Page 109 - Firehouse Pond

Fortunately, I was able to document my service and meet the VA’s service-

related requirements. Today I receive excellent medical care at my local
Veterans Affairs Medical Center. It was a five-year journey made difficult
every step of the way because my official service record was incomplete or

did not reflect all those TDY and Other Duties as Assigned missions; at least
one lasted less than a day – in the physical sense. They continue to haunt me
every day and every night. I try to stuff it and my family tries to understand
the inexplicable.

Why would the government’s record be incomplete or differ from the
soldier’s record? The answer is simple: If the soldier can’t document it, the

government can’t be held responsible or accountable for it. The government
is excellent at not providing records. I am not making allegations that the
government was trying to cover up anything. This was the age before

computerized documentation.

I strongly believe the service-related injuries aspect of a soldier’s duty

performance needs congressional scrutiny. The use of our military in support
of humanitarian causes in hostile environments around the world must be
acknowledged and documented in the soldier’s official duty and medical
records.

The use of the classifications of TDY and Other Duties as Assigned provides
the government cover to send our soldiers wherever and whenever without

requiring acknowledgment of their actual whereabouts or their actual duty
requirements.

So what has all this brought us to? Plain and simple: I served in fighting

roles too. To clear the air; I do not claim to be deserving of the Purple Heart.
That is accurately reserved for those who gave their all. But I do believe
soldiers who serve in hostile environments deserve credit for the wounds they

received. including the

Wounds That Do Not Bleed