The United States Military Entrance Processing Command (USMEPCOM) is a Major Command of the Department of Defense, which screens and processes applicants into the United States Armed Forces. USMEPCOM is headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois and operates 65 Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS) located throughout the United States.
USMEPCOM is a joint service command under the direction of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy, who in turn reports to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.
These stations process applicants for military service, putting them through a battery of tests and examinations to ensure that they meet the standards required to serve in the United States Armed Forces. These tests include vision, hearing, blood, and blood pressure tests, a pregnancy test (for women), an examination by a doctor, a height and weight check, urinalysis, a breathalyzer test, a moral/background examination, as well as the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). If applicants are deemed qualified for military service, they will also meet with a service counselor, negotiate and sign enlistment contracts, and swear or affirm an entrance oath.
The command's motto is Freedom's Front Door, signifying that a service member's career starts when they walk through the doors of the MEPS.
USMEPCOM has been awarded the Joint Meritorious Unit Award twice. The first award was for the period of 1 July 1982 until 30 April 1985; the second award was for the period of 1 January 2005 until 31 December 2007.
The current commander of USMEPCOM is Captain Eric W. Johnson, USN. The commander of the Eastern Sector is Colonel Neal F. McIntyre, USA and the commander of the Western Sector is Captain Theresa A. Lewis, USN.
Famous quotes containing the words united states, united, states, military, entrance and/or command:
“The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“All comes united to th’ admiring eyes;”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“Since the Civil War its six states have produced fewer political ideas, as political ideas run in the Republic, than any average county in Kansas or Nebraska.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people, not things, that are decisive. The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale. Military and economic power is necessarily wielded by people.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
“A transition from an author’s books to his conversation, is too often like an entrance into a large city, after a distant prospect. Remotely, we see nothing but spires of temples, and turrets of palaces, and imagine it the residence of splendor, grandeur, and magnificence; but, when we have passed the gates, we find it perplexed with narrow passages, disgraced with despicable cottages, embarrassed with obstructions, and clouded with smoke.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“It is manifest therefore that they who have sovereign power, are immediate rulers of the church under Christ, and all others but subordinate to them. If that were not, but kings should command one thing upon pain of death, and priests another upon pain of damnation, it would be impossible that peace and religion should stand together.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)