Heart murmur...

Raziel · Post by **Raziel** » October 25th, 2004, 11:27 am

Doc,
I ran a search but find no info on the subject. Would a heart murmur affect my chances of getting into the Army? Or would it limit the number of opportunities available to me? It's only a minor one and has never affected my health so far, but I've heard that the military can be rather strict.

Bell · Post by **Bell** » October 25th, 2004, 6:02 pm

I do believe you be fucked. A heart murmur? I can remember my heart murmuring several times. If it had been murmuring to start with I'd be dead.

RLTW
Bell

Raziel · Post by **Raziel** » October 26th, 2004, 5:05 am

So it is something that could keep me out? :(

Edit: Ran a google search on Military Health Disqualifications and found this:

a. All valvular heart diseases, congenital or acquired, including those improved by surgery except mitral valve prolapse and bicuspid aortic valve. These latter two conditions are not reasons for rejection unless there is associated tachyarrhythmia, mitral regurgitation, aortic stenosis, insufficiency, or cardiomegaly.

I guess I oughta call my doctor and see if any of those last things apply to me. Damn..

Raziel · Post by **Raziel** » October 27th, 2004, 10:30 am

I talked to my mom and read that paragraph off to her, and she said that I have the Bicuspid aortic valve with the mitral regurgitation. I'm not too sure how long I've had it total, but they found it about 2 years ago. I just never really thought of it as something that could keep me out. I'm going to call my cardiologist and see if I can get a checkup on how it's doing at this point. I've just been really bummed since finding out about this... I've pinned all my hopes on joining the Army, I never even considered getting a civilian job.

Parabellum · Post by **Parabellum** » October 27th, 2004, 10:50 am

Heart murmer is a NO-GO. Even if you could get in the Army I know that you will never get an Option 40.

Dud · Post by **Dud** » October 27th, 2004, 1:35 pm

Raziel,
Have you told your recruiter this? Have you been to the MEPS yet and had a physical? If not, then dont. I've got a murmur, didn't tell them shit, and no one was the wiser. And if it does disqualify you, then fight it. You might not be able to get an option 40, or even Infantry, but at least you'll be serving in the United States Army. If you want to serve, do what you've got to do to get in and in the wisdom of Larry the Cableguy: 'git-r-dun!'

RGR_Dan · Post by **RGR_Dan** » October 28th, 2004, 8:15 am

I have one also. What they haven't said is, that you can actually grow out of it or it just goes away sometimes. I had one when I went in and just didn't say anything about it. The doctors at mepps look at hundreds of people everyday and may not catch it. Its a matter of risk versus reward, my descision was easy.

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » October 28th, 2004, 9:42 am

Nothing like dying, oxygen starved on some remote mountain at 10K feet and forcing your buddies to carry your body and all your fucking gear out because you wanted to keep your little problem a secret, turning yourself into a mission liability.

Rock Island Ranger · October 28th, 2004, 9:57 am

Spartan wrote:Nothing like dying, oxygen starved on some remote mountain at 10K feet and forcing your buddies to carry your body and all your fucking gear out because you wanted to keep your little problem a secret, turning yourself into a mission liability.

Thats kind of a stretch....the boy COULD die from severe crotch rot but he probably won't. Least he gets to die as a soldier.

Raziel · Post by **Raziel** » October 31st, 2004, 3:11 pm

Sorry for a lack of response on my part, I keep going out of town!

My parents said not to say anything to them at all (not going through a recruiter though, taking the ROTC route), but I agree with Ranger Spartan's scenario. ESPECIALLY if I'm going to be a lieutenant. Overall, this situation bites the big one.

Ranger Dan, thank you for the info. I actually did not know that they could go away like that. That keeps my hopeful.

Worst case scenario though, I'll still do two years of Army ROTC. If that's as close to being one of you guys, so be it. But I will definitely keep trying though!