Having been quiet for quite some time now about this, i've decided to go public.
Being employed in the Swedish Military right now, i can give you some pointers:
1. Aspies - or NT's - that have problems following orders while wearing any kind of uniform do not last long. I know one guy who works in the home guard that gave me good indications of him being an Aspie and he have a good service record - so being an Aspie does not rule it out. If you are low functioning - do not even bother.
2. Being overly analytical, specialised and very good at one thing gives you an advantage over NTs. There are other careers available besides the Army, Navy and Airforce. Logistics was mentioned ealier in the thread is a good bet. IT is another obvious career. Just make sure to stay away from positions with too much office politics, there are plenty of normal people who have problems working together towards one direction and love to play these kinds of games for personal benefit.
3. If you apply, be open. If they want to be a**holes - they will be that. People who recruit people are quite often ignorant and close minded and have a knee jerk reaction to all sorts of psychiatric conditions. If you get a job while being honest, you get good and understanding collegues. I was open from the beginning and said that "I've studied myself for a while and i'm almost certain i have some sort of Autism". They hired me anyway.
4. Even in a government agency like the military without any demands on making money, you have to deliver on time. If your boss says. "I need this document by tomorrow" - you better deliver it tomorrow, noonish latest unless a time was specified. Time is a substitute for Money, and even NT's fail at this and can drag on for weeks with their document writing and revisioning.
5. Sometimes even civilians get training. I got firefighting and first aid training that was compulsory. I made two observations about these courses that are critical:
* Medical training requires you to touch and be touched by others. If you are not ok with that, you will fail. Period.
* Firefighting exposes your senses to heat and bright light. If you are not ok with that, you will fail. Period.
6. As a civilian you usually get your own area of responsibility, i.e. if you work as an analyst in say, IT, you get to do that without other people interfering (much). If you are a military guy/gal, you are expected to follow orders and do things that others say. This may include going abroad and shooting at people. Most people have problems with this and people in uniform are expected to be able to do this. Civilians are not and may be a good alternative to applying for a uniform wearing position. I for one, prefer not having dead people on my conscience.
Having worked for around 6 years in the armed forces, i can say that there have been times and places that have given me problems because i am an Aspie - and there have been other times and places that have made me fit right in and performed very well because i am an Aspie. The one biggest problem i have is keeping my mouth shut when it comes to NOT pointing out idiots who do stupid, ineffective or pointless things and waste taxpayers money.
My conclusion: the worlds defence forces could use a few more aspies. Banning Aspies is really thickheaded and prevents unique specialised skills from entering the service. It should be up to the individual to prove that he or she is fit for duty - whatever that may be.
But if any psychiatric conditions should be banned from entering the service it should be Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder and Psychopathy (ASPD). People in the Antisocial spectrum disorders group cause lots of problems by their nature, and people in general prefer to not be around these manipulative, deceptive, egotistical, prone to violence, shallow and powerhungry people who only care about themselves.
13 Feb 2015, 4:49 pm
