Waivers

We've read the waiver timeframe post above, lots of posts about waivers on this page, and the info on waivers on the DodMERB website so now we're just looking for confirmation of our understanding and maybe answers to questions that probably no one actually would know the answer to...

DoDMERB portal for both USNA and USAFA says: Pending Waiver Submission/Review since December 28th.

USAFA admissions portal Application Status says: Complete but Medically Disqualified and then in the section Medical Status says: Disqualified.

USNA application status doesn't reflect a current medical status, just has a link back to DoDMERB.

Understanding #1: USAFA says DQ but that is not final until we know the outcome of the requested waiver. Wondering why USAFA portal doesn't reflect a pending waiver review instead of DQ, but we believe that everything is okay and are just waiting to hear on the waiver.

Understanding #2: Waivers for both academies (and subsequent plan B ROTC applications) are determined by the waiver authority at each institution, not at DoDMERB. So follow-up emails to the DoDMERB contact would not produce additional information.

Understanding #3: There is nothing further DS can do at this point but to wait to hear about the waivers.

DS had the very common D231.40 - asthma after 13 DQ. He has been prescribed an inhaler twice after age 13, both times associated with upper respiratory infection with mild wheezing. Based on what we've seen on this forum and what he heard anecdotally at NASS and USAFA FVE, kids routinely receive waivers for mild occasional asthma.

So.... questions I have running through my head:
*Nothing gained by emailing admissions at USNA or USAFA checking on waiver, correct?

*Does a delay on the waiver decrease odds of appointment? In other words, waiver in hand today versus waiver received March 1 make a difference? Or do they hold the appointment while waiting on the waiver? Or do none of you have any idea and there is no reason to fret (even though you responding with "don't fret" does not translate into us not fretting....).

* And.... have you seen kids with mild asthma as described not get a waiver? Yes, I know, what they did for one kid will not necessarily translate to what will happen for DS, but I'm still curious.

I think thats it...

#waitingisHARD

Nicely laid out.

The only thing I will add is that each Service has different internal guidelines for waivers. What one may waive, another will not. This is not arbitrary, but rooted in different missions, different operating environments, different gear and equipment.

There may also be only a certain number of waivers available for certain conditions. I don’t know if asthma is one of them.

Best wishes for a good outcome.

Excellent post.

Another poster told me his son is currently in the same boat as yours with asthma - so I assume he will chime in.

He was denied the waiver by USAFA and USMA but granted the waiver for Naval Academy.

DodMERB is what my son’s says so that is ok.

I am assuming that AF denied the waiver ... call them. If it was still in the waiver process, it wouldn’t say dq.

I am also assuming USNA is still looking at the waiver for you.

I would call admissions for both tomorrow and confirm.

DS has the same asthma DQ. His waiver was denied by USMA, USAFA, and AFROTC. His waiver was approved by AROTC and USNA. He passed the methacholine challenge test and isn't on any medications nor was he ever hospitalized. The Air Force is tough. They don't want to see any medications for three years. I could show you a medicine cabinet full of unopened automatic refill prescriptions. During this process we had to send 72 pages of medical records.
The good news is he received two waivers so far and could also receive third one from USCGA. Everything you need to fight asthma is on SAF. The best advice I can give anyone is to apply to as many SAs and ROTC programs as you can. They all have different policies regarding asthma waivers. My son's goal is to serve his country. He doesn't care what color his uniform is.

I too have been disqualified due to "asthma after the age of 13" (from USAFA). The odd part though is that when remedials were requested by DoDMERB, I clearly indicated that I had not had any incidences past the age of 13 or 10 for that matter. I have sent an email to DoDMERB regarding my question.

Also, does anybody happen to know how long it generally takes after a disqualification before a waiver process will be initiated(assuming that is what the USAFA chooses to do)?

Because I’ve been through this...

“Pending waiver submission/review” does not mean a waiver has been requested. USAFA will update your portal with a letter at the top stating that a waiver has been requested and required actions. For USNA I didn’t seen anything change until I received an actual letter stating that a waiver had been granted. A week or two later my USNA portal was updated and my medical dq was gone. Hope this helps.

Panther32 said:

Because I’ve been through this...

“Pending waiver submission/review” does not mean a waiver has been requested. USAFA will update your portal with a letter at the top stating that a waiver has been requested and required actions. For USNA I didn’t seen anything change until I received an actual letter stating that a waiver had been granted. A week or two later my USNA portal was updated and my medical dq was gone. Hope this helps.

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Maybe.

My son had an LOA ... I was told “pending waiver submission/review” with an LOA meant the waiver process was automatically requested.

A1Janitor said:

Panther32 said:

Because I’ve been through this...

“Pending waiver submission/review” does not mean a waiver has been requested. USAFA will update your portal with a letter at the top stating that a waiver has been requested and required actions. For USNA I didn’t seen anything change until I received an actual letter stating that a waiver had been granted. A week or two later my USNA portal was updated and my medical dq was gone. Hope this helps.

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Maybe.

My son had an LOA ... I was told “pending waiver submission/review” with an LOA meant the waiver process was automatically requested.

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I'm not sure what to say... Maybe things aren't as they seem

I was told this all by my BGO and it was affirmed by my BGO area commander. anyways, like always, take what everyone says (me included) with a grain of salt.

A1Janitor said:

Panther32 said:

Because I’ve been through this...

“Pending waiver submission/review” does not mean a waiver has been requested. USAFA will update your portal with a letter at the top stating that a waiver has been requested and required actions. For USNA I didn’t seen anything change until I received an actual letter stating that a waiver had been granted. A week or two later my USNA portal was updated and my medical dq was gone. Hope this helps.

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Maybe.

My son had an LOA ... I was told “pending waiver submission/review” with an LOA meant the waiver process was automatically requested.

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BTW, I truly hope there are no hard feelings. I DO NOT intend to be considered anywhere near educated on the USNA or USAFA process like some are. For everyone that reads this and anything else I might post, I only mean to help people understand things I've personally experienced and what I wish I'd have known at the time. So if I am wrong I am really sorry, I only mean to help out.

Panther32 said:

A1Janitor said:

Panther32 said:

Because I’ve been through this...

“Pending waiver submission/review” does not mean a waiver has been requested. USAFA will update your portal with a letter at the top stating that a waiver has been requested and required actions. For USNA I didn’t seen anything change until I received an actual letter stating that a waiver had been granted. A week or two later my USNA portal was updated and my medical dq was gone. Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Maybe.

My son had an LOA ... I was told “pending waiver submission/review” with an LOA meant the waiver process was automatically requested.

Click to expand...

BTW, I truly hope there are no hard feelings. I DO NOT intend to be considered anywhere near educated on the USNA or USAFA process like some are. For everyone that reads this and anything else I might post, I only mean to help people understand things I've personally experienced and what I wish I'd have known at the time. So if I am wrong I am really sorry, I only mean to help out.

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Hard feelings? Of course not.

I appreciate everyone that comes to this site ... parents or applicants to the military or people that served out conuntry.

I know less than most on here. An admissions counselor told my son the waiver initiationsas automatic with an LOA. Doesn’t mean it’s true or I am right. Just offering what I heard.

I am not positive about USNA and USAFA, but at USMA, on your DoDMERB portal "pending waiver submission/review" means that DoDMERB has not yet received anything related to a waiver, no request for records, no requests for AMI, and no decisions. On the candidate WP Portal is say, "Waiver Requested/Medical" once an official request is made for a waiver. Basically DoDMERB can only do what the SA requests of them, and any requests or action will appear on your portal. With no waiver actions on your portal I would suspect that USAFA has not initiated a waiver request for you yet. USNA, should have something on your portal indicating whether or not a waiver was "officially" requested.

Understand, your senior admissions representative or admissions themselves have to initiate the actual waiver process. I would not wait, but call your contacts at the academy's to get an update on the possibility of a waiver. My DS was in constant contact with his senior admission reps throughout the entire admissions process and every time they were the one who initiated my DS's waiver. It was all shown on his academy's portals and was updated numerous times. We contested DoDMERB's DQ with a ton of medical evidence and DoDMERB actually changed his Status to : Fully Medically Qualified, so all the waivers are moot. So check with you academy's and find out exactly what your current status is. "Pending Waiver Submission/Review" is just DoDERB's way of telling your they have notified your academy or ROTC program what is going on, it does NOT indicate a waiver has been requested.

Impulsive said:

I am not positive about USNA and USAFA, but at USMA, on your DoDMERB portal "pending waiver submission/review" means that DoDMERB has not yet received anything related to a waiver, no request for records, no requests for AMI, and no decisions. On the candidate WP Portal is say, "Waiver Requested/Medical" once an official request is made for a waiver. Basically DoDMERB can only do what the SA requests of them, and any requests or action will appear on your portal. With no waiver actions on your portal I would suspect that USAFA has not initiated a waiver request for you yet. USNA, should have something on your portal indicating whether or not a waiver was "officially" requested.

Understand, your senior admissions representative or admissions themselves have to initiate the actual waiver process. I would not wait, but call your contacts at the academy's to get an update on the possibility of a waiver. My DS was in constant contact with his senior admission reps throughout the entire admissions process and every time they were the one who initiated my DS's waiver. It was all shown on his academy's portals and was updated numerous times. We contested DoDMERB's DQ with a ton of medical evidence and DoDMERB actually changed his Status to : Fully Medically Qualified, so all the waivers are moot. So check with you academy's and find out exactly what your current status is. "Pending Waiver Submission/Review" is just DoDERB's way of telling your they have notified your academy or ROTC program what is going on, it does NOT indicate a waiver has been requested.

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I don’t disagree with what you are saying here.

The moment there was a dq on DoDMERB ... status changed to pending submission/review.

What I was saying was at USNA ... the DQ at DoDMERB and the LOA from USNA initiated the waiver process. Absent an LOA ... they look to see if they want to request a waiver.

@A1Janitor, I totally agree. I am not an expert, but I would believe that if a candidate had an LOA, (that means the particular academy is holding a space for you) that they would want to initiate and hopefully get a review quickly for the particular waiver. The ONLY times I would guess this is not the case is if the DQ Code was for a "Non-wavierable" condition. If you had one of the conditions, you will most likely get a TWE soon.

When you provided medical evidence- how did you go about that? My son got a DQ for spondylosis for a stress fracture in 2015. He has no residual issues and has been a competitive 3 sport athlete for the last 3.5 years. His MRI evaluation report when asked for remedial specifically states no indication of spondylosis, but when my son called DoDMERBs yesterday, the lady he spoked to reported that DoD's doc stated he had it. She literally read his MRI report with the exception of the sentence that stated there is no indication of spondylosis. More than anything, I want to make sure his medical records are accurate.

jeng said:

When you provided medical evidence- how did you go about that? My son got a DQ for spondylosis for a stress fracture in 2015. He has no residual issues and has been a competitive 3 sport athlete for the last 3.5 years. His MRI evaluation report when asked for remedial specifically states no indication of spondylosis, but when my son called DoDMERBs yesterday, the lady he spoked to reported that DoD's doc stated he had it. She literally read his MRI report with the exception of the sentence that stated there is no indication of spondylosis. More than anything, I want to make sure his medical records are accurate.

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What exactly does the “Impression” part of the MRI report say?

You can submit "rebuttal" evidence to DodMERB, but it better be conclusive. DoDMERB is required to DQ candidates for certain conditions so that individual Waiver Authority's can review for their particular standards. Degenerative Arthritis of the spine (Spondylosis) is one of those mandatory DQ's I think (someone on here with more knowledge than I can correct if I am wrong). Then the WA will review the records, maybe ask for an exam, interview the candidate medically, and if they feel he can complete training and fulfill service standards they can grant the waiver.

GoCubbies said:

jeng said:

When you provided medical evidence- how did you go about that? My son got a DQ for spondylosis for a stress fracture in 2015. He has no residual issues and has been a competitive 3 sport athlete for the last 3.5 years. His MRI evaluation report when asked for remedial specifically states no indication of spondylosis, but when my son called DoDMERBs yesterday, the lady he spoked to reported that DoD's doc stated he had it. She literally read his MRI report with the exception of the sentence that stated there is no indication of spondylosis. More than anything, I want to make sure his medical records are accurate.

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What exactly does the “Impression” part of the MRI report say?

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This is the whole MRI Report-
Sagittal, axial and coronal images were obtained of the lumbar spine. There is a moderate amount of increased T2 signal and decreased T1 signal in the pedicle and extending into the pars intraarticularis at the L4 level. This is consistent with bone edema. No cortical fracture is identified. No spondylolysis or spondylolisthesis is identified. There is minimal increased T2 signal in the left L4 pedicle adjacent tot he facet joint. No other bony abnormalities are identified. There are five lumbar type vertebral bodies. No masses are seen. There is minimal posterior dis bulging at L3-4 and L4-5. No areas of neural foramina narrowing or central canal narrowing are identified.

IMPRESSION: " THERE IS A STRESS REACTION INVOLVING THE RIGHT PEDICLE OF THE L4 WITH SLIGHT EXTENSION INTO THE PARS INTRAARTICULARIS. NO FRACTURES ARE IDENTIFIED. THERE IS MINIMAL STRESS REACTION IN THE SAME LOCATION ON THE LEFT SIDE. NO OTHER SIGNIFICANT ABNORMALITIES ARE IDENTIFIED.

Impulsive said:

You can submit "rebuttal" evidence to DodMERB, but it better be conclusive. DoDMERB is required to DQ candidates for certain conditions so that individual Waiver Authority's can review for their particular standards. Degenerative Arthritis of the spine (Spondylosis) is one of those mandatory DQ's I think (someone on here with more knowledge than I can correct if I am wrong). Then the WA will review the records, maybe ask for an exam, interview the candidate medically, and if they feel he can complete training and fulfill service standards they can grant the waiver.

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His orthopedic doc said he would be happy to do another image of it and is very confident that he does not have this condition. I am just not sure if we should do that yet or just wait and see what the SA says about granting him a waiver.

jeng said:

GoCubbies said:

jeng said:

When you provided medical evidence- how did you go about that? My son got a DQ for spondylosis for a stress fracture in 2015. He has no residual issues and has been a competitive 3 sport athlete for the last 3.5 years. His MRI evaluation report when asked for remedial specifically states no indication of spondylosis, but when my son called DoDMERBs yesterday, the lady he spoked to reported that DoD's doc stated he had it. She literally read his MRI report with the exception of the sentence that stated there is no indication of spondylosis. More than anything, I want to make sure his medical records are accurate.

Click to expand...

What exactly does the “Impression” part of the MRI report say?

Click to expand...

This is the whole MRI Report-
Sagittal, axial and coronal images were obtained of the lumbar spine. There is a moderate amount of increased T2 signal and decreased T1 signal in the pedicle and extending into the pars intraarticularis at the L4 level. This is consistent with bone edema. No cortical fracture is identified. No spondylolysis or spondylolisthesis is identified. There is minimal increased T2 signal in the left L4 pedicle adjacent tot he facet joint. No other bony abnormalities are identified. There are five lumbar type vertebral bodies. No masses are seen. There is minimal posterior dis bulging at L3-4 and L4-5. No areas of neural foramina narrowing or central canal narrowing are identified.

IMPRESSION: " THERE IS A STRESS REACTION INVOLVING THE RIGHT PEDICLE OF THE L4 WITH SLIGHT EXTENSION INTO THE PARS INTRAARTICULARIS. NO FRACTURES ARE IDENTIFIED. THERE IS MINIMAL STRESS REACTION IN THE SAME LOCATION ON THE LEFT SIDE. NO OTHER SIGNIFICANT ABNORMALITIES ARE IDENTIFIED.

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What did the orthopedic doc say about the stress reaction of the L4 pedicle at the time the MRI was done? Your DS was probably told to hold off on athletic activities for a while.

A stress reaction in a pedicle is real. It is a precursor to spondylolysis if it doesn't heal and your DS continues to stress his low back. The most common stressor is extending or twisting at the lower back like for baseball, football, and gymnastics.

Now he's DQ at the DODMERB level, I can't tell you how the services will disposition though.

You are correct. The medical reviewers at the services may request another imaging study to ensure the stress reaction has resolved.

If your DS is asymptomatic and imaging studies show the stress reaction is resolved, then I don't see how the service medical reviewer couldn't recommend waiver. He's proven he's good by participating in sports for the past 3.5 years without recurrence of symptoms.

If your DS has an LOA, there is very good chance that the academy WILL request a waiver, and if they cannot make a determination with records, OP's on this very forum have said that a candidate with an LOA (basically a guaranteed appointment if qualified), is looked at differently than one without. There have been posts that candidates with an LOA have even been requested to travel to the academy for a medical interview and exam by the academy's medical staff. Attached is a list of non-waiverable conditions for the Navy. I am sure there are lists out there for every SA and ROTC program.
https://www.navycs.com/blogs/2008/08/13/medical-not-waiverable