Why does a kiwi fruit allergy keep you out of the Coast Guard?

Question

My cousin tried to get in to the coast guard but was denied due to a slight kiwi fruit allergy that he didn't even know he had. I could understand that if it were a more severe allergy to a more common food (milk, peanuts, eggs), but why would you reject someone with a little bit of a kiwi allergy?

Answer 1

I think the Coast Guard is pretty strict when it comes to allergies, for whatever reason

Answer 2

If he's going to be a coast gaurd they might send him different places, maybe somewhere with kiwi trees

Answer 3

They would have to perform an allergy test on his blood introducing a long list of contagions. If this were being done I would think a very large number of people would have a reaction to something. The standards usually use terms like "history of" "common foods". They are interested in things you "know" will make you sick and that are common like the items you mentioned.

This sounds a little suspect, not impossible, but suspect.

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck....in this case if it smells like Bravo Sierra, has the texture of Bravo Sierra and is steaming in the pasture......it is Bravo Sierra.

Anybody else know if they do blood allergy tests to detect the unknown. You out there Desert Viking?

SSG US Army 73-82

Have had 34 people under me....have heard many stories.

Have 2 grown daughters....have heard even more.

Taught Tech class's...watched equipment get blown up and heard more stories.

Worked with Sales making calls....need I say more????

Answer 4

Yes Wayne. I'm here. The reason for the disqualification is that your cousin's "slight" allergy may have exhibited an onset of an anaphylactic

reaction. That's where the allergy produces difficulty in breathing, advanced heart rate and other symptoms which are part of a threat to life. And any food-related allergy of that sort is disqualifying. The source below is the medical standard.  

Answer 5

I'm a Coast Guard recruiter, sound like there was more to it than that to me.  Maybe that's the version he's telling because he doesn't want to tell the real reason he couldn't get in, or it's more than a "slight" kiwi allergy.

Answer 6

Any allergy that requires the use of epinephrine (an Epi-Pen) is a permanent disqualifier with no waivers for all branches. An allergy that causes anaphylactic shock will kill you even with an injection of epinephrine because a doctor is then required to stabilize the heart otherwise the person goes right back into anaphylactic shock.