You need to be perfect to join the army?

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I was in the military (What a mistake THAT was) in the early 80's. I had my recruiter tell me how to get in because my eyesight was bad. They also wouldn't accept people with migraines, or hearing problems.
But I recently heard how almost 80% of our forces in the war are currently on Prozac. I guess it's o.k. to have depression if you get it AFTER you join.

A lot of the stuff listed here doesn't necessarily disqualify someone from military service. I work with people who have hearing problems, terrible vision, asthma, migraines, depression, a mail-in GED, criminal records. The problem is with lazy recruiters. All those issues need to disclosed up front for liability, (you won't get veterans' benefits for something you had before joining the service) and it makes for a lot of work for the recruiters.

I doubt that being diagnosed on the spectrum would be easily overlooked, but if you were convincing enough to the right people you could have a waver written to let you in. I'm not entirely certain about that. Hell, I'm not entirely certain that I won't get kicked out. But I'm pretty sure there shouldn't be too much of a problem. You would just have to be certain that it was something you wanted to do.

I wonder why anyone would want to be in the army?

I would rather clean sewers than kill people for a living.

My boyfriend wanted to be in it because he wanted to be an astronaut. There are only to ways to be one, being in the air force or being a scientist. My boyfriend was obsessed with outer space (still is) and he wanted to be a astronaut and his dream was at three was to be the first person on mars. But when he was in high school, he tried to join the army but his dreams were shattered when they wouldn't take him because of his learning disabilities. They said they only take the best. He almost quit high school after that because he didn't see a point in finishing it since his dream was shattered. That was the only reason why he stayed in school and worked real hard. But luckily he decided to stay in school. He still kept his obsession after that.

I got into the Navy, in spite of having a heart murmur, excema, a juvenile police record, and a bankruptcy. They swore me in the same day I visited the recruiting station, and I had no problems until I had an asthma attack in my sixth year of enlistment.

My DD214 reads "Nature of Discharge: Honorable"

Awesome, Fnord.

I've read too many accounts of recruits getting screwed over because of a pre-existing condition, being recruited and pushed through, despite problems. Glad to see you made it. And holy crap, seriously about the hear murmur? I thought that was a PDQ.

Eamon de Valera may not have gotten everything he wanted but he would have got jackshit from the British Government if the attitude you express had prevailed in 1916-1922.

Potassium Gluconate ... it smoothed out my heart rhythm enough so that the Navy doc couldn't detect it.

"War is not about dying for your country; it's about making the enemy die for his." -- Gen. Patton, paraphrased.

"There are two kinds of people in this world; those who are willing to die on their feet while defending their country, and those who would rather live on their knees under a foreign oppressor ... If you're not willing to kill for your country, then you'd best be prepared to die for it ... To take up arms in defense of your country is to embrace death ... to be already dead before setting foot on the battlefield." -- Me, to all of the people I ever trained to stand guard duty.

in the canadian military you can have disabilities like adhd, as long as you haven't had any accommodations in school or work for 18 months, i don't know how it is for the american military. we also accept flat footed individuals and asthmatics, as long as you can pass the physical. i'm not sure what they say about AS, but i figure if i went this long without getting a diagnosis, i'm pretty sure i can pass the interview without them knowing about it.

I was under the impression that the US Army is getting a lot more lenient these days. Apparently, their numbers are way down. Which doesn't surprise me much.

I like this Fnord, I was an Airdale AE3 until the Captain awarded me a reduction back to AEAN. What was your Rating?

What an interesting way to put that.

in here its everyones duty to take a basic training so long u can stand on your feet and many aspies like it because they have simpler rules then in civil i know it sounds we could never win a war but we allready kickked russians ass one time even they got eguipment like lot of tanks and ppl

That's 'cause the Canadian military doesn't do anything.
If you Americans think your militaries requirements are tough: Australia's are tougher.
If you've used drugs - ever, even once as a kid in high school - it's a no-go.
If you've got a tattoo - nope, no can do. Not to mention higher fitness requirements and other such things.
I considered trying to join the ADF last year; but, with all the political BS about troop-placements and commitments, I decided I'd rather not risk my ass to further some dickhead polititians career. If ever a serious threat to Australia presented itself: sign me up. But just so one party can gain public favour in the constant internal political squabbles of any democratic nation? Bugger off.

I put it that way because that is how it is stated at Article 15 (or Non Judicial Punishment, NJP) proceedings as in "I am awarding you reduction in rate to E3 and forfeiture of $100 for a period of one month and one month of Base Restriction." It sounds funny now but it was not funny at the time.
About the tattoo Ishmael, while I was in the AFEES getting processed in we all had to see a Psychiatrist and one of the questions was about drug abuse. Bigger than s**t the guy ahead of me went in their with a zigzag man tattooed on his shoulder (visible because we were all just wearing skivies) and answered no and was run through with no further questions about it. Maybe you had to be there but that bit of military bs still makes me laugh. As long as the paperwork is right.