Can you join the military after 40?

[Pajama Mama]

Dh was in the Marines about 15 yrs ago. He's now 42 and talking about re-enlisting. Is that possible? He says that because of his time in the Marines he can re-enlist after 40. Why does he want to? I don't know. He may be saying that to freak me out. I'm not freaked out by the way. I've told him that *if* he were back in the military the kids and I wouldn't be able to travel with him. Our middle child has alot of medical issues and goes to a special school. I can't even imagine relocating him with all of the doctors he sees. But is it possible to re-enlist after 40?

[Call Me Cordelia]

Yes. We had a friend go into the Air Force last year. I'm not sure how old, but close to 50. He's a physician, though.

[Mrs Mungo]

You could not join the military for the first time at the age of 40 (with few exceptions,certain occupations such as medical professionals are treated differently). Whether or not they'll let you re-join really depends upon prior MOS, physical condition and much more.

 

ed because I misread the first time-the military has a program called the Exceptional Family Member Program. Any family member with special needs is signed up under this program. Even my youngest who has severe asthma problems and a lung disease is signed up under this program to make sure I don't have to get new referrals for a pulminologist, allergist, etc every time we move. So, it might not be as hard to get him the care he needs as it might seem.

[Christine]

But is it possible to re-enlist after 40?

 

Okay, my first reaction was No, till I read that you meant RE-enlist. . .

 

Again, I'm going with "no" and the caveat that your husband would have to verify that. I know the Army "standard" is 10 years out of service and over 38 is a no-go. However, it does depend on your field, and if you were in NG or Res. Also, given the current deployment rates, dropped recruiting, etc. It's highy likely that they would take him.

 

 

I've told him that *if* he were back in the military the kids and I wouldn't be able to travel with him.

 

the military has a program called the Exceptional Family Member Program. Any family member with special needs is signed up under this program.

 

As Mrs. Mungo said, your son, would be placed under the EFMP. Once on that list the military will NOT move you to a location that does not have the services your child needs available.

 

Why does he want to? I don't know. He may be saying that to freak me out. I'm not freaked out by the way.

 

. . . this *concerns* me. . .

[Marie in Oh]

and I have heard of re-enlistment for certain fields. Doctors and nurses certainly make sense, maybe chaplains?????

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

I'm guessing yes, depending on what field he was in. My dh was retired for 5 years when they sent him a letter asking him to come back. He said, "No, thank you."

[Christine]

Once on that list the military will NOT move YOU to a location that does not have the services your child needs available.

 

Need to clarify this a bit. Your spouse can be moved based on the needs of the particular service he is in. However, if he is moved to a place that does not have services the military will keep you where you do have them. This is known as "geographical bachlerhood".

 

In the Army there are a number of geographical bachlers in Korea -- which has nothing to do with EFMP, just the fact that they don't have housing over there for families.

[SheilaZ]

I think it's fairly hit or miss.

 

I don't know how they determine who can come back and who can't.

 

My husband went back into the army at 44. He's commissioned and was involuntarily recalled into the reserved after being out for almost 8 years.

After that deployment, he decided to go back into active duty. They happily accepted him back in. He even got to pick a new specialty area to round out his training

 

My neice's husband is in his 30's and wants to re-enlist. They won't take him even though he just got home from deployment with his Guard unit. He has been out of AD for over 10 years. So he's doing active duty Guard instead.

 

My nephew (just turned 30), just re-inlisted after 5 years out and back to his old MOS.

 

Geesh....we have a lot of Army guys in the family.

[Pajama Mama]

Sorry, I forgot to reply to this. We were having thunderstorms alot the past couple days so I couldn't log on. It moved down the line so fast I forgot about it.

 

I think dh is half serious about rejoining the military. The piece of the puzzle that I'm leaving out is: dh is having gastric bypass surgery soon. He has tried everything to lose the weight on his own. So he's getting the surgery soon. I think he's excited to think of all of the things he'll be able to do with less weight on his body. He would have thought about rejoining earlier but not with the weight.

 

I honestly wouldn't mind him rejoining the marines but I doubt that we'd go with him. We live in the house that his mother gave us so we don't pay for a mortgage. We moved here four years ago and it was horrible. Ds8 has alot of medical problems. He's non-ambulatory, epileptic, non-verbal, mentally challenged, fed with a stomach tube, etc. I made appts with his doctors months before we moved and he still didn't get into some new docs for months after we moved. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to be in a new city with an epileptic child that has no neurologist yet. We had to take him the the E.R. twice and kept in touch with the old neuro until the new appt finally arrived. Ds11 has Asperger's which means he really needs structure and routines. Uprooting him might not be a good thing.

 

I honestly don't know if dh is serious about re enlisting. I think it's probably something that he'd like to do but I somewhat doubtful that it will happen. Secretly though, I love the *thought* of moving somewhere else. Our lives are somewhat stressful and the thought of being somewhere else is wonderful. But then reality sets in...

 

Anyway, thanks for the advice and words of encouragement. You guys are fabulous.

[Christine]

The piece of the puzzle that I'm leaving out is: dh is having gastric bypass surgery soon.

 

Regardless of age, certain surgeries would prohibit people from joining. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if this would be one of them.

[Mrs Mungo]

Regardless of age, certain surgeries would prohibit people from joining. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if this would be one of them.

 

I agree. I don't see them accepting someone who has had this surgery. People who have had gastric bypass surgery have to eat a special diet and eat frequent, very small meals, etc. It would not be conducive to life in a combat zone and therefore not compatible with the military.

[eight_gregorys]

I just thought I'd chime in. I was never in the MC, but I just got out of the army (two days ago) after 8 years of service. The Army policy for prior service re-enlistment is take the number of years previously served and subtract that from current age. So a 40-year-old with 15 years prior service would come out to 25. The age used to be 35, but I believe because of the war in Iraq it is now 40. ( I couldn't imagine being a 40-year-old Private.)

 

You would also be surprised with the type of medical ailments that the military will allow you to serve with. I spent the past two years trying to get out of the Army because I have SLE with pretty severe kidney involvement. I was diagnosed while I was deployed to Iraq. I spent an additional four months there after the diagnosis on 80 mg of Prednisone and Imuran. It was awful. I was finally medically evacuated after they found I had brain involvement. Ridiculous. (SLE is worsened by the sun and yet I was kept in the desert.) The military is really doing drastic things to keep people in and dropping the standards for new recruits.

 

Good luck on re-enlisting. HTH!

 

Andrea