Hello,
I am Anthony August Larson, from Seattle Washington currently living in Dallas Fort Worth.
I was in the Marine Corps from Sept of 1995 to Sept of 1998. I automatically had 30% DAV rating at my EAS because in my separation process I got my knees and feet scanned and that award was given right away. In fact, the first thing I did was fly space a to Asia to study herbalism to try to treat my pain without the drugs that were tearing my stomach apart. Since I left the base, Camp Pendleton, a bit earlier than my eas, on terminal leave, I was in the middle of nowhere in Thailand when I got my EAS and I'm positive that I was already getting paid 30% or got it right after my eas within a month because I distinctly remember that this little money when a really long way over there. But I never got the lump sum that I would have gotten under a medical retirement, even though the only reason that I got out was because the medical officer told me I was not eligible to reenlist and I would not survive in the Marine Corps anyway if I did not have surgery on both of my feet. I only ended up having surgery on one of my feet because when it got infected and swollen up to the size of a basketball I almost lost my foot and that was too scary to put myself through a second time on the other foot. Now, many years later, I am rated at 70% and getting T&P because of IU. Later I was medically discharged from the IRR, which was really quite strange because they said the reason was for a problem with my hand but it meant that I did not have to go to any more of those musters every year (I had only gone to one by then) so I just accepted it.
I believe that I should have been medically retired even if it was only at 30%, because I was rated at the 30% DAV on the way out and I was unable to continue my time in the Marine Corps because of my foot surgery/problems that I developed and based on the things that I mentioned previously that I was told from the medical officer.
Even though my DAV compensation would need to be adjusted if I had my status changed to medically retired, I believe there would be some major benefits to me if I was to get my medical retirement that I should have gotten. First there is the separation money that I never got and as medically retired I believe I would be able to fly overseas space a instead of just domestically, as it is with 100 percent dav. This matters to me a lot because I am a clinical psychology doctoral student, and it would be very nice to be able to live somewhere cheap like the PI or Thailand while I finish my studies.
I would also be very thankful to have the medical retirement designation because I think it would allow me to use TRICARE (I might be wrong about that) or at least see the doctors on the base which would be much much preferred over the VA.
I'm sorry this is kind of long but here's a little more background:
Towards the end of 1997 the medical officer told me that if I did not have surgery on my foot I would not be cleared to deploy for 6 months with my unit (Fox co 2/5 "Blackhearts"). He told me that the way it is I would not be deploying or even staying in the Marines, but if I had the surgery I probably would be deploying and eligible to stay in the Marine Corps, assuming the surgery on both feet went well. Still, the choice was mine. I didn't want to be medically discharged right then suddenly, so I chose to have the surgery, and I almost lost my foot because of the infection. My foot became swollen to the size of a basketball and my Dad had to fly down and argue with doctors which definitely helped me save my foot. I have been told that there was a strong chance that I would lose it so that I could get mentally prepared. I never really got mentally prepared to lose my foot because they were doing a crappy job. Anyway, it did not heal up in time for me to go with my unit which really pissed me off and I got transferred to what was called the "broken" platoon, 2/4 hs co, 2ndplt "the broken", where I remained for several months until my end of active service. Those of us in this platoon literally did nothing. Most of us were in wheelchairs or on crutches, and in my case I was limping around but the last couple of months I really just showed up for formations and was sent to clean crap or do nothing. This is because I had already been told that I could not reenlist due to medical reasons and the medical officer said that he was going to give me a medical separation but I was kind of scared because I didn't realize that was the same as an honorable discharge and I wanted to get my regular honorable discharge so I kind of argued with him respectfully a few times and had a couple visits to his office to make this special request. I think that he was supposed to or planning to give me the medical discharge before my end of active service because he kept saying that I had a long time to wait but because I insisted so much he allowed me to just get transferred to that other unit and spend the several months before I would EAS. What's important to understand here is the fact that I only had the surgery on one of the feet because I was scared shitless of losing my other foot if I allowed them to cut the other one, and the fact that the foot that they did operate on did not really get that much better. In the surgery they literally broke the bone and moved it up and put a pin across so that the bottom of my foot would not hit the deck with so much pressure on the second metatarsal pad. Now I have pain in that area periodically and a scar and of course the way my feet hit the ground is uneven which is kind of strange but not that big of a deal. I'm sorry that was so long.
I am Anthony August Larson, from Seattle Washington currently living in Dallas Fort Worth.
I was in the Marine Corps from Sept of 1995 to Sept of 1998. I automatically had 30% DAV rating at my EAS because in my separation process I got my knees and feet scanned and that award was given right away. In fact, the first thing I did was fly space a to Asia to study herbalism to try to treat my pain without the drugs that were tearing my stomach apart. Since I left the base, Camp Pendleton, a bit earlier than my eas, on terminal leave, I was in the middle of nowhere in Thailand when I got my EAS and I'm positive that I was already getting paid 30% or got it right after my eas within a month because I distinctly remember that this little money when a really long way over there. But I never got the lump sum that I would have gotten under a medical retirement, even though the only reason that I got out was because the medical officer told me I was not eligible to reenlist and I would not survive in the Marine Corps anyway if I did not have surgery on both of my feet. I only ended up having surgery on one of my feet because when it got infected and swollen up to the size of a basketball I almost lost my foot and that was too scary to put myself through a second time on the other foot. Now, many years later, I am rated at 70% and getting T&P because of IU. Later I was medically discharged from the IRR, which was really quite strange because they said the reason was for a problem with my hand but it meant that I did not have to go to any more of those musters every year (I had only gone to one by then) so I just accepted it.
I believe that I should have been medically retired even if it was only at 30%, because I was rated at the 30% DAV on the way out and I was unable to continue my time in the Marine Corps because of my foot surgery/problems that I developed and based on the things that I mentioned previously that I was told from the medical officer.
Even though my DAV compensation would need to be adjusted if I had my status changed to medically retired, I believe there would be some major benefits to me if I was to get my medical retirement that I should have gotten. First there is the separation money that I never got and as medically retired I believe I would be able to fly overseas space a instead of just domestically, as it is with 100 percent dav. This matters to me a lot because I am a clinical psychology doctoral student, and it would be very nice to be able to live somewhere cheap like the PI or Thailand while I finish my studies.
I would also be very thankful to have the medical retirement designation because I think it would allow me to use TRICARE (I might be wrong about that) or at least see the doctors on the base which would be much much preferred over the VA.
I'm sorry this is kind of long but here's a little more background:
Towards the end of 1997 the medical officer told me that if I did not have surgery on my foot I would not be cleared to deploy for 6 months with my unit (Fox co 2/5 "Blackhearts"). He told me that the way it is I would not be deploying or even staying in the Marines, but if I had the surgery I probably would be deploying and eligible to stay in the Marine Corps, assuming the surgery on both feet went well. Still, the choice was mine. I didn't want to be medically discharged right then suddenly, so I chose to have the surgery, and I almost lost my foot because of the infection. My foot became swollen to the size of a basketball and my Dad had to fly down and argue with doctors which definitely helped me save my foot. I have been told that there was a strong chance that I would lose it so that I could get mentally prepared. I never really got mentally prepared to lose my foot because they were doing a crappy job. Anyway, it did not heal up in time for me to go with my unit which really pissed me off and I got transferred to what was called the "broken" platoon, 2/4 hs co, 2ndplt "the broken", where I remained for several months until my end of active service. Those of us in this platoon literally did nothing. Most of us were in wheelchairs or on crutches, and in my case I was limping around but the last couple of months I really just showed up for formations and was sent to clean crap or do nothing. This is because I had already been told that I could not reenlist due to medical reasons and the medical officer said that he was going to give me a medical separation but I was kind of scared because I didn't realize that was the same as an honorable discharge and I wanted to get my regular honorable discharge so I kind of argued with him respectfully a few times and had a couple visits to his office to make this special request. I think that he was supposed to or planning to give me the medical discharge before my end of active service because he kept saying that I had a long time to wait but because I insisted so much he allowed me to just get transferred to that other unit and spend the several months before I would EAS. What's important to understand here is the fact that I only had the surgery on one of the feet because I was scared shitless of losing my other foot if I allowed them to cut the other one, and the fact that the foot that they did operate on did not really get that much better. In the surgery they literally broke the bone and moved it up and put a pin across so that the bottom of my foot would not hit the deck with so much pressure on the second metatarsal pad. Now I have pain in that area periodically and a scar and of course the way my feet hit the ground is uneven which is kind of strange but not that big of a deal. I'm sorry that was so long.