My Brother

[WINKY]

My brother is a combat injured active duty airman of which is not getting the required medical attention he deserves. He is being ignored and pushed through the system of pt failure for discharge that is directly related to his injuries. this is what i wrote to President Obama.

Dear President Obama,

I am a veteran of the ARMY and my brother is active Air Force currently stationed in Hawaii. During his tenure overseas, he has been involved in 5 tours of duty in Iraq, during which was stationed in Balad and Kirkuk over 400+ days. Also during these deployments as a C-130 crew chief he encountered in-flight emergencies of an escape hatch almost departing the aircraft causing severe inhalation of carcinogenic fibers into his and others lungs. Along with this he has been exposed to the burn pits in Iraq, which I believe to be hazardous to anyone's health.

He has been to numerous Doctors, Physicians and Specialists, all documenting ailments attributed to these exposures. He has been in and out of examinations, therapies and tests since October 2008 for these injuries as well as others in order to attempt to get the help he rightfully deserves.

Currently he is fighting an upstream battle to get a Medical Evaluation Board (MEB) to hear his case but for some unknown reason nothing has been started even after many requests to do so. The negative part in this is his commanding officer is attempting to use Physical Training Test failures to discharge him in a expedited manner before he can get his rightfully due medical care.

He cannot pass his PT tests due to his injuries that those involved with the medical portion have acknowledged that directly point to reduction in physical abilities, mainly respiration.

My question to you President Obama, why is it so difficult for my brother to receive the medical care that he deserves even after being diagnosed with various health issues and recently finding out he has "growths" in both lungs? Why is his chain of command so eager to discharge him knowing he has Combat Injuries in the Line of Duty that have yet to be addressed to the fullest extent?

My brother is an honorable man, he has gone above and beyond for his country alike all the other service members, yet he cannot get the medical attention he deserves and is owed by our great country.

I plead with you to do the right thing and help straighten out this nonsense of the system failing my brother pertaining to his health issues that might be life threatening down the road if he doesn't get the help he needs now.

Thank you for your time Mr. President.

With great respect,

Veteran PFC Randolph Hale
Bco 17sig Bn Kitzingen Germany

On behalf of:
Tsgt Robert Hale
65th AS Squadron Hickam AFB

[scout man]

Best of luck to you and your brother!!

[Smash]

Ah man.... I hate to hear this sort of stuff. Good luck getting the right thing to happen. Huge thank you again to you, and to your brother!

[Brad]

I have several friends who have served multiple tours of duty in afghanistan and Iraq. Several who still are all based out of FT. Carson in CO. Springs. I have seen first hand how slow our armed forces acts in these cases. I have nothing but respect for your brother and yourself. He truly deserves our best and most capable medical attention. Thank you for all you have done and continue to do for our freedoms.

[WINKY]

no sweat guys, the bad thing is that they know he is injured and know he has health issues yet the blatently ignore them as the cause of his pt failures and are trying to kick him out cause he cant do pt. really effing retarded chain of command he has if you ask me.

[RockyMtnHigh]

This is sad, sorry to hear it Randy! I am going to keep my opinions to myself, but will say "support for the troops" needs to come from more than just the everyday citizens, it shouldn't be a warm and fuzzy statement for anyone, including our government.

[CR]

That is B.S Randy!
I thank you and your brother from the bottom of my heart for our freedom and independence. Everyone of you deserve alot more than what is given to you. Thank you and I hope for some answers for you guys

[WINKY]

yeah i do support our troops, but many times i dont support the cause or reason for what our government does. ill keep it at that.

[Chris]

My brother is a combat injured active duty airman of which is not getting the required medical attention he deserves.


many times i dont support the cause or reason for what our government does.

I agree and will limit my comments. The sad reality is veterans get screwed, I won't tell you how many Viet Nam vets I know who never got the care they needed and are now in their 60's. The gov't appears to deal with this by doing nothing and waiting for the vets to die of old age or their unresolved health issues.

[1freaky1]

Randy as a vet too I hope your brother gets the help he needs and that someone at the Whitehouse actually reads your letter and put things into action for him. I live daily with injuries from my time in the Army over in Germany and it is more of a pain in the arse to get any help after you are discharged regardless of the type of discharge. If he is discharged and refused treatment by VA it takes congressional letters and actions to get the well deserved treatment he will require, I finally gave up fighting with them to fix my injuries after several years of explaining to the people that send us into action. I was not out for any type of disability I just wanted fixed back to a normal state of being. Anyway I keep on supporting our troops and always will. My hopes go out to your brother!

[WINKY]

Well the good thing is he has every write up of the accidents that caused the injuries, plus ALL of his medical records. Before he deployed i urged him to start getting copies of every single thing related to medical and it has paid off. There were a few instances where his main record had stuff missing about his broken foot, the accidents and emergency room stuff from them, he calmly handed them another copy to stick in his file and they looked at him like "oh crap this guy aint playin"

just the blatant fact that they acknowledge his injuries but refuse to put his injuries as the cause of his pt failures is just asinine. They either dont want him to get paid as he can claim disability percentages upwards of 80% with the things he has and already has 10% on file OR they are just to damn lazy to do their job. :mad:

[KnuckleHead]

Sorry to hear this Randy. I know how dealing with system can be, it's not fun and big hassle. I wish your brother the best on getting this resolved like it should be.

[JeffX]

He needs a lawyer.

[southpaws3]

best of luck brother i too have been tring to shovel over the sh1t at the VA it truely sucks

[WINKY]

update, the a$$clowns started a discharge on my brother and when they had a review board session, my brother brought up the fact that he has a medical issue that is now elevated with the nodules in his lungs that he wasnt told about till a month ago but were known for a long time by the medical field. This put a stop to the discharge and a doctor coded my brother for an MEB mandatory. SOOOOO..... he will get an MEB before discharge and its a step in the right direction finally.

[Rob]

Good to hear, Randy. Always good when things start moving in the right direction. :thumb:

[WINKY]

the air force people are phucking morons.......

what my brother wrote...

"The doc thinks just because he
signed the form and said I would have an MEB, if there is no code for
the MEB in the computer, then it does not exist."

[CR]

Thats good to here Randy! Keep us updated and anything we can do let us know!

[WINKY]

Thats good to here Randy! Keep us updated and anything we can do let us know!

actually its bad news, they are morons and because a person didnt put a simple command into a computer he now is back to square one.

Here is the letter i am writing to the entire chain of command. I have omitted the emails of the chain of command for safety.

To whom it may concern,



I am Randy Hale, ARMY veteran during the Bosnian conflict and now a veteran. I have a brother TSgt Robert Hale stationed at Hickam AFB 65thAS--15thAW who has served since 1994 when we both enlisted in respective branches of service.



During his tenure he has served 5 tours in Iraq, 2 of which he incurred in-flight accidents of an escape hatch letting go and almost departing the aircraft he was in. When these 2 accidents occurred there ware severe amounts of debris blown around along with the insulation that is known to be Carcinogenic in the cabin of the aircraft. Unfortunately there was no way around inhalation of the airborne contaminants as Robert had to immediately secure the hatch as it would have destroyed the aircraft midflight. These are documented and the emergency room write ups are in his medical records.



Robert has also incurred ailments such as Bell’s Palsy from the anthrax shot, injured knees, a broken ankle that was misdiagnosed for many years along with other issues stemming from deployment or on the job accidents.



Robert has a lengthy medical write up on all these things and recently he found out that he has nodule growths in his lungs that could be cancer or not, currently no one knows. The problem is these injuries has impeded his ability to pass the physical training tests and is now on the verge of being discharged because of PT failure. All the while those with the power have been dragging their feet to get his MEB started (medical evaluation board).



Now here is where I have a problem with the system and the individuals that he is working with in order to get the medical care he rightfully deserves. The medical field and chain of command have acknowledged his injuries, there are write ups documenting breathing issues from the medical field pertaining to Robert, yet everyone is ignorantly taking a blind eye to these Facts and are pushing him out the door because he cannot pass the PT test.



This is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE. It is highly unprofessional and it is morally wrong.



If this was the civilian system he would be getting the care he needs and not be forced to fight an uphill battle against so many people that are not on his side. I am sure that if any one of you were to sustain combat injuries or have sustained combat injuries you would be sitting in a hospital every day getting the care that you need with no hassle or run-arounds with the system. Why should it be any different for an airmen of his rank to receive such treatment when these things are documented and acknowledged?



I have documentation that clearly states Robert is to get a MEB BEFORE being discharged, signed by a medical officer/official. But unfortunately a human being has not typed in the computer a certain code that places Robert in a status of hold for MEB before discharge and is now back to square one, forcing him to fight this battle with the VA after being separated. Now how Stupid does someone have to be to say he needs a MEB before discharge and then tell him he can’t get it because someone is either to lazy or incompetent to place a code in a computer??? This gentleman is UNNACCEPTABLE.



All of our service members should get top rate medical care in or out of the field of battle. There is no excuse for this level of ignorance and stupidity concerning an individual who’s life could be on the line down the road because someone in his unit or at his base didn’t want to make the effort and do the right thing, getting him the care he rightfully deserves.



My question to those concerned is what are you going to do to make this right for him and for others alike to get the help they need, inured in the line of uniformed duty? Don’t take the easy route and kick him out because he can’t pass a pt test knowing his disabilities are the cause.



To those that are not in his direct chain of command and are unaware of this issue, you have my respect, but to those that are pushing him out of the door because he failed his PT test due to his Unaddressed medical issues, you DO NOT have my respect. No person who calls themselves honorable or of integrity would do this to a fellow service member.



Good day to you.



U.S ARMY Veteran PFC Randy Hale

Bco 17th Sig BN Kitzingen Germany (disbanded)


emailed to his chain of command

Secretary of the Air Force michael donley
Chief of Staff of the Air force norton schwartz
Base commander General Gary North
Unit commander gregory green
Chain of command link: http://www.af.mil/information/afchain/index.asp

[colomil]

I served active & reserve USAF in various units, the last of which was a C130 unit and I have had various line of duty injuries. When I separated in 2002, they somehow could not find my medical records that proved the injuries. I am sure they "lost" the records in a trash can. I am sure there are many vets that had their medical records "lost" or their injuries overlooked.

I would recommend talking to local politicians, local news, and work up from there. The chain of command is going to ignore all this until a channel 7 news guy is banging on their door asking questions.

You can also spread visibility through social media (facebook, myspace, youtube, etc...)