Military Applicant Questions

Complete Disclosure

February 22nd, 2007

When you talk to a Military Recruiter, and you have decided to take the big step, ensure you have disclosed your entire record. Many times applicants will not disclose charges when they don’t think a record will exist. I assure you, if you went to court, a record is there. The record may be sealed; you may have been told you never have to worry about it. For the purposes of security, those records are in fact made available. The charges, disposition, and sometimes the actual police notes can be obtained. It doesn’t matter if you were a juvenile!

The listing of the charge is important to your credibility. If the charge was completely dismissed, without action of any type, it will be annotated as such in your record, and it will have no effect on your eligibility.

If your charge was dismissed, but you had to write a letter of apology, complete probation and/or do community service, the charge will be treated for eligibility as a guilty finding by the court. If eligible for a waiver, and the Recruiter believes in your ability, you may enter the waiver process.

The level of moral waiver required is determined by the number of charges and how egregious the crime committed. Wavier authority of the United States Navy for police involvement could be at three levels. First is the Commanding Officer of the local Recruiting District, then the Regional Commander, and finally the Commander, Navy Recruiting Command.

Remember to be honest about the charges. You will complete hand written statements concerning each charge. Be as specific as you can – remember the waiver package submitted may have the arresting officers notes. My advice to you is, admit it! Take ownership of your actions, and tell what you learned from the experience. Things will go a lot smoother that way.


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2 Responses to “Complete Disclosure”


  1. a pissed off mom says:

    What advice do you give to recruits who fully disclose everything to their recruiter but their recruiter tells them to lie? That would be the recruiters at Colonie Center, Albany, NY. Navy Recruiters. They all say they do not tell recruits to lie. But I heard it with my own ears.

  2. NCCM(ret) says:

    APO Mom,

    If the Recruit implicated the Recruiters, then an investigation will be completed by the Navy Recruiting District headquarters – their findings will be forwarded to the requesting command. If the Recruiter is found to be at fault, then the Recruiter will face a disciplinary action.

    That process will not change the status of the Recruit. When the Recruit was at the MEPS, the Recruit is told, and signs documents confirming they understand that in no uncertain terms, they are responsible for their answers – no matter what the Recruiter may have told them.

    I have a link to each of the Navy Recruiting District headquarters web sites in the Navy Information section of the navigation bar to the left of this page. If you haven’t been contacted as a witness, then I suggest you make yourself known to them.

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