Posted on May 24, 2021
Joseph Knapp
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How do I go about about requesting a waiver through meps?

I am 22 years old and tried to enlist in the USMC and they never even sent me up to meps before I was rejected because I was diagnosed with depression as a kid. I feel like if I could explain the situation in front of someone I could get a waiver.

Long story short, there is a diagnoses of depression in my Tricare medical records because my mom took me to the doctor because I was having a hard time dealing with my dad being on deployment when I was 14. The doctor jumped the gun and medicated me for about a year before it was deemed I was good.

I just find it odd that I never actually went to meps, they sent my file up and then rejected me without ever seeing or talking to me in person.

could someone please assist.
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Responses: 7
SFC Retention Operations Nco
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You don't request a waiver your recruiter does. If the branch you worked with won't send one it's because it won't be approved. Go talk to another branch
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SFC Kelly Fuerhoff
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No one on here can help. If the Marine recruiter doesn't want to issue a waiver, that's on them. Or maybe there isn't a waiver.

Did you try other branches? I don't know what you'll get from them but it doesn't hurt to ask. Only a recruiter from one of the military services can really answer this question.
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SFC Kelly Fuerhoff
SFC Kelly Fuerhoff
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Also - you're not the only military dependent who, as a child, sought mental health assistance and then it comes back up when trying to join the military. I posted two links about stories of dependent children who tried to join and were denied because of what was written in their medical records when they sought help to deal with their father's absence - even though they were cleared to be fit to serve.

It might depend on what the provider actually wrote in their notes and is in your record on why you're being denied. Do you have copies of your medical records? I would get that and see what was put in there.
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SPC Nancy Greene
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Joseph Knapp a diagnosis at 14 is part of a juvenile record. If you aren’t currently diagnosed (by a Psychiatrist) with depression, you should never have been denied in the first place.
If you have a current diagnosis for depression, then you would need a waiver and I would suggest the Army. You might also want to know what MOS’s would be ‘closed’ to you due to the waiver.
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SFC Kelly Fuerhoff
SFC Kelly Fuerhoff
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That's not entirely true - if he was on TRIARE at 14 that means he's a military dependent. And yes - there are a lot of kids getting screwed over by the fact that MEPS can look up their TRICARE record and see things from their past - and especially depending on what the provider wrote in their notes at the time these dependents seek treatment for behavioral health.

Here's an article about one person:

https://www.militarytimes.com/pay-benefits/military-benefits/health-care-benefits/2018/03/29/they-sought-help-when-their-army-dad-deployed-now-theyre-barred-from-joining-the-military/

"By seeking counseling for their two teenage daughters as their family coped with multiple moves and multiple deployments to Afghanistan, an Army major and his wife unwittingly prevented both girls from following their father, their grandfather and their great-grandfather into military service."

"Neither the parents nor the daughters knew there were notations like “suicidal gesture” or “self-mutilation” in their counseling files. And neither knew Army and Air Force medical providers would have access to those records — and anything else in dependent medical records — if their daughters ever enlisted.

This sets them apart from their civilian counterparts, who don’t come into the military with a previous electronic health record. It sets them apart from military dependents entering the Navy and the Marine Corps, which don’t merge dependent and service member records. And it puts the actions of the Army and Air Force in their cases, and those involving other dependents, at odds with the ethical judgement of some medical experts.

And despite multiple clean bills of health from civilian and DoD behavioral health providers, both girls have been denied waivers to enter the military."

Here's another story:

https://www.armytimes.com/pay-benefits/military-benefits/health-care-benefits/2018/04/05/sailors-bounced-from-recruit-training-thanks-to-dependent-medical-records-parents-say/

"On the heels of a Military Times story about two Army daughters who were denied entry into the Air Force and Army based on notations in their dependent medical records, four readers told Military Times that their sons had been kicked out of Navy recruit training for similar reasons."
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