MEPS sucks

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DD214_DOC

DD214_DOC

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To anyone considering HPSP or about to get their phys for it: MEPS sucks. This is a fact. There is no debate.

I STILL have yet to be completely cleared on my physical because of minor stupid things. First it was a surgery I had when I was six; that was finally closed.

Then it was one case of bronchitis that I could not remember when it occurred, so I guess mid to late teens. It turns out nothing was dx during that visit, but I DID have an acute case of bronchitis when I had the flu last year.

I gave them a statement from my doc and a copy of my records for the ONE time I had bronchitis, yet they still want something about the case of bronchitis that never happened in my mid teens.

This is the military folks. 😀 Your best bet is to keep your mouth shut during your phys.
 
I just did my physical this morning. I went in thinking that HPSP standards were those for non-prior-service. This was according to the internet and my recruiter. This is not the case. For HPSP (AMEDD, who they called to verify) the height and weight standards are prior service (stricter) so I have to shed 2 pounds (or lose 0.52% body fat) and reweigh in 8 days. What a pain for two pounds! They could have just pulled that tape a little tighter and i would have passed the tape test. 0.52% Yikes.
 
njaqua said:
I just did my physical this morning. I went in thinking that HPSP standards were those for non-prior-service. This was according to the internet and my recruiter. This is not the case. For HPSP (AMEDD, who they called to verify) the height and weight standards are prior service (stricter) so I have to shed 2 pounds (or lose 0.52% body fat) and reweigh in 8 days. What a pain for two pounds! They could have just pulled that tape a little tighter and i would have passed the tape test. 0.52% Yikes.
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Dude, you shoulda sucked in your gut like the recruiter told me to do.
 
That's odd. When I went to MEPS, the computer systems were fubar and nobody knew I was HPSP. I was treated the same as the OCS people, which wasn't always very pleasant 😀
 
Just to post a different experience with MEPS.

I was told by my recruiter that it will take ALL morning to finish the procedure. Turned out I was only there till about 9:30ish. Everything went smoothly as they can be. I was worried that I maybe screamed in the face or have a old doc look up my butt, but everyone there was actually nice and the old doc didnt even bother to peek up my butt. I was worried that my prior surgeries and stuff will be a hassle, but the proper documentations I had was suffcient for them to approve me.

Sorry about your bad experiences, but just like any other topic on this forum, there is always another side to this experience. One advice I would like to give to future HPSPers is to make sure you know EXACTLY what the height/weight requirements are and have ALL the necessary documentation. I don't know how many times I asked my recruiter if I met the height requirement b/c of my petite size of 63.5" :laugh:
 
It's just a pain when the recruiter doesn't even know if the requirements are PS or NPS.
My experience, other than the weight issue, was also good. I was out by 9:30-10am. The old doc was really cool. I didn't have to provide any documentation for 2x Hx of bronchitis, he just asked about it and I told him I had it twice, got treated, no big deal and he signed off on it. I think the quality of experience in part has to do with how bitter the staff at a particular MEPS is.
Another tip, be sure you can piss. I went out for a few beers the night before so I was dehydrated. I would have been able to leave about 30 min before I did if I hadn't had to sit and drink tons of water so I could piss for the urinalysis.
HumptyDumptyMil said:
Just to post a different experience with MEPS.

I was told by my recruiter that it will take ALL morning to finish the procedure. Turned out I was only there till about 9:30ish. Everything went smoothly as they can be. I was worried that I maybe screamed in the face or have a old doc look up my butt, but everyone there was actually nice and the old doc didnt even bother to peek up my butt. I was worried that my prior surgeries and stuff will be a hassle, but the proper documentations I had was suffcient for them to approve me.

Sorry about your bad experiences, but just like any other topic on this forum, there is always another side to this experience. One advice I would like to give to future HPSPers is to make sure you know EXACTLY what the height/weight requirements are and have ALL the necessary documentation. I don't know how many times I asked my recruiter if I met the height requirement b/c of my petite size of 63.5" :laugh:
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yeah, i was fortunate to have a really good recruiter and staff. 👍 I have a feeling my future experiences with the military will depend largely on whose going to be my co-workers, patients, commander, etc. I'm hoping the trend of having good people around me will continue...
 
My stuff with MEPS was finally cleared and I'm good to go. I missed the deadline for the upcoming board by one day, but my recruiter is gonna try to get an exception since MEPS screwed me over by waiting to ask about my bronchitis.

Now the wait begins...as usual.
 
JKDMed said:
My stuff with MEPS was finally cleared and I'm good to go. I missed the deadline for the upcoming board by one day, but my recruiter is gonna try to get an exception since MEPS screwed me over by waiting to ask about my bronchitis.

Now the wait begins...as usual.
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Good Luck!
 
To what branch are you applying? My recruiter told me the ARMY board is 02/07; is it the same board or does each branch have its own?
JKDMed said:
My stuff with MEPS was finally cleared and I'm good to go. I missed the deadline for the upcoming board by one day, but my recruiter is gonna try to get an exception since MEPS screwed me over by waiting to ask about my bronchitis.

Now the wait begins...as usual.
Click to expand...
 
njaqua said:
To what branch are you applying? My recruiter told me the ARMY board is 02/07; is it the same board or does each branch have its own?
Click to expand...

I'm applying Army. The deadline for the 2/07 board was 01/31 (7 days in advance). If they accept the exception then I should be in the 2/07 pile.

However, there are actually multiple boards and it sort of works on a rolling process like med schools. I think the next board after February is late March. I saw the sheet with all the boards and deadlines, but I don't remember exactly what the dates were.

Also, I'm pretty sure each branch has its own board, although the deadlines and meetings may be the same.

Good luck to us both, and I hope things work out. Although, I have a feeling it isn't competitive at all, especially for those of us with acceptances already.

:luck:
 
JKDMed said:
I'm applying Army. The deadline for the 2/07 board was 01/31 (7 days in advance). If they accept the exception then I should be in the 2/07 pile.

However, there are actually multiple boards and it sort of works on a rolling process like med schools. I think the next board after February is late March. I saw the sheet with all the boards and deadlines, but I don't remember exactly what the dates were.

Also, I'm pretty sure each branch has its own board, although the deadlines and meetings may be the same.

Good luck to us both, and I hope things work out. Although, I have a feeling it isn't competitive at all, especially for those of us with acceptances already.

:luck:
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I too get the feeling it is somewhat guaranteed if you have an acceptance. My recruiter said as long as everything is in by the 7th we are good, so that is a good sign for us in that they evidently grant said exception readily. He told me the ARMY is really hardup for doctors and I have nothing to worry about.

Good luck to us both!
 
njaqua said:
I too get the feeling it is somewhat guaranteed if you have an acceptance. My recruiter said as long as everything is in by the 7th we are good, so that is a good sign for us in that they evidently grant said exception readily. He told me the ARMY is really hardup for doctors and I have nothing to worry about.

Good luck to us both!
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You don't need luck. You need a pulse and an acceptance, you have both.
 
The Navy board meets every Wednesday.
 
I had the same problems with my recruiter ignoring me. Almost a year later I finally have my package complete. You would think with the Navy DR shortage they would pay more attention to us.
 
Revival...

Not my experience at all with my recruiter for USAF. Very organized and professional. All of my paperwork has had a fast turnaround time (<1wk). He's also gotten me a few points of contacts with practicing physicians within the air force after I requested them and will be taking me on a tour of a base in the near future. He even went so far as to give me his private cell number in case I have any questions, and it has been quite useful both for the proper submission of forms and supporting materials and for answering quetions that I always seem to have.

One thing he has also done is WARN me over and over again that MEPS is going to suck, because I think he knows how many HPSP applicants have had bad experiences overall. What are some tips you guys could give me to minimize my headaches on "MEPS Day"? My MEPS is scheduled for about two weeks from now.
 
I just remember at MEPS when I had to do the turn squeeze and cough thing. The doc said in my 30 years of practicing I have never seen one of those so big WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
This is weird reading all this, I had a totally different experience.

When I went through, MEPS put me at the front of the line for every test/exam that they had since I was applying to be an officer. Although the examiners were all tools I was in and out in no time.

I guess it helped though that my recruiter knew what he was doing. He called them up beforehand to double check where I'd have trouble (I had surgery when I was young too). I'm sorry to hear you all had a more difficult time there.
 
I already posted my MEPS stories in the "is the military that bad?"

here it is in a nutshell:
yes, MEPS was THAT bad. I didn't go to the front of the line. I was treated like a child. I waited hours on end after a consult for for someone to look at my file for 1 minute and dq me. My privacy was violated (dr talked about my file loudly in the hallway in front of other applicants). lastly, even though I was there for 8 useless hours for my consult, I didn't qualify for lunch because i wasn't there for the full physical. 👎thumbdown👎thumbdown👎
 
I still laugh when I think about MEPS. I knew that I was likely about 4 pounds over the weight requirement. I was pretty sure I would have been able to pass the body composition but I wanted to be on the safe side so the day before MEPS I went into dehydrate mode. I worked out three times that day including about an 1.5 hours of jogging/fast walking. Including the breakfast before MEPS, I had 0.5 glasses of water, 1 glass of orange juice and a salad to eat before the weigh-in. Turns out I cut about 12 lb. of water weight in 24 hours so I made the weight with room to spare.

But this is the funny part. For the drug test I was worried I would not have enough water in my system to make must urine. So here I am standing in line and concentrating on my kidney's thinking: gotta pee, gotta pee, gotta pee. My turn and sure enough I had enough. But the thing that made me laugh was the 3 or 4 guys who just could not pee at all. I am thinking "Here I am, dehydrated all to hell, what the hell is your excuse?"
 
My recruiter was on the ball when it came to almost everything HPSP related (surprising, I know) EXCEPT MEPS. I think he said "you're going to be an officer go to the front of the line etc. etc."

When I arrived and tried that i just got yelled at by some navy corpsman who looked like he tied one on the night before. So i waited around with all the 17 year old kids. got yelled at some more by the corpsman along with the rest of the boys. waited in some more lines. did the crab walk in my boxers (among other weird msk exercises) with like 20 other people. but then, the fire alarm goes off (as we're all in our underwear). so the corpsman yelled some more. Then when we get outside, its raining, and he tells us to get in formation. I did not know what that was. The look on my face was probably priceless.

We got done by 3pm so i guess it wasn't all bad. 😀
 
I'm going to MEPS next week, my biggest concern is that I'm underweight, so they are going to analyze me up and down. My recruiter has discussed this with them already and they said it was ok as long as I 'was healthy'

Luckily he is going to be there with me, so hopefully I wont be treated too poorly.....but I can just imagine, I'm sure I'll get the 'eating disorder' run around
 
LauraDO said:
I'm going to MEPS next week, my biggest concern is that I'm underweight, so they are going to analyze me up and down. My recruiter has discussed this with them already and they said it was ok as long as I 'was healthy'

Luckily he is going to be there with me, so hopefully I wont be treated too poorly.....but I can just imagine, I'm sure I'll get the 'eating disorder' run around
Click to expand...

To what branch are you applying?
 
Alright, MEPS question here. I just went for Navy, ruled physcally fit but I got a psyche consult because I saw a psychologist once. Not technically a problem (yet) except that I'm leaving the country an can't get the psyche consult until June. That's fine as long as I don't get DQ'd, but it may kill my app if I do. So do I..

1) Skip the consult, get automatically DQed, and hope to get waivered

2) Wait until June for the consult and hope that it works out for the best

3) Eat the expense and fly back into the country for a 1 day psyche consult

Keep in mind option 2 means I absolutely can not go to ODS this summer (though there's some talk that that might not be an option in any event, anyone know how I would request orders to go to ODS?) I'm leaning towards option 3 right now, but I just don't know. Thoughts?
 
Perrotfish said:
Alright, MEPS question here. I just went for Navy, ruled physcally fit but I got a psyche consult because I saw a psychologist once. Not technically a problem (yet) except that I'm leaving the country an can't get the psyche consult until June. That's fine as long as I don't get DQ'd, but it may kill my app if I do. So do I..

1) Skip the consult, get automatically DQed, and hope to get waivered

2) Wait until June for the consult and hope that it works out for the best

3) Eat the expense and fly back into the country for a 1 day psyche consult

Keep in mind option 2 means I absolutely can not go to ODS this summer (though there's some talk that that might not be an option in any event, anyone know how I would request orders to go to ODS?) I'm leaning towards option 3 right now, but I just don't know. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

There won't be a lot of difference between option 1 and 2. Don't do 3.
 
MaximusD said:
Cool so I'll probably see you this summer at the June 1 -August 30 session of COT then (assuming we both get the scholarship).
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I wish, I'm going to have to wait and do COT next summer 🙁 the school I'm taking postbacc classes at doesn't get out in time because it is on the quarter system....so you will just have to give me all the details to prep me for next year
 
so you finally ran into a MEPS that's actually doing their job. You must be the only one because I worked on 1000's of little broke dicks that rode sick call from the day they got off the bus.

You're lucky, If I were doing your MEPS physical and you're female, underweight, come from a household with total income exceeding $100k, I'd be looking at your dental enamel, your fingers with a magnifying glass looking for evidence of bulemia and send you for a psych screening for eating d/o.

The suicide rate is up, they do a good job of holding back the stats, but it's probably due to piss poor MEPS not looking closely enough in the first place for Axis II crap that should have never made it past the ASVAB testing.

I'll probably get banned for this, but before you do, let me know if they found the Marine that whacked the Bipolar pregnant female Marine. Yeah... I'm making all this up and just being a sexist pig.
 
alpha62 said:
so you finally ran into a MEPS that's actually doing their job. You must be the only one because I worked on 1000's of little broke dicks that rode sick call from the day they got off the bus.

You're lucky, If I were doing your MEPS physical and you're female, underweight, come from a household with total income exceeding $100k, I'd be looking at your dental enamel, your fingers with a magnifying glass looking for evidence of bulemia and send you for a psych screening for eating d/o.

The suicide rate is up, they do a good job of holding back the stats, but it's probably due to piss poor MEPS not looking closely enough in the first place for Axis II crap that should have never made it past the ASVAB testing.

As for me, I would rather be a member of a much smaller military that is made up of the "best of the best" than the behemoth we have now. That way I would know that the person next to me wants to be there and is able to do what they have to.

I'll probably get banned for this, but before you do, let me know if they found the Marine that whacked the Bipolar pregnant female Marine. Yeah... I'm making all this up and just being a sexist pig.
Click to expand...

You're probably right, but the ASVAB dosne't screen or detect AXIS II disorders. The last line of defense for screening of mental health related problems are thos 900 year old retired Army Doc's that work at MEPS.
 
my MEPS experience wasn't too bad... except the doctor examining me was an extremely old woman who had a startling resemblance to Mr. Magoo. oh and the eye exam lady who kept yelling at me for not being able to read the letters on the machine. it wasn't my fault that my eye prescription changed

In the brighter end of it,

I challenge anyone to a duck walk race.
 
they need to do an MMPI on these knuckleheads before the first guy dons a rubber glove.

That would cut their work load in 1/2
 
MaximusD said:
MEPS on Wednesday... I'll let you guys know how it goes. Thanks for the input!
Click to expand...

Ditto. i'm nervous since I MUST be back on campus by 4:30 and the place is an hour+ away and i'm pretty sure i'm overweight (it's great when you're a female personal trainer and you lift a ton of weight, and still you get yelled at for weighing too much...). Should be a great day- any advice about the weight thing anyone? I'm just going to be a total bitch if anyone makes a comment considering my life=fitness.
 
fitnesspremed said:
Ditto. i'm nervous since I MUST be back on campus by 4:30 and the place is an hour+ away and i'm pretty sure i'm overweight (it's great when you're a female personal trainer and you lift a ton of weight, and still you get yelled at for weighing too much...). Should be a great day- any advice about the weight thing anyone? I'm just going to be a total bitch if anyone makes a comment considering my life=fitness.
Click to expand...

If you fail the weigh-in, they will come at a later time to measure your weight and waist. Suck in your gut. That's what my recruiter told me to do. It worked.
 
Maximus and fitnesspremed, how did it go? I"m going tomorrow and am really nervous!!! fill me in
 
yay i didn't fail the weigh in! nice. it was pretty crappy, and i was definitely the only officer candidate there... everyone else just looked at me really awkwardly when i said anything about medical school. oh, and i found out about a really bad family thing right before, so my BP wouldnt go down, even though i'm an athlete so duh its not high, i just have to get a waiver. good luck though!
 
fitnesspremed said:
yay i didn't fail the weigh in! nice. it was pretty crappy, and i was definitely the only officer candidate there... everyone else just looked at me really awkwardly when i said anything about medical school. oh, and i found out about a really bad family thing right before, so my BP wouldnt go down, even though i'm an athlete so duh its not high, i just have to get a waiver. good luck though!
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hmm yeah, not encouraging, how long did it take you
 
LauraDO said:
hmm yeah, not encouraging, how long did it take you
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a nice long 5 hours... but everyone else is enlisting that day, so it's weird because you just leave and they all stay all day.
 
well just returned and I qualified, no question about my low body weight, in fact the doc talk with me about hoe great it was that i was a runner and in such good shape

....and that duck walk is harder then it looks
 
Yeah the duck walk made me realize how out of shape my legs are now that I just lift upper body.

Need to start running for COT.

Passed as well. The only annoying part of COT for me was that there were really long periods of wait time that could have been avoided with better planning. At one point, a few others and myself were sitting around waiting for the ortho exam (all the funky positions/exercises with arms and legs) and we hadn't finished our other tests when I suggested we could finish other tests in the meantime (ie audio, visual, etc). That definitely got things moving.

Another funny thing happened. There was an ice storm the night before and the roads were mostly clear. However, the road coming out of the Sheraton (where they put us up) was at a slight incline and was a solid sheet of ice (not slush, not snow... about 1-2" of solid ice). The bus got to the intersection at the top, and I was behind it in my GTI and a line of cars was behind me. Light turns green... the bus doesn't move. After a few moments, I realize that the bus must be spinning. Suddenly, the bus begins to slide backwards and sideways toward my car! The cars behind me were on my tail, so I had to honk and reverse towards them. Anyway, the bus was stuck and we were delayed for an hour waiting for another bus.

Long story made short, MEPS wasn't that bad. I got to the hotel sort of late the night before due to the ice storm (took 3 hours to get there instead of 1.5) and they had some trouble getting a room for me. Unlike HumptyDumptyMil, the doc did peek up my butt but I expected worse. I thought that there was going to be a DRE, and was relieved when the doc stated, "There isn't going to be any penetration." :laugh:

Guess now all I have to do is wait for my last couple of LORs to come in and my app is off to texas for review in March...
 
HumptyDumptyMil said:
Just to post a different experience with MEPS.

I was told by my recruiter that it will take ALL morning to finish the procedure. Turned out I was only there till about 9:30ish. Everything went smoothly as they can be. I was worried that I maybe screamed in the face or have a old doc look up my butt, but everyone there was actually nice and the old doc didnt even bother to peek up my butt. I was worried that my prior surgeries and stuff will be a hassle, but the proper documentations I had was suffcient for them to approve me.

Sorry about your bad experiences, but just like any other topic on this forum, there is always another side to this experience. One advice I would like to give to future HPSPers is to make sure you know EXACTLY what the height/weight requirements are and have ALL the necessary documentation. I don't know how many times I asked my recruiter if I met the height requirement b/c of my petite size of 63.5" :laugh:
Click to expand...

Ok, so this is going to sound stupid, but what are they looking for when they are trying to peek up your butt at MEPS?
 
RunwayModel said:
Ok, so this is going to sound stupid, but what are they looking for when they are trying to peek up your butt at MEPS?
Click to expand...

The obvious answer is hemorrhoids, but a gerbil tail would be a disaqualifier.😀
 
Actually the MEPS Doc was explaining to me that starting in WWII they started check for a small cyst that often appears on the tailbone. I forget what the condition is called, but it seems that because of the position of the cyst, if it pops it is highly likely it will become infected, and without treatment could be deadly
 
LauraDO said:
Actually the MEPS Doc was explaining to me that starting in WWII they started check for a small cyst that often appears on the tailbone. I forget what the condition is called, but it seems that because of the position of the cyst, if it pops it is highly likely it will become infected, and without treatment could be deadly
Click to expand...


a pilonoidal cyst?
 
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