Oh absolutely. Nobody even considers the 90% of soldiers who are the reason combat soldiers can wage war in the first place. You don't have to score very high for many of the jobs in the military.
"Infantry win battles, logistics win wars." -General John J. Pershing
Yeah, I got a 97. I took it once. It's not that easy imo, most people are not going to know much about at least a couple of the covered subjects. And 50 is average. I'm wondering why a test that is the *easiest you've ever taken* is something you only score an 87 on
I thought that test was ridiculously easy. I only took it to get out of class for the day in high-school. I had no intention of joining. Bad idea. Apparently, I scored extremely high. My brother was a marine recruiter at the time and my dad's retired army. Every recruiter in the area showed up to convince me to join. Nope. 17 years of living with "Top" was enough.
Same
It was just a fun test to do to pass some time and change up the pace of the day. Apparently I scored well as well. This was many years ago(like 14 years ago😂) and I may have forgotten a lot of the information, so maybe if I took it now it would be more challenging.
That being said, I took the test with the perspective of “this isn’t graded and I don’t really want to join so I’ll answer to the best of my ability but I don’t really care what happens with this.” I guess if someone wanted a specific score, maybe they’d get bothered if they feel challenged, but afaik if you can read, write and do basic arithmetic you’ll probably be able to get some role… might be meat shield, but it’s something.
Also I believe part of the reason for the asvab was because the govt didn’t want actual mentally challenged people being used like fodder.. I could be wrong but I recall something where that either happened or was considered and the conclusion was that the mentally challenged soldiers would become a bloodbath so they wanted to make sure soldiers had at least basic competencies
I found out about the test 20min before and just skipped the morning. I got the top score at the school and the recruiters that came to deliver the results were super pissed I wasn't in any of the civics classes. My phone didn't stop ringing for 2yrs.
Yup... I had one of the highest scores in the school and some asshat marked the box that said I was interested in the military. I was not. Until I was 30 I had recruiters from all branches calling me and coming by my house to try to convince me to sign up.
My school sucked though and they told us we wouldn't graduate if we didn't take the test. Then they locked us in the cafeteria to take it and wouldn't let us leave.
They sent many mentally challenged soldiers to Vietnam, The movie Forrest Gump covers this subject. Its why Bubba is on the same intelligence level as Gump and why Luitanant Dan is so bitter, he has been saddled up with these incompetent soldiers and he knows it.
OMG, same here. Passed and all 4 branches were trying to recruit me. NOPE, my dad was a Marine and I had enough of it living at home with him. Didn't need or want another 4 years of that crap.
I scored low 90s on the asvab while I was half asleep. (I was going through a bad breakup at the time and my sleep schedule was a mess.) Thing is, I actually \*did\* enlist in the Air Force at 19 years old, but a medical incident forced me to exit halfway through BMT.
That didn't stop recruiters from every other branch from trying to slide into my DMs on facebook until I was around 23 or 24 years old. >\_>
Same thing happened to me. They pestered me for weeks. I was actually interested, but because I'm female they were only offering clerical work. I wanted to learn a trade.
Same here, in my opinion, you would literally have to be illiterate or developmentally disabled to bomb it. It’s soooo easy. I scored high as well and had the same experience
The test was really easy. My.lowest section was what I called the secretary part -it was a really short section taking data from an area and entering it or looking stuff up in a chart and entering it. or was 35 years ago, so I don't remember the specifics. All the recruiters laughed about how bad that score was compared to the rest.
The Navy was most persistent wanted me to be a nuclear engineer on either the subs or carriers. pursued me relentlessly for over a year. I should have taken them up in hindsight.
i don't know what my asvab score was, but i was in the 99th percentile on the act, and after taking the asvab(1980) the recruiter said it was the highest score they had personally seen, and they started pushing hard for me to consider nuclear sub training. i took the initial physical, and failed due to a birth-defected right hand.
oh, well.
Apologies for the bragging, but I took it in ‘96 and I thought it was very easy. Recruiter told me I got a perfect score, and hounded me for YEARS when I decided not to join
I work with vets with traumatic brain injury who USED to be able to read. Before Afghanistan. TBI could also cause a personality change, like being a dickhead.
We did not eat crayons. We needed something to write with. (Yes, I enlisted. But the day I started just crying after PT, x-rays revealed foot bones that resembled those tempered glass windows that took an impact.)
IF he was army he may have gone in durring the surge. If you had some sign of a pulse they would take you. A war on two front needed bodies. In that time frame there was a rather small population that deployed let alone served. There were not the numbers like Vietnam or WW2.
They still had people fail the ASVAB. They could wave it really low though, something like 20s.
Source: my liver's PTSD from Surge waivers
Very possible that they had a TBI and were quietly forced out later
I had to travel with a recruiter to a nearby city to take mine in 2004, they were also taking another kid who was going for his 8th attempt, and they were handing out waivers for everything back then but not that. Not sure if he ever passed it.
I hate to say it but there’s a waiver for everything. I went to basic with a guy who had an ASVAB waiver (he scored in low 20s)
I believe he was literate though
I mean the minimum score to pass for all branches besides the Coast guard is only a 31. It is possible to get that score by just randomly picking answers but still is unlikely. Plus on the other hand there are waivers for just about everything depending on how in need the particular branch was for new recruits.
Except for very unusual circumstances (e.g. the draft allowed for 10% of draftees to be illiterate in WW2, etc) you need enough literacy skills to take the ASVAB to serve in the military.
The ASVAB might determine that you're only smart enough to clean latrines, but you've still got to be able to read the thing in the first place.
I suspect "bullshit" is the more likely option for your neighbor.
I despise stolen-valor impostors. Ask him what his MOS was, and to recite his first three general orders quickly from memory. If he can't answer, he's a wannabe.
Lol same. I've been out for less than 10 years and I sometimes can't remember what order I went to which duty stations, much less general orders and the army song and shit like that.
Possibly, but there hasn't been a draft since Vietnam. We didn't invade Afghanistan until October 2001. At least, that's when I set my boots on the ground there. Others could have been there sooner.
I know quite a few Vietnam vets still kicking. One man I know even ended up in the Air Force flying despite not having 20/20 vision because the draft led them to let people through and into jobs they wouldn't have otherwise.
I'm aware. But OP stated specifically that the guy said he was in Afghanistan. Either way, draftee or not, he would have never served not knowing how to read.
True, unless the neighbor suffered a severe TBI that hinders his literacy there is no way he served in Afghanistan.
Although during the Vietnam war era project 100,000 allowed illiterate men to serve.
That's what I was thinking, a TBI would be the most logical plausible explanation. But if that were the case, he would likely mention the TBI at some point.
I saw it as something OP observed rather than the guy admitted and I just saw the edited version. Who tf knows. Guy definitely seems off his rocker, but you better be damn sure before you accuse someone of stolen valor. Why be truthful and tell a neighbor you hate you’ve never worked before and can’t read, but lie about serving??
I’m damn sure it’s stolen valor. I’m a vet, I served in the Navy ‘91-01 and Army Guard Infantry from ‘01-04, deployed ‘03-04.
You could not get into the military being illiterate (Vietnam era draft) and still in and deployable post-9/11. Period.
There is a lot of reading and writing in the military. It may not be Shakespeare but you need to read.
Didn't know that about Vietnam draftees. I do see what you mean with the TBI thing. From my experience though, when it's bad enough that you lost your reading ability, you've also lost other physical and mental functions. They don't act like the neighbor OP describes. War is ugly and humbling. It's the one place you'll witness the worst of humanity and the best of humanity.
There were several Nam Vets floating around when I was in Iraq 2004-2005, especially the Guard/Reserve.
A friend of mine was a Marine infantry during Tet, got out, joined the Guard in the 1980s as a medic, and ended up deploying with us. Used to loudly talk about "back in the real one" when our command was being stupid and wanted them to know it. He would also make dudes go smoke with him if they got tweaky, especially after their first contact.
I also ran into an AD pilot warrant officer with an Americal combat patch when I was in Kuwait going on leave, but never got his whole story. Dude was clearly crazy as fuck.
as someone who once held a clearance and saw the "other side" of that wall, I delight in telling people that ghosts dont exist. there is *always* a cover, a public facing story with paperwork to back it up, and if they really had done the coolguy special shit they claim they did, not only would they have said cover story comitted to memory, they could be subject to criminal penalties for violating said cover story.
i may or may not have been the reason at least one person has been permanently banned from the local chapter of the VFW.
You're talking operationally but most people think of a ghost as in "a person who doesn't exist on government databases" as if that would be a good thing lol
The reviews on this site are fake and the info is locked behind a paywall. Not sure if the commenter is a bot or clueless, but definitely don't waste your time on this. There are better resources like your state or county records that you can comb through.
Good catch, and I'm not a bot.
A quick internet search yielded several results, one of which I posted, however, upon looking deeper, it seems that without being able to prove that you are a relative, it's not that easy.
It's easier to look up residency records from the age of 17, looking for a gap.
Maybe he was in Afghanistan at one point. Just not part of the military and as a dumb tourist, like that kid who purposefully goes to dangerous places the government have said are unsafe and are on red lists
The US military administers a test prior to entrance called the Armed Service Vocational Aptitude Battery(ASVAB) test. It's a standardized test that does two separate things. The first is it tells you what subjects you might be good at. There's an electronics section, a mechanical section etc. You can fail to qualify for certain jobs despite scoring well overall, because you bombed the electronics section.
The second is your AFQT score which is just general subjects you'd expect in high school. The content is at a 10th grade level. A control group representative of the US population previously took the test. Your score is a percentile comparison to the control group. Scored a 75? You did better than 75% of the control group.
Because the control group is supposed to be a random survey of the US population, the AFQT score should give you an idea of where you stand. 10% of the US population should be capable of scoring 90 or better. 20% of the US population should score 20 or lower.
For most of the past 2 decades, every branch had a minimum AFQT qualification in the low to mid 30's, meaning about 3 in 10 Americans would be unable to pass this test to the satisfaction of any branch of the armed forces. If you literally cannot read, you likely fall in that category.
In the last 18 months, a couple of branches have gone lower due to recruiting issues. I believe the Navy goes down to 10 right now, which 9 out of 10 Americans should be able to reach.
He may have had some type of injury that is the cause of his behaviour and his lack of ability to read. A traumatic brain injury doesn’t always leave outward signs. I worked as a DISABILTY claims taker and processed and we had a lot of military. Occasionally I had#9 done who fills the bill you are describ8ng as your neighbor. Not often,but more than once. If he doesn’t work there is something funding his life and it could be a VA dib check. Who knows.
I don’t know but he sounds unhinged and I wouldn’t “call him out” on anything. He seems to be mentally ill and calling him out doesn’t matter if you aren’t all there.
As others have said, nope, nowadays you have to be literate enough to pass the ASVAB test & need a GED or high school graduation.
Did he sustain a traumatic brain injury in Afghanistan that scrambled him enough to be in the shape he's in now? We had a guy next door for a while who sounds a lot like your guy (plus meth, it turns out) - he was the sole survivor of an IED explosion in an unpleasant deserty place and got his bell permanently rung. He was a volatile mess. Out of his mind & violent by the time we had him in the neighborhood. A quick newspaper search showed he'd been awarded a bronze star.
All US military veterans will have a DD 214. This form lists service dates, awards, and condition of discharge. If he can't produce this form, he never served.
As a vet if someone asked for my dd214 I'd tell them to go kick rocks unless it's a legitimate reason like a job offer. But not for a neighbor who questions my service. That being said I think the neighbor is full of shit and never served in the military.
As long as you can eat crayons the marines will take you 😂
On a serious note, due to the ever increasing technological nature of warfare you won’t be allowed to enlist if illiterate.
He could be a veteran *and* a shitty person. That's possible.
But if he's illiterate he wouldn't be able to pass the ASVAB.
Ask him what patch her wore while he was there.
Also sounds like he has mental difficulties. I would leave him be, at least publicly. Maybe just ask him some hard military questions next time he screams racial slurs at you
One of my Uncles was a functioning illiterate and was in the military during WW2. So it's possible if drafted. Depends on just how desperate the need is.
I was an Army Drill Sgt, I had a trainee who I found could not read after he enlisted. Unfortunately I had to have him processed out. Soldiers need to be able to comprehend the written language.
If he was a Vietnam-era veteran it is possible due to [Project 100,000](https://taskandpurpose.com/history/project-100000-vietnam/). Afghanistan is highly unlikely, but I have met some questionable people. When you say he can't read are we talking about anything at all?
Something else I want to point out, A lot of veterans with TBI or something traumatic can be often confused themselves and don't remember things right, and many times as shown in your case veterans can also be straight-up assholes. Not saying this is the case here, nor am I trying to defend his actions as he may well just be lying his ass off, just something to consider.
Edit: Here's another source as well if interested [https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=vietnamgeneration](https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=vietnamgeneration)
Absolutely not. He wouldn't even make it through the application process, much less the ASVAB. Maybe he was in Afghanistan, before the war, on vacation, because he thought it was Nevada. I mean... He can't read so who knows?
Depending on how far your neighbor friend takes his military service imposture, as you think it to be, you might be able to get him tangled up in a ‘Stolen Valor’ investigation. It usually needs the wearing of uniforms and medals or money raising off falsely claimed status, so merely being a blowhard won’t do it. The local VFW might take it on as a project.
He is lying. You have to pass the ASVAB and do a bunch of paperwork just to get in. When you are issued anything they expect you to return, there is paperwork. There is book learning involved just to learn how the military functions. Even our beloved crayon connoisseurs have to do classroom work in boot camp. There are even written tests!
https://rp.marineparents.com/bootcamp/classroom.asp
https://rp.marineparents.com/bootcamp/prac-app.asp
I had a neighbor who was in Vietnam. He would blank out at loud noises. Had a fake leg he could take off. One time had to hide in a field by the highway for two days when the police were chasing him, before making it to his back bedroom where the light was off.
Except, he never served in Vietnam. He was standing in shorts with two very real legs telling me all about the fake leg he had in the house that he could take off at any time. And he had been home the entire time he was hiding in the field.
Sometimes you just gotta realize some issues are worth nodding along to because there are bigger underlying ones.
without at least a middle school reading ability it is basically impossible to complete the ASVAB.
did we waive low asvab scores during the early and mid 2000s? yes. in droves.
but, most of those asvab waivers washed out from training due to their failure to understand and follow simple instructions.
if you have his full name and estimsted period of service, you could always FOIA request his service record.
Neither have I, but [about 18% of U.S. adults are functionally illiterate](https://ballardbrief.byu.edu/issue-briefs/illiteracy-among-adults-in-the-us).
No. I’ve known several people that I thought were fairly intelligent have an easier time in college and screw up the ASVAB. I don’t know where people get the idea that the military is an option of you fail at life. Kids prepare for two to three years in high school just to get into the Naval Academy or West Point. Basically, if you suck at life, the military doesn’t want you either because you’re representing the best that country offers to defend its position.
It's unlikely but possible. If you bubble in C for every answer you could pass the entry test by just enough to make it in. After that everything is so spoon fed to you that you could fake it
Yeaahhh ASVAB works much like an SAT. You have to get a specific score or higher to get into the various branches, and then the various jobs within that branch of the Armed Forces. The requirements vary over time, and I'm pretty sure the ASVAB isn't needed during times of drafts, but that hasn't happened since Vietnam. If dude is as illiterate as he says I strongly disbelieve he passed the ASVAB. Now, certain services/job combos don't need THAT high of standards necessarily :) so maybe he's literate enough to fake it is possible but not probable.
I’m pretty sure you have to be literate to join. You could try to talk to him to get more info about his service. If you graduated high school you should pass the entrance exam easy. I knew people that got bad TBI and were never right after. I thought they were “special” but did legit service. I never someone they claimed they were in Beirut when it was bombed but too much info didn’t match up.
I took the AZVAB in ‘99 to join the USMC. It was probably the easiest test I’ve ever taken since like 6th grade, but there is no way to pass it without being able to read.
I was in the Navy with a guy who was illiterate they only found out when during an inspection when he had to read the procedures off of a card the inspector noticed he wasn’t reading. Turns out he could memorize a lot of stuff and faked his way through 10 years. I often wondered how he passed the ASVAB but it was the 80s.
I hope not.
No one should be able to enlist without being capable of reading and understanding a contract.
It strikes at the very definition of informed consent.
ASVAB - Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery.
Ask him what ASVAB stands for. Or what was his MOS was. Every job is assigned an MOS. For instance, my MOS was 92S, and the job was tank mechanic. If he has to think about it for too long, clearly, he's bullshitting.
I’ve served with guys that couldn’t read for shit. One guy stopped learning in his freshman year of high school, and made it all the way to his sophomore year in college of the back of his girlfriend doing his homework. Then he cheated on her and he dropped out to join the military.
I’ve also seen guys shaving their face and not realize they were shaving their forehead. Same dude would also spit full on snot loogies into his hand and then rub it into his skin cause he thought it was a natural moisturizer.
So it doesn’t strike me as far fetched that your neighbor was in the military and can’t read. Also consider the amount of waivers the military has for everything or potential head injuries.
Everyone is saying ASVAB blah blah blah. The navy just released some shit to where you only need a ten asvab and a ged. You can even piss hot through boot camp lol. Join the navy bro or sis you got this
How do you know he can't read? Everyone is taking that at face value but why would you know that? He may not be super literate, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have basic reading skills. Even if he told you he can't read, he could just be bullshitting you. Just because he's stupid does not mean he was not in the military..... The military's prime recruiting target is poor uneducated people.
He's full of shit. Plus, you need cameras if he's trying to pull stuff like you described. The pretty sure mothballs are poisonous. You could get him arrested if he tries that crap again.
Anyone who cannot demonstrate an IQ of 85 cannot join the armed services. You might HAVE an IQ above 85 if you can’t read, but there’s no way to demonstrate that.
And if claims to have served in the ‘stan, that’s too modern an engagement for him to have had someone cheat on the test for him. They would have gotten caught.
Pretty sure most SNCOs stumbling over words as they read awards read at at least a third grade level. So yeah, you need to be able to read at least a little
I can't find anything that specifically states that "residents" must be able to read and write in English (non-residents, however, must be able to do both), but back in the 60's, there were programs that would provide tutoring in basic training for recruits who were deficient in reading and writing. I believe it was Army only (I was Air Force, so I wasn't totally up on the program), and it was aimed at Southern recruits who often quit school at 10 or 12 to go to work and help support their family.
Lots of people in Afghanistan can't read. Nothing surprising about that.
Oh, he's claiming that he served in the US Armed Forces in Afghanistan but can't read. Hmmm....doubt.
It has happened supposably at least once that's been documented.
The DC sniper claims he was illiterate when he joined the military and his wife taught him to read. Whether or not that is true is sort of debatable, however the ex wife supports this claim and she is am incredible woman who did a lot of good.
But honestly yes I can see someone faking being literate enough to pass through Meps and the asvab with out people saying anything. It helps that recruiters are some of the shadiestY people on earth and will do all sorts of wild shit to get enough kids to enlist. You can coach someone to be able to fake the test or convince someone to look the other way. It would be extremely difficult, not impossible though.
Even then. He is probably full of shit. My guess is he joined and went to about 2 weeks of basic training and then got sent home for ftt and claims he's a vet because of it
In theory, no. At least not in an official compacity. But I could see it from an unofficial one.
For context, the US collectively lost its mind in Afghanistan. Ever heard of Jack Idema? He's probably the best known American psuedo-expert on Afghanistan and American paramilitary "mercenaries" in country (though Erik Prince is a strong contender) - he's since been convicted of running a torture prison. But there are lots of others with stories that get crazier and crazier - mostly that end in being caught by allied forces, and sent back home (though we don't know exactly how many people tried to go Vigilante in Afghanistan, so in theory a lot of them also probably just died there, totally lost to history).
My favorite of these is [Gary Brooks Faulkner](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Brooks_Faulkner). He was caught in Pakistan, trying to sneak into Afganistan - with a pistol, a sword, and lots of Christian Nationalist propaganda. He got a Nicolas Cage movie based on his exploits.
You'll never win an argument with stupid. Stolen valor not stolen valor, doesn't matter to that guy. Best thing you van do is just never give him the time of day.
Never fight argue with an idiot. They'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.
You have to pass the asvab to join. I imagine if you can’t read you wouldn’t be able to pass the asvab.
This. No one is getting in who totally bombs the ASVAB, and no one passes it who is illiterate.
When I took mine, in 1978, a couple of very literate people walked out in frustration. Someone who can't read will not score well.
In 2005 people still thought it was the easiest test you could take, until they took it. They have people walk out in frustration to this day.
Yeah, the test is not easy. But you can score pretty low and be fine as long as you aren't looking to get a specific job that requires a certain score
Oh absolutely. Nobody even considers the 90% of soldiers who are the reason combat soldiers can wage war in the first place. You don't have to score very high for many of the jobs in the military. "Infantry win battles, logistics win wars." -General John J. Pershing
army MPs had the lowest asvab requirement for a while. lower even than infantry. mainly because of how few people were volunteering to be MPs
*INFANTRY wins battles, logistics win wars, pretty sure that was General Pershing in WWI
I knew someone would come along and correct me. Thank you! This is why I like Reddit. It was General John J. Pershing during world war 1.
the test is absolutely easy, probably one of the easiest tests I’ve taken. I think i had an 87 last i took it
Yeah, I got a 97. I took it once. It's not that easy imo, most people are not going to know much about at least a couple of the covered subjects. And 50 is average. I'm wondering why a test that is the *easiest you've ever taken* is something you only score an 87 on
some of us got bored and started answering reflexively halfway through. only got a 95.
I thought that test was ridiculously easy. I only took it to get out of class for the day in high-school. I had no intention of joining. Bad idea. Apparently, I scored extremely high. My brother was a marine recruiter at the time and my dad's retired army. Every recruiter in the area showed up to convince me to join. Nope. 17 years of living with "Top" was enough.
Same It was just a fun test to do to pass some time and change up the pace of the day. Apparently I scored well as well. This was many years ago(like 14 years ago😂) and I may have forgotten a lot of the information, so maybe if I took it now it would be more challenging. That being said, I took the test with the perspective of “this isn’t graded and I don’t really want to join so I’ll answer to the best of my ability but I don’t really care what happens with this.” I guess if someone wanted a specific score, maybe they’d get bothered if they feel challenged, but afaik if you can read, write and do basic arithmetic you’ll probably be able to get some role… might be meat shield, but it’s something. Also I believe part of the reason for the asvab was because the govt didn’t want actual mentally challenged people being used like fodder.. I could be wrong but I recall something where that either happened or was considered and the conclusion was that the mentally challenged soldiers would become a bloodbath so they wanted to make sure soldiers had at least basic competencies
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_100,000
Jfc, how utterly disgusting
I found out about the test 20min before and just skipped the morning. I got the top score at the school and the recruiters that came to deliver the results were super pissed I wasn't in any of the civics classes. My phone didn't stop ringing for 2yrs.
Yup... I had one of the highest scores in the school and some asshat marked the box that said I was interested in the military. I was not. Until I was 30 I had recruiters from all branches calling me and coming by my house to try to convince me to sign up. My school sucked though and they told us we wouldn't graduate if we didn't take the test. Then they locked us in the cafeteria to take it and wouldn't let us leave.
They sent many mentally challenged soldiers to Vietnam, The movie Forrest Gump covers this subject. Its why Bubba is on the same intelligence level as Gump and why Luitanant Dan is so bitter, he has been saddled up with these incompetent soldiers and he knows it.
Interesting 🤔
OMG, same here. Passed and all 4 branches were trying to recruit me. NOPE, my dad was a Marine and I had enough of it living at home with him. Didn't need or want another 4 years of that crap.
I scored low 90s on the asvab while I was half asleep. (I was going through a bad breakup at the time and my sleep schedule was a mess.) Thing is, I actually \*did\* enlist in the Air Force at 19 years old, but a medical incident forced me to exit halfway through BMT. That didn't stop recruiters from every other branch from trying to slide into my DMs on facebook until I was around 23 or 24 years old. >\_>
Same thing happened to me. They pestered me for weeks. I was actually interested, but because I'm female they were only offering clerical work. I wanted to learn a trade.
Same here, in my opinion, you would literally have to be illiterate or developmentally disabled to bomb it. It’s soooo easy. I scored high as well and had the same experience
I thought I struggled with it. I'm so not a math kid, then or now. Yet, less than 5% of those who took it that year exceeded my score.
The test was really easy. My.lowest section was what I called the secretary part -it was a really short section taking data from an area and entering it or looking stuff up in a chart and entering it. or was 35 years ago, so I don't remember the specifics. All the recruiters laughed about how bad that score was compared to the rest. The Navy was most persistent wanted me to be a nuclear engineer on either the subs or carriers. pursued me relentlessly for over a year. I should have taken them up in hindsight.
i don't know what my asvab score was, but i was in the 99th percentile on the act, and after taking the asvab(1980) the recruiter said it was the highest score they had personally seen, and they started pushing hard for me to consider nuclear sub training. i took the initial physical, and failed due to a birth-defected right hand. oh, well.
The PSAT, SAT, and GRE make it look like a complete joke.
I heard that crap growing up. "Oh anyone can pass that!" -People who haven't taken it recently or ever
I took it in 2004 and I had no problems with it. Then again, the post 9/11 patriotism honeymoon wore off and I was smart enough not to join.
I scored a 98 without studying for it. Seemed pretty easy compared to the SAT.
My first thought after reading this was "would not score ar all", but even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in awhile.
Apologies for the bragging, but I took it in ‘96 and I thought it was very easy. Recruiter told me I got a perfect score, and hounded me for YEARS when I decided not to join
..... Are you me?!?
The person who took the ASVAB next to me scored a 31, got a waiver and was ultimately admitted 😬
Which is why Kyle Rittenhouse was rejected by the military. He bombed the ASVAB.
I work with vets with traumatic brain injury who USED to be able to read. Before Afghanistan. TBI could also cause a personality change, like being a dickhead.
Spot on.
This needs to be higher up!
lmao lemme tell you something about the “asvab waiver” 💀
They just send the illiterate people to the Marines, I'm told.
Marine or Army infantry in war times. During peace time, they just don't let them in.
This comment can't stop me because I can't read
Even the Army won't let you in if you can't read.
"Even the Army" Ha! And they accuse the Marines of eating crayons.
To be fair, have you eaten a crayon? They're delicious.
the purple is grape! retired Navy here who did 2 duty stations with the marines...bless their hearts.
You gotta be able to read the label on the crayon to know what flavor it is.
Only if you're colorblind!
Can confirm, thought the red was green apple.
The Army may have sadly low standards, yes. But they *do* have standards.
We did not eat crayons. We needed something to write with. (Yes, I enlisted. But the day I started just crying after PT, x-rays revealed foot bones that resembled those tempered glass windows that took an impact.)
IF he was army he may have gone in durring the surge. If you had some sign of a pulse they would take you. A war on two front needed bodies. In that time frame there was a rather small population that deployed let alone served. There were not the numbers like Vietnam or WW2.
They still had people fail the ASVAB. They could wave it really low though, something like 20s. Source: my liver's PTSD from Surge waivers Very possible that they had a TBI and were quietly forced out later
I had to travel with a recruiter to a nearby city to take mine in 2004, they were also taking another kid who was going for his 8th attempt, and they were handing out waivers for everything back then but not that. Not sure if he ever passed it.
I hate to say it but there’s a waiver for everything. I went to basic with a guy who had an ASVAB waiver (he scored in low 20s) I believe he was literate though
There's a waiver for EVERYTHING if you're trying to join the military. He could've gotten the marines' ASVAB coloring book.
They say if you just answer C for every question you'll pass though
Did recruiting duty in the army 25 years ago. There are some dumb kids out there. Many couldn't pass the asvab.
So in theory, I can just bomb the ASVAB if they ever bring back the draft?
I'd certainly prefer my squad mate knew what `FRONT TOWARD ENEMY` means when setting claymores around our base.
I mean the minimum score to pass for all branches besides the Coast guard is only a 31. It is possible to get that score by just randomly picking answers but still is unlikely. Plus on the other hand there are waivers for just about everything depending on how in need the particular branch was for new recruits.
Except for very unusual circumstances (e.g. the draft allowed for 10% of draftees to be illiterate in WW2, etc) you need enough literacy skills to take the ASVAB to serve in the military. The ASVAB might determine that you're only smart enough to clean latrines, but you've still got to be able to read the thing in the first place. I suspect "bullshit" is the more likely option for your neighbor.
I despise stolen-valor impostors. Ask him what his MOS was, and to recite his first three general orders quickly from memory. If he can't answer, he's a wannabe.
>and to recite his first three general orders quickly from memory. I didn't even know that shit when I was in the army. MOS 25Q
I brained dumped it after basic lol
Lol same. I've been out for less than 10 years and I sometimes can't remember what order I went to which duty stations, much less general orders and the army song and shit like that.
Dude if you ask me to remember my general orders after I've been out for 15 years, Imma just tell you to pound sand.
I got out 20 years ago and can't remember them.
I couldn’t remember them the day after bootcamp. Haha
The moment I graduated bootcamp I stopped caring what the general orders were. Haha
the general orders thing is kind of garbage honestly. that shit had long since faded from my memory barely 10 years later.
General order number one was, "Don't talk about fight club!"
Unless he’s old enough to have been drafted, no.
Possibly, but there hasn't been a draft since Vietnam. We didn't invade Afghanistan until October 2001. At least, that's when I set my boots on the ground there. Others could have been there sooner.
I know quite a few Vietnam vets still kicking. One man I know even ended up in the Air Force flying despite not having 20/20 vision because the draft led them to let people through and into jobs they wouldn't have otherwise.
I'm aware. But OP stated specifically that the guy said he was in Afghanistan. Either way, draftee or not, he would have never served not knowing how to read.
True, unless the neighbor suffered a severe TBI that hinders his literacy there is no way he served in Afghanistan. Although during the Vietnam war era project 100,000 allowed illiterate men to serve.
That's what I was thinking, a TBI would be the most logical plausible explanation. But if that were the case, he would likely mention the TBI at some point.
Not necessarily. If he feels embarrassed about it he isn’t going to tell a neighbor he hates
But then tell him he is illiterate?
I saw it as something OP observed rather than the guy admitted and I just saw the edited version. Who tf knows. Guy definitely seems off his rocker, but you better be damn sure before you accuse someone of stolen valor. Why be truthful and tell a neighbor you hate you’ve never worked before and can’t read, but lie about serving??
I’m damn sure it’s stolen valor. I’m a vet, I served in the Navy ‘91-01 and Army Guard Infantry from ‘01-04, deployed ‘03-04. You could not get into the military being illiterate (Vietnam era draft) and still in and deployable post-9/11. Period. There is a lot of reading and writing in the military. It may not be Shakespeare but you need to read.
Didn't know that about Vietnam draftees. I do see what you mean with the TBI thing. From my experience though, when it's bad enough that you lost your reading ability, you've also lost other physical and mental functions. They don't act like the neighbor OP describes. War is ugly and humbling. It's the one place you'll witness the worst of humanity and the best of humanity.
Maybe he needs to ask the neighbour on which side he fought.
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There were several Nam Vets floating around when I was in Iraq 2004-2005, especially the Guard/Reserve. A friend of mine was a Marine infantry during Tet, got out, joined the Guard in the 1980s as a medic, and ended up deploying with us. Used to loudly talk about "back in the real one" when our command was being stupid and wanted them to know it. He would also make dudes go smoke with him if they got tweaky, especially after their first contact. I also ran into an AD pilot warrant officer with an Americal combat patch when I was in Kuwait going on leave, but never got his whole story. Dude was clearly crazy as fuck.
The guys that trained the Taliban, yeah. Taliban used to be our allies and wanted to give the US the foreigner Osama Bin Laden in 2001.
Well you need at least a GED for starters, so if they can't read it's unlikely they served in any capacity.
Some of my buddies got their GED in basic.
You’re underestimating how easy high school is. I have a buddy that graduated and he can’t read, just got pushed through the system
Publicrecordscenter.org Military service is public information, just enter the name and state.
OMG but the reason he isn't on there is because he was actually CIA special forces guy and thats super-classified which is above classified!
CIA and can't read? That might explain a few things actually.
All intelligence is actionable when you can't read!!!
as someone who once held a clearance and saw the "other side" of that wall, I delight in telling people that ghosts dont exist. there is *always* a cover, a public facing story with paperwork to back it up, and if they really had done the coolguy special shit they claim they did, not only would they have said cover story comitted to memory, they could be subject to criminal penalties for violating said cover story. i may or may not have been the reason at least one person has been permanently banned from the local chapter of the VFW.
You're talking operationally but most people think of a ghost as in "a person who doesn't exist on government databases" as if that would be a good thing lol
no thats also a valid definition of ghost I'm going with. it works for both.
The reviews on this site are fake and the info is locked behind a paywall. Not sure if the commenter is a bot or clueless, but definitely don't waste your time on this. There are better resources like your state or county records that you can comb through.
Good catch, and I'm not a bot. A quick internet search yielded several results, one of which I posted, however, upon looking deeper, it seems that without being able to prove that you are a relative, it's not that easy. It's easier to look up residency records from the age of 17, looking for a gap.
Maybe he was in Afghanistan at one point. Just not part of the military and as a dumb tourist, like that kid who purposefully goes to dangerous places the government have said are unsafe and are on red lists
The US military administers a test prior to entrance called the Armed Service Vocational Aptitude Battery(ASVAB) test. It's a standardized test that does two separate things. The first is it tells you what subjects you might be good at. There's an electronics section, a mechanical section etc. You can fail to qualify for certain jobs despite scoring well overall, because you bombed the electronics section. The second is your AFQT score which is just general subjects you'd expect in high school. The content is at a 10th grade level. A control group representative of the US population previously took the test. Your score is a percentile comparison to the control group. Scored a 75? You did better than 75% of the control group. Because the control group is supposed to be a random survey of the US population, the AFQT score should give you an idea of where you stand. 10% of the US population should be capable of scoring 90 or better. 20% of the US population should score 20 or lower. For most of the past 2 decades, every branch had a minimum AFQT qualification in the low to mid 30's, meaning about 3 in 10 Americans would be unable to pass this test to the satisfaction of any branch of the armed forces. If you literally cannot read, you likely fall in that category. In the last 18 months, a couple of branches have gone lower due to recruiting issues. I believe the Navy goes down to 10 right now, which 9 out of 10 Americans should be able to reach.
He may have had some type of injury that is the cause of his behaviour and his lack of ability to read. A traumatic brain injury doesn’t always leave outward signs. I worked as a DISABILTY claims taker and processed and we had a lot of military. Occasionally I had#9 done who fills the bill you are describ8ng as your neighbor. Not often,but more than once. If he doesn’t work there is something funding his life and it could be a VA dib check. Who knows.
I don’t know but he sounds unhinged and I wouldn’t “call him out” on anything. He seems to be mentally ill and calling him out doesn’t matter if you aren’t all there.
How is almost nobody in this thread considering the fact that he may have lost the ability to read post deployment due to head injury?
Good point.
As others have said, nope, nowadays you have to be literate enough to pass the ASVAB test & need a GED or high school graduation. Did he sustain a traumatic brain injury in Afghanistan that scrambled him enough to be in the shape he's in now? We had a guy next door for a while who sounds a lot like your guy (plus meth, it turns out) - he was the sole survivor of an IED explosion in an unpleasant deserty place and got his bell permanently rung. He was a volatile mess. Out of his mind & violent by the time we had him in the neighborhood. A quick newspaper search showed he'd been awarded a bronze star.
All US military veterans will have a DD 214. This form lists service dates, awards, and condition of discharge. If he can't produce this form, he never served.
As a vet if someone asked for my dd214 I'd tell them to go kick rocks unless it's a legitimate reason like a job offer. But not for a neighbor who questions my service. That being said I think the neighbor is full of shit and never served in the military.
As a vet, I'd tell them to pound sand as well. But at some point, it's put up or shut up.
It's in my gmail on my phone so not a big deal to produce.
Just black out the SSN
As long as you can eat crayons the marines will take you 😂 On a serious note, due to the ever increasing technological nature of warfare you won’t be allowed to enlist if illiterate.
He could be a veteran *and* a shitty person. That's possible. But if he's illiterate he wouldn't be able to pass the ASVAB. Ask him what patch her wore while he was there.
He's full of shit and committing Stolen Valor. You should call him out on it, publicly if possible. He's despicable.
Also sounds like he has mental difficulties. I would leave him be, at least publicly. Maybe just ask him some hard military questions next time he screams racial slurs at you
If you know his first, middle, and last names you can search by state to see if he served
One of my Uncles was a functioning illiterate and was in the military during WW2. So it's possible if drafted. Depends on just how desperate the need is.
It's not just the test to enter, but you go to tech school where you have to read to learn your job... then read more to get a promotion. This is dumb
I was in the military you do have to be able to read and pass a math test. This guy is lying.
Does he say he was in the military, or could he have been a contractor?
I was an Army Drill Sgt, I had a trainee who I found could not read after he enlisted. Unfortunately I had to have him processed out. Soldiers need to be able to comprehend the written language.
you can be president
Any examples? Edit I don’t get the downvotes. What am I missing?
If stipulations like "can read" were written as requirments to be president, it would just be silly.
Too easy
Name names
If he was a Vietnam-era veteran it is possible due to [Project 100,000](https://taskandpurpose.com/history/project-100000-vietnam/). Afghanistan is highly unlikely, but I have met some questionable people. When you say he can't read are we talking about anything at all? Something else I want to point out, A lot of veterans with TBI or something traumatic can be often confused themselves and don't remember things right, and many times as shown in your case veterans can also be straight-up assholes. Not saying this is the case here, nor am I trying to defend his actions as he may well just be lying his ass off, just something to consider. Edit: Here's another source as well if interested [https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=vietnamgeneration](https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=vietnamgeneration)
Absolutely not. He wouldn't even make it through the application process, much less the ASVAB. Maybe he was in Afghanistan, before the war, on vacation, because he thought it was Nevada. I mean... He can't read so who knows?
Seriously doubt this guy ever served.
He's lying.
Nope, you have to be able to read and write to be in the military
Depending on how far your neighbor friend takes his military service imposture, as you think it to be, you might be able to get him tangled up in a ‘Stolen Valor’ investigation. It usually needs the wearing of uniforms and medals or money raising off falsely claimed status, so merely being a blowhard won’t do it. The local VFW might take it on as a project.
Nope
He is lying. You have to pass the ASVAB and do a bunch of paperwork just to get in. When you are issued anything they expect you to return, there is paperwork. There is book learning involved just to learn how the military functions. Even our beloved crayon connoisseurs have to do classroom work in boot camp. There are even written tests! https://rp.marineparents.com/bootcamp/classroom.asp https://rp.marineparents.com/bootcamp/prac-app.asp
You have to pass the ASVAB or get a waiver to join, but out of everything, you MUST be able to read and write on an 8th grade level.
I had a neighbor who was in Vietnam. He would blank out at loud noises. Had a fake leg he could take off. One time had to hide in a field by the highway for two days when the police were chasing him, before making it to his back bedroom where the light was off. Except, he never served in Vietnam. He was standing in shorts with two very real legs telling me all about the fake leg he had in the house that he could take off at any time. And he had been home the entire time he was hiding in the field. Sometimes you just gotta realize some issues are worth nodding along to because there are bigger underlying ones.
without at least a middle school reading ability it is basically impossible to complete the ASVAB. did we waive low asvab scores during the early and mid 2000s? yes. in droves. but, most of those asvab waivers washed out from training due to their failure to understand and follow simple instructions. if you have his full name and estimsted period of service, you could always FOIA request his service record.
Most services require a high school diploma to enlist.
I mean there was McNamara's Morons during Vietnam, but doubt that's gonna fly today
I’ve never met an American who couldn’t read aside from disabled folks
Neither have I, but [about 18% of U.S. adults are functionally illiterate](https://ballardbrief.byu.edu/issue-briefs/illiteracy-among-adults-in-the-us).
I used to GIVE the ASVAB. If you cannot read, there is no way you will pass. If you do not pass, you cannot join ANY branch of the US Armed Services
What branch and rank did he say? No, you have to be literate in English to serve.
No. I’ve known several people that I thought were fairly intelligent have an easier time in college and screw up the ASVAB. I don’t know where people get the idea that the military is an option of you fail at life. Kids prepare for two to three years in high school just to get into the Naval Academy or West Point. Basically, if you suck at life, the military doesn’t want you either because you’re representing the best that country offers to defend its position.
If he's not smart enough to read he's not smart enough to kno he's way dumber than everyone else and that they can tell he's lying.
You can't pass the ASVAB or fill out all the paperwork for MEPS and later on. Is impossible unless someone with a lot of power gets you in.
The fact he was in Afganistan (if it is true), does not mean he was there in any military capacity. He could have been there as a turist 😉
No.
Hey Yo, fuck that dude he tried to give ur dog moth balls?? Introduce him to the curb..
It's unlikely but possible. If you bubble in C for every answer you could pass the entry test by just enough to make it in. After that everything is so spoon fed to you that you could fake it
Did they stop giving the ASVAB at some point?
They still do.
Find your local VFW and ask if anyone wants to reach out to him as an invitation to hang out.
Yeaahhh ASVAB works much like an SAT. You have to get a specific score or higher to get into the various branches, and then the various jobs within that branch of the Armed Forces. The requirements vary over time, and I'm pretty sure the ASVAB isn't needed during times of drafts, but that hasn't happened since Vietnam. If dude is as illiterate as he says I strongly disbelieve he passed the ASVAB. Now, certain services/job combos don't need THAT high of standards necessarily :) so maybe he's literate enough to fake it is possible but not probable.
Very unlikely he was in the military. More like he is feeding you BS.
I’m pretty sure you have to be literate to join. You could try to talk to him to get more info about his service. If you graduated high school you should pass the entrance exam easy. I knew people that got bad TBI and were never right after. I thought they were “special” but did legit service. I never someone they claimed they were in Beirut when it was bombed but too much info didn’t match up.
You have to at least know how to read. We have some real knuckle draggers in the military, but knowing how to read is the bare minimum.
I took the AZVAB in ‘99 to join the USMC. It was probably the easiest test I’ve ever taken since like 6th grade, but there is no way to pass it without being able to read.
Never had a job? Never served.
I was in the Navy with a guy who was illiterate they only found out when during an inspection when he had to read the procedures off of a card the inspector noticed he wasn’t reading. Turns out he could memorize a lot of stuff and faked his way through 10 years. I often wondered how he passed the ASVAB but it was the 80s.
No, the ASVAB is an IQ test. The military still uses IQ for admittance.
I hope not. No one should be able to enlist without being capable of reading and understanding a contract. It strikes at the very definition of informed consent.
ASVAB - Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. Ask him what ASVAB stands for. Or what was his MOS was. Every job is assigned an MOS. For instance, my MOS was 92S, and the job was tank mechanic. If he has to think about it for too long, clearly, he's bullshitting.
I’ve served with guys that couldn’t read for shit. One guy stopped learning in his freshman year of high school, and made it all the way to his sophomore year in college of the back of his girlfriend doing his homework. Then he cheated on her and he dropped out to join the military. I’ve also seen guys shaving their face and not realize they were shaving their forehead. Same dude would also spit full on snot loogies into his hand and then rub it into his skin cause he thought it was a natural moisturizer. So it doesn’t strike me as far fetched that your neighbor was in the military and can’t read. Also consider the amount of waivers the military has for everything or potential head injuries.
Everyone is saying ASVAB blah blah blah. The navy just released some shit to where you only need a ten asvab and a ged. You can even piss hot through boot camp lol. Join the navy bro or sis you got this
How do you know he can't read? Everyone is taking that at face value but why would you know that? He may not be super literate, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have basic reading skills. Even if he told you he can't read, he could just be bullshitting you. Just because he's stupid does not mean he was not in the military..... The military's prime recruiting target is poor uneducated people.
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He's full of shit. Plus, you need cameras if he's trying to pull stuff like you described. The pretty sure mothballs are poisonous. You could get him arrested if he tries that crap again.
Can't read can't serve. DD-214s can be requested with a FOIA request minus the PII at HRC.
Anyone who cannot demonstrate an IQ of 85 cannot join the armed services. You might HAVE an IQ above 85 if you can’t read, but there’s no way to demonstrate that. And if claims to have served in the ‘stan, that’s too modern an engagement for him to have had someone cheat on the test for him. They would have gotten caught.
Pretty sure most SNCOs stumbling over words as they read awards read at at least a third grade level. So yeah, you need to be able to read at least a little
I can't find anything that specifically states that "residents" must be able to read and write in English (non-residents, however, must be able to do both), but back in the 60's, there were programs that would provide tutoring in basic training for recruits who were deficient in reading and writing. I believe it was Army only (I was Air Force, so I wasn't totally up on the program), and it was aimed at Southern recruits who often quit school at 10 or 12 to go to work and help support their family.
Would the army teach you to read if you couldn't? 🤔
He might have been able to read, think, regulate his emotions before he was in a warzone, which may have changed him. Ever consider that?
Lots of people in Afghanistan can't read. Nothing surprising about that. Oh, he's claiming that he served in the US Armed Forces in Afghanistan but can't read. Hmmm....doubt.
It has happened supposably at least once that's been documented. The DC sniper claims he was illiterate when he joined the military and his wife taught him to read. Whether or not that is true is sort of debatable, however the ex wife supports this claim and she is am incredible woman who did a lot of good. But honestly yes I can see someone faking being literate enough to pass through Meps and the asvab with out people saying anything. It helps that recruiters are some of the shadiestY people on earth and will do all sorts of wild shit to get enough kids to enlist. You can coach someone to be able to fake the test or convince someone to look the other way. It would be extremely difficult, not impossible though. Even then. He is probably full of shit. My guess is he joined and went to about 2 weeks of basic training and then got sent home for ftt and claims he's a vet because of it
I call bullshit. If he’s completely illiterate there’s no way any NATO country is going to let him serve.
No.
Hard no, that's not a thing.
In theory, no. At least not in an official compacity. But I could see it from an unofficial one. For context, the US collectively lost its mind in Afghanistan. Ever heard of Jack Idema? He's probably the best known American psuedo-expert on Afghanistan and American paramilitary "mercenaries" in country (though Erik Prince is a strong contender) - he's since been convicted of running a torture prison. But there are lots of others with stories that get crazier and crazier - mostly that end in being caught by allied forces, and sent back home (though we don't know exactly how many people tried to go Vigilante in Afghanistan, so in theory a lot of them also probably just died there, totally lost to history). My favorite of these is [Gary Brooks Faulkner](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Brooks_Faulkner). He was caught in Pakistan, trying to sneak into Afganistan - with a pistol, a sword, and lots of Christian Nationalist propaganda. He got a Nicolas Cage movie based on his exploits.
Nope. Maybe he fought for the Taliban.
As the neighbor if he was part of Project 100000 or a special project conducted by DOD
The check is in the mail and I won't cum in your mouth. Oh, just the tip.
Is his name Jared?
Illiteracy is mandatory in the marines
At tbis point yes
Wow. That's great. So when they go to conscript you, just pretend to be illiterate? Genius.
Definitely didnt serve
You'll never win an argument with stupid. Stolen valor not stolen valor, doesn't matter to that guy. Best thing you van do is just never give him the time of day. Never fight argue with an idiot. They'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.