Sunday, May 07, 2006
An Army of One
From today's Oregonian:
Unbelievable. Ungoddamnbelievable.
On a much happier note, this morning on NPR there was an interview with autism chronicler Kamran Nazeer -- author of Send In the Idiots, a memoir I will keep harping on until every reader caves in and gets a copy.
Jared Guinther is 18. Tall and lanky, he will graduate from Marshall High School in June. Girls think he's cute, until they try to talk to him and he stammers or just stands there -- silent.
Diagnosed with autism at age 3, Jared is polite but won't talk to people unless they address him first. It's hard for him to make friends. He lives in his own private world.
Jared didn't know there was a war raging in Iraq until his parents told him last fall -- shortly after a military recruiter stopped him outside a Southeast Portland strip mall and complimented him on his black Converse All Stars.
"When Jared first started talking about joining the Army, I thought, 'Well, that isn't going to happen,' " said Paul Guinther, Jared's father. "I told my wife not to worry about it. They're not going to take anybody in the service who's autistic."
But they did. Last month, Jared came home with papers showing that he not only had enlisted, but also had signed up for the Army's most dangerous job: cavalry scout. He is scheduled to leave for basic training Aug. 16.
Officials are now investigating whether recruiters at the U.S. Army Recruiting Station in Southeast Portland improperly concealed Jared's disability, which should have made him ineligible for service.
Unbelievable. Ungoddamnbelievable.
On a much happier note, this morning on NPR there was an interview with autism chronicler Kamran Nazeer -- author of Send In the Idiots, a memoir I will keep harping on until every reader caves in and gets a copy.
