczema. She doesn’t understand why she can’t serve like her twin sister.
Fuck it hurt me to have to make her cry like that.
Fuck, I hate my job.
Don’t feel too down, things may work out in the end.
When I went to MEPS for my initial physical the guy I went down with got DQd for some eye issue. In the time it took for him to get a doctor’s waiver his band got signed for a record deal. The guy still wanted to enlist but naturally the recruiter told him, “Man, don’t be stupid.”
So yeah, that may be the best thing that ever happened to her.
Thanks for your support, Rand, but there are not many opportunities for young women here in Paris. She had but one chance to get out, and some doctor fucked that up for her.
SGG there those on this board who suport you. I wanted you to know it. I had a talk with one of my kids yesterday. He is a recruiter in Arazona. Any way thanks for giving.
Far from an expert but I know that there’s various degrees and types of eczema. I didn’t even show symptoms of my (mild) case until I was in my 20s. Now it’s a bit more obvious to me at least other symptoms that I thought were normal but were really linked to the condition such as dry flaky skin on my face, severe dandruff and chronic rashes on the back of my neck and behind my knees. What I don’t understand is how a skin condition that’s so mild she never went to see a doctor about it is going to keep her from enlisting…
My first thought was chance of infection to do breaks in the skin.
Come on. Do you really expect SSG Schwartz to have to tack on “in the armed forces” at the end of that sentence. It’s pretty obvious exactly what he meant. The gal wanted to join the military, and is being prevented from it. Of course she can do those other things. That’s not what this thread is about.
Sorry to hear, SSG. I know it’s hard to take the disappointments in your job, but the fact that you care means that many who’ve crossed your path are better for it, whether you fulfilled their wishes or not. Who knows? This could be an opportunity in disguise for the young lady.
That must be a really difficult part of your job. I had no idea eczema disqualified you from the military. I’m not exactly armed forces material, but I’ve had two different kinds of eczema and I would have never thought something like skin irritation could stand in the way of a successful military career. I know she had her heart set on the military, but it might be helpful to brainstorm on other ways she can serve her country. Just because she can’t fight doesn’t mean she’s useless, right?
Oh, and a totally random question – do psych disorders disqualify you, too?
Goddamit, those MEPs doctors will DQ a person for everything! You sent her medical records from other doctors clearing her of eczema and they still disapproved 'em? Its happened to me, but man it always pisses me off!
Schwartz, I’ve had MEPS dq applicants because of
A blister. The guy ran 10 miles a day and had a small blister on his foot.
Acne. Yes, Acne. Whoa…a 17 yr old with acne! Call hazmat!
Allergic to peanuts
Too hairy. Not kidding. Granted, the guy looked like Ookla the Mok, but come on.
Fucking MEPs. This is why when asked if I’d consider recruiting again I either burst into laughter or give an icy stare. I’ll let you kick me in the nuts before I do that job again. Hope your day goes better, man.
My understanding is that the armed forces are very reluctant to accept anyone with a chronic preexisting condition.
If it’s something that could get worse, the person could get out of the services on medical leave and the military would be responsible for compensating that person some percentage of their base pay for the rest of their life.
I can answer that one! Well, Jolly Roger can, this is from a PM when I asked him that question, the ellipsis are where I’ve cut stuff out:
Thanks for caring, Sergeant. And I second the idea of having a list of “ways to serve that you may be qualified for if the reason you’re DQ for the military is medical.” Mind you, the idea has a problem: inter-letter-soup-rivaly anybody?
Eh, my brother cried when he wasn’t able to get into college for “Technical Industrial Engineering” (he could apply to three at the same time and had chosen the ones closest to our hometown, but all three got full before he’d received his final grades), the parental units loaded him into the car, they went to other colleges nearby which offered that degree, in the second one they ran into one of his old classmates who grabbed them (my brother quite literally carried under his arm, this guy is huge) and brought them to the director’s office, who promptly and after taking a look at Bro’s grades admitted him “outside quota” (that college was nominally full too). Bro is a Technical Industrial Engineer, so he evidently was able to cut it.
Seeing your whole life plan shattered sounds like something most people wouldn’t take with much of a stiff lip, specially most teenagers. That doesn’t mean they won’t be able to deal.
That’s not so. The military discharge system works such that if a medical condition was determined to be caused by a preexisting condition or was caused by the misconduct of the servicemember, he may be discharged with no disability benefits whatsoever.
Now, that has screwed up the lives of quite a few people when they discover they have congenital problems that weren’t known to them and weren’t discovered until they were in. That’s unfortunate - but the fact that it happens points out that the motivation for the military not taking these people on is in the disability payments later - they have this covered, as you can see.
The reason is far simpler - they don’t want servicemembers in battle conditions winding up unable to perform their duties because of health conditions, and putting themselves and those around them in additional danger.