My 20 yr old D is a freshman at a state University she is struggling with anxiety and depression and failing classes. She doesn’t want to take medications because she’s afraid the AF won’t accept her after graduation. Her GPA last semester was a .7 and she just told me she’'s failing 1-2 of her 4 classes this semester. I worry that she won’t even ever graduate! I’ve told her to focus in the next 4 weeks and finish this semester the best she can. Next semester she will attend local community college and live at home, gat an associate degree and then transfer back to the university. I worry about FA, will she even get any if her GPA is so low? Will taking a depression /anti anxiety med put her out of the running for a military career? Any input will be greatly appreciated.
She may have difficulty with financial aid as a result of the low grades. So make an appointment with the financial aid office at the community college to learn more about her options.
She needs to make sure the anxiety and depression is under control first and foremost. I wouldn’t recommend the military for someone who is struggling with anxiety and depression unless it was completely under control.
Yes, depression could prevent her from enlisting:
I have a friend that wanted to go into the army about a year ago. He could not go because he didn’t pass the psychological evaluation. He is on medication for anxiety. You could have her see about signing up for AF ROTC to see if it really is what she wants to do, and if she can handle it.
Unless she gets the anxiety issue solved, the AF isn’t an option for her.
That said, I like the idea another poster had to have to look into the AF ROTC. She wouldn’t get a scholarship through ROTC due to her grades, but it will give her an excellent idea of the military is a possible option for her.
She can be part of a ROTC unit while at a community college. She’d just commute to the school where the ROTC unit is located for her ROTC classes/PT/military training.
I wish her success in figuring out how to resolve her situation.
She needs to deal with her mental health issues first. Getting a .7 and failing a few classes this semester indicates a problem. Whether it is her anxiety and depression, wrong major, difficulty being away from home or all or a combination of the above, I think she needs to figure it out before trying the AF.
And I understand her trepidation that taking medication could prevent her from getting into the AF. But NOT taking medication could result in far worse things.
ROTC is time consuming. If she’s not passing her classes as is, adding additional responsibilities would be a bad decision at this point in time.
Concurring with the above, having a history of depression is currently considered medically disqualifying unless you can somehow get it waivered.
And my understanding is that it’s very seldom a waiver is granted for depression…especially in a period when the military is in the midst of a force reduction like it is currently.
Also, the military, especially the AF are in the midst of a drawdown so getting a place and staying in ROTC…especially AF ROTC is getting more competitive.
Having an exceedingly low GPA alone…especially a .7 would have been a serious issue to get a place in ROTC even back when my older cousins were going to college during the height of the Cold War in the 1980’s and they needed far more ROTC graduates to fulfill the amount of officers needed in the armed forces back then.
It’s much more competitive nowadays.
“Will taking a depression /anti anxiety med put her out of the running for a military career?” Very possibly.
It could also save her life.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death in her age group. More kids her age die of suicide than cancer, homicide, diabetes, pregnancy complications, congenital illness, etc.
The only more common cause of death in her age group is accidental death…usually involving reckless choices (that are more commonly made by people dealing with depression).
Flunking out of school is a big red warning flag. Something is very wrong. Get to the bottom of it, air force be damned.
@Crisgwh . I spent 20 years in the USAF. I would love to have my D (or S for that matter) join the usaf but D was diagnosed with ADD about 3 years ago along with anxiety. She has been off both medications for about 18 months but I still am not sure if she could handle basic training.
The purpose of basic is to break the individual person down and build them up again as a team. There is a LOT of yelling, in your face, and sometimes degrading comments made. On top of that is the class work, learning customs and courtesies. Very dry stuff. It’s not a picnic, also not as bad as other services, but still very stressful.
Your daughter’s mental health is more important than the usaf at this time. It is possible to get in after taking meds, but you have to be off them for more than 12 months. Or you can fib and be off the drugs but never tell them you were on them to begin with. Either way is risky.
If she does get in now, and ends up getting kicked out while in basic, she won’t get another chance to join.
ROTC requires a minimum GPA. Agree with all the posters that the OP’s D needs to get help to assess her issues, because she is clearly sending up big red flags that she is foundering and needs help. Best wishes to the D as she works towards getting healthy.
This needs to be emphasized.
Depression is considered such a serious and debilitating illness not only in the US volunteer armed forces, but also most conscript-based armed forces around the world that it would be considered sufficient grounds to be considered medically disqualified for service.
Only suspected exception I know of is South Korea’s Army and they’ve been reaping the fallout from some conscript suicides and even mass shooting:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/22/south-korean-soldier-shooting-rampage
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28740700
To be fair, one critical contributing factor is the notorious reputation for South Korea’s Army for tough, sometimes even extremely brutal training methods/treatment in basic training and in the units: