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This article mostly talks about full-time recruiting, but a friend recently went through this while getting recruited to the reserves. One purpose of the reserves is to allow the military to hire mid-career professionals with specific in-demand technical skills.

My friend had used a telehealth counseling service during acutely stressful events and Genesis demanded records that the service couldn't really be bothered to produce. It refused records from the actual doctor. Genesis's nitpicky follow-ups really went poorly with the modern standard for customer service, which is mostly nonexistent outside of billing. The back-and-forth went on for 8 months until my friend gave up.

I have been trying for many months to commission into the Reserves. I have a number of reasons to want to do this, not least of which is that I know that they are severely lacking manpower in the field I work in and I want to do my part in remedying that. Every time I have spoken with a recruiter, they have told me that the only way in is to get "undiagnosed" with ADHD in writing, wait a year, then get past MEPS and immediately get re-diagnosed so that I can continue taking the medication I need to actually do the job I have. One even told me he just got his diagnosis the day after MEPS. I have spoken with people all the way up to a Major about this and it really is just that stupid to get in, for no real benefit, since the military does not care if you have ADHD once you are in.

It was a very long time ago and I forgot some of the details. I just remembered the doctor who examined me was somewhat amused by my bad eyesight, bad feet, and poor lungs. I never drank (at the time), smoked, or did any drugs prescribed or otherwise. I did have excellent grades and I guess I wore my heart on my sleeve and my intense desire to enlist and do what it takes was plain to see. The recruiting officer had a few words with me, thanked me for my desire to serve, and checked I believe his strong recommendation for my enlistment and eventual commission. There was no mention of my physical condition. At the various schools I struggled with some of physical requirements. Mostly the ones that required explosive strength. Even then they gave me extra help so I could do things like pull ups and clean & jerks. I have to say the military for all of its faults and problems was one of the best places I have ever worked at and I look back on my experience quite fondly.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/368528/us-military-army-n... ("Vox: America isn’t ready for another war — because it doesn’t have the troops. The US military’s recruiting crisis, explained.")

https://usafacts.org/articles/military-recruitment-is-down/ ("USAfacts.org: Military recruitment is down. Why don’t young Americans want to join? A diminishing pool of Americans are eligible to join the Army, Navy, or Air Force. An even smaller pool want to.")

https://www.wsj.com/articles/military-recruiting-crisis-vete... | https://archive.today/W23Jq ("WSJ: The Military Recruiting Crisis: Even Veterans Don’t Want Their Families to Join")

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-08-15/military-sexu... ("Stripes: Military sexual assaults far exceed DOD estimates, new report finds")

https://www.bu.edu/articles/2024/suicide-now-the-primary-cau... ("Boston University: Suicide Now the Primary Cause of Death among Active Duty US Soldiers")

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/the-sham... ("Rolling Stone: The Shameful Way America Treats Its Veterans")

With my apologies to Jordan Belfort, "Sell me on this job."

The article describes an interesting situation where strict enforcement has exposed problems from old rules. The title is a bit of a play on words, and the article doesn't touch on huge factors for military recruiting overall like the historically low unemployment rate.

The problem with a state surveillance program that has unintended consequences is that the state can't "unsee" things about citizens. "The old way" can't be gone back to because not only the informal networks no longer exist but also because going back would tell everyone and many more would try to go through these "informal channels". Just in the situation of gay people, "don't ask, don't tell" was sometimes the policy before it became official policy and once it was official policy, it was doomed to be replaced because the state's ability to know simply always increases.

... and the article is likely related to the current headlines[1]. And here, I'd note that if the state starts looking for the "gender non-conforming", it's going to be finding more and more of them.

[1] "Donald Trump ‘to expel all transgender people from military’" https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/11/25/donald-tr...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/11/25/donald-tr...

My son had enormous enthusiasm, good health, ambition.

His experience in the army eroded most of that. Fumbled recruiting promises; repeated injury and incompetent treatment; frustrated advancement goals. Ended up a Sargeant, could have done so much more. Eventual medical discharge from accumulated health problems.

As someone who spent a twenty-year active and reserve career as an aviator on a childhood ADHD waiver, the military needs to take a hard look at what is and is not disqualifying.

There are legit concerns here - medical conditions that are treatable after an ambulance ride or urgent care visit in the US or a modern country may require medical evacuation in theater. Medicines may not be able to be resupplied depending on logistics, and people who require them often have to deploy with a 90-180 day supply of what they need. And though the military has much to do to eliminate toxic leadership, military service will be inherently stressful in the best of units, which indicates against admitting people with certain mental conditions.

That said, I'm skeptical that things like milder ADHD cases, some other milder or resolved mental issues, sprains, broken bones, etc. truly need the amount of scrutiny and skepticism that military medicine gives them. Seems to my non-doctor point of view that disqualifying potential enlistees or commissionees en masse is the "easy button." It doesn't incur risk to say "no," only "yes." But if medical doesn't take a hard look on when to say "yes,' we're missing the next Jack Kennedy (whole hosts of issues), Bill Halsey (shingles), or who knows what superstar commander who'd take us through the next big fight.

Also, banning recruiters from schools is juvenile and disgusting. I'm thankful I had a mom and dad who supported my dream to fly jets off an aircraft carrier instead of trying to crush it for their own selfish fears.

>Political leaders and partisan pundits blame today’s recruiting crisis on everything from so-called “woke” diversity training to kids these days being too fat and lazy to cut it.

>Military brass have blamed an under-educated public, a roaring civilian jobs market and bad perceptions of service fueled by negative headlines.

>But multiple recruiters who spoke with Military Times blame Genesis above all else.

Lol, they're probably all right to various extents.

I'm gonna lose less than zero sleep over reduced availability of cannon fodder for future boondoggles in the sandbox. God forbid the people who call the shots exercise a little more restraint. If there is a true need to have more bodies in uniform then the political will will surely materialize to get it done.

Perhaps there needs to be some acknowledgment that people aren’t perfect and soldiers don’t need to be and a more flexible, nuanced screening process. A system that required dishonesty wasn’t honorable and it seems odd to blame the software/system that exposed that.

> "What it takes to get in the Army is, quite frankly, a lot of fraud and perjury," one recruiter said.

I knew a guy who retired from a TLA after a long period of doing security checks on new hires. He said that people who try to be honest generally fail the interview. "If you ever apply there, just say "No" to everything."

And then you get in. I came out of combat training a PFC with commendations, albeit a Hollywood Marine.

Know...

They aren't hitting you because the trash can bounced off the bed you were next to.

If they don't like you they'll make you exercise yourself until you break your hip.

You aren't violating the Geneva convention if you accidentally hit the person with that weapon that is not approved for use against people if you were targeting the equipment you were standing next to.

Honor, courage, and commitment you say?

I made the mistake of saying.

After two weeks of painting curbs and cutting the lawn with hedge trimmers, I found myself moving from Monterey to the Mojave in my dress blues. There I found myself in a Catch-22 style administrative black hole where I couldn't get orders until I was assigned to a school and couldn't be assigned to a school until I had orders.

There were some incredible people but it was a very mixed bag.

I talked to an ROTC cadet about recruiting this past week and I mentioned how easy it was to be disqualified. She told me it comes down to the military not wanting to be responsible for your death. E.g., if a soldier with depression enlists, there's a much higher chance of that solider taking their own life. Basically, poor health (mental or physical) means poor metrics.

Like in many things in life, follow the incentives. Recruiters tell people to lie on the medical forms because that boosts the recruiters' metrics. But somebody with a high rank doesn't want unhealthy troops because they'll be grilled if those troops aren't fit for battle, or worse, take their own lives, so they may keep arguing for stringent health screening criteria.

I’m surprised they don’t want kids who broke bones when they were younger. Seems like that’s exactly the kid you want under arms.

Today being (2023)

I don't think most civilians realize just how strict (and absurd) the screening process is. When I went to enlist at 17 I had a cut on my knee that started bleeding during one of the medical tests (they make you walk across a tile floor on your bare knees for 10 yards or so). The doctor running the screening station wanted to make me come back a week later once the cut healed, otherwise they were going to fail me. Thankfully someone more senior overrode him and I was able to enlist. People get disqualified for having used marijuana once as a teenager, for well-controlled asthma that hasn't flared up in years, or for seeking treatment for anxiety, depression, or ADHD. Once you are in the military, you are strongly incentivized to not seek treatment for anything that could get you medically separated, particularly any mental health issues whatsoever. I understand there are standards but the current system basically assumes that any issue is disqualifying until the recruit can prove it isn't (and sometimes not even then).

This does not mention the numbers. one-third of applicants are denied for medical. Once the Pentagon started issuing waivers in 2022 (recent expansion last month from 39 to 54 conditions, with restrictions; ex, one year no treatment for adhd) this fell to 20% from 33%. I estimate that if they only restrict the intake medical history to conditions that disqualify a candidate from active duty, they’d get the numbers they want.

The dichotomy serves the military. If someone has a health condition and they lie about it then the military is not at fault for death or injury of the liar. They want to set extremely tight controls on health conditions and then have recruiters tell recruits to lie (only that part isn't explicit ). That way they aren't liable. Someone just didn't get the memo before implementing Genesis.

It's like speeding, if everyone is always speeding, then a police officer can always pull you over for whatever secret reason they have. If everyone lies to get into the military they can always blame the victim for lying.

Recruits need to realize the real potential for life-long mental and physical disability like my college roommate and also my neighbor. If you do become a DV, the cheapest place to live is TX and the cost of living is relatively very cheap short of moving to a Central American country. Typical injuries include exposure to chemicals like my dad being gassed with Agent Orange causing bladder cancer and type-1 adult-onset diabetes, college roommate busted their back doing a benchpress. Grandpa had a bad jump in combat that busted his neck and knees, and neighbor was blown up in a vehicle hit with an IED.

Compared to wartime: Both grandfathers lied about their ages (17) to enter WW2 and weren't particularly ultra-fit or healthy: one became a paratrooper commando who was severely injured (paratroopers don't actually jump into combat anymore), and the other was a forward-deployed radio tech. Each topped out at E8 and E7 respectively. First grandpa retired with triple retirements when that was possible.

This article doesn’t mention morale or “esprit de corps” which was considered so essential that Clausewitz had a separate section in his writing for his thoughts on the subject.

In high school I met my very good friend, a young man obsessed with the military. He ended up at the Naval academy, and then an officer in the navy.

To put it bluntly. The sort of young man who does this is not at all into the various social programs the military has now been implementing. Moreover, they started scrutinizing the basic, popular political beliefs of many of the recruits. Those interested in the Navy tend to be of a particular political persuasion, and even those who do not share that tend to have similar underlying belief structures.

What my friend wanted to be a career ended up being the minimum required years of service. It's unfortunate. They lost a loyal, educated officer. For what? What was gained by their novel program?

At the end of the day, the military is a thing that many young men are attracted to. We can debate the reasons why until the cows come home, but the military can choose to either build upon that innate attraction or pursue a different direction, and they've frankly chosen the latter. At every step of the way, they trample upon the factors that led these young men to join, and then they wonder why no one wants it anymore.

From my perspective, they've achieved something that few civilizations in history have managed, which is to make the armed forces actively unattractive to vast swaths of young males.

Eh. I’m very, very mid/basic. I had no problem. I even got a waiver from the Surgeon General at the time

Let those who want to serve, serve, medical issues notwithstanding. Basic training can filter out those who are physically incapable of serving. The medical should only be done after that, to weed out certain issues like epilepsy, which may not be revealed during basic but could pose a liability when deployed.

A nice limited hangout. Within the suspended reality field of the current USA military, the loss of a warrior culture must not be addressed. In fact, hidden. You are richly rewarded to place emphasis on almost anything else.