Current Department of Defense policy designates any history of asthma after age 13 as disqualifying for service in any branch of the United States Armed Forces. This is the case even if an applicant does not currently suffer from asthma or does not require the use of an inhaler to control breathing.
While this policy has a very valid goal: ensuring that physically unfit individuals are sent into combat, its application is so broad that it limits the availability of otherwise qualified recruits. As technology plays an ever-growing role in defense, our military needs greater flexibility to recruit those with the aptitude necessary for the US to maintain its role as the world's premier military power.
We ask that history of asthma be reevaluated as a disqualification to military service.