Dodmerb/medical question

<p>This link is about the army’s standards and the dodmerb maze. Does anyone know of an AF equivalent?
<a href=“Home”>Home</a><br>
(it’s a long document if you choose to open it)</p>

<p>Have you googled DoDMERB, USAFA, Medical Standards?</p>

<p>I checked my status of my medical application out of curiousity, and the current status says "closed." </p>

<p>I wasn't sure if this means that I somehow did not pass the exam, or that I've been processed. Does anyone know for sure?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>Nevermind just got my letter from DoDMERB. I'm qualified :D</p>

<p>hey i had both my med exams a few weeks ago....and they have been submitted to dodmerb. on <a href="http://www.dodmets.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.dodmets.com&lt;/a> it says that my status is pending and that i need to call dodmerb because my exam dates have not been authorized. I sent in the little index card with the exam dates on it and i've done everything else i have been instructed to do. am i missing something? has anyone else had this problem? thanks</p>

<p>It takes some time for everything to process. I just waited out my pending for a couple weeks, then all of a sudden got my Potentially Pilot Qualified letter yesterday !</p>

<p>Hey falconhopeful, did your letter really say Potentially Pilot Qualified? I thought they didn't do that specific examination until your 3rd year at AFA. Mine just says Potentially Commission Qualified.</p>

<p>My letter did say Potentially Pilot Qualified.</p>

<p>Son's letter also said potentially pilot qualified as well. As of 7/26.</p>

<p>Kat</p>

<p>Yes, it will be done again later on. But for now, your qualification is either: Potential Pilot, Navigator or Commission. Did you look at the DoDMERB website to check your status. It should be coded as to why you received Commission status.</p>

<p>Be careful if your letter from DODMERB says Commission Qualified. We did not realize early on that this was less than Pilot or Nav Qualified and the USAFA reserves around 60% of their slots for these designated individuals. Luckily, we got it changed, just in time, it was due to a medical mis-measurement by their doctor. Good Luck!!</p>

<p>Hey guys, sorry to reply 10 days after but....I haven't received my letter or internet confirmation on results. I had my medical a month ago. Should I be worried or call the DoD?</p>

<p>I called DODMERB (about 50 times until i got through) and they said that Concorde had 20-30 business days to handle your physical before sending it to the DODMERB. The person just told me to wait for a few weeks and then call again if my status hadn't changed. IDK what I'm gonna do though, have you been logging on to <a href="http://www.dodmets.com?%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.dodmets.com?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Use <a href="http://www.dodmets.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.dodmets.com&lt;/a>. It's the best way to see what's going on with your file. I feel for you with calling concorde. I had to get through to them because I couldn't log onto the website and it took about 50 times too.</p>

<p>Been lurking here on USAFA for a few months...felt compelled to register today to share my son's story of the DoDMERB "waiting game" after reading of others in the same position. Thought maybe our experience might help others, as we felt a bit without direction navigating some of this, espcially Rebuttals. Please forgive the length! I may not ever post again as I am only experienced (albeit limited) in this one issue, but I will still lurk for all the valuable info.</p>

<p>Kid had his physical in late July - has been amazingly healthly and injury free throughout his life, but he asked me to get a complete copy of his medical file so he could be completely truthful. Good thing we did, I guess, as we forgot about the Claritin he took years ago for occasional hayfever (this was before Claritin was OTC). So the personal medical history had a "yes" for allergies, with the required explanation. Funny enough, the examining physician tore off the copy of this page of his medical file that was attached to the form and said "Son, this is the military. Don't give us extra papers." The kid knew better than to argue that this was in the directions...LOL</p>

<p>Fast forward to the second week in August - his DoDMERB page indicates he has two remedials: History of allergies, and orthodontic retainer. Also, much to our surprise, three disqualification codes: substandard near point of convergence, substandard depth perception, and unaided near visual accuity less than 20/20. That sure didn't seem right, the same sentiment expressed by our optician when presented with the codes. An exam proved the codes were not correct, and we got a leter to that effect. But we went one step further, because then we knew we needed to try for a rebuttal. He went to a depth perception specialist, where we knew we could get a finer depth perception test. This was a long exam, with plenty of other tests, but he got a Randot depth perception test. Bottom line: passed all test wonderfully, including depth perception to 20 seconds of arc (30-40 is normal), and acuity better than 20/20. So his eyes were great.</p>

<p>So we had a two-pronged approach here - records for allergy background, letter for ortho on remedials. The ortho letter was very easy - they had done this before. A consultation with the MD revealed some of his records were illegible - we requested a letter of clarifcation from his regular doctor stating his past treatment, that sporatic symptoms were well-controlled with named meds, and he hadn't been in for this in some time. The letter and the file pages (some readable, some not) were sent separately with a cover letter to DoDMERB as requested in their letter to us.</p>

<p>Second prong: We followed the scarce Rebuttal directions provided on the site, cover clearly stating the disqualifying codes, and these conditions did not exist, and the two eye doctor letters. This rebuttal was sent separately to DoDMERB.</p>

<p>Two days after receipt, DoDMERB, the very picture of efficiency, removes ortho remedial from his site. A day later, allergies code disappear, making him Commission Qualifed. We were happy, but still waiting. This afternoon, two business days after they received the rebuttal, the disqualifying codes on vision were lifted, making him Potentially Pilot Qualified. I printed that out and stuck it on the home memo board. When I got home I knew he had seen it for he was measuring basketball throws in the backyard. You know what I'm talking about!</p>

<p>Lessons learned:
1) Always be honest. In our case we sought the truth on his history, it wasn't a happy truth, but you gotta go with it. If integrity is a problem now, it will really be one later. Additionally, the Air Force can always ask you to furnish your records. Hiding the truth would be very bad, and ignorance would probably be not much better. And if you truly had a medical disqualfication, it would be best to understand it as information to make good decisions about your future, heart-breaking as they would seem now.
2) Expediency and persistance are needed here. Get those doctor appointments ASAP even if you have to bake the receptionists brownies or something. You will lose your mind as you wait a week for the letters. Remind them sweetly that you need them very soon. Every day if needed.
3) Spare no cost if you believe you are right and want to pursue this. We are by no means well-to-do, but it seemed a shame to not pursue this aggressively with the dream, the grades, the scores, the sports, the leadership, the character all in place. The kid and I both lost work days and pay as we took crappy appointment times and tried to remain hopeful we were doing all this right. Total cost, none covered by insurance, of three appointments, express mailing etc, lost wages: $300+. Final result: Priceless. And I say this as a very thrifty person! There will be sacrifices, but we got it done.
4) Remember you are not a moron. If you are thinking about the USAFA, you must be smarter than the average bear. Solve the problem logically with data (our optician and guidance counselor both were hopping mad over this - we felt pretty calm with our plan of attack). Follow the directions provided. Move fast. Educate yourself on your condition or lack of it. We learned alot about depth perception and near point of convergence, and found out what the USAF uses in finally qualifying pilots, and went after it. The Web is a wonderful thing. And remember to get your doctor to address the issue(s) specifically and nothing else. We drove to one of the doctors three times to get a letter that just had the test data we asked for, and to please just include the kid's SS# this time...we figured irritating DoDMERB with extraneous data would be bad. And finally...
5) When you take eye exams, exercise good posture. If we hadn't seen the difference in his performance between slouching and sitting up straight, we never would have believed it. Ramrod straight, heels against back of chair footrest. Need good blood flow to the optic nerve. As it turned out, our depth perception specialist is married to a F-16 pilot, and offered this advice to someone who may have lots of exams in his future. So now you know too!</p>

<p>Good luck and godspeed to all you hopefuls as you find your way! Totally spent after this long missive, I go now quietly into the night to lurk once more...</p>

<p>This? The best DODMERB post I've ever seen. THANKS.</p>

<p>momX4+dog. No way can this be your last post. Let us all know how the rest of the journey goes. Your advice is great and I'm sure you can help more.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>Awesome reply, makes me feel better!</p>

<p>As of today I have 5 remedials. ortho, allergy, sinusitis (same with allergy report), vision aberration -1.0, and astigmatism -.75. So, your post helps SO much!</p>

<p>Hornetguy, what are you doing about the remedials for your vision?</p>

<p>yeah i have a bunch of remedials for my vision too, do you know if any of these are disqualifying?</p>

<p>1.Unaided distant visual acuity greater than 20/200
2.Unaided near visual acuity worse than 20/20 (not PPQ)
3.Refractive error greater than + 3.00 diopters in any meridian</p>