Debt and joining the AF

I very recently came to the decision I may want to join the AF. I'm researching a bit and then it hit me I have debt. I'm 21 yrs old and have about 12k in credit card debt. I was very good with making my payments on time up until about 8 months ago when I was hit with a financial hardship which caused me to stop making payments and some of my card debts went to collections. I heard this can be grounds for disqualification. Anyone have any advice?..