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For the last seventeen years, Kerner Syndrome children, known colloquially as humantaurs (as in the image below, having a fully functional second abdomen and second pair of legs, plus a horse-like tail complete with hair similar to scalp hair) have been born at a rate of 1 in 100,000 births. It is not yet known what causes them to be born, but they are born healthy as often as normal children despite their radically altered anatomy, and as Kerner children have matured, it has been found that they have significant advantages in athletic endeavors that involve running. Their mental capacity has not been found to be statistically different to that of children with normal anatomy. Humantaurs are genetically human and some have demonstrated the capacity to father or mother both normal and humantaur children.

Kerner Syndrome adult female

In my previous question, How would California Child Protective Services deal with a feral humantaur child?, I mentioned a humantaur boy whose father is a US Army Ranger non-commissioned officer, and whose grandfather also served in the US Army during the Vietnam war. In this question, the boy has decided that he wants to apply to West Point and become an officer in the US military.

Looking at the West Point admissions requirements, the boy would meet the age, citizenship and relationship eligibility requirements (isn't married, doesn't have kids), can obtain both congressional and service-connected nominations, being the child of an active-duty serviceman with well over the required 8 years of service.

He would be able to meet all the physical fitness requirements, even when allowing the least lenient interpretation of them considering his unusual body form, including being able to do the required pull-ups with his entire body including lifting his extended abdomen and rear legs, 40m shuttle-run crossing the line with two feet and one hand on one side of the body in about 6 s, and push-ups supported by his rear feet with his front legs crossed over his rear legs so as to not touch the ground. He can run a mile in 2 minutes.

He would pass an interpretation of the DoDMERB medical examination (PDF) that being:

“1.2 4c. Ensure that individuals under consideration for appointment, enlistment, or induction into the Military Services are:

(1) Free of contagious diseases that probably will endanger the health of other personnel

(2) Free of medical conditions or physical defects that may require excessive time lost from duty for necessary treatment or hospitalization or probably will result in separation from the Service for medical unfitness.

(3) Medically capable of satisfactorily completing required training.

(4) Medically adaptable to the military environment without the necessity of geographical area limitations.

(5) Medically capable of performing duties without aggravation of existing physical defects or medical conditions.”

... with the exceptions that his body form would cause limitations that were not geographical in nature (they would occur anywhere in the world). He would obviously not be able to perform all duties using standard equipment, since he would require modified uniforms, would not fit some vehicles (such as the pilot seat of an aircraft) particularly well but performing the duties that he is capable of performing will not aggravate any pre-existing condition.

The boy also has the confidence, intelligence and education necessary to perform well on the required college entrance exams.

He is socially adept, has had sporting leadership positions in school, is competent at wilderness survival for extended periods and has excellent marksmanship skills with firearms and bows.

However, my research shows that:

The United States Military Academy will ensure equal opportunity and fair treatment for all cadets, soldiers, and family members, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex (gender identity), or sexual orientation

This boy's potential reason for not being accepted is a medical issue, which is not covered in the statement above, quite simply that he would not fit into standard uniforms and would not fit into some vehicles and may take more room in the vehicles into which he does fit. Additionally, the fact that 'body form' is not mentioned in the equal opportunity statement is simply because he will be the first humantaur applicant to West Point or the US Military, and the language in the statement above has not previously been challenged by humantaurs.

Given this background, my question is: Would it be possible for this individual to be accepted to West Point and/or have a career in the US Military?

Please base any answers on the policies of the organizations in question. If acceptance would come down to a matter of individual choice of the admissions personnel, please state that, but do not attempt to predict what such an individual choice may be. This is not a question based on the choices of any individual other than the subject of this question's decision to apply.

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    $\begingroup$ you are asking us how politics would rule on a fictional condition, this is entirely opinion. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Jan 29 at 14:32
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    $\begingroup$ This is secondary to the question, but I would point out that this individual's body shape would make them incompatible with a lot of military equipment. Something like a military uniform might be trivial to overcome, but given the costs involved it's unlikely that a humantaur would ever operate a military aircraft directly. Anecdotally, during the Vietnam War, otherwise physically and mentally sound people (my father) were rejected from the draft due to minor physical deformities that would require modified combat gear. $\endgroup$
    – Izzy
    Jan 29 at 15:34
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    $\begingroup$ @John I didn't read it as a question of politics, but rather, military regulations. We can definitely disqualify humantaurs under current regulations. Same thing if gnomes showed up, and they were 3 feet tall. Under current regulations, they would be too short to enlist. Politics could change the regulations, but that's not the question. $\endgroup$
    – JamieB
    Jan 29 at 19:45
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    $\begingroup$ Maybe they'd be better as Canadian mounted police or Border Patrol? $\endgroup$
    – user86462
    Jan 30 at 3:50
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    $\begingroup$ The US has their panties in a twist over people only superficially off the perceived biological norm using the "wrong" public restrooms. Or being allowed into the military at all. And you think they could handle an actual second pair of legs? $\endgroup$
    – nvoigt
    Jan 30 at 9:24

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I'm going to go with No, barring a change in regulations.

The military has a long list of conditions you cannot have in order to enlist. The weight table alone would surely disqualify a humantaur, because I bet there's no way a 6 foot tall humantaur can weigh less than 200 pounds. Of course, it's not fair to hold a humantaur to human standards but the regulations don't specify.

More generally, militaries necessarily operate on a concept of "uniform". Can't be "too" anything. Too tall. Too short. Too fat. Too thin. The military wants to order all of their equipment in bulk and they can't service edge cases, even in humans. It would be a hard no on recruiting humantaurs because everything about them would be non-uniform. Humantaurs wouldn't be able to operate (or sit in) quite a lot of important military equipment.

Of course, if humantaurs become common enough, I would not be surprised to see regulations change (perhaps pressured by Congress, who in turn is being pressured by the Humantaur Civil Liberties Union), and jobs and equipment can be worked out, but for today I think the military would be eager to deny entry to humantaurs, purely because they have not worked out what that even means in terms of equipment and job placement.

e.g. you obviously cannot be a humantaur tank driver, but we also probably don't have parachutes for them in airborne operations. Nor will they fit into APCs. Or helicopter pilot seats. Probably have to take some special considerations with the toilets, too. The military would gladly avoid all of that by saying "sorry, does not meet weight requirements". For the same reason, the military will not take you if you are 7 feet tall, regardless of how perfect your health is. It's not that they dislike tall people. It's that they don't carry uniforms in that size and so much of their necessary equipment, especially vehicles, will not sit a 7 foot tall person.

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  • $\begingroup$ You wouldn't have a 6' humantaur, they'd be 7-8' standing on their hind legs... so BMI wouldn't be a problem, but height would be, of course. $\endgroup$
    – Monty Wild
    Jan 29 at 6:14
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    $\begingroup$ @MontyWild An 8-foot centauroid wouldn't even fit in many military vehicles. (Some of them barely fit regular-sized soldiers.) And then you'd have to consider what it means in terms of uniforms, equipment, rations, medical care, housing... these aren't insurmountable problems but there are a lot of them, and you'd need a lot more than one recruit before it became worthwhile to start solving them. $\endgroup$
    – Cadence
    Jan 29 at 7:21
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    $\begingroup$ Agree with this answer - physiology alone (unless all joints are ridiculously articulated) will prevent completing a number of activities on a standard obstacle course such as crawling under low strands of barbed wire. Not to mention that a standard stretcher won't fit him if he's injured and needs medevac (and would need more people to carry it), NBC suits will not fit him so military cannot meet its duty of care etc. Met one person in the Australian military who was roughly 6'8" I think and had to have all his size 18 boots custom made, that was bad enough. $\endgroup$ Jan 29 at 7:25
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    $\begingroup$ @Cadence Nice try! We all know soldiers are not allowed take off their uniforms. On wash day they all lie down and the drill sergeant sprays them with the hose. I saw it in a movie $\endgroup$
    – Daron
    Jan 29 at 21:35
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    $\begingroup$ A human doctor will also have substantial difficulty in treating a humantaur with any injury below the chest because the anatomy is clearly different. That alone will keep them out. $\endgroup$ Jan 30 at 15:54
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If the army or the authority overseeing the army sees a benefit in having them trained in the academy, they will be admitted.

It has happened with women, who before 1976 were not allowed to be enrolled, just to give an example.

Therefore, more than an evaluation on the merit of the individual candidate, it's up to the high level view of the authorities.

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To add to these answers - my first thought was 'Absolutely not - a single individual would cause major issues for standardization in the Army'

But...

The more I think about it - in terms of serving in a regular rank-and-file Army unit, this isn't realistic... An individual of extraordinary talents and capabilities may find a way to have some form of Military career... just not through the usual channels.

So I'd pick that folks like the CIA would be more than willing to 'Have a chat' and see where it goes.

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    $\begingroup$ The CIA wants people who blend in. Humantaurs, if nothing else, don't blend in. $\endgroup$
    – RonJohn
    Jan 30 at 18:20
  • $\begingroup$ @RonJohn, that depends on if the CIA is trying to infiltrate a humantaur group. The same goes for the FBI. (The CIA officially only works in foreign affairs and the FBI is strictly domestic affairs, with some specific exceptions.) $\endgroup$ Jan 30 at 21:27
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    $\begingroup$ I was thinking (to be fair) more along the lines of jungle scouting/combat, rather than being an actual spook - things where the abilities of a Humantaur being significantly better than a human would be highly advantageous. But fair points both. $\endgroup$ Jan 30 at 21:45
  • $\begingroup$ After 60 years (enough time for two generations) there will only 3300 humanitaurs in a country of 330 million. And they’re pretty darned conspicuous. $\endgroup$
    – RonJohn
    Jan 30 at 22:15
  • $\begingroup$ Horses don’t do well in jungles, because they’re big and tall. $\endgroup$
    – RonJohn
    Jan 30 at 22:21
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Probably Not

In your world these hotdog humanataurs are not unheard of. However they are extremely rare. The US army has about half a million staff. That means 5 hotdogtaurs in the army. Negligible benefit.

In return for this benefit, the army must go to the hassle of changing regulations. It must also modify training for these differently-abled people.

The army is a big old organisation full of curmudgeonly old men with loud voices and entitlement complices. They are resistant to change. Making special accommodations for some people and not others will disrupt the traditional style of military training and indoctrination.

It sounds like the question you want is Why would the army accept a humanataur?

In that case I suggest it is a publicity stunt intended to make the army seem more forward thinking and inclusive. Take a tiny minority and virtue signal by allowing them to join your ranks.

The training and discipline issue is solved by having an all-humanataur "Hotdog Squad" that is trained separately to the bipeds. Since there are only five of them, it is cheaper to set up. And they can have different colored outfits. Like the Power Rangers.

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ suprisingly, this image is not in the top 10 of images I was expecting to see today, but I appreciate it nonetheless. $\endgroup$
    – Mike Caron
    Jan 30 at 22:33
  • $\begingroup$ @MikeCaron Hotdog Squad really heats up after episode 2. $\endgroup$
    – Daron
    Jan 31 at 1:30
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Creative Tailoring.

The problem with humantaurs in the military, is the uniform does not fit. You see the uniform has one shirt and one pair of trousers (and a belt). That's two arms and two legs. The humantaur, on the other hand, has two arms and four legs. That's two extra legs.

And if your humantaur's legs look like the picture, that will not fly. No siree. We cannot have those silky smooth gam-gams in sight of our red-blooded American men and women. It will drive them wild with excitement and they will forget to finish their pushups.

What your humantaur needs is a second pair of trousers. But regulation says everyone gets one uniform and only one uniform. So their options are (a) enlist with their childhood best friend who was born without legs or (b) enlist as two people. See diagram.

enter image description here

Humantaur? No Sergeant, I have not seen any come this way. It's just little ol' me, Jenny Simmons and my identical twin sister Penny. No she doesn't talk much. She's a little shy.

When the humantaur fills out their application form, they fill out not one but two forms. They enlist as two people. The first person is real but the second is an artificially constructed person made from a pillowcase filled with straw, and balanced ever so carefully atop her flanks.

This way she gets issued two shirts and two sets of trousers. One for the real body and one for the doppleganger.

The high heels, Sergeant? They're prescription heels. For my posture.

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