Anemia DQ

kigabit

10-Year Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2008
Messages
3
Hi, I just received a letter from DoDMERB stating that I've been disqualified due to an uncorrected anemia. I have Thalassemia Minor, which I believe does affect my hemoglobin production. I'm wondering how likely it is I'll be granted a waiver for the USAFA, and if I am, how waiverable this condition is for becoming a pilot. If it helps, I'm not iron deficient, I can run many miles just fine, I've done sports all my life and I don't get the tiredness symptoms that my grandmother, who has the same condition, has had her whole life (i.e. I feel I'm asymptomatic re: the anemia).

Thanks for your input.
 
I'm not sure what the chances are for a waiver. I don't recall ever seeing an applicant with thalassemia minor. I would think the chances of a waiver would be based on your lab results, and how anemic you are.

I would go ahead and request the waiver from USAFA, and when you do request it add in a letter explaining how this has affected you, what activities you currently participate in and how this affects your performance. If you have already requested the waiver, I would go ahead and write the letter and mail that to DoDMERB. They will forward it to the waiver authority.

As for aviation, if you were to get a waiver for the service, I don't believe you would ever get a waiver for aviation.
 
The OP's last post was in 2008. I really doubt that they are on the forum any longer.
 
The OP's last post was in 2008. I really doubt that they are on the forum any longer.

Its funny how often you read posts where someone is waiting for an answer, in many cases waiting for a waiver and we never find out what happened. People will respond the original questions or in this case what happened and not realize that the original post occurred 5 years ago.

I have two opposite theories. First, If it was good news, they would post it and since it was bad news, they dropped the whole matter including posting more on this forum.

The second theory would be the opposite. If it was bad news, they would want to let everyone know how they got screwed over. However, since it was good news, they have no more need of the forum.
 
I am well aware that this post is very old. In fact the last time the OP viewed the forum was back in 2011. Regardless I thought I might follow up to see if anyone active on the forums could answer the question more clearly.

For me I'm a carrier of thalassemia but I'm not anemic at all. I have no symptoms of it what so ever. Is this still an issue for the academies?
 
I am well aware that this post is very old. In fact the last time the OP viewed the forum was back in 2011. Regardless I thought I might follow up to see if anyone active on the forums could answer the question more clearly.

For me I'm a carrier of thalassemia but I'm not anemic at all. I have no symptoms of it what so ever. Is this still an issue for the academies?

My feeling, as I have read a lot about various issues with medical qualification, is that it could still be an issue even if you are asymptomatic currently - because you do have the disease, you could begin exhibiting symptoms at any time. If deployed to a remote location where specialized medical care/medications are not available, this could potentially be an issue for you and your troops.
But you won't find out until you go through the process.
 
The OP's last post was in 2008. I really doubt that they are on the forum any longer.

Its funny how often you read posts where someone is waiting for an answer, in many cases waiting for a waiver and we never find out what happened. People will respond the original questions or in this case what happened and not realize that the original post occurred 5 years ago.

I have two opposite theories. First, If it was good news, they would post it and since it was bad news, they dropped the whole matter including posting more on this forum.

The second theory would be the opposite. If it was bad news, they would want to let everyone know how they got screwed over. However, since it was good news, they have no more need of the forum.

I also often wonder what the outcome was when I see some of these older posts with no resolution!
 
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