Well, I wanted to post my story for all to see. It's not to say that the entire military is bad but let's just say our Ethos and Sailor's Creed isn't followed at all. This will be a little long winded however, it's important to see a broad scope of the situation. I will start back to when my injuries first begun. Note in no way am i complaining I just think people need to hear this!
1998- While in the national guard as a Combat Engineer. Out on a FTX we were working with field artillery. An accident happened where a howizer fired without notification. I was standing about 10-15 feet from it with single hearing protection on. We had relaxed dual hearing protection before hand. Which ending up causing a TBI and subsequent right hearing loss.
1999- Switched over to active duty Navy.
2003- While onboard a Minesweeper during the Initial Iraqi invasion, exposed to constant gun fire/ explosives operations. Had an incident during a engineering fire where i was apart of the responding firefighting team where i slipped and fell down a deck in full FFE, and hurt my back. All documented.
2007- On a forward deployed ship had constant piercing back pain and bi-lateral foot pain. None of switch could be handled on a Minesweeper. had to "suck it up" until i recieved orders back stateside.
2010- Stationed with EOD as a underwater demo instructor. Also selected to CPO. Exposed to constant explosives operations/at sea small boat diver training. Had my first foot surgery in 2012. Took two years before podiatry had an opening. At this point with the rigorous physical training was taking a heavy toll on my body, by i tried to drive on. Contacted by my detailer that i needed to fill a critical at-sea billet in the 5th fleet asap. Medical cleared me even though i had a second surgury pending.
2013- Detach EOD and head to Bahrain with a stop first in San Diego for a month. I arrive in Bahrain to a crew getting ready for operations...let's get it! I'm feeling a little bit of a rush to train sailors who've never seen an actual mine go off, and doing their actual mission. The command notice me hobbling around and I let them know my body is jacked up. That i still needed a surgery to hopefully help me out. Little did i know they (CO, XO, CMC) could care less. Six months later we arrived back in San Diego for a six month off-ship training evolution.
Spoke with the chain of command again about conducting the second sugery while we were off-hull. They said no. Well, roger that, back to work! The six months have come and gone and back to the 5th fleet on-hull. My body really degraded within the first two months there. The Doc sent myself to the local hospital via Tricare for a second opinion. That doctor also concurred that surgery was needed. The CO did not like that. Plus, as a senior combat advisor to the CO i had to give him bad news about some navigation equipment on the ship. That would CASREP us at the highest level. He couldn't go to sea. What i recieved was a "roger that Chief, go fix it because i'm getting underway anyways!" The fix was completely out of my hands. We got underway anyways. I had to report this at a higher level and a investigation ensued. Here's where it became career ending....
1998- While in the national guard as a Combat Engineer. Out on a FTX we were working with field artillery. An accident happened where a howizer fired without notification. I was standing about 10-15 feet from it with single hearing protection on. We had relaxed dual hearing protection before hand. Which ending up causing a TBI and subsequent right hearing loss.
1999- Switched over to active duty Navy.
2003- While onboard a Minesweeper during the Initial Iraqi invasion, exposed to constant gun fire/ explosives operations. Had an incident during a engineering fire where i was apart of the responding firefighting team where i slipped and fell down a deck in full FFE, and hurt my back. All documented.
2007- On a forward deployed ship had constant piercing back pain and bi-lateral foot pain. None of switch could be handled on a Minesweeper. had to "suck it up" until i recieved orders back stateside.
2010- Stationed with EOD as a underwater demo instructor. Also selected to CPO. Exposed to constant explosives operations/at sea small boat diver training. Had my first foot surgery in 2012. Took two years before podiatry had an opening. At this point with the rigorous physical training was taking a heavy toll on my body, by i tried to drive on. Contacted by my detailer that i needed to fill a critical at-sea billet in the 5th fleet asap. Medical cleared me even though i had a second surgury pending.
2013- Detach EOD and head to Bahrain with a stop first in San Diego for a month. I arrive in Bahrain to a crew getting ready for operations...let's get it! I'm feeling a little bit of a rush to train sailors who've never seen an actual mine go off, and doing their actual mission. The command notice me hobbling around and I let them know my body is jacked up. That i still needed a surgery to hopefully help me out. Little did i know they (CO, XO, CMC) could care less. Six months later we arrived back in San Diego for a six month off-ship training evolution.
Spoke with the chain of command again about conducting the second sugery while we were off-hull. They said no. Well, roger that, back to work! The six months have come and gone and back to the 5th fleet on-hull. My body really degraded within the first two months there. The Doc sent myself to the local hospital via Tricare for a second opinion. That doctor also concurred that surgery was needed. The CO did not like that. Plus, as a senior combat advisor to the CO i had to give him bad news about some navigation equipment on the ship. That would CASREP us at the highest level. He couldn't go to sea. What i recieved was a "roger that Chief, go fix it because i'm getting underway anyways!" The fix was completely out of my hands. We got underway anyways. I had to report this at a higher level and a investigation ensued. Here's where it became career ending....