“NO!” One of the most difficult words to say for those of us
employed by the federal government. Over the course of 8 years of
federal employment, I have been reminded almost daily of the various
“opportunities” and “entitlements” I either qualify for, or could
qualify for if only I bent the truth a little. Opportunities like the
free laser surgery I could get to correct my 20/25 vision or the free
shuttle bus to do T'ai chi on the beach that's 3 hours away every
Thursday, if only I just fibbed a little and claimed to have Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The number of these programs seem
endless... And then after telling my command that I intend to hang
the uniform up and leave, the floodgates really opened up. Every day
from that point on I am reminded by co-workers, bosses, friends, other
leaving employees, and even passersby of the things that I'm probably
“entitled” to (X) program because of (Y) experience.
The reasons for joining up are many, and most men and women that I've
worked around signed up for practical reasons. This is contrary to
the publicly touted “patriotism” (although this does exist) or the
desire to go kill brown people (and unfortunately so does this).
There are also significant numbers of people “serving” in order to
expedite the process of becoming a US Citizen. All reasons
considered, I would say the most common one I've come across are the
programs where the Army/Federal Government will pay for your college.
In simple dollars, this is hard to refuse. Imagine that you are 18
again, and by the time you're 26 you could have completed (or are only
a semester shy) your bachelor's degree, gained 8 years of work
experience, and don't owe any student loans. Especially compared to
the more standard path, that's one hell of a deal that is hard to turn
down. It convinces a lot of people. Hell, it convinced me.
If that wasn't enough, imagine a career where as long as you showed
up to work (mostly), and did whatever you were told, you could retire
after 20 years, receiving a pension for the rest of your life. Many
soldiers that don't leave after their first enlistment see themselves
staying in for 8 years. As has often been pointed out to me “If
you've put in 8 years, you're basically halfway there... why would you
quit now?” With the exception of some criminal offenses, you can stay
in for 20 years even with abysmal job performance, and just be
shuffled around. Then, after having been a burden on every single
unit you've been in for 20 years, you get handed off to be a burden on
someone else... the taxpayers.
Standing up to get the Hook-Up
Regardless of the reasons luring them in, thousands and thousands of
people join the US Army every year. After a brief session of “Tear
them down, then build them up” known as basic training, soldiers are
continuously reinforced through their command with empowering
messages. Early on, of course, we are subjected to many of the most
menial and slave-like tasks you can think of while officers do their
best to remind us of the pride we should feel while doing them. Even
if they don't accept it at first, the system's repetition of these
messages mean that even the most stubborn soldiers come to expect
hearing them: The daily recitation of 'The Soldier's Creed', the
requirement to know 'The Army Values', and the all-inspiring unit
mottos like “Shoot 'em in the face!”, “Second to none!” and “We're all
we've got!”
Those of us who don't buy the shouting and speeches are often moved
and empowered by the increasing amount of ritual and ceremony that
goes into promotions and awards. And of course, the crowd size,
shiny-ness, and decorum steadily increases with each rung up the
ladder. We are steered towards establishments in a culture that give
military discounts. Shiny badges are given out, and eventually we
deploy and are granted permission to wear an extra patch to show off
who we've been to combat with. The intense focus on building pride
takes its toll eventually, and most of us begin to feel less like a
'soldier' and more like a Soldier.
To underscore the practice of placing soldiers on a pedestal and
giving them a sense of importance, consider this policy enacted a
couple years after the War on Terror began: Whenever the word
“soldier” appears in an official Army document, it must be capitalized
as Soldier. This facade of pride and self-importance is bound to
crumble under serious pressure, and I'm sure it is a contributing
factor to the unfortunate number of suicides we've seen in our ranks.
Services No Longer Required
Another unfortunate circumstance in war is the immense number of
wounded and maimed people we see coming back. Up until even World War
2, the number of wounded was often only twice the number killed. Now,
thanks to the awesome trauma care that the military has (note, much
different than health care), the number of people that survive
battlefield injuries is very high. This also leaves us with 5-10
times the dead in the physically wounded, and countless more mentally
scarred.
Healthy or not, at some point all soldiers have to exit the Army. As
has been pointed out frequently in the media, the Army is suffering
from an incredible suicide trend. This method of leaving the Army is
one of the least preferred, but it also has a financial impact on
taxpayers:
Most soldiers elect to take the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance
which can give up to $400,000, in addition to the $100,000 death
gratuity that the Army pays to the next of kin when a soldier dies.
However, like many life insurance policies, there are provisions that
prevent payment, specifically suicide. This gives an extra incentive
for investigating officers to find other 'cause of death' explanations
for suicides, so that the families can get more compensation. Take
for instance a recent case where a soldier who died playing Russian
Roulette. In addition to keeping the local PR people from having to
work as hard, the fraud could cost an additional $400,000 in insurance
payout when his cause of death is marked as an accidental firearm
discharge instead of as a suicide.
As we leave the Army and begin our mandatory briefings, one of the
first stops is a mandatory interactive video. This computerized
briefing that took almost an hour to show all of the benefits that I
am entitled to. This emphasizes things like the VA backed mortgage
loans (which allow us to put zero cash down on a home purchase),
employment with other federal agencies by helping to build a résumé
for the USA Jobs website, recruitment brochures from local government
agencies (especially law enforcement). Should the brochures, posters,
and recruiters fail to find us a job in the coveted “public sector”,
then we are pushed towards great opportunities in the “private
sector”. If you guessed that the companies represented here were
Raytheon, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, and Lockheed-Martin, then you're
correct. Most of these companies have a presence on military bases,
and the offices that handle “transitioning soldiers” are usually well
versed in their job openings.
Those are just the official, party-line entitlements. The big killer,
and real scandal though, is the absolutely despicable distortion of
the medical disability system.
Mobile Infantry Made Me the Man I Am Today
As was pointed out earlier, there are a lot of injured people that
legitimately qualify for the existing disability system. But, it is
far too taboo to openly speak of people that would abuse this system.
Sad and despicable as it may be, the disability system IS horrendously
abused, with two major results: First it is a tremendous additional
drain on the taxpayers, but secondly is that it wildly distorts the
numbers of injuries from the wars. The injuries are numerous and
terrible enough to speak for themselves, but the rampant fraud
inflates many of the reported numbers.
There is common knowledge within the military community now about
what percentages are equated with certain ailments. These are
especially monitored for retiring veterans, who qualify for BOTH a
pension AND a disability check, as long as they are at least 50%
disabled. Among the most common ailments that soldiers seek to
receive a (mis)diagnosis for are: Sleep Apnea, PTSD, Knee pains, and
hearing loss.
Misdiagnosis of PTSD is sought after for many more reasons than just
disability, although that is a key factor as well. One perk is a
range of activities like I mentioned earlier that allow us to blow
off steam during the work week at no expense. There are also the
coveted prescription, mind-altering drugs. Even if we don't need them
or want them for ourselves, there is a large black market for these
items (and how convenient that they're free!).
How does this PTSD misdiagnosis get started? Largely in response to
the suicide trends, every single medical appointment starts with a
questionnaire. Some questions include: Are you feeling depressed? Do
you feel like hurting yourself? Do you feel like hurting anyone else?
This battery of questions is asked at eye exams and dental checkups
too; every appointment. Simply answer yes, and a priority mental
health appointment can be arranged. From there, faking the symptoms
and memories is easy for those that have been deployed. This is
because most of us are intimately familiar with the symptoms of the
other soldiers we work around that legitimately suffer from PTSD.
Lies like those can't be dis-proven by an x-ray.
As an airborne school graduate, I can easily blame my knee pains on
parachute jumps and could have that counted as a service related
disability for myself. Like lies, pain is also hard to dis-prove,
even though there may no visible damage to the joints. Likewise,
hearing tests can be manipulated with some effort. And, who can blame
a person for having hearing loss after being near explosions, jet
engines, and large cannons going off for years? To be fair, hearing
loss is more difficult to claim today as a steady trend of
deterioration has to be shown over a career. But, there are numerous
other conditions that can easily be faked in order to drive the
magical percentage number up. Even if a soldier proves unsuccessful
with one diagnosis, there is an unwritten menu to choose from. With
each successful diagnosis comes a guaranteed check or tax write-off
for years to come.
The Great Sleep Apnea Scam
Now comes the most abhorrent example of disability manipulation.
Sleep Apnea, should one of us be diagnosed with it, is a 50%
disability to itself. In fact, misdiagnosis is so commonly abused
that it is even part of the (verbal) brief given at the medical clinic
when starting the transition physical on my base. I have personally
worked with at least 7 people in the past year alone that have been
“diagnosed” with this condition, just to take advantage of the
disability benefits. An overnight test is conducted in which the
amount that you snore, and the frequency with which you wake up
through the night are among the biggest contributing factors. If you
sleep on your side or stomach, what is the easiest way to ensure you
will snore or wake up frequently? Make a conscious effort to sleep on
your back. That's it. Don't you wish you could have years of
financial compensation for one bad night's sleep?
This condition has made the news in the past, and a quick Google
search will pull up examples like this one from USA Today:
The environmental conditions of living next to a burning trash pit for
a year or riding exposed in a turret through numerous sandstorms
certainly do take their toll. But, I suspect the marked increase in
cases reported is NOT a reflection of the number of people being
affected. It is more closely related to the spread of information,
and the leeching nature of soldiers brought up in this entitlement
culture. This is not meant as an attack on the condition of Sleep
Apnea itself, which can be quite severe. This is an exposure of how
easily manipulated the tests the Army uses for it is.
These are a few specific examples from my years in uniform, and by
themselves disgust any attentive soldier. Exposure of these problems
alone do nothing to solve the inherent flaws within the system. They
are, however, tools that can be used to illustrate a case for liberty
and help spread awareness. Just as the path to Easy Street
perpetuates itself through the world of the leech, so too can
knowledge and truth spread through the world of the liberty conscious.
