ptsd I'm Tired Of The Run Around Please Help!

[soldieofchrist4id]

Let me first start off by saying thank you to all the veterans no matter how long ago it was you served. Thank you for you sacrifice and heart for this country. May God bless you all!!!

Well my name is Joshua Holm let me first start by saying I am a proud Iraqi freedom of 03-04 with 4ID. I am a father of two wonderful children and today is my eighth wedding Aniversary to my gem my wife Crystal who has literally been there for me through thick and thin. Well I am almost 27 and I went to Iraq in 2003 with 4ID in June 2003 we were doing house to house raids and there was someone in the roof of clay hut. I was shot with a double barrel shot gun two slug to the center mass of my chest. I was told that two to five more pounds of pressure would have broken my sternum which would have then splintered into my heart which would have then killed me instantly. In Sept 2003 I was on a detail of burning poop we had to take shifts doing this due to lack of plumbing. We began to take enemy mortar rounds they were using the light of the fire to walk the rounds into our camp. I was on the OP and was not aware of the incoming mortars until it was almost to late. I flipped the crap and began to run after first letting one of my soldiers go about a minute ahead of me. Well to make a long story short I never made it to the bunker. I was running and took light shrapnel wounds to my the side of my right leg. While running from the incoming mortars i fell in a spider hole right before I made it to the bunker. It was about 10 to 12 ft deep. I was knocked out for 30min + ?. when i woke up there were no more mortars and they had already called all clear. I was pulled out of the hole and taken to the medics. They just gave me motrin or (skittles) and put me on light duty for 2 weeks. I didn't know I took shrapnel until about 3-4 weeks after it happened. I was cut up from head to toe from the fall. My feet and legs began to swell i thought it was from the constant on the go. When we returned from Iraq the legs got even worse and I was put in leg braces and a wheelchair. i was prideful so i never wanted to use the chair. I was in a MVA in Sept of 04 on post. I was T-boned at a 4way stop the truck was going 47 mph. I was put into a neck brace for about 4mths. After being messed around by the medical I got fed up of the run around and ETS ed in June of 2005. I was already making more money with my maintenance company then i was making in the military. I learned how to walk again and was only using a cane on bad days but used both knee and ankle braces almost everyday. I went to the VA right away for headaches/ and pain in my feet and legs. By 12-05 I was given 10% for flat feet due to the fall in 03. I was happy with that until I found people that where getting disability for just about nothing. By DEC 2006 I was getting 60% for feet/ sleep apnea. In 2007 I got a increase of 90% for headaches/ lower back pain/ both knee / ankle and left soulder.

In the fall of 2007 I was told by the VA to either let my maintenance company up or they would stop all my benefits. So I did as they told me to and started going to VRE or Chapter 31. In June of 2008 I got a call from a social worker at the VA she called to tell me I missed a follow up appointment for TBI this the first time I ever heard of this. Later she found out back in 2005 I was given a Cat scan and a doctor prognoised TBI but never scheduled a follow up exam. They began to do diffrent brain test. On July 15, 2008 I fell in the middle of the grocery store and had my first seizure it was a grand mal. I losed control of my bowels and everthing. Since then I was hospitalized a few times I am on lots of seizure/ migraine meds. My wife drives me. On May 1st 2009 I was at my house making koolade for the kids when I passed out in a sezuire state and was hospitalized for seven days. my head bonced of my countertop then hit the floor. I had blood of my brain and lots of fluid build up. I was told by one doctor i had a slight anurysum. I had partial pralisses on my left side. I have been in a wheel chair since May I use a wheelchair on a daily basis. I have a custom manual ultra light wheelchair. I can't feel my entire right leg when i feel it it stings like pens and needles. In late 2008 I put in for SSA a was granted within 24 days after i put in for I fell under

the wounded warrior act. I finally put in for 100 ui but was denied b/c i was trying to do vre. I appealed it in fed 2009 in may my dr put in for A&A and they also put me n for PTSD, depression, seizures, and dental trama I am still waiting. Ok considering my condition what will I probably get for A&A and how is it configured? What should i do almost all my field records were lost by the miltary. i got lay statement written by my platoon sgt and my crpl who was the one who pulled me out of the hole and took me to the medics. The medic that removed the shrapnel from my leg/ knee didn't make it back there second tour. My old battery commander is dead, the medic, my supply sgt dead. All I have left is the crpl who is now a ssg and is still active. I never even got a purple heart. I have the scars from the light shrapnel wounds. I just did what i was taught suck it up and drive on, adapt and over come. I thought I was superman but did norelize I had crytonte in my pockets. Any advice would help i thank you agian and God bless you all.

Joshua Lee Holm

[Berta]

If you are eligible for the PH and it isnt on your DD 214-you can use the attached DD 149 to obtain correction of the DD 214.

The criteria for the PH is here under a search.

Just put Not applicable on the injustice part.

They will search your unit records. They will then issue a DD 215 if they find decorations or medals etc missing for the 214.

Michellelee gave a good link too- I was unaware that this could help because most vets use the DD 149.

It is best to give as many details as possible so they can search treatment records etc and unit history.

dd0149.pdf

[soldieofchrist4id]

It was not that I never recieved a purple heart it was the fact that I was never put in for one. I have my NCO who is willing to put me in for one but. I need to know what forms are needed to do so.

[Commander Bob]

It was not that I never recieved a purple heart it was the fact that I was never put in for one. I have my NCO who is willing to put me in for one but. I need to know what forms are needed to do so.

I have been knee deep in Internet PDF file sites, looking for an answer for you, 'soldieofchrist4id'.

To be left behind when an earned award, such as a Purple Heart, was not received, I find unacceptable... All too often, a vet lets this kind of a mistake go on unresolved, because of the uncomfortable position the deserving vet is put in... How do you know that you were not put in for a PH??? Who told you that. Have you already sent a DD 149 in, and got a negative response. Or are you just guessing??? You would be surprised how many mistakes are made by clerks in the uniformed services.

Berta Posted here, on 24 May 2010 - 12:16 PM

" If you are eligible for the PH and it isn't on your DD 214-you can use the attached DD 149 to obtain correction of the DD 214."