Retake airborne physical?

[PAhunter21]

I just returned home from MEPs after taking my physical. Unfortunately, I failed the Airborne Physical portion because the doc couldn't see my ears pop. The method the doc told me to make them pop didn't work for me even though I can pop them easily by yawning or chewing motions. I understand that the staff there is very busy and I am a small piece of a big puzzle but I was simply given a FAIL and passed on to the next station. In my research on this site I ran into several anecdotes of guys failing the ear popping test and then returning later and passing. I have talked to two recruiters and the army liaison at MEPs and the consensuses seems to be "well that sucks huh?.. so how 'bout signing that 11b now?" Even after repeatedly asking if I could retake the test I was told that wasn't an option for a variety of reasons.
I really have no interest in anything other than an option 40 contract and while I understand that it is possible to earn your way to the 75th by signing an 11x and hopefully getting a slot to volunteer for airborne and RASP I would feel much better if I could get those schools in my contract rather than trusting to luck; especially since I'm not 100 percent sure what I feel as "popping" is what the doc is looking for.
I guess my real question is this. Is it possible to retake the Airborne physical? More specifically, is it possible to have a doc at MEPs watch my ears pop? If this is possible, as it seems to be according to several sources on this board, how would you recommend I try to make it happen?
This is really the only thing keeping me from an Option 40 as I did very well on the ASVAB and the other parts of the physical. Any help would be very much appreciated since I seem to be stuck at the moment.

[PAhunter21]

I might add that after a little practice I can now pop my ears pretty consistently using the holding my nose method. This is both encouraging and frustrating as it seems I was simply unprepared but might still have blown my chance.

[PerryB]

Yes you should be able to go down and re test. I work at the houston meps and I asked my NCOIC and he said sure you should be able to retest. Of course the recruiter will say just sign up. I would say wait 30 days since you took the physical before you go back to meps because after 30 days you will have to inspect in medical. When you are in medical for the inspect ask for an airborne stamp. The army ncoic may need to get involved and help you out but it should not be a issue.

Perry

[PAhunter21]

Thank you very much sir,
That is very helpful. How do I go about scheduling the visit to MEPS after I wait the recommended 30 days? It is my understanding that the only way in there is through a recruiter? If that is true it might be necessary for me to change recruiters since both the Staff Sgt. I was working with and his boss seemed to think I was wasting time by asking to retake it. I understand that they will try to get me to sign anything they can but even after I made it abundantly clear that only an 18x or option 40 contract would get my signature on it they still seemed to think there were no more options. My recruiter did mention on several occasions that I would be the first Option 40 he ever tried to put through so I'm not sure if this brick wall I seem to be hitting is just due to his lack of experience with this type of situation or if its just the typical load of crap trying to get me to downgrade to an 11x or something like that so he doesn't have to go out of his way.
So I guess my next round of questions would be these. Do you have any words of wisdom or directives you could point me to that I could use to get my recruiter to schedule the next visit to MEPS? Something I could show them that spells out the fact that I should be allowed another try? Or do you think a new recruiter is a necessary step at this point?
I can't thank you enough for any help you can give me. I won't give up on this until I'm dragged out kicking and screaming but I will say until I read your post I was having a pretty depressing afternoon. Thanks again.

[PerryB]

You will have to schedule your processing with your recruiter. I would talk to the station commander and let him know you want to re take the airborne physical. The station commander if he is any good should be able to work with the meps ncoic and ensure they get with the medical section and set your airborne physical up. It only takes them a few minutes so they should do it. I don't have any regulation that says you can take a second airborne test but at the same time they don't have one that says you can't take it a second time. The station should work with you. USAREC is making its mission so it isn't like the are missing their quota. I would also recommend you talk to goon175 on this site he is I believe a Ranger that is on recruiting duty right now.

[PAhunter21]

Thank you sir,

I will try to get my recruiting station commander to schedule this although I think it's going to require a new recruiting station since the one I had been working with didn't seem very interested in trying to reschedule my physical. I'll try making some calls today and see what I come up with.