Clay led the fight against “unchecked incompetence” at the VA
“I can track my pizza from Pizza Hut on my BlackBerry, but the VA can’t find my claim for four months,”
Clay Hunt, an original member of our seminal mission to Haiti, lost his battle with PTSD and post-war depression on March 30th when he took his own life. Clay and his mother are featured in this NBC Nightly News piece about the unchecked incompetence of the VA.
Before he lost the battle, he led the fight, in this May 31, 2010 front page article in the LA Times: Veterans Affairs wants to be an advocate, not an Enemy by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Zucchino. Read the article, watch the video, get angry, and then act by contacting your Congressman today.
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I am in the same situation. I told the Va I had thoughts of hurting my self and I am now waiting for callbacks, they have put me under more stress by removing some of the care I was already getting. I don’t know where to turn and need help. PLEASE!!!!
Joe, you can call me any time of day at 312-725-2195. I think we can help so give me a call.
William
Joe, try your local Vet Center. They’ve been very helpful for me.
As a new citizen of this country I marvel sometimes at what we take for granted and how we talk a good talk and don’t walk the talk. I have seen it with teachers who work their fool heads off, told that they are loved by us all and then get kicked around so much. Now it is the service personnel. We tell them we love them and care about them yet they linger back home unelevated, unemployed, unsung and seemingly forgotten. Especially where we voting citizens elect officials that will develop whole arms and branches to serve these veterans and then they fail so miserably. I yearn for these guys to be loved…go TR.
I have been diagonosed with PTSD.. 1st by a civilian shrink and then by the VA…I was in the USCG..I flew search and rescue,drug interdiction,etc..Some flights some really bad things happened…I wish there was a gun big enough to shoot at the weather and the Sea…It’s a killer…I went to AD school with Mike Gill the guy that the movie “The Guardian” was modeled after…We lost him in 1986…I lost a lot of friends in the CG…I and countless other USCG persons are not allowed at the Vet Centers…Because it’s not “Combat” which I find to be a twist….We can’t go..We battle weather,the ocean,drug smugglers,old crappy equipment,terrorists..and not able to find help that we need…Just thought Id throw it out there…Thank you for reading this far….MadAxe Sullivan
This is an imperative for all my Veteran Brothers and Sisters. One thing that helped me through my own bout with PTSD is reading a book titled: On Killing by LTC (retired) Dave Grossman. It explains the physiological and psychological impact of combat.
Now while knowing this doesn’t out right solve the issue, knowing where you are in the process does help the speed at which you move through it
It does add a measure of prevent-ability to falling victim if you can adequately prepare yourself ahead of time, although there is no quantifiable data available that I have found to measure it against.
SSG James Buhrow
I, too have been fighting with the VA….for 21 months and counting. Diagnosed by the VA ‘Vet’ center in Reisterstown, Md, with Chronic and Severe PTSD, my claim has been ‘lost and found’ multiple times. Color me less than impressed with the VA in Baltimore. At least the process, anyway. The people I’ve spoken to in person and via telephone have been great, but the ‘process worship’ intendant with this system is abysmal at best and criminally incompetent at worst.
Not a ‘combat’ vet per-se…my PTSD is from the Pentagon on 9/11. I was there.
Luckily still employed….would love to be a member of Team Rubicon but not sure I could get the time off….and not sure I could be of much use anyway LOL. But sure looks like ‘fun’!
Thanks for letting me rant a bit. Stay low and stay safe!
v/r
Sgt J. S. Grabill USMC &USAF ANG (Ret).