Yeah, no problem my a$$. I blew that sh!t away... they even asked me to do it on a treadmill... still no joy. I guess it depends on timing, but the Navy may or may not grant you a waiver.
Yeah maybe you're right. I fought the whole asthma thing starting when I was 16 or 17. Denied from the academies, rotc, national guard, etc, because of it. But then I applied for BDCP when I was 20, and it went through no problem. I'm sure it all depends upon your timing and when you applied, but I think the general consensus now is that they're a little more lenient on the asthma waiver. Just curious TurnandBurn, when did you go through the process?
I had childhood asthma. If you had pretty bad asthma until you were 15 or 16 can you just start running and get your lungs to the point where their fine when you run miles at a time and still pass the test or does it do something to your lungs on a chemical level?
I don't think so. From what I remember (I took the test in 1999) the doc that administered the test said it was pretty cut and dry, you can't cheat the test. He said world class athletes with asthma can't pass that test, because the test does exactly what its designed to do, trigger asthma symptoms if you have asthma. So yeah, its a chemical thing.
However you can outgrow asthma like I did, and you no longer experience any symptoms, you should be able to pass the test.
Do you take the test at MEPS?
I don't think so...that test will be on your own dollar...or your dad's if he's hoping you'll get a free ride to college because of it haha...I'm sure you're reading this too dad, thanks! It's a pretty expensive test, but if you get it, its well worth the money. I used the original test from my highschool days trying to get into the academy and just sent it in with my waiver for my OCS package 4 years later.
I had it until I was in middle school. I thought I outgrew it until I just failed the Methacholine Challenge. No symptoms of asthma...just that test. I'm going to see how far I can get with it all, retesting will hopefully turn out in my favor. Going for SNA in a couple years.
Tough news man...Give it another shot though. I remember it invoked a lot of coughing, I thought I was going to fail for sure, but I didn't pass the 20% mark, which is the magic number. The biggest thing is to remain relaxed during it. Its also fatiguing as ****. Don't go into that test out of shape. I wonder if fatigue could also play an issue in the decreased lung capacity, maybe towards the end you just couldn't blow as hard?!?!
Bottom line is, if you've outgrown your asthma and haven't had any symptoms in several years, can pass the methacholine challenge test, are a strong applicant, then you shouldn't have a problem getting a waiver with the Navy
