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Comment by 2OEH8eoCRo0 | Hacker News Reader

This is very strange to me considering that Adderall was a disqualifying factor when I joined the service. Very interesting, I had no idea this was used today.

Appears that Amphetamine is no longer used but Modafinil is not even close to being "meth"

> Modafinil is not considered to be a classical psychostimulant, but rather is classified as a eugeroic (wakefulness-promoting drug) and is used primarily for treatment of narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder, and excessive daytime sleepiness associated with obstructive sleep apnea.

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These are only assumptions from what I've read and heard.

But from what I know, this also comes from the logistics standpoint. If you need a prescription of any kind to "function normal", they would need to supply that prescription anywhere anytime. I would assume the same with wisdom teeth. The risk of getting any problems during service are not worth taking.

So yeah, there is a difference between "I need this for functioning normally" versus "Take this in case of an emergency"

The US military has no requirement to preemptively remove wisdom teeth.

There's a huge difference between making something available to someone in a prolonged combat situation, or where a drop in situational awareness could get them and others killed, and needing that substance during comparatively "easy" civilian life.

Not defending that viewpoint or assertion but that's very likely the justification that would be used. Needing it for HS or college is disqualifying while choosing to use it for a particular operation is not.

Modafinil especially with coffee absolutely feels like a clasic stimulant IF I've taken a long enough tollerance break.

I see only benefits -- maybe I'm a little bit too talkative and too many things seem interesting/worth exploring/doing, but for a pilot, that would he detrimental, I'd think.

It's disqualifying by the FAA for general aviation as well, the argument being that you need to be able to quickly react to changes and not get "locked in" to monitoring/doing one thing.

I've never taken Modafinil so I have no idea how much that jives with the actual effects, but there have been some people who have gotten waivers if the usage was long enough in the past. Personally I don't see why it can't be like alcohol (if you haven't had it in the last n hours/days, you're good to go).

Anecdata and certainly wasn't officially sanctioned but the battalion medics made adderrall quite available to us in Afghanistan in 2012.

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