MEPS PDQ, where to go from here?

ASpeedyTurrle

New Member
Hi guys, I'm new here. I'm sure there's a thousand posts like mine asking the same type of question but each medical DQ is unique so I'd like to get some opinions on mine.
Back story:
I started looking into joining the military about a year and a half ago. I spent over a year researching and reading up on everything I could think of. I finally decided to grow a set and talk to a recruiter. I went with the army national guard. I told the recruiter right off the at that I had two small fist size patches of psoriasis on the back of each elbow. It's been present since I was 8, but inactive since I was 12, and I have medical documentation to prove it. I was concerned about it but he assured me up down and backwards it would be no issue getting a waiver. I picked the MOS I wanted (68W) and qualified on the asvab and then some. I jumped though all the hurdles, got up early and spent hours filling out all the paperwork and getting all the documenting the recruiter asked me too. Then all of a sudden the paperwork came back from MEPS as PDQ because of the history of psoriasis without being able to physical. It was my understanding that the standard was that psoriasis was a DQ if it was larger than two small patches, but in being denied even a physical, how can they DQ without even seeing it? My recruiter called me and told me because of the refusal for a physical basically I was dead in the water and to move on. I gave my recruiter a letter of recommendation from my dermatologist who was an air force doctor at west point, detailing that he saw absolutely NO reason for concern with this condition and in his 10 or so years as a west point dermatologist this was no issue. He didn't send the letter in with my original application for the NG and he won't use it to apply for a waiver and just keeps telling me it's no use. Is he right or should I keep trying and just go to another recruiter?
 
Go to another recruiter. Anything can be waived, it's not even a matter of knowing the regulations, it's a matter of having a recruiter that knows the right people. In my case when transferring to the NG from the Navy my recruiter just so happened to be meeting with my state's CSM who just happened to be going to a national convention with the S-1 for the NGB in Washington and three days later I had my waiver which never should have been sent that far up the chain anyway but it is what it is. MEPS is going to look for any reason they can to deny you, that's their job, if something is borderline they will call it cause for rejection, again that's their job, it's nothing personal. Just be patient. I would also encourage you to check out the Army Reserve or Navy Reserve, the Guard and Reserves have different rules, something that could disqualify you from the Army might not matter to the Navy, that's how I ended up a Seabee before the Army changed the regs and I now find myself in a state OCS program with the Army Guard.
 
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