Symptoms of my condition started on a 2012 deployment. I filled out LOD paperwork (told to do so by my deployed flight doc) the day I returned state-side in case I had something serious going on with my head/ear. If it hand't been for that paperwork I would have been non-duty seperated from the guard. Now I'm just waiting for a fit/unfit from the PEB with a 30% rating from the VA on my "unfitting" condition. LOD's never hurt if at the members request.
I look back to my own injuries that were clearly due but never received an LOD at the time. One for a severe spinal injury and the second for an IED blast.
The spinal injury was a no-brainer, I was treated over the course of several months while still on AD for a combat deployment to Iraq. The Army/Guard never bothered to initiate an LOD (which is their responsibility and duty to do so) and at the time, as a junior enlisted man, I had no real concept of what an LOD document was or how important it would be. Months later, back in the Guard I needed spinal surgery, and the Battalion Surgeon and Command both looked over my military medical records and it was clear that it was incurred on AD in the line of duty, still they did nothing except to suggest I use my own medical insurance, and they (intentionally I believe) didn't mention a word about INCAP. Again, I wasn't cognizant of the LOD's importance, and though on a general level I felt that the Army/Guard should have been doing more, having never gone through the process, I didn't know at the time how to force them to do their job.
The IED injury is less clear cut. I sustained a blast injury, superficial burns to my face and arm, hearing loss, and had my "bells rung" with a mild concussion. Our Platoon Medic treated me on the scene but rushed away to help others who were wounded by the same blast. I came off the patrol immediately afterwards with my platoon shortly thereafter (not Med-evaced or Cas-evaced) and was taken to the Battalion Aid Station for a quick follow up. I was able to return to patrol the next day, though it took a couple days for the effects of the concussion to fully dissipate. The hearing loss and resulting tinnitus was permanent and documented from that point on in my military medical records.
Again, no one in the Medical chain or my Command bothered to initiate an LOD, and again it never occurred to me that I would have to fight later on down the road to 'prove' what had been so obvious at the time. I had been hit by an IED and sustained wounds. Even with eye witness statements from my Company Commander, Platoon Leader, and the Platoon Medic who treated me, the Guard still adamantly refuses to list or investigate the evidence fully with all the injuries incurred from the blast listed, instead they hang their hat on the BAS records being missing or destroyed at the end of tour, by looking ONLY at the concussion as lacking documentation. They say it wasn't in the line of duty based on cherry picking what they're listing and/or looking at on the LOD.
Back the spinal injury 8 years down the road...
Years after the first set of spinal surgeries, my condition had deteriorated to the point of not being able to work and needing further treatment and surgery. Again, the Command's first actions were not to get the LOD issue straightened out and get me the care I needed or cover down on my not being able to work. Instead their first action was to start the process to administratively discharge me without any recognition of the injury being LOD or affording me the benefits due.
Months later when I finally pushed the issue and forced them to initiate an LOD, their true colors showed. They fought like hell to deny the benefits and drag their feet on the LOD's, making what amounts to intentional errors on the document to further delay and deny treatment and benefits. That left little doubt in my mind that their failures were intentional.
As an NCO who rose through the ranks over the years, I have seen it several times where a Soldier was injured during training or duty and flatly refused an LOD for the injury, usually with some lame excuse such as "If you don't have surgery or are hospitalized, you don't need an LOD".
The failures are very much ingrained into the system from what I (and many others) have encountered. Not written policy, but consistent and willful violations of the policy and regulations that they are legally and morally bound to follow, but simply refuse to.
It's a problem that's widespread, common, and won't change without outside intervention, and that's why the media coverage is very important. My fight with the Guard is fairly well done, but that doesn't mean the Guard should be let off the hook to jack over the next injured Soldier the same way.
We fight on...
