Army Spec. Jeans Cruz

[xoxoxoBruce]

Army Spec. Jeans Cruz helped capture Saddam Hussein. Do you remember him? If not, don't feel too bad... neither does the VA.

Army Spec. Jeans Cruz helped capture Saddam Hussein. When he came home to the Bronx, important people called him a war hero and promised to help him start a new life. The mayor of New York, officials of his parents’ home town in Puerto Rico, the borough president and other local dignitaries honored him with plaques and silk parade sashes. They handed him their business cards and urged him to phone.

But a “black shadow” had followed Cruz home from Iraq, he confided to an Army counselor. He was hounded by recurring images of how war really was for him: not the triumphant scene of Hussein in handcuffs, but visions of dead Iraqi children.

In public, the former Army scout stood tall for the cameras and marched in the parades. In private, he slashed his forearms to provoke the pain and adrenaline of combat. He heard voices and smelled stale blood. Soon the offers of help evaporated and he found himself estranged and alone, struggling with financial collapse and a darkening depression.

At a low point, he went to the local Department of Veterans Affairs medical center for help. One VA psychologist diagnosed Cruz with post-traumatic stress disorder. His condition was labeled “severe and chronic.” In a letter supporting his request for PTSD-related disability pay, the psychologist wrote that Cruz was “in need of major help” and that he had provided “more than enough evidence” to back up his PTSD claim. His combat experiences, the letter said, “have been well documented.”

None of that seemed to matter when his case reached VA disability evaluators. They turned him down flat, ruling that he deserved no compensation because his psychological problems existed before he joined the Army. They also said that Cruz had not proved he was ever in combat. “The available evidence is insufficient to confirm that you actually engaged in combat,” his rejection letter stated.

Yet abundant evidence of his year in combat with the 4th Infantry Division covers his family’s living-room wall. The Army Commendation Medal With Valor for “meritorious actions . . . during strategic combat operations” to capture Hussein hangs not far from the combat spurs awarded for his work with the 10th Cavalry “Eye Deep” scouts, attached to an elite unit that caught the Iraqi leader on Dec. 13, 2003, at Ad Dawr.

Yes there's more... a lot more.

[yesman065]

The VA has to be the most effed up (dis)organization there is -

[fargon]

Originally Posted by yesman065

The VA has to be the most effed up (dis)organization there is -

No yesman the VA is the MOST FUCKED UP ORGINIZATION IN THE FUCKIN WORLD. I can prove it, in April 1980 I got out of the Coast Guard I did not want to but had to because I was sick and needing surgery. I was told that because I was in the Coast Guard not the real military I was not eligible for any VA benefits. Fast forward 17 years, and 250,000 USD in doctor and hospital bills, letter writing and phone calls to congress critters and senators I finally got in. Now 10 years later and suffering from PTSD caused by the VA my medical condition has gotten so bad that I can not even deliver pizza. Finally I may be getting 100% disability I have been rated 50% for almost a year now.

100% is $2,470.00 a month while 50% is $712.00 a month the idiots can not even do simple arithmetic what makes anybody think these assholes can do anything right. If your are a drunk or an addict you can get 100% instantly while people that do their time honorably get fucked in the ass.

[yesman065]

Uh, I think thats what I said.

[Clodfobble]

Yeah, but you weren't very vehement about it. Fargon is really good at vehemence.

[yesman065]

Ohhh, I thought that he thought that I was saying the opposite of what I thought I wrote; in what he wrote.