Should I join the US armed forces?

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It is fair to point out that those of us who have actually served in the armed forces are more likely to encourage someone to face his or her fears and say, "Do it", while those who try to discourage the OP from enlisting cite their own fears of death, service, and uncertainty, as well as their own lack of military service.

It's up to the OP to make up his own mind. I just hope that he's not the type to be talked into leading a cowardly, fearful life without ever knowing how far he can go if he would only persevere.

I hope that he will make the right decision and let the rest of the world give up on itself.

I was the one trying to use them, actually. I don't really care about how the government conducts foreign policy, but I could have used some training and practical skills at that point in my life.

In retrospect I would say I definitely wouldn't of fared well either at the time and what I meant to say in my post was that I think now at going on 24 it might be something I could have a better chance of handling the experience given how much more I know about myself and the world. I feel like I matured emotionally or whatever a lot slower than I guess NTs or whatever, I feel like now I understand a lot more now that I think just comes naturally to people typically quite a bit younger than me if that's makes any sense. Everybody has to mature in a lot different ways in the transition from being a child to becoming an adult and for me that process took a different pace than most even tho most people thought of me as this smart person capable of whatever but the reality is that there a lot of people that might be "dumber" than you that are smarter in a lot of other ways. Now, I'm a lot more worldly and morally grounded as a person so I think I would have real problems being able to do the mission given these viewpoints. Even without anything else stunting my development or however you want to put, that's a lot to put on any 17/18 year old to actually comprehend and given that TS is only 15 and on this site I think it is probably best to sit back for a bit and learn more about yourself and the world before making that decision.

I was diagnosed when I was 15 iirc so it really was never in the cards for me, it kind irks me in a way but c'est la vie. If you can do it, I think it is or at least was a pretty solid opportunity that is available to people that might not have a lot other things going for them. I think about it sometimes, like I could of been in and already out but I guess the same is true for college and a lot of other things. On one hand I feel like I've learned a lot that I needed to learn over these last few years but I also feel I've wasted a lot of time and wish I could of just got it a much younger age like it seems like a lot of other people do. There's not a day where I don't wish I could redo things or just relive my life but hindsight is always 20/20. I'm still pretty young and am now jumping thru the hoops they put in front of me so hopefully that will get me somewhere eventually, it is best not to fall into the trap of comparing yourself to other people.

Here's something to think about ...

I didn't know that I had AS until about 15 years after I was honorably discharged!

Had I known before enlisting that I was 'supposed' to be unable to cope with military life, I would have avoided enlistment entirely, just like everyone else who is trying to discourage the OP from enlisting!

For me, military life was no more difficult than civilian life - just a different set of rules and standards to live by - and the more structured environment was actually beneficial for me, in that I knew what events and activities to expect on any given day.

I often think that people who receive their diagnosis before they've had a chance at life somehow also receive the message that they will never make it on their own, and that they would be better off to not even try. So they give up before they learn how much they are really capable of, because it is so much easier to give in and accept the message that society seems to impose on Aspies - "You can't; Don't try; Give up!"

I'm glad I never accepted that message.

Everybody is different obviously and some people need accommodations and some don't, I don't think people on the spectrum are incapable of military life at all its just not something I probably would of been capable of on my own at that time in life. Without the accommodations I got because of my diagnosis I would of been in much worse spot in my life, I probably would of dropped out in 9th grade. If I wasn't on the spectrum, it's hard for me to imagine my life would of been significantly more successful given what my NT peers from school have been up to, not that a diagnosis or label means anything here but if I were "normal" I probably would of fell into drugs and crime as most people I knew did. Perhaps that would of been my out, who knows? It's an entirely differently. There's good and bad in everything I guess. I don't want discourage TS or say anybody is not capable because I wasn't at that age tho, I just think it is a life decision that hard for 17 year old to really comprehend the implications of or know if they're capable of really doing.

Who says a death in combat is always fast? You could find yourself on the recieving end of a explosive that removes one or more limbs and you end up slowly bleeding to death on the battlefield. Why anyone wants to do get into that situation for the western elite classes is beyond my comprehension.

And are YOU being fair by dispensing advice to someone seeking it about a subject you obviously know very little of?


Learning to fly (a transferable and marketable skill) is not improving one's lot?


And it's just a coincidence that you decided to grow a conscience after failing the medical, huh?

What is with some of you people??
This is 2015, not 1776 where everyone in uniform grabs a musket and goes out to meet the enemy. Relatively few military personnel ever mix it up with the enemy.
Most are support personnel.
On average it's a good deal for someone out of high school.
• 4 years of employment with housing or housing allowance
• Training for skills that are often transferable and marketable on the outside
• Post 9/11 educational benefits have been rather generous
• Medical coverage for active duty (something that should appeal to those of you that whine incessantly about the lack of affordable healthcare in this horrible horrible cold hearted country of ours )
• Affordable home loans
• And a nice American flag to drape over you coffin when you finally do croak (usually not from military service)

…..To name a few

Lobster Pot Syndrome.

They can't stand the idea of someone else being more successful than they, so they try to pull or bash anyone who tries to succeed down to their level - just like lobsters in a pot that pull and claw at any other lobster trying to escape from the pot.

Haven't you noticed that those who are trying the hardest to convince LonelyJar to do nothing with his life are the same ones who engage in the most vociferous America-bashing?

You have to join the military to do something with your life? Talk about a false premise. Pretty sure some of the most successful people on the planet never wore camouflage let alone enlisted in the forces.

Yeah, he could join up and do modestly well, thats a possibility. Then theres also the possibility that
b) He could be sent into combat and killed
c) sent into combat, survive but come back with further disbilities and/or post traumatic disorder and/or a slew of other mental health problems.
d) not be sent into combat but not adapt well to the rigours of training and end up on the human scrapheap alongside the other 80 percent of americans sleeping on the street.

Seems like quite a gamble to me, especially for someone with a social developmental disorder. Maybe YOU got lucky.

Last edited by thomas81 on 06 Feb 2015, 11:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

If you're going to extend your logic you could say the same thing about any career choice. The point is it wasn't something i'd thought of doing on the fly simply for the sake of improving my life. Since childhood, I'd wanted to travel into space. One of the necessary qualifiers to be selected to become a candidate as a mission pilot is to accrue sufficient stick time on a fast jet. In this country, theres only one place to get that.

Not at all, i was still a true blue believer like you even after I failed the medical. It was a laundry list of other grievances I'd had that broke the camel's back, not least the governments abolishment of student subsidies.

I wouldn't advise anybody to sign up for the infantry or any other combat field, because your life is likely to be risked for really dumb reasons. (Not a poke at the current administration, we've been sending young men abroad to fight for dumb reasons since Vietnam.)

However, there are many other fields you can opt for, if you do well enough on the screening tests. In some, like mine (intel), a certain amount of eccentricity is expected and tolerated. I don't regret my time in the Navy at all, although if I had to do it all over again I'd consider choosing a field with more application in the civilian world.

My guess is someone with a typical ASD profile would be assigned to work as a mechanic or in communications, logistics, etc., not be involved in combat.

I'd say the chances of seeing the battlefield, let alone getting injured or killed, would be around 0.1% or less.

To work as a specialist in the armed forces is usually contingent on you having a specific qualification beforehand. I believe that infantry is the one and main military role that anyone can enlist as with zero credentials.

I do not know how it works in America, but in the British armed forces every new recruit must go through regimental training, regardless if they are becoming a frontline soldier, or a chef.

The military is not all bad. There are benefits. One does not necessarily have to take a military job that would require service in dangerous locations. You could receive training in a profession that will enable you to sustain yourself upon discharge. Education paid for. It's all about attitude, aptitude and temperament. Lots of travel opportunities that do not involve putting yourself in harms way.

Some of them clearly resent any aspie for doing something constructive with themselves, despite their disadvantages, besides lying around and collecting SSDI.


Yeppers.
The anti- American Americans are butthurt with America whenever they don't get enough free stuff and the non-Americans simply envy our power and influence over their little countries.