[arthurus]

The army recruiter gave me my pass- underweight. All I had to do to perpetuate my status is not gain weight. I had to go to the AF recruiter to get in. He was willing to fudge it a few pounds. I really did want to get in and go to SEA. I wasn’t doing me or anyone else any good in college and there was some interesting stuff going on in an exotic place and I wanted to go see. I did that.

[NTHockey]

I was 3 pounds underweight for the Marines. Recruiter said that a visit to the malt shop might help. Two hours and three banana splits later, I took the first towards becoming a Marine..

[pfflier]

I had a bone spur diagnosis in 1971 the had surgery to remove it. My orthopedist said he could write a letter either way for me, to get me exempt from the draft or as a waiver to get through the induction physical.

I chose the same course you did mostly for the same reasons and I was an Air Force brat, so in I went and had nine of the best years of my life.

[Grimmy]

I was post war (1979) and the intake Doc had me duck walk. After the duck walk, the tops of my feet were a bit red from dragging them on the carpet and he tried to DQ me for that. The Marine SSGT overseeing us told him to shut up and pass me.

Intake can get weird depending on if snowflakes have infiltrated or not.

[chiller]

I wasn't trying to evade, but the army did it for me. At the point of the pre-induction exam where you and 20 others strip and stand in line and wait for the infamous, grab-turn-cough routine the army screwed up. Across the room from our line of strippers were several tables,, our files laid out accordingly, and another doc waiting with his stamp and for the verdict from the testicle exam.

My doc spent a lot of time speaking quietly with the guy next to me, but spent no time with me.

End of day, I'm stamped F-4, rejected because of an undescended testicle ? It was late in Vietnam, and I was pleased, having no clue what the real significance was. I didn't think to question it. A year or so later at the NIU health center, I asked the doc why an undescended testicle would keep a guy out of the army.

"You don't have an undescended testicle." Holy crap. They stamped my papers with the rejection of the guy next to me.

Divine intervention. I would have been a poor soldier, too..or worse, dead. I like to think they caught his ailment at the next round of exams.