This POS lied about being a wounded warrior

[Craizie]

Is that svo??

Yes, but during his acting career.

[svauto-erotic855]

Not me; I have woollier eye brows.

[svauto-erotic855]

I do not know if it is true or not. I was just running my head. I also did not know who the person in the pic was.

[KBScobravert]

I work with a former Army cook who had 2 tours in Iraq. He never saw the inside of the kitchen while he was there. KBR saw to that. He spent most of his time on base but did go on patrols close to base with other headquarters and support folks. He is a DV and I have never asked, but I assume on PTSD or the hearing loss bandwagon. Great guy and is actually my sister in law's cousin so i could find out but I really don't care what his DV status is from.

In the 7.5 years I was there in Afghanistan and a short stint in Iraqi at Taki also, I lived through several hundred IDF attacks, several complex attacks to the FOB, survived an IED that disabled the HUMVEE I was in, got stuck at OP1 at COP Tillman where we got fired on by 3 RPGS and machine gun and SA, drove thousands of miles in Kabul during the surge of VBIEDs and had a few close incidents where one went off minutes after we passed him, the list could go on.

It has been a year tomorrow since I left for the last time and has taken time to get over a lot of the little things that used to trigger, I guess you could call it anxiety or nervous problems. But I know they were always something time would shake off. No way would I take these issues to the DBA claim process to get labeled as a disorder caused by my time there. That doesn't even include all the burn pits i was around. I have friends who have (and are veterans) but to me they were milking it for a check.

[mardyn]

PTSD is an over diagnosed crutch for too many people.

not to mention an excuse for any and all criminal behavior once they get back in society...

mardyn

[Baron Von Crowder]

It's not always the fault of the soldier either. The VA pushes that PTSD diagnosis on to a lot of people. A close friend and former co-worker was deployed with the Air Force and did one 6 month tour in Kirkuk. No issues. Our company hired him and he went right back there with me for another 2.5 years. We just coordinated poker games and alcohol sales. He went back to the Air Force (Reserves) when we closed out Iraq. They had him evaluated and he is now 60% disability rated with PTSD.

Between Agent Orange and PTSD, the VA has just rated my dad at 90% disabled. He has never gone to the VA and complained. In fact, they are the ones that called him to evaluate him.

I wonder if that's something that they are doing more frequently now? I witnessed my brother's severe PTSD, but he couldnt get anyone to give him the time of day at the VA.

[ceyko]

trigger, I guess you could call it anxiety or nervous problems.

I believe by definition that is probably PTSD.

I think anyone who spent any time in that environment, and endured those things has some level of technical "PTSD" - although I think a lot of it can be...lived with relatively easy.

Talking with some troops and knowing what some of them endured is 100% different though. I can 110% see why a good number would want to claim it and whole completely deserve anything we can provide for them - starting with counseling.

However, I'll go ahead and say it. It's like welfare, plenty abuse it. Unlike welfare though, even a shitty troop - went there, did that and so forth.

[BP]

I wonder if that's something that they are doing more frequently now? I witnessed my brother's severe PTSD, but he couldnt get anyone to give him the time of day at the VA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Health_Administration_scandal_of_2014

Shinseki was a great soldier but a horrible VA secretary. About par for Obama's original cabinet though. You know people like Hillary, Geithner, Holder and Kathleen Sebelius.

[KBScobravert]

Talking with some troops and knowing what some of them endured is 100% different though. I can 110% see why a good number would want to claim it and whole completely deserve anything we can provide for them - starting with counseling.

I wholeheartedly agree. I met the entire spectrum of troops. From sit behind a desk for a 6 month rotation to the perfected human killing machines.

I was fortunate not to have lost anyone close to me and moreso never witnessed anyone beside bad guys die. I did see enough of our wounded especially after a couple of the VBIEDs. Some of those bothered me for a while. The 7 employees we lost in 2011 sat with me too since I was part of the identification process after the fact and had to write the incident report.

A lot of our troops went through the worst hell on earth and deserve way better than what they got in return.

[bubbaearl]

i watched friends decay and wither away for 40 years while this country did nothing for them. fuck the va i will never forgive them. until the gulf war veterans where shit on spit at and ignored. every president since nixon turned their back on them as did the people . the sad part is they knew full well what agent orange was going to do to the troops but did it anyway.
there is no benefit too costly for veterans abused or otherwise . it is earned when the blank check is signed.

[ceyko]

i watched friends decay and wither away for 40 years while this country did nothing for them. fuck the va i will never forgive them. until the gulf war veterans where shit on spit at and ignored. every president since nixon turned their back on them as did the people . the sad part is they knew full well what agent orange was going to do to the troops but did it anyway.
there is no benefit too costly for veterans abused or otherwise . it is earned when the blank check is signed.

Yeah, I have exposure to this as well. Some veterans do like some of the VA facilities, but in general I'm all for giving veterans a card and letting them use whatever doctor they want as opposed to forcing the VA. The VA is another government disaster that is expensive and generally ineffective.

[90MarkVII]

Yeah, I have exposure to this as well. Some veterans do like some of the VA facilities, but in general I'm all for giving veterans a card and letting them use whatever doctor they want as opposed to forcing the VA. The VA is another government disaster that is expensive and generally ineffective.

Not to derail this too much, but one of the reasons you'll never see this is because once a doctor contracts with the gvt, they are immune to malpractice claims.
I will also go so far to say that a large majority of the doctors in VA hospitals and at bases (all branches) here at home have done so because they can't make it in the real world.

[helosailor]

There isn't really such a thing as just a cook in the military. Sure there are people with a food service specialist MOS but they do whatever job their unit assigns them.

Think of a unit like the 82nd Airborne. Most people probably just assume it's a bunch of guys that jump out of airplanes and start shooting. Which yeah that's what the unit does but in order to do that mission they bring along an entire support system and are able to operate completely on their own if necessary. They have their own trucks which means they have their own drivers and they have their own mess facilities which means they have their own cooks. Those cooks are probably cross trained to drive trucks which means they are going to be part of a convoy. They'll definitely be cross trained with squad based infantry tactics and in combat zones will be armed.

Take Jessica Lynch as an example. Her job was a 92Y which is a unit supply specialist. The closest thing to a civilian job I can think of would like a stocker at a grocery store. However when we are invading a country those stockers have to move items through hostile areas and carry weapons and body armor like every other soldier. The cooks have to move their kitchens and other gear through the same areas.

I know an army cook with half a dozen combat tours btw. He's currently a personal chef for a 2 star general. I also know one that just finished a tour on board a navy destroyer in the Persian Gulf.

As another example my wife is a medical nutritionist (68M) and part of the 1st Medical Brigade. Her supply sergeant was killed sitting at the staff desk they all have to do rotations at. That and her car had blood splatter and one of the doors was hit with a bullet. She could easily have PTSD as a result of "workplace violence", a lot of others in her company do.

The "wearing many hats" isn't isolated to the Army, either. My rating was Aircraft Structural Mechanic. But, I also was a small arms specialist, a weapons load team leader, assistant duty officer, etc.

Yeah, I have exposure to this as well. Some veterans do like some of the VA facilities, but in general I'm all for giving veterans a card and letting them use whatever doctor they want as opposed to forcing the VA. The VA is another government disaster that is expensive and generally ineffective.

I've had good experiences with the Ft. Worth VA clinic (old one and new one)...specifically, my primary doctor. He has been nothing but great. He has service connected everything that can be with no fuss. He volunteered to be an advocate in my disability claim (which is currently on try #3), and even diagnosed something that nobody else had been able to.
That being said, I'm on try #3 for a disability claim, and the VA still can't seem to figure out how to issue me an ID card. So, the system as a whole is typical govt SNAFU, but there are some shining lights in there.