With a war in Iraq almost imminent (and a rather large introductory force planned for), plus the continuing “War On Terrorism” in countless other places, as well as the newly formed Homeland Security concern, I think it’s a good thing to know:
What health problems (physical or mental) disqualify a person from being able to serve in the US military? Aside from cross-dressing Klinger style, that is.
Flat feet, I think. Very poor vision is another. One man that I know was not accepted for service because of a bad back.
Pax
“Don’t ask, don’t tell”.
Expecting a draft? I’ve been wondering if youngsters are worried about that.
Peace,
mangeorge
My father had epilepsy. That set him up for a quick 4-F classification for Korea.
You may wish to have something slightly less dramatic.
I was born deaf, and that was enough to bar my entry into the armed forces. I think it’s because the military prefers that a soldier have the ability to hear someone sneaking up behind him. 
Before anyone gets any ideas lest they think it’s easy to fake deafness, but any audiologist worth their salt will be able to catch a faker. I’ve caught quite a few myself in the course of my job.
You cant join the Army with flat feet.
You cant be a pilot if you do not have good vision.
If you dont ask, they wont tell but if you tell they will ask for proof.
They cant draft you if you have Canada-itis.
You can ask for exemption on religious grounds but those grounds better be holy enuf.
If you exhibit some form of disablity or another, during the draft they may shuffle you off to whatever service that can use you. So if you cant be in the army, you might end up a sailor or an airman.
The best thing during the draft is to be the most intelligent, highly skilled technical wiz-bang in your area. They will still draft you but wont be sending you to the front.
Oops, what I was going to say was, can I get in the army with corrected flat feet. I have titanium implants in my feet and I still get occasional pain from walking.
Also, it was probably different back then, but my dad was drafted into Vietnam with flat feet. Actually, they drafted him three times before he had to stay in the army.
Flat feet only disqualify you for service if you have an extreme case or they cause other problems. I just saw this tonight on some gameshow, believe it or not.
I’m hoping my weight would keep me out, if they did feel like they needed to draft 30 year old men - I was about 320 lbs. last time I weighed myself. If that didn’t, I have asthma, it only really bothers me when I’m immersed in allergens or I exert myself in cold dry air a long time. My feet are somewhat flat but I don’t think that’s enough on it’s own.
That would be Jeopardy, from the “Toe-Knee” category, which was the impetus for my sudden revelation that my general anxiety disorder might render me ineligible for the draft. Or at least for service.
Don’t bother.
At the very least be a Conscientious Objector.
Repeat to yourself: “There is no draft. There hasn’t been a draft for over 20 years. The military doesn’t want conscripts, they want volunteer, highly trained, professional soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen.”
There would have to be a horrible catastrophe for a draft to be necessary - as in losses totalling a significant percentage of the strength of the US military - we’re talking hundreds of thousands of casualties before they’d even consider rushing draftees into uniform. Despite what a crackpot or two in Congress might suggest, you aren’t needed and aren’t even particularly wanted unless you volunteer.
And even then, they’re kinda picky.
When enquiring about service in the airforce, I told the recruiting officer I had reconstructive knee surgery, and he told me in so many words to get lost.
Plus, being the only son (and child) of a war veteran, I’ve been told that, chances are, I’d never see any action anyway. Any truth to this?
If it came down to it, though, I’d volunteer my services if my country needed them, in some way or another.
Happy
“Hi, I’m a homosexual Communazi Muslim convert with degrees in psychology and/or chemistry from Oberlin (or Berkeley)” should work.
My father was thrown out of the Navy (honorably) during Vietnam after they found out he snuck in with a plastic hip.
What would they do with a pre-op male2female transsexual? I ask this because I really don’t want my fiance to be drafted. She still has all her male parts and could be made to look more guyish. My gut instinct says they wouldn’t bother because it would be too much of an issue, but I can also see them taking her and making her be in the male unit anyway.
Well, if he’s crazy enough to steal a plastic hip and smuggle it into a foreign country, he’s obviously too nuts to kill women and children.
drum hit
<groan>
Well, technically he was a nurse (I guess corpsman in Navy-speak), so I don’t think the killing women and children jumped into it, thankfully. :-p
Pretty much any permanent condition that could detrimentally affect your ability to fight on the front lines can keep you out of today’s military: bad knees, flat feet, very poor eyesight, one kidney, syphillis, etc. I even have a friend that wanted to become a marine, but failed the psych evaluation.
There is also a little bit of variation between the branches. For example, both the Navy and Air Force generally require their front-seater pilots to have at least 20-20 vision, but the Navy will allow the use of lasik surgery to achieve 20-20, and the Air Force won’t. Of course, there are ways around these regulations (basically, it involves getting permission from the higher ups), but those are relatively difficult to come by.
But like Kilt-wearin’ man said, the chances of a draft in America are about as good as the chances that I’m going to score with that gal from Alias.
. . . for those that are wondering, that means “not good.” [sigh]
When I joined up they gave everybody who was getting a top secret security clearance the third degree. A girl who was down there with me and going into military intelligence refused to answer when they asked her if she had ever had sex with an animal. That, evidently, is enough to make Uncle Sam not want you.
FTR, I have bad feet, very bad eyes, and a somewhat bad past thanks to my Holden Caulfield phase, and they took me in.
Well if you have a vagina you will be exempt for the draft 
I took the ASVAB in high school simply because I was curious, and I scored extremely well. I don’t remember the number, but I know that those recruiters still send me crap! (I only graduated last year, but read on, and it will make more sense…) I actually checked into it because of the college money they offer, but then they found out I have severe asthma and allergies and I had knee surgery and need knee surgery on the other one and I’m on Zoloft for stress… and they pretty much told me that I stood a snowball’s chance in hell! Even after supposedly annotating this in my file, they suckers still waste their time calling me… :rolleyes:
The gimp