Application Process: Medical Screening

This medical screen can be a pain to schedule.  Many times you have to go to a Military Treatment Facility, or in civilian terms a military hospital, in order to have this physical. There are some places where you can see a civilian doctor that has an agreement with the military/TRICARE(which is the military's health insurance) to perform the physical at a regular doctor's office.

It's a little more thorough than your usual yearly physical. The military just wants to make sure that you meet their standards for serving and that you are healthy. They will check your  There are few big ways to fail the physical aside from the obvious if you have a severe medical condition.

1. Eye sight - A huge portion of people wear glasses, and this will cause you to fail but have no fear, most people get waivers.  My roommate at the Academy was nearly blind and was eventually able to get waiver. It's just going to take some time and the worse your eyes are the more you may have to fight/pull string to get the waiver, but just keep going, it will happen.
2. Asthma - even if it was just in past. Usually if there is that history extra tests will be done to rule out any remaining traces of the illness. But be wary, if you've ever taken an inhaler it will be looked into heavily.
3. ADD/ADHD - I believe you have to be off medications for these disorders and in control of the symptoms for at least a year at the time of your physical. It could be more time but I'm not quite sure.  If this is something you are concerned about, I would definitely make some calls and do some more digging.
4. Recent shoulder or knee surgery - Obviously these are pretty important and physically tasked joints that are also prone to be re-injured or not even healing properly the first time. So just be wary that something like this will be looked into further.

Waivers are granted for all sorts of things, so there is no need to freak out before you even see the doctor. Also just because you have one the above ailments doesn't mean you won't pass the physical, I am not a member of the medical community, these are just meant to be a heads up from things I've learned from my own experience or from others I met at the Academy.

Good luck!!

Hopefully you know the drill by now. Comments, questions, concerns below in the comments section or email me at USNAwiki@gmail.com