Army veteran with PTSD ridiculed by American Airlines employees

Have a friend from college who got "injured" during Desert Storm I and had his command try and push for a PH and disability. He was in SAV at the time. They were driving captured Iraqi APCs off a cargo ship and he got rear ended. He was sitting up out of the hatch and got his front teeth knocked out by hitting the coaming. The CO tried to claim, since the injury was caused by an enemy combatant vehicle, he was entitled. He refused it and fought them over the designation because he felt it devalued those who were injured in combat. The higher ups were not happy with him.
 
Cptnchia said:
Have a friend from college who got "injured" during Desert Storm I and had his command try and push for a PH and disability. He was in SAV at the time. They were driving captured Iraqi APCs off a cargo ship and he got rear ended. He was sitting up out of the hatch and got his front teeth knocked out by hitting the coaming. The CO tried to claim, since the injury was caused by an enemy combatant vehicle, he was entitled. He refused it and fought them over the designation because he felt it devalued those who were injured in combat. The higher ups were not happy with him.
Click to expand...
Sounds like he should have earned a bronze star...
 
NovemberEcho said:
I always laugh when I hear people complaining about how many deployments they've been on. If you enlisted after 2001, or at least 2003, you knew damn well (or at least should have) what you were getting in to. Especially those who reenlisted.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised anyone bothers to reenlist, especially in (USAF) fields such as aircraft maintenance, security police, and a few other fields where the people are treated like practical slave labor. The pay and even any of the dangle-the-carrot bonuses, aren't remotely worth the the work QOL and the heaping amount of BS those people have to deal with.
 
Cptnchia said:
Have a friend from college who got "injured" during Desert Storm I and had his command try and push for a PH and disability. He was in SAV at the time. They were driving captured Iraqi APCs off a cargo ship and he got rear ended. He was sitting up out of the hatch and got his front teeth knocked out by hitting the coaming. The CO tried to claim, since the injury was caused by an enemy combatant vehicle, he was entitled. He refused it and fought them over the designation because he felt it devalued those who were injured in combat. The higher ups were not happy with him.
Click to expand...

On the air side, guys have been collecting Air Medals for some time now. Even the ones I have, with the sporadic aerial combat engagements I've been involved in, I look at an old Vietnam retiree who flew F-105s or similar over downtown Hanoi.....sometimes multiple times daily.... and what has been one of the toughest air defenses in the world that we have faced in combat, yet I'm wearing the same Air Medal he is. For them, there was zero guarantee of making the magic 100 missions to complete a tour, and many of them never did. For me, I never encountered a MiG or other air threat, and only ever dealt with a handful of MANPADs, some medium AAA, and the ever-present small arms/automatic weapons. Got shot at more on the ground than in the air.
 
Hacker15e said:
When I was retiring and doing my separation physical, it was like a kind of game to see how much disability you could rack up...mostly trying to get over that magic 50% number so you could get the disability payments tax-free in addition to the retirement check. I know perfectly functional guys who currently hold First Class medicals and fly for major 121 airlines who are greater than 50% "disabled" -- some substantially more than that, too.

I have yet to submit a disability claim. I suppose I'm missing out on some extra taxpayer money, but I don't really care.
Click to expand...

The things I've seen the VA deny a claim for is equally frustrating. And by frustrating, I mean the VA is one of the worst organizations I've ever had the pleasure of dealing with in my life, and make regional airlines look like well oiled machines.

If I didn't complain to you about that one, remind me next time I see you to tell you about my experience with them.
 
Nark said:
Sounds like he should have earned a bronze star...
Click to expand...

They give bronze stars to finance troops in Afghanistan. For doing finance.
MikeD said:
I'm surprised anyone bothers to reenlist, especially in (USAF) fields such as aircraft maintenance, security police, and a few other fields where the people are treated like practical slave labor. The pay and even any of the dangle-the-carrot bonuses, aren't remotely worth the the work QOL and the heaping amount of BS those people have to deal with.
Click to expand...


I also wonder the same thing. I know they're going to be hurting really bad in a few years for E6+ for ATC. Everyone is jumping ship for the FAA, especially now that the FAA raised the max hire age for prior experience to 35 from 31.

About 9 months after I got out I received a letter from the AF asking me to re-enlist. I had a good laugh.
 
NovemberEcho said:
They give bronze stars to finance troops in Afghanistan. For doing finance.



I also wonder the same thing. I know they're going to be hurting really bad in a few years for E6+ for ATC. Everyone is jumping ship for the FAA, especially now that the FAA raised the max hire age for prior experience to 35 from 31.

About 9 months after I got out I received a letter from the AF asking me to re-enlist. I had a good laugh.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I mean, sure, all jobs have varying levels of BS involved, whether civil or military. But the military....the USAF seemingly the most out of all of them....takes the level of BS and exponentially increases it to idiotic levels. And for no good reason. Why would a guy reenlist to be, for example, a jet engine mechanic or avionics technician, when he can do the same job at an airline and make far better money. Sure, there might be similarities such as having to work weekend duty, holidays, maybe rotating shifts, etc. But its not so much what would be there in the job, more than it is what wouldn't be there in the job. Things like not having to be treated like a 2nd grader, without having to sit through endless CBTs and briefings that have zero to do with the mission at hand or the specific job at hand such as endless sexual assault prevention crap.......brief it once and be done with it. Hey....anyone assaulted anyone or done any of the things listed here on Slide #1? No? Good, then keep doing what you're doing. Or having idiotic First Sergeants who are nothing more than glorified babysitters and contribute little to nothing to the combat mission at hand, except to harass junior NCOs and below with room inspections, uniform nitpicks, and other inane waste of time crap. Not having long deployments to waste-of-time places in the middle east, or unaccompanied rotations every other year, for a year, to Korea. Not having to work 12-14+ hour days with little in the way of a break, busting your ass while 7 and 9 level techs sit in the office, and few 5 levels are around because many of them got out, while simultaneously having draconian QA morons harassing the crap out of you for every little thing you do, whether important or unimportant.

Which lifestyle would one rationally want? The mil lifestyle with low pay and excess BS? Or the civilian lifestyle here with higher pay and lesser BS? And nearly any AFSC/MOS can be substituted into the above example, and it would still fit.
 
Lawman said:
It's not the extra money that is the danger.

Thanks in part to disabled hiring practices for government jobs you are fighting in a rigged game to not claim disability. The magic number there is 30% which is effectively a "must hire first" flag over a similarly qualified applicant without it.

My dad is kicking himself for being a man about it and not claiming some of the minor stuff he had, because there are several times in his time at the VA where hiring of candidates for a position literally came down to disability trumping anything else.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Also, disabled vet owned business qualify as "disadvantaged" when competing for Federal contracts. If two or more disadvantaged businesses bid on a contract, it must go to disadvantaged.
 
Smaller military hospitals are being overwhelmed with so many requirements such as four day EO classes, that they can't do their primary job and are being shut down because they can't provide the required level of care cost effectively. Troops and family members will then have to drive an hour+ for their "free" health care.
 
Blackhawk said:
Smaller military hospitals are being overwhelmed with so many requirements such as four day EO classes, that they can't do their primary job and are being shut down because they can't provide the required level of care cost effectively. Troops and family members will then have to drive an hour+ for their "free" health care.
Click to expand...

Well to be fair if you go to a military doctor they'll just tell you you're faking it and give you Motrin. Never mind that your leg is bent 90 degrees the wrong way.
 
NovemberEcho said:
Well to be fair if you go to a military doctor they'll just tell you you're faking it and give you Motrin. Never mind that your leg is bent 90 degrees the wrong way.
Click to expand...

reminds me of last summer when I flew a jet to an airshow for static display. Not having someone around who knew how to put the little Hornet ladder down, I decided to walk out to the wingtip and hop off. Big mistake. I was limping like a 90 year old for maybe 3 weeks after that, though after my jet broke for 4 days while at the 'show, I did manage to drink enough great PNW beer to not notice the first week. Fast forward, after a week back home powering through the pain and limping up boarding ladders in order to finish a couple upgrade flights I needed to complete, I finally went to see the doc. They x-ray'd my foot, and the general response from the doc was something like "well, I'm not an expert in x-rays, but I don't think your foot is broken. But you are definitely hurt. Here is some Motrin, don't fly for a week, cya!" haha

Great discussion gents, I feel similarly to a lot of you
 
///AMG said:
reminds me of last summer when I flew a jet to an airshow for static display. Not having someone around who knew how to put the little Hornet ladder down, I decided to walk out to the wingtip and hop off. Big mistake. I was limping like a 90 year old for maybe 3 weeks after that, though after my jet broke for 4 days while at the 'show, I did manage to drink enough great PNW beer to not notice the first week. Fast forward, after a week back home powering through the pain and limping up boarding ladders in order to finish a couple upgrade flights I needed to complete, I finally went to see the doc. They x-ray'd my foot, and the general response from the doc was something like "well, I'm not an expert in x-rays, but I don't think your foot is broken. But you are definitely hurt. Here is some Motrin, don't fly for a week, cya!" haha

Great discussion gents, I feel similarly to a lot of you
Click to expand...

There was a guy I worked with. Not the sharpest troop but he generally wasn't a bull•ter. Started complaining of backpain, which grew to the point of debillitating over several months. Med group first told him he just pulled a muscle and gave him motrin. After several more repeated visits the docs started telling him it was all in his head or that he was faking to get out of his PT test. Eventually our Chief got involved and was able to get a referral to an off base civilian doctor. They gave him a cat scan and then told him he needed surgery right away for a slipped disc. Good job AF Docs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top