I would like to share my husbands and families story ( We share this handle on this site). My husband is an Army reservist who served in Iraq 2004-2005, and suffered an injury there, he has 13 years in 10 AD. At the time I was employed at two full time jobs, one of which provided our family insurance. We have an adult daughter that is totally disabled. Insurance for her has cost us jobs in the past. While he served I kept both of my jobs. He came home untreated for his injury and was released from AD. The VA told him all his issues were in his head for two years. He woke up one day and couldn't walk, he was sent to polytrauma, and was determined to have lots of back problems, a seperated shoulder, neuropathy, and ptsd. I was so upset I took him to civilian doctors, where it was determined he needed surgery.
We tried to get him on Incap orders because the surgery would keep him from working for at least six months. His unit wouldn't do anything to help him. We used my insurance and paid out of pocket for his line of duty injury surgery. As a result, my boss's premiums tripled. He quit all insurance for dependents leaving my daughter with no insurance at all. My boss then decided I didn't deserve the time off to take her to doctors appointments, and to obtain the dependency determination necessary for tricare reserve select. I lost my job of eleven years.
My husband has been for three fit for duty physicals and been found unfit three times. The VA has him rated at 170% but not permenant and total which means no CHAMPVA, no education, no nothing. The only way we got any help from his unit was me standing there and not leaving until they did the paperwork for his MEB.
He has LOD's for his shoulder, and his PTSD. It has been two years of limbo with the military. We have tried getting help through our Congressman, and the IG. When the congressman inquired on our behalf with the military they blamed us. The IG hasn't responded after three weeks.
I found in his case the unit he's assigned to just doesn't care. When he could no longer play, and the gloom of PTSD was revealed, he became the leper. They are deployed so much, the people left behind to run the show are lazy, undisiplined, and largely untrained in how to do the complicated paperwork. And during war, those who can no longer play are the last priority for an already overstressed command.