Speech Problems?

[defender2]

Hey all,
I was just wondering what policies the British Army have with personel that have speech defects. One of the Majors(ex reg) at my OTC unit has a stamma, nothing severe but its noticeable and it obviously hasnt held him back.
Any body had experiences with this?or opinions?

Thanks

[anglo-saxon]

Not sure about now in the Brit Army, but I once had a CSM who had a stammer. He'd be so bad sometimes that one of the NCO's would slap him upside the head to get him to spit it out. It ws almost like a trance he was in. He'd go bright red and it was almost like he was in a sezure state. The first time I saw him get slapped, I nearly crapped myself (never having seen such a ting before!). You didn't dare laugh or you'd get your head ripped off! Bottom line was he was a great CSM who really looked after his lads. Hard but fair - feared and respected for all theright reasons, and a great example to us all.

Also, my wife's cousin wanted me to give him a letter of recommendation for joining the Canadian Army. Turns out he has tourette syndrome. I basically said he was an all-round good egg, etc., knowig full well he wouldn't pass the medical. Sure enough, they took one look at his medical questionnaire and he was rejected. Too bad, he's a nice lad.

The first time I encountered tourette syndrome, I was shopping in sainsburies in Reading, Berks. I'm walking down the isle when all of a sudden this young guy starts spoewing obscenities (at me, I thought). My first inclination (I was young myself then) was to deck him. Then I realized he wasnt the full shilling and that he had a pronounced set of twitches going on at the same time. It was years later that I read up on this nerological disorder that can really isolate people.

I saw a hillarious episode of Ally McBeal (sp?) once (yes, my wife made me watch it!), where a woman was suing her former employer for firing her becase she had TS. Apparantly she had been barking at people at her office. She was a really good looking girl, too (I think I would have tolerated the barking!!). Anyway, in court, every time the judge opened his mouth, she would bark and shout "bullshit" (or words to that effect). To damned funny.

[Dave.Mil]

we had a guy with a stammer and to wind him up every time he called up on the radio it would go.

"hello to tooo two"
"22 send over"
"no out to you hello to too two"
"22 send over"

and so on kept us amused for ages. He was a Cpl commander and moved over to AAC as a pilot so it didnt hold him up. You need a thick skin or be extremely hard.

[old scaly back]

No good for Signals.

How would he give orders if he was to be promoted.

Could be very difficult in stressfull situations.

[defender2]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

[got1]

CO inspecting the cookhouse.
"RSM there are to many flies in here"
RSM to cook sergeant who has a stammer," Sgt there are to many flies in here.
Sgt. " How many f...f...f...fl...flies should there be sir?"

[defender2]

I wasn't trying to start a lets take the p*ss thread, i was kinda looking for genuine, relevant replies.