Asperger's Syndrome and the Military

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I guess your previous job in the army was alot funner than what I am doing: working in the human resources division and counseling people on pay, PCS orders, temporary duty, and so on. It sucks for me to not know any aspies in my job and having to deal with NT related stuff all the time. But I'll be leaving soon, and will be a full time college student.

i have passed all the psychometric tests and assesments to join the royal navy including the interviews, it is totally possibly if you want it badly enough

I was a radar tech in the Army and served in the first Gulf War. I made SGT in 2. Unlike the "real" world, in the military everything is written down. The rules are explicit. Any soldier who can quote the regs is right no matter what any one else says. I could do that, and I was very good at repairing radars and keeping my locker tidy. Nothing else really mattered. The added bonus was not having to think about fashion at all -- they told you what to wear and how to wear it. Beautiful.

Yup. Would have loved to have seen it. Had I not met my loving husband I'd probably be retiring soon. He worked a couple of bays over on Tow/Dragon systems. Military nerds in love .... ain't life grand?

Been there, done that, have the scars.

I didn't know about AS, nor did anyone, back when I was in. I could be called a "wash out" but the problems I had were heavily AS related.

Surrounded by guys but felt utterly alone...unable to build any functional relationship with my unit...felt like I was the only person who didn't belong there. Led to depression...led to my making choices to get out and all the emotional baggage that produced because I didn't know about my condition.

The problem for people with AS and the military is that one would think it's a good match. Objectively, the military looks like a regimented and highly structured life.

It isn't.

The military has a lot of BS that keeps you guessing what happens next. IF you have the appropriate coping and adaptation skills to "roll with the punches," you might be able to tolerate the BS and get something positive from the experience, but as someone with AS, you are always cognitively compensating for what you don't do intuitively. That was another thing that drove me crazy when in uniform. I didn't hate being in the military, but I couldn't adapt to the constant illogical nonsense they did (only years later did I see the method behind the madness). The constant lack of stability from day to day (which I hadn't learned to adapt to) also made me short-tempered and depressed. It is noteworthy that I got "stuck" with NCOs that seemed to enjoy jerking people around (not the norm from what I later learned from others) and I'm certain that made the situation worse for me.

So, military life is likely going to be more taxing on your coping skills than in civilian life.

The military will consider taking you? That's good, but that they want you not having been to counseling in the last 12 months makes me question how accommodating they will be to the special needs of your AS. Unless your chain of command understands the special problems AS people cope with and are willing to fit you to where you can best serve your country, it will be luck of the draw as to how your military experience works out.

If you "wash out" because you can't adapt sufficiently, it is not a failure on your part, but it will still be emotionally devastating to "fail." Best be sure someone of credibility (NOT the recruiter) can give you the low down on how the military actively works with soldiers with AS. If they expect you to do all the adaptation/coping, you can bet there will be rough times mixed in with the good, and only you know how well you can force yourself to stick with the commitment and cope with the challenges you'll face.

I think it depends a lot on the MOS. The first MOS they recruited me under was in MI. I am so glad that I didn't do that one. Tech is a good choice.

I can honestly say that I don't know whether I'd have ever completed college if I had not enlisted after dropping out, losing 2 scholarships on the way. I was 24 when I went to basic. At 18, I don't know how I would have done, but at 24 I knew I might be looking at my last chance.

It probably depends on which traits you possess

If you have hypersensitivity, then you're probably not getting in, because the battlefield is going to be a stressful and chaotic place.

Other than that, I don't expect that you will be discriminated against because of your aspergers.

All military branches place a high priority on the ability to effective mirror everyone around you all of the time. By definition of the biggest deficits for everyone on the autistic spectrum.

Just ask yourself two questions.
Can I look like I am doing exactly what everyone else around me is doing all of the time?
Can I look like I want to be doing what everyone around me is doing all of the time?

If you answered yes to both questions you are prime military material and should get yourself rediagnosed.
If you answered no to both questions you might be autistic and definately would have a difficult time in the military.

When I was little I wanted to be a soldier because I saw a Tv programme about women training for the army and I thought it looked good.
Now it doesn't seem that appealing to me, I wouldn't want to be yelled at all time while doing press ups or dodging guns.

Did a stint in the Army National Guard. Many times I wish I had gone RA, or Air Force instead. Considered going to OTC at one point; but I was definitely better off Enlisted. Didn't even suspect that I was Aspie at the time, because it hadn't been widely acknowledged at the time.

Basic training was a nightmare. My senior Drill Seargent decided that he disliked me; but he was pretty much batsh*t anyway, and a lot of us got crap from him. I got a lot of crap from some of the trainees, but never anything violent; and I got along well with others, based on shared interests. I'm fairly sure I wasn't the only Aspie there, as well. What got me through was partly going a bit crazy, and developing a reputation for being crazy, which was actually a plus in many ways; and having a sort of mantra which, although more or less useless as far as practical advice went, oddly enough worked quite well to keep me grounded and functional, putting things in perspective.

My unit wasn't bad at all. As others have mentioned, the military has ways of doing things that are regimented to the finest detail in most cases; and as long as you're within regulations, you're fine. And as someone else said, a private can even stand up to senior officers if they're wrong. As long as you have the regs on your side, you're golden.

I chose not to re-up, mostly because of politics. There weren't any at my level, really; but at higher levels we were constantly getting screwed around, and I just got tired of it.

Hi, all.

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I will likely not get signed in the military