Shocking soldier story....?

Question

I found this story so sad. Please read:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070409/kors
This poor soldier along with many others were robbed of everything thanks to the military, government, and war. Discharged without health benefits or pension after risking their lives and nearly giving them for our country. Makes me sick to my stomach. You all know the military does profound mental checks before signing people up. So it is completely ludacris for them to use this "pre-existing condition" nonsense. They ruin soldiers lives just to save money when they are the reason they are messed up in the first place. Our military, govt, and president doesn't give a sh*t about the troops. In their opinion they don't have lives, families, or futures. To them all they are is a number and a pawn in their game of chess. :(

Michael: I love this country that is why I am so concerned and saddened by this and why I am passing it along. I do not want to go anywhere else.

Maggie: Yes, considering the source could be bias might explain the way the story is portrayed and why but doesn't change the facts of these troops being screwed. I don't care how they attack the military the important part to me is the troops themselves.

Answer 1

Troop care after deployment is getting better everyday, it took them almost a year and a half to get my stuff taken care of, they left me broke, lost my records, it cost me my marriage, times were hard, no one would listen, the care wasnt there, and now that i made a lot of waves, my units acting battalion commander wrote a long letter full of lies to the army and i was forced to travel to ft leanord wood, 942 miles round trip, just to be told that i didnt need to be there, what a joke, all for the love of country, thats why I serve, I dont have to like the people

Answer 2

Your love for your country & respect for your military is so obvious. I am sorry for Mr Town but his true illness can not be made by people with no real facts. Someone with a personality disorder would not be the best judge of what happened. He admits not being able to remember things a.k.a. where he is going, what he heard or said (his words).
Personality disorders often do not appear until adulthood.
My sister was diaginoised & had her 1st episode at 43 yrs old. If the soldier was not showing sypthoms, but started to then the contract would stand. People do not develop as adults but the syptoms can. Personality disorders ruin peoples lives whether military or civilians. He can appeal his discharge & prove them wrong or contact social security for disability pay. Whining to fake liberal news groups & made veteran groups does not help his cause.
Our military are not used as pawns, & the USA is not trying to save a few dollars which compared to the military budget this would be. If the paid every veteran with a personality disorder, it would not amount to enough to take the bad press from liberal reporters or the whining from anti-military people. It is a fairness issue - the contracts are in English & written very easy to understand. If a soldier takes the wrong discharge to get out of military quickly & stay out of Iraq, it is not the goverment's fault.

Answer 3

Okay, so far I'm halfway through reading it, and even though it is coming from The Nation, I am disgusted. Not just by the Army, but by the VA and our government.

These soldiers are risking their lives in combat. Soldiers wake up each day not knowing whether or not that that day, will be their last. Soldiers go to bed not knowing if they'll wake up to see morning.

Sadly, some do get wonded-like Specialist Town. This solider had a bomb explode 2 feet above his head leaving him knocked out on the ground with shrapnel in his neck causing slight deafness....how in this world is the Army and a medical board going to consider that a self inflicted wound?

WTF!? I certainly know this does not and will never happen with the Air Force, Navy and Marines.

The Army has yet to realize that saving a life is more valuable than saving money.

Answer 4

Oh please.....this article is so slanted I had to cock my head to the side to read the drivel....Granted the kid took a hit to the rock and suffered some kind of damage--who wouldn't??
However, upon being discharged, he can ask for a medical review and he can fight for this to be changed on his DD214.

To accuse the government of ruining someone's life to save some money is ludicrous and reckless.
"Oh yeah, I have an idea. Let's save money by telling these guys with head trauma that it was a pre-existing, and then we can REALLY screw them by taking ALL their benefits! Yeah, high five on the Mr. President! Woohoo!!"

As a civilian, you don't even have half the access to the info out there and what's going on. You read something and think it's the Gospel truth because, well we all KNOW that the press wouldn't dare take a normal situation and make it into something sensational to get someone to read their paper/magazine.....no never would they do that....


Edit to add: My soldier went out in the field as a trucker driver all over that country. SHE was shot at multiple times a day. She witnessed convey's get blown up in front of her. Watched several females die. She had an IED blow her truck to pieces, she was shot. She has hearing loss, she had shrapnel in her beautiful face. She has PTSD severely, she has some other issues as well.
She works every single day now that she's home. She's got all this stuff going on, has 50% disability........she's not been forced out. She refuses to leave. According to her, she's got a job to do.

Answer 5

simply by fact it has a tendency to be the British squaddies shot by making use of American's as unfavorable to the Iraqi's in so-referred to as friendly hearth. whether you have agreed to pass to conflict, it incredibly is nevertheless terrible that somebody has died no count number the circumstances. you won't be particuarly affected, yet once you adore that person you would be- even nevertheless you recognize the hazards, it incredibly is nevertheless undesirable. many roles entail attainable: police, hearth centers, and diverse life circumstances can too. basically say, in view which you knew you had heart disease and have been having a life saving operation the place you could die- does no longer make it any much less complicated or much less tragic for those in case you probably did in reality die. Have some empathy and attempt to much less exsistensial.

Answer 6

It is really wonderful to have people like you supporting our troops Nellie. It is true our govt. is using our troops as a game of chance. He sends them to foreign lands instead of protecting our own soil from radical Muslims, terrorists and militias. He is completely concerned about US being the only superpower; he is extremely thirsty for Arab oil and what else, jealous of countries developing nuclear power. I wonder why he has to put his dirty nose on every other country’s problems like Iraq, Afghan and Somalia. As a member of G8 and a big power, IT SHOULD SHOW GOOD EXAMPLES TO WEAKER AND SMALLER COUNTRIES. Ethiopia is already copying US strategy by occupying Somalia 4 peaceful purpose and now Turkey is trying to invade Iraq from the other side! Bush is never concerned of our troops dying every day in foreign lands.

Answer 7

The guy above me is just upset that his balls didn't drop yet.

And just for the record, say, inside knowledge, the military doesn't really do "profound mental checks" before enlisting.

I am in no way saying that this guy actually had the disorder they are claiming, or that even if he did that is an excuse to strip him of benefits, I'm just correcting your information.

Answer 8

I know the Nation is very liberal, but you can't just make up these kinds of numbers. Dismissing this story just because of the source is to be willfully ignorant. 5600 personality disorders being discovered AFTER combat injuries seems suspect to me.

We should be writing our congressmen and demanding they look into the legitimacy of this story and if necessary, make the appropriate changes.

If true, I wonder to what extent this is a reflection of the Bush Administration's values.

Answer 9

in harpers last month i saw some stats that demonstrated that the military denies disability benefits to over 75% of those who request them.

they deny far more now than they did in 2001.

sorry, the military does not deserve the flower of our youth...

Answer 10

It was a good laugh, nothing more. Tell me when you find a reputable source for this information and shove the ignorant propaganda where it belongs.