gulf war syndrome -drepression

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (MP1978) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:52:47 GMT

Thanks for the support eagle7. I wish my son was the only trooper who has fallen into this hole. Because of my job I see alot of people and one of my clients is another young troop who is waiting on his determination also. The vehicle he was in was hit by an IED and he has a dislocated disc in his back, PTSD as well as TBI and a couple other more minor complaints. He was discharged in March and has recently received a similar letter but still no monitary help. If this type of stuff is...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (eagle7) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:21:09 GMT

Your son is entitled to all the disability compensation retroactive to the date he submitted his paperwork. In other words, Uncle Sam will owe your son a lot of back compensation.

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (MP1978) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:14:28 GMT

Hi all,

Latest update on Adam. The VA finally got around to sending him a letter saying, They have determined all his medical problems are service connected. He still hasn't gotten the letter from the neurologist which will allow him to get his drivers license back. He did go talk to the guy where he had a job till the state pulled his license. The guy has really been going to bat for him with the corperation and says he will give him his job back as soon as the license issue is...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (eagle7) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:44:05 GMT

In my experience the common leadership philosophy was that regulations were rules that were followed only when convenient or used as a tool to punish someone that the chain of command was gunning for. I firmly believe that many of the officers and NCOs were too lazy to read the regs. They would attempt to pull crap and become very angry when the SJA would shoot them down. This fact was affirmed when I served in the training environment at Ft Knox, where the commissioned chain of command and...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (7GREEN) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:27:19 GMT

Follow the regs, Eagle7? What are regs? The only regulations I've ever seen followed were those applying to uniforms,haircuts, and the wearing of decorations. Oh yes, medics could not could be acquired through OJT, the had to be school trained. Everything else, people ignored the regs or made up their own. One time I helped the baker prepare the rolls and desserts for Thanksgiving. I had never been to Cook's and Baker's School, I had no food handlers' certficate, but someone...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (MP1978) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:17:04 GMT

Hi guys and gals,

When Adam was at FOB Cobra at times he was a m-2 gunner in a Humvee. That's when he was exposed to a RPG explosion. In a way he did a Pres Bush dodging a boot thing. The RPG missed his head by what he says was a foot and a half and blew up a vehicle behind him. The shock wave smacked him into his turret. Then during his second deployment he had the tail end of his truck blown off by a mortar that landed 10m. to the rear of it. Then he had another one land about...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (stantheman1986) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:25:15 GMT

OMG, stories like that just make me want to put my fist through a window! I know, because I have seen both sides of the coin........slackers and liars who never did _____ getting out with 80% disability for injuries they had well before they joined the Army, and others they just make up. Other soldiers I have seen , getting used up and thrown away because they have legit service-related injuries including those from blasts from IED's. Who knows what long-term effects on the brain these...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (eagle7) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:30:24 GMT

Jimbo, this is an outrage!!!! How in the $^%&@#$$ did the Army toss your son out in 5 days???? He may have been eligible for medical retirement for being disabled. He must not let DA catagorize his condition as "bipolar"! As you suspect, the Army is trying to cut it's liability by insinuating he had a "pre-existing condition". That is a common dodge they use to avoid giving a soldier medical retirement or a service related disability. If I were you I would contact...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (MP1978) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:46:15 GMT

Hi guys and gals,

I've been following this post closely and it is difficult to respond to because it's hitting very close to home. Stan, I feel your pain. I'm sure the infantry is difficult. That MOS catches all the guys who couldn't cut it in other job skills. However, try being an MP. You have to put up with all the idiots who can't behave themselves as well as all the idiots making time till retirement within your own ranks. Every holiday finds more MP's...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (eagle7) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:49:31 GMT

Look at it this way, you are getting life experiences that the average civilian your age may never get. If you can get through a hitch in the military (especially the infantry) more or less intact physically and mentally, you can pretty much weather any storm.

I remember way back when you were talking on this forum about joining up and going infantry. Some of the other guys and I tried to talk you out of going into that MOS. Although I served as a 19D, I had some interaction with...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (stantheman1986) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:51:43 GMT

Well, I just got back from having to drive a guy to the Psychiatric Ward at the hospital here in Watertown. This guy, who's a one tour veteran and is going through a divorce, etc. is now saying if he "stays in the army any more he'll start killing people" He's a faker and a milker, and just wants a speedier exit from the army because his med board for a hernia isn't going through fast enough. So now he gets to spend the weekend in a little cell in the hospital. I had...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (7GREEN) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:33:03 GMT

The marrieds didn't get a pass on weekend duty when I was on AD 1966-1972 and again 1977-1981. The only people exempt from weekend duty-or duty in general-were the company clerks, the mechanics, the cooks, in HHC the medics-they had their own duty roster, some of the people in the commo section-again, had their own duty roster. The 1SG made up the duty roster, you pulled it, that was that, about the only way you got out of was by being VERY sick. Or you paid someone to take your place....

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (eagle7) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:47:31 GMT

I think your squad leader is lucky that he didn't make it through Recruiter School. I know about a dozen NCOs that were branch detailed to Recruiter Duty, and they did NOT paint a favorable picture of what it was like. In their experience a recruiting station is a cross between a sweatshop and Stalinist Russia. If you achieve your monthly quota of enlistments (called "making mission") your bosses leave you alone; if you don't they make your life hell. Think of the movie...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (stantheman1986) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:04:39 GMT

Yeah, it's pretty bad. I had to "keep the ball rolling" to get a guy charged with larceny, identity theft, forgery and some other stuff and after 3 months he's finally being started on chapter paperwork, and likely all he'll get is a general discharge although the CO is pushing for a Bad Conduct. He somehow obtained another soldier's (also in my squad) credit card number and used it to buy a bunch of stuff online.

Mental burnout is increasingly common, I...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (eagle7) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:37:21 GMT

Jackbull, IIRC there was a computer program to electronically do the DA 6 but I didn't trust it. I always preferred to get the old #2 pencil out and update the matrix myself. I always kept the original in my locked office. Once one of my NCOs did a little "skillcraft magic" on the posted copy but that scheme didn't work out for him. When I went to ANCOC in 1993 they didn't teach the DA 6; I guess they didn't think an E-7 needed to know how to do a duty roster.
...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (Jackbull49) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:46:13 GMT

The bad thing with the Army is they do not teach the Duty Roster, DA Form 6 until ANCOC(probably called something else by now) and most E-5s have PLDC if they are lucky,

Duty Rosters are supposed to be posted, but any good Latrine Barrister will post the immediate roster on the Company board and keep the actual DA Form 6 in a folder on his desk, (by now they probably permit electronic forms on disk). Bad practice which leads to monkeyshines.
The worst part is it...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (eagle7) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:48:03 GMT

Stantheman, it's taken you three years to reach the same point of being burned out that I reached after 12 years. It really makes me sad that the Army still doesn't know how to treat soldiers.

I feel your resentment over married guys not being on the duty roster on the weekends. I was a single NCO living in the barracks for the first 10 years of my career. Married NCOs getting a...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (Jackbull49) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:41:33 GMT

As a retired 1SG let me say to you, yes indeed you do have a lot of stress, anybody in any MOS who is looking at deployments every 22 month for the near future is stressed.

As far as your living conditions go, here is an idea. If there is a college near you at Ft Drum run an add to students here on a student visa asking for a marriage of convience. If they agree, write up a pre-nup, that will grant them citizenship and get you out of the barracks, you can split some of the...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (stantheman1986) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:02:50 GMT

I have more mental stress from being back here in garrison than I ever had in Iraq. And no doubt I have some kind of mental trauma from being overseas, not anywhere near the guys who saw action in Vietnam, Korea, WWII and elsewhere in "real" wars , I have the greatest respect for those guys and can't imagine how hard it must have been for them. But I still had the daily missions for a year, the constant thought that anything could happen today and some wierd occurence could...

Re: gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (ParrisIsland79) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:12:24 GMT

dou 44 wrote:
he finaly went to see a doctor and was told he needed meds because he is bi-polar .will see how everything goes with it.

These guys have all offered some great food for thought.

Another battle I found was confusion within myself about what they were telling me was wrong with me, so patience on my part was a wrestling match. I saw a great MD General Practitioner first, who was wise...

gulf war syndrome -drepression

feeds@yuku.com (dou 44) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:57:07 GMT

just courious if some one has one or the other and they see a doctor and the doctor comfirms it what will happen to their gun rights.i thought i read somewhere that you lose them.but my memory is not as good as it was i have friend i worry about sometimes because of mood swings