Hey

For current or ex military here...
I want to join the military, but I have some problems which are strictly prohibited by the military...I have SVT (Supra Ventricular Tachycardia) which isn't in any way life threatening, simply annoying, I take medicine for it, but it's prohibited by the army, and when I was a child, and only when I was a young, young chilld I had chronic ear infections, which according to the Army.about.us site, there's a prohibition on anyone with current or a history of chronic inner ear infections. I want to serve, but I'm afraid these medical issues will prohibit me from doing so.

I'm not knocking the armed forces in general.  A bunch of people here have served, and continue to serve.  I wanted to serve when I was of age, but my own health problems kept me out.  I would have gone in just in time for the first Gulf War!

Right now, I just can't endorse anybody joining the military, not with our current foreign policy held hostage to whacko wars we can never win.  I guess it depends who you want to serve, and if you want to serve the country, you don't necessarily need to be in the military.

Anyway, since I'm neither current nor ex, I guess I'm not among the group you're asking.

First of all - if you've only done Internet research then you won't have a definitive answer until you talk to a recruiter or apply and take the physical.

I know nothing about svt. And not in the postition to research it right now. But you if your condition could escalate or create a situation where you can't perform according in certain situations then you havE to think of others around you.
Could you in anyway become incapactated and put others in danger or at risk?  If that's the case then it's pretty selfish to want in. I'm mean it's not just about what you want it's about the other soldiers.

I'm not thinkng svt is contagious. Mostly I'm thinking what does the medication do to you?
Does it make u shakey? Dizzy? Nauseous? Doesn't matter what kind of job you get. Even if u push papers or fix jeeps or put slop on trays in the mess hall they still expect you to be able to handle a weapon.

Just my opinion.

First of all - if you've only done Internet research then you won't have a definitive answer until you talk to a recruiter or apply and take the physical.

I know nothing about svt. And not in the postition to research it right now. But you if your condition could escalate or create a situation where you can't perform according in certain situations then you havE to think of others around you.
Could you in anyway become incapactated and put others in danger or at risk?  If that's the case then it's pretty selfish to want in. I'm mean it's not just about what you want it's about the other soldiers.

I'm not thinkng svt is contagious. Mostly I'm thinking what does the medication do to you?
Does it make u shakey? Dizzy? Nauseous? Doesn't matter what kind of job you get. Even if u push papers or fix jeeps or put slop on trays in the mess hall they still expect you to be able to handle a weapon.

Just my opinion.



What she said.


I, too am not familiar with svt. There may be a way around it. The first step would be talk to a recruiter. You may be able to apply for a specific job that could give you a waver. You may also have to have a note from your doctor about the specifics of your condition. Also, the Army isn't the only military. There is also the Air Force, Navy, Marines, & Coast Guard. If one branch won't give you a waver, another branch may.  But talk to a recruiter. They know a lot more about it than we do.

Good luck.


Cat

What snozzberries and CatwomanofV said.

Talk to a recruiter.  If there's any way in hell that they can get you in, they'll find it.  And if there isn't - ask if there are other ways in which you can serve, either in other branches, or in the Reserves. 

And if you can't get a waiver, and if the reason's because it's possible - not certain, merely possible - that if you signed up, and wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time, your condition could (not "would") pose a risk to the people with whom you're serving, well, that's the reason for the regulation in the first place.  The laws of large numbers are annoying like that; with hundreds of thousands of people serving, and, say, 1% chance of a condition ever being a problem... well, that probably translates into a few cases per year.  So if an organization takes in a few hundred people, each of them puts in a 20-30 year career, they'd be looking at a life or two per decade.  Do you really want to be in a position that might require you to jump out of an airplane if you've got a history of inner-ear (read: "your sense of balance") infections?  (Maybe, if your doc can determine that no damage was done.  Maybe not, if your doc says you shouldn't be skydiving, or even spending that much time on airplanes.  I'm not your doctor and have insufficient data to even guess, but your doctor should be able to give an answer to questions like that.)

Also remember, there are other areas of the civilian government that can offer decent careers in support roles.  Defense contractors, security systems manufacturers, heck, just pushing paper for the Feds counts as a form of service, etc.

Disclaimer:  I'm a civilian.

And if they send you to see the psychiatrist in Room 604, say:

"Shrink, I want to kill.  I mean, I wanna, I
wanna kill.  Kill.  I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and
guts and veins in my teeth.  Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill,
KILL, KILL."  And I started jumpin' up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and
he started jumpin' up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down
yelling, "KILL, KILL."  And the sergeant came over, pinned a medal on me,
sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."

8)

And if they send you to see the psychiatrist in Room 604, say:

"Shrink, I want to kill.  I mean, I wanna, I
wanna kill.  Kill.  I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and
guts and veins in my teeth.  Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill,
KILL, KILL."  And I started jumpin' up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and
he started jumpin' up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down
yelling, "KILL, KILL."  And the sergeant came over, pinned a medal on me,
sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."

8)



And they put you on the Group W bench with the mother rapers, father stabbers & father
rapers!  ;)



Cat

And if they send you to see the psychiatrist in Room 604, say:

"Shrink, I want to kill.  I mean, I wanna, I
wanna kill.  Kill.  I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and
guts and veins in my teeth.  Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill,
KILL, KILL."  And I started jumpin' up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and
he started jumpin' up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down
yelling, "KILL, KILL."  And the sergeant came over, pinned a medal on me,
sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."

8)


And they put you on the Group W bench with the mother rapers, father stabbers & father
rapers!  ;)



Cat


you guys um kill me.  ;D. Karma

Cat- IOU one

you guys um kill me.  ;D. Karma



Just make sure you have twenty-seven eight-by-ten color glossy photographs with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one is.


Cat

Wow things have tightened up a bit for military recruitment standards.

My uncle had a buddy who fought in World War I.  He went out drinking one night, and the next morning when he sobered up, he was in the Army.  ;D

Wow things have tightened up a bit for military recruitment standards.

My uncle had a buddy who fought in World War I.  He went out drinking one night, and the next morning when he sobered up, he was in the Army.   ;D



The British Navy used to press people. They would be walking along the street and could be clunked on the head and knocked out. They would wake up out at sea-they were in the British Navy whether they liked it or not.


Cat

Hey

For current or ex military here...
I want to join the military, but I have some problems which are strictly prohibited by the military...I have SVT (Supra Ventricular Tachycardia) which isn't in any way life threatening, simply annoying, I take medicine for it, but it's prohibited by the army, and when I was a child, and only when I was a young, young chilld I had chronic ear infections, which according to the Army.about.us site, there's a prohibition on anyone with current or a history of chronic inner ear infections. I want to serve, but I'm afraid these medical issues will prohibit me from doing so.


I admire your desire to serve even though I did my best to avoid VietNam and succeeded.  while not assigned to the "group W" bench I was assigned to the "too skinny" bench after having dieted for 4 weeks and playing tennis in the heat of a Newark NJ summer.  "You can get anything you want..."  In any case, there are options besides the military if you want to serve.

Wow things have tightened up a bit for military recruitment standards.

My uncle had a buddy who fought in World War I.  He went out drinking one night, and the next morning when he sobered up, he was in the Army.   ;D


Well, there wasn't much to do over there in France 'cept sit in the trench and wait for Kaiser Bill to blow you to Kingdom Come!
:o

The British Navy used to press people. They would be walking along the street and could be clunked on the head and knocked out. They would wake up out at sea-they were in the British Navy whether they liked it or not.


Cat



Can I point out that this was hundreds of years ago,

And they put you on the Group W bench with the mother rapers, father stabbers & father rapers!  ;)


Whut?  It was the Large Systems SIG:
""Kid, I want you to go sit over there on that bench marked Large Systems SIG.  NOW, KID!"
- Alice's PDP-10

Whut?  It was the group "H" bench.
"He said 'What were you busted for?', and I said "unauthorized hardware modifications".
  - Alice's NNTP Server

Whut?  I'm not flaming you, and if I am, put me on the "Internet Society" bench.
"The Internet Society is where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join PSI after creatin' your TCP implementation."
  - Alice's USENET Flame

Whut?  This is old stuff.  Scrap that CRT and get an LCD, but be sure you recycle those old computers responsibly, or you'll have to deal with
"Group R's where they put you if you may not be moral enough to start a business after committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty non-sustainable lookin' people on the bench there."
  - Natalie's Restaurant

Whut?  That's too new!  Gimme the grandmother/father of them all, "The LISP Machine Group" bench at:
  - MIT's AI Lab,

and/or the "Hackers who got caught" bench from:
  - Atlas's HDA

(Alice?  Who the f*bleep*k is Alice?  This isn't supposed to be a thread about Alice.  But consider it the start of a research project that'll be posted somewhere when Thanksgiving comes around on the calendar again.  I don't think even the Internet has a canonical list of all Alice's Restaurant parodies...  yet.  There's gotta be at least one complete one done every year, and I don't even know if our sister site has them all.)

Can I point out that this was hundreds of years ago,



Yeah, I did forget to mention that, didn't I?  ;)



Cat

The British Navy used to press people. They would be walking along the street and could be clunked on the head and knocked out. They would wake up out at sea-they were in the British Navy whether they liked it or not.


Cat


Not only was it hundreds of years ago, it wasn't as inhumane as you make it seem.  Three squares a day, a pint of rum, just don't get out of line or you get the lash.  Ah yes, HRM's Royal Navy.  Them were the days.