BadKarma26
05-08-2006, 05:28 PM
Hopefully this hasn't been posted before. Its 3 years old, but I did a search and nothing came up. Interesting read, hope ya'll enjoy.
Full Metal Strait Jacket
By Becky Oberg
My battle buddy reminds me to drink more water and tries to check my alertness. My attention is elsewhere -- another soldier is at the clinic desk. He is clutching a paper and seems too alert to be another heat casualty.
"I have asthma and I want out," he tells the sergeant.
Asthma! In Indianapolis, a military counselor told my group of prospects about an asthmatic young man who'd concealed his condition. He went off his medication and inhaler. He died from a severe asthma attack during Basic training.
The sergeant glares at the paper. It is a Moment of Truth (MOT) sheet -- meaning the soldier confessed a disqualifying condition during a last chance for amnesty. The sergeant scowls, and roughly hands the sheet back to the soldier.
"You just wasted $30,000 of your country's money," he says.
I shudder, thinking about my own MOT condition. No, not me, I say to myself. That won't happen to me. I don't want out. I want this bad enough. I'm strong and some discipline will keep this in check.
One week later my MOT condition will put me in the hospital.
"No means numerous opportunities; yes means your enlistment stops"
Fraudulent enlistment is neither new nor unusual in the Army. During World War II, some young men falsified their birth certificates in order to enlist. Today, people lie about medical conditions, criminal records or financial obligations. Technically, fraudulent enlistment is a crime: The maximum penalty in military court is a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and two years confinement.
This is stated at the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS), and prospects are warned to not trust their recruiters. Prospects are asked if they were coached to lie -- as if someone will answer in the affirmative when asked, "Are you lying?" Concealed disqualifying conditions are part of the reason 40 percent of military recruits do not finish their full term of service.
My recruiter repeatedly said, "No means numerous opportunities, yes means your enlistment stops." He would ask me, "Your favorite answer on the physical is?" and point to me, which was my cue to answer in the negative.
He told me I wasn't the first person he'd advised to conceal a condition. One prospect was allergic to strawberries. He told her, "Don't eat strawberries," told her to say she wasn't allergic to anything and sent her for the physical.
When I swore in after the physical, my recruiter introduced me to another prospect. He told her to ask me anything about the physical. I gave her a brief rundown of what the physical was like, some advice on making weight and what to wear. My recruiter nodded, then turned to her and said, "What's your favorite answer on the physical?"
"No," she replied. She passed the physical and signed up for a counterintelligence position. Sometimes I wonder what she concealed.
Why do the prospects lie? The reasons vary. I lied because I wanted to serve my country in the armed forces. I'd been laid off from my job as a reporter when the recession started, and had worked in a restaurant for more than a year. I wanted to do a job that mattered. The military was the only option I thought I had -- a common sentiment among many soldiers. While I was nervous about lying, my recruiter reminded me, "No means numerous opportunities, yes means your enlistment stops."
Why do some recruiters coach their prospects to lie? They are required to meet quotas -- and it is easy to understand the temptation to look the other way when an otherwise desirable prospect has a concealable disqualifying condition.
This happens often enough that about.com has a question about it in the FAQs about joining the military. Ron Powers, a retired Air Force sergeant who writes for about.com, alluded to this problem in his article "What the Recruiter Never Told You" and dealt with it specifically in his article "I Cannot Tell a Lie" (see sidebar). The Army knows some recruits lie, hence the warning at MEPS and the MOT briefing. The MOT briefing is a soldier's last chance to avoid an Article 15 for fraudulent enlistment.
During my platoon's MOT briefing, Lt. Morris explains that his job is to keep us in the Army. He is the wrong person to talk to about discharges. However, if we have disqualifying conditions we've lied about and would now like to reveal, he has the forms. He says he's heard everything and cleared many soldiers to go to Basic training.
More than half of us come forward to confess our conditions. They vary, from a misdemeanor weapons charge to a psychiatric hospitalization. I step up, stand at attention and hand him my paper. He reads it and looks at me. "How do you feel?"
"Ready to report, sir!" I bark. In spite of my condition and the fact that none of us know the latest about the Iraqi war, I am eager to train. I have accepted the fact that I will probably kill and could die. I am ready to fight.
He signs the paper, clearing me to go to Basic. My condition is on record and unofficially waived. If the background investigation for my top-secret security clearance reveals I was treated for depression while in college, I will not be charged with fraudulent enlistment.
Continued here: http://www.duckdaotsu.org/full_metal_oberg.html
Full Metal Strait Jacket
By Becky Oberg
My battle buddy reminds me to drink more water and tries to check my alertness. My attention is elsewhere -- another soldier is at the clinic desk. He is clutching a paper and seems too alert to be another heat casualty.
"I have asthma and I want out," he tells the sergeant.
Asthma! In Indianapolis, a military counselor told my group of prospects about an asthmatic young man who'd concealed his condition. He went off his medication and inhaler. He died from a severe asthma attack during Basic training.
The sergeant glares at the paper. It is a Moment of Truth (MOT) sheet -- meaning the soldier confessed a disqualifying condition during a last chance for amnesty. The sergeant scowls, and roughly hands the sheet back to the soldier.
"You just wasted $30,000 of your country's money," he says.
I shudder, thinking about my own MOT condition. No, not me, I say to myself. That won't happen to me. I don't want out. I want this bad enough. I'm strong and some discipline will keep this in check.
One week later my MOT condition will put me in the hospital.
"No means numerous opportunities; yes means your enlistment stops"
Fraudulent enlistment is neither new nor unusual in the Army. During World War II, some young men falsified their birth certificates in order to enlist. Today, people lie about medical conditions, criminal records or financial obligations. Technically, fraudulent enlistment is a crime: The maximum penalty in military court is a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and two years confinement.
This is stated at the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS), and prospects are warned to not trust their recruiters. Prospects are asked if they were coached to lie -- as if someone will answer in the affirmative when asked, "Are you lying?" Concealed disqualifying conditions are part of the reason 40 percent of military recruits do not finish their full term of service.
My recruiter repeatedly said, "No means numerous opportunities, yes means your enlistment stops." He would ask me, "Your favorite answer on the physical is?" and point to me, which was my cue to answer in the negative.
He told me I wasn't the first person he'd advised to conceal a condition. One prospect was allergic to strawberries. He told her, "Don't eat strawberries," told her to say she wasn't allergic to anything and sent her for the physical.
When I swore in after the physical, my recruiter introduced me to another prospect. He told her to ask me anything about the physical. I gave her a brief rundown of what the physical was like, some advice on making weight and what to wear. My recruiter nodded, then turned to her and said, "What's your favorite answer on the physical?"
"No," she replied. She passed the physical and signed up for a counterintelligence position. Sometimes I wonder what she concealed.
Why do the prospects lie? The reasons vary. I lied because I wanted to serve my country in the armed forces. I'd been laid off from my job as a reporter when the recession started, and had worked in a restaurant for more than a year. I wanted to do a job that mattered. The military was the only option I thought I had -- a common sentiment among many soldiers. While I was nervous about lying, my recruiter reminded me, "No means numerous opportunities, yes means your enlistment stops."
Why do some recruiters coach their prospects to lie? They are required to meet quotas -- and it is easy to understand the temptation to look the other way when an otherwise desirable prospect has a concealable disqualifying condition.
This happens often enough that about.com has a question about it in the FAQs about joining the military. Ron Powers, a retired Air Force sergeant who writes for about.com, alluded to this problem in his article "What the Recruiter Never Told You" and dealt with it specifically in his article "I Cannot Tell a Lie" (see sidebar). The Army knows some recruits lie, hence the warning at MEPS and the MOT briefing. The MOT briefing is a soldier's last chance to avoid an Article 15 for fraudulent enlistment.
During my platoon's MOT briefing, Lt. Morris explains that his job is to keep us in the Army. He is the wrong person to talk to about discharges. However, if we have disqualifying conditions we've lied about and would now like to reveal, he has the forms. He says he's heard everything and cleared many soldiers to go to Basic training.
More than half of us come forward to confess our conditions. They vary, from a misdemeanor weapons charge to a psychiatric hospitalization. I step up, stand at attention and hand him my paper. He reads it and looks at me. "How do you feel?"
"Ready to report, sir!" I bark. In spite of my condition and the fact that none of us know the latest about the Iraqi war, I am eager to train. I have accepted the fact that I will probably kill and could die. I am ready to fight.
He signs the paper, clearing me to go to Basic. My condition is on record and unofficially waived. If the background investigation for my top-secret security clearance reveals I was treated for depression while in college, I will not be charged with fraudulent enlistment.
Continued here: http://www.duckdaotsu.org/full_metal_oberg.html