Medical Question

[TxRedRaider]

Rangers,
I had a small surgery (it was outpatient, in and out in a couple of hours) done on my nose (deviated septum, played rugby in college, broke my nose a couple of times) last week. The recommendation for surgery came after my enlistment. I told my recruiter about everything before I had the operation done, and he said to go ahead and go through with it as it would be in my best interests. When I asked him if I should bring back any medical papers he said to not worry about, kinda like it never happened kinda thing. He even made an offhand remark about if there was any problems with it when I'm in, writing off as a disability or something like that. I was wondering what your advice would be on this? I would really be pissed if something happened later and I got booted for fraudulent enlistment or something like that. Should I keep a copy of my medical record and disclose it at MEPS before I ship or should I just STFU about the whole thing like my recruiter said?

[RngrDoc75]

1. Yes, keep a copy of all your surgical and medical records. They could become very important if you have any kind of complications or problems later.
2. Yes, try to disclose the information once again at MEPS. No, don't expect them to acknowledge it much either. At best, they "may" record it on your physical.
3. No, don't be too concerned about it. Other than physicals for some specific schools (HALO or SCUBA), the doc will not give it a second glance.
4. No, don't plan on lying to the Govt or the VA and claiming it as a disability.
5. Yes, in the path of your military career, you may do something to that nose that could then qualify you for disability.

[SkyShark]

4. No, don't plan on lying to the Govt or the VA and claiming it as a disability.

Good advice. Certain members of the community here recently busted out a poser dude that was actually a veteran that lied about things like this. "Mr. Culp" is in pretty deep doo doo right now because of it.

Injuries don't fall under the don't ask don't tell laws.

I think it was very wise to ask these questions here. Good luck in your future endeavors.

[TxRedRaider]

Thank you Ranger RngrDoc75 for your advice.

and roger that Paratrooper SkyShark