Pardon My Disillusion

December 2003, Charlie was on mid-tour leave with his wife and two year old son. He was happy to be home, to get the attention that a returning ‘hero’ receives. More importantly though, Charlie was happy to wake up in the morning and not have to tell himself “Today is a good day to die!” He had said those exact words to himself every morning for eight long months.

Charlie said he wasn’t suppressed to find himself on Iraqi soil. “The day the election <2000> results came in, I told my wife that I would be Iraq before the next presidential election.” Charlie hated president-nonelect Bush before he was appointed to the White House because Charlie is a pagan and when his base allowed Wiccan’s to practice their faith on post like every other religion, Gov. Bush commented that “I don’t believe witchcraft is a religion” He also understood that The Bush family had a blood feud with Saddam Hussein and that war was now inevitable.

Charlie was still on mid-tour leave when he heard the words “Ladies and Gentlemen, we got him!” He was naive and believed that the U.S. would install a puppet Government. pack up, and bail. Charlie didn’t realize how much money was being made on death and destruction, because he sure wasn’t seeing it. He returned to the combat zone. The war did not end, but Charlie’s time was up. His year was over. The Army gave him a medal and sent him home.

What Charlie didn’t know was that his problems we’re just beginning. Now that he was no longer a corporate soldier, one nation under Halliburton, he could get no help. Charlie’s life is now a hell of mood swings, paranoia and hallucinations. He is Bi-Polar and has anxiety. His psychologist has determined that he has a pre existing condition, ignoring the fact that he has no psychiatric history, and has served his country for seven years prior to his diagnosis. Furthermore, she has determined that the army did not further
Exasperate this “pre existing condition” These last two statements ensure that when Charlie is involuntarily discharged near Christmas, he is not eligible for a severance package worth nearly $30,000. When Charlie complains about this he is place on Anti-Psychotics and his record is annotated “SM is paranoid and states the army is out to get him.”


Notes:
Due to the recent crack on dissident speech by the Department Of Defense, the author and subject of this story is NOT Sgt. Damian Chandler, USA, and said Sgt. does NOT post as Renegade Six.

thought of that when I was writing it. Bad times indeed.

You insights are most appreciated :thumbsup:

:bounce: :toast: :bounce:

thanks

Keep telling the tales...

Maybe it doesn't help much, but a lot of us have become clinically depressed since 2000. I hope "Charlie"'s service in Iraq wasn't tooooooo intimately horrifying.

I want to give my personal testimony for getting very serious about diet and exercise to at least manage depression. It also helps to find your personal community and get active in *local* organizing activities and helping others to run for *local* offices.

Hare Krsna! Hare Rama!

Thank for the advice. I will not let this ruin my life. I refuse.

Oh, and Charlie promises to not bitch about politics so much. He wants to use the extra energy to help bring about change. He is sick of his adopted red state.

Harebo!

with "pre-existing" disorders? Since "Charlie" was accepted into the military, and if the military doesn't accept people with "disorders" couldn't that be used to prove there were no "pre-existing" disorders?

This is my dilemma. I was in 1998-01 and the 10 months later 01-Pres. There are not tests. Medical boards are based on a medical narrative summery and a Commanders letter. They never meet with me. I wrote of the narrative summary in the first post. The Co letter said in affect i have no disability and my only problem is i have "too many appointments". I haven't gone to work since Sept 1. They haven't noticed I guess. ie. they DO NOT want me around.

Now I agree with the proof issue, but since they make the decision first, the burden of proof becomes mine. It is an impossible task to disproof their claims because absence of proof is not proof in this system.

I know a lot of people at DU are against lawsuits here but I am in talks to sue my doc for malpractice in civil court. She is a civilian and is licensed through the state of TX

but I guess you really have no recourse. I guess I would look at the original contract with the forces and see if it says you were free of any emotional or physical defects that would have kept you out of service to begin with...and if they signed off on it to allow you into the service, it should bounce back to them to prove you had "pre-existing" conditions...

I'll find a way, or I'll just bug the shit out of them till im gone.

the thought "law suit" came to my mind. I wish you luck with that avenue. At least in a civil case you could bring in work history, testimony of those who have known you before and after the last tour in Iraq - get more into the record than the dr notes.

Glad that you are here at DU.

Former enlisted here, I was AF for over ten years, flightline and then computer programmer. I separated before 2000.

I was wondering if you'd contacted any veterans groups for help with this? I think we could come up with a decent list of possible helpful organizations here.

You and I both know that if this is happening to you, it's probably happening to a lot of folks. People who deserve BETTER. Maybe you feel like me, that if they can get away with doing this to you, they must be running over a lot of other less stubborn and more vulnerable people. People already down, some people just hanging on, without the will to fight back. It makes me pretty mad to think about that. I hope you get the help and benefits you deserve. I also hope you keep posting here, great to have you along!

you hope "Charlie" gets the help and benefits 'he' deserves.

;)

I said the same thing for the same reasons. Pagan here who felt like we won a long time fight when Pagans were finally allowed to use on base facilities for ritual. Not to mention what his Dads admin lied about the first time around in GW1. Add it up and how could you not see that we had facsist fundie rightwing psycho on our hands.

"Charlie" is gonna be alright though, because Charlie has a shitload of sisters and brothers who are gonna continue to fight for him. As the sheeple wake up to the nightmare of PTSDs coming back (and the nightmare of this admin) I think some VA increases will be coming amongst other things.

Is Charlie in IVAW or OpTruth or VFP?

Yet, saying that combat did not exacerbate the disorder would be laughable if it wasn't so sad.

Ok...say I have a pre-exsisting condition. Then make my insurance company from that time (of condition) kick in for the coverage.
This country is F**cking us more everday.
I feel especially bad for our soldiers that are not taken care of.

Insurance companies that take medical knowledge and twist it to screw their customers is outrageous.

My husband has a cousin who was just dismissed from the army. She was in Iraq and was diagnosed with Diabetes. They gave her good medical treatment, got her home, discharged her and told her that it must have been a pre-existing condition and they won't pay for anymore treatment. (My husband's family does have numerous diabetics in his family. Yet, she is young, early 20's and never had symptoms until Iraq. )

Fortunately, for her, she is fighting to get her medical treatment re-instated and until then has entered a free university study that is looking at a new treatment.

I feel sorry for all the soldiers that have to go through this. These soldiers risk their lives and we can't even give them good treatment? If you become a soldier, after passing rigorous medical screenings,you should be covered, regardless of what medical problem arises.

and the fact that I am not surprised makes me worry for my country even more...

And Charlie... man, Charlie gets a big hug from me :hug:

It's like Catch-22. I read that book when I was about 16 and I have been skeptical of everything related to war ever since :(

I hope that things work out for Charlie, and please continue to pass along Charlie's words, as we need to hear them almost as much as he probably needs to share them.

:patriot:

The level of support I have received on this post has restored some of my faith in humanity. Maybe I'll stop being so jaded and reserve my anger for those who truly deserve it. DO YOU HEAR THAT SOUND KING GEORGE? It's us, you're loyal knights. We have opened our eyes. We WILL open our mouths. Enough is enough. Mr. President, I chose to serve to HELP my country and her people, not to be an accomplice in the making of a rouge police state.