Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Post No. 20 - Getting His Act Together

Reporting for RollCall ; 15:40 Hrs 7-3-13
Hi LT:
Short one for today. First off...have a great 4th of July! For the occasion, I'll be playing my favorite track from your album - Voice of America...."Hello, America, do you remember me? We're the ones who fought the war every night...on your TV" But why nitpick. God Bless America, land that we love....
Re: Making sure our Cherry Troop has his act together. Your comment in answer to my post No. 19 is a bit confusing. That is, your saying that before he does any of all those steps we've laid out so far, he should sit down and note down all the events of his service, particularly all those incidents where he went through anything remotely resembling "trauma" of one kind or another. Sure, all of us could reasonably do that, but just because we assemble that record ourselves, the question is...how much weight will our Cherry Troop's own produced narrative have with a beady-eyed clerk/bureaucrat who might  review it? Not much I'm thinking. Seems to me our Troop should have official copies of his  service record and medical record in his hands before he even heads for the VA to get his card. Suspect those records are the only ones that will count in any disability claims process. Which leads me to this question. How and when does he get those records? So, if I understand things correctly here the suggested prep work for getting his act together should be as follows:
1)Besides your DD214, have copies of both your Service Record, and you Medical Record while in service, in your hot little hands. Bettter yet, make extra copies of all of them so you will always have one complete set in your posession, if you have to use those other copies to backup whatever you may need for an eventuality of a disability claim.
2)Head for the nearest VA and get your VA Card.
3)Get your assigned primary care doctor, and make that first appointment with him.
4)Meanwhile, connect with an Advocate to help you maneuver through whatever process you need to go through.
5)Meet your PC doctor, give him copy of your records, and ask for all those examinations and tests previously outlined.
Is this more or less what you have in mind, for getting our Cherry Troop's act together?
Re: Categories of Wounds: You know my views about that. A wound is a wound is a wound. Period. The only difference is how physical and emotional wounds are handled. The physical ones are self-evident, and handling these is almost  a cut and dry matter. The emotional ones are different because they are not self-evident, and,more often than not dormant ( much like a volcano, which can errupt at some unknown time almost impossible to forecast). This is probably why there is so much difficulty in figuring how to deal with these. This is where that first Mental Health Examination becomes a critical factor in the process we've been discussing to date.
Well, let's keep on keeping on....meanwhile...it's the Fourth of July....I'm heading for a shot of Cognac!
CENTURION