Joining the military?

Joining military with missing medical records?

• Ok. I've been hearing/reading different things in different places and from different people to the point that it almost seems as if no one actually knows what the rules are. So I'll post here and hope someone can give me a straight answer. I'm 27 and a college grad trying to join the Marines. So far I've cleared every hurdle on the road to enlistment, with the exception of the following: I moved around A LOT when I was younger. 3 different states and 3 different counties by 20. I had childhood asthma, and was "diagnosed" in 1st grade with ADD because of the fad back then that basically everyone had ADD. My doc put me on Ritalin for awhile to satisfy school administrators who thought they were Md's, then took me off as soon as he could. Later, in high school I was placed on Prozac for a couple years, then removed from it as well. Personally, I think all of this was BS, but my opinion doesn't count for anything. Here's the deal. I have NO records for most of this stuff. My childhood doctor no longer has files on me (as per HIPAA regulatons). My CURRENT doctor has nothing but 3 visits from 2009-2010, none of which are related to this topic. My former doctor tested me for asthma and decided it was gone by age 12 or so. My current doctor tested me twice while I was in high school "to make sure it hadn't come back", he concluded that it had not. However, in my quest for military service I went and pulled my medical records. The only ones that exist are from my "current" doctor whom I haven't seen in a couple of years. His office has NO paper records, only 3 electronic ones for things like a Rx for Chantix to quit smoking. My former doctor destroyed all records after 6 years that I wasn't a patient. However, it is his "office policy" that any condition that "has ever been diagnosed or mentioned as a possible diagnosis by the patient and... might or might not continue to exist" is listed under "Chronic Problems". So the ONLY records I have say: "Patient Historian: Self (No Records Avail.)... Chronic Problems: Asthma w/o Status Asithmaticus, Attention Deficit Disorder w/o Hyperactivity, ADD... NEUROTIC DEPRESSION" NONE of this has been an issue in the last DECADE. The last issue was Prozac which I got off of my senior year in high school (2002). No one at the office can answer any questions related to why it's in my 3 pages of "extensive records" because they can't see the old charts. Nor are they going to change any of it under any circumstances, even when THEIR office did the testing and then lost the darn paperwork. Multiple people I know from the military have told me to simply "omit" this information, it's also been suggested by my recruiter and people on the military.com forum. However, that's a LIE and a CRIME. So, as far as I can tell, when it comes to MEPS physical, I'm pretty much screwed aren't I?

• Answer:

  If you cliam there is no record, then you can't cliam that you ever got over it either. The problem with asthma is that you will always be out in the weather and around pollen, if you tuelly don't have asthma anymore, I would not worry about it.