gulf war syndrome -drepression

0 Kudo

Forum Jump

Author	Comment
stantheman1986		#21	[-]
Posts: 5448 (07/17/09 05:51 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	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 to sit in there with him for 6 hours today until the social worker told me I could leave. He was a pretty good soldier at one point, he was a CPL who had passed the board and was promotable, he had some attitude problems here and there and recently got arrested for getting in a fight at a bar, and then the CO had to come to the barracks (he lives off post though, wierd they brought him to the b's) and then he said he was going to kill the CO. So, now he's playing crazy looking for a way out........also this week we had 8 guys pop hot for drugs on a recent drug test we did 2 weeks ago. And I'm stuck in the middle of all this madness still attempting to be a "responsible E-5". I never wanted a career out of this, and it was never just a job for me, I wanted to serve and do may part, but my effort to serve is just costing me a big toll in frustration The day can't come fast enough when I can have a regular job, regular life and just try to live my life and enjoy my hobbies.....
eagle7		#22	[-]
Posts: 4001 (07/18/09 06:49 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	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 Infantry units, and at that time I noted a certain mentality and leadership styles that made me thankful I went into the Armor field. It's always sad when a formerly good soldier goes bad. I hate to say it but usually when that happens the root cause is woman trouble, either an ugly divorce or a nutty girlfriend (or both). Eight guys coming up hot shows a failure of leadership. Either morale and discipline has eroded due to the command environment, or your unit has not been testing in accordance with the standards. I have noted in my career that when a unit has a haphazard urinalysis program, people are tempted to try their luck. When the unit finally gets a 100% urinalysis conducted to standard a disproportionate number of guys get caught. What's your CO going to do with them? Surely he isn't going to sweep it under the carpet. I remember back in 2001 or 2002 the DA policy reference hot urinalysis results changed, and anyone caught was processed for a Chapter 14 discharge, not just E-5s and above.
MP1978		#23	[-]
Posts: 172 (07/19/09 03:46 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	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 at work because there are so many others out "enjoying themselves." Then you have the female MP's who somehow end up with menstral cramps every time there are extra duties or holidays only later to be seen out having a great time. I can't even begin to fathom what it's like during a war time enviroment and people being people, I'm sure none of those other things I've mentioned have changed much and there are even more reasons to be idiots or slackers. Now, the real reason for my post. Most of you can remember that my middle son has been in the Army for the past seven years. On his first deployment to Iraq he was stationed at FOB Cobra and a member of a Rapid Reaction Force with the 101st. His returning medical exam showed he was diagnosed with PTSD and supposedly undeployable. None the less he was rotated to a unit in Germany and within 8 months that unit was deployed and he was sent along. I think he could have stayed back because returning troops are supposed to get a year between deployments but then that wouldn't have been Adam and he agreed to go for a second deployment. I still don't understand how his CO allowed this to happen with his medical report. He wasn't refered counciling or to medical for meds. All the CO asked is, How are you doing?" Of course Adam said, I'm doing great sir. It's beyond me as to how a CO could take a Sgt's word as to his medical condition over that of doctors. He was unable to sleep and most of the time pulling two shifts so he wouldn't get bored and he couldn't sleep anyway. Of course the guy doing the roster was ticled pink because he always had a go to guy. As it turned out one day in the mess hall he started having seisures. They did a brain scan and he was experiencing Epileptic brain wave patterns. Then he had a MRI and there were also places in his brain that showed TBI (traumantic brain injury). In both of his deployments he was subjected to morter and RPG blasts. His last station was in Ballad at LSA Anaconda nicknamed Mortaritaville. They also want to say he is Bi-polar but I think that's just a way to get out of giving him a disability. He also has some hearing loss and a broken tailbone to top it off. After the Army decided that he wasn't a quick fix they put him out in five days without a determination of disability. He was told the VA would determine his percentage of disability and they claim to be behind six to eight months in that proccess. Now just how is a guy with a wife and daughters supposed to support his family like this. The whole bunch moved in with us and he found a job as a mechanics helper. Well the state of Fl. found out he had seisures and suspended his drivers license which cused him to lose his job because the VA is dragging their feet and getting him to a neuro-surgeon who can sign off on the paper work for him to get his license back. The only light I've seen lately has been a little retired Major (God love her) who helps with these issues for the DAV. She has gotten the ball rolling to where he's at least getting his medical needs satisfied but we are still waiting for a visit to the neuro-surgeon. We just recently got a paper stating all his medical problems were service connected but still no determination of disability percentage. It angers me to no end that when he wasn't any good to them any longer they tossed him and his family out like the trash. BTW he was discharged in FEB...Jimbo
eagle7	This makes my blood boil!!!	#24	[-]
Posts: 4005 (07/19/09 04:30 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	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 your congressman and US senators. Start a Congressional inquiry into your son's case.....it stinks to high heaven. I guarantee having politicians digging into this matter will make a whole bunch of "green suiters" real nervous real quick. edit. Your son SHOULD have been medically boarded through the MMRB/MEB/PEB process. He should have gone directly to the PEB stage where a medical board would have determined his percentage of disability, and if the disability warranted medical retirement.. When I was a 1SG I processed a number of soldiers through the medical separations board because of spine and knee injuries that would never heal 100%, and also sleep apnea. Doesn't anyone follow the regs anymore?????? Last Edited By: eagle7 07/19/09 04:42 PM. Edited 1 times.
stantheman1986		#25	[-]
Posts: 5467 (07/19/09 06:25 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	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 will have in years down the road for these guys, I was lucky enough to not get severely blasted except by a frag grenade that was thrown at me while I was a gunner in a Humvee turret. No, there is no follow-up or check up after you get blasted unless you are injured, which I wasn't. There's even a "re-deployment survey" that you take before you even leave Iraq, and another within 30 days of returning home. Questions like "Have you ever been exposed to explosive blasts" "Have you ever seen non-coalition personnel killed by small arms or explosives" "Have you seen dead bodies" "Have you been shot at" "Have you shot at someone" "have you had contact with local civilians who may have been carrying TB"etc. etc. and then you answer yes to all of these, and there's no follow up except some Major who asks if you want to be scheduled to talk to someone and of course I was like "No I'm good" and that's it. I don't have any mental issues besides frustration and feeling trapped but who knows how I will feel years down the road after I get out and "decompress" from all this constant stress. I just hate to hear these stories like MP1978's, it does make me angry and it's always the good people who get screwed and the schemers who get away with everything. I see it everyday. I don't regret joining the army, or the Infantry, but I sure as hell ain't staying in. I am glad I got the chance to serve overseas, those days were actually good and I have a lot of pretty good memories of being overseas, the hard times sucked bad but a lot of us sucked together and it made it OK. All the guys I liked though, who I was close to, ETS'd as soon as we got back. I have a few freinds these days, but most of the people I "grew up" with in my days in Iraq have left and continued on with their lives. I haven't really started to feel just totally unmotivated until fairly recently in the past few months and I just keep hoping it will pass. I have a 3-week JRTC in Ft. Polk coming up, then a few months in garrison, then 5-6 months in Iraq and I fly home to start clearing for my ETS in August 2010.You guys are right, after all this nothing is that hard anymore, the new guys are stressing JRTC OMG 3 weeks! but I'm like "whatever get it over with......... I am already starting to slowly move stuff out, and it makes me feel a WHOLE lot better mentally to actually be able to do so, such as bringing my 40" TV home for my parents to use, because I can do without it for 4 months. Less for me to worry about, and it's more of a mental clearance that I can actually start bringing stuff home. I have been to Balad, only briefly though, on my way to FOB Speicher. I'm pretty sure it was Balad, or that Balad is the airbase and Speicher is the Army side of it, either way I was only there for about a week. I spent my time at small FOBs no one has heard of, that were closed down and turned over to the IA's now, such as FOBs McHenry and Bernstein. I was close to FOB Warrior/Kirkuk regional airbase and was there quite a bit, it was only about an hour drive, more or less, by convoy from either FOB. I know what it's like to get mortared it sure as hell isn't fun or exciting. One mortar round at Warrior killed 4 Filipino workers about 100 yards from where I was at. Another one at a small patrol base put shrapnel in a 1SG, he came out OK though.
MP1978		#26	[-]
Posts: 173 (07/20/09 08:17 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	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 20m. to the front of him but on the other side of a burm. He didn't get any shrapnel but did get knocked off his feet by the shock wave. His units compound was straight across the street from the burn pits and he says at times the smoke was so thick and black you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. He told the doctor who knows what they were burning there. Once Adam was sent to Landstuhl and being treated we pretty much thought he was going to be put out eventually so his wife started the paper work for her and the girls to come home. After his family came home I believe he was being messed with hard in his unit and Adam wasn't dealing with it very well. He was on seven different meds at the time and I think his CO was still being a pain so he tried to commit suicide by taking a bunch of his meds. One of his buds came by his room and found him. They pumped the drugs out and he recovered but he was put in the psych ward. While he was there his CO came to see him and said. "OK, I see there is a real problem here." and it was after that his papers were proccessed and they sent him home like I initially said. I still think he had one sorry SOB for a commander. I'm sure there is other stuff that was said or done that I don't know about...Jimbo
7GREEN		#27	[-]
Posts: 649 (07/21/09 11:27 PM) Veteran member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	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 knew I liked to bake, the CSM asked me to help, I said, sure, why not? Everybody enjoyed what I made, nobody got sick....
eagle7		#28	[-]
Posts: 4012 (07/22/09 10:44 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	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 drill sgts daily proved to me that they were totally ignorant of the most basic TRADOC regulations. When I would read them the regs, they would attempt to say the regs were just "guidelines". Imagine their surprise when some cadre members got burned for "dating" female ROTC cadets, and the anti-fraternizing regulations weren't considered merely "guidelines". Funny you should mention non-school trained soldiers preparing chow. When I was stationed at Camp Pelham in South Korea in 1994-95, the cooks routinely had people on KP duty preparing food rather than just working on the serving line and scrubbing pots and pans. A newly assigned 1SG walked into the chowhall one morning and saw the soldiers that he had put on KP duty frying eggs, preparing grits, etc... He had a conniption fit and went to the CSM with the food preparation regs. That was the last day any KPs cooked food.
MP1978		#29	[-]
Posts: 184 (08/26/09 07:14 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	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 resolved. His ex boss is very Iraq War vet helpful. Still no determination as to percentage of dissability compensation. I can see how a vet with mental problems could go postal with the way the Gov. drags their feet. Guys could feel they just aren't being treated right. To Adams credit he's still pro military and states that they will eventually do right by him. He really did love it and that's all he ever wanted since he was about 3 years old...Jim
eagle7		#30	[-]
Posts: 4075 (09/03/09 12:21 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	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.
MP1978		#31	[-]
Posts: 186 (09/03/09 06:52 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	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 happening within my little circle just how much is going on military wide? To this young soldiers credit he also states his love of country and duty to it. By his statements he would still be standing a post just like my son has stated. I think they both are hero's who have paid a physical price for our country. I just wish those in charge of it could see the same things I do...Jim

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

Add Reply

C&R Dealer Links	General Related Links
The Member's Map	The Gun Control Forum

Yuku free message boards

Veterans of Military Service Forum

gulf war syndrome -drepression

Quick Reply