Asperger's and the military?

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Oh ok.

Does your school have an ROTC program? They can give you a taste of the military life in High School. Being an officer in the military is a huge thing. The lowest officer rank is still higher than every single enlisted solider.

One thing I forgot to mention:
Everyone has to wear a uniform and have there hair cut short!
It's quite disabling if you suffer from, even a moderate degree of, face blindness as a co- morbid

I don't know why but that just seemed really funny. Just see a bunch of the same faces every where. (a PC example) starwars and the thousands of stormtroopers.

Don't forget the US Coast Guard, muslimmetalhead, and the US Air Force. Those two branches might be a better fit.

Also if you're taking medication for AS, do some research to see if that would bar you from serving.

Just another thing to think about: do you need downtime, MMH, when you can recharge your batteries away from other people? The first thing that would put me off is the lack of privacy and private time; I'm one of those who needs to come home from work and be on my own for several hours before I can cope with being with people again the following day. I can't imagine the military would give anyone much scope for that! However, not everyone needs this recovery time, of course – there many AS folks who're happy to live with other people full-time.

I have a NT brother in the Airforce, and West Point was on of my first choices in college until I decided I wanted a small school and locked onto the one I am at now. But during high school I was fairly active with Army Cadets/ROTC type stuff. Very much and Aspergian as well - but I did well, which my commandant saw and started driving me up to be in charge of the entire program when I was just a sophomore.

Honestly - if you really care about it, you might do well. But it just depends what you want to do. Routine drills, schedules, debriefs, perfectionism, etc. are pretty common and are on the side of ASD strength (where normal people normally do not like these things). Being an actual soldier on the field/in battle honestly might be too stressful considering unpredictability, loud sounds, and a heavy heavy need for clear communication - which I should mention is what helps to drive the military...and everything. Also, a LOT of traveling, even for a desk job. If instead you want to go into something special, you can always continue doing some version of it after you leave (or so I would imagine).

Probably not what you meant but this made me picture...two military chicks going at it. I imagine it wouldn't be typical girl fight they'd probably actually be beating the crap out of each other.

You cannot join the Military if your Offical Diagnosed with Aspergers, can't join the British army or the US army with it as far as I know.

I spent months training for the Infantry just to be told that I couldn't get into the Blackwatch due to Aspergers even though I've been practicaly symptom free for years, I've had to start the process of contesting my diagnostic blaming my behavour on Child hood trama. Just so I can attempt to get into the Army, Even if it's over turned I may still be rejected for -once- having it.

(Not saying you are wrong, I said something similar) there is a very slim chance if you have not gotten in trouble, score high on the asvab, get or pick a high demand job, that you can get a waiver for it. Pretty much says the military recognizes that you have aspergers but they do not think it will effect your abilities.

You could also lie and say you have no medical history. Which I do NOT recommend. I had 3 recruiters tell me I should and I refused. They will tell you that it is impossible for it to be found out later, but they just want you to sign up, they are not at risk if you get caught.

Infantry is high Demand here at the moment, I scored goodi n my Barb Test, I went on a Rifles insight course and scored -very- Highly on my Social skills and Team work and bonding. I was considered one of the best people there when it came to the Social side which is a clear f**k you to my AS Diagnostic. But our army requires information from my GP, And because it was there it was a clear no unless I contest and win.

With the economy in crappy shape sign on bonuses have gone down and the miilitary is able to be more choosey about who is eligible. Recruiters were telling us that we needed to score at least a 50 on the asvab (not that it mattered for me, I scored a lot higher). It is a percentile test, and you only need to score around 33 minimum depending on the branch. Of course if you want a job that has to do with intel or something else away from the battle you need to score higher

My cousin has Asperger's. He is a staff sgt. in the Army. He was a marine for 8 years before he was discharged. He then joined the army and has been in for like 14 years. I often wonder if his Asperger's (undiagnosed but very real none the less) led to his discharge from the marines.

I think a really great trait is a intelligent,narcissistic,health obsessed,psychopath these traits will get them to the top ranks in no time.

I have aspergers. I am in the Navy and have been for a little over a year. I was officially diagnosed with it when I was 14 but to join the military I got it "misdiagonosed. And it has it's ups and downs like everything. The first two months which is bootcamp suck. They suck hard. But you won't get beat or hit or anything. Just yelled at a lot and put down. But if you really just do what you're told, and shut up you'll do fine. After bootcamp s**t is pretty easy all you have to do is do what you're told, be where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there and have a good looking uniform. I only know of a few rates (jobs) in the military where you actually kill people and those are GMs (Gunnersmates, which actually very very very rarely kill people), SWCC(I can't even remember what that stands for), Seals, HM/FMF (Corpsman Fleet Marine Force which is a medic who works with marines because marines don't have their own medics) and uhhhh I think that's it... Not much else. Don't go Nuke, you'll hate your life because you'll work about 20 hours a day maintaining the reactors. Don't pick AB or BM if you want to stay fairly clean and don't like to sweat a lot. Pick YN(yeoman), PS(personnel clerk? I think) which is a really nice paperwork job. Or OS is really nice as well. If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask.

I did three years and all you heard was hearsay, I wasn't even diagnosed at the time and I didn't see it as abuse or bullying. You aren't "Forced" from your home, and you aren't locked up. You go right ahead and go to prison, I know people who have been in prison, and after being in the military, I would rather take my chances at getting shot at than to have to live with the specter of getting physically and sexually abused in prison. It took me a while to realize the skills that you are "taught" in the military have more to do with what you can endure in the real world after you are discharged; what I mean by that, is there are many things the outside world throws at non Vets that demoralize them, whereas sometimes I just think; "it could be worse".

The military is not for everyone, and it's not just playing "G.I. Joe" and shooting guns, it takes a lot of sacrifice, and commitment, like most things in life, you get from it what you put into it. I was a truck driver; something I had wanted to do since I saw a photo of my Father in Germany standing in front of a Deuce and a Half. Boot camp was difficult as it was the first time I was away from home, and we spent it cold and wet, but now, the cold and being wet doesn't bother me, I avoid it, but it doesn't bother me (just one aspect of mental strengthening).

A high IQ can shine in the military, my sergeants and lieutenant would ask me for problem solving advice, especially because I was mechanically inlined and always found a way of getting things done. I was a bit of a handful, but I made them look good so they tended to be very forgiving. Towards the end I was tapped to join the White House Communications agency, a gravy assignment where I'd be wearing a suit and tie most of the time. I ended up turning it down because it required a minimum 4 year reenlistment which only two of those years would be with the agency, besides, the prospect of working for President Clinton wasn't too appealing. As far as socializing, no one forces you to hang out with anyone, you don't have much privacy, but I myself did manage to make two life long friends, the type where you don't speak for months then pick up like it was yesterday.

Perhaps I'm an exception to the norm. The Military provided me with the structure, discipline, and routine that I was lacking as an 18 year old. I was aimless and without a goal, the military was like a bucket of ice water, that I was now an adult. As far as negative comments from fellow veterans, I respect their points of view because their experiences were different than mine, but I cannot sit back and not respond to negative comments about the military from someone who hasn't served.

As far as the military today, my guess is that the two branches that would probably be a good place to learn a skill would be the Navy or the Air Force, especially for avionics, operating engineer (steam plants, refrigeration etc.), and electronics.

I remember reading some story on a separate thread a ways back, about an guy with Aspergers who was in the military, but was honourably discharged after his mental issues became too well known. (As I recall, he never volunteered info on his condition at the outset, and kept it hush-hush all throughout). What was REALLY ironic about it, was that he was constantly criticized for his "lack of common sense" in actual combat situations. WTF?? If it was any other vocation, I'd say that was a "yeah, yeah, OK, sure" kind of criticism, but in the military?!?! Where you're basically told to do 99.9% of everything you do and can't disobey?!? Perhaps it was from the Asperger-like tendency to freeze up during spontaneous situations (especially intense ones) and try to apply knowledge they picked up...they tend to "choke" more easily, and do something "dumb", that's the only explanation I can think of for "lack of common sense". I suppose in those situations, the commanding officer doesn't have enough time to explain details of his/her instruction to all the underlings involved, and we have trouble instantly seeing the big picture.

Another VERY cynical story I read about, like 10 years ago, was a guy about my fathers age with Aspergers who'd served in the Vietnam war (he was diagnosed just a couple of years before that, well into his 50s). He said that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, but it wasn't from his service experiences in 'Nam. He said that he got PTSD from severe and merciless bullying in pre-teen / early teen years, so he retorted with his very cynical quote...which I can recall, albeit paraphrased: "At least, when you were in the military, you KNEW who the real enemy was, you had an entire squadron on your side if you got attacked, and you had a gun to protect you."