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Hey everyone, names Richard and I have been in the process of applying to the Air Force since August 2020, shortly after graduating college with a bachelor's in Marketing. I realized I made a mistake with my degree and wanted to do something more interesting. It's important to note that I have had three kidney stones throughout my life, once in 2011 and 2013, both because of a bad diet, and a more recent one in February of 2020 that I accidentally gave myself by eating oxalate rich food continuously because I was dieting eating whole grain foods and also oxalate rich greens.
I was going through enlistment and spent a couple of months providing paperwork while studying for the ASVAB. It all went great, I got a perfect score on my ASVAB and I was medically cleared to attend my physical. While going through the works at the physical I pass all the tests they put me through, but when I had my individual meeting with a doctor in the MEPS, he looked at my file for a minute or two saying everything looked great but I need to get a waiver for my history of kidney stones. This stumped the recruiter and I as we thought I had already been cleared seeing how I went to the physical.
Regardless, I took a month or two to go through numerous tests and appointments with urologist specialists, giving the MEPS every single document they could want, with all of them pointing to a perfect clean bill of urological health. However, the ultimate decision was to medically disqualify me on the grounds of history of kidney stones and hydro nephrosis.
I was very dedicated to joining the Air Force and was willing to wait the 6 month period of time before I could submit an appeal. I got a note from my urologist stating I had perfect tests and that hydro nephrosis is only a symptom of kidney stones themselves and goes away afterwards. Still, 6 months later I was disqualified this time for bilateral kidney stones and hydro nephrosis again. I'm going to look into other branches now, however I'm not very hopeful all things considered. I do have my heart set on the Air Force though. The whole point of this story and post is to ask if there is any other path for me to take to get into the Air Force? Should I write a letter to someone explaining the situation and it's strange points? Did perhaps the doctor back at the MEPS physical make a mistake looking at my file and inadvertently get me disqualified? Is there anything at all I can do?
Thank you so much to anyone who takes the time to read all this and answer any of these questions. It's greatly, greatly appreciated.
I joined the navy after telling them I had a kidney stone prior to joining. Had more while I was in, wasn't really an issue in my career, just a pain in the you know where lol.
I joined the navy after telling them I had a kidney stone prior to joining. Had more while I was in, wasn't really an issue in my career, just a pain in the you know where lol.
That reminded me of something from my past, hadn’t thought about it in years.
Anyway, 1996, I was in Lackland doing some training (not basic). But since I was a SrA, I had to room with another guy in the barracks. Wasn’t high enough ranking to get my own room at that time. But my roommate, this guy was stationed somewhere else, can’t remember, but he was sent to Wilford Hall because he had kidney stones. Lodging doesn’t care who is who, they have a requirement to lodge airmen, they just throw them together whatever way they can.
This dude didn’t hardly speak at all, he just laid in his bed and moaned in pain for the better part of a week. I came in one night after a training exercise, and he finally looked quite a bit better. He had finally passed the stones. They let him keep them for some odd reason in a plastic cup, and he showed me. Man, those looked seriously painful to somehow get through? Anyway, he was gone the next day, back to his base.
So I guess if someone had kidney stones, you are looking at a possible med evac to a hospital equipped to deal with that, and then missing about a week or two of duty as you tried to pass them. I can kind of understand why they’d be cautious about the whole thing.
To the OP, I hope it all works out for you and some branch allows you to serve. The best decision I ever made, bar none, was to enlist.
Thanks for the responses guys. I understand their caution with enlisting me as well and I can't hope for them to trust me when I say I can handle the passing of them. I have gotten into contact with a Navy recruiter and told them my whole story to be upfront with them and they reacted positively regardless. Here's hoping to something good happening with it!
I don't understand if you were disqualified at MEPS, or if you were disqualified after applying for a medical waiver. Who disqualified you, MEPS or the Surgeon General?
From my understanding and my recruiter's understanding, I was given a waiver for my stones before I even went to my physical. It was cleared by the MEPS doctors, but what confused the recruiter and I was the fact that during my physical, an individual doctor reviewed my medical history with me and noted how I had stones and would need a waiver. So was this a different type of waiver he was referring to or was there some sort of miscommunication?
The disqualification arose from the surgeon general's office since my case had already been reviewed once by the MEPS doctors. It's all a mess and is the reason why I felt that perhaps there was a mistake made somewhere along the way.
From my understanding and my recruiter's understanding, I was given a waiver for my stones before I even went to my physical. It was cleared by the MEPS doctors, but what confused the recruiter and I was the fact that during my physical, an individual doctor reviewed my medical history with me and noted how I had stones and would need a waiver. So was this a different type of waiver he was referring to or was there some sort of miscommunication?
The disqualification arose from the surgeon general's office since my case had already been reviewed once by the MEPS doctors. It's all a mess and is the reason why I felt that perhaps there was a mistake made somewhere along the way.
Surely you or the recruiter told the “individual doctor” that you already submitted a waiver, right? Then that “individual doctor” could seek out the existing waiver, on the same ailment, and seam the gaps. Individual doctors are part of a group at MEPS.
What’s likely is that waivers are often initially reviewed and MEPS “invites” everyone in to verify details, conduct in person analysis, and compare notes. There may be some confusion but the “waiver process” surely has a established adjudication process . It’s the recruiter’s job to ensure the T’s are crossed and run down clarifications and they likely do this for many/most applicants.
What does your recruiter sayin now, after they researched on your behalf?
You could wait for a war when the military wants anyone who knows which end of a gun to hold.
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