Congressman Letter

[iwannabeapiolut]

Good afternoon everyone,
I am currently an applicant for USAFA and a AFROTC scholarship and my medical waiver was recently denied. I am in the appeal process but with limited hope. I have heard some stories about congressman being able to write letters to help applicants get into service. I received a congressional nomination from one of my senators and I'm assuming he would be willing to help. I was wondering if anyone had any experience or advice for this. In addition, would it be better to write a letter to his office or try and contact his service academy representative that text me the decision of my nomination? Thank you and have a nice day.

 

[MullenLE]

Certainly a right that every applicant has.
BUT, all a congressperson can do is "inquire." So, if you perceive that your congressperson can override a waiver denied decision, that would be 100% incorrect.
I've been handling congressional inquiries for 30 years.

 

[Capt MJ]

As Mr. Mullen said, you have the right to write your elected officials. Their staffs, accustomed to this, will send a “Congressional inquiry” to the DoD or SecAF, from thence it will trickle down like a snowflake to the appropriate command, which will initiate a comprehensive review and provide a response to the inquiry. It is formal correspondence from the legislative branch of government to the executive branch.

These make sense if you believe, say, the DoDMERB provider was a quack or got your records mixed up, or you have been discriminated against for an unlawful reason, or some other reason that makes sense to you. But if it is because you are a person who truly wants to serve, has worked hard for this opportunity and want an exception made, then the answer is likely to be the same. No negativity will attach to you if you decide to exercise this right. If you choose to contact them, look on their website for how they wish inquiries to be submitted. It will either be an online form or directions for a written letter. Phone call is not good for documentation.

Take some time to think about why the military may decide not to waiver a DQ. The answer is not about keeping you out, but a utilitarian approach of keeping other military members safe.

I wrote this the other day, and I think it might help you with another perspective.

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