[T-Bird45]

I experienced the result of a fraudulent enlistment of a man in my artillery battery back in 1980. The man told me the recruiter gave him the answers to the ASVAB so he could qualify for enlistment. It didn't take more than 5 minutes of conversation with this soldier to figure out he was not Army material.

[T-Bird45]

ping

[zeaal]

And then there is the kid that made some mistakes as a teen, has gotten himself on the straight and narrow, clean and sober and truly wanted to serve his country. Took the ASVAB, scored in the 99 percentile. Then had to answer the questionnaire. Told the recruiter that he had done some drugs in his youth and the recruiter told him to lie on the questionnaire that he had not done those things. So, the kid refuses to lie to get in and the Army lost an outstanding young man.

[ansel12]

"had signed up for the Army's most dangerous job: cavalry scout."

This writer is good, she was able to declare the most dangerous job in the Army, with absolute certainty.

That should finally settle that question.

I'm being a little sarcastic.

[Radix]

There was enough lying BS in this article that I never made it half way through.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

SGT Alejandro Velasco does not appear to have covered himself with glory. IF the press story is true, that whole station has to go down to maintain the integrity of the Army.

[El Gato]

Jared's story illustrates a growing national problem as the military faces increasing pressure to hit recruiting targets during an unpopular war.

It's an "unpopular war", because that's the only sort the media elites will allow. Thus they slant their coverage appropriately. That's under a republican administration at least, under the 'toon administration, they championed bombing people who never threatened us, and were in fact fighting against the sort of people, radical Muslim "nationalists" that is, who attacked us on 9-11.

[Larry Lucido]

They took me.

'Nuff said.

[TankerKC]

How in the world do you get and remember the ASVAB answers?

[conservative cat]

As a former Army brat and Marine wife, and the mother of an autistic son, this makes me sick. I am a supporter of the military, but some of the recruiting practices are disgusting.

[monkeyshine]

Sounds to me like this boy would just be cannon fodder. We don't want that kind of military, or to ever have to fight that kind of war again.

[Beckwith]

True story.

When I was in basic training (11/61 - 1/62) we had a guy in our platoon from Maine and I mean, way up in Maine. North of the Caribous.

He had one of those polio arms (left arm) that never grew properly and was only half the length and size of his right arm, a stub really.

When the doctors at Ft. Dix did their medical examination on entry they were stunned he was accepted into the Army.

Needless to say, he was medically discharged and sent home to Maine.

The sad thing about this story is the guy really, really wanted to serve and the day before he left for his home he was speculating that he could remove the brass buttons from his Class A's, replace them with black buttons and he would have a wonderful suit to attend Sunday church.

So help me God.

[WOSG]

Jared's story illustrates a growing national problem as the military faces increasing pressure to hit recruiting targets during an unpopular war."

Wow ... several media cliches all rolled up into a single sentence. how do they do it? Hot-keys for these things?

[rageaholic]

Or it could be a good break for the kid. Autism effects people in different ways. Some autistic people are extremely skilled at certain tasks.

[GATOR NAVY]

School and medical records show that Jared, whose recent verbal IQ tested very low, spent years in special education classes. It was only when he was a high school senior that Brenda pushed for Jared to take regular classes because she wanted him to get a normal rather than a modified diploma.

This part just bothers me. Which is it, Mom? Is he normal or not? It seems to me if he had the modified diploma this wouldn't have even come up because the Army wouldn't have even looked at him. The fact she is now saying he's not qualified for the Army means he probably shouldn't have the diploma he has.

[rlmorel]

"...Jared also was disappointed to learn that he wouldn't be paid the $4,000 signing bonus until after basic training..."

He may be autistic, but he has the money thing down pat!

[after dark]

Jared's parents have underestimated him. Autistics have long attention spans and are very good at following orders.It is very telling that his parents laughed at him when he told them he wanted to join the army. They don't sound very supportive to me.

[after dark]

I'm not writing about low functioning autistics (which Jared clearly isn't) only high functioning Autistics. A dead give away that Jared is high functioning is that he has his own ideas about what he wants to do with his life and he is cutting the apron strings himself.

[Tokra]

A family in Ohio reported that its mentally ill son was signed up, despite rules banning such enlistments and the fact that records about his illness were readily available.

Obviously there are no such rules concerning the United States Senate.

[colorado tanker]

Ansley stated that he would probably lose his job and face dishonorable discharge unless they could stop the newspaper's story

Yep, I'd say his odds against making sergeant are pretty long.

[ArrogantBustard]

I make no comment on the young man's suitability for the Army, but somehow this:

The Guinthers are not political activists. They supported the Iraq war in the beginning but have started to question it as fighting dragged on.

was predictable.

Can you say "hatchet-job", boys and girls?