Just took a couple of decades
Today I am raising a glass to another vet another win. Another vet finally got the compensation he was due and had earned decades ago. Another vet finally got the VA to recognize the tragic effects of war on his body, mind, soul, life, and family. It just took decades of his fighting against the red tape only to give up and then a God moment when we got to meet and I was able to help him figure it out.
First, let me clarify my role. My input was putting together what was already the truth about this veteran’s story. It wasn’t magic. I have no special skills. I am not all that. I am just another vet helping a brother in arms.
Mark is his name. His story is so similar to so many veterans I’ve met and helped. He has a lot of various problems, including bad knees, bad back, hearing loss, and tinnitus. However, his worst problem is his PTSD. On a good day, he can function. However, most days are not good days. Because they usually begin with bad nights.
How bad are the nights? Like many of us, we don’t know how bad the nights are. By the time we wake up, the dreamscape has escaped our memories. We may remember fragments of the torture that was our sleep but the feeling of the nightmare haunts us as we stumble to the kitchen to make some coffee. It might be 1 am, 2 am, or 4 am, or we might have been lucky enough to survive until the alarm clock went off. It is usually only after talking to our significant other that we get the rest of the picture of what our nights were like. It’s sometimes why our significant other chooses to sleep elsewhere. Sometimes to get some sleep of their own. Sometimes out of fear of what they are witnessing.
So over two decades, Mark has dealt with this life. He has gotten some treatment from the VA. Some has helped. Some has not. So he is still searching for the peace that he craves. The normal life of those who never went to war.
But at least finally, after decades of fighting the VA in fits and starts, he finally has the correct rating for his PTSD. He is now 100% permanent and total. He may not be free of the nights that will continue to torment him, but at least he will be able to relax some about his financial situation and maybe that stressful burden will bring him a couple more minutes of restful sleep. I pray it does.
The crazy thing is that as I have explored Mark’s history and reviewed his case, the severity of his PTSD has never been in question. It has been consistent for the last two decades. However, it took fight after fight against the VA to get them to see how bad his issue was. Of course, I don’t mean the doctors. They knew long ago. I mean the paper pushers and raters sitting safely in the VA offices as they determine the fate of men and women who have served and now suffer, but whom they have never met.
But for today, I lift my glass to one small win that was a giant victory to one more vet. Again, I pray this change in life will lead to some peace. Unfortunately, I know personally too well, the money just makes it so your family can be taken care of while you try to make it through another day and the night that awaits.