i have medical history of drug abuse, can I be an air force officer?

Sandra M
#1. August 26th, 2009, at 8:36 PM.

If you received drug rehab and it was mandated by a judge, or it was paid by an insurance company, or if there was any police involvement. It will come out on NAC security clearance check. Although HIPPA is suppose to provide your confidentiality, I would not count on it. In all honesty you will probably be disqualified from being an officer, but you might want to see if you can go enlisted. The air force is good to their enlisted members. You need to have an honest conversation with a recruiter. Good luck.

Charlie
#2. August 29th, 2009, at 1:07 AM.

They won’t accept you if they know about your drug use, the problem is when they do the background check for your security clearance they might something and then you would be facing charges for falsifying official statements in your contract.

Did you ever get in any trouble with your drug use? They shouldn’t check medical records unless they have a reason to. When applying for a top secret clearance which is the minimum clearance all officers have they do sometimes contact family and friends and ask them some questions so make sure all your bases are covered. Also they do check into myspace, facebook, etc so keep that in mind.

ralen_jor
#3. August 31st, 2009, at 12:28 AM.

Sorry, but you have no chance of either the Navy or Air Force letting you become an officer with a prior history of drug abuse, especially one as extensive as you say yours is. I doubt even the Army (the most lenient) would let you enlist.

NWIP
#4. September 2nd, 2009, at 7:30 AM.

It will depend on what your Bachelor’s is in, what the GPA is and what the requirements are for the job you will be doing. They can refuse you based on your history and what hte current demand is for the needs in that area. If you cannot pass the security clearance then you can be refused. You can also find out if you can go Enlisted instead of Officer if the military is what you want to do. It might be easier and getting in faster.

luvinsuzie
#5. September 2nd, 2009, at 7:42 PM.

It all depends on how long ago the abuse was… there are waivers that you can get for some things depending on the type of drug, the characterization of the abuse and your criminal record according to such. if you do go talk to a recruiter, you should be honest with them. if you lie and try to cover it up, you could face charges for fraudulent enlistment. the penalties are up to $5,000 and 10 years in federal prison. and they can separate the charges by each incident. so for every instance of use that they find that you lied about, they can get you. the previous answerer was right… the will do a background investigation, and even though you do have rights to privacy through your doctor, when you apply for a security clearance, you have to sign a form that grants the government access to those records. it’s best if you are honest with the recruiter… if you aren’t qualified… then you aren’t qualified….. and don’t feel bad… only 14% of Americans are.

angeliquedesjardins
#6. September 3rd, 2009, at 3:56 AM.

I wouldn’t lie about the fact because they will find out and you will get discharged.

You won’t be able to be an officer but you might be able to go enlisted. Either way it’s a job that pays money and one isn’t more honorable than the other.