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Posted

He's probably asking about the dozen HIV cases per base. If true, that's a surprising statistic.

I'm not trying to compare the military demographic to DC, but if you want a shocking look at just how common aids is, take a gander at how many cases there are in the capitol city.
Posted

post-17593-139878575694_thumb.jpgAttached is a slide from this briefing: https://www.cdc.gov/std/treatment/2010/Military-Webinar-slides.pdf

This shows the percentage of NEW cases every year. It doesn't include the AF numbers, but we're about the same as everyone else. Total percentage of all personnel in the US Military is around 0.25%--the exact rate frequently fluctuates due to separations, retirements, and new cases. In contrast, the US general population is between 0.3-0.5%, depending on the estimate (about 1 in 6 personnel with HIV don't know they are positive, so the numbers are fuzzy). Further, the US prison population has the highest incidence, at around 2%.

Know that Men who have Sex with Men (MSM, yes that is the official term) are about 2% of the total US population. This statistic is only founded in the behavior of the population, not whether they self-identify as Homosexual, Heterosexual, or Bisexual. However, that 2% account for about 62% of all new HIV cases annually. Intravenous Drug Users (IDU, people that might share needles for illegal substances) account for about 5% of all new HIV cases, but are only around 0.5% of the total US population. That means the remaining 33% of all new HIV cases are contracted by the rest of the population, that is persons that are not IDU's and heterosexual or Women who have Sex with Women (WSW).

It is unknown how closely this translates to the US military population, as homosexuality has not been openly allowed in the US military for very long. Also, the reporting and tracking of such detailed demographics differs by the individual state Public Health agencies. The US military obviously reports and tracks all transmittable diseases, but they don't include these behavioral data points.

So what should you do? In order:

Do not use illegal intravenous drugs and/or share needles

Enter a long-term monogamous relationship, especially for MSM

Use male condoms (or another barrier device) whenever you have sexual contact

Limit your sexual partners to very few people.

Posted

Know that Men who have Sex with Men (MSM, yes that is the official term) are about 2% of the total US population.

Approximately 2% of all USAF officers fly the Eagle.

  • Upvote 16
Posted

So what should you do? In order:

Do not use illegal intravenous drugs and/or share needles

Enter a long-term monogamous relationship, especially for MSM

Use male condoms (or another barrier device) whenever you have sexual contact

Limit your sexual partners to very few people.

You'd think they'd cover this in SABC.

  • Upvote 1
Posted

I'm not trying to compare the military demographic to DC, but if you want a shocking look at just how common aids is, take a gander at how many cases there are in the capitol city.

Not to quibble, but HIV does not equal AIDS...

Posted

Unlikely. My guess is something to treat an STD. There is gouge floating around that your commander will be informed if the doc finds out you have an STD. I know this is true for HIV, not sure about less serious STDs. If a guy is married and caught something, you could see why he wouldn't want to take a chance, especially if his chain of command doesn't like him.

I doubt this is true for STDs. They could never prove who gave it to who (i.e. whether or not the cheating spouse was the AF-member or non-AF-member).

Posted

I doubt this is true for STDs. They could never prove who gave it to who (i.e. whether or not the cheating spouse was the AF-member or non-AF-member).

The scenario I was imagining was somebody getting a nasty surprise while executing the "what goes TDY stays TDY" technique and addressing it off-base before their spouse found out. But what matters sometimes isn't the facts (it is highly unlikely the MDG will inform your CC you got the clap); it's the bad gouge that is being believed and guys making bad decisions based off that. I appreciate deaddebate sharing the correct answer.

Posted

I can't testify to the entire base but I did track down one of the crew members who was transiting Dover. They were supposed to download and fuel then return to their home base after coming from overseas. They ended up crewresting at Dover because it took so long to test the entire crew and others.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Posted

Fortunately, we'll soon be replacing the piss test with lasers.

So you're telling me I should invest in anti-laser cream now...before the rush?

  • Upvote 1

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