[0:00]If you're about to go through the Military entrance processing station, IE MEPS to enlist or commission in the military, this video is going to tell you everything you need to know to make sure that process goes smoothly.
[0:13]Now, how do I know anything about this? Well, for three years, I was a recruiter for the Marine Corps. I was the lowest ranking guy in my district of nine states.
[0:22]To be a station commander and I was the staff in SUIC station commander of the year for that district, which means not only was I an above average recruiter, but also very good at getting people through MEPS as the boss for the entire station.
[0:34]So you're getting this straight from the source, somebody who's out of the military and can now tell you the things that your recruiter might want to tell you, but maybe couldn't or shouldn't.
[0:43]I'm going to tell you everything you need to know. So stay tuned and at the end, I'm even going to give you a full walk through MEPS brief.
[0:47]Also, when I snap my fingers, I'm going to change location because my video editor yelled at me about how I messed up the intro on this and I had to refill it, so.
[0:54]So first thing, you're going to want to go up there, you're going to spend the night in a hotel.
[0:57]So the way MEPS works, you go up the day before, the night before, stay the night in the hotel, you wake up butt crack early, do the whole MEPS process and you come back.
[1:06]For us, we were three hours from the recruiting station, like the head command, the MEPS.
[1:11]And so we would send applicants up on a shuttle the day before, they'd have to leave at like 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning, shuttle up there, do all their stuff.
[1:20]And then they'd come back on a shuttle the night after, so they'd get back at like 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 at night, um, which was always fun because we had to sit the station waiting on the shuttle.
[1:28]But a lot of a lot of like stations that are closer to MEPS just drop you off, right?
[1:34]And so you can that timeline will change as far as how you get to MEPS and the hotel and and whatever, but what won't change is this part.
[1:42]So, very, very first thing, you're going to want to pack a bag with a change of clothes, right?
[1:46]So, you are going to want to bring like you can wear whatever, wear comfortable clothes, whatever, uh to the hotel, but make sure you have appropriate attire for the MEPS day.
[1:56]And I'll talk about that as in a minute, if if you are going to be testing the day before, which your recruiter will let you know, then then wear appropriate clothes on the shuttle and wear appropriate clothes for the day of MEPS, right?
[2:06]Bring a change of clothes. And when I say appropriate clothes, I mean, I would say treat this like business casual.
[2:12]This is a job interview. You are going up there to apply for the military, treat it like a job interview.
[2:17]So I would always tell my kids like, you know, nice shirt, so collar shirt, it doesn't have to be a button down, it could be a polo, but jeans, belt, you know, boxer briefs, um like normal freaking underwear and, you know, closed-toed shoes.
[2:31]Nice shoes, whatever. You don't have to dress like in a suit, because you're going to have to take the clothes off and put them on at some of the, you know, different parts of the, uh, processing station exam, processing exam.
[2:41]If you don't know MEPS stands for military entrance processing station.
[2:46]So, anyway, um, but bring nice clothes. Like you are a represent I used to tell people like, you're a representation of me as a recruiter, so don't look like a bag of ass, and you're a representation of the Marine Corps.
[2:54]And we always pride ourselves as Marine Corps recruiters, our kids always looked and dressed the sharpest when they were at MEPS.
[3:01]Now, obviously there's exceptions to every rule, but generally speaking, like a lot of the applicants are in like jeans and a t-shirt, you know, khaki shorts and a t-shirt, closed-toe shoes, whatever, and we're like, no, you're wearing a college shirt, jeans, belt, like, you're going to look nice because you are a representation of us and the Marine Corps, so conduct yourself professionally, even though you're not in yet, because that's what you're trying to become, right?
[3:22]Uh, for women, I will say this, you have to wear like, like granny panties and a normal bra.
[3:30]You can't wear sports bras, you can't wear lingerie or lacey things, you can't wear thongs, like it has to be like just normal panties.
[3:38]Like they've got to cover your butt cheeks, you know, I think boy shorts would be okay, but like, you get the idea, like normal underwear.
[3:45]You can't, you don't want to be up there wandering around in a thong while you're around doctors and shit, and you don't want to be wearing lingerie and, uh, I don't actually know the sports bra reason.
[3:54]I think it's just because if you were wearing a sports bra, when they do like tattoo checks or or something, then you might just have to take it completely off, and so having a normal bra that is a little like more like a bikini top would allow them to say, we can see enough with you keeping that on.
[4:10]So, uh, that's my assumption. I honestly don't know.
[4:13]I'm not a chick, I never did that part. So, um, no weapons, no weapons at all.
[4:19]Now, this is a federal building, so like no knives, no guns, no nothing.
[4:24]And I mean, I kid you not, like if you even a round in your bag.
[4:30]Like if you have something like that, it's not like TSA where they're just going to chuck the knife out and say, come back and get it later.
[4:35]Like they will just send you back and say, nope, sorry, you're not coming in the building.
[4:39]And then you'll have to go back up some other time. And I had this happen once, I had a kid who, you know, I was a recruiter in Missouri, so it was hunting season and he had like a 30 out six round in his bag that he didn't know about and he didn't get to go through the processing.
[4:52]And I had one other kid who brought a pocket knife and didn't think anything of it because he wore it all the time.
[4:57]So, just know, no weapons, knives, anything of any kind, right?
[5:03]Just really, like realistically, you should bring your ID and your cell phone and some water and clothes.
[5:07]Like, you don't need a whole lot. Um, you're going to want to have your birth certificate, your driver's license, your social security card, and those are going to be required for enlistment.
[5:16]If you're under 18, you'll need parental consent with like your your mother's like it'll have to document her entire change of name, so like if she's been married, divorced, married, you'll need the marriage divorce and marriage certificates.
[5:30]If married, divorce, you'll need marriage, divorce, and proof of what name she went back to, like whatever that.
[5:56]Um, and I say that your recruiter will have all this, your recruiter will know all this, but just be aware of it.
[6:01]And I say this because, funny story, I won't name the kid.
[6:04]I had a guy, him and his mom actually got divorced and she went back to whatever name and then got like found out they were pregnant like immediately after the divorce and got married again.
[6:20]And the kid never knew, like they basically they were like divorced, oh shit, we're pregnant, married.
[6:25]And the kid never knew. And so she gave me the marriage certificate, um, oh, she didn't go back to maiden name.
[6:36]That was the issue. So she gave me the marriage certificate from current marriage and it didn't match.
[6:40]Like when we went up there, they were like, this says that she went from not made name, like from her current name to married current name, but where's the maiden name in this?
[6:51]And like, the kid never knew that his mom and dad had divorced for like three months or whatever it was, and he found out at MEPS and we had to go get the original marriage and divorce decree from mom, and like fax it up, it was it was a whole thing.
[7:04]So, um, you'll need all that, just know like if you're under 18, you need parental consent.
[7:08]That part of it, like getting mom's made name, like name, signature, that can be tricky too.
[7:13]Um, I already mentioned it like, look professional, right?
[7:16]You're representing your branch of service and it's a job interview. So, jeans and a t-shirt, easy win, jeans and a college shirt, easy win, closed-toe shoes.
[7:23]Uh honestly, I would recommend tennis shoes just because they're comfortable, but like whatever closed-toe shoes you're going to wear, just wear something comfortable because you're going to be in them standing all day.
[7:33]Um, any and all jewelry needs to be removed.
[7:36]Like, even if you don't think somebody knows about it, it needs to be removed.
[7:42]If you are going to MEPS and you have a a Prince Albert or a hood piercing, it needs to be removed.
[7:47]If you have nipple piercings, need to be removed. If you have like anything, any metal in your face, needs to be removed.
[7:52]Like all that stuff has to go out. And you are doing a full medical exam, so they will see it.
[7:59]Like I we we got a phone call once.
[8:02]I can't even make this up. This was not my applicant luckily, but it was one of our applicants.
[8:07]And this girl had, it was like she had her hood pierced and her belly button pierced, and she had like a chain connecting the two that was just like a decorative chain, and somehow thought like nobody would notice.
[8:23]Boy, that was a fun phone call. I got my ass chewed so much.
[8:28]Anyone who's watching this who is a recruiter can relate to this stuff where you're just like, they did what?
[8:35]They had, oh my gosh, like, come on.
[8:38]So, yeah, pull out all the jewelry. You can put it back in after MEPS, you can take it back out before boot camp, but like, pull out the freaking jewelry.
[8:46]Um, if you're a chick, plain toes and fingernails, like just basic normal colors, don't don't go crazy with that shit, don't have like Dracula claw craziness, like just normal toes and fingernails because they're going to be like they're checking all this stuff, right?
[9:00]So if you're taking any test, it'll be the night before. So that's the ASVAB, which is the Armed Service Vocational Aptitude test or aptitude battery test.
[9:06]I've got a few videos on how to study for that and what to expect with that.
[9:10]Or the PiCAT verification if you took the PiCAT, which is another version of the ASVAB at home, you'll do the verification the night before or the DLAB, which is the Defense Language Aptitude Battery test.
[9:20]So that is like if you're going to be doing a linguistics, like a language, there are a few jobs that require that.
[9:26]So if you're interested in doing like a language job and you meet the ASVAB requirements, you would take the DLAB.
[9:32]And so, here's the way this works. If you've already got an ASVAB score from high school or like your recruiter took you to take it, or whatever, then you would do the DLAB the night before.
[9:43]If you've never taken either, you would do the ASVAB the night before, and then you would either do the DLAB at like incredibly early the next morning before everything else starts, or you would do everything else and then either do the DLAB if they have enough time at the end of the day or you would have to go back up to MEPS to take the DLAB.
[10:01]And I think there's like one other test. Like I know the Army, maybe the Air Force, they do like a psych test.
[10:05]The Marine Corps, um, we don't use whatever test they use for that, we use like your background history and medical records and stuff.
[10:14]Um, I don't honestly know what that test is, and I think there's some other ones depending on like security clearance or what job you're trying to do.
[10:20]Like I think I would imagine the Navy probably has one if you're trying to go into like nuclear field, like I don't know.
[10:24]So there are some other tests, but the the brunt of it is, if you have tests to take, your recruiter will tell you you'll do it the night before.
[10:30]Then you'll go to the hotel. The hotel is super sick, um, at least most of them are, they have like a room where you can play, you know, Xbox, PlayStation, whatever, um, no co-ed stuff, so like you'll probably have a roommate, they'll probably put you up with a roommate, but like no girls allowed in your room if you're a guy, no guys allowed in your room if you're a girl, um, they will have a a lights out, usually like 10:00 p.m., and then, I mean, you are going to be up at like 4:00, 4:30 in the morning to go to MEPS, and they'll shuttle you over.
[10:55]So like, actually get some sleep, right? I understand you might be excited, jittery, whatever, but like, go to sleep.
[11:00]You know, bring a fiction book or a boring book or something, and sit there and read it until you fall asleep.
[11:05]Um, yeah, so after the test, you'll get shuttled to the hotel, you'll do all that, no opposite sex in your room, no drinking, no whatever, um,
[11:12]Oh, I will say this, and this is a weird one, but I'm going to just say it because I'm trying to give you the full thing.
[11:17]Um, men, don't, uh, don't slay the dragon that night or the next morning, however you want to say it.
[11:24]Don't jerk off because, and if you do, like, for the love of God, make sure you go to the bathroom and and piss like two or three times because, oddly enough, if there's too much protein in your urine, you can fail the urine analysis and have to go do the medical portion for that again.
[11:42]And so, if you were to like, jerk off and then not, I don't know, how you say it, not break the seal, right?
[11:51]Not not urinate, and then you go to do the urine analysis, there's a chance that whatever was left in your tube would create a higher than normal protein in your urine and can, you wouldn't be qualified.
[12:05]And I know this is the weirdest thing ever, and believe me, it's the weirdest thing to like tell high school kids like, hey, dude, don't freaking beat your meat before the MEPS exam, but it happened when I went through MEPS.
[12:18]Not even as a recruiter, when I went through MEPS, one of the other kids, his protein was too high in his urine, and when they asked him about it, that was what he said.
[12:28]He's like, that was he's like, oh, I don't know, I woke up and I jerked off, and then I came here, and I've been holding it all day waiting for this urine analysis.
[12:34]And they were like, oh my God. And so he had to go back up another day to just pass the urine analysis to enlist.
[12:43]So like, can't make this shit up, right?
[12:46]Uh, don't drink coffee, don't drink any caffeine that morning.
[12:50]I don't care if you're like a grown ass 25-year-old man, and you drink a three cups a day every day, don't drink coffee that morning.
[12:58]And here's why. One, because like I said so, so there you go.
[13:05]No, uh, the urine analysis, the caffeine, the the everything, like it can throw all that off, so like you want it to be just clean, right?
[13:13]Um, but the other side of it is blood pressure.
[13:16]You are excited and nervous and all the other things that can elevate your blood blood pressure while going through MEPS.
[13:24]Like it is a stressful situation. It's not a lazy day in the office, it is not a like super enjoyable like thing, right?
[13:34]Like, so you're going to be a little bit on edge, a little bit stressed, a little bit whatever, all of that can elevate your blood pressure.
[13:40]So does caffeine. So between the two of those things, if you're stressed out or excited or nervous or whatever, and you've got two cups of Joe popping through you, pumping through you, now your heart rates too high, or your blood, your sorry, your heart rate, your blood pressure is too high, then you'll have to go back up for a blood pressure thing.
[14:01]And what they do for that is like, sometimes they send you to like a a clinic out in town, and sometimes they make you go back up there.
[14:07]But they will have you do like three different blood pressure tests to get an average that's below what is okay for enlisting.
[14:15]And what's weird is there are some people who even have a an issue with uh blood pressure tests.
[14:18]Like it's like the moment you put the cuff on, their blood pressure just spikes, and they get like I don't know, if it's nervous or what, but that that happens.
[14:25]So like we had a dude that we had to like, no shit, we had to like take him out to this clinic and like we went with him as recruiters and we're like, okay, breathe, calm down, like close your eyes, there's nothing going on here.
[14:36]This is just me like we're just we're just holding your hand, like nobody's wrapping this thing around, like it was a whole weird thing.
[14:44]So like, people get weird around that, just like they get weird around needles, you never know.
[14:48]Um, okay. If you have done any kind of drug that could be in your system, tell your recruiter.
[14:54]Specifically marijuana. If you've smoked pot within the last 45 days, tell your recruiter.
[15:00]Here's why. And I know weed is normally out of your system in 30 days, got it.
[15:05]If you've smoked within 45, just play it safe.
[15:10]Tell your recruiter, go back up another day. Because if I cancel you going to MEPS and I say, hey, you know, and and we actually, we gave urine analysis, uh, like a a pre-test, like piss test, marijuana, like screening, drug test, urine analysis, the morning we sent people on the shuttle.
[15:26]They had to do that test and clear in my office before they could get on the shuttle.
[15:31]But even then, you could still fail the one at the office because it's more, they do like a real test, not just a little piss in a cup test.
[15:37]So be honest with your recruiter, and here's why, if you've smoked marijuana before, that is not a disqualifier for the military.
[15:45]Now, depending on how many times you've smoked, it could be a waiver, we'll dig into that at the end of this video.
[15:51]But it's not a disqualifier for the military. If you pop at MEPS, it is a permanent disqualification because they will assume that you smoked like the day before and you were like, hi, trying to get into the military.
[16:03]I don't know why, don't ask me why. If you failed the piss test, the drug test at MEPS, permanently disqualified, nothing any branch of service can do for you.
[16:11]There is no waiver for that. Maybe if like World War III draft popped, um, you know, okay, but current military standards, done.
[16:20]Sorry, see you later, have a great life, goodbye, high five, no, nope, don't pass go, don't collect $200, fucking your.
[16:29]So, not worth the risk.
[16:32]If you're even close, just tell your recruiter and they'll be like, oh, okay, fine, you can go next week or two weeks, like what date do we need to go? Cool, you'll go up on that date.
[16:40]We get it. We see it all the time, so be honest about that shit. And I will say second-hand smoke is not a thing, like if you were around somebody who was smoking and you didn't freaking smoke, you're you're fine.
[16:51]But just play it safe, right? And just be a have an open conversation about that with your recruiter.
[16:56]Now, I will say, um, there are certain drugs that are just permanent disqualifiers, right?
[17:00]Like heroin, meth, coke.
[17:03]Uh, I don't know if that list has changed, but like do your own research.
[17:08]And if you've tried something that is on the like PDQ list, um,
[17:15]I'm not going to tell you to lie to your recruiter, so I'm just going to move on and hope that you understood the intent behind my pause there.
[17:23]Okay, now this video has been a lot longer than I thought, but this is kind of what that briefing would look like.
[17:26]So I'll give you an abbreviated version, right? We go through in the Marine Corps, we go through I combat V P, which is implants, contacts, operations, medications, broken bones, asthma, tattoos, visions, psych.
[17:59]The biggest thing I really harped on it already a ton is this, you need to be honest with your recruiter.
[18:09]You need to be honest with your staff and SUIC.
[18:17]You need to be less honest at MEPS because your recruiter and your staff and SUIC have your best interest at heart.
[18:24]They want you to, think about it this way.
[18:27]Your recruiter only wins if you enlist.
[18:31]MEPS doesn't give a fuck, because MEPS is going to be like, well, this kid was disqualified because we found this thing.
[18:39]And they're going to talk to the recruiter, they're going to be like, go find someone else to enlist, and he's going to be like, you're a fucking idiot.
[18:45]Um, so your recruiter has your best interest at heart. If you don't enlist at MEPS, if you don't make it through the process, he loses and he's out hunting for someone else at midnight.
[18:53]I kid you not, I've been at a Walmart at midnight before in my Delta uniform, which, but like, walking around, no shit, in a Walmart at like 12:30 in the morning because we were going to miss mission.
[19:07]Now we didn't miss mission, but um, you do some weird stuff sometimes.
[19:10]So like that recruiter wants you to enlist.
[19:14]Especially if things aren't going well in their station, so listen to what they say over what MEPS tries to scare you into saying, right?
[19:20]MEPS will be like, you're going to get a fine, you're going to get a felony, you're going to go to jail, like all that's true if you lie about stuff and then it comes out, but that's got to be like I lied about having a felony.
[19:35]Well, we're going to know that, like, we're going to find that.
[19:38]You know, really, I've never seen anyone prosecuted for any of that stuff.
[19:41]But they're trying to scare you straight, like scare you into being honest, right?
[19:46]And so, if you're not comfortable telling your recruiter, don't bring it up at all.
[19:53]And then, once you come back from MEPS, bring it back up to your recruiter.
[19:57]One of the things we used to do is like, if a kid had an issue, like that he had tried to like self-diagnose and we and the recruiter had told him, hey, like, you're self-diagnosing this year.
[20:05]This is not an issue. Do not tell anyone but me because it'll screw you.
[20:11]Then I as the recruiter would make sure I knew that as the staff SUIC and that's where I would dig.
[20:17]And I was trying to get that kid to say, well, okay, fine, I had this thing that I thought.
[20:20]And you're like, and then I would be like, no, look, dude, your recruiter told you not to say that.
[20:26]What the fuck did you say it? Like this is what's going to happen at MEPS, they're going to scare you, and then you're going to get fucked. Like if this had just happened at MEPS, you would not enlist.
[20:33]So, we're going to go through all those questions and basically just make sure and grill like, you're not lying to me, we need to know everything, like we have your best interest at heart.
[20:43]Um, holy smokes, this has been like a 40 minute video on MEPS, and I did not quite intend it like to be that way, um, my briefs were never this long.
[20:53]But what I would do is it would be like, probably 15 minutes, probably 15, 20 minutes to every single kid who went to MEPS.
[20:59]And we really did grill the hell out of them, and that's how we were station of the year because we knew what docs he needed to go up ahead of time and our kids knew when they went to MEPS, if you think of something, come back and we'll help you fix it.
[21:09]And so we had a very successful, uh, MEPS completion rate, and it was very rare that something popped that we weren't tracking on and that made our life easier because we had more complete stuff.
[21:19]I mean, sometimes we had to run waivers ahead of time, we had to do get more docs ahead of time, it was more work on the front end, but it made for a successful process and it made for you going to MEPS once instead of going to MEPS two, three, four times.
[21:31]And that's, you know, that's how we all win.
[21:36]So, I hope that this has been valuable to you, and I want to end with this.
[21:39]If you're watching this and you're joining the military, I'm going to grab it right now.
[21:44]Um, go download a free copy of my book, uh, the No BS guide to military life, right?
[21:48]How to build wealth, get promoted and achieve greatness.
[21:51]This is every single thing that I wish I'd known when I joined the military.
[21:56]This is going to talk through promotions, this is going to talk through MOS's, this is going to talk through your Thrift Savings Plan, which is like our 401K, which is definitely something you need to know about.
[22:04]The VA loan, real estate investing, your military benefits.
[22:07]See if you can talk through like when you decide to transition out of the military, how to make the decision for whether or not you're ready, how to set yourself up for sex success, um, your VA disability, like ways to set yourself up and actually document stuff while you're in the service to make your life easier and and better when you're out.
[22:45]You can buy it on Amazon, you can buy it on Audible and listen to the the me narrating it, but you could just go to the website.
[22:50]I'll drop a link below and you can download the PDF version for free.
[22:53]I don't care, 100% free. And the reason for this is, if you don't know, like our channel from military to millionaire, we help service members and vets achieve financial freedom.
[23:03]I am a firm believer that when you serve your country, you have a unique set of benefits and opportunities that most people do not have that sets you up for success.
[23:14]And I hate to see that squandered or or missed.
[23:18]I don't want to say misused because it's not intentional, but like missed opportunities.
[23:25]And so I hope to see you succeed.
[23:29]I want to see you make it in the military, exit the military and be able to work on things that you're passionate about and change the world rather than go get another W2, work a 9 to 5, and not feel fulfilled.
[23:44]Now, there are some great opportunities there too, but the whole point of this channel, platform is to help service members and vets take advantage of those opportunities and avoid the mistakes that I made the first seven years I was in before I figured this stuff out.
[23:53]So take advantage of it. Enjoy the free content. You're here, you're going to join the military, focus on that part of the process, but once you're through boot camp, catch back up, hop in the Facebook group, hop in the Facebook group now, but like start thinking about how to set yourself up financially for success, because there are some very basic things you can do at the beginning, like just correctly setting up your Thrift Savings Plan, which is in that book and also on my playlist that will make your every day life aligned with setting up your long-term goals.
[24:59]And so I hope to help you along that way.
[25:06]Make sure if you want more of this content that you drop us a follow, and I'd love to hear comments on anything you learned from this or or you know, hey, share it with some of your friends that are going into MEPS.
