IrishBrewer
Member
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2017
- Messages
- 62
File this one under the "Is it worth it?" column.
My daughter is a rising MSIV and part of the Blue Mountain Battalion in Central PA attending Dickinson College. However, she almost didn't get there having DQ'd while navigating through the DODMERB process. She had used an prescribed inhaler a few times early in HS so she thought she was doing the right thing by answering affirmatively about having any history of asthma even though she was never diagnosed. Nonetheless, she started the waiver process and was given a MCT test that yielded inconclusive results (in part, due to poor instructions by the technician administering the test) so she was given one last chance to do a stress test in which her vitals were monitored while running on a treadmill with progressive increases in speed and incline. She gave it her all and continued to run with the treadmill at the max speed and incline so they had to end the test so she passed that with flying colors and ultimately gained her waiver.
As a cadet and student athlete she set high goals for herself and continued to train year round despite all the season cancellations of college athletics. She was elated when only a couple months ago she found out that the athletic conference would reinstate competition for the spring track season. The season was abbreviated so she was only able to compete in a few meets but was able to earn a spot at the DIII nationals for the 10,000m by winning the conference meet and posting the ninth best time in the country. Last night she ran that race at Nationals and earned All-American honors with a 5th place finish and the #2 all-time best in the event at her college, only missing the top spot by six seconds.
That's not all. She put an equal amount of effort into school and ROTC earning All-Academic athlete honors for the conference, served as class president and was named as Battalion Commander. She will only be home for a couple days from Nationals before heading off to Advance Camp. She has even greater goals after graduating and hopefully going active duty so I can only imagine what she is yet to accomplish.
So, the moral of the story is - don't give up. The application process can be arduous at times and you might feel like you have no chance to succeed. There are reasons that it is not easy to get through the process. The Army needs to be selective to ensure the greatest chance of success for those who are selected and with a limited number of slots, I am sure many great candidates still have to be turned away so there is no shame in that but be sure to persevere until the last of your chances have been exhausted.
My daughter is a rising MSIV and part of the Blue Mountain Battalion in Central PA attending Dickinson College. However, she almost didn't get there having DQ'd while navigating through the DODMERB process. She had used an prescribed inhaler a few times early in HS so she thought she was doing the right thing by answering affirmatively about having any history of asthma even though she was never diagnosed. Nonetheless, she started the waiver process and was given a MCT test that yielded inconclusive results (in part, due to poor instructions by the technician administering the test) so she was given one last chance to do a stress test in which her vitals were monitored while running on a treadmill with progressive increases in speed and incline. She gave it her all and continued to run with the treadmill at the max speed and incline so they had to end the test so she passed that with flying colors and ultimately gained her waiver.
As a cadet and student athlete she set high goals for herself and continued to train year round despite all the season cancellations of college athletics. She was elated when only a couple months ago she found out that the athletic conference would reinstate competition for the spring track season. The season was abbreviated so she was only able to compete in a few meets but was able to earn a spot at the DIII nationals for the 10,000m by winning the conference meet and posting the ninth best time in the country. Last night she ran that race at Nationals and earned All-American honors with a 5th place finish and the #2 all-time best in the event at her college, only missing the top spot by six seconds.
That's not all. She put an equal amount of effort into school and ROTC earning All-Academic athlete honors for the conference, served as class president and was named as Battalion Commander. She will only be home for a couple days from Nationals before heading off to Advance Camp. She has even greater goals after graduating and hopefully going active duty so I can only imagine what she is yet to accomplish.
So, the moral of the story is - don't give up. The application process can be arduous at times and you might feel like you have no chance to succeed. There are reasons that it is not easy to get through the process. The Army needs to be selective to ensure the greatest chance of success for those who are selected and with a limited number of slots, I am sure many great candidates still have to be turned away so there is no shame in that but be sure to persevere until the last of your chances have been exhausted.
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