No Aspies in the military?

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I can't believe I didn't see this until now. I'm not sure if this has been discussed on the forums before. I didn't see anything.

Anyways, on April 28 of this year (2010) the US military announced that people with Asperger's were no longer qualified to serve.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this to be honest. On the one hand, it is the responsibility of the military to pick the most able-bodied men possible. And let's face it, people with Asperger's will face problems doing something like this. On the other hand, I don't feel that the United States should just exclude all the people with Asperger's without an examination. For example, my case is fairly mild, and if I wasn't diagnosed, the military probably wouldn't notice or care.

What do you think?

Bad decision but on the bright side no more dead aspie soldiers.

Is this just the Army, or is it all armed forces of the US? Where did you hear this? And is ROTC(Reserve Officers' Training Corps) included? I hoped to be able to join the airforce/navy after high school and take advantage of the scholarships that ROTC includes. Aspies may be an advantage for things like computer work and maintenance, where obsessing over every detail is essential.

thats not fare.

I have friends and familiy in all branches and yeah it is true sadly

I was thinking of joining for a while before hand for the scholarships as well as to have a paycheck, but yeah. I indeed think it is f*****g discriminatory.

Damn. Wish I didn't have a diagnosis.

Well I guess they can't have an aspie soldier flipping out when action needs to be taken. This, however, does not take into account the benefit Aspie soldiers could provide, being more detail-oriented, among other things.

the good thing is that if a draft ever happened, we could not be conscripted

I do not think having AS should be an automatic disqualifier for military service as there is too much variation between individuals to make much in the way of accurate assumptions concerning abilities.

I am willing to bet, that if the military did instigate such a policy, it was likely to avoid lawsuits by parents who claimed their children with AS were taken advantage of by military recruiters.

As a person who has taken much interest in the military in the past, I can assure you, if you are taken advantage of by a recruiter, you are an idiot, and thus probably do not actually have AS (though may actually make quite a good soldier as you obviously follow orders well).

I imagine with most medical disqualifiers you can appeal for a waiver.

all bets are off when the balloon goes up. my late father and my brothers all served during various wars [WW2, korea, vietnam] and can tell you that during that time they saw all manner of people get drafted despite being "crazy" [their words]. my dad saw recruits that ate light bulbs[!]- he saw recruits so dull that they scored as mentally deficient on military intelligence tests but were mustered in anyways. there were so many gay folk drafted into the military [during WW2 and korea] that they made special units JUST for gays. this is NO movie, i am not kidding here! drug addicts, murderers, rapists- you name it, they were in there. the only real defense against the wartime draft [aside from just evading it] is by being physically/mentally infirm or too damned old. high-functioning aspies WILL be drafted if the cannon-fodder-factory is sufficiently short of cannon fodder.

well gee, thanks a helluva lot, fella i was "taken advantage of" by a recruiter so i must be an idiot, and my diagnosed AS is just a figment of my imagination. there, i feel so much better now courtesy of your revelatory revised diagnosis of my addlement.



have you served in the military? just curious. following orders doesn't always equal good soldiering.

I can see where having Asperger's Syndrom could disqualify a person from a high leadership role in military operations. But is A.S. a disqualifier for specialist/technical operations such as repairing jet engines or operating a communication system? Or being a medic?

A person with A.S. probably is not going to be able to inspire his/her troops to heroic excess. There is a certain amount of charisma that goes with being a successful battle leader that is probably lacking in most Aspies. Can you see Sheldon giving a Patton-like speech to his troops? I don't think I can.

ruveyn

this is a massive blow to many members of my family, we are a millitary family, My Great Grandad (Probably Autistic) Was a seargent in india and owned much land and was a millionare! my Grandad was also a Military-Person, having gone to a Military school in india and served in the second world war and was asked to join the army as a seargent cos he was so good (He said no though)

This is in britain though so im not sure if it effects us

Wow, sorry for ruining your dream. Then again, it's probably better that you hear it from me. It would suck to go all the way to the recruiting office and find out that you can't join because of Asperger's. Maybe it's better you find out this way.

Oh, to be honest, I'm not really sure if it's just the army, but I'm sure you could talk to a recruiter and see if you qualify for ROTC or anything like that. I think it would be a bit ridiculous for them to exclude Aspies from all aspects of the military, especially when there's so much variation on the spectrum. Then again, this is the United States government we're talking about, and we all know how ridiculous they are.

As far as I know, the United States is the only country that has this policy.