Can a person with autism can be a soldier in your country?

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pawelk1986
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06 May 2018, 6:20 am

Can a person with autism can be a soldier in your country? Whether your people who graduate from the university can become officers?

As kid i want to be solider and as matter of fact it was obligation to do military service in my country for every boy who turned 18 and every woman if they had medical training, nurses, doctors, psychologists, therapists, but they usually started as officers because in Poland everyone who was fit to serve and was college graduate usually end in kind of short university officers school.

Conscription in Poland ended in 2009 i was medically rejected but not because Asperger

So i read story of one solider who stayed after his turn, probably Aspie, in Poland if someone join university with is totally free in my country was deferred military service until graduation, but those people could go to special training program for university students

that make them officers of Polish Armed force automatically upon graduation and they just complete very short service after graduation not as merely soldiers but as an officers. So i read very funny story of one student/solider that was probably aspie that, during a roll call on the parade ground, during a ceremony in which a certain officer of the Polish army in the rank of colonel handed to the soldiers an insignia of rank of lieutenant, the lowest officer rank in Poland, one of those students when he was read his name from list to be promoted

went on silly walk to colonel shouting "it's me It's me!" to the amusement of other soldiers, and the dismay of officers and non-commissioned officers :)



infinitenull
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06 May 2018, 7:27 am

From what I understand in the US it's a matter of if they know or not... So if you are not super obvious... or are like me the type that people say "I wouldn't have guessed that about you" all the time... and you don't get snagged by someone who notices then you can get in. I think they do ask you, and you have to tell the truth, if you have different conditions like ASD, ADHD, etc... So it's kinda like... you have to not know you have it, and you have to not be found to have it and then you can get in...

Personally, I was in JROTC in high school and didn't know that I had ASD yet. My mindset on the military was completely misguided and I almost put myself on a track of enrollment but eventually got myself passed over for some promotions because of my misunderstandings of how things worked. This led me to realize that the structure of how decision were made didn't fit my needs and I avoided what would have been a very difficult time had I enlisted. I am grateful for the education that I received.

Then again it was the pro-recruitment side of JROTC that had me considering enlistment in the first place... so had I not participated in the program I probably wouldn't have been at risk of enlisting anyway :p


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Fireblossom
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07 May 2018, 2:49 am

I... don't know actually. Obviously people with too serious physical disabilities aren't even allowed to try (I'm one of these people), but autism? I think that someone with autism would be allowed to try out the military if they weren't too low functioning, as in if they could handle their own clothes, hygiene, basic household chores, cooking etc. that kind of normal stuff and had at least the basic social skills down and could follow orders.

Here in Finland, every man gets an invation to join the military (I think. It is possible that those with severe disabilities don't even get an invitation, I don't know) at certain age no matter what their education is, but if they want to join or not is up to them. They can push back the joining for some years or they can choose civil service instead. If you refuse to do neither you go to jail, unless you're a jehova's witness. Those guys don't need to do a thing, but people are trying to change that part of the law now apparently. As for those who are too disabled for the army but not for civil service... well, I'm not sure if they have to go to civil service or if they are excluded from the whole system.

As for women, we don't have the option of civil service, just that of joining the military if we want to. And that's stupid; I think women should have to do one of the two too and have the same right to choose between military and civil service as men do. From what I've understood, people are actually working on fixing this.



Arganger
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13 May 2018, 12:06 pm

As far as I can tell, no. In the us they barely let people with glasses or peanut allergies in, as I'm told. Not that I would want to anyway.


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Darkrose50
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14 May 2018, 12:12 pm

It is my understanding that the basic requirement for enlisting is an IQ of 83+. The military needs people and to turn away warm bodies seems like a bad idea. I would imagine that the US military does not turn folks away that are on the spectrum. If they can do the job, and pass the tests, then I would think that they were good to go.

It may also depend on your skill set. Would the military ever turn away a medical doctor? I would think just about never.



DocteurDEVO7
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17 May 2018, 3:48 pm

I live in the USA and I've heard that if they don't know you're diagnosed and you can hide it well you'll be fine.
My most recent ex actually almost got through the whole boot camp thing but then one of the last weeks before he graduated, someone noticed something was off with him and had him evaluated and he was diagnosed with aspergers and discharged. That's the story I was told anyways.
I'm kind of iffy on how I feel about that. Part of me thinks that's not fair, but another part of me thinks it is true that some parts of my diagnosis could hinder me from doing well in the armed forces.


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