3 Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars, no legs, one arm and an I.O.U for an artificial limb.

Thursday February 7, 2008

The War at Home Back to Full Blog


Now my new base was Walter Reed Hospital. I spent the last year of my military service as an inpatient in a hospital that typified the military belief in the class system. Higher ranking officers who had a hangnail were given luxury rooms and ate nothing but the finest foods.

For the rest of us, we lived in over crowded wards, we ate food that a dog would refuse and received virtually no medical treatment. If you saw a doctor once a week then that was a great week for you. The nurses at the hospital still have my utmost respect. There was not a thing that they wouldn't do for you but their biggest problem was the shortage of staff. There were not enough hands to go around. This was now the time that the war got personal. The nonsense that you had to endure and the outright lies that you encounter with the VA made me wonder why the hell I even went to war. During my induction into the military, they fill your head with garbage supposedly to make you feel better going into combat.

The way they describe life in the military makes you think that this is the best gig in the world. Free medical treatment for life, educational benefits under the G.I bill, disability checks coming in to make your life easier, or simply as my sergeant told me during basic training, "If you get hit then don't worry, we take care of our own. Put your mind at ease and go with the knowledge that should something happen to you then the military and the people of the U.S. will step up to the plate and take care of you, it is the least that we can do to thank you for what you did." Well, keep your thanks, I don't want them. Just as I was getting ready to return to the island, I was declared 50% disabled and was told to have a nice life.

I lost two legs, one arm, my face was horribly disfigured and scarred and they declared me 50% disabled and the disability check was not enough to even cover my medications never mind rent, food, and other specialized equipment. I was told that I would get one physical therapy session a month and one artificial limb.

I could take my choice of a right leg, a left leg or an arm. The choice was mine. I kept quiet because I was still in the military and as anyone who has spent time in the service will tell you that the military has ways of getting payback on you if you cause them problems. I was discharged, given my medals and a pat on the back and after serving all those years in Vietnam, all I had now were 3 purple hearts, two silver stars, no legs, one arm and an I.O.U for an artificial limb.
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