This sounds like the next Code Pink/MoveOn talking point. Because they care about the soldiers so much more than the military does, don'tcha know.
It sounds to me like the military is trying to screen out dangerous people who cannot be trusted in a tense environment that demands tremendous amounts of restraint and judgement. Isn't this something we want them to do?
I'm inclined to believe this line more than others. The services haven't been getting Wally and Beaver Cleaver types for a long time. By my own observation I reckon that this country's youth culture was down the tubes in 1968, and nothing I've seen since encourages me at all. Since the late 1960's I've observed yoots doing things that were unthinkable to do when I was their age. Today's young people carry a lot of heavy cultural baggage that didn't exist in earlier decades.
yes ...
BEFORE THEY SIGN THEM UP ...
One Republican congressional staff member who works on military issues said the rationale behind the Pentagon's practice was: "We didn't break you, you were already broken. You're not our responsibility."
"One soldier I know received a diagnosis for a personality disorder after a 45-minute talk," said the staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He'd been in the military 10 years, had made it his career, and then he was told he was being shuffled out in a couple of weeks. We keep getting these stories."
so the Military did not notice this "pre-existing" condition for 10 years?