Hi everyone,

I have been creeping around this forum for a few months and thought I would commit and make a profile. So here is a little about me; I'm 25 years old born in Long Beach California and now live in Huntington Beach. I work for Compton Fire Department (please hold all the CPT jokes... heard them all) as a Ambulance Operator for little over a year. Its a great job that is extremely demanding but love the challenge that the City offers.

Started the process with my recruiter about 3 months ago and have taken my ASVAB and qualified for AST and a couple of other things. I'm currently in the  process with MEPS. I'm sure I'm not the only one on this journey... Currently trying to get my MEPS out of the way. I cut  my left eye (cornea) in 2006, very small laceration. Went to the Optometrist on all my appointments... except the very last one, due to my Doctor saying she was really happy with the process and I no longer need to come in. Well Kaiser never put that into the computer and that was my little issue... went to another Optometrist the same day after I left MEPS because I no longer have Kaiser and he said i have 20/30 in the effected eye and 20/20 in the other... no problems whatsoever. Faxed that paper over to my recruiter to be forwarded back up to MEPS for approval... and so I wait... Is this somewhat normal and/or does this happen often? I was approved by MEPS when I was doing my paperwork to be sent to be reviewed before my ASVAB. I Have been very blessed to be even allowed to enter to process so quickly and to have a awesome recruiter .So that is my little story, any questions or concerns, ask away!

Welcome aboard Lance. The whole MEPS thing when there is even one little tick off the beaten path, the best thing to remember is hurry up & wait. I'm sure you'll hear something rather quickly. I don't know the regs but it doesn't sound like it should be an issue for you.

Best of luck with everything. If you have any questions, let us know. We're pretty happy to offer assistance when we can.
Macie

Thanks Macie, I hear the hurry up and wait thing everyday at work so I'm use to it by now! I forgot to mention my real name is Kyle, at my Fire Station they call me "lance" because I race road bikes and shave my legs, hint the name Lance Armstrong... I'm sure I'll have questions and thanks again!

-Kyle

Oh boy another Kyle with a fire department... be sure to look for our own resident CaptKyGuy! Maybe you two can start a Kyle Fire Station story thread.

I was going to make a comment that is just far too TMI and you just don't know my warped sense of humor well enough to see the funny in my comment... I'll hold that one for another day.

Macie....be nice!

Hello Kyle welcome aboard...I wish you nothing but success...

Yes, your MEPS experieince is almost text book, in my opinion...one of the many things they disqualified my son for, teh first time around was that exact same thing...not seeing that doctor for that very last, I need to get all teh money I can from you for just touching you, visit. We were able to get that one and a few other false ones squared away but he is hampered by one other at this time.

We could indeed have a Kyle Fire Department thread, but how much cooler would that be if we lived here in Kyle TX fighting fires for the KFD...LOL

I am the training captain for my department here in Garland TX and am responsible for training all our new fire recruits and running our fire academy...I got a few academy pictures in my profile, feel free to check them out if interested.

Hey...how about we work out a deal...you join the Coast Guard and live out an awesome adventure in a great career and I send my son who is a Certified Texas Firefighter/EMT to replace you with the Compton FD...I will even willing listen to all the jokes for that deal....A guy can dream can't he...LOL

Be Safe,

Kyle

Capt. thank you for the nice words. Sorry to hear about your son getting DQ'd. I will say it is very stressful waiting on this. Tell me your honest opinion; When my recruiter called me later that day she said I needed to talk to that Optometrist and get another letter, I called Kaiser and that doctor no longer sees patients and moved up the ladder. I told my recruiter the new situation and she called back MEPS and according to her I could get any Optometrist to do a "check out" and get cleared so I did it that day and we faxed over the letter on the doctors letter head to my recruiter to push it up to MEPS and so I wait. Where I'm getting at is (and sorry for dragging it on) could I still be DQ'd for that? I know its just your opinion but having a son that went through a similar thing I thought I would just ask. It has been going on 2 weeks so its been burning up inside me. Besides this little bump in the road my medical is good to go!

As for having your son work for CFD, I dont know how fire jobs are looking out there but it is very slim pickings now, Hint why the reason why I'm pursuing  the Coast Guard as a rescue swimmer.

Very slim firefighting opportunities here as well...we have lost 6 positions in our department of 263 personnel, but we do have a few positions opening up for 2011 that we are testing for, hoping he will score well on the test coming up...Ft. Worth is cutting 40+ from their much bigger department and nobody is really jumping at their retirement options....hence why I offered to trade...but really was just kidding about that…or was I…LOL

MEPS can and will disqualify you for anything and everything in my opinion. All you can do is what your recruiter suggested...get a new evaluation from an Optometrist, a specialist in the field. It is a lot harder to be disqualified when having supporting documentation that you are good to go with no current problems from a specialist in the field.

My son's situation similar to yours was for an injured elbow tendon from pitching in select baseball at age 16. One ortho advised never to pitch again and the second opinion ortho suggested not pitching again and prescribed rehab. After rehab and a few more office visits, his arm was pain free and the ortho reported it as in good condition then asked that he come back for a final visit in a few more weeks...each visit was quite costly so we opted not to go. Funny how things work, we ended up going any way because of MEPS. That was an easy fix, MEPS accepted those documents as good to go. I will assume your eye situation will result in a similar outcome provided the evaluation was positive and within the medical standards MEPS must follow.

They did not however accept the two supporting documents regarding his ADD from specialist in the field stating he no longer needed medication and/or presented with ADD symptoms and has been off the medication the required 1 year. So, two different outcomes with supporting documentation from a specialist in the field.

It did take almost 3 months for our documentation to go back through so be patient and please try not to stress over not knowing...everything happens for a reason, we may not like the outcome or even be able to see the reason at times but there is a reason for it, and we move on to other things and adapt.

Your recruiter will let you know as soon as she knows...hang in there and please let us know how it works out...we are here supporting you!