So if you’re about to go to the military interest processing station, otherwise known as meps, and you don’t know what to expect, this video is to tell you what to expect. But it’ll also tell you what to do and what not to do to ensure that you have a successful day while at all.
Right?
So we’re to get right into it. I’m not to waste any of your time. So the night before you go to meps, you’re to want to pack a bag. That bag is to have clothes for the next day, pretty much like your underwear, your bras, toothpaste, any soap, anything that you’re going to use to prepare yourself in the morning, you’re going to want to pack that in the bag. Do not pack any weapons in that bag, like a knife, taser, pepper spray, anything like that. They’re going to ask you if you have any weapons on you when you get to meps. And if you say you do, that’s it. You’re not going to be able to get through meps. You’re also going to want to make sure that you pack a few documents. You’re going to need your driver’s license. You’re going to need a Social Security card. You’re going to need a birth certificate, and you’re going to need your high school diploma and college transcripts, if you have any. If you’re 17 years old and you haven’t graduated high school yet, you’re not going to need a high school diploma. When you’re packing that bag of clothes, make sure that you look respectable.
Remember that you are representing your recruiter. So if you go down there looking kind of crazy, then that’s going to reflect on your recruiter. So you want to dress nice, try to dress like you’re going to an interview for a job. What that means closed toe shoes. You want to make sure you’re wearing socks. You want to make sure that you have on a pair of underwear as well. For girls, you’re going to want to make sure that you’re wearing underwear that cover the bottom of your butt. It can’t be like boy shorts or anything like that? Any thongs, any g strings? So a lot of my female applicants used to tell me. So you mean granny panties and I don’t know, I guess whatever you all like to call them, that’s what you’re going to need to make it through Mets. You also can’t have any sports bras when you go to Mets. It has to be a traditional bra. Some other things you can’t go into mets with. You can’t go into mets with flip flops. You can’t go into mets with sandals. You can’t wear plain white tees or sleeveless shirts. You can’t wear any tank tops, any tube tops, any halter tops, or anything that is going to show any type of cleavage.
When you get down to meps females, if you’re going to wear a skirt, you’re going to want to make sure that that skirt is no more than three inches above the knee. And if you’re going to wear shorts, they can’t be cut off shorts, meaning you can’t have, like, the rips and tears at the bottom of them. It has to be a real short. Definitely can’t wear anything revealing or see through. We don’t want to do that. And we also don’t want to wear yoga pants. We can’t wear regular pants like jeans or khakis, but we can’t wear yoga pants. You can’t wear your pants or your shorts below your waist, so you can’t sag, pick your pants up. You can’t go down there with your pants hanging off your butt. You can’t go down there in a military uniform. So if you were a prior military and you still have a uniform, don’t go to meps in a military uniform. If you’re in the junior ROTC or if you’re in the ROTC or the civil air patrol, anything like that, you can’t go in that uniform. And we can’t have body piercings or earrings of any sort.
That’s for both males and females. Just take them all out. Don’t go down there with any piercings. Also, no fingernail or toenail polish. If we go down to meps with any of that, we’re already wrong. So make sure you go correct. Okay, so now that you got your backpack, depending on how far away meps is from your recruiter’s office, you may be taking an asvab the first night when you get there, if you hadn’t already taken the asvab. It’s just a test to see if you have the aptitude to do military jobs and also how many of them can you do. You’re also going to be taking a personality test. It’s just going to be asking you questions to determine if you have a certain personality for certain jobs, certain jobs like cop, certain jobs like special warfare jobs, like your pjs, your combat controllers, things like that. That personality test is going to get a good grip on you and see if you have the personality traits for jobs like those. And then you’re also going to be taking this computer test. It’s just going to be testing your basic knowledge of computers and how well you can get around with computers.
All three of those tests are going to be taken the first night if your recruiter schedules it that way. Once you finish taking those tests, there will be a shuttle that takes you to a hotel from the meps location for you to rest at night. I’m going to let you guys know that some people have different meps experiences. Some of you will go straight to the hotel. Some of you will go to meps first to take those tests. It just really depends on your situation and how your recruiter wanted to schedule that. So once you get to the hotel, you’re going to check in. There’s going to be somebody who pretty much gathers everyone together who’s staying in a hotel, and they’re going to give you a brief about what you can and what you can’t do while in a hotel. Some of the things you can’t do in a hotel, you can’t have girls come to your room if you’re a guy. You can’t have boys come to your room if you’re a girl. You have two queen beds in the same room. So you’re probably going to be sharing a room with someone.
And it doesn’t necessarily have to be someone from the air force. It could be someone from the army, someone from the Marines, someone from the Navy, anybody who’s going on to mets to get sworn into their respective branch, you could be sharing a room with them. So keep that in mind. The hotel will provide you dinner and it will also provide you breakfast. So you don’t have to worry about that either. Just make sure you respect the hotel rules. That way you don’t get in any trouble. Before you even get to meps, you’re going to want to make sure you go to sleep early enough to get some rest because you will be waking up super early in the morning. You’re going to want to wake up about 430 in the morning. That way you have enough time to shower. That way you have enough time to brush your teeth and get ready and also get some breakfast before you get on the shuttle and get back to meps. So when you’re brushing your teeth in the morning, you’re going to want to make sure that you’re not using any mouthwash with alcohol in it because they will be giving you a breathalyzer at meps and you don’t want to fail that breathalyzer because of some mouthwash.
We don’t want to do that. Also, when you’re in the shower, you’re going to want to run some warm water in your ears. Try to get that wax out of your ears. You do not want to use a Qtip. The qtips are just going to push the wax up in there. And when you get to meps, they’re going to look in your ear. And if they can’t see your eardrum because of the wax, that’s going to get you disqualified while at meps. Also, in the morning for breakfast, don’t drink the coffee. The reason why we want you guys to just drink water is because they will be doing a blood test. When you get down to meps and the coffee sugars, things like that, even the grease from pork can cause you guys to fail that blood test. So just be careful with what you eat and drink in the morning. That way you don’t fail that blood test. So they will do urinalysis as one of the first things in the morning. And if you don’t have enough fluid to actually make a urine sample, then you’re just going to have to continue drinking water until you do.
So that could be a long process, so just make sure you hold on to any urine. That way you can produce a sample. If you have smoked marijuana in the last 45 days, don’t chance it, don’t risk it. Just tell your recruiter, hey, I have been lying to you, I’m sorry. And I am not prepared to go to meps. Because if you do go to meps and you fail at your analysis test because of marijuana, then you are disqualified forever. Like, you can’t ever join the air force again. So if you think you’re hot, then be honest with your recruiter and let them know. That way they can hold out and schedule you at a later date. They’re also going to be asking you about any phobias. When you get to meps, they’re going to ask, like, if you scared of spiders, are you scared of heights? Anything like that? So be aware that they are going to be asking you those questions. And depending on how you answer those questions, that could potentially disqualify you from certain jobs. Like, if you say you’re afraid of heights, then obviously you’re going to be disqualified from flying jobs.
Like I said earlier, they will be drawing blood from you. So if you’re afraid of needles, I always told my applicants, just look away like that let them take the blood. That way you don’t see it, because if you’re afraid of needles, we don’t want anybody passing out on the floor. That’s like the last thing you want. So just try to look away. Also, they will be doing three different eye checks. They’re going to be testing for your regular vision to see if you’re 2020. They’re also going to be checking to see if you have color vision. And lastly, they’re going to be checking for deaf perception. So, deaf perception, you’re going to see, like these five circles. And one of those circles, if you have deaf perception, is going to be sticking out to you. If you can see that one of those circles are popping out at you, then you have deaf perception. If you don’t, then it’s just going to look like five circles. And if you can’t pass that test, then that would disqualify you from certain jobs. There are jobs that require deaf perception. You guys will also be doing a hearing test that day.
They’re going to put you into this booth. They’re going to put headphones on your ear, and they’re going to give you a little button. They’re going to tell you when you hear a sound, press the button. You just keep pressing that button until the test is over. And then depending on how well your hearing was, that’s also going to determine what jobs you qualify for. So, something to keep in mind, you don’t want to be listening to loud music the night before or the day of. You don’t want to put headphones on. It can throw off your hearing. Also, if you have any type of sinus congestion, that could also mess up your hearing for the day as well. So if you’re sick, like a common cold, you probably don’t want to go down to meps because that sinus congestion can mess up your hearing, and then you end up failing a hearing test. There will also be a part of the day when you sit down with the doctor, the chief medical officer, and they’re going to go over those 164 medical questions that you answer with your recruiter. So this is the part when people usually get kicked off the floor when they go back through those 164 medical questions with the chief medical officer.
For some reason, when you’re sitting with the recruiter, a lot of applicants keep stuff from the recruiter. They get down to the MEPs floor, they see the doctor in the white coat, and they start telling the doctor stuff that they didn’t tell their please, please. If you have anything that you haven’t told your recruiter. Tell them the day when you guys are doing your meps brief, because your recruiter is going to give this same exact brief that I’m giving you. He’s going to give it to you in a meps brief, probably the day before you go to meps or maybe the day of. I don’t know what your recruiters are doing, but they will give you this meps brief. At that time, if there’s anything that you have not told your recruiter medically, that is the time to do it. It is not the time to do it on the floor. You do not want to bring up new information on the floor because that will get you disqualified temporarily or permanently. I always told all of my applicants no new news because when you get to maps, they tell you you are subject to a five year imprisonment and $10,000 fine.
So the people who were holding on to something, they’re like, oh, hold up. Wait a minute. I can go to jail and I get lobster? So if you’re holding on to something and you just think, I’m not going to tell my recruiter, I’m going to be all right. Tell your recruiter, okay, don’t hold on to it until you get to meps. Don’t do that. Don’t do that. And then there’s also going to be a part of the day that I call the underwear Olympus. It’s basically when they have every member of the same sex go into a room and you’re going to strip down into your underwear. That is why I said it is important that you wear underwear. They’re basically going to have you do different types of exercises, like a duck walk. They’re going to have you do all kind of different things to see if your knees are good, to see if your elbows are good, see if your back is good. That way they don’t bring somebody into the military who has preexisting issues that will hinder them from completion of basic training. After you finish the underwear Olympics, the doctor is going to bring you into a room individually, and they will check your genitals.
For males. They’re going to cup your teslas, and they’re going to have you turn left, cough. They’re going to have you turn right, cough. And they’re checking for hernias. They will also have you turn around and they will have you spread your butt cheeks to look for hemorrhoids or anything like that in between your butt cheeks.
What?
So that’s pretty uncomfortable. Right, but it takes about 5 seconds. I promise you. It’s like a five second thing. You just got to be ready for it. For females, they do the same checks for you. They check your genitals as well. And they also do a breast examination. They check for any lumps. They will have you go into a room separately, just like the males, but they will have a female nurse in the room with you if there is a male doctor, just to make you feel comfortable. There’s also going to be a part of the day called the x factor test. It’s basically this weighted machine. It’s kind of like a snatching cling. You’re going to lift this machine, you’re going to put it over your head like that. The goal weight that you’re going to want to do is 40 pounds to pass. Just to qualify to get into the air force, you got to do 40 pounds, but the target weight is about 70 pounds. That’s when you start opening yourself up for the majority of the jobs. The maximum amount of weight that you can do is about 110 pounds. After all this, you’re going to sit down with the security investigator and they’re going to start your background check.
They’re basically going to take your fingerprints, put them into a database, and that’s when your background check starts. They’re also going to make sure that you don’t have any law violations or anything that you didn’t discuss with your recruiter. So once again, if there’s anything like that that you’re holding from your recruiter, make sure you tell them before you go to. Okay? Okay. After all of this is done, you guys are either going to be qualified or disqualified. If you are qualified for meps, you will sit down with a job counselor, and the job counselor will basically go over everything that you qualify for as far as jobs. And then at that point, they’re going to ask you what jobs you’re interested in based off of your qualifications. So you’ll look at that list and then you’ll start listing jobs. I usually have my people list seven to ten jobs. That was my squadron’s policy. Some squadrons are different. I understand, but we usually listed seven to ten. And an aptitude area. And an aptitude area is basically saying that you don’t know your job before you get to basic training, but you kind of know what kind of field you’ll be working in and you’ll just pick your job in basic training.
I actually came in with an aptitude area. I had an electrical aptitude area. When I went to basic training. I picked my job there. After you create your job list with the job counselor or the maps liaison, you’re basically going to swear into the delay entry program. Now that is the last step. And then at that point, you’re waiting for your recruiter and their leadership to find you a job based off of your job preferences that you listed while at meps. So once you finish, you’re probably going to be waiting for everyone else to finish as well because sometimes it’s just a long day and people are still going through the process. So you got to wait for everyone to finish. Unless you drove yourself. If you drove yourself, then you can leave as soon as you finish. But if you took the shuttle, then you’re going to have to wait for everyone to finish. And then you guys get back on the shuttle and the shuttle will bring you back. But yeah, that’s how meps works. If you had any special stories or any special circumstances that happened to you that I didn’t mention, make sure you put it in the comment box.
That way we can educate everyone on on all the possibilities that could happen while they’re at mePs. But thank you guys for making it this far. If you want to hear more about Air Force lifestyle and benefits, make sure you hit that subscribe button. And until next time, nothing to stop me.
I’m all the way up. All the way up. All the way up, all the way up. I’m all the way.