What to know about a cancer diagnosis and a military career

Can you join the military with cancer?

According to military.com, a news and resource website for military members, veterans and their families, the Standards of Medical Fitness generally hold that “any condition that, in the opinion of the examining medical officer, will interfere significantly with the successful performance of military duty or training may be a cause for rejection for appointment, enlistment and induction.”

The site provides an exhaustive list of conditions including everything from chronic, painful ingrown toenails to psychiatric and behavioral issues that could prompt the military to reject someone as not meeting medical standards. An active cancer diagnosis would likely lead to disqualification, but it depends on factors including:

• The type of cancer and its stage
• Treatments prescribed and/or completed
• Temporary and/or lasting side effects from the cancer or treatment
• If treatment is ongoing
• The risk of cancer recurrence 
• The length of remission
• Required monitoring and follow-ups that may interfere with duties

Across all branches of the military, a current and active cancer diagnosis, with the exception of basal cell carcinoma that has been removed with no residual cancer cells, would prevent you from enlisting. Even if a tumor is determined to be benign, it may prompt rejection because of the potential for the cells to later become cancerous.

Active cancer, treatment and side effects would make military service difficult if not impossible. Generally, most military branches want documentation that a potential recruit has had no evidence of disease for at least five years before considering enlistment. If treatment is complete and the prognosis is good, you may consider applying for a medical waiver.

According to the military’s 2022 Accession Medical Standards Analysis and Research Activity report, nearly half of those initially disqualified between 2016 and 2020 due to “tumors and malignancies” from enlisting in the Army and Navy ultimately received medical waivers and were able to enlist. In the Air Force, 50 percent of those initially disqualified eventually enlisted and in the Marine Corps 38 percent received a waiver and enlisted.

Can you join the military if you had cancer?

Having had cancer in the past does not automatically bar you from service. While the five-year disease-free threshold is a general guideline, each case is unique and is thoroughly reviewed keeping in mind long-term prognosis, any necessary follow-up treatments or monitoring, and any residual effects of the cancer or the treatments that may have an impact on your ability to serve.

For example, if you had cancer as a child and have not had any surgery or treatment for it and have been cancer free for the last five years, you most likely will qualify to enlist.

The military also offers some guidance on specific types of past cancer diagnoses and length of remission that will likely allow you to enlist, including:

• Wilms tumor or germ cell tumors of the testis that have been treated surgically or with chemotherapy with a remission of at least two years after completion of treatment
• Hodgkin lymphoma that has been treated with radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy with five years disease-free
• Large cell lymphoma that has been treated and has had at least a two-year period after treatment that is disease free

Smoking in the military

Despite initiatives by the military to curb smoking, it is still popular among U.S. service personnel, especially among young men 18-25 years old. An estimated 32 percent of those in the military use tobacco. And while that is down from more than 50 percent, it is still way above the 20 percent of smokers in the general population. Forty percent of young men in the military smoke and many started after entering the military.      

The military has banned smoking inside buildings on its bases and installations. It also prohibits putting cigarettes into field ration packages. But cigarettes are still sold tax free on many military bases.

Initiatives to curb smoking in the military are attempting to undo decades of marketing by tobacco companies, which regarded service personnel as a “captive audience.”

Tobacco companies began sending soldiers overseas free cigarettes during World War I. As late as the 1990s, the industry staged events targeting service members, even sponsoring some on military bases.

According to an article published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine: “Studies have documented that service members who smoke exhibit lower productivity than nonsmoking counterparts, miss more workdays, perform worse on their fitness tests, and are more likely to be hospitalized.”

While lung cancer is not among the most common cancers diagnosed among active personnel, the disease is usually diagnosed in seniors and most often when it is advanced. But lung cancer is the second most common cancer diagnosed in military veterans, behind prostate cancer and ahead of colorectal cancer.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs treats more than 450,000 veterans with cancer and diagnoses about 43,000 new cases every year. More than 7,700 veterans are diagnosed with lung cancer every year.