When I was a kid I was treated with Ritalin for hyperactivity/ADD. and a as an adult I took a similar drug for attention problems for a very short time after i got out of the Army before I decided it wasn't worth the money and trouble. (I think my attention problems had more to do with the job I had and the stress I was unde than anything).
When I joined the army the first time, they didn't ask about attention deficit disorder at that time. I served 4 years in the infantry, completed Airborne School, made battallion soldier of the month and battallion soldier of the quarter, never got in trouble, got a waiver and was promoted to specialist 18 months after being in the Army (the minimum ammount of time possible), consistently got very high PT- test scores despite not being a natural athalete. I weighed 250 at one point, before I enlisted, but got by run time down to 12 minutes with sheer determination, and I always had trouble with pushups, but managed to keep the pushups above 55. I was an expert marksman every time I ever qualified ont he M-16 and any other weapon system. They even sent me to Air Assault school as a reward for outstanding performance. I came in 3rd on the Road March at Air Assault School.
Now I have been out for a while, I have earned a Bachelors and a Master's Degree and am currently a GS-12 in the Federal Government. It is so expensive to live here, there are so many people ahead of me for promotion, and I spend so much time commuting, and my pay isn't going to go up for a long while, so I figured out that I would be making the same ammount of money (take home) as a second leutennant. So, I was thinking about enlisting and applying for OCS. At least that way I would be doing something a little more important and interesting.
But, now I understand that they don't take people who ever took Ritalin or were ever diagnosed with ADD or ADHD anymore, with no exceptions. How can that be? Are there any exceptions? I mean, I have proven that I am a good soldier and don't have any real problems with that kind of thing. Any Ideas?
When I joined the army the first time, they didn't ask about attention deficit disorder at that time. I served 4 years in the infantry, completed Airborne School, made battallion soldier of the month and battallion soldier of the quarter, never got in trouble, got a waiver and was promoted to specialist 18 months after being in the Army (the minimum ammount of time possible), consistently got very high PT- test scores despite not being a natural athalete. I weighed 250 at one point, before I enlisted, but got by run time down to 12 minutes with sheer determination, and I always had trouble with pushups, but managed to keep the pushups above 55. I was an expert marksman every time I ever qualified ont he M-16 and any other weapon system. They even sent me to Air Assault school as a reward for outstanding performance. I came in 3rd on the Road March at Air Assault School.
Now I have been out for a while, I have earned a Bachelors and a Master's Degree and am currently a GS-12 in the Federal Government. It is so expensive to live here, there are so many people ahead of me for promotion, and I spend so much time commuting, and my pay isn't going to go up for a long while, so I figured out that I would be making the same ammount of money (take home) as a second leutennant. So, I was thinking about enlisting and applying for OCS. At least that way I would be doing something a little more important and interesting.
But, now I understand that they don't take people who ever took Ritalin or were ever diagnosed with ADD or ADHD anymore, with no exceptions. How can that be? Are there any exceptions? I mean, I have proven that I am a good soldier and don't have any real problems with that kind of thing. Any Ideas?