Purpose of review: Our purpose is to illuminate health perspectives of adolescents in military service, who comprise the main bulk of military personnel.
Recent findings: Two views are emphasized: the soldier as a developing adolescent and the healthcare of adolescent soldiers. The capacity for abstract thinking and future planning, characteristic of late adolescence, opposes the military challenges of obedience, disengagement from the family, and potential threats for physical injury and mental stress, in addition to the requirement for responsibility beyond the individual's personal needs. On the other hand, at discharge from military service, the mature young adult faces questions of a 17-year-old adolescent. Health perspectives regarding adolescents in military service include physical and mental health screening before draft; recruiting adolescents with chronic illnesses; specific healthcare issues during service, including routine medical care, psychosocial problems of young people in service and approach to suicide and to risk behaviors; health aspects of adolescent women in military frameworks; and the dual commitment of physicians as military officers.
Summary: Professionals who care for the well-being of young people in their late teens and early 20s in military service need to consider the service period as an additional developmental stage within late adolescence that requires attention as part of the comprehensive healthcare.