How does anyone get past the MEPS military screening?
Not...really. When you get to the MEPS you are: Given a physicalGiven a drug/alcohol screenInstructed to fill out some documentsPerhaps interviewed if some of your responses don't make "sense" to the people at the stationReturned to the location where you embarked.You may be sworn in if you have decided not to delay your entry into the military. And that's about it. The majority of people who go to the MEPS are going to pass the screening simply because the recruiters have seen enough applicants to get a "sense" of who will pass and who is just wasting their time. They send people to the MEPS who have the best chance of "success" and that is most people who arrive there. The ASVAB testing also weeds a number of applicants out. While it's impossible to "flunk" the ASVAB, I have heard of people doing so poorly that it was recommended that they NOT try to enlist. They took that news poorly in most cases; however recruiters have to acts as both hucksters as well as screeners for the process. Unless you fail the physical, the substance abuse screens or you simply act "weird" you are going to enter the United States military if you choose to do so when you leave the MEPS.
My Navy recruiter said that when I go to MEPS, I have to pick a job on the spot. Is this true?
Is it a true? As with all things a Navy recruiter will tell you it’s all “true”. The question is should you? And most importantly do you?The process is (at least when I did it/ to the best of my memory) is you pile into a car with the recruiter, head down to MEPS with a couple of his other recruits, take the ASVAB, get a medical exam, meet a detailer. The detailer looks at your ASVAB and if you’re 85 or higher you can have the pick of what’s available.Given there are 57 different ratings in the Navy and various specialities that cascade from underneath that, how do you the civilian with no Navy family to talk to make the right decision at that particular moment of time?IMHO, if you’ve scored well on the ASVAB you should be a FC/CT/ET. If you’re a math whiz go nuclear. Those are going to equal awesome jobs if you decide to get out. They also had the highest re-enlistment multiples.Now, the thing is, if they don’t have the job you want, you can always just leave. There is no penalty for not picking the job and committing to the date at that exact moment in time. In fact, if you do, and you change your mind later, you can still break the contract because you aren’t part of the military yet. They want you to think so, but up to the day you ship off to bootcamp you can back out without penalty.One final word of advice… DO NOT ship off as an undesignated seaman. NO NO NO! You’ll go to the boat, scrape rust, and paint stuff for 2 years, then maybe, just maybe you might get sent off to an A school of the ships choosing.
Question about taking the army asvab for the fifth time?
I took the asvab four times. My score changed each time I retaken it. For example. I failed the first time, then passed the second time, the third time I slightly passed and the fourth time I failed. To make a long story short its my fault why I had taken it over so many time upon the decision done by MEPS. The next time I can take it again is in four months since I was placed on a 6 month hold by MEPS again. So my question is if I take it the fifth time and pass would MEPS suspect anything concerning my asvab history or would I be able to still enlist in the army without taking it over the sixth time?
Got disgustingly low scores on the ASVAB 3 times?
@ Nathan: it's a 50 now for the Navy and Air Force, regardless what they say. It's due to current recruitment levels and the fiscal year I've been told. @ everyone else: I am probably going to enroll in a basic math course at the local community college depending on what the recruiter says on Monday or Tuesday.
Will the Army drug test me when I take just the ASVAB?
Are you concerned Jimmy? That is typically why we see questions of this nature. I suggest IF you have been playing with drugs.... you clean up your act completely prior to enlisting. Currently they do not give drug tests if you are just going to take the ASVAB however the military and the federal government likes to change things at times. Semper Fi, Z
Do they drug test you when you take the ASVAB?
No. They drug test you at your MEPS physical. If your physical and ASVAB is the same day then yes you will be tested the day of your ASVAB. If you are taking just the ASVAB and not the physical you will not be drug tested at MEPS. With that being said I was tested twice randomly at my recruiters office. Depending on the branch they may test you at their branch office before you go. If your not overweight and have been working out and it has been a month, your system is clean. Marijuana does not stay in your system as long as once was previously thought. Only in extraordinary circumstances do you test positive after 30 days. You most likely have been clean for 2 weeks. If you were a frequent daily user (and not over weight) and work out it would have been out 10-15 days after you stopped smoking. Also stop smoking as well you will be tested randomly all the time through out your military career. If your serious about the military give it up it isn't worth it. But yeah you should be fine
Saw psychologist as a child, should I tell my army recruiter?
I'm 20 years old, talked to a national guard recruiter for my first time the other day.. I'm taking the asvab next week and probably going to meps a few days after that. As a child (probably 8, maybe 9 years old) my mom had me talk to a therapist a few times. I honestly don't remember many details, I think my mom thought i was too distant with my family. It was pretty much a simple case of a mother being worried about her child, I'm a completely normal person, just a little quiet as a kid I suppose.. Anyways, should I tell my recruiter about this? worried about it being a problem at meps. thanks alot
Will I pass the MEPS drug test? I have smoked marijuana a few times in the last two months, took shrooms once, then realized drugs weren't for me. I plan on going to MEPS in about six months.
If you aren’t going to MEPS for six months you will have mothing yo worry about. The detection window for heavy use is up to a month or possibly longer. Occasional moderate use of 2–4 times per week can take from 2–3 weeks to be eliminated from your system. A single first time use will clear your system in approximately 3–4 days. The military does not test for mushrooms. It is something that can be tested for but it is a special request test that is only done with probable cause for soldiers already in. While exercising regularly beforehand is great advice to prepare you for basic training it’s completely unnecessary to pass your UA. Your body will have more than enough time to eliminate alll traces of the illicit drugs you have taken provided you are being 100% honest. Random drug testing is part of military life whether you are active duty or reserve components and is done every month so if you can’t abstain from using illicit drugs you may want to rethink joining the military. If you are caught while on active duty you will lose rank and pay and may be given a second chance or they may just kick you out right then and there. This is a General discharge that is coded as a Misconduct discharge and states you have been separated for drug use. While many may not care this will follow you your entire life. It’s not a Dishonorable discharge but it’s still a General discharge for Misconduct. The same thing will happen if you’re Reserve or National Guard. Even though many states have legalized marijuana for medical or even recreational use all branches of service still fall under federal laws and I don’t expect that to change ever if al all. You just need to view this as a condition of employment and as long as you serve you will be expected to abstain from the use of all illicit drugs or the abuse of prescydrugs. If you take a Percocet or Vicodin you got from your wife or a friend because you hurt your knee or back and it’s not your prescription this is viewed no differently than using any illicit drugs and will be separated just the same. The military has taken a very firm stance on drugs so if you can’t abide by the rules please don’t join.
What are the benefits of a 99 percentile score on ASVAB?
I took the ASVAB for the Army and on the way back, the recruiter driving the van called back “who’s Berry?” I raised my hand and he said he’d never seen a score as high as mine. Before the test, I was chatting with a 6′6 220 pound country boy that was taking the test for the 3rd time so he could be an infantryman. I started to reconsider the army.Unfortunately for my recruiter, all four branches had a recruiting office right next to each other in a strip mall. The army recruiter was all business and seemed really interested in me. I thought “what the hell,” and decided to visit the navy and air-force offices. Navy guy was a pretty serious dude so I popped into the air-force office and found a Staff Sergeant with his feet up on his desk watching a movie on tv. He was more like a civilian in a uniform and didn’t strike me as a jerk.When he looked up my ASVAB score, he didn’t seem all that impressed, but did say I could enlist in any field I would like. I chose computers since in the 80’s that was the coolest thing, but at the MEPS station, I talked to someone that was re-joining and they recommended ground-radio as the best career field and I chose to listen. I ended up in the Air Intelligence Agency with a top secret clearance and never looked back.EDIT: I want to clarify that the ASVAB is very much like an IQ test. If you score well on either, it means only one thing. You are good at taking such tests. What you score on any test will have little to do with how successful you are later on. I have met many “slow” people that were damned good at the job, and many “bright” people that were so interested in gaming the system that they sucked. The tests are just an indicator, a very crude method of determining one’s suitability for a particular task.