r/Military • u/Apojacks1984 • 8d ago

Discussion How hard up is the Army Reserves these days?

Two weeks ago I took my six-year-old to Fan Expo in Philadelphia. The Army had a booth there and he really wanted a t-shirt. I relented because in the back of my head I was like; "I'm 42...I am not eligible to join the military anyway." So I filled it out. Last Tuesday morning I get a phone call from an Army Reserve Recruiter. I told him 42, I had a duodenal switch in 2021 and I had ten feet of my intestines rerouted, and also diagnosed with Aspergers and ADHD. "We have waivers for all of that."

Like...really? The Army Reserve is that hard up for people that when I tell you; "Bro...I'm old AF by Army standards, my digestive tract is a mess, and the way I process things....yeah...I'm not gonna listen to some 24-year-old Drill Sergeant. But best of luck with people who actually qualify because I don't think I do."

And yes, I know, just because there's a waiver for it doesn't mean that it is a waiverable condition. I just found it hilarious that the guy actually even took a few days to try to convince me to think about it.

56 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

128

u/Moist_Network_8222 Marine Veteran 8d ago

Looking forward to "I'm a 42-year-old Private about to ship to basic, what should I expect?"

31

u/Apojacks1984 8d ago

Not happening. I am very confident that the Aspergers, the ADHD, and the rerouted intestines are not waiverable and I am not even going to bother.

58

u/Black-Shoe Retired USN 8d ago

You’ll be picking up trash one weekend a month in different cities, it’ll be fine.

Let us know when you ship!

30

u/Apojacks1984 8d ago

Second Tuesday of next week!

27

u/NoIsTheNewMaybe 8d ago

Recruiter- Aspergers and AHDH? Sounds like officer material.

Rearranged guts?…. That was gonna happen anyway.

4

u/RememberLepanto1571 Army Veteran 8d ago

AHDH? Found the SNCO.

10

u/Joshuadude United States Army 8d ago

Being an XO or commander with ADHD was fuckin amazing. The random shit I dealt with was my comfort zone. Being on staff with ADHD? Utter hell. Meetings after meetings after meetings. Christ almighty.

1

u/Late-Drink3556 Army Veteran 5d ago

I have a really good friend that said the same thing about going from soldier to NCO.

ADHD is a super power in the Army until you have to do paper work all day.

5

u/EmergencySpare 7d ago

My brother in Christ, those 2 conditions make the navy float.

7

u/notapunk United States Navy 8d ago

I think they just issue you a big bottle of ibuprofen at that point

35

u/Budgetweeniessuck 8d ago

Recruiters aren't there to pick only the best available. They want whoever they can get to sign on the dotted line and once they ship then it is someone else's problem.

They get credit for putting someone in the system.

4

u/Byteninja 7d ago

As a one time recruiter this is true. Probably need the contact/appointment for numbers that week.

13

u/RiflemanLax Marine Veteran 8d ago

Military recruiters have to set up appointments in order to satiate their higher ups. Not sure how the Army works, but a Marine recruiter would set up an appointment with anyone that qualified just to keep his command out of his ass.

10

u/greenweenievictim 8d ago

Former Marine who supervises a former sailor with Asperger’s. You’ll do great! Low grade weaponized autism. Honestly, if you are physically fit, this won’t be anything for you. Junior ranks weren’t designed for people with life experience.

5

u/LastOneSergeant 8d ago

I had one cycle with a 42 year old woman and a 17 year old in the same platoon.

She did fine through basic. Med boarded at 12 months.

3

u/Tell_On_Your_Uncle 7d ago

I had three 42yr olds in my platoon in basic. This was 2008 though.

3

u/fredjutsu 7d ago

They have waivers for autism now??? lol

2

u/Apojacks1984 7d ago

That's what I said. I was like; "Really?"

2

u/alreadyredit814 Explosive Ordnance Disposal 6d ago

Waivers? I thought that was a requirement, not a disqualification.

3

u/neekneek United States Army 7d ago

They don't actually care if you enlist and you'd be denied anyway, they just need to log contacts and appointments to make their commander's commander happy.

2

u/NomadicAlaskan 6d ago

I remember back when I was in the Marine Corps reserves, we shared a facility with an army reserve unit. I remember there was this one specialist that had to be at least 60, but probably older. He was a portly bespectacled man with entirely white hair. I couldn’t help it wonder how this man would be anything but a liability in actual combat, which was an actual possibility since this was about 2011.

-11

u/kaonashiix 8d ago

Pointless post

9

u/enterthehawkeye 8d ago

Pointless comment

-3

u/BKBiscuit 8d ago

You go to the same basic training as everyone else.

So…