When The Military Swings The Focus From Helping to Denying Nobody Wins
My friend stood in my driveway, tears welling up in her eyes, as she tried her hardest to keep it together. I knew it was a futile attempt, and hugged her; encouraging her to cry and let the years of pent-up emotions roll down her cheeks.
I’m not going to get into my friend’s medical details to protect her privacy.
What I am going to focus on is how specifically guard and reserve service members get to this point.
I’ve mentioned in the past my last job in the military started as a clinical case manager and ended up working policy issues that pertained to the medical care of the guard and reserves. Our office was unique in that it had a bird’s eye view of how policy comes down, and either hits or misses the mark.
Our policy was overall pretty decent. Yes, it needed work, as our program evolved. However, if executed how it read, I believe the majority of people we cared for would have fared rather well. What I found most disturbing was the biased interpretation that led to many people ending up with unnecessary mental health issues, or worsening mental issues, while trying to recover from existing physical and/or mental health issues.
As I talked and collaborated with people from other branches, I realized the problems…
