I had a artifical disc replacement in my L5-S1 in my lower back. I have a release from the surgeon saying I am able to complete bootcamp and have no rescritions for my back. Will this enable me from entering the NAVY?
I can tell you definitively that back surgery of that degree will be considered by MEPS to be a PDQ.
What I can't tell you is whether or not Navy BUMED will give you a waiver or not. Talk to a recruiter and make sure you have all of the medical paperwork to back up a submission for a waiver; and be patient, I imagine it will take a while and possibly a bit of back and forth for that to come back- for better or worse.
What I can tell you from direct experience is the civilian provider cannot make a determination with regard to fitness for military duty unless they also happen to be a military medical officer in the reserves. I learned that as a reserve career counselor some time ago.
Like dallas said, make sure you are upfront with the recruiter, provide all requested paperwork to support the waiver request, and under no circumstances give up your only copy of a document, MRI CD, etc. Always hang onto a copy in the event the one that was turned in is lost.
My son had similar surgery about two years ago and is currently trying to enlist in the Navy. He informed his recruiter of the surgery and made sure copies of all of his medical records were provided to him. He recently went to MEPS where he was informed that the surgery disqualified him for military service. He was told that a request for a waiver would be filed, and two of the doctors at MEPS told him that they thought it likely that he would obtain the waiver.
I've got a few questions that I hoped someone might be able to provide some answers:
Do the opinions of the MEPS doctors have any impact on the granting of a waiver?
Does the job the applicant is interested in affect the waiver process? He has qualified for the nuclear field. Would this increase, decrease or have no affect on the likelihood of receiving a waiver?
How long does a waiver generally take to be processed? His recruiter estimated about two weeks - does this seem reasonable?
This is for jonerik1984: have you heard back on your waiver request? If so, how long did it take and did you receive the waiver?
Thanks for any information. I'm trying to let my son handle this process on his own, but it would be nice to be a little better informed!
mjuby, 1. yes the MEPS MD recommendation is taken into account. 2. No, job has no impact on medical waiver. Mainly because the job cannot be selected, nor can a job counselor talk to the applicant, until the waiver is approved. 3. 1-2 months now that it is electronic, although if the recruiter is stating 2 weeks it is possible.
Thank you for the information. It's good to hear that the MEPS MD recommendation is considered. Hopefully the 2 weeks turns out to be correct - it sure sounds better than 1-2 months!
