Comment by ike2792 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ike2792 | Hacker News Reader

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).

I would only disagree with your penultimate sentence. There are certainly some career fields where diagnosed mental health conditions could have negative consequences for your career; specifically I'm thinking of members enrolled in PRP. But my understanding is that a diagnosis of anxiety or ADHD is not a career killer and will not usually result in a medical discharge. Getting access to care still requires jumping through a lot of hoops but I wouldn't want to discourage anyone that's considering enlisting or commissioning to avoid doing so if they think they might receive a diagnosis later in life. My experience is entirely limited to the Air Force though and different branches might have different restrictions that I'm unaware of.

Per the article, past use of ADHD meds can absolutely prevent someone from signing up

> Multiple recruiters on the ground, from different services and locations, are more blunt in their assessments. They say Genesis has ended an applicant’s ability to gloss over or knowingly ignore minor medical issues, such as past use of ADHD meds or inhalers, before signing up.

and a second quote without the disqualifier "ADHD meds", instead pointing to just mental health causes like ADHD or depression

> That makes it harder, some recruiters say, to squeeze applicants through despite past maladies they did not disclose — such as ADHD, depression or a years-old broken bone. Recruiting numbers suffer as a result. Previously, such applicants could enlist if they concealed, or genuinely had forgotten about, these issues.

> But my understanding is that a diagnosis of anxiety or ADHD is not a career killer and will not usually result in a medical discharge.

I was in the Marines. In general, you cannot be lifelong dependent on medication. If you are, then you must be medically separated out or are ineligible to join. I always understood that this is the same standard that MEPS enforces.

The Air Force has a lot of luxuries that other branches don't have but I don't see MEPS using different standards for different branches.

it's strict because the US has no national healthcare and joining the military to get medical care, or lying about issues to get cared for later, is common enough that it's a concern.

way less of a problem in places with socialized medicine, since everyone is already in the system and it's easy to get records pulled -- e.g. check the box during application, wait several weeks, and go.

and there is no incentive to screw the military, since you can get that hernia problem fixed without them.

also, issuing medical and personel waivers to people who aren't 100% perfect is a way the military controlled inputs; during lean times you issue more waivers, give more people a pass who may not fit the bill otherwise.

Sperm donation and MAANG interviews are the only screening processes fickler.

Maybe the screening process is compensating to adjust to modern average people being less able to tolerate temporary or minor pain and setbacks and more willing to give up? But, yes, it's a cult of mandatory dishonesty and deception meant to shift the burdens of mental and physical healthcare onto the individual in an effort to deny them care and pretend problems don't exist. It's BS and it's actually weaker since you don't want to deploy folks who have unaddressed problems because they're the ones most likely to be liabilities in combat. And also it's an unwritten rule that mental and physical permanent injuries will be borne by the individual.. as part of being a warrior, regardless of care, but this isn't an excuse to cheap out or abuse GIs. (One of great uncles was a DV who died homeless while his (ex-)wife took his check and the VA did nothing.)

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