A soldier that helped capture Saddam Hussein was lauded by the media and politicians alike when he came home from Iraq. He was everything that the warmongers wanted the public to see. Unfortunately those same people shaking his hand do not want to hear about the realities of war. When Jeans Cruz expressed the true horrors of conflict with a full-blown case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, he was abandoned by those politicians and the apparatus of the armed forces that was supposed to help him.
From The Washington Post:
In public, the former Army scout stood tall for the cameras and marched in the parades. In private, he slashed his forearms to provoke the pain and adrenaline of combat. He heard voices and smelled stale blood. Soon the offers of help evaporated and he found himself estranged and alone, struggling with financial collapse and a darkening depression.
At a low point, he went to the local Department of Veterans Affairs medical center for help. One VA psychologist diagnosed Cruz with post-traumatic stress disorder. His condition was labeled "severe and chronic." In a letter supporting his request for PTSD-related disability pay, the psychologist wrote that Cruz was "in need of major help" and that he had provided "more than enough evidence" to back up his PTSD claim. His combat experiences, the letter said, "have been well documented."
None of that seemed to matter when his case reached VA disability evaluators. They turned him down flat, ruling that he deserved no compensation because his psychological problems existed before he joined the Army. They also said that Cruz had not proved he was ever in combat. "The available evidence is insufficient to confirm that you actually engaged in combat," his rejection letter stated.
Cruz continues to suffer from the horrible things he saw in Iraq. He even gave up his fight with the VA because they reject his claims over and over again. As a local from the Bronx, he grew up in the tough life of a housing project with his family and still does now. His job fixing boilers barely provides anything beyond keeping his head above water. Meanwhile the job itself results in panic attacks.
Jeans Cruz is one example of how the VA and the Bush Administration fail our troops. The complications of bureaucracy are meant to reject troops' claims of being ill. Not having good government in our country ends up showing itself with the poor souls like Cruz. We need to properly fund the programs that help soldiers cope with their experiences and spend less on Defense contractors and new military toys.
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