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I tried enlisting after I graduated high school. All of the recruiters said I will not be able to serve due to my deafness.
I read about deaf people in the Israeli military, and there are deaf people in the ROTC programs. I was in the JROTC all four years of my high school.
I am wondering what are your opinions regarding deaf people in the military. Will it happen someday? Would you feel comfortable with deaf people serving? Opinions are welcome. I will not be offended if some of you say you won't feel comfortable. Provide reasons why you believe deaf people should or should not serve, and also reasons why you think it may or may not happen with deaf people serving.
No, they should not be in. There is no way to be in the military and not be able to hear; there are limited jobs where it would not be an issue, however, every billet that fills is just one less for someone to transfer from the fleet, being deployed, etc, and adds much less flexibility to the military as far as personnel assignments are concerned.
You are not just the person who enlisted and got an office job, you also are someone who will be on duty possibly armed, auxiliary security force at a time of crisis, and as you move up, then what? The fleet needs billets to fill for shore (speaking just the Navy right now) and having billets reserved for non-deployable people just takes prime billets away.
ANd I did not even touch upon the issue of communication.
Nothing personnel, but it just my opinion. Being hearing impaired just adds too much inflexibility.
No, they should not be in. There is no way to be in the military and not be able to hear; there are limited jobs where it would not be an issue, however, every billet that fills is just one less for someone to transfer from the fleet, being deployed, etc, and adds much less flexibility to the military as far as personnel assignments are concerned.
You are not just the person who enlisted and got an office job, you also are someone who will be on duty possibly armed, auxiliary security force at a time of crisis, and as you move up, then what? The fleet needs billets to fill for shore (speaking just the Navy right now) and having billets reserved for non-deployable people just takes prime billets away.
ANd I did not even touch upon the issue of communication.
Nothing personnel, but it just my opinion. Being hearing impaired just adds too much inflexibility.
Not a problem. I did say I welcome all opinions. No offense taken.
No, that and many other disabilities should never be allowed to serve in the military. The military has a specific mission and we should only accept those that make it easier to accomplish that mission. The military needs to stop being looked at as a jobs program or place to address every injustice in the world.
Only those that can fight without requiring a bunch of accommodations should be serving.
It is honorable that you want to serve but it isn't realistic. Good luck to you.
I very highly doubt the day will ever come when the military will accept someone who is deaf as a member. In my opinion, the primary reason is that a military "unit" is a "team". Every member of that team is integral to that team and has a specific job/function. The primary form of communication between team members is audible. If any one member cannot hear the commands/instruction/information of the other team members, then that team will not be able to fulfill their currently assigned mission.
I can only speak of the Navy where I served in the ship's Combat Information Center, (and during several combat "encounters"). Audible communication was critical for us to accomplish our task and do our job in keeping the ship safe and well positioned to counter the threats presented to us.
Israel is a small country surrounded by larger neighbors that might try to exterminate it. So it makes since that there is more of a literal 'fight to the last man' ethos over there.
Even in World War II, America's 'total war' moment, a lot of people were turned away for relatively minor medical conditions. Because there were still like a million fully able young men turning 18 every year.
As stated above, quick, efficient verbal communication in chaotic, noisy environments is crucial to military operations. It will likely always be the case that the Pentagon decides that deafness isn't worth working around.
As to ROTC. Your high school course in it doesn't really count. There are no physical standards imposed for it, it's just another class to fill in your schedule for graduation. At one time in Maryland it counted as a Tech Ed credit to fulfill that requirement.
One of my more inept Principals wanted all 9th Graders to take it to learn "discipline". She had a problem dealing with behavior issues and thought that would help.
College ROTC is a whole other thing. The members of that have to meet the physical qualifications of whichever branch is the sponsor. The idea is that many, and they're trying for all, of the participants will go on to be commissioned officers in a branch of the armed services. So deafness is a disqualifying condition.
1. yes.
2. technology will restore adequate audio.
3. then...everyone is replaced by robots.
I agree with Turkeydance. A time may come when all soldiers are connected via direct cybernetic implants in their brains (see: Andromeda, the Borg Collective in Star Trek, or vastly improved cochlear implants). But once we get to that point, robots will become the norm and most soldiers will be made redundant due to automation. There may be deaf soldiers, but their number will be so few, it won't really matter.
I tried enlisting after I graduated high school. All of the recruiters said I will not be able to serve due to my deafness.
I read about deaf people in the Israeli military, and there are deaf people in the ROTC programs. I was in the JROTC all four years of my high school.
I am wondering what are your opinions regarding deaf people in the military. Will it happen someday? Would you feel comfortable with deaf people serving? Opinions are welcome. I will not be offended if some of you say you won't feel comfortable. Provide reasons why you believe deaf people should or should not serve, and also reasons why you think it may or may not happen with deaf people serving.
Deaf people from ROTC or JROTC programs are not accepted into the US Military.
The Israeli military is the only military in the world which accepts deaf people. The Israel Defense Forces differs from most armed forces in the world in many ways. Differences include the mandatory conscription of women and its structure, which emphasizes close relations between the army, navy, and air force. US Forces are about 1,301,300 personnel versus 176,500 Israeli military. US Forces are spread in various country's, unlike the Israel Defense Forces.
I have no reasons why deaf people should or should not serve. I served 22+ active years in the U.S. Army. If they had determined that deaf people, could serve, then I would have accepted it with no issue...
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