Vietnam vets sue Pentagon for PTS issues
At Stars & Stripes, they report that a lawsuit was filed by five Vietnam veterans because their bad conduct discharges haven’t been upgraded by the military since the addition of PTS to medical diagnosis.
“When I was in high school, I worked at the VA (Veterans Administration) hospital in the kitchen as a dishwasher. But after I came home from Vietnam, I couldn’t even get my job back as a dishwasher because of my bad paper,” said plaintiff Conley Monk. “My discharge status has been a lifetime scar. If I were discharged today, my PTSD would be recognized and treated — and I wouldn’t be punished for having a service-connected medical condition.”
Well, if these five fellows were actually Vietnam veterans, and if they did actually suffer from PTS, I hope they get what they want. But, the reason I’m so jaded about their actual service is because the person who is sticking up for them in the article isn’t;
“Tens of thousands of brave and honorable Vietnam veterans with post-traumatic stress have been doubly injured by the black mark of an other than honorable discharge, resulting in unjustly denied support, services and benefits,” said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “These heroic veterans are long overdue present day appreciation of modern mental health in the timely review of their discharge upgrade appeals.”
Yes, THAT Senator Blumenthal who pretended to be a Vietnam veterans for years, and who the people of Connecticut sent to the Senate any-damn-way. If those five fellows are who they say they are, they should be running away from Blumenthal at lightspeed.
Category: Veterans Issues
Has Tom Harkin weighed in yet?
Unless something has changed since then that I missed, you have to be convicted at a Special or higher courts marital to get the Big Chicken Dinner. It’s possible that PTSD could have played a role in their misconduct. It’s also equally possible that it had nothing to do with it and that’s a red herring. Even today, there needs to be some link between the misconduct and the mental health condition for mitigation. If they want to give these guys another bite at the discharge review board apple, by all means, but that doesn’t mean they should just be able to do an end run around the system because they claim they have a condition that should have been considered.
Okay, here we go. I’ll start.
Having Blumenthal go to bat for these guys is like…
Having Jeffrey Dahmer endorse your cookbook.
Having OJ Simpson as spokesman for Ginsu.
……having Pete rose run gambling anonymous.
……having Bernie Madoff run your retirement account.
Having POTUS teach a seminar on “The Art of War” or “How to make friends and influence people”
Somebody needs to add a “Like” button.
“Liked”! lol
I think Squid above is dead on target. Sounds to me like a few guys didn’t get what they wanted from their service’s Discharge Review Board and are now trying to end run the system via the courts using PTS as their “cause du jour”.
http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20140303/new-haven-vietnam-veteran-with-ptsd-others-file-class-action-lawsuit
http://ctmirror.org/yale-class-action-lawsuit-seeks-redress-for-vietnam-vets/
So apparently this is the rest of the story. The guys referenced in the story above claims his discharge was related to a charge. Interestingly enough, he’s actually getting VA health benefits (it cites treatment for diabetes. If he’s connected for that, then it means he’s not being denied care wholesale and I suspect there’s a reason that he wasn’t connected for a mental health condition. He also wants the money for school and VA loans.
A number of things bother me about this article to include Blumenthal’s gross mischaracterization of the number of individuals with PTSD. No doubt, combat and deployment changes everyone. No doubt, there are people who have some symptoms that are posttraumatic in nature. However, his numbers are overstated. Numbers change when you look at populations claiming PTSD and seeking disability but under non-forensic circumstances, the numbers for PTSD are just not that high.
That all having been said, the discharge review boards already have measures in place to make sure that PTSD is considered when a claim of that as a contributing factor is raised. It becomes a factor in the calculus, just like post-service behavior, but it by no means that it excuses all manner of behavior.
Some of the people in the article properly applied for their consideration of upgrade within the 15 year time limit and were denied. Some were denied multiple times, to include at a high level of review or in more recent times under the new provisions for reviewing cases where claims of PTSD as a contributing or mitigating factor are made. If they want another review under the new standard, that’s fine but to suggest that a large portion of these guys might have been inappropriately denied upgrade may be setting them up for some major disappointment.
Also, and not for nothing, the article I mentioned notes that the Marine was given a choice between going to the brig and accepting the discharge which sounds to me that they gave him the choice between an ad sep and a courts martial. I know that people don’t always make the best choices when they are under duress, but if that’s the case, then the decision not to choose the path that would have allowed him to raise this issue at courts martial was his. Prisons are full of people who regret their tactical decisions, but regret doesn’t mean there was a miscarriage of justice.
Yea, I can relate to that. I’ve made an attempt and still am (if he’ll keep his ass down) working to get one man’s reviewed and maybe upgraded plus he should recieve at the very least a bronze star if not with “V” device because this individual performed actions in the heat of small arms firefight and saved several lives. And, I have statements on his behalf from squad members that are still living and several that have since rucked up and gone on to Fiddlers Green , that remember him and what he did during the firefight 40+ yrs later no less.
Post service is something that they consider so if your man made a one time mistake and then made good on his life doing great things with a character that would have otherwise made the military proud, he should bring it up. Sometimes it makes a big difference.
To hell with these dudes.
BCD = Shitbag.
Word