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A lie detector test! I overthought the questions and am now worried that I won't ever be able to pass. My blood pressure rises when they take my blood pressure, and this is way feakier. Technically I didn't fail, they just couldn't get a read on me. I realize this is really fractured, but I'm really concerned. Which is why they couldn't get a read in the first place. This sucks.
Posts: 1156 | Registered: Jan 2004
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Lucky. I would feel better knowing if it's just impossible to test some people. Those of us that overthink everything and get unbelievably nervous when strapped to stuff. I hate having junk hanging over my head.
Posts: 1156 | Registered: Jan 2004
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That's the unfairest part of the whole dealy. My current position is hinged on an inaccurate science!
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That's really unfortunate. I'm sorry to hear it. Can you re-take the test, if the result was simply inconclusive?
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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Time for meditation techniques! Waste no time or worry on how stupid this is. (You're in the military... it's supposed to be stupid.) Just focus on how to pass it.
Try breathing deeply and slowly, and letting it out very slowly for about 10 minutes before the test. Like count to eight on the inhale and maybe 12 or 16 on the exhale. Breathe to the full capacity of your lungs, both inward and outward. Concentrate your mind on something peaceful. Perhaps imagine you are at the beach. Watch the waves crash onto the shore. Release every tightness from anywhere in your whole body, particularly your brain. Relax your eyes and let them lose focus. Feel the backs of your eyeballs grow slack and heavy. Feel each section of your brain loosen and release all the thoughts and feelings that are there. Empty yourself completely. If a stray thought enters your head, just gently let it go. Practice in advance doing this in a quiet place for about half an hour at a time, and you will get better and better at it. Then you will be able to do it immediately before the test.
It's a great technique to know, in any event, and will come in quite handy before missions. I know you can pass the test. Just focus on learning how with the same dedication and expectation of success that you use on every other thing you accomplish, like your physical training and all the other parts of being a good soldier.
Let us know how it goes!
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I suspect you'd be a prime candidate for learning how to beat the test. Sorry if this one you took screws up something career-wise. But...if they truly couldn't get a read, that's not the same as "failing" is it? Surely they'll have you take it again, no?
If you have time before the retest, you can in fact learn some simple "bio-feedback" like stuff that would help you to stay calm and answer appropriately. (NOTE, it probably takes a really long time to learn to actually beat a lie detector test convincingly, but learning how to calm down enough to give validly readable responses is probably less difficult).
Controlled breathing helps.
So...is the job that's riding on this test something to do with you possibly being interrogated by enemies, or are they just trying to find out if you filled out your security clearance questionnaire truthfully?
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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While I was in they kept telling us that they were going to start doing these tests and we even had to sign pre-polygraph paperwork once a year, but to my knowledge, they never got a tester out to our post in Korea. I suppose the AF could try to get me now but I'm not too worried about it. They can have my clearance if they really want it.
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Stan, you should be fine forever. If I remember your rate correctly you're free of those dang wires forever.
Sterling - yup, but that's just one more thing hanging over my head.
You're fine Sergeant, it's a relatively new program.
Tatiana, thanks for the advice. That's exactly what I needed. Part of what screwed up the test was my erratic heartbeat, it couldn't be tracked. The meditation techniques should help me calm down.
Bob - You're right, I didn't technically fail. Failure is impossible, me not being a terrorist and all, but I sure as heck didn't pass. That seems to me to be a failure, and I've failed too many tests recently (through almost no fault of my own) to be comfortable. That's another reason I'm so twitchy.
Thanks for your suggestions and input, they really do mean a lot.
Posts: 1156 | Registered: Jan 2004
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