J. Brownie Samukai to succeed Ma Ellen

candygirl wrote:

i think the rationale is that HIV positive peopel are more prone to illness thereby makign them weak and not readily always fro combat..

Yep, that too.

but da nah true o. maybe dey cannot give blood bt until they get AIDS, dey may be able to 'operate' like me who do not know my status

so you saying that the knowledge that one has HIV makes them ill?

no, ma. an hiv + person is not necessarily weak. they are more prone to opportunistic infections but with their drugs, they can move about like you and myself. when the HIV moves to AIDS, that is when they are very sick and may not be able to work.

krazzy wrote:

but da nah true o. maybe dey cannot give blood bt until they get AIDS, dey may be able to 'operate' like me who do not know my status

That's why they do mandatory testing like every 2-3 months or so. They want to know your status and they want you to know your status. Funny thing is, military folks in the US are promiscuous like hell!

krazzy wrote:

no, ma. an hiv + person is not necessarily weak. they are more prone to opportunistic infections but with their drugs, they can move about like you and myself. when the HIV moves to AIDS, that is when they are very sick and may not be able to work.

but its inevitable that the virus moves from the HIV status to the AIDS with time, right??

abt 40% of our staff (HIV coordinators) are living positively.

Traveller wrote:

krazzy wrote:

but da nah true o. maybe dey cannot give blood bt until they get AIDS, dey may be able to 'operate' like me who do not know my status

That's why they do mandatory testing like every 2-3 months or so. They want to know your status and they want you to know your status. Funny thing is, military folks in the US are promiscuous like hell!

why is that?

krazzy wrote:

no, ma. an hiv + person is not necessarily weak. they are more prone to opportunistic infections but with their drugs, they can move about like you and myself. when the HIV moves to AIDS, that is when they are very sick and may not be able to work.

Right and the militatry is trying to guard against those kinds of infections given the unique conditions of the battlefield.

candy, yes. the arvs will slow down the movement. this means that, for some people, their productive years (working, having kids) shd not be wasted because of the perception that once u have hiv, it is time to close shop.

is it advisaable to even be having kids if you are HIV positive?? is it fair to the child?

dis one da military talk...i dont know the 'unique conditions of the battlefield'. :)

Traveller wrote:

krazzy wrote:

no, ma. an hiv + person is not necessarily weak. they are more prone to opportunistic infections but with their drugs, they can move about like you and myself. when the HIV moves to AIDS, that is when they are very sick and may not be able to work.

Right and the militatry is trying to guard against those kinds of infections given the unique conditions of the battlefield.

candygirl wrote:

Traveller wrote:

krazzy wrote:

but da nah true o. maybe dey cannot give blood bt until they get AIDS, dey may be able to 'operate' like me who do not know my status

That's why they do mandatory testing like every 2-3 months or so. They want to know your status and they want you to know your status. Funny thing is, military folks in the US are promiscuous like hell!

why is that?

I'm not psychologist but I tihnk it has something to do with having very limited freedom. Americans juts don't do well with restrictions being placed on them.

:) :) candy ready o! if u make the choice, there are services that protect the child.

candygirl wrote:

is it advisaable to even be having kids if you are HIV positive?? is it fair to the child?

you know back to the topic of women and combat, i spoke to a new recruit saturday and he was like they ahve only 2 collge grad females in the group right now.. that the women dont want to join and that the two self, they ahve to be jogging slow to help them... said they will never go into combat.. i was surprised and asked him why...
he said woen cant stand "pressure".. that in case they are captured.. they may be raped etc and that that alone will make them to reveal info that will compromise the psition of their troops... so only administrative work...

Traveller wrote:

candygirl wrote:

Traveller wrote:

krazzy wrote:

but da nah true o. maybe dey cannot give blood bt until they get AIDS, dey may be able to 'operate' like me who do not know my status

That's why they do mandatory testing like every 2-3 months or so. They want to know your status and they want you to know your status. Funny thing is, military folks in the US are promiscuous like hell!

why is that?

I'm not psychologist but I tihnk it has something to do with having very limited freedom. Americans juts don't do well with restrictions being placed on them.

i see.... is that one of the reason why they say Divorce in the army high too??

krazzy wrote:

dis one da military talk...i dont know the 'unique conditions of the battlefield'. :)

Things like injuries, open wounds, DIRT, limited access to good healthcare, etc. If you're stuck out ona long range patrol for weeks and end up getting trench foot while being HIV positive, it could be fatal in a short while.

candygirl wrote:

i see.... is that one of the reason why they say Divorce in the army high too??

Dah wan dah jeh stress o!

krazzy wrote:

:) :) candy ready o! if u make the choice, there are services that protect the child.

candygirl wrote:

is it advisaable to even be having kids if you are HIV positive?? is it fair to the child?

can the child be protected from getting the virus in the womb? i need to read more on this.. isnt that risky?? supposed the child is born HIV positive...? isnt that like makign a child doom for death upon birth?

dont get me wrong.. for me, i see AIDs as just another illness that is lifelong.. diabetes, sickle cell, etc.. its all about knowing and dealing with it.

Traveller wrote:

candygirl wrote:

i see.... is that one of the reason why they say Divorce in the army high too??

Dah wan dah jeh stress o!

meaning...??

i know...had to drop a group of them on the based that same talk. women are lazy. the ones who are there are too emotional and old. they shd be at home taking care of their kids. they do not do their exercise right and they are not smart (especially in drills). i gave them an abbreviated Women's Rights talk. wish there was some way to institutionalized this in the training.

candygirl wrote:

Traveller wrote:

candygirl wrote:

i see.... is that one of the reason why they say Divorce in the army high too??

Dah wan dah jeh stress o!

meaning...??

Military pressure and stress can be devastating. Having a spouse away for long deployments or even TDY can stress marriages. Also, solderis are really paid all that well so that's another source of stress. Finally, militsary orgs generally do a horrible job of paying attention to a soldier's psychological and emotional well-being. Their job is to cultivate killers -- not to develop one's emotional IQ.

please give us some of that abbreviated women's right talk.. so we can learn.. ime i want know.. so my mouth can be sharp

krazzy wrote:

.........wish there was some way to institutionalized this in the training.

Concerned and progressive folks should make these concerns known to minister samukai and his deputy minister warrick. I imagine warrick definitely would understand this because he served honorably in the US military for quite some time. He's a smart brother.