Reintroduction/ Sitrep

[mlgpostpwn]

First of all I would like to thank each and everyone of you for participating on this forum. I have gained invaluable knowledge from here. If any of you are lurking on this site and have questions you will more than likely find them on this site. Use the search feature!

My name is Andrew. I am 19 years old. I graduated high school May 09. Played high school football and was in lame ass jrotc both for 3 years. I went to college for a year to "see how it is first". I always knew I was going to join the military. My father was a pilot in the Air Force and is now a retired major who served 24 years of his life. My grandfather was a pilot in the Army Air Corp. Of course my father wanted me to take the officer route and to of course join the Air Force. I always told him "well your dad was in the Army!".
I started the enlistment process around 2 weeks ago. I have taken the ASVAB and I scored well. I scored a 76 on the AFQT and a 12sumthin on my GT. Some time ago I was prescribed anti depressants. It was over 6 years ago. It was nothing serious, dad deployed, parents going through divorce. I was on and off the meds in no less than 3 months. I really didnt feel like i needed them. There were no other symptoms, no recurring visits to the doc. Today I scheduled an appointment to go see the doctor so he can put what I said in a letter. I am scheduled to go on the 24th. The records should be out of archive by then.

I told my recruiter day 1 "11x option 40 or 13f option 40, nothing less, not volunteering during airborne, and I'm not gunna be a cook or a truck driver". I am also looking at 68w. I took a few medical classes in my 1st year of college. First responder and such. On my last visit to the recruiters I had everybody that was working there asking each other whats the difference between the tab and the scroll or whats RASP? Yea..................... One of the recruiters there asked if thats the only contract I am willing to sign. I told him yes sir and he told me theres the door. I politely told him I have every recruiters number from Daytona Beach to Fort Lauderdale. The recruiter I am working with said well get it.

Rangers I will not quit. I will not let them discourage me. I will DEP the full 365 days if i have to for that contract I want. I would like to take a late shipdate anyways. I am in no hurry to leave so theres no chance of me taking a regular 11x, 13f, 68w for the sooner shipdate. Once i get that letter from my doc i should be good to go for meps!

[Steadfast]

Welcome & Good luck mlgpostpwn

[al_2ndWolfhounds]

Welcome and stick to your commitment.

[mlgpostpwn]

Hello Rangers.
My recruiter called me today to tell me that I am disqualified from joining the military. I have an arrest on my record that occurred when I was 14 years old for possession of marijuana, which I told him about from day 1. The charges were dropped and I was not convicted. The court didn't make me do any programs or anything. I didn't even go to court. All of which was said to my recruiter. Today I sent in a letter to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice requesting the information about why the charges were dropped. My recruiter has only been here for about 3 months now. He is pretty new and every time I talk to him it sounds like he does not know what he is doing. My father has told me the same thing about him and we both agree that he I should see a different recruiter. When I receive the records from the FDJJ and if it is not content with the recruiting standards my father says well go to the state attorney and request that the case outcome gets changed. Well go to Washington D.C. if we have to.
The charge occurred when I was a juvenile, I have not been in any trouble since, and the charges were even dropped. I know that this is not the end of my enlistment process. I don't even see this as a setback. I know that once the economy gets better the Army will have to compete for people and ultimately allowing waivers for such reasons. I could even continue my schooling and receive a commission 4 years from now if I meet the qualifications the Army has set by then. However, I will not give up. Once I receive the records I should have more information on my enlistment. My father also said that we can go to Fort Benning or Fort Bragg and talk to the Commanding General about a waiver.

Crazy thought but Is it possible to do the enlistment process without my recruiter? I know that I should talk to a different recruiter before thinking that. My father is a retired officer and I do have access to military bases. Can I do the MEPS process without a recruiter? I know that the recruiters are basically the gateway or the backbone of enlisting into the military.

Rangers I will not quit.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Any questions you have I will answer.
Thank you.

[K.Ingraham]

Charges dropped / no conviction = you didn't do it/no one saw you/they can't prove it.
Sounds as if you're not telling the whole story or your recruiter has a reading comprehension problem.
Work it out for yourself & don't rely on daddy to take care of you. The army goes by "Big Boys Rules".

[propayne7]

People have gotten in the Military with worse, however I am no recruiter so I won't leave my lane with information.


Best advice anyone is going to give is go to another recruiting station and see what they tell you.

I'm double tapping here since you say you have been honest, but keep being honest and don't give up.

Good Luck.

[IEDmagnet]

As a former recruiter, I will say that a non-conviction should not cause any problems. But...who knows. I'd talk to someone and get a second opinion.

[mlgpostpwn]

Ranger K.Ingraham, I am not relying on my father for this. But I fully understand what you are saying. This is my problem, not his. I have to sort this out. I have told my recruiter the story and I haven't kept anything from him. And yes there was no conviction.

After I receive the records I am going back to give it to my recruiter. If he tells me the same thing I will then talk to another recruiter in a different town.

[mlgpostpwn]

Hello,
I am in Japan right now. Ive been here since the 10th and I will be here till Saturday. Visiting my half brother who works at a Navy Base and his dad who is a contractor here. I haven't done anything with my recruiter for around a month. I got off Skype with my father. I asked my father to call FDJJ, because Im out of the country, about my records because its been a month since I requested them and nothing has come back. There was some confusion about my request so they never sent me anything. And apparently they are now sending every little thing they have about me, which isnt anything expect speeding tickets and that arrest. I only asked for the reason of the disposition of the arrest. Also it turned out my recruiter didnt send in a form to the state about my records, i believe it was a 369 form. I filled it out, but my awesome recruiter didnt send it in. As soon as I get back to the states I am switching recruiters. This tops off all the reasons as to why ive been wanting to switch recruiters.

I have a few concerns about a thread that I read.
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=53813" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It says no waivers for drug or criminal history. All I needed was a waiver for the arrest. Again there is no conviction. So is it impossible for me to get an option 40 now? At least with the current recruitment requirements.

[mlgpostpwn]

I'm back in the states. Friday I received the papers from the FDJJ. However, it was the same papers that my recruiter gave me. I waited for a month for the same papers that I already had. All it was was just my record. It didn't include the reason for the disposition which is what I specifically asked for. My father called the recruiting station when I was in Japan. He mentioned that Sgt. Etan didn't send in a form. I called him on Monday which was one week from when my father called, and he still has not sent it in. The station commander told my father awhile ago, that if the state doesn't cooperate my father can write a sworn statement about the disposition and that they'll use that. I called the station today and apparently he is no longer the station commander at that station. And this new guy has never done anything about parents letters, I asked "well does the Army do that?". All he said was "uh uh uhhhhhhhhhh i have to look into it. Lemme me uh look at your file and ill call you back in a few." Its been an hour and a half and I haven't heard anything.

I decided not to switch recruiters so fast. It would be impolite I believe. Ill wait around till Friday before I walk in and ask for my folder and paperwork. I feel like I am being jerked around. First the medical info about my neck. I told my recruiter day 1 about my injury and he tells me that he forgot and is busy and deals with a lot of people. So I waited around 3 weeks for those records. He also told me that he is busy and deals with a lot of people when I asked if he sent in that form.... Second, just about anything that I ask my recruiter he doesnt know the answer to. And now this of course.

Any advice Rangers, or recruiters?
Please and thank you.

[Slowpoke]

Son, don't worry about being "impolite" to your Recruiter, this is your fucking LIFE. Find another Recruiter ASAP because this one doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground! Get your Father to right the "Letter in Support" and quit screwing around with people that don't know shit!

[mlgpostpwn]

Roger that Ranger Slowpoke.
I understand, and I will grab my papers from the station ASAP tomorrow. Just wanted to see where it would go and if I could give him a chance.
Yes sir its my life!!

[mlgpostpwn]

My last post didn't go thru I believe. It said it was submitted for approval. I visited a new recruiter in a different town. I told him my life story, handed him my folder from the old recruiter and explained everything about the dropped charge. Hes telling me to not bring it up at MEPs because there was no record of it on the FBI back ground check, the one with the finger prints. When the my first recruiter did the check it came back as No Hit. As in No Record. He says that is the same test done at MEPS and how can they find out if the FBI cant?
No way am I going to lie about this. I told him I am going to need a clearance for the job I want and that they will find out about it. This guy wasn't even willing to work with me unless I told him I wouldn't tell anybody about the arrest. He didn't even want to send in a form that my old recruiter didn't send in. A 1037. There's absolutely no waivers out there he says. Or he doesn't want to work and make phone calls to try and look for one.. I told him I'll try again in October.

When I switched recruiters, I have never seen anybody get so pissed off, insult me, and discourage me like my first recruiter. He was telling me I'm not a leader or anything and that I will for sure not make it. Along with other false statements how I was impolite and rude to him. I was so polite to this guy, I truly had no idea where this came from. Honestly Rangers, I did not come off as impolite or rude. Or anything of the two. All he has done was fuel my fire. I didn't think twice about what he said. I'll show up to his office whether its this time next year or a few years from now when the Army gets more lenient, with my beret and my high and tight haircut.

I will see a 3rd Army recruiter sometime after my semester starts.

I am not quitting Rangers. However I am not going to worry myself sick about getting in the Army. It will happen but it doesn't look like anytime soon. All that means is that I will be in the very best shape by the time I get to DEP. I will be calling, hopefully a smart and not so much of an ass, recruiter every so often about a waiver.

Mods does this thread need to be moved to the recruitment process section? Please do, I know i am posting in the introductions.

[mlgpostpwn]

My last post didn't go thru I believe. It said it was submitted for approval. I visited a new recruiter in a different town. I told him my life story, handed him my folder from the old recruiter and explained everything about the dropped charge. Hes telling me to not bring it up at MEPs because there was no record of it on the FBI back ground check, the one with the finger prints, that was done at the recruiting office. He says that is the same test done at MEPS. No way am I going to lie about this. I told him I am going to need a clearance for the job I want and that they will find out about it. This guy wasn't even willing to work with me unless I told him I wouldn't tell anybody about the arrest. There's absolutely no waivers out there he says. Or he doesn't want to work and make phone calls to try and look for one.. He didn't even want to send in a form that my old recruiter didn't send in. A 1037 i believe.

When I switched recruiters, I have never seen anybody get so pissed off, insult me, and discourage me like my first recruiter. He was telling me I'm not a leader or anything and that I will for sure not make it. Along with other false statements how I was impolite and rude to him. I was so polite to this guy, I honestly had no idea why he was saying this. All he has done was fuel my fire. I didn't think twice about what he said. I'll show up to his office whether its this time next year or a few years from now when the Army gets more lenient, with my beret and my high and tight haircut.

I will see a 3rd Army recruiter sometime after my semester starts. This guy my father knows. He will work with me I am sure of it.

I am not quitting Rangers. However I am not going to worry myself sick about getting in the Army. It will happen but it doesn't look like anytime soon. All that means is that I will be in the very best shape by the time I get in. I will be calling, hopefully a smart and not so much of an ass, recruiter every so often about a waiver.

[goon175]

-Right now, the Army is not accepting anything to do with drug charges.

-The recruiters you have talked to are shady.

-Just because MEPS doesnt find your charge, doesnt mean that they won't find it when they do your TS investigation (should you make it that far in your career).

-As a message to you and all other people looking to join on here: The Golden Age of waivers is no longer here. It is hard to get in. The economy is sending people with bachelors degrees into the recruiting stations. If you have legal/moral issues that need to be dealt with, you might be waiting until the standards for enlistment go back down a bit.

-BECAUSE the recruiters you are dealing with seem to be such d-bags, the next time you see your recruiter, and should you feel your still being jerked around, ask to speak with the First Sergeant over the phone. Recruiters are not there to hire you. they are there to find you, screen you, and file your paperwork with the people that will hire you (guidance counselor at MEPS). Recruiters cannot turn down waiver requests. its illegal.