Removing the military enlistment ban on Asperger's syndrome

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For one, I don't see it as a disorder, just a neurotype; and as much as AS trainees have to adapt, NTs have to adapt as well.

But it *is* a disorder, unfortunately. Personality types are one thing, but the very real sensory, motor control and comprehension issues mean that certain people would probably be a liability. Training costs money, and sadly that means that you're never going to get them to say "yes, we'll take on everyone and send the ones we don't like home." It's utterly impractical.

It would be nice if the world was like that, but it isn't, sadly. You may get the blanket ban lifted, but I believe that declaration and some screening are inevitable.

Just wondering where the original poster has gotten to. I would have thought that he would have had something to say by now...

You have a point, but I still think they should objectively prove that the applicant isn't up to par. I don't think someone with a title next to their name going "Hmm..." is fair or effective.

From my observations, some troops didn't show much promise until well after the initial training process. One in particular was 2 years into his enlistment before he got the hang of it. Then again, some guys never got the hang of it. I have a very different idea of what the selection process should be like because this.

The OP seems to dissapper for a few days, then comes back to post for a day or two.

I was in the U.S. Army from 1988 to 1992. The only reason this happened is because at the time, the only thing I was ever "Diagnosed" with was LD from a High School Psychologist. And, I guess the recruiter never checked that or was not allowed to. And at the time, Autism was not widely known about and I didn't realize that this was the real issue. My parents were clueless about autism as well so actually getting diagnosed for this when I was young was slim to none.
Going through boot-camp, advanced training etc. was obviously not easy and twice as hard not being "NT". But, somehow, I managed to "Wing it", "Fake it" and whatever else I had to do to get through. Being, a Veteran though. does have its advantages. I would say, Pick an MOS (Military Job) that you think you will be very good at.

I wonder what the restrictions would be for someone who wants to re-enlist, but wasn't diagnosed Asperger until after they were out of the military? I got through basic training just fine, but I didn't get to go through AIT because my sister died, and it made me depressed enough to have to get out (but I had an honorable discharge.) They said (before the diagnosis) that once I've been to a psychiatrist and got the all-clear, I could go back in (and without having to go back through basic again, just pick up where I left off.)

1. A great many of us Aspies can remain calm, efficient, emotionally collected and competent in emergency type-crisis and stressful, dangerous situations. 2. Here in the U.S., if an applicant has satisfactory marks on the A.S.V.A.B., then they can be eligible for any job that they want, if they think that they can make it and they can make it through the training process, then allow them to be cleared for whatever job that they want. 3. I'm not talking about everyone. I'm talking about the military accepting people with Asperger's in an amount far lower than those who have been diagnosed with Asperger's, but a lot higher than those with Asperger's that are in the military right now. THAT's CORECT, SOME, NOT ALL.

I think the military removed this ban back in 2007 or so. I remember speaking with my therapist about this like in 2011 or so. I tried getting in the Air Force, but they kicked me out when I had Asperger's; this was back in 2003. I told my therapist about that, but my therapist doubted me saying Asperger's is not a disqualifying condition. I had heard of the news of the ban being removed but kept trying to tell her that I got kicked out before the ban got removed. Nevertheless, she kept reasserting that Asperger's is not disqualifying, ignoring my clarifications, which I found frustrating.

@ beneficii, the restrictions and the case-by-case still exist in the form of the Americans with Disabilities
Act. This law is what allows us to to join the military on a case-by-case basis nowadays. What I want to do is to remove BOTH the restrictions and the case-by-case basis. I have been in contact with another Aspie who thinks that we should remove the restrictions as well as the case-by-case basis. He also thinks that a case-by-case basis is the same as a outright ban overall, in general.

I was in the Army when I was 18, and possibly had the mental-age of 14.

I had no idea what was going on. They said I was "lost in the sauce". I almost killed some people several times because of AS. and not acting with the expected "common sense" of a NT person.

They told me to guard an area, and kill anyone that breeches it. Ok, no problem. However, don't expect me to fire a warning shot do anything else than those two things. GUARD AND KILL. NT people think one should have NT "common sense" and do other contextual things.

1. Mental-age development would have to be considered. I am way behind in mental-maturity compare to same age NT people.
2. They want NT common sense, not obedient AS people. This could send an AS person to jail for life.

In the military culture I know, they give a better explanation than that. We had several training sessions on the escalation of force (5s) and PL or PSG usually quizzed someone on the 5s before we left the fob for a mission. The military is all about making instructions clear.

As I pointed out , the instructions were clear. Further, trying to generalize your experience in the military to everyone's experience is not realistic. In the field, where you are on the move and things change dynamically, then there are no "training sessions".

My "occupation" even changed and I did not go through advanced individual training (AIT) for the new occupation. The unit I was assigned to was a medical unit and had like twenty other people with my MOS and needed me to do something else. I was never trained on my new MOS. I had to learn on the job.

You are missing the point. It is not about "clear instructions"; it is that NT people expect you to act with "NT common sense". The instructions say "DO X", however,circumstantially you are expected not to do X - disregard the instructions - because you use your common sense to understand that such an instruction should
not be followed.

You are told: "Guard this foxhole, and kill anyone who does not give the secret password". Then a drunk solider stumbles towards your foxhole and does no give the password. Do you kill the solider ? What would an AS person do ?

Later on, at the AS solider's court martial hearing, let's assume he killed the drunk solider, the judge says, "WHY DIDN"T FIRE A WARNING SHOT?". It is just common sense.

Does anyone here feel comfortable that AS people will know how to properly execute "NT common sense", especially at the younger ages of 18-22 ?

Last edited by LoveNotHate on 20 Dec 2013, 2:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

If they gave clear instructions, then why didn't they mention warning shots? Was this a field exercise?

I spent 15 months overseas and rolled out of the wire almost daily, we followed the eof guidelines pretty consistently, they aren't particularly complicated.

You are told: "Guard this foxhole, and kill anyone who does not give the secret password". Then a drunk solider stumbles toward your foxhole and does not give the password. Do you kill the solider ? What would an AS person do (especially, considering these are likely to be AS people 18-22 years old with little life experiences)?

Later on, at the AS solider's court martial hearing, let's assume he killed the drunk solider, the judge says, "Why didn't you fire a warning shot, or yell out, or keep challenging the solider for the password, or do X, Y and Z other things? It is just common sense".

See the instructions were 100% clear. The instructions never said, "If a drunk solider approaches, then fire a warning shot". It would take months to cover all the possible circumstantial and contextual detail information, so there is no way the military could train AS people to such a degree.

It is not about "clear instructions"; it is that NT people expect you to act with "NT common sense". The instructions say "DO X", however,circumstantially you are expected not to do X - disregard the instructions - because you use your common sense to understand that such an instruction should not be followed.

If you search on google, "Asperger lack common sense", then you will see many articles about it.

It doesn't sound like your unit was being helpful, or taking the thing seriously. I think an nt would have had trouble with those circumstances too, someone moving towards a guard at night without identifying themselves is likely to get shot in any army. You may have been in before they introduced the eof guidelines, but now they're pretty clear about firing a warning shot first.

This is not about me. That was a hypothetical situation.

It sounds like you are making stuff up when you generalize to the entire military based on your single experience, " ...but now they're pretty clear about firing a warning shot first". Generally, you don't want to fire a warning shot - you wont to protect your foxhole, so I don't know why they would train that.

NT people do not train "NT common sense". They accuse you later of not having any after you fail something, yet they do not train you in advance for it. The reason is that they expect you to have it already.

That is why all these AS people are complaining of living a fail-and-learn life.

I'm generalizing? You're pushing a foxhole example using an outdated sop. Ask anyone how many foxholes there were overseas, and the guard posts / checkpoints were not secret locations, just safety and control measures.

You've given one example of how instructions can be inadequate and I've told you three times what they actually instruct troops to do, and this isn't something you'll only hear from me, if you ask anyone who's been overseas about the eof and the 5s, they'll tell you it's shout, show, shove, shoot (warning shot), shoot to kill. Literally everyone who gets stationed in a place like Iraq or Afghanistan gets trained on this before they get there and again first thing when they get there.