20-year-old is calling for changes in medical entrance conditions

An asthmatic man from Hanwell is fighting for his right to join the army.

Michael Moss, 20, has wanted to be in the Royal Engineers since being a member of the Royal Engineer Army Cadets at secondary school. However, he's been declared medically unfit for service because he has an inhaler for asthma and a minor nut allergy.

Michael believes medical entrance conditions, particularly for asthma, need reassessing. He was informed by British Army Headquarters 'that these entry standards are reviewed regularly, by specialist occupational physicians from all three Services.'

However Michael said: 'I think the standards are way too high and I don't believe that any of the three services nor the MOD have researched asthma like the Australian Defence Force (ADF) did.'

ADF candidates are scrutinised against the Asthma Management Handbook  guidelines which places applicants in one of five categories. Anyone without asthma within 3 years prior to joining are deemed fit (4 years in the British army). If a candidate has had asthma within 3 years, they are classed as either intermittent, mild persistent, moderate persistent or severe persistent. Any applicant with moderate persistent or severe persistent asthma would not be fit to join the ADF. If however the asthma is deemed to be mild, as Michael believes it is in his case, a candidate would be tested by ‘bronchial provocation testing (BPT) to assess bronchial reactivity.’

His rejection comes at a time when almost every infantry battalion is under strength, some by up to 50%. The civilian recruitment company, Capita, is coming under intense scrutiny from MPs at the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee for not being able to bridge the army personnel recruitment gap. The army’s overall troop strength dropped for an eighth year in a row.

Michael and many others in his position have joined a campaign called Right To Fight which aims to change the armed forces medical policy to make ‘the medical standards fairer, more accessible and realistic whereby each recruit is judged on their personal attributes, life experience and the ability to operate effectively.’

The founder of the Right To Fight campaign, a recruit rejected from the Special Forces for a food allergy, stated ‘Too many people come to us after being rejected from the army with manageable medical conditions which is a shame to see. In Michael’s case, he is clearly agitated by the fact he hasn’t been given the chance to prove his abilities in the Royal Engineers, and doubly so as it has been revealed  that the Royal Engineers are currently ‘missing’ 684 troops. It is people like Michael who are the solution to this armed forces recruitment crisis.’

This approach to dealing with asthma seems more realistic in the ADF as it allows people who can manage their asthma to enter the armed forces, as opposed to the blanket ban we see here in the UK. Michael believes the same standards should be seen in the British armed forces by taking the ADF’s lead.

Michael is currently working as a security guard but will attend college in September to study a BTEC in Public Service. He added 'I sincerely wish that within those 2 years there is a change in medical standards and I hope things go well in regards to the Right to Fight campaign.’

He continues to appeal his medical rejection and has the support of his local MP.

March 21, 2019