At congressional hearing, reservists complain of health-care inconsistency

Stars and Stripes headline for today: WOUNDED RESERVISTS DECRY POOR HEALTH CARE

Petty officer Anthony Cuomo believes if he were an active-duty sailor, the Navy would have already taken care of the shoulder injury he suffered while training in Iraq.

But instead the reservist, who joined after serving as a New York City firefighter during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said he has undergone 21 months of confusion over his military status and rights, and is still waiting for additional surgeries to repair torn muscles.

“In my mind, there is one word for this: discrimination,” he said Wednesday, during testimony before a congressional panel investigating the treatment of wounded troops.

<cut>

Chief Warrant Officer Stephen Keeton said after initially receiving exemplary treatment overseas for his injuries, he returned home to find discrepancies how reservists were handled.

“I was really dismayed when an Army chaplain boarded our bus full of wounded troops, and began to ask if we were Reserve or active duty,” he said. “If it was Guard or Reserve he passed them up, and if it was an active-duty member he began to talk with them.

“He said we would receive the care we needed when we got to the destination station, but he was there for the active-duty guys.”


http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=27535

As a practical (Article 88) matter - you say "The hell with Article 88 - I am going Article 138" and bring your Congress person in early. And bring the media in. And just raise a lot of hell and be a massive pain in the butt.

I would go to my Congress member, the local media, and get an obnoxious lawyer who will try this in the media.