Can you serve as a soldier if you have food allergies?

In the vast majority of cases, people with a clear history of food allergies are unable to pass the military draft physical examination and are ineligible for enlistment.

Two years ago, I helped the local recruitment office sort out military discharge files, and I met a young man from Shandong who had been allergic to peanuts since he was a child. He usually avoided eating peanuts and occasionally developed rashes. He never had a serious reaction. When he signed up, he deliberately concealed his allergic history for fear of getting stuck in his neck. It was not detected during the initial examination. It turned out that he had just been in the army for 10 days and had a cold salad made in the cafeteria. The lotus root slices were sprinkled with some chopped peanuts and Titian. Within ten minutes of eating, he couldn't breathe and his face turned red. The health team couldn't handle it and took him to the resident hospital. He was diagnosed with laryngeal edema caused by a severe allergic reaction. After he was rescued, he followed the procedure and retired from the army. Not only did he go through more than ten days of recruit training in vain, but relevant records were also left in the file. The gain outweighed the loss.

Some people may think that I can just pay attention to the taboos, but why should I be so strict? It’s not that the army is unkind. After all, the food supply of the army is unified. The cooking class has to ensure that there are dozens to hundreds of people eating. It is impossible to adjust recipes and separate kitchen utensils specifically for individual allergic people. Not to mention that when it comes to tasks such as field training and emergency rescue and disaster relief, the supply of food is already tight. How can we have the conditions to check allergens for you one by one? If an allergic attack occurs at the critical moment of the mission, it may be as severe as being unable to keep up with the team's progress, or as severe as anaphylactic shock, which is directly life-threatening and impairs the entire team's mission execution.

In the past two years, many people have been discussing whether the standards can be appropriately relaxed. For example, some people are only allergic to avocados and truffles, which are extremely rare foods that rarely appear in regular military meals, and have never had severe allergic reactions such as shock or laryngeal edema. Can this be relaxed based on the situation? However, in the current physical examination standards for military conscription, a clear history of food allergy is still listed as a disqualification. After all, the risks are uncontrollable, and no one can bear the responsibility if something goes wrong.

If you really plan to join the military and are not sure whether your allergies can pass the review, it is best to go to the local military recruitment office with the allergen test report from a regular hospital in advance for consultation. Don't hide your medical history by taking chances. In the end, you will be the one who suffers.