No tattoos, either, as military raises recruiting standards


Sunday, April 23, 2006; Posted: 11:07 p.m. EDT (03:07 GMT)

SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- No drug users, no tattoos, no heavy snorers.
China's military is tightening its standards for recruiting potential officers as it adjusts to changing social trends, ordering drug and psychological tests, among other new requirements, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Monday, citing a military health official.


The People's Liberation Army headquarters released the new recruitment rules Sunday, it said.


Recruits with fashionable tattoos will be barred from military schools, although traditional tattoos of ethnic minorities will be allowed if they are not too obvious when the recruit is wearing summer shorts, Li Chunming, the army health official, was cited as saying.


"Tattoos will tarnish the military's image, even the scars of removed tattoos," Li said.


Heavy snorers will also be banned, he said. The report did not say how the army would test for that problem.


The report cited an unnamed official as saying that the army began requiring urine tests for drugs because of a surge in the number of young Chinese drug users.


The psychological assessment will involve a written test followed by an interview for those who perform well enough, the report cited Miao Danmin, a professor with the Psychology Research Institute of the Fourth PLA Medical College, as saying.


"The army has specific requirements for its officials with regard to personality and mental health. The test will help teenagers make the right decision," Miao said.

that's funny.

an interesting note is that China is raising the standard for enlistees into it's military. On the other hand, the United States is lowering the standard.

I can hear it now, " lights out, ready, cease snoring, hooah!"

HAHA! And chinese umm....crazy rules.

Thats because its hard to sleep when 4,000,000 at your base are snoring.

In usa base,

" no snoring, no good ",

very true,

Gee. Testing for drug use. Who'da thunk it.

I don't really understand the tattoo thing, though. Seems like a perfectly reasonable display of esprit de corp to me. I can understand not wanting obscene or excessive tattooing, but banning it entirely? I guess when you draw from a pool of 350 million you can afford to be picky.

Originally Posted by Doody

an interesting note is that China is raising the standard for enlistees into it's military. On the other hand, the United States is lowering the standard.

They've been reading the forum and taking notes.

just pathetic.