I've always been overweight and I have always dreamed of having a military career, this is one of the reasons I decide to have lap band surgery. I could never mange to lose wieght and keep off on my own. Now that I've been banded for slightly over a year, I'm doing good with my wieght loss, I still have a little ways to go but I'm geting there. I'll be eighteen soon, old enough to enlist. But I never knew that any form of wieght loss surgery was an automatic disqulifier for all branches of the military. I thaugh this would help me obtain my goal, but now I know I never achieve it because of this. I am having a hard time dealing with this. I've wanted for like ever, and don't know what to do now.

It might preclude you from combat training but that does not mean you cant join the service. You can try for domestic or technical type jobs with the military.

So sorry Kaitlyn. I hope that Jake is right and you can still join. Congrats on losing most of your excess weight tho. I hope you are proud of yourself! I'm sure that you will find a rewarding career, military or not. You are still young and the world is your oyster! Good luck and have a safe and happy holiday!

It might preclude you from combat training but that does not mean you cant join the service. You can try for domestic or technical type jobs with the military.

Unless they've changed their protocol in the last few years, unfortunately she's right. I got this off of Tricare's website...they can actually discharge you for it if you're already active duty or bar you from joining if you have it prior to service:

http://www.health.mil/Content/docs/pdfs/policies/2007/07-006.pdf

Really sorry, Kaitlyn; however, you may be able to find a civilian job and still work for the military. Either way, disneymom1978 is right; congrats on your weight loss, you are still young and there are DEFINATELY lots of opportunities out there!

Maby I was wrong. I hope you can do something in the military.

This really does suck. I'm sorry. My 17 year old son has always wanted to be in the military, too and he can't. He's a type 1 diabetic. I questioned the recruiter about non-combat jobs and that is not an option. Everyone in the service could end up in a battle situation and they need to be prepared. My son is planning on going into criminal justice. It's not the same, but he's come to grips with it. I hope you find something that makes you happy. I think the military is losing out on many good recruits. I understand their objections. Maybe they just need a different classification for medical issues.

Cindy

What about the reserves?

I'm sorry to hear this as its awful to have your dream shattered, but it maybe a blessing in disguise.

You never know what's around the corner.

I hope you find a career that is very rewarding and just right for you in every way.

Who knows why life hadns us these disappointments? However, start taking a look at the various civilian jobs that work on projects to assist our men and women in the service to make their jobs a bit easier and live a lot longer. My husband is a soft ware engineer and works on various projects for the government. Please take heart there is more than one way to make part of your dream come true.

In the mean time. great going with your weight loss!

I know this was a big disappointment for you. But let me say there are TONS of jobs in the Civ. side and often you can work hand n hand with the Military as a govt. Civ.

Take a look at these two sites

http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/

The above sites list all open jobs.

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&tag=mozilla-20&index=blended&link_code=qs&field-keywords=govt.%20jobs&sourceid=Mozilla-search

The above link is for a book you might want to get to know more about goverment jobs.

Good luck! ((HUGS))

So sorry for your ordeal! My motto is "Everything happens for a reason".. God has plans for you, you just need to be open to them! Good luck in all your endeavors! Hope to see "less of you" in the future! God Bless!

Thank you all for the replys, I really appreciate it. I have actually been thinking a job in law enforcemnt as well.

But I've been thinking about what if you had the band removed? I can see being disqualified with it , but it wouldn't make sense if they still rejected you if you got it removed. It's not like it disables you in sn some way afterwards. So I've been wondering how that works as well.

Ah that sucks, but I guess if you were deployed or something it would be hard to stick to a special diet maybe? or access to proper medical care for it?

I'm sorry that is the case. You need to check to see if having the band removed would preclude you from enlisting. However, do you REALLY want to possibly sacrifice your good health for going into the military? Just playing devils advocate here.... I have an 18 year old that wants to go into the military and thats ALL he talks about. I hope he considers all his options before making a decision. You should do the same.

If you are contemplating getting your band removed, I'd check with all the authorities and get an answer in writing. The way that that document (previous poster) was written it sounded like if you have ever had any weight loss surgery, you would be denied. I suspect that having the band removed wouldn't make a difference. I think that's unfair. All the surgeries aren't the same, but we're talking government regulations here.

Just don't ask one recruiter and hope he's right. In my experience with my son, we got many varying answers from recruiters about medical conditions. He had a marine recruiter tell him that he could be in, that they take diabetics. I called the recruiter after my son got home from to ask further. Well, he thought it might be ok...If he could get off insulin! I explained that type 1's don't ever get off insulin. They'd be dead in a week. It was really heartbreaking for my son. He thought he finally found a way into the service, but we've tried them all and once you get past the first level recruiter, someone usually tells you that it isn't going to work..

Cindy