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sancona
04-07-09, 03:28 PM
Hey all,

My name is Scott and I'm new to this forum, just looking for some extra information. Here's my problem: I am currently a senior in college and I am about to complete my degree. I wanted to enlist before I went to college but my mom talked me out of it and told me to finish my degree first and then decide from there. I went to school and really enjoyed it, but felt that something was missing and I still wanted to join the corps. I talked to my parents about it again about 6 mos ago, once I really got serious about it. My goal is to attend OCS the summer after my senior year (this june). I have had 2 close friends go through the program and it seems to be exactly what I am looking for. Here's where the **** really hits the fan though. Last May I began training daily, running, weight training and I cut out my bad habbits like smoking, in order to be in good enough shape to not completely destroy my legs during ocs. I came into this school year in the best shape of my entire life, I put on 20 pounds, (up to 150 from a measly 130) and then in October I got the worst news of my life. I had severe stomache pain for 8 days to the point where I could barely sit up in bed. I went to the hospital and they told me I had infectious colllitis, which generally would not be a problem or require a medical waiver for the marines...the only problem was that they noticed tumors growing on my insides while they were checking the collitis out. Turns out I have Neurofibromatosis ( a nerve disorder that will disqualify me from joining, without a waiver). The whole thing with this though is that I have ZERO physical limitations from the disorder. In fact, had I never gotten collitis, I would have never known that I even had the disorder. I have zero external signs of the disorder, the tumors only grow on my insides. Here's another problem: I had surgery because they thought that there were tumors in places that there turned out to be no tumors. So nothing was removed during the surgery, simply exploratory. I lost a lot of weight because I was unable to eat anything for 3 weeks due to the collitis ( bad case). Since then, I have put all the weight back on and continued training just as hard as before. I am once again in the best shape of my life and I have a meeting coming up this Monday (april 13th) to discuss the disorder and my chances of getting a waiver. My friend set the meeting up for me because he is working in the office right now, and its generally pretty difficult to get a personal meeting with the person that I am meeting with. They know that I have NF1, they are basically going to determine the severity of it and where to go from here. I'm wondering if there is ANYTHING at all that I can do to increase my chances of getting a waiver. Would the fact that I have a college degree play a role? Or that I have 1100 SAT scores? I'm just nervous that I am going to say one thing wrong, or forget to do something that could potentially help me, and then my chances of getting a waiver will be screwed forever and I will be incredibly ****ed off. I know that once one recruiting office denies me, I will be in the computer system for all the recruiting offices within the marines. I can alwas try a dif branch, but cmon now...If I have to I will, but I'm trying to maximize my chances here. Any help or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks all in advance, and remember my meeting is on Monday so time is of the essence. I have searched all over the internet for answers and I have found some helpful information, but I figured I'd ask here too and see if anyone had a personal experience with it similar to mine. THANKS!!!

-Scott

rvillac2
04-07-09, 03:47 PM
http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59447
Numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, and 10.

sancona
04-07-09, 03:56 PM
Ok , sorry for not reading the rules first but I don't think this question needs to be answered by a medical professional or recruiter. I have called offices, visited other websites, and done searches. I know what the rules are as far as NF1 being a disqualifying disorder. I'm really just curious if anyone else on this forum has ever applied for a med waiver, and done anything before hand that increased their chances of getting it. I am going into the office on Monday, where most of these questions can probably be answered, but to go in to the meeting with some background information would be ideal. I will fill out my profile now.

g15usmc
11-07-09, 07:19 AM
it just so happens that you are in luck sir...I happen to have been a recruiter in Oneonta...so to that, this may be helpful...basically getting the waiver is not the hard part...thats just a series of signatures...the hard part is the medical side of things...knowing that you have this problem the doctors are going to make you prove yourself, because there job is to take any medical liability off the Marine Corps and the DOD/US to the best of their abilities...the best thing to do is just be as completely honest about it with your recruiter as possible, and dont go up to meps for processing until you and your recruiter have your ducks all in a row...

S/F:marine:,
Sgt Marine

Lisa 23
11-07-09, 09:24 AM
g15usmc....
In case you haven't noticed, this thread is months old. Hasn't been posted in since April 7th of this year and the original poster hasn't been back since posting this topic. I would have to say either the young man found out the answer to his questions, or isn't interested in joining the Marines anymore.
Just thought I'd pass that along......
Also, you may want to square away your profile so the Marines here know who they are talking to. :thumbup:

g15usmc
11-09-09, 01:21 AM
I did notice that this thread was months old...and i was thinking that maybe just maybe like most who are trying to join and are having difficulties maybe he could use some motivation...as we do when it comes to marine corps leadership I like to use a little bit of edification to help motivate...i just thought it might be nice to give this guy the time of day that no other marine apparently did since there was only one reply...that way if he did decide to give up on joining at least he would know that just as our motto says...Semper Fidelis...we are always faithful...

on the other side of things from your re-post...Maybe i dont really want people to know who I am...:evilgrin:...I only posted one message on here besides this one...and i dont know if i'll post another especially if i recieve messages like the one you just left me...and the uncourteousness that was contained in it...S/F...

Not even a Happy Birthday...Thats Sad!...

To you sir - Happy Birthday and Semper Fi!:marine::beer: