<p>My son’s papers from the Department of Defense say commission qualified and not navigator or pilot qualified. Several of his friends papers all say navigator qualified and have gotten appointments. He has called Patty Edmond at the USAFA and his ALO, Maj Gary E Morgan Jr, to try and find out why. Neither has returned his calls. To our knowledge, he has perfect vision and nothing else wrong either. He did get the “We regret to inform you” letter dated March 28, 2005. However, it did say “we will notify you immediately if you are chosen to fill a vacancy in any of your nomination categories because another candidate declined an appointment.” We really think this is a paperwork snafu. What else can he do?</p>
<p>Just keep calling... not much else to do.</p>
<p>You can also call DODMERB and talk wtih the AF specialist - they have access to your file and might be able to see something that their website does not show... try logging into their website - google "DODMERB" and then click on "Applicant" then follow instructions. They show the disqualifications if any... hope that helps</p>
<p>We did as you suggested and found out that he was inaccuately measured and has a MD227 and a D256.00 that says "sitting height less than 33 inches". He has an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon today who is on the board of WestPoint to measure him accurately. I guess we will have him fax his results to DODBERB and the AFA? Any other suggestions?</p>
<p>aggies4Him
KEEP TRYING and be persistant! Call the admissions counselor and tell you circumstances. we had a similar experience with my son - the dr. during the exam wrote down 6'1" and 190 lbs - DODBERB read it as being 61 inches at 190 lbs and disqualified him for being overweight - we sent in a wavier with new measurements and it was granted - you can imagine the laughs we had from his football and wrestling coach after it was cleared up as this boy does not have an ounce of fat on his body and wrestled 171 this year - He has accepted an appointment at the AFA and we attended orientation last week. I just hope that this problem will not follow him during his carrer and be something he has to clear up every time he needs his DODBERB to verify his stats.</p>
<p>Did you get a waiver or a rebuttal? We will follow up with the proper forms, but you cannot fax to correct anything with DODMERB, so snailmail it has to be. This is crazy because time is so much of an issue. I wish we would have discovered this earlier. Hopefully, having a Dr. that is on the Westpoint board and graduated from Westpoint will help.</p>
<p>We have confirmed that the DODMERB made a mistake or its dr did. The Dr. that my son went to today confirmed that he is well above the minimum. Now, just to get it corrected in time.</p>
<p>aggies4Him
We got a waiver - which included directions on how to get into shape for the demanding physical test of BCT (because of my son not being within the size chart) - this is making us believe that they still think that he is still only 61 inches tall and weighs 190 pounds - at the time we called admissions and talked with our admissions counselor a bunch - he was a recruitted athlete as well - either way the message got through - if there is a way to cut the paperwork trail in time for an appointment I would count on the admissions counselors to show you the way. Call the same counselor each time - ours finally could recognized our voice on the phone - also appontments will be given out well into May and even June - so don't give up</p>
<p>I hope this can provide some constructive information to many of you going through the medical waiver process------</p>
<p>The following is our DoDMERB story, and, more importantly, the things we learned as a result:</p>
<p>My son is a recruited athlete for USAFA Class of 2009, and we had a lenthy DoDMERB experience with a happy ending. After his inital exam, he was DQ'd for a surgery he had undergone when he was 3 weeks old to correct a narrowing of his intestine. The surgery was unremarkable with no complications, but still, it had to be waivered. They called it, "miscellaneous disqualifier/gastro-intestinal." We applied for the waiver, they requested ALL of the paperwork from his surgery and its aftermath (no easy task since his surgery took place in JAPAN)---we sent it, it was reviewed---Waiver granted. After that waiver was approved, my son broke his arm in a football game, had to have surgery with pins, then another surgery to remove the pins. Disqualified. Applied for a waiver, submitted all the requested paperwork, and got it, but not before sending a detailed letter from his doctor stating that he was cleared for "full and unrestricted activity." Here comes the fun part!---In the middle of that waiver process, I was checking the DoDMERB website when yet ANOTHER disqualifier popped up---"history of chronic otitis media". Like many kids, he had had ear infections as a kid, and had tube surgery when he was three years old. We were in the process of applying for a waiver for that, when all of a sudden, on the DoDMERB website, the disqualifier changed to read, "history of chronic otitis media after the 13th birthday!" My guess is that they had SO MANY kids who had ear infections as children that they were having to disqualify too many people, so they changed it so that it was only a disqualifier if the ear infections were a problem after the 13th birthday. So, after talking to the folks at DoDMERB---yes, persistance pays,--- they suggested I write a letter stating that he had not had a problem with otitis media after the early nineties, which was WELL before his 13th birthday. I did so, (it was considered a "rebuttal letter")and a week later, I looked on the website, and the disqualifier had dissappeared. Shortly thereafter, we got a letter in the mail stating that the "conditional status of his appointment" had been removed, and he received his appointment packet the next day and his nomination several days later. </p>
<p>So---what did I learn? Here are my suggestions if you are having ongoing medical disqualifier issues:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Check the DoDMERB Secure applicant repository often. Things change sometimes weekly (even daily) and you can find out your information much more quickly. It also helps to have your applicant's page open on your computer monitor when you are on the telephone with the academy or DoDMERB personnel. Often they ask you to reference it.</p></li>
<li><p>DO NOT PROCRASTINATE! If you do have issues and they require extra paperwork, take care of it immediately. As was stated in a previous post---they don't accept FAXs, so you really need to mail your paperwork in a timely manner---within a few days of the request if possible.</p></li>
<li><p>Be persistent with the DoDMERB personnel, and your admissions counselor---but be very polite and respectful. Just imagine how many problems they deal with on a daily basis. Its not very hard to be pleasant, say yes sir and no sir, yes ma'am and no ma'am, and to excercise patience. These are great skills to model for your son or daughter as they venture into the military anyway. Customs and courtesies are big at the service academies, and everyone enjoys being treated with respect----OK that was my "mommy soap box." I'll get down now.</p></li>
<li><p>Don't panic---Although it is unnerving to get the DoDMERB letter (letters!)
saying, "We regret to inform you........" very often it is just part of the process, and it will just take time.</p></li>
<li><p>Try to talk to an actual person whenever possible. If you are getting the voicemail system that says "try back later......" try calling early in the morning right after the office opens. They seem to be less busy at that time. Face it---this time of year they are dealing with thousands of calls daily.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I hope reading about our experience will give some of you encouragement that even when there are multiple obstacles, things can still work out in the end!</p>
<p>Your recommendations square with our experience as well. All I can add is: Keep copies!!</p>
<p>fm</p>
<p>I don't think a "Commission qualified" status precludes one from obtaining an appointment. </p>
<p>If a person was DQ'd, the letter would not have said what you stated-
""However, it did say "we will notify you immediately if you are chosen to fill a vacancy in any of your nomination categories because another candidate declined an appointment." "</p>
<p>The initial DODMERB exam only qualifies for entry into USAFA. Regardless of what the initial assessment is (commission, navigator, pilot), it is only preliminary as a flight exam will be given during the 2C year to determine status.</p>
<p>I only had a little trouble with DOBMERB, I was born premature and had a pneumothorax (an operation to inflate my collapsed lungs). I also had to get ALL the paperwork from before, after and all that. They took a chest x-ray of me too, no scarring. But, that passed. I didn't have to do a waiver or anything.</p>
<p>If you skate through without needing a waiver for anything, consider yourself lucky, as that whole process can be a pain. Also, when you go through your grad physical, be prepared for them to find additional stuff which needs to be waivered to make you pilot qualified, as well as saying you don't need a waiver for some things you may have needed one for to get accepted here.</p>
<p>Just a note on Aggies4Him's posts above. After sending in the paperwork to correct the error on her son's DODMERB paperwork to indicate that he is, in fact, pilot qualified...he received an appointment packet! How 'bout that?! I don't know if she is still reading here, so I thought I'd post their good news.</p>
<p>timely:</p>
<p>I don't think receiving an appointment packet was due to the status changing to pilot qualified. Not everyone that goes to the academy becomes a pilot. When you are qualified, you are qualified-regardless of the qualification (commission, pilot or navigator). He simply filled a vacancy because someone turned down an appointment. Though, regardless of how or why, no doubt it's a great thing!</p>
<p>They do reserve a certain percentage of appointments (is it 40%?) for those who are pilot qualified though, so you do have a better chance if you are pilot qualified than someone who is not.</p>
<p>I was under the impression that they went through every one who was piloet qualified first... then they move on to nav qualified then commission only</p>
<p>Not true. They have "targets" for the pecentage of every entering class that is PQ. The result is that those admitted who are not PQ generally have marginally better "numbers" than those who are PQ. Being PQ ends up as really another "plus" when a file meets an admissions board, not at all like another EC, Varsity Letter, Award, etc.</p>
<p>This is a little off topic, since it doesn't pertain to admissions, but does anyone have any knowledge on the use of PRK by cadets to become pilot qualified? Are most cadets who want to pursue PRK to become pilot qualified granted permission? Are there any statistics on the percentage of successful surgeries (surgery results in 20-20 vision)?</p>
<p>First off, the AF MUST do the PRK and you must be screened and accepted for the program. There are no guarantees, but I've heard success has been very high lately. DO NOT HAVE EYE SURGERY BEFORE REPORTING TO USAFA--that's an instant DQ from PQ. There's a PRK clinic on base and they'll do it for free.</p>