Well, and serial killers wouldn't be as helpful as spree killers anyway, and even there, you'd have problems. Serial killers (usually) have very specific target dynamics, very specific hunting methods, and sometimes rather unpleasant plans for the body afterward. In actuality, a serial killer would, if you're relying on the skills gathered from their "hobby," make a very bad soldier. A spree killer might be better inasmuch as they don't worry so much about anything but body count. If that.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Egads! I don't think the enemy will stop shooting if our soldiers hold up their little 'stress cards'...I was in the Army in the 80's. No stress cards, but at least by then the DI's were not allowed to actually hit trainees...though it did happen a few times.

As for the overweight recruits, some good 'ol PT in basic and decent diet got a lot of them down quite a few pounds.

Personally, I was pretty skinny, and barely made the minimum weight for my height. The minimum was 126 lbs, I weighed in at a 'portly' 129. Diet and a lot of exercise put a few pounds on me.

Imagine for a moment living in the barracks with folks who are stealing you blind, do you think that might cause some problems? The military functions best with folks of integrity and character. Good physical condition is an obvious necessity for too many reasons to mention. Having a few extra pounds when you start basic is no biggie, but obesity is another matter. As far as operating robots, that is so a small portion of what the military does as to be inconsequential. The all volunteer military has been a great success because you have quality people who as a whole want to be there, and believe in what they are doing.

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"A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again."

Alexander Pope, 1709

There may be another disqualifying factor that's troubling. A coworker's son wanted to join the military but was denied because he was briefly prescribed antidepressants after his mother died. I've read some reports that indicate the use of medications like Ritalin after age 12 may be disqualifying for military service.

I wouldn't call that troubling, but rather good sense.

Apart from the simple bit that it's not good to have to rely on someone who has trouble concentrating, prescription drugs are likely to be a logistical nightmare if needed by other than medical units for which the system is already in place.

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‘To those who regard “crime fiction” as some sacred icon which must follow a rigid formula, I will always be the man who writes 18-syllable haiku.’Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

Honestly, they shouldn't let people with a history of mental illness into the military. (Depending on severity, of course.) On the other hand, I wouldn't prescribe meds to someone in situational depression anyway. Of course you'd be depressed after your mother died! You don't need meds. Counseling, probably, and the real issue would be if that kept you out of the military.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

I wouldn't call that troubling, but rather good sense.

Apart from the simple bit that it's not good to have to rely on someone who has trouble concentrating, prescription drugs are likely to be a logistical nightmare if needed by other than medical units for which the system is already in place.

I find it troubling due to the sheer number of children - especially boys - who end up receiving drugs like Ritalin. If what I've read is true about being disqualified if they took the medication after age 12, that rules out a lot of kids who may no longer have needed the medication by age 13 or so. I'm not advocating letting people who're currently taking those medications into the military. It would be a logistical problem among other concerns.

Isn't there a way to make less fit people more fit? It's called-- what was it again, it's been a while-- exercise. Yeah, that!

(Yes, I know it takes time to unflab a couch potato. But most modern miltary recruits need extensive training anyway, why not have them do so while also getting in shape. This article just seems like an excuse to do the "these darn kids today, why when I was your age" cliche.)

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
"The Mayan symbol for "book" looks a lot like a triple hamburger, but I've never seen them claiming it as proof the Mayans had Big Macs." - KaiYeves
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Given the recent news, is this thread evidence for clairvoyance ? (as if I didn't know how BAUT posters react to such ideas).

If it is possible to become physically fit by exercise, I wonder if there exists an as yet undiscovered set of mental exercises that make one mentally fit.

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"Never let the task you are trying to accomplish distract you from the study of computers."

It's called "education." If you mean "not mentally ill," is there a set of exercises which cures diabetes?

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

I don't think education makes one mentally fit. The analog of physical fitness in the mental realm would be an improvement in one's basic aptitude or sanity. A person can be fit and not know how to play any particular sport well.

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"Never let the task you are trying to accomplish distract you from the study of computers."

And there are many, many things an educated person doesn't know. However, no, you cannot improve mental health through exercises any more than you can improve diabetes through exercises. There are brain puzzles and such which "exercise" the brain, but that is very different, and you can't improve the basic quality of the brain through them.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Which type?

One can learn coping mechanisms and I wouldn't rule out the concept of some sort of mental exercise that can help with certain forms of mental illness, but I mostly agree with you that many psychiatric conditions can be overcome in such a manner.

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"What you think you thought you saw you did not see." Agent J, MiB - Manhatten Bureau

Big Don's correct, Chuck. The issue is that when it comes time to defend themselves, wage war, or process paperwork, they absolutely have to be far more productive than they are detrimental/parasitic.

For example, a soldier who is 90% up to par is 10% parasitic. The problem is it takes another soldier's efforts to take care of the sub-par soldier. This winds up taking two soldiers out of the game, and creates a lot of resentment against the parasitic soldier, as well as against the system in general for allowing him/her in.

Morale drops, tensions rise, and now perhaps 25 soldiers are 3% off their game, for a serious reduction in unit efficiency.

All because of one sub-par soldier.

One doesn't need to be a genius to serve in the military. One does need to be brave, be in shape, able to work well with others, follow orders, and lead.

If the military could figure out a way to select from the top 1% of all volunteering Americans, they would, as that would simply make them that much more effective a fighting force.

Actually, Gillianren, most approaches towards improving mental health involve a variety of "exercises" in the cognitive behavioral therapy set of tools.

It's roots go back 100 years, and it's still around, because it works.

Here's a list (a rather long one) of those exercises.

That's pretty silly, given the fact that servicemembers are routinely prescribed antidepressants to help them over acute relational stressors such as the death of a loved one or even divorce.

I think it's more of an easy way of identifying and weeding out potential ADHD-prone individuals. Still sort of silly, as many servicemembers are just as likely to have adult ADHD as employees of corporate America.

Type I, no.
Type II which is often caused by obesity, yes.

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‘To those who regard “crime fiction” as some sacred icon which must follow a rigid formula, I will always be the man who writes 18-syllable haiku.’Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

So it's better to send your infantry into an ambush rather than have a 90% par soldier operating a remote control spotter plane? Isn't someone who knows how to operate the plane but can't march 10 miles better than no one at all?

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Life is like a box of chocolates. All of your choices are bad for you.

You can cure it once you have it? I was not aware.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

I think that type II probably can be, at least theoretically. Because it's not really a "disease" in the sense that you have it or not. It's like hypertension, where having the disease is defined as having blood pressure over a certain threshold. So I think it's possible that a person could be sort of borderline, and have a positive test at one examination but negative at the next. Usually it doesn't happen, because people keep going upward, though.

Of course, there might be an argument that once you've tested positive once, you should always be considered positive, in the same way that AA claims that once you're an alcoholic, you are always one, even if you stop drinking.

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As above, so below

Sorry, just adding a tiny bit, the question itself is probably controversial, because it sort of comes down to what one means by "cure". Suppose that I have a cold. Once I defeat the cold, I am "cured" and can go back to my daily life. Or suppose I break a bone. Once it's healed, I can pretty much go back to normal.

But how about being overweight? Suppose a person is overweight, but then loses weight and gets back to normal. Would we say they are "cured"? Not really, because it just means they have the problem under control now, but will go back to being overweight if they eat too much. So type II diabetes is a bit more like being overweight than like having a cold. You can improve it, but people probably wouldn't say a person is "cured".

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As above, so below

My guess is the latter, but I can't say for sure.

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The dose makes the poison--Paracelsus (1493-1541) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus

I don't know. That's why I'm asking--Noclevername

Intelligence may not be clearly defined, but you know stupid when you see it--Noclevername

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge--Carl Sagan (1934-1996)

I would say that it depends a lot on the underlying causes, if it's just plain couch potato laziness, then a lifestyle change that dropped the weight could be called a cure, otherwise we'd all technically suffer from obesity we just have it under control.
If the overeating is caused by psychological problems, it may be possible to handle the underlying problem with therapy or at least redirect it to less damaging habits and if successful that would be a cure.
If the weight gain is due to a medical problem, whether inherent or because of medicine side effects, then it'd likely take medical intervention, but if successful I'd call it a cure.

When the twelve-steppers claim that people they help are never cured it sounds like a cult-like dependency thing that I doubt can be really healthy in the long term.

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‘To those who regard “crime fiction” as some sacred icon which must follow a rigid formula, I will always be the man who writes 18-syllable haiku.’Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

Chuck wrote:

So it's better to send your infantry into an ambush rather than have a 90% par soldier operating a remote control spotter plane? Isn't someone who knows how to operate the plane but can't march 10 miles better than no one at all?

Chuck, you keep bringing up soldiers operating UAVs and the like. That makes up such a miniscule percentage of the military that it's hardly worth making an exception. Contrary to what some movies, novels and Air Force recruiting commercials imply, even today war is far from the sanitary "push button warfare" concept. Even the support troops (the term REMFs was used for them during my infantry days but I hear the current term is Fobbit) end up working long hours in very inhospitable conditions. Weaker, poorer performing military members end up dragging the whole operation down.

And before anyone says it, no I'm not showing disrespect for the women who're serving overseas. Nothing could be further from the truth - they're doing amazing things and have my complete respect. They're still prohibited from most direct combat jobs like infantry, armor, and artillery for good reasons. Women are allowed to perform something like 90+% of the military jobs and they're doing quite well, indeed.

One reason I was told was that experience from the Israeli army, which has had women in direct combat roles for a while now, was that there was a strong tendency that if a male soldier got hit, one other soldier would start first aid while if a female soldier got hit, the entire platoon would cluster around trying to help.
This may have been because of a lack in training because it was one of the first modern unisex armies and thus didn't have any experience from other armies to draw from.

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‘To those who regard “crime fiction” as some sacred icon which must follow a rigid formula, I will always be the man who writes 18-syllable haiku.’Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

Robotic soldiers aren't common now but I hardly think they won't be used more as better ones become available, just like any other new weapon.

If you don't have the fit support troops that you'd like is it better to do without them entirely? It would be nice if war had to be abandoned due to lack of quality personnel, but I don't see that happening.

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Life is like a box of chocolates. All of your choices are bad for you.

They'll adapt. They'll take the overweight and physically/mentally incapable and stick them in uniforms and use them for the role they best serve.

Meatshields.

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The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.