Is this legal?

Damien435

Damien435

Active member
As some of you may recall I joined the Army's DEP in July 04 and this website had been instumental in my decision making. However I blew out my knee and found out about it two weeks before leaving for basic, now, over a year after my surgery, I should be eligible to re-enlist. I say should because the Army recruiters and refusing to send my packet up to MEPS to be cleared without a commitment from me to join the Reserves while I go to school. I really need to know if the Army is an option for me in the future BEFORE starting school this fall, can my recruiters legally withold this information from me? Can I contact MEPS directly and get my knee cleared? If I go to the Guard could they get my knee cleared without me enlisting?
 
Damien435 said:
As some of you may recall I joined the Army's DEP in July 04 and this website had been instumental in my decision making. However I blew out my knee and found out about it two weeks before leaving for basic, now, over a year after my surgery, I should be eligible to re-enlist. I say should because the Army recruiters and refusing to send my packet up to MEPS to be cleared without a commitment from me to join the Reserves while I go to school. I really need to know if the Army is an option for me in the future BEFORE starting school this fall, can my recruiters legally withold this information from me? Can I contact MEPS directly and get my knee cleared? If I go to the Guard could they get my knee cleared without me enlisting?
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Waitaminute. They are saying they will do nothing for you unless you tell them you will go? Are you trying to go Active and they are telling you to go Reserves for now instead then transfer to Active?

If you can, give us a bit more detail.

As for contacting MEPS and such, no go man. They won't deal with you like that. They can only take the recruiters packages they send in and process them like that etc as far as I know.
 
Ok, I tore my ACL sometime between February and May 05, I found out on the day of graduation (what an awesome present) and was discharged on June 15. I had ACL reconstruction surgery on July 8th, 2005. What I plan on doing is taking ROTC while going to school and then getting a commission in the Army after I graduate, however that remains in doubt since they are trying to jerk me around like this. I plan on joining either the Guard or the Reserves to pay for school and then transfer to active duty after I graduate.

As for how bad my knee is, my doctor cleared me a long time ago to re-enlist, I have been playing baseball all summer without any problems. The only issue I have with it is that the front of my knee is still sensitive to the touch and yet somehow it is also numb too, it's really weird but the doctor said it was normal, supposedly it will remain this way for years to come.
 
If you are planning on going to college in another state or area, I would try the recruiters there, since they probably have a better knowledge of local Guard or Reserve units, and can liason with them faster than an out-of-state recruiter could. But whatever you do, DON'T lie about your knee to the new recruiters, since if you are accepted, you face jail time if your knee goes out again. I don't think you will have that problem though.

I would weigh the costs and benefits of enlisting before college. I did it, and I don't regret my decision, I only regret how difficult it was to get the money for college like I was "promised" (even on paper). So far, I've seen $0.00 given to me from the Army in terms of Tuition Assistance, GI Bill, SLRP, etc. I did, however, get a ton of money from ROTC. They are very "generous," so if I were you, I wouldn't rule out just taking ROTC, and forego the enlistment process. Sure, prior enlisted get more respect and leeway, but if you enlist SOLELY to pay for college, it is simply not worth it. It's fun as hell though.

Trust your hang
 
The college money is a big part of my decision, but it is hardly enough on it's own, college is pretty cheap in South Dakota, approx. $10,000 a year before my scholarships and fed. financial aid. If I was say going to school in Hawaii where the tuition rates are three times what they are here maybe the money would have a bigger role, but as it is I can afford school quite easily with a minimum amount of student loans and such. I have been told that if I don't get picked up by ROTC under an SMP program or for a scholarship my sophmore year it is all but guaranteed for my junior year. Of course these supposed sure things have a way of turning into maybes and then eventually "oh yeah, umm, about that, you're SOL."

And about the lying, I know all about that, some airman at MEPS tried to accuse me of lying and we got into a bit of a dispute about the validity of my paperwork. He said I lied about my ACL, I showed him the scar and big bold letters on the front of my packet that said I had knee surgery on July 8, 2005 and my knee needed to be cleared before I could re-enlist. I was not too impressed with MEPS that day.

Best part about ROTC though, it only costs $90 a semester and it will cover my humanities requirements for graduation. ;)

BTW, what does "Trust your hang" mean?
 
Haha a local radio station in AK has a morning show where two guys just talk and play classic rock, and one of their phrased that they've coined is "trust your hang," derived from a sound clip they played where an hispanic MLB player said "Trust your hands," but when he said "hands," it sounded exactly like "hang," thus a manly phrase of encouragement is born.
 
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