It's been six months since Kimber Kreamer's dreams of serving her country as a member of the Air Force were dashed due to scoliosis, but the recent Selinsgrove Area High School graduate isn't giving up easily.

She's gone to two hospitals to get X-rays of her spine, which is curved about 6 percent more than permitted under Air Force enlistment rules. She also visits a chiropractor regularly and diligently exercises to strengthen her back muscles.

"After a few months I had recently gotten another X-ray and (the curvature) was reduced, but still not under the limit for military enlistment," Kreamer, 18, said in an e-mail to The Daily Item.

She has two letters from physicians recommending she be allowed to join the Air Force and is waiting on a third recommendation from a chiropractor.

"They agree there is no reason why I should be disqualified for enlistment," Kreamer said.

The strong-willed young woman is not only sending the written recommendations to military officials for reconsideration, but she's also forwarding them to Pennsylvania's U.S. senators, Arlen Specter and Robert Casey Jr.

She's been fighting the battle with the military for months.

Barred from becoming the third generation in her family to join the Air Force because of a medical diagnoses was a surprise to Kreamer, who said she hasn't been hampered by the scoliosis diagnoses she received a few years ago.

A recent president of the high school's Outdoor Club, she rock climbs, has hiked with a 50-pound backpack and been white-water rafting.