Will you help my soldier/wife?

[Treebore]

I need your help. My wife is having problems getting a justifiable rating for disability rating from the US Army. I have sent the following letter to US Senators, TV personalities, and News agencies. I would appreciate it if you would help bolster interest in our situation by sending e-mails, making phone calls, or sending letters to any senators or news agency or TV personalities you feel like. The more public interest our situation has the more likely they are to help us. So I would appreciate any help you can give to generate this public interest.



To everyone who cares,

My wife is in the Army. Despite her having two military doctors and four civilian doctors confirming that she has a medical condition equal in severity to severe congestive heart failure the Army Medical Board system has still decided that she does not deserve medical retirement and gave her a rating of only 10%. We are told that we have no more avenues of appeal. Their decision is final.

So we need help. We need to find people who are willing to help us fight the Army. We need help to make the Army take care of their own like they promised my wife they would since day one of boot camp.

We are not the only soldier family in need of help. This problem happens to many soldiers. Soldiers who have lost both legs are "lucky" to get 60% ratings. Soldiers who have a disease that has caused them to have surgeries to remove parts of their intestinal tract and still have the disease are being rated at 10% and told how lucky they are.

I have several other stories about arms becoming shriveled and feet becoming totally ruined. These stories are just the ones I see unfold every day at just my wife’s command. I heard of many other soldiers horror stories from the JAG officers up at Ft. Lewis while we were up there to appeal the Army’s initial refusal of my wife’s benefits.

This is a very large problem. One that is being totally ignored. One that needs as many people as possible to make noise about. Not only to right this wrong, but to let these broken soldiers know that they are loved and will be taken care of. To give them back their self respect after the Army took it away by treating them as, and telling them on a daily basis, that they are useless, that they are fakers, that they are weak, and that they don’t deserve to be taken care of.

So I am sending this to as many US Senators, newspapers, and TV personalities as I can in the hopes that I will reach those that will be as outraged about this as I have become. That will help make the Army explain why they ignore their own guidelines for rating disabilities and cast out all these soldiers. It is such a betrayal and an insulting slap in the face.

If you are someone who believes our soldiers should be taken care of every step of the way. If you believe our soldiers should not be harassed and denigrated because they have dared to become broken. If you believe it is the Army’s obligation to give their soldiers disability ratings in accordance with their own regulations. If you believe that totally disregarding the diagnoses of two military and four civilian doctors is probably criminal, then please give us your help. Give voice to this disgraceful practice of the US Army, and demand that they do right by their soldiers.

Soldiers like my wife. Who can no longer go to the beach, the aquarium, go shopping, cook our three children a meal , stand for longer than 20 minutes without turning purple in her legs and hands, and eventually her face, because her heart cannot pump the blood through her body. Who, if she isn’t careful, and pushes herself too far, will drop dead from a stopped heart.

My wife has lost her health and stamina. She lost it in service to this country. Yet the Army has totally disregarded the diagnoses of six doctors and have refused to give her a medical retirement and will only offer a 10% rating. Please help us right this wrong. Please help us make the Army take care of their broken soldiers, like they promised they would.

If you wish to give us your help you can contact me at:

Mailing Address: Robert Miller
136 Luzon Road
Seaside, CA 93955

Phone Number: 831-393-9100

 

[Darth K'Trava]

I have a friend in a similar sitch. He got his back torn up while in one of the Gulf region conflicts and so far, has only gotten a 10% for whatever he did to his hands, nothing for the back... And he has docs who will state how bad his back condition is...

 

[Treebore]

I have heard nearly a dozen cases personally. Like I mentioned the JAG officers at Ft. Lewis told me of dozens of soldiers who were not being given the ratings they should get accoring to regs. According to regs my wife should be getting at least 75%. They aren't even comparing her condition to the closest medical condition in their books like their regs say to. They are comparing it to paralysis of the vegas nerve which has only one "symptom" in common with my wifes heart condition.

It is disgusting what they are doing to all of these soldiers.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Yeah, it's a shame that they don't care about the troops once they get injured and can't serve anymore.

There was a story on the news one time about amputees who were struggling to get back to the front lines after getting through rehab...

And there was some sort of article on "Women Casualties" in yesterday's USATODAY.

 

[Krieg]

Contact Disabled American Veterans, they were a great help to me when I was going through the process 10 years ago.

 

[Treebore]

I've called them. They don't help fight the Army, they help deal with the VA. So they, like the Army, said they will help make sure the VA takes care of us.

 

[Treebore]

*bump*

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Maybe if you could get one of those JAG lawyers to take your case...

 

[Torm]

I admire the fact that you seem to want to include ALL vets that are being treated unfairly, but a more direct approach for your wife might be the route to take. The same route my mom took to get my dad a medical discharge when the Navy doctors wouldn't acknowledge his condition, the same route you would take with any company in the private sector that you were having a problem with: talk to the boss.

202-456-1414

Get a notebook ready. At every point in this conversation, note down who you are talking to just in case you get disconnected, or "disconnected", so you can bypass the steps you've already gone through if you have to call back again by asking for them directly, or the step below them to retread if you keep getting "disconnected." Wait until you know from the news that the President is home, then call and ask to speak with him. They obviously aren't going to let you talk to him - and that isn't the point. -continued-

 

[Torm]

- continued -
Explain the situation to whomever they let you speak with, and then, when they offer to see what they can do and get back to you, explain politely that her condition is ongoing, continuous, and painful, and you would like something done to allow her the treatment she deserves immediately, and would they please let you speak to the President now, since he is their commander-in-chief. You're going to do this over and over. Be polite but firm. You'll get tossed up the ladder.

Like I said, the point of this is not to actually speak to the President - although I wouldn't put it outside the realm of possibility entirely; my mom ended up speaking to Walter Mondale, which was pretty darned close at the time - the point is to reach someone high enough that you are, to them, literally not worth their time. Which means they can wave their hands and make your problem go away, so you aren't their problem anymore. When you reach the level of any of the President's or VP's personal staff, if they offer to see what they can do and get back to you, take them up on it, and ask when you should expect to hear from them. - continued -