As an Aspie parent of an Aspie son, I found that very hard. It's not natural for me to be interested in such things in the first place, but I tried to fit in by watching and excluding other thoughts. Eventually, I would become mildly interested. I'd try to express that interest, then realize I had done so in a way that violated the "rules". Eventually I came to the realization that my presence there did my son more harm than good.

Looking back, that situation may be as good a way as any to describe to an NT what it feels like to be Aspie ----- at least THIS Aspie.

Some of my saddest memories are of Max standing out in a soccer field with tears running down his face totally overwhelmed. He was
anxious to try each year for basketball too with the same results. Not his thing. But Karate was good for him. The sad thing was he was fast and understood the game well but when all the action started it was just too much and he just saw all these kids coming at him.

Linda

I feel for you.

This factor may be relevant to the question of whether the military makes a good career for an Aspie. The military is pretty good at making its rules explicit, which I think is what made my Aspie sister sucessful there when she could not be successful elsewhere. On the other hand, she hardly participated in the cameraderie that others (particularly war veterans) describe as the main benefit of the military life.

I live in the DC suburbs, and I was amazed at the enthusiasm of many of the military officers who were delighted with the opportunity/excuse to go to scout camp between bouts of similar military exercises. I cannot imagine my sister at camp!

In the battlefield situations that are (in a sense) the focus of military life, the soldier is expected to subordinate his concern for his own safety to the interests of his unit. I suspect that is particularly difficult for an Aspie, for reasons that relate to your description of Max on the soccer field (which I can certainly relate to from my own experience, both as a teenager myself and from watching my son).

One way and another, my own advice, for what it's worth, would be that the military is probably not a good career choice for an Aspie. My sister survived it, and one could argue that if that opportunity had not been open to her she might have died of a drug overdose or something, but survival should not be one's only ambition.