Is there anything in the army my brother can do - Epilepsy Message Board

samanthap3842 · 12-28-2008, 05:27 AM

My brother is 19 in february and has always dreamt of being in the army. However when he was 14 years old he contracted encephilitis and was very ill it left him with seizures and memory loss, over the years his memory has become alot better and i would say it is 95% normal but still not perfect he is medically controlled with his seizures and has not had a seizure in three years. He contacted someone on the army website and asked them if he could work on the front line. They told him no he is very disheartened but we have managed to get him to see if there is anything else in the army he can do. He is so frightened of asking just incase they say no, This has been a dream of his for many years and its the only thing he wants to do. Does anyone know if you can work in the army and which job role with medically controlled epilepsy, He cannot come off his meds he is completely reliant on them.

alistone · 12-28-2008, 06:51 PM

Totally useless reply really, sry (: but I think the only people who can tell you what can be done for your brother are the army personnel department based on his own history and abilities. He might be scared to hear "no" again, but in reality there are a large number of positions the army needs to fill and he only asked about the front line positions. I can mostly understand why people on the front line would not be accepted with epilepsy or even any other drug-dependent condition, as in combat how could they guarantee access to their medication? Anways I hope he is not too disheartened and ready to accept a different job serving for his country (: Give the personnel dept. a ring and I'm sure there will be good news related to non-first-line-combat types of positions.

((Besides, IMO... if you consider the stories of epileptics who either seized while serving or studying in school and were discharged or had their scholarships taken away -- do you really want to enroll in an organization that treats epileptics in such a way? I wouldn't.))