Re: virus: GI Denied Health Care After Speaking Out

From: Walter Watts (wlwatts@cox.net)
Date: Sat Mar 06 2004 - 14:46:06 MST

  • Next message: Walter Watts: "Re: virus: Re: virus: Déja vu All Over Again in Haiti"

    I've mellowed some lately.

    I think I'd just make him watch "Groundhog Day" repeatedly until it sunk in.

    Walter
    <well, maybe the second bitch-slap)for good measure>

    Dr Sebby wrote:

    > ....to be honest...if this guy was responsible for loading boat guns, and
    > now he claims psychological trauma, i should qualify for it as well just
    > from watching the news. be he in the political right or not; it sounds
    > like he probably suffers from a severe case of "whining-ass-cry-baby-pussy"
    > syndrome as opposed to what he claims. Walter Watts should be able to
    > easily treat this condition...correct me if i'm wrong walter, but i'm going
    > to wager a guess that you'd give him a dosage of 3 sugar pills, 1 spanking,
    > a good slap across the face, another good bitch-slap(for good measure), a
    > scolding by his mommy, and some film footage of soldiers actually facing
    > fire in combat for him to realize what a whiner he is. leave the complaints
    > to those that actually deal with the nightmare of actual combat.
    >
    > ...should the guy packing the bombs in ohio suffer trauma as well? can
    > anyone say, "b.s. lawsuits"?
    >
    > ...oh, and by the way....DEAN 2008!!!
    >
    > DrSebby.
    > "Courage...and shuffle the cards".
    >
    > ----Original Message Follows----
    > From: Jei <jei@cc.hut.fi>
    > Reply-To: virus@lucifer.com
    > To: virus@lucifer.com
    > Subject: virus: GI Denied Health Care After Speaking Out
    > Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 16:13:50 +0200 (EET)
    >
    > http://www1.iraqwar.ru/iraq-read_article.php?articleId=39448&lang=enC 
    > http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0302-04.htm
    >
    > Mark Benjamin
    >
    > GI Denied Health Care After Speaking Out
    > 04.03.2004 [08:12]
    >
    > Published on Tuesday, March 2, 2004 by UPI
    >
    > WASHINGTON -- An Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran says Army officials at Fort
    > Knox, Ky., refused him medical treatment after he talked publicly about poor
    > care at the base, which helped spark hearings in Congress.
    >
    > Fort Knox officials charged that soldier, Lt. Jullian Goodrum, with being
    > absent without leave and cut off his pay after he then went to a private
    > doctor who hospitalized him for serious mental stress from Iraq, Goodrum
    > said.
    >
    > "They are coming after me pretty bad," said Goodrum, 33, a veteran who has
    > served the military for more than 14 years, including the first Gulf War and
    > Operation Iraqi Freedom.
    >
    > He showed United Press International a form from Fort Knox that states that
    > Fort Knox officials "do not want him in medical hold." Some soldiers are
    > kept on medical hold during treatment while the Army determines their
    > status.
    >
    > Goodrum has now been hospitalized in a locked mental ward at the Walter Reed
    > Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. after turning himself in there Feb.
    > 9. Doctors there say he has post-traumatic stress disorder from Iraq and
    > major depression, and they worry he could hurt himself. He is not allowed to
    > go down the hall from the inpatient psychiatric clinic for a Coke without an
    > escort.
    >
    > Goodrum said stress from Iraq, and the way he has been treated by the
    > military since he returned, has made him so depressed he is lucky to be
    > alive. He also has injuries to both wrists, in part from loading 65-pound
    > shells on the USS Missouri when he was in the Navy in the first Gulf War.
    > The ship pounded Iraqi troops in Kuwait and took fire from Iraqi tanks. An
    > Iraqi Silkworm missile missed her bow by 30 yards.
    >
    > Goodrum appeared in an Oct. 29 UPI article about more than 400 soldiers on
    > medical hold at Fort Knox who were waiting weeks and sometimes months for
    > medical treatment.
    >
    > That article, and an article on a similar situation at Fort Stewart, Ga.,
    > sparked a series of hearings in Congress -- including a Jan. 21 appearance
    > by Col. Keith Armstrong, garrison commander at Fort Knox, before a panel of
    > the House Armed Services Committee.
    >
    > Fort Knox spokeswoman Connie Shaffery said privacy rules prohibit her from
    > commenting on Goodrum's case, unless he signed a waiver saying otherwise. He
    > declined. Shaffery said a soldier who does not show up for duty is absent
    > without leave.
    >
    > "If a soldier is not at his or her duty station and is not in an authorized
    > leave or pass status, he is absent without leave," Shaffery said. "When a
    > soldier is listed as AWOL, it stops all pay and benefits. When instructed to
    > return and they do not comply, that is a violation."
    >
    > After appearing in the UPI article on Oct. 29, Goodrum asked for medical
    > care on or about Nov. 7. He said he told Fort Knox officials that he was
    > having a breakdown.
    >
    > "I said I was having problems. I told them I felt like I was having a
    > breakdown right there," Goodrum said. Goodrum said Fort Knox told him to go
    > away. A handwritten note in Goodrum's records from Nov. 7 says, "Colonel
    > Stevens do (sic) not want this patient to be in medical hold."
    >
    > Goodrum said he then drove down an interstate highway at 5 miles an hour
    > through rushing traffic. He said he was completely dysfunctional because of
    > a combination of PTSD and what he says was retribution from his chain of
    > command for speaking up about poor medical care at the base. He said he
    > could have wound up dead.
    >
    > "A truck could have run right over me," Goodrum said about that day. "It was
    > a complete nervous breakdown."
    >
    > Goodrum, a member of the Army Reserve, was named the 176th Maintenance
    > Battalion's "Soldier of the Year" in 2001. He has received a host of awards,
    > including the combat action ribbon, and positive reviews from superior
    > officers.
    >
    > "Lt. Goodrum is a truly outstanding junior officer," reads one performance
    > evaluation from 2002. "In addition to his technical competence, he
    > demonstrates great leadership potential. ... Promote to captain and select
    > for advance military schooling."
    >
    > Goodrum said his problems began in Iraq, working under combat conditions in
    > a transportation company. There, he said, safety violations -- including the
    > use of "deadlined" or broken vehicles -- resulted in the death of a 22-year
    > old soldier. Goodrum appealed to the Army's Inspector General and Congress
    > when he returned home.
    >
    > After Goodrum sought medical help at Fort Knox on Nov. 7 and was denied,
    > Goodrum's civilian doctor hospitalized him for PTSD and alerted Fort Knox.
    >
    > Dr. Vijay Jethanandani wrote Fort Knox Nov. 15 that Goodrum needed medical
    > leave until Dec. 7. The doctor kept officials there up to date on Goodrum's
    > condition in a series of five letters.
    >
    > "Unfortunately, recent intimidation, threats of being arrested for staying
    > on medical leave from his superiors has resulted in recurrent psychiatric
    > symptoms," Jethanandani wrote Dec. 3. "Until 11/26/03, Mr. Jullian Goodrum
    > was progressing fairly well."
    >
    > "It does not help that Mr. Goodrum was in combat with a unit in Iraq, where
    > a superior officer ignored safety protocol jeopardizing the safety of
    > soldiers and resulting in the death of one man," Jethanandani wrote.
    > "Instead of following up on his complaints, it appears that some of his
    > superiors on stateside may be penalizing him for reporting his superior
    > officer in Iraq."
    >
    > In the wake of the Fort Stewart and Fort Knox stories, last fall
    > Undersecretary of Defense David S.C. Chu ordered that if medical care is not
    > available on base, "medical commanders shall promptly refer patients to
    > other military, Veteran Affairs, or civilian sources of care."
    >
    > Goodrum said he showed Chu's memo to Fort Knox officials, but it did not
    > help. "I told them they were ignoring an order from the undersecretary of
    > Defense," Goodrum said.
    >
    > Goodrum's medical files shows that Walter Reed medical staff also have been
    > unable to get Fort Knox medical officials to discuss his case. "Patient is
    > currently assigned to the medical hold company in Fort Knox, Ky., and to a
    > Capt. Savage. Capt. Savage has NOT returned any phone calls from this
    > office," his record states.
    >
    > Soldiers at Fort Knox contacted UPI about another situation they consider a
    > sign of poor care.
    >
    > On Feb. 11, a soldier on medical hold at Fort Knox who served in Iraq
    > apparently attempted suicide in the barracks. He was attached to a Special
    > Forces unit in Iraq.
    >
    > Soldiers there said he deeply slashed both of his wrists, spraying blood in
    > the barracks hallway and around his room before being rushed to the
    > hospital.
    >
    > "If it was not for about three guys, if they had not applied direct pressure
    > and immediate pressure, he would have died," said a soldier at Fort Knox who
    > knows him.
    >
    > Soldiers said they worry that Army officials did not act aggressively to
    > address his problems, including heavy drinking, that appear to have surfaced
    > since Iraq.
    >
    > Shaffery said she could not comment on that case, either. "We are sensitive
    > to psychiatric or suicide issues with all of our population," she said.
    >
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    --
    Walter Watts
    Tulsa Network Solutions, Inc.
    "Reminding you to help control the human population. Have your sexual partner spayed
    or neutered."
    ---
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