ptsd Active Duty Soldier Desperate Help Needed

[crusheroz]

I am an active duty soldier, stationed in germany, currently stateside for school on the east coast. I need advice on writing my Senator in reference to Mental Health issues having to deal with stress, anxiety and depression. I need to move out of this unit, somewhere less stressful. I have explained to my command of my concerns about my current situation dealing with my anxiety and depression and that i wanted to leave the unit, I've been with this unit for almost six years and they say I am too knowledgable and that I am needed and they will not let me go. Right now the unit is fenced and getting ready to deploy again. I have served 17 years active duty. What I want to do is get out of this unit, go back stateside and retire but I have three years left. Basically I have gotten to the point that I dont want to deal with this anymore, I am done, but I would like to retire. I'm working on making sure that everything is annotated in my records as far as Behavioral Health, so that if this turns out to be PTSD that I get the disability I deserve. I have dealt with this for over three years before the first deployment to Iraq and been having some issues since I arrived in Germany. I need to see about finding another job somewhere until I retire and hopefully less stressful, I am more technically knowledgable then tactically knowledgable. I am a platoon sergeant but dont think I need to be in charge of soldiers in my current condition. Any advice on what to say in this letter to my Senator or even if i should write one concerning this matter would be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Pete53]

Welcome to Hadit. I have no experience in what you are asking but I would expect that you need to be very careful cause there might be some retaliation if you go against your command.

I am sure that there will be others who may have some good advice for you.

Thank you for your service.

Pete

[Stretch]

It would be my advice to you, not to mention any of your fellow service persons in a negative light. I also advise that you do not use the letter, to your congressman or senator, as a threat to higher ups. I am speaking from my personal experience.

Consider your career. If it is over it is over. If you get out and get a job, you will still be working.

[timetowinarace]

Your Senator or Congressman can achieve immediate results. I had contacted my Congressman at one point while in service. The inqiries go from the top down rather than the bottom up (chain of command). I had been told I could not change duty stations when I became a sole parent. The day after contacting my congressman I got a phone call, the day after that I was checking in to my new unit.

If you have found Hadit to help with this issue then I think your situation must be important enough for you to go this route. Explain your situation and include possible courses of action to help you.

"I'm working on making sure that everything is annotated in my records as far as Behavioral Health, so that if this turns out to be PTSD that I get the disability I deserve."

It's good to be sure everything is on record. Keep reading on Hadit to learn some of the methods that are used to deny claims, including diagnoses. There is lots of knowledge here. Use it.

Time

[71M10]

Have you tried to a chaplain to help with your reassignment/stress anxiety.

Chaplain's cannot do a lot of things directly, but if you get one pitching for you sometimes they can achieve some significant change. In the Army they have a parallel command structure so they can move a concern up the chain. In Korea I had a 1st SGT deny a pass for a Jewish soldier to Seoul for passover. The Chaplain was out so I asked the 1st SGT why and he indicated that no-one else gets a 4 day pass to go to church. Since the Chaplain was out I had to call DIVARTY Chaplains office, DIVARTY Commander was out so DIVARTY CHAPLAIN called DIVISION Chaplain, The bird Chaplain in Division talked to the General, and excrement began to roll down hill. The 1 SGT wanted to Article 15 me for jumping the command structure, I reffered him to the AR that governed Chaplains and the parallel Chain. If you can convince your Chaplain of the un-addressed problem they will try to get it resolved for you. The additional advantage of discussions with the Chaplain is they cannot be forced to discuss or turn over any notes from counseling/advising sessions to the command! It is privilaged communication.

If you jump it up to a Member of Congress, and you are talking about stress and anxiety they may look to put you out short of your 20 years.

If you truly dont think you can function or will have reliability issues you owe it to the soldiers you lead to fully resolve these issues prior to deployment.

Best of luck to you and thank you for serving!

[martin]

are you back from the sandbox? do you have, and been diagnosed with ptsd? if no diagnosis, better get one pretty quick. i would go to the V.A. where your stationed at, get registered, get a diagnosis. put in a claim. advise your chain of command that you have ptsd.as for me? i have it, and i advised my c.o. he put me on a non deployability status as an "individual", i believe that the only way one can be non deployable as a unit, is if you go before a MEB or PEB. if they find that you are 30% or more due to your conditions, it could signal the move to have you medically retired to the tdrl(temporary disabilty retired list) or the pdrl(permanent disability retired list) in which case as long as you have over 15 years but less than 20 years, and are service connected, you should collect your pension. look under AR 635-40 for all the stuff you need to know. i'm in the somewhat same situation as you are, but i'm not active anymore,only reserve status. i had to do my reasearch on this subject myself.good luck..Martin

[Chuck75]

I agree with you, at least in principal.

Many years ago, I was in the Navy on active duty. To make a long story short, I was in one ships division, and because of my interest, previous training, and intended career path, needed to take a test in the specialty (rate) that I intended to go into. There was some talk about not ordering the correct test, and instead, giving me a test that would advance me within the division to an "equal" though different specialty in the division.

One evening, on bridge watch, I had the opportunity to catch both division officers and the XO on the bridge. I told them about the "rumor", and that since I also had civilian training in the field that I wanted to test for and change to, not allowing me to take the test that I was fully qualified to take would not be a good idea. I pointed out that my family owned a farm that was not to far from a farm owned by our senator, and he just happened to be chairman armed forces appropriations. What do they think would happen if I had to tell my father that they refused to allow me or prevented me from taking the appropriate test, and he mentioned the situation to the senator.

Suffice to say, there was a copy of the correct test available, and I passed it with a high score.

It would be my advice to you, not to mention any of your fellow service persons in a negative light. I also advise that you do not use the letter, to your congressman or senator, as a threat to higher ups. I am speaking from my personal experience.

Consider your career. If it is over it is over. If you get out and get a job, you will still be working.