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is this really a good idea? US army to put automatic AR's in hands of the mentally il
this should work real well.....
after we see what pscyho ex-millitary does with semi-automatic assault rifles, the US Military is now going to accept those with mental illnesses into its ranks to meet a f'n recruitment goal.....
just f'n great.... now the f'n army will have to worry about not only the enemy, but the new recruits going postal on them at any given moment.....
Army lifts ban on cutters, mentally ill and drug abusers to meet recruiting goals
Facing low recruitment levels, the U.S. Army quietly lifted its ban on allowing people with a history of mental illness, self-mutilation and drug abuse to serve in the military – despite warnings from the industry about the risks involved.
The new rules green-light recruits who have bipolar disorder, depression and issues with cutting – a process in which a person takes a knife or razor to his or her own skin – along with those who bite, hit or bruise themselves intentionally.
“I am shocked,” Craig Bryan, executive director of the National Center for Veterans Studies at The University of Utah, told Fox News. “This contradicts everything we have been working toward for the past 10-to-15 years.”
Bryan says there is strong evidence to indicate self-injury is a “stepping stone to suicide” and is “the single strongest predictor of suicidal behavior.”
The Army signed off on the new policy in August but never announced it, according to USA Today, which first reported the news.
The decision to lift restrictions comes as the military looks like it will miss its goal of recruiting 80,000 new soldiers through September 2018.
In order to hit last year’s goal of 69,000 recruits, the Army also accepted men and women who did poorly on aptitude tests, increased the number of waivers for pot use and offered hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses.
In fiscal year 2017, it paid out $424 million in bonuses, up from $284 million in 2016. In 2014, that figure was $8.2 million. According to USA Today, some of the recruits qualified for bonuses of $40,000.
When it comes to mental health, recruits who would have previously been barred can submit waivers allowing them to sign up.
The change reverses an eight-year ban on the wavers following a spike of suicides.
The move is especially troubling following the Texas church massacre a week ago, in which 26 people were killed and another 20 injured when Devin Patrick Kelley, a veteran with a history of psychiatric problems, opened fire inside the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs.
Following the deadly episode, it was revealed that Kelley made death threats against his superiors and escaped from a mental hospital during his stint in the Air Force.
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Originally Posted by rkelly110
