Relatively new Aspie who has (somehow) survived in an army

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My name's Davin, aged 22 as of '09 and can't wait for June when I get out of the Singapore Armed Forces.

I was diagnosed only last year and finally came to realize the difficulties that I've faced for the past decade in my social life, and have come to accept it. I don't see my emotional retardation as a liability, because I'm able to see and interpret various things on a more logical level.

At present my vocation is a Signal Operator. What's that, one may ask. I'm like one of those radiomen, those poor sods in the movies who lug the massive things on their backs and be the first one to die. In a great fit of irony, my dad was a sniper when it was his turn, and it was his primary job to shoot either officers, or radiomen like me. Additional note: being a sniper is not a glam job. Five days of lying on the same position, soaked in your various bodily juices, toxic or not while waiting for a target is not fun.

My interests may vary quite violently, from writing about politics, reading about it, or economics, history, philosophy, sociology, and then veer to voracious gaming. I tend to be more of a team-based gamer, and it has shown where I became a semi-pro gamer for about 5-6 years, and got myself some accolades (if you could call them that) by being on the worldwide #16 team on a Battlefield 2 World Tournament, and champion of the Asia Pacific at Battlefield 2142 in a tournament held in Taipei. I retired from that competitive gaming scene and am now leading fleets of hundreds in EVE Online.

That's not to say that I'm not socially nor emotionally impaired. It's just a coincidence that gaming is one of those "special interests" that I, as an Aspie have, and it's far easier for me to communicate over the computer be it the medium of text or speech. And also that I've been incredibly fortunate to have teammates in those competitive gaming teams who respected me based on merit as a player and not on my social skills.

As for my music tastes, it can also veer quite rapidly, from oldies such as Sinatra to jazz, classical (Tchaikovsky) and emo/punk rock. Just don't give me R&B or rap. I can't stand that rubbish.

Furthermore, I don't mind travelling. It's a personal passion of mine to see the world all over, and I'm planning to head to Oregon for college on 2011.

i am 27, and awaiting meetings for evaluation, i was also in the army. compulsory, as your service is too, no?

i was placed in a supplies unit, so, slacker stuff, lots of sitting and waiting, and i handled all the duties allright, cus they were simple. the little running around the woods that we did was just a cool change of pace, and i found that i easily entered some sort of ninja-state-of-mind in those situations
in my own world of course, but that worked allright.

it was much worse emotionally, especially since i had NO idea why i felt this way, not knowing even that aspergers existed. i was popular among the guys, as i was witty and funny, and strange of course, full of "fun facts", but it was very straining, as i could only barely rest during the night, but even then, with other people in the room.

5 (out of 12) months, talked to my commanders, then to the priest, of all people, then to a doctor, and based on my "threats" of becoming more severely depressed, they stamped a "UD" (no good for duty) in my army-pass, and got me a flight home the next day.

at least that earned me a 6 month unemployment pay, right there, by default

Sounds like you had an interesting life! Welcome to WP, man, I hope you stick around!
Jeff

"Hello," Davin. Nice to meet you and glad to see you aboard Wrong Planet.

Welcome to Wrong Planet, Davin!

I like your sense of irony, with your job and your dad's job.

To WrongPlanet!! !