Really high percentile scores on my ASVAB in 2000, went through MEPS and after the physical my doctor refused to sign a form saying I was fit to serve. Really bad hearing loss due to lots of ear infections from when I was a infant and a congentital heart defect: Transposition of Greater Arteries.  

Jason

This isn't exactly what kept me out, but what forced me out.  

I spent 4 yrs as an infantryman in the 82nd Airborne and then 5 yrs. in Special Forces, 5th Group.  I had a HAHO accident that put me in a wheelchair for life.  I tried like hell after 9/11 to get around SF to do something.  Didn't care what, just missed the kind of guys that I'd been around for those years.

And by the way, shin splints are a fact of life in that line of work.  

Asthma, triggered by dust. I believe the recruiter said "It wouldn't do to have you turning blue during a firefight!" Put that way , i had to agree.

However i do honor veterans and support the troops when ever possible.

In fact in a few weeks i will be displaying Military weapons i collect at a local Armed forces awareness days, thrown by a local veterans group, In fact one year the Vietnam Vets borrowed my M1A for the Flag Honor guard so they had a Ar-15 on one side and my M1A on the other to represent both rifles used in Vietnam. I was honored to loan it to them.

Found other ways to do the Duty and Honor thing, Volunteer Firefighter 17 years here.

I was convicted of gang raping a 22 year-old Filipino girl with three of my buddies.  The Air Force recruiter rejected me but told me I could get into the Marines.

Am I a prick if I say money? Money and getting bossed around so much.

A fracture in my back kept me out

nothing, I had childhood asthma but still wormed my way in ('79)  Got an excellent civilian job cause of .gov

all this talk about asthma...


Will they let you in if you dont have it anymore? I had it as a kid, and havent had any symptoms or attacks in nearly a decade...

Do you have to tell them you had once?

Grades,  lost my ROTC scholarship after the first year due to missing the cutoff by .05 gpa.    Physcis and Mathematics... what a pain.

Oh, for those of you looking at a ROTC scholarship.  When they ask your major, make sure you know what you want.  My SGT told me "oh, put down what classes interest you..."  Um... yeah.  

Other than that... I guess I could have enlisted, but it would be far too much of a pay cut.

I'd been a military brat my entire life.  Dad joined the Navy in 74, and I came around in 80.  He was on submarines and I wanted to be a Navy officer right up to my sophmore year in high school.  Wanted to get a degree in Nuclear Engineering till I brought home less than stellar math grades.  So I gave them up and decided on either the Air Force or Army.

Got ROTC scholarships with both the Army and Air Force, and chose the Army.  Contracted as a Cadet after my Freshman year.  Went to Airborne School (Class 38-00, C Co.) between my Soph and Junior year.  Went to what the Army called "Advanced Camp" at Ft. Lewis, WA after my senior year.  This is where they evaluate cadets and give that person a score which determines A)Active or Reserve Duty, B)Branch, and C) First Post.

Had the physical the first couple of days into it, and they say, "Hey, you have Chrons Disease."  Which was true, because I'd started to develop some bowel problems halfway through senior year.  Ie, bleeding, cramping, pain, etc.  So, fast forward 2 weeks later, they say, have a nice day, you're not going into the Army.  Here's your free plane ride home.

So, two weeks before being commissioned a 2LT in the US Army, I was sent home.  Not really knowing what to do next, I took some tests... Civil Service, Border Patrol, and Immigration Inspector. Now, I've been a Customs and Border Protection Officer for over 2 years.

Probably a good thing.  Because of the Chrons, I developed and infection that became progressively worse.  It wasn't until seeing a Colorectal Surgeon that he said something bad was happening and I had surgery.  I'm guessing I'd had the infection for 2 years or so, because the day after the surgery, all the crap I'd been feeling went away.

If I can get myself feeling back to maybe 90%, I'll look to enlisting in the Army Reserves.  From there, I'll get my dream job as a 96U, Oh yeah!!

Quoted: This isn't exactly what kept me out, but what forced me out.   I spent 4 yrs as an infantryman in the 82nd Airborne and then 5 yrs. in Special Forces, 5th Group.  I had a HAHO accident that put me in a wheelchair for life.  I tried like hell after 9/11 to get around SF to do something.  Didn't care what, just missed the kind of guys that I'd been around for those years. And by the way, shin splints are a fact of life in that line of work.

This is an incredible post. I feel for you Paradude. Mostly because you cannot pursue your dreams in the way you planned.

You have surely experienced as much in those 9 years as many men will in a lifetime

Thanks for your service!!

Quoted: Quoted: Procrastination. I eventually enlisted 10 years later than I first wanted to. Yeah, but you got around to it!

True, but if I had gotten in when I first thought of it, I would be retired now. Of course, the ex wife would have gotten part of my retirement, no doubt. The Army gig is getting harder as I go through my 40s.

cracked a vertebra and arthroscopic on one knee.
recruiters ran from me.

I don't take orders, and I don't do mornings.

Quoted: I was too much of a bad ass... they thought I would take the whole thing over.

Such a Badass that you was afraid of a Drill Instructor.

Diabetes

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Mom and Dad made me go to college instead. Really wish I would have joined, even the reserves or NG. But I became a LEO instead. Felt it was my duty to serve somewhere. Yer good to go ;) Not trying to stir up shit but being a Leo and or Firefighter/EMT is NOT the same as being in the military and NEVER will be. They get paid for overtime amongst other things! I might consider giving them half credit if they ever earned less than a PFC/E3 while on the job. Starting salary for a firefighter in my town is nearly $60,000 a year working 24hrs on 48 hrs off Many of them have so much time off they take a second job to "combat" boredom. Doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice to me

Ummm Firemen do run INTO burning fucking houses. Cops run towards gunfire as well. 21 Years .mil here (Active and Guard) and I don't question the sacrifice LEO and Firefighters make.

what kept me out? my decision not to go in i guess although there was never a moment of actual decision.

was in highschool during veitnam. at the very end i got a draft lottery number very high. never was called. if i had volunteered i might have seen the very end, but would most likely been posted somewhere else.

but this was my experience... first year or two of highschool everyone was very pro-military.. my freshman year ended with the guys we all looked up to joining the marines right after graduation. and we all thought it was cool. within a year or two, those who came back would do things like tell their little brothers that if they enlisted (this was while you could get a student deferment) they would break their legs to keep them out. these guys joined and served honorably and almost to a man, those that came back said 'don't go'... and they meant it.

i have nothing but respect for those who served in vietnam and elsewhere. if i had been born earlier or later, i would have joined, especially if there had been an attack agains the us. but the vietnam war and the way the gov managed it.., the draft, the replacement of individuals instead of group rotations, the unwillingness to commit ground forces to north vietnam, put a lot of us off that track.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Mom and Dad made me go to college instead. Really wish I would have joined, even the reserves or NG. But I became a LEO instead. Felt it was my duty to serve somewhere. Yer good to go ;) Not trying to stir up shit but being a Leo and or Firefighter/EMT is NOT the same as being in the military and NEVER will be. They get paid for overtime amongst other things! I might consider giving them half credit if they ever earned less than a PFC/E3 while on the job. Starting salary for a firefighter in my town is nearly $60,000 a year working 24hrs on 48 hrs off Many of them have so much time off they take a second job to "combat" boredom. Doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice to me

Plenty of LEOs in small departments whose pay is so little that they qualify for food stamps. 60K may sound like a lot, til you factor in cost of living. In some parts of the country, 60K is almost a poverty wage.

D#*k was to big

IBTL

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Mom and Dad made me go to college instead. Really wish I would have joined, even the reserves or NG. But I became a LEO instead. Felt it was my duty to serve somewhere. Yer good to go ;) Not trying to stir up shit but being a Leo and or Firefighter/EMT is NOT the same as being in the military and NEVER will be. They get paid for overtime amongst other things! I might consider giving them half credit if they ever earned less than a PFC/E3 while on the job. Starting salary for a firefighter in my town is nearly $60,000 a year working 24hrs on 48 hrs off Many of them have so much time off they take a second job to "combat" boredom. Doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice to me Plenty of LEOs in small departments whose pay is so little that they qualify for food stamps. 60K may sound like a lot, til you factor in cost of living. In some parts of the country, 60K is almost a poverty wage.

60k poverty wage? maybe in NY....

I was supposed to commision into the Army this spring as an Aviation officer - I was diagnosed with testis cancer on December 15, 2005.  Now I have to be cancer free for 2 years before I can try to get into any branch of the military by enlistment or commision.

It's hard watching my buddies get their gold bars or go to basic training.

Quoted: 60k poverty wage? maybe in NY....

Yes, down around NYC. Nassau County is, I believe, around 100K now. Meanwhile, NYPD starts out their people in the mid 30s and wants to know why they have problems recruiting......

Nothing kept me out, 3 years in the 82nd with flat feet (that does not disqualify anyone in the last 30 yrs.), fractured leg from a logging accident & scoliosis in my spine. Jimmy Carter was my boss. There is no reason to stay out unless you have no desire to serve.

Applied for Annapolis. Got rejected.

Got pressured into college by my parents, went to El Cid.

Got into Marine ROTC college program. Busted my ass, put out, and ALWAYS SHOWED UP. At the end of the semester they put me in for a 3 year scholarship.

If I pass dodmerb again, I swear in in  5 months.

Quoted: Applied for Annapolis. Got rejected. Got pressured into college by my parents, went to El Cid. Got into Marine ROTC college program. Busted my ass, put out, and ALWAYS SHOWED UP. At the end of the semester they put me in for a 3 year scholarship. If I pass dodmerb again, I swear in in  5 months.

All you been through, I'd be swearing almost constantly...  

Even though my Seeing Eye Dog had flat feet , they took me.. Everyone was accepted in the late sixtys...seriously  I was proud to serve...As I read the different threads, I don't understand some of the jargen used.. I went to Basic, A I T ,and then became a Rice Paddy Daddy....Course there was a Draft then too.

Curious thread.  I didn't go military because I received a full-ride scholarship to college.  Had I not received that scholarship, I may have had to go military to be able to afford college one day.  My father was a Korean War vet and died when I was 15.  Based upon his service and my academics, I received the scholarship.  His service, in effect, relieved me from having to serve.  Ironic...no?

I doubt scholarships like the one I got even exist today.  Probably all based upon race, sex and sexual orientation or something.

dvo

Nothing...I DO regret not going to West Point, though.
Just like my Dad said I would when I turned down the opportunity.

As far as flat feet? Folks, they don't come flatter than mine: I don't believe the Army ever looked at my feet, except to slap boots on 'em.