Uncle Sam's Desperation -- and a Recruit's

"Can you give a psychological clearance for someone who wants to go into the military?" asked the caller, in a crisp, authoritative voice.

Having heard so much about the military's recent recruiting difficulties, I was intrigued. "Sure, assuming the person's okay."

"Now, I'm only authorized to pay for one session, but we don't want you to do psychoanalysis. You just need to say that this kid is okay to rejoin the Army."

"Rejoin?"

"He signed up three years ago, but then he got homesick and depressed, didn't feel comfortable handling weapons or with all the violence. He was generally discharged."

To my knowledge, a general discharge was both negative and not that easy to get. The kid must have been in pretty bad shape. "Why would he be any different now?"

"Says he sees the opportunity he gave up and now he wants to make the Army his career. We'd like to help him do that." "Help him" seemed to hang in the air, like a hawk above some oblivious fledgling.

"Honestly," the recruiter said, "we didn't used to consider someone like this, but we're under lots of pressure these days."

I thought back to my hospital emergency room days and the many patients I'd seen whose first psychiatric problems had emerged while they were in the military. They might have arisen anyway, but the stress of military service had always seemed a contributing factor.

"Maybe you'd like to see his discharge report?"

A grainy fax soon arrived. "Serious symptoms of anxiety and depression," the evaluator had written, "likely to get worse if subject remains in military." Also attached was the kid's own handwritten statement. "I hate this 'kill, kill, kill' all the time. Maybe the army is great, but it's not for me."

The plaintive tone was even more compelling than the evaluator's. Could the kid's attitude possibly have changed that much? Still, I tried to be open-minded when Juan arrived next morning in a worn gray sweatshirt and jeans. He was so short, maybe 5-3, that I wondered if the Army had any sort of height requirement.