Autistic Marine's Case Raises Questions On Recruiting Practices

LA Times:

A few days after he arrived at boot camp here, Joshua Fry no longer wanted to be a Marine. He was confused by the orders drill instructors shouted at him. He was caught stealing peanut butter from the chow hall. He urinated in his canteen. He talked back to the drill instructors. He refused to shave.

Read the whole story: LA Times

Comments

[SpoxLogic]

Does anyone need any more proof that DADT is absolutely STOOPIDD!

These so-called leaders need to get their heads out of their asses and do the right thing!

[ohmetoo]

No! This is astonishing in it's absurdity. Well gotta make the quotas?

[BlueZoo]

Why this kid isn't already back in the group home he was in is beyond me! His languishing in jail just because the Marines don't want to admit they goofed is indefensible. The recruiter responsible for enlisting this kid should be the one in jail and asap! This whole story is just sickening!

[ohmetoo]

Job security for some one, I wonder who? I agree sickening.

[who38]

Hear, hear. Hope the Innocence Project gets on this one today. Unbelievable. There may be a need for pickets in front of recruiting offices.

[WeMustSpeakOut]

So it's just fine to recruit the autistic, just as long as they are not GAY and autistic.
That is out of the question!
Our country is a phucking mess on so many fronts.

[NoblesseOblige]

Exactly. And, it's also okay to recruit drug addicts and criminals, too. As long as they're not *gasp* gay!

[ljc]

You forgot the non-gay illegals(They get to become citizens, Biden swore in 1,000 of them while he was in Iraq) and non-gay HS drop outs. What's next Mexican MS 13 gang members? Our Government is broken. Do we have healthcare yet?

[who38]

Good question, nonetheless.

[ssfahrer]

That's why Charlie Rangel was right when he said we should bring back the draft. This way, we'd be sure to have enough troops around as long as our population of young people continues to remain high. No more need for 'recruiters' either-- they can actually join ACTIVE DUTY and add even more to our true troop strength! A WIN-WIN proposition all the way around.

[vagabondvet]

It's hard to say which is more detrimental to liberty. A conscripted force of men who are deprived of their freedom involuntarily so they can "fight for freedom," or a volunteer force of professional soldiers who aren't accountable to the people they are sworn to serve.

[who38]

Conscription is the answer for both men and women. If you don't want to serve in the military, two years as a helper in an African refugee camp should be an alternative.

[dteg]

Agree it will always be a sham until they bring back the draft along with no deferments for the well connected.

[BlackWidowPilot]

Any recruiter who "takes a shortcut" whatever the excuse is guilty of conduct unbecoming, and should be disciplined as harshly as possible. Why? By deliberately admitting a substandard recruit, the recruiter so responsible potentially jeopardizes the lives of every other Marine that substandard recruit serves alongside, whether in boot camp where accidents take the lives of healthy and fit recruits every year under the best of conditions, to actual combat zones where one wrong decision can result in catastrophe for an entire unit.

Such recruiters as the one who inducted this autistic young man into the Corps are IMHO unfit to wear the uniform of a United States Marine. The same goes for the superiors of such recruiters who pressure their subordinates to make recruitment goals without regard to upholding appropriate standards. Commissioned officers IMHO are especially at fault here, as they of all people should know the consequences of having a substandard recruit on the firing line, where every Marine must be able to rely upon his or her comrades with 110% certitude and trust.

What has become of my father's Marine Corps?

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

Proud son of a WW2 US Marine

[Chernynkaya]

Co-signed and well said.

[voltage356]

I want to see Cheney on the front lines defending freedom.

[nihila]

Bad heart.

[DrToketee]

So, according to Obama's actions (or in-actions) so far we now have this: within the armed forces, gayness is worse than mental illness. Unbelievable.

[PuddinPie]

Is autism a form of mental illness?

[Tracy Hale]

yes

[weatherwaxx]

Um. YES. though in young people it's often referred to as an 'emotional' disorder rather than a mental one. Autistic kids are often very intelligent, but disconnected.

[who38]

Depends on which funding source you are trying to access.

[kappa08]

hey I have an idea...instead of recruiting the mentally ill and immigrants to fight this chosen war....Pitch those that still believe at it. Put your money where your mouth is Republicans/chickenhawks/teabaggers/sycophants/low information types.....

[Artemis34]

It is called a draft.

[nihila]

If you think the All Volunteer Force comes up with human dregs, you ought to see what a draft produces. In the later stages of Korean War when i was drafted, the batch that was sent off with me to Parris Island included an alcoholic, a guy who couldn't straighten his arm (who had been inducted in WWII), a man with a black spot on his X-ray the size of a banana, and at lease one mental patient. Of course all the healthy youths were deferred and playing college football or student.

[LaurieAnn]

I am so glad to see this article here on HuffPo. This is my worst nightmare as a parent. My autistic son is fascinated with all things military and as such would be easy prey for an unscrupulous military recruiter. For a while now I've been thinking that as our military gets more desperate to attract recruits more autistic individuals who don't understand what they are getting into will end up on the front lines somewhere the victim of friendly fire. I hope this never happens but my fear is that some year we will be reading an article here about this very thing. I hope that Joshua Fry is discharged before he reached bottom and ends his own life.

[verticallychallenged]

I agree. Thank you for sharing your experience.

[who38]

Well, you need to call all groups that you are affiliated with and insist that they not allow Joshua Fry to remain incarcerated. Also, you need to have those same groups request a state evaluation of the group home that was supposed to be advocating for him. There are any number of high profile attorneys in Californis who specialize in the interests of special needs individuals. They should be involved in this case as well.

[plzchuteme]

Just think, if this young man had been on a slightly higher functioning level and had the where-with-all to hold it together for just a little while longer, he might have had the job of protecting your son or daughter in Iraq or Afghanistan. Wouldn't that be a poor time for him to lose it?

[pandarzan]

"Autism is not among the conditions that automatically bar a would-be recruit. But, if Navy doctors had known of the diagnosis, Fry would have been evaluated more skeptically during the pre-boot-camp medical examination and most likely would have been rejected"

Most likely rejected, are you frickin kidding me? Actually the whole quote turns my stomach. I guess instead of admitting his autism, he just should ahev said he was gay.

[who38]

You can tell that "autism is not among the conditions that automatically bar a would-be recruit " by this statement made by a military officer. No ability to see relationships.

[amdezurik]

yup, and let's make sure those recruiters who are not shy of taking ethical "shortcuts" the home addresses and phone numbers of kids as young as possible...

[rextrek]

and tell me again WHY they are turning away Gays/lesbians?

[Hopeington]

cosign

[Vixter]

Ditto

[medic628]

This young man was let into the service and kept even when his condition was known, but someone who is gay would have been kicked out even though they did not have any problems mentally or physically. This makes sense????

[ibsteve2u]

[bq]
Recruiters sometimes take ethical shortcuts to make their quotas at a time when Americans have tired of the nation's wars and finding recruits is difficult.
[eq]

The more things change, the more they stay the same. "Press gangs" have been around for...ages. The method is the only thing that really changes.