US Army offers waivers for recruits with mental health issues in effort to strengthen ranks |...

People....please stop with the spread of this modified fake news story. Here is the link from Army Times about this.

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2017/11/13/army-no-lower-standards-for-recruits-with-history-of-mental-illness/

BTW, worked at USAREC HQ for two years in a IT support role. All waivers are supervised by Congress, it is not an activity the Military does by itself with no Congressional oversight. Typically the USAREC CG is called in front of Congress to explain some of the more dicey waivers that Congress people pull from the stack. So yes the story above is probably complete BS. And also waivers and the numbers granted in what categories are a matter of public record and in the Congressional Record somewhere.........that is where I would look as a reporter since Congress oversees the military waiver process.

I've actually tried to enlist a few times since I was 18yrs old and was told no because I only had a GED. I went through all the proper stages from disposition paperwork to the pasvab and provided everything needed as well as paying all fines and closing all court dates in order to change my life. Even with all that foot work and paperwork being produced I was turned down due to a GED instead of a high school diploma, which when I checked last was an equivalent, which makes it equal to, which should be considered the same exact thing. I'm currently still trying to enlist and would like to put out there that it's the little things that are making it hard for men like myself that come from poor families and have to drop out to pay bills and pick up the slack for mom since my lazy older brothers and sister won't do it, I ended up paying a price which would have changed my life and let me assure a solid and structured future for myself, my wife, and my children. Any opinions on what I should do when I'm struggling to just hold a job to pay the bills and can't afford to pay for college in order to get the college credits needed to start basic??? Any advice can help at this point, it's not easy pulling the weight for a family of five with no light at the end of the tunnel.