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What are the medical standards for joining the military?

By Rod Powers, About.com

Question: What are the medical standards for joining the military?
Answer: The Department of Defense has set uniform Medical standardsfor joining the Armed Forces.

However, while these standards are the same throughout DOD, each of the services have the authority to waiver any of these standards, if they choose. All waivers are determined individually, based on the exact circumstances of the case, so there is no list of what medical condtions will be waivered or which ones will not.

There is simply no way to even guess whether or not a waiver will be approved, even if someone has gotten a waiver for the same condition in the past, or -- conversely -- if nobody has ever gotten a waiver for the condition in the past. Each and every waiver is evaluated INDIVIDUALLY, using SEVERAL individual factors, including but not limited to:

    1. Is the condition progressive?

    2. Is the condition subject to aggravation by military service?

    3. Will the condition preclude satisfactory completion of prescribed training and subsequent military duty?

    4. Will the condition constitute an undue hazard to the examine or to others, particularly under combat conditions?

    5. Is the recruit *EXCEPTIONALLY* qualified, otherwise? (ASVAB scores, etc.)

    6. How are current recruiting goals? How bad does that particular branch of the service need this particular applicant at this particular point-in-time?

There have been several cases of waivers approved for a specific condition, only to see a waiver disapproved for the same condition just a few weeks later.

Remember, if you require a waiver, that means that you are disqualifiedfor military service. The waiver procedure is the process of you "begging" the military to make an exception in your particular case. There is no "right" to have a waiver approved.

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