Aspies and Auties not allowed in US military.

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Its discrimination, but I really have no problem with it. Lets face it, people like us do not belong in the armed forces, for just so many reasons. The experience would probably be like a sick form of torture for an Aspie.

I was never "fit" for the military---but there are plenty of people here who have been in the military successfully, and have varying feelings about it.

I would say take it on a "case-by-case" basis.

...I seem to recall this coming up before, and the statement being made that if it's discovered/found out during the recruiting process it's a disqualifier,but if someone's in and otherwise performing satisfactorily, it's not a " get-out-free " card, either in the positive or negative (less-than-honorable discharge) sense. I'll say more later.

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Renal kidney failure, congestive heart failure, COPD. Can't really get up from a floor position unhelped anymore:-(.
One of the walking wounded ~ SMASHED DOWN by life and age, now prevented from even expressing myself! SOB.
" Oh, no! First you have to PROVE you deserve to go away to college! " ~ My mother, 1978 (the heyday of Andy Gibb and Player). I would still like to go.
My life destroyed by Thorazine and Mellaril - and rape - and the Psychiatric/Industrial Complex. SOB:-(! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!

This is a touchy subject for me. I read about this a while ago, and around this time I was really interested in potentially serving one day. I probably would never survive boot camp, but I really just felt kind of obligated to serve my country for some reason.

Of course, then I read that you can't have any history of virtually any health condition if you want to join the US military, and I felt kind of dumbfounded. I was like, "How many perfectly healthy and nondisabled people are out there that actually want to join the military!?" I mean, does that even exist? My dad got rejected from the Navy because of acne, for goodness sake! I really don't understand. I was upset after reading about this, but I am pretty much over it by now. If I ever want to serve one day, then I could potentially get a waiver or something. But I am still really confused as to why nobody with any sort of health problem or disability is allowed to serve. Seriously, there is a whole list of all the disorders/problems you could be disqualified for! It just makes so little sense to me. Oh well.

...Well, you're female. I assume that the female divisions of the US military are fairly selective, since I'm sure they're far, far, smaller than the male divisions in sheer number.







SquiddyFan"]This is a touchy subject for me. I read about this a while ago, and around this time I was really interested in potentially serving one day. I probably would never survive boot camp, but I really just felt kind of obligated to serve my country for some reason.

Of course, then I read that you can't have any history of virtually any health condition if you want to join the US military, and I felt kind of dumbfounded. I was like, "How many perfectly healthy and nondisabled people are out there that actually want to join the military!?" I mean, does that even exist? My dad got rejected from the Navy because of acne, for goodness sake! I really don't understand. I was upset after reading about this, but I am pretty much over it by now. If I ever want to serve one day, then I could potentially get a waiver or something. But I am still really confused as to why nobody with any sort of health problem or disability is allowed to serve. Seriously, there is a whole list of all the disorders/problems you could be disqualified for! It just makes so little sense to me. Oh well.[/quote]

_________________
Renal kidney failure, congestive heart failure, COPD. Can't really get up from a floor position unhelped anymore:-(.
One of the walking wounded ~ SMASHED DOWN by life and age, now prevented from even expressing myself! SOB.
" Oh, no! First you have to PROVE you deserve to go away to college! " ~ My mother, 1978 (the heyday of Andy Gibb and Player). I would still like to go.
My life destroyed by Thorazine and Mellaril - and rape - and the Psychiatric/Industrial Complex. SOB:-(! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!

I don't think it's really nasty or unfair, but I don't believe it's a good idea how the military recruits have to state directly "Aspies/auties not allowed in US military".

But it does feel a little bad knowing that your incapable of doing something to serve your own country, and I guess the message is said that aspies can't be "tough" males. That to me is pretty much heartache.

Stampy

you are only 14 years old right now, according to your profile.

laws change over time. from 1994 until 2011, the military policy was Don't Ask, Don't Tell. then that changed.

in 2016, president obama lifted the military transgender ban.

in 2017, president trump Tweeted that the military will no longer take transgender service members.

by the time you turn 18 (old enough to join the military), the current laws might not still be in effect.

some civilians work for the military. otherwise you can serve the country as a police officer, firefighter, post office worker, or schoolteacher.

of course, maybe those jobs have similar policies rejecting autistics. i do not know.



the military is not subject to the civilian Americans Disabilities Act or Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. the military does not have to grant "reasonable accommodations". the purpose of the military is to win wars.

and quite frankly, i strongly doubt that i could get through Boot Camp or Basic Training either. and suspect many autistics could not.

however, all autistics are different. different branches of the military are different. enlisted and officer are different. even different platoons are different.

so. whatever.

I never heard that before I didn't know aspies weren't allowed to serve but it doesn't surprise me the military is very traditional and stuck it ways it illegal to be lgbt in the military until 2011 I personally wouldn't be a good fit for the military and wouldn't be able to enlist Because of epilepsy but I believe that the strutured disciplined of military life would possibly be beneficial to certain individuals with asd

I wanted to go into the Navy or Coast Guard right out of high school, but due to bad asthma, I was unable to. I would have never made it thru basic training. That said, I thank anybody here that has served our country. AD

if i were to have enlisted in the military, active duty, at age 18. right out of high school. maybe i could've made it through Basic Training or Boot Camp. at that time, i had not yet gotten any MEPS disqualifying diagnoses. (although, of course, i still had the conditions.) when i was 18, i was pretty determined. and much more functional than now.

the parts i would have problems with: sleep deprivation, having to work 100 hours a week, getting woken up in the middle of the night and ordered to work, uncomfortable uniforms, getting yelled at, athletics, The Crucible, Victory Forge, wasting hours cleaning the barracks. dealing with loud noises, living in crowded, close quarters. not getting much choice about what to eat. Meals Ready to Eat allegedly cause constipation. anxiety. teamwork.

and strongly suspect that my (then undiagnosed) autism symptoms would've made me a prime target for rape and bullying and et cetera.

but when i was 18, i was spectacular at ignoring my emotions and getting things done. right now, i am awful at both.

and after that, it's Advanced Individual Training and then the fleet.

and deployment. adjusting to living in a different location/country. dirty work, as a Cook, Infantry, Combat Engineer, Artillery.

but the military contains jobs that have civilian counterparts. like Shower Laundry Specialist, Human Resources, Admin, Finance Specialist

but whatever. the other problem is that, civilian or military, i am not suited for many (or any?) jobs.

when i was 18, took a career personality quiz. it showed the top 20 jobs that matched my demeanor. all 20 of them were in STEM. the academically easiest one was Civil Engineer. and i already flunked structural engineering in college.

feel so ashamed.

many jobs, i can't do b/c do not know how to do them.

many jobs, suspect i do not have the potential to learn how to do them. even with training.

too physically weak to do manual labor.

too socially awkward for customer service

seriously i am so ashamed of myself

Well, I hadn't been diagnosed when I joined so I DID serve in the Marines. Although I didn't know I had Asperger's then, I DID think the structure and logic would work well for me. Except...

there was no "structure and logic." I was 23 and had 19 year old "corporals" yelling at me for walking on the grass when I was training at Ft. Meade. Me and Jess, my bunkie from MCT, were put in charge of waxing the floors the moment we arrived because of a "random system. Nothing personal." Then they changed the system after 6 weeks and you'd only do a chore for a week. Guess who got waxing the floor again while others had such difficult tasks as "wiping down the washer and dryers?" f*****g a**holes.

Anyway, to get back on topic, the military has some cool people, but there are also a LOT of dickheads there, and no, the service does NOT need clinically dysfunctional and mentally ill people to deal with matters of life and death. Save yourself and be grateful. You are missing NOTHING. Your ego is far less important than national security.

Since I was about 18, I have felt ashamed and guilty of being a mere civilian

Some autistics have joined the military and succeeded

Maybe applicants can get waivers for autism at MEPS

Some autistics get diagnosed when they are already in the military or when they are veterans

The military also does not take applicants with flat feet, high blood pressure, anemia, peanut allergy

There is a long list of disqualifiers, permanent and temporary

For something like blood pressure or anemia, even if measure them, and they are too high or low, if you immediately measure them again, the change could be drastic

When i donated blood, plenty of times, hemoglobin too low. Anemic. Then ten minutes later, phlebotomist checks again. And hemoglobin no longer too low

Furthermore maybe going to MEPS has so much stress and pressure and anxiety, that maybe going to MEPS raises someones blood pressure

Plenty of autistics have gotten diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder

Those three conditions are also disqualifiers

But maybe it should be a case by case basis

But "should", "can", and "will" are all different things

There are thousands of ways to serve your country.

The armed forces is just one of them.

I'm not a fan of painting with a broad brush. There was a time when I went to talk to a recruiter, thinking that the Army might be the best (and most structured) way for me to get out of north-central West Virginia and out of a life that was sinking faster than the Titanic. I was going to see about being an Army nurse. I don't know, I might have done all right. Or the brass might have killed me.

In a combat situation?? No. I would not be OK. I tend to go cold under pressure, so that part would probably be all right...

...but my moral rigidity would mean that, eventually, I would either fail to do my job and get my teammates killed, or PTSD would kill me when I had to sit and think over everything I'd done.

Hell, I've never been in combat, and PTSD might kill me anyway.

Maybe, the real problem is that the world does not contain sufficient jobs suitable for someone with an autistic demeanor, civilian or military

Josepho

Only several people have told me that they joined the military

Of those, only one of them, was more than brief interaction

My sister's friend's brother

My sister's friend mom used to take me and her children to swim lessons and et cetera

When I was 10 years old

We did a lot of things together

The sister's friend's brother joined the Air Force at age 19 to 25. Active duty

Then he veteran

He got a Master's degree in electrical engineering

He got that job

When he was 33.5 years old he died

That is younger than I am right now

So I feel so ashamed and guilty and embarrassed

Why should he have to die, instead of me?

It doesn't make sense




But he was a veteran when he died

And I did not extortion or bribe him to join the military





And I did not murder him

And right now, I got the following MEPS disqualifiers:

Obsessive compulsive disorder

President Trump transgender ban

Irritable bowel syndrome

Clinical depression, diagnosed

Anxiety, Ativan, Prozac

And that is just the diagnosis, thus far



In other words, the military will not take me. According to MEPS policy