Army lifts ban on waivers for recruits with history of some mental health issues

Depends, do we define mental health as in something diagnosed by an unbiased professional or do we define mental health as in what some school teachers or by proxy a school shrink put into a file? Because just so it is said schools do get extra funding for special needs students and umm yeah, I know no one would ever exploit that. Now excuse me while I check out this bridge I just bought.

That way they can avoid taking people with tattoo's. You have to look at from the Pentagon perspective and consider what is truly important /Satire

Can't see any potential upside to this. Maybe the services are having trouble meeting quotas, but a waiver for mental "issues" sounds scary at face value. Any waiver is considered carefully based on the merits of the applicant. Maybe there are minor mental issues that no longer raise concern about the stress of a military lifestyle, but that would be a hard call for a Dr. to make. By that I mean things such as a young child taking meds for ADD or ADHD many years before, but no longer having symptoms or requiring meds. They most likely would request a psych consult in addition to the routine MEPs physical, and if a trained clinician approves, the kid gets to join. So, I guess it could be considered as long as it's done with due diligence. It won't be foolproof, because people can change when placed under stress. That applies to anyone though, so it would have to be evaluated closely by someone qualified to make the call. Overall, I'm skeptical of the concept due to the nature of military service and dangers associated with an unstable member. I think the risk outweighs the reward.