OCD and AFROTC

MDinMA

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Aug 6, 2016
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My 16 year old son will be a junior this Fall. He was diagnosed with OCD in middle school and is currently taking medication for it. He also has a 504 plan for school, though he never uses any of the accommodations. We've kept it in place from the beginning as a precautionary measure.

All he's ever wanted is to join the military. His plan, if you ask him, is to go AFROTC, then become a Pararescueman.

He's a very good student(3.75 GPA) and a 3 sport athlete.

This morning, for whatever reason, the thought occurred to me that having OCD might preclude him from joining the military. That led me to Google, and countless websites. Thankfully my search finally brought me to this forum.

Everything that I've read leads me to believe his dream is basically over, and he doesn't even realize it yet. It's been a very depressing day for me. When the options are give up, or roll the dice, take your child off his meds, and hope he can manage his OCD in the off chance he gets a waiver there isn't much to be positive about, I guess.

None of his friends and virtually no one outside our immediate family even has a clue that he has OCD. When we meet with his teachers they are astounded that he has any issue at all.

Does anyone have any history with OCD and waivers? Any recommendations would be appreciated.
 
Unfortunately I believe you may need to refocus how your DS can serve our country.
Here are the two best documents I know of
Medical standards: http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/613003p.pdf
Non-Waiverable Medical Conditions: https://www.jmu.edu/rotc/prospective-cadets/Non-waiverable medical conditions.pdf
This is an Army document and it is out of date, but it does specifically list OCD as a non waiverable medical condition.

Another resource could be http://www.dodmerbconsultants.com/ I have no first hand dealings with them, but there have been positive comments on this forum.

Sorry for the bad news, but it is just my opinion from the documentation I have read. And, as always, you never know until you try.
 
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