I never knew people as great as that guy really existed.

Thanks for the inspiration.

Let me be the "buzz-kill." Your recruiter lied to you. Once you've signed the enlistment contract he has no need to get you an airborne or ranger assignment. Best of luck.

To no surprise, you were right. Apparently, they never planned on getting it for me in the first place. I got all the way to the liaison who threw a contract at me and told me to sign it; luckily I read it, option 4 (airborne) was nowhere on there.

Tell him I need it to be in the contract, he goes "You want option FOUR?! That's hilarious. Hey! (signals to other guy at desk) this kid wants option 4 in his contract!" That set off every guy at a desk in that office telling me I could go to airborne school at any point in my career, all I'd have to do is apply, and how I'm letting a good oppurtunity go to waste by refusing to sign bla bla bla...after politely declining their increasingly aggressive demands that I sign (one guy said "Look kid, I don't know how to put this...you're bein a dumbass right now. Listen, you don't have shit goin for you in your life right now anyway." I reply, "Excuse me?" he goes on, "Kids like you don't come in here unless they don't have shit goin for you. If you were makin 100 grand a year, why would you even consider joining the Army? Just sign the fucking paper. Alot of guys have worked hard to get you here." THAT set my blood boiling. The pretention of some guy who looked more like Michael Moore than anything sitting behind a desk in MEPS telling me about how my life was fucked, and then including apparently every service member into his pathetic waste of an existence, I mean come on...) I was told to "Get the hell out of our office. We don't want kids like you in our Army anyways."

I went out and sat down where I was waiting before, wondering what I'd do from there. One guy comes out and says to me "You can't stay here. You need to go to the other side of the building." And directs me outside and to the right, telling the woman at the desk to make sure I'm let back in. I follow his directions, and find a guy in uniform at the end of the strip waiting for me with a door open. He has this disgustingly sympathetic look on his face, and puts his arm around me saying "Don't worry, you haven't messed anything up yet. Master Sergeant (I dunno if I should use names here or not) Rush wants to speak to you."

I go into his office and this guy who reminds me of a Baptist preacher goes into this long sermon about how the Army is made up of decision makers, who have to be able to make life changing decisions in split seconds, and how if I can't decide today to further my career, I'd be giving up a great thing. He tells me how life is made up of disappointments sometimes, and that by giving up Airborne, I'd be still making a step towards it. I tell him that I have absolutely no reason to trust anyone that's spoken to me today, that I compromise for no one, I came for one reason, and that was to get a 68W job with an Option 4 and that if they weren't willing to put out, I'd move on and find something else to do. He then the went into this diatribe about how it's time for me to make a decision, shakes my hand and looks me in the eye and says "can I count on you to make the right decision today?" I laughed and said "I'll figure it out."

I get back, and waiting for me is my recruiter. Immediately, I thought of the character of the devil from the play / movie Damned Yankees. He looks at me like a father would look at his son who has gotten into trouble, concerned, yet sympathetic. He starts out in a very kind tone, "So what's wrong? tell me what's goin on..." I relay to him basically that they're not offering me what I came to get, that I am willing to make no compromises, and that if he can't get me what I want, that he'd might as well take me back to my car. He goes "Yeah, I didn't know this before. Apparently, you can't get option four at all, because you had PRK done, and you needed a waiver to get into the Army." That one blew me away, either way if it's true or not, I dunno, but I told him that I would need to consider everything before I'd sign, and that I wanted to wait to think about it. That apparently pissed him off as we were going back into the liasons, everyone there started tearing me apart at once, I just tuned them all out and waited for it to be over, the recruiter in whom I once confided started telling them how I wanted to go SF, to which they started laughing and carrying on about how that's a crock of shit, which I sensed was more them venting out their broken dreams, so I didn't really care and walked out.

Moral of the story is, kids who are reading this, take no prisoners when you go to MEPS. They will start throwing everything they can at you to take their deal, and compromise your life. Don't be one of the poor saps these guys seemed so accustomed to pressuring into signing their lives away. How much would it suck if you took a job they wanted you to take, and you end up getting killed b/c you end up working in a place you don't even want to be? Think about it. They will try putting you down and making fun of where you are in life to get you to sign it, STAY STRONG. Get what you went for. You may not get it yet, at this point, I have no idea what I'm going to do. My recruiter won't even speak to me. But I trust that whatever I do, it will be better than if I had caved in, sacrificed myself and signed my life away to satisfy the whim of a bunch of low life losers wondering what the fuck happend to their lives.

Sorry. I knew I was, but didn't want to crush your hopes. That's not to say you can't hold out for want you want. The Army doesn't have to give it to you, they may not "have it" to give, but somewhere between the Army's needs and your wants a compromise can be had sometimes.

If true, and I'm not accusing you of lying, I apologize the the unprofessional environment and attitude. What I can tell you is that every recruiting office is different and every recruiter is different. If you're going to the same MEPS station though...you might have to expect the same attitude.

No matter where you go in life you're going to find people from all walks of life that are at the same point in their life as you are. One of my closest friends in the Infantry joined because his father wanted him to have a miltary background before having him join his "firm" in Texas. (think multi billion dollar multi national business)...three years later he reenlisted and said goodbye to his "fortune" for the chance to be his own man. He retired several years ago after 20 years, never going back to family business. I've also served with people that were fortunate to get out of high school without a conviction or criminal record that never had more than $20 in their pocket in their entire lives. I've known college grads that enlisted and young privates and lower enlisted Soldiers go on to become officers.

I'm not sure on that one...but it's probably accurate. I only know this because yesterday I spent about 90 minutes with my son as talked to our recruiter.

Let me rephrase this for you. Moral of the story is READ, RESEARCH, DO YOUR HOMEWORK, go in well armed and knowledgeable. Know what you want, but also know what your odds are. Are you in debt? Lots of traffic tickets, a few broken bones or surgeries? A baby-daddy? Illegal? Have a warrant out, been taking drugs? Want a job that's over filled, under filled, need perfect vision, TS security clearance? We don't preach using the SEARCH button for nothing.

Like I said in the beginning...somewhere between what you want, and what the Army needs you may be able to find a compromise...provided you can pass the pre-reqs. Remember, it's an all-volunteer force, just because you want to join...doesn't mean you get to join. Good luck to you.

[QUOTE=niners;368301]
I have a medical waiver for my PRK which has disqualified me from the 18X contract.

[QUOTE=Glima;391768]
"Yeah, I didn't know this before. Apparently, you can't get option four at all, because you had PRK done, and you needed a waiver to get into the Army."


Hey niners and glima,
I had PRK done 4 years ago and signed my 18x contract last month. I did have a little trouble with MEPS because they had a hard time reading the scanned copies of the records for the PRK. Nonetheless I was approved and joined with no other medical issues. I am also prior service and had the PRK done in a military hospital. I don't know if any of that made a difference for me, but I hope that it shows you that you can get 18x or Airborne having had PRK. Other than that glima, I hope that the unprofessional behavior by MEPS doesn't detract you from doing what you want to do. Maybe you should look for another recruiter? And good luck to you niners, I had served with some great medics, a couple of guys I know would not be here without them.

Sorry i'm late.

I'm not a QP but i've dealt with this shit (and won) a lot more recently than most folks.

No, prk is not generally a DQ, it just means waivers which= asspain for recruiters. In addition to your waiver to enlist, you will need an exception to policy letter from BAC, and you will have to apply for another waiver to get to SOPC and probably again for SFAS. You will probably have to be stubborn as fuck but do so respectfully and tactfully as it seems you have been thus far. You can most likely get an 18x still (if the program is still around, i've heard it was getting killed in march but according to PNN, its been on the way out since before it started)

Also, be advised that there is a maximum waiverable pre-surgery refractive error. I don't know what it is but that statute totally boned one of my good friends who could have been an incredible asset to the program (oh and he made well over $100k /year before taking an x ray contract so tell that idiot to stuff it...tactfully of course)

Good luck dude, pm me if you have specific questions (but not before you search this board for "exception to policy")


Good times,
Blake


ETA: oh yeah, MEPS is a total shithole, 30th AG is nearly as bad, but you gotta get through that to get where you want. MEPS folks suck, just find one you can use to get what you're after, there's usually one.

Good advice, B, thanks for reinforcing it.

TR

Excellent post..........:D

Big Teddy :munchin

EDIT:

Original question answered.

I think it is entirely embarassing to the U.S. Army to have recruiters and guidance counselors act like the ones discussed above.

That being said, the current USAREC message states that if you required a medical waiver of any kind, that you will be unable to take the airborne physical at MEPS, thus making you ineligible for Options 4, 40, or MOS 18x. Now, this does not mean that you cannot do it period, as this is just a USAREC policy, not Army policy. So when you get to OSUT or AIT, you can apply for all of those things listed above, as USAREC messages do not apply to you anymore.

Bottom line, if you require a medical waiver, you will not get above options in your contract, so just work your ass off in OSUT or AIT and get the slot that way.

Glima, I truly admire your boldness and your strength of will. I went to MEPS just a few days after your message was posted and I wish I had seen it. Me and all the 17-21yr olds at meps that day were scared shitless, not really knowing what we were doing, having people in uniform constantly annoyed with us. In that environment I was leagues away from the boldness you had.

A fellow future soldier went in thinking he was going airborne infantry and they tried to leave the airborne bit out of his contact that day. The SFC at our recruiter's office made a call and pulled some strings and made sure that kid got airborne.

Found the info I was looking for, apologies

It is definatly possible to get 18x or airborne during infantry osut if you really impress your drill sergeants and get their recommendation. Four soldiers from my Infantry osut company got in the 18x pipeline including myself. Do your best.


Wish me luck on my first jump tomorrow. God willing I leave for Fort Bragg Friday.

EDIT: I didn't realize how old this thread was, only that it was recently bumped. Nonetheless, the information is here for anyone with a similar problem or question to learn from.

And, perhaps your safest option yet, directly quoted from the MEMORANDUM FOR RANGER MEDIC VOLUNTEERS found @ http://www.soc.mil/75th%20Ranger%20R...ecruiting.html

Niners, I would recommend going this route. And, if you make it through all of the medical training, you will eventually attend SURT or Small Unit Ranger Tactics prior to Ranger School. Not only will you be offered an exceptional place to grow and learn in your field, but you will also be challenged and taught leadership skills as well as tactics. The tactical experience as a medic may or may not present itself in a conventional army unit, however, going this path almost guarantees it. Lest I even mention the fact that you will be going through phase I of the 18D course.

If you're up to the challenge and SF is truly something you want to make happen for you, then you have nothing to lose going this route.

P.S. This pipeline 'begins' at AIT, visit the link I posted above and scroll all the way to the bottom. There will be two links, click on the one titled "Ranger Medic Application (AIT Students only)" for more information. Within this file and the website there are contact details. I recommend doing your own research and then e-mailing the Regimental Senior Medic if you still have questions.

Im just curious, what was it about the PRK that disqualified you from the 18X contract? I got my PRK done almost two years ago. I was under the impression that PRK was the only procedure accepted for those seeking a spec ops job. That having had lasik is actually more of a liability (i.e. during halo jumps, scuba dives, etc). Granted, that information was received after inquiring about the Navy SEAL pipeline, but I didn't think it varied among other spec ops units. Im just wondering what exactly you were told? Was it policy? Or something unique about your procedure?