Why do the Marines not allow recruits with ADD?

Factual Questions
21

Well, I was a Recruiter, not a Doc. We go by what’s handed us by CRUITCOM. Where they get their definitions and such, I’d guess was BUMED.

The Doc at MEPS is a contract civilian, who has been given the standards for each of the Services. A condition that’s disquallifying for one Service may, or may not, be disquallifying for another.

As for when a particular condition is present: If there’s medical documentation, then it’s present. If the Doc finds it, it’s present. If the Applicant tells the Doc that it’s there, it’s assumed to be present until proven otherwise. This last possibility has cost huge numbers of applicant’s their chance to enlist, as they mistakenly tell the Doc “I think I had this” or “I remember having that”. Asthma is the most common instance on this, as an applicant will remember having had brochitis or a bad cough, and not knowing the correct name, or having heard the wrong name from a parent (yes, I mean this literaly. You’d be stunned what passes for common medical knowledge out there), will report it to the MEPS Doc. Once that happens, the kid is a medical reject until the Recruiter has collected the kid’s life medical history and submitted it to MEPS for review. This is labor intensive, takes a lot of time, and frequently the applicant will change their minds during the whole process, or do somethng stupid that makes them inelligible (get arrested, do drugs, get pregnant, and so-on). MEPS reports to a central database, and if a kid is rejected at one, he’s rejected at them all. MEPS-Jumping has been tried, and while once it could’ve worked, today it’s useless.

As for gettting out of a “draft” by reporting such conditions, don’t count on it. The Docs at MEPS have seen everything, and in a draft, it’s no longer volunteers trying to get in, it’s draftees trying to get out. MEPS Physicians are cynics at heart, and you’ve got damn little chance of fooling them.

22

kbutcher:
“In my understanding there isn’t even a medical standard for ADD.”

ADD/ADHD is a psychiatric disorder. The criteria are in the DSM IV. The reason the military services do not want applicants with ADD/ADHD is that it IS a psychiatric disorder (because it appears in the DSM IV).

The criteria for ADD/ADHD are psychologically based, there is no medical test for ADD/ADHD. But it is still most often diagnosed by a physician/psychiatrist.
DSM IV = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Pscyhiatric Association, Version Four.
ADD - Attention Deficit Disorder
ADHD - Attention Deficit Disorder, with Hyperactivity.

“It gets diagnosed in more and more children every year.”

Yes, but the referral rate has slowed in the past several years. ADD/ADHD was the “disease of the week” a few years back. It even made the covers of Time and Newsweek. The DSM IV criteria is very subjective.

23

I’m ADD and take 60 mg’s of methylphenidate(generic Ritalin substitute) each day. Speaking from experience, I agree completely with this policy.

     There are plenty of treatable conditions that don't prevent people from leading productive lives. With proper treatment, ADD won't stop you from holding a job, raising a family etc. OTOH in combat, zoning out for a few seconds, or become hyperfocused on a single thing, can be fatal.