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Meistersinger
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12 May 2015, 9:32 pm

If you're a musician, you can't get any better training than the Armed Forces School of Music. Generally, with being in the larger service bands, as well as music directors/organists in the Chaplin corps, at least according to an organist friend who was a career man in the Army Chaplin Corps, you won't see much combat.



chapstan
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13 May 2015, 9:41 am

Well I have to respond to the last post here by Meistersinger;

Chaplains in the military are non-combatants (cannot carry a weapon) but they are assigned to combat units, living and working closely with all those who are engaging the enemy. And since those combat outposts do get attacked, they could also be involved there.

That's why one of the jobs of the Chaplain Assistant is the chaplain's bodyguard in the war zone.

Music leaders and organists are civilian contractors, working only at chapels which are on established military bases, NOT in the war zones.

I was an Army Chaplain and retired a few years ago.



Ichinin
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27 May 2015, 11:52 am

Jayo wrote:
we have trouble instantly seeing the big picture. :( :(


"We"? (How i love the generalisations on this forum). No - quite the opposite.

And i also find normal people to be ignorant of the big picture and how things relate. They are more interested in producing paperwork than getting something real done that actually matters. If they worked in the commercial sector, they would be fired for incompetence.



ReplacedAxe
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20 Sep 2015, 7:14 pm

Hello everyone, I'm new here and also this is my first ever time posting on a forum, so if I'm not replying correctly or doing something wrong, please forgive as I'm a newbie, and I'll try to do it right next time.
Anyway, I have ADHD and I've been told by my mom that at a pretty young age I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, however my mom always says I just have "a light touch" of it. Now, I've never received any sort of treatment/medication or anything for Asperger's, nor have I ever seen any documentation of it, but I don't think she would lie about it, so I don't doubt her. I have however received medication for my ADHD and I currently take 30 mg Adderall pills on almost a daily basis (at the least once every two weeks I will not take a pill, just to see how I can function without medication, and if it is still helping).
Now, I'd really like to join the Army one day, in fact I've tried joining ROTC but ran into a roadblock. The ROTC office at my campus told me I'd have to stop taking medication for an entire year before I can even begin to join or make any progress towards joining.
First off, is it possible for me to join the military? It may be possible that I might've outgrown Asperger's and I'm just a normal-ish, somewhat weird guy, but I'm no expert on that sort of thing.
Secondly, some people have told me that if I go to the right offices and speak with the right people, I may be lucky enough to receive a medical waiver which would allow me to continue taking ADHD medication. Is there any truth to this? And if I do have Asperger's, is that automatically disqualifying? Thanks ahead of time to anyone who replies.
I should also mention I'm speaking about the US Army, as that's where I live.
I took an online test for Autism from psychcentral(dot)com/cgi-bin/autismquiz.cgi and received a score of 15, meaning that I "am not likely suffering from an Autism spectrum disorder, including Asperger's". Of course, this shouldn't be meant to mean anything official.



chapstan
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24 Sep 2015, 8:00 pm

ReplacedAxe;

There are other threads here that do talk about how those on the spectrum have handled being in the military, good and bad issues.

I do think there currently is a policy against allowing those with Aspergers to join the military, but since you don't have an official diagnosis you don't officially have it. Similar to what you were told with ROTC would apply to joining and going to basic training, you would have to be off your meds. You can google and find the actual regulations.

Being in the Army is not for everybody but many do thrive there. I was in for over 30 years active and reserve.