It's now been a year since my daughter received her medical DQ from DODMERB that sent her SA dreams crashing through the floor. She called me at work that day crying and we all thought that barring some miracle her chances of being accepted to an SA were now zero. After all, a “DQ” means you’re game is over, right? I remember feeling literally sick to my stomach as we contemplated what we could do next. A frantic email to Larry Mullen received no response, and then a thorough reading of his waiver documentation revealed why. DODMERB doesn't want to hear from parents since this isn't going to be their journey. They need to hear directly from your kids and they need to know they're serious about this, especially since it’s about to get even more intense than the standard SA application process. As parents we could guide our DD through the waiver process, but mostly we were there for morale support and transportation. She did the interviews, the writing, and ultimately vowed to stay on the SAs’ radar.
So, with a DQ and what seemed like a long shot my DD set out to complete her applications to USCGA, USNA, USAFA, three nomination interviews, and on top of all that begin a medical waiver process.
We followed DODMERB's waiver documentation to a tee, but most of all we were persistent. As parents we encouraged our daughter to get all of the formal comments on her condition sent to DODMERB as soon as possible. This included statements from her primary care physician, her coaches, and anyone else in a formal position to comment on her status. Along the way my DD continued to send the academies documentation of her accomplishments like newly named sports team coach and newly appointed student leader. Anything that made it clear to the SA’s that she was worthy of a waiver was game and sent simultaneously to DODMERB and the academy admissions officers.
Fast forward to March of this year and SIX long months of emails, remedials, formal statements, and tortuous waiting and finally my DD’s waiver was granted by USAFA. The process was exhausting for all of us, but it paid off in the end. The morale of the story is, the waiver process can be tough but it isn’t necessarily the end of the road.
One word of advice to those who receive a DQ, is to IMMEDIATELY request a COMPLETE copy of your medical record. Then read your record front to back, and know everything that was written in it. I remember the confusing part for us was the premise that you should only send what is requested. There was a question in our heads that it seemed disingenuous or risky if there was other medical information that could help or hurt your case. SA’s are all about integrity after all, right? Why not send it all?
We realized why this stance was important when we read my DD’s medical record. Physicians will often use keywords that also happen to be DODMERB disqualifiers like “eczema” in progress notes to describe a possible condition. Whether your kid had eczema or not becomes irrelevant since DODMERB then has an obligation to follow up on the mention of eczema. My DD never had eczema, but that word was used in a progress note when she was two years old as the possible diagnosis for a small rash. In the end the rash went away in a few days and never reappeared, but DODMERB was forced to then request any eczema medical records, as well as a formal statement that eczema was not an existing or previous condition. My point is, don’t be surprised if the investigation of one condition leads to the sudden investigation of another. As long as your kid was honest on their original medical questionnaire they shouldn’t have to worry. Minimize the opportunity for DODMERB to go down dead end wormholes by sending only what is requested! This becomes critically important as you both juggle the timing of acceptance letters from back-up plan schools.
Thankfully my DD is doing well at USAFA and scored a 490/500 on her recent fitness test so asthma DQ be damned! Just hang with it and don’t let a DQ take you out of the game.
So, with a DQ and what seemed like a long shot my DD set out to complete her applications to USCGA, USNA, USAFA, three nomination interviews, and on top of all that begin a medical waiver process.
We followed DODMERB's waiver documentation to a tee, but most of all we were persistent. As parents we encouraged our daughter to get all of the formal comments on her condition sent to DODMERB as soon as possible. This included statements from her primary care physician, her coaches, and anyone else in a formal position to comment on her status. Along the way my DD continued to send the academies documentation of her accomplishments like newly named sports team coach and newly appointed student leader. Anything that made it clear to the SA’s that she was worthy of a waiver was game and sent simultaneously to DODMERB and the academy admissions officers.
Fast forward to March of this year and SIX long months of emails, remedials, formal statements, and tortuous waiting and finally my DD’s waiver was granted by USAFA. The process was exhausting for all of us, but it paid off in the end. The morale of the story is, the waiver process can be tough but it isn’t necessarily the end of the road.
One word of advice to those who receive a DQ, is to IMMEDIATELY request a COMPLETE copy of your medical record. Then read your record front to back, and know everything that was written in it. I remember the confusing part for us was the premise that you should only send what is requested. There was a question in our heads that it seemed disingenuous or risky if there was other medical information that could help or hurt your case. SA’s are all about integrity after all, right? Why not send it all?
We realized why this stance was important when we read my DD’s medical record. Physicians will often use keywords that also happen to be DODMERB disqualifiers like “eczema” in progress notes to describe a possible condition. Whether your kid had eczema or not becomes irrelevant since DODMERB then has an obligation to follow up on the mention of eczema. My DD never had eczema, but that word was used in a progress note when she was two years old as the possible diagnosis for a small rash. In the end the rash went away in a few days and never reappeared, but DODMERB was forced to then request any eczema medical records, as well as a formal statement that eczema was not an existing or previous condition. My point is, don’t be surprised if the investigation of one condition leads to the sudden investigation of another. As long as your kid was honest on their original medical questionnaire they shouldn’t have to worry. Minimize the opportunity for DODMERB to go down dead end wormholes by sending only what is requested! This becomes critically important as you both juggle the timing of acceptance letters from back-up plan schools.
Thankfully my DD is doing well at USAFA and scored a 490/500 on her recent fitness test so asthma DQ be damned! Just hang with it and don’t let a DQ take you out of the game.