DIDN'T LEAVE FOR BOOTCAMP - WAITING FOR MEDICAL WAIVER FOR ADD

[pcgh]

All I can say is - thank God for this website!!!.  I'm a Mom of a Navy recruit who is very determined to get in.  He wanted to show me his independence and do everything on his own so he went to the Navy recruiter, found out all the information and we even had the recruiter come to our house and talk with us about him joining.  Sounded great and my son is very excited.

However, my son was diagnosed with ADD when he was in elementary school.  He took Concerta, once a day and only on school days, not weekends and not breaks.  When he got to Jr. High School, he started "forgetting" to take his medication or discarding it - said he did not like how it made him feel.  Last RX was filled April 2014, and none of the pills were ever taken - took to his prescriber who confirmed all pills were accounted for.  He did average to above average in school without the medication, held a job for the past year and a half and has done fine.

His Navy recruiter never actually told him to lie, however, when my son told him about the issue, his response was "Dont worry about it - its okay" and giving him the impression that he did not need to mention it on his DD form at MEPS, so he didn't.  He passed the MEPs with flying colors, got his job that he wanted, and was waiting for bootcamp ship out day.  Over this time, he told me something was bothering him and then told me that he had not mentioned the ADD on his form and didnt mention it because his recruiter said "dont worry about it".  Well, after reading all these articles on this website - IT IS A BIG DEAL!!  He called the recruiter and told him that he wanted to disclose everything.  As you can guess, his recruiter was not happy - the recruiter's superior was not happy either.  My son told him that he still wants to join the Navy, just not by lying or cheating his way in, and he wants to do it the right way.  Therefore, he got his "Medical disqualification for the ADD" in the mail from MEPS.  Next step for him was to get his medical records and bring to Navy and we redid the DD form to include EVERYTHING - even things he did not remember, but I do.  Got a letter clearing him from his doctor stating he had not been on the meds for over 1-1/2 years, shows no signs of ADD, and is cleared for full duty.  Now we are waiting to see if the Waiver will go through.  I am just glad he did not go to bootcamp - but then he is a good kid and it did bother him a lot - not to tell the truth.  

HAS ANYBODY ELSE GONE THROUGH THIS!!!  please advise me 

[Anti M]

This is pretty common.  Better to wait for the waiver than ship and have them press it during "the moment of truth" when they get to boot camp. 

[pcgh]

Thank you for replying.  I am just grateful my son has a conscious and did not want to ship out with this not being revealed.  SHAME ON ALL YOU RECRUITERS who do not guide our children correctly - we trusted him - obviously not the right thing to do after reading all the posts.

[My2kidz]

You absolutely made the right call. We went through a tedious waiver process for an old surgery my son had and I was so grateful because once he was cleared, he didn't have any problems. My son's recruiter was wonderful. Still is actually, he has been following my son's progress and keeps in touch with him and has given great advice. One of the young my son went to BC with was sent home because of childhood asthma. I had been in touch with his mom. They did disclose it to the recruiter who told them he got a waiver (but never showed it to him) but when he got to BC he found out the recruiter had not gotten the waiver. They were devastated. He had not taken any medication for more than 10 years! It is MUCH better to get it all cleared up ahead of time. I am hoping all goes well for your son, the Navy needs young men with his kind of character.

[pcgh]

THank you for replying.  So is this Waiver something that my son should be getting in the mail and from where does this come??

[My2kidz]

I am not very experienced so maybe someone else like AntiM or lemonelephant will know more but in our case, his recruiter did everything. On my end all I did was coordinate with his surgeon. My son did all his recruitment stuff hundreds of miles away because he was at college. I had to fly him home to have the surgeon provide new x-rays and an updated evaluation. But the recruiter did all the paperwork and then told us when he was cleared and got the waiver. As I said, in our case, my son's recruiter is fantastic. 

[J/J Mom]

Sounds like you son is very ethical.  You should be very proud.  Best wishes to him, and you!

[JenG]

My daughter went through something similar.  Her issue had to deal with an old food allergy that she still continued to avoid as a teen but had not had any reactions to scenes she was a little girl. WE didn't want to lie either, the recruiter had us go to our MD and get an oral challenge of the food item , get medically cleared before she was in DEP. My daughter lost out on an ROTC scholarship before realized that that was what had caused her to be rejected .  Our recruiters were great and really stuck with us through the whole ordeal .  My daughter went to BC Aug 25th, and is finally doing what she loves and wanted to do all along .  But it was 2 years of dealing with this issue before we could get it everything cleared up.  It is not as easy to get into the military as it use to be.

[pcgh]

Thank you for responding.  Is the "waiver" something in writing that we are sent or is it sent to the recruiter??  I read a post somewhere where it said someone's recruiter told the recruit that the waiver had gone through, but in actuality it had not and she got booted out of boot camp because there was no waiver.