MEPS - A comprehensive rundown of my experience

Disclaimer: This is my experience only. I am just a random guy on the internet. Don't listen to me. Listen to your recruiter. He knows what's best for you and your situation.

I went to the Springfield MA MEPS at the Westover Air Reserve Base earlier this month and thought it may be valuable to share my experience with others who want to know what to expect. My experience may be different than others and as such this write up is only intended to give some insight into the process.

My recruiter has us put up in a hotel the night before MEPS. The day started with meeting up at the recruiting office. In my case there were four of us. We were all weighed there and went over our medical histories. He stressed that it was very important that what disclosed at MEPS matched exactly to what our paperwork said. Because of COVID we did a quick temperature check and then drove off to the hotel.

Upon arrival everybody had to wait until a designated time with our paperwork where we would have our temperature checked. Afterwards we were ushered into a room ten at a time and briefed on what the rules of the hotel are. We also filled out a menu for what we wanted for dinner and at what time we wanted to eat. We were assigned our room keys and dismissed for the evening.

The room was quite nice. Free WiFi. I was told that because of COVID you can no longer have a roommate. They still put us in rooms with two beds even thought it was one recruit per room. The men were all on one floor and the women on another.

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When I was there the gym and pool were both open to guests of the hotel. I got a quick swim and run in. Both facilities were nice. For dinner I chose the earliest time slot available. I believe that they were 5pm-9pm. I reasoned that I wanted to get to sleep as early as possible as tomorrow would be an early morning.

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Dinner was served in to go containers that were picked up from the restaurant inside the hotel. I chose the burger which was quite good. I was told by my recruiter that the fish had made one of his former recruits sick and others that I went with complained about the chicken and pasta dish as well. Afterwards I showered, cleaned up, laid out my clothes for the next day and tried to go to sleep.

The morning of MEPS I woke up to my alarm at about 3:45 am. It's important to note that we were suppose to get an automatic wake up call to the room at 4am. My room never received a call so I was glad that I set my own individual alarm. Breakfast was at 4:10. I showered and went down to the restaurant to pick it up. Scrambled eggs which we were to eat back at the room.

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All in all not bad. There was a K cup style coffee maker in the room as well. After eating I cleaned and packed up my belongings. Brought everything downstairs to the designated reporting area at 5am.

We were all called off by name. Returned our keys and had some paperwork signed. Stood in line and were loaded up onto a bus. The bus ride was pretty eerie. It was dark out and the ride was fairly quiet. You could tell that a lot of people were nervous.

Upon getting to the Air Force Base the guards checked the driver's paperwork and we were driven to a building. We lined up outside the door where a man in civilian clothes (contractor?) gave us a brief lowdown of everything that was going to happen.

Filing in one by one we go through security screening and put our personal items in a designated room. Everything that wasn't your paperwork or drivers license stays there. We were then signed in at the front desk.

Those who haven't been to a MEPS facility before were registered. Your picture was taken as well as a digital fingerprint from one finger on both hands. At MEPS the way you sign for something is with your fingerprint.

Upon check in we were ushered into the medical section of the facility. We were given a slideshow brief from the head of the facility mainly focused on sexual harassment and to keep your information private from other potential recruits. We were breathalyzed and given our files.

From here the fun stuff begins. Everybody was put in the main room and doctors came out and grabbed people who needed to do their 'station'.

For me my first was the initial blood pressure and pulse. Funny story; there was a large TV right above that machine so everyone could not be completely bored. It was on animal planet and was a scene with two giant spiders crawling around. The nurse commented on my high pulse and I chuckled while pointing at the screen.

Next station was the urine test. Verify your social security # on the cup was correct. Take cup to the urinal and fill it halfway. Two of the four people I was with had trouble. They were told to drink water all day. One of them wasn't able to give a sample throughout the day and was told that he had to come back at a later time. I think it was from anxiety as he seemed self conscious during the other exams where we were partially undressed. Anther important thing to note was that there was a guy who failed his urine test for a low amount of protein in his urine. He was goofed on when he told the marine recruits that bit of info. I've been told that any recent sexual activity including anything 'solo' can mess up your levels. Not sure that validity of that or if they were just messing with him. After the urine test was a blood draw. Pretty straight forward. Vision test was next. Standard color vision test which was a quick 'read the number' from a book.

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Next was a test looking into a machine like you would at the eye doctors or the DMV. Read the furthest line of letters you can with each eye. Under 20/20 means they will issue you glasses.

Next was a depth perception test. It's a series of dots where one dot appears closer to you than the others. It gets harder and harder the more you go on. You're required to get past a certain point to not be disqualified. I believe it's past C but am not certain.

Next is the hearing test. You are put into a booth with headphones and a handheld buzzer (like on Jeopardy). You are to buzz whenever you hear a tone in the headphones. It starts on one ear and then to the other. They are very quiet and in different pitches. Try and breath as softly as possible is my only advice. Finally comes the 'duck walk' portion. Your strip down to your underwear and put your shoes and clothing into a locker. Then you are put through a series of tests designed to check your range of motion. It's pretty easy. From there we were taken into a room one by one by the doctor. This part was the longest wait. The man who did the duck walk portion put on a movie. Major Payne.

The doctor portion was your standard physical. Breathing with a stethoscope. Poking and prodding. Check your privates. Bend over and spread your cheeks. You might be a bit uncomfortable but I'm sure it's not very fun for the doctor either. Just make sure to shower the night before and/or morning of. Wear clean clothing.

Afterwards a different supervising doctor took us in a room and we reviewed everything. Made sure that everything was correct. Ask questions about how often we drank, did drugs, medical history. This is the part where I've been told that they try and 'grill you' and get you to admit to things that you did not disclose. My experience was not like this as the doctor was very laid back but professional. Finally was height and weight. Pretty straight forward. They really jammed the height stick tight onto the top of your head. I lost an inch of what I thought my height was. Fortunately weight was not an issue with me. There was one guy who was very close and he was given a verbal warning but was passed.

For my experience I had already taken the ASVAB. I needed my testing done before a financial waiver could be processed. ASVAB was pretty straight forward. Sit in front of a computer and answer questions. You have a pencil and a piece of scratch paper. The people who didn't have test scores were sent over to testing before they did medical. The test takes about 2.5 to 3 hours.

I studied from the ASVAB for dummies book. The pdf is available for free online with a quick google search. Study and do all the practice tests. For me it was the best way to study.

All testing completed! Take your file to the desk where they stamp everything. Photo copies of certain pages are made. You then take those to your recruiting liaison.

Near the entrance was a meeting room surrounded by offices for each branch of the armed forces. I was there for the USAF. In the office we did a bunch of paperwork. The staff then had me lift on an exercise machine. It was a dead lift into a shoulder press. You did reps while the weights were increased until you couldn't lift the weight. I maxed the machine out at 110 lbs.

From there I was sent into an office area. There were workers who explained to you the process of the background check as well as information about your contract. Basically a 'checks and balances' talk to make sure your recruiters aren't giving you false information about your contract. You do a bunch of paperwork and are digitally fingerprinted.

From there it's back to the recruiting office. Your liaison then gives you a list of jobs that you qualify for. If you are in DEP you pick your list of jobs. You should have this prepared already. Have a few backup jobs as well in case you don't qualify for your original list. My case was a bit different.

Once you have your job list you do even more paperwork. Then off to the swear in ceremony. They teach you what to say and how to stand at attention and parade rest. Your recruiter is there to take pictures. Because of COVID they did not allow any family members to be present.

After swearing in you are finally all done. Time to check out at the front desk and gather your personal items. Your recruiter will now drive you back if you are in DEP or you will be waiting for the bus if you are being shipped.

Lunch was served after all the medical procedures were completed. It was during the downtime where we were waiting for our liaison. We were given a choice of turkey roast beef or cold cut combo sandwich on a bulkie roll with a water and an orange. This was around noon time.

And that's about it. There was a lot of 'hurry up and wait'. While you were at a station you were expected to pay attention and get your test done quickly. We had a lot of people because of the backlog caused by COVID.

General advice: pay attention. Use your head and do what they tell you to do. Wait for them to explain everything to you before you act or say anything. Don't try and preemptively do something until told. Walk with a purpose. Don't be talking loudly with your neighbor - a few people got scolded for that. You aren't there to make friends. You will be waiting around for long periods of time. Fortunately where I went they had a TV in every waiting room. We got to watch Major Payne in it's entirety. Your situation may be different. Don't fall asleep or nod off.

I found the staff at my MEPS to be very pleasant and professional. They all seemed to be (mostly) in a good mood. I've heard stories about the exact opposite. I came in on my guard and was surprised. Better that than the opposite.

Wear nice clothing. I wore a polo shirt with khaki shorts. Shower ahead of time. You're going through a medical exam and will be close up with people. Wear a disposable mask. They didn't allow the cloth ones in. Be respectful. Yes sir, no ma'am. It's better to start out overly respectful and tone it back rather than the opposite.

Finally just use your head. Be smart about what you do. No need to be nervous. Realize that this is their job. The staff all do this every day and it is normal for them. I saw one kid was so nervous that he was practically shaking. There was also a kid who was bragging about how he failed his last time through MEPS because his drug test came up for pot. Don't be that guy. Lay low but there's no need to be worried.

This turned out a lot longer than I expected. I'll be on for a while to answer any questions that I might have missed.

(edit - added disclaimer)