Veteran protests treatment at the VA with self-immolation

| June 26, 2018

Claymore sends us a link to the story of a veteran who set himself on fire using fireworks and gasoline on the Georgia Capitol grounds;

The incident happened on Washington Street around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

“We have somebody who claims to be a veteran that is disgruntled by treatment by the V.A.,” he said.

The man is awake and being treated at the hospital. 11Alive is working to gather more details.

During a news conference on Central Ave. about the new hands free driving law, a group of Georgia State Troopers paused because of activity happening off-camera and then they took off running.

A Georgia state trooper acted quickly to extinguish the burning veteran.

It happened during a news conference;

Please find another way to protest – fire is painful.

Category: Veterans' Affairs Department

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ChipNASA

Fire is not painful.
It’s the burns caused by fire that are painful.

Dude,
Seriously you would have been a LOT better if you protested by dropping your pants and taking a dump on camera on the VA.

NHSparky

I’d say the debriding, etc., afterwards is still more painful.

I’m thankful that I’m at a point in my career/life that I have alternative options to VA care, and frankly, not even sure I’m eligible for VA care anyway.

2/17 Air Cav

He used fireworks? He had a flair for the dramatic, I’d say. And those two troopers who lagged behind the others? Fire their asses.

Fyrfighter

Maybe 2/17… But who knows what they were hearing on their radios… While it seems obvious that the sounds were fireworks, in light of the crap the dims including Maxine are spouting, and the attacks that muzzies are calling for, I’d think it reasonable for a couple to hang back with the speaker, in case it was gunfire… at least until they got confirmation of what was going on…

Ex-PH2

So stupid and so unnecessary.

2/17 Air Cav

If it turns out he was not a Buddhist monk, then he was bat-shit nuts.

Ex-PH2

I remember that one far too well.

HMC Ret

Never could understand how they could sit still while engulfed in flames. Perfectly still. I read some years ago that they were seriously doped and probably felt nearly nothing. Still …

Combat3c0

Self immolation? That is so 1960’s! And he wasn’t even wearing an orange robe! A more effective protest would have been burning à stack of veterans “benefits” handbooks on the sidewalk outside the main entrance of the VA! JMHO

Thunderstixx

Obviously there are deeper troubles than anything to do with the VA…
You can’t fix stubborn to the point of stupidity…

Mason

So did the ambulance take him to the VA in a case of tragic irony?

Claymore

Grady Memorial, literally two blocks away from where he set himself on fire. It’s a level one trauma center but he had burns over 90% of his body. If he lives, he’s going to wish he’d died.

HMC Ret

Roger that. The recovery, debriefing, etc. takes years and is horribly painful

HMC Ret

Debrieding, dammit, debrieding. Freaking autocorrect.

Veritas Omnia Vincit

“Please find another way to protest – fire is painful.”

Agreed, I’ve been stabbed and I’ve been burned…I prefer being stabbed every time. And my burn was relatively minor when a race car I was working on had a radiator detonate and burn my head….only second degree with blistering…I can’t even imagine third degree burns and debridement.

A Proud Infidel®™

I’ve only had very minor stab wounds and compared to when I got burned by flaming gasoline (The result of a stupid move on my part, but I only had 2nd Degree Burns) and I concur.

2/17 Air Cav

Stupid fire/splody story time. One year not too many years ago, I raked a million leaves into a space beside my driveway. The space was closed on two sides by a 4-ft high retaining walls. There would be no hrs of feeding the leaves into a 50-gal drum that year. No sir. I sprinkled (quite liberally) gas over the leaves. I stepped back, lit some paper and tossed it toward the leaves. The wad of paper never made it to the leaves but, instead, either was vaporized or blown into orbit. The mushroom cloud was a sight to behold, as were the falling leaves, some on fire and some not. Me? It’s somewhat of a blur. I turned away and ate some gravel, I know that. Funny thing about gas. The vapors just hung over that pile of leaves, waiting for some ifiot to provide ignition.

Fyrfighter

Glad you made it through that 2/17… Gasoline can be funny like that…

FatCircles0311

I’m more upset at the waste of resources of all those police standing around some numb nuts talking about texting and driving.

HMC Ret

Responded to jet crash 22DEC69 in San Diego. Most horrible thing I have ever had to do. Navy Hospital San Diego immediately established a burn ward and I worked on it. Had patients with only small part of their body not burned. Most passed. Many had already been sent to burn unit at hospital in San Antonio. The screams and moans was beyond belief. I’ve handled burns, bullets, stabs, crush/trauma from MVA. Burns are he worst. I would never work on a burn unit. Those who do so are humanitarian beyond description.

This guy? I would have had to load up on 20 Lortab to get to the point to do that. As noted above, there are far better ways to protest. Hope he lives, but he’s probably in for a long episode of debridement, which is horrible.

Choose another method, veterans.

Fyrfighter

I’m with you HMC, seen plenty, and burns are the worst… just had a fatal fire last week… reading the notes while enroute was heartbreaking… guessing my heart rate was somewhere over 200 by the time we went in the front door….

Mark Lauer

The Department of Veterans Affairs is now going to refer to this as an act of violence committed against the hospital.
I am not joking.
A veteran shot himself to death on the grounds of a Veteran’s hospital several years ago. My VA counselor told me that they considered that an act of violence against THEM.
I was on the verge of committing a real act of violence on that councilor at that moment.
They look at us as time bombs, or grenades that are just waiting to have the pins pulled. If we just raise our voices a little bit, they put us on a terrorist watch list.
The VA sucks.

timactual

You would think that if they were so afraid of us they would treat us very, very nicely.

IDC SARC

Damn 🙁

HMC Ret

Probably have to spend millions doing an environmental impact statement. I’m sure the pollution sent into the air will do great damage to the environment and greatly contribute to global warming. Probably cause an iceberg to melt, raising the sea level an inch or two. Those living near the ocean should probably start packing right now to relocate. Hey, that’s me. See ya …

A Proud Infidel®™

She appeared to have an “Oh shit, there goes my moment of sunshine” thought when the LE Officers took off but on the bright side she DOES have a sassy pair of legs!

Jarhead

Who’s the fat tub of lard just over to her left? Could it be none other than Brian J. McCarthy? No wonder she felt safe with “all that protection” around her. Brian is there to share the doughnut crumbs the cops leave laying around. You can see him looking for the plate when the cops take off. Then off camera he says to the two who stayed behind, “Don’t you think you better follow the others? Hey, leave the doughnuts with me, I’ll protect them. And no bytch, you ain’t gettin’ shit from these!”

Jarhead

Finally figured it out on my own. He’s either a news anchor or a boat anchor.

SGT Fon

i get good care at the VA, my biggest complaint is that i have had 15 doctors in just under 6 years at my little clinic. some have come and gone before i ever had a chance to see them. the ones that do stay never have the time to look over my records so on top of having to repeat everything that is wrong with me, i have to be the one that advocates for myself whether its drugs, drug interactions or a course of treatment

5JC

Could have been worse. At least he did not SVEST.

AnotherPat

The homeless Air Force Veteran who set himself on fire has been identified as Richard Michael Watts, age 58.

Embedded in this link is the footage capturing state troopers extinguishing the flames:

https://www.11alive.com/mobile/article/news/local/this-is-the-video-that-shows-trooper-rush-to-save-the-life-of-veteran-who-set-himself-on-fire/85-568320541

So sad.