I joined the army last month. I was concerned because I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. I also had been to a psychologist. My recruiters told me "Yes means YOUR ENLISTMENT STOPS" and "No means New Opportunities". Well I knew not to take what they said as the absolute truth. So I talked to one of my friends who had kidney stones and lied about it. 2 years later, she has had no mention of it. I talked to a girl at MEPS who was in the Marines and she said she lied when she first enlisted and that she was fine. I talked to all of the people at MEPS with me, and it seemed like 3/4 were lying about SOMETHING, and a lot were lying about EVERYTHING.

I seem to be in high demand for the army. My job is in high demand, I had a high asvab, I'm fit, Im going in as an e-3.

My first question is, if the army finds out when i first go in, I know that they CAN fine me and give me jail time. But what typically happens?

Second, If i go in the army, and I am doing well, and they find out, since it is nothing life or death, would they let it slide?


Basically i was really afraid, until i had at least 40 people (Not recruiters, friends that had joined, or random recruits at MEPS) that had lied when they enlisted.

I don't see how I'd really stand out, if it sounds like at least 1/5 of people are lying (I made that figure up but i assume many people lied about something).



Thanks. I appreciate all information.

It kind of puts you in a bad situation, but I had something that my recruiters told me to say no to, and I told the truth instead. It didnt count against me, and its better to have them know about it then them not knowing about it. If they find out after the fact, that could mean a loss of benefits if you did slide thru the system. My suggestion is to tell the truth. I dont think that they would do anything if you lied, but if you pass your physical with them knowing about it, then you have nothing to worry about afterwords.

Yeah, I agree with MCDs Inc. (still want to know if that mean McDonald's). Tell them the truth. If you do, then it will be in your records from the start. Were you ever on meds for it? If not, then you can dismiss it as being treatable by nature and you outgrew it. You may have to get a moral waiver, but that is no big deal. You get a phone call from a LTC or a COL that asks a few questions and your good to go (mainly if you are willing to complete your obligation and not use your PEC (pre-existing condition)) as a means to break your service requirement.

If you don't say anything and you have issues with it while you are in, and you do tell the docs that you had this existing condition before the Army and it is not in your records, then they can use that against you.

Be advised though, that there are a lot of soldiers that are using ADHD as a means of being discharged nowadays. If you seriously do have this condition, get it in your records right away. If the Army is what you want, then the time taken to get the waiver and do it right is well worth it. Afterall the Army will still be here when you are through with the process.

There are a lot of people out there that lie about certain issues that necessarily are not disqualifying. If your recruiters give you a bunch of crap about wanting to come clean, be sure to let them know that you are HUMAN and that you want your career to be clean from the get-go. Make sure they know you are more than just another number in their mission box.

I hope this helps. My younger brother has suffered from ADHD since he was five. He lived with me for a couple of months last summer and I weaned him from his meds and he is totally fine now. A lot of times the condition can be treated by the sufferer. His was so bad he needed blood pressure meds to help him sleep at night. Take care of yourself and the Army will take care of you.

Here's the money question- does your ADHD affect you so much that it gets in the way of your performance? Be aware that if it becomes a problem in the future and someone decides to medically separate you, you'll get nothing for your troubles, because it's a pre-existing condition like Auto Rotate said. The Army had nothing to do with you getting it, therefore its not their fault and they don't need to compensate you in any way.

What's your MOS?

IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN TO BASIC ALREADY PLEASE GET YOUR PRIVATE DOCTOC TO PRESCRIBE YOU ENOUGH FOR 2 TO 3 MONTHS. I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO READ ABOUT SOME INCIDENT. I AGREE LET THEM KNOW UP FRONT BEFORE YOU CAUSE MORE PROBLEMS FOR YOURSELF AND POSSIBLE OTHERS..

The thing is, I know that I can function fine without medication. I've been off meds for 4 months. My parents told me that they believe I was misdiagnosed. They said that I never had a problem concentrating. That I just always had a lot of energy and talked too much. When I began getting exercise and stopped sitting online for 8 hours or so a day, I was no longer "hyperactive".

Also, I didnt have enough HGH hormone as a child, and I was mentally, and physically a couple years behind everyone. When I was 14 I acted 12 or so, etc. So everyone always thought I was a little immature. A couple years back, a doctor prescribed me HGH for about a year, and all of those problems ceased.


And my MOS is 31B.


Ok, heres a question- If i have adhd, and I never bring it up, and it never gets in the way, what are the chances that they'll find out? How often do they go thumbing through your medical records?

Thanks guys.

When you join the military I thought they checked all of that but I guess they don't. After your in you have a new medical record that they keep track of.

YES!!! An MP! Welcome to the regiment.

If they haven'rt seen it yet, I think you'll be alright. You'll continue to get plenty of exercise, so I think you're OK in the hyperactive department, too.

I'll let you in on a little secret- I was never diagnosed, but I'll be damned if I'm not hyperactive myself. I can't sit still for more than 2 minutes. I constantly fiddle, and if I'm doing something tedious, like writing, or typing, or even driving, I tend to search for things to occupy myself in the process, i.e foot-tapping or pen-flipping. It's all about self-control. It might take some time, but if you try, you can learn to settle yourself down.

Ok, well if you were to see me now, you wouldnt ever think i was adhd, unless i was nervous, or something. And this is normal for anybody.

So if im not obviously ADHD, and i go in and dont tell anyone, when theyre seeing if i qualify for a security clearance, or say i break something in basic, they wont ever go back to my civvy medical records and find it?

I was thinking if they DID find it, they may not be paying attention to if i lied or not. They would be concentrating on seeing if i was a psycho or something.

I dont wanna be reclassed out of MP Ive always wanted to do law enforcement.

I say this with the utmost assurance- Just do your thing, you'll be fine. Nobody's going to take their time snooping through your records just to spite you.

Thats what i was thinking. Why the hell would a doctor be dead-set on getting me put out of the army.

Here's a good one for you. I told my recruiter before I joined I was allergic to yellow jackets. He tells me not to say anything. Say something when you get down there and they will give you a little kit he says.

Like an idiot, I told them inprocessing in basic at Fort Knox.

Sure enough, I was stuck in reception battalion for six weeks waiting for a medical waiver for yellow jacket allergies. Then they lost my ENTIRE medical record. It took another six weeks to rebuild. I was in reception battalion 12 weeks to the day because of that crap.

I had a knee problem a few years before joining that was so bad I almost had to have surgery for it. But with physical therapy and time, my knee got stronger, although the problem will never go away as it's my bones.

When I got to MEPS, they asked me if I had had any problems with joints or whatever. I told them I did and it was my knees, the said I'd have to talk to the doc about it.

I was truthful and answered every question the best I could. When he asked if I still was having problems with it, I told him I had just got done with Wrestling season and showed him a few of the moves that involved alot of strain on your knee joints. He laughed and said if I could wrestle, I'd be fine. He signed the paper and said I could enlist with no problems.

It's always better to be truthful and nothing can come to bite you in the butt later.

Lets see where to start. Just to give you a heads up and dont take this the wrong way. Every job in the army is at high demand LOL. Second I am not telling you to lie but the army only knows what you tell them. Well besides a criminal background check

If you belive you have been misdiagnosed why don't you seek additional opinions. I was diagnosed with MS when I was 13. But I never had any cases of it actually showing. They had drawn sometype of fluid from my spine area and said some type of enzyme was either lacking or to much of (I can't remember). When I was 18 I wnet and sought a seond opinion because I wanted to join. And what do you know I was misdiagnosed. My body is weird. My mother did every type of drug available in 1978/9 while pregnant with me. So every medical test taken on me has to be done 3 times. my body is all messed up in a sense but I am normal for me.