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Only One Commision in one Service at a time?
- Thread Starter Quezen
- Start date
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adjusterjack
Super Moderator
From a practical standpoint the odds are millions to one against that anybody would even want to be a full time commissioned officer in more than one branch of the armed services at one time.
I use the phrase full time to distinguish from Temporary Duty where an officer could (theoretically) be assigned temporarily to another branch of the service (or even another country's armed services) and temporarily be assigned an officer's rank unique to that service.
I use the phrase full time to distinguish from Temporary Duty where an officer could (theoretically) be assigned temporarily to another branch of the service (or even another country's armed services) and temporarily be assigned an officer's rank unique to that service.
Thank you so much for your reply. I don,t know what the odds are, but it happen to me, not because I wanted it, but because the USPHS Commissioned Corps did not complete my inter service transfere from the Army. the Commissioned Corps kicked me out (long story, suffice it to say that I won my appeal to their Board-"this officer has done nothing wrong, give her any remedy she seeks..." But their Boards decision can be 'non-concurred with by the director of a 'quasi-government' agency called the Program Support Center, and tha is what happened to me).
I spent 3 years appealing to that USPHS Board; eight weeks after my last appeal to them was turned down I got a phone call saying, "ma'am, no one in this Unit knows who you are, but you have 24 hours to report to duty, you have been called up for Operation Iraqi Freedom".
I went, and I was happy to back in the Army again, after the insanity of the Commissioned Corps. I served 6 'good years' in the active Reserves after that; I had 12 good active years before that. So, 18 years total before I had to leave because I reached the age limit.
The only recourse for me seems to be the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. I have tried every Executive Branch avenue I could. I don't mind doing all the work I need to do (and pay the $400 dollar fee) to go to this court, but I know I am quite out of my depth when they ask for a specific law citation tha I am disputing.
I have always heard that "only one commission in one service" is allowed, but perhaps that is just something "they say". IF I had known I was actually in the Army those three miserable years that I thought I was just a kicked out Commissioned Corps officer, perhaps I could have salvaged enough of my career to have gotten a retirement.
If anyone does know if this is a 'real' law, and how to cite it, I would appreciate the information very much.
Thank You
adjusterjack
Super Moderator
Keep an eye on this thread. One of our volunteers is Army Judge who I think used to be with JAG and might have some helpful comments.
army judge
Super Moderator
Quezen, you raise an interesting question.
Theoretically, it should be impossible for one to be enlisted, or commissioned in more than one service.
Why?
You are asked too many questions for such a mistake to occur.
However, what you ask about has occurred by fraud, or devious acts in the past.
The USPHS, is indeed considered to be on par with commissioned officer status of our armed forces.
I can't recall a situation comparable to yours.
But, lets continue the discussion.
Okay, what year did you receive your ARMY commission?
In what branch were you commissioned?
Were you reserve, or active army?
Did you commission via a service academy (that could be USPHS), direct, ROTC, or via battlefield?
How long did you serve?
When did you leave Army service to enter the USPHS?
How does your DD214 read when you first left Army service?
Have you written your two US Senators, and your US Congressperson for assistance?
Have you written the SECDEF and SEC of the ARMY to assist you?
Finally, drop a line to Obama for assistance, too.
What did your "detailer" have to say about possible retirement status?
These days, people in your position seem to be receiving DISABILITY RETIREMENT very easily.
You might investigate that option.
This thread is useful reading:
Officer Active Duty Service Obligations
Theoretically, it should be impossible for one to be enlisted, or commissioned in more than one service.
Why?
You are asked too many questions for such a mistake to occur.
However, what you ask about has occurred by fraud, or devious acts in the past.
The USPHS, is indeed considered to be on par with commissioned officer status of our armed forces.
I can't recall a situation comparable to yours.
But, lets continue the discussion.
Okay, what year did you receive your ARMY commission?
In what branch were you commissioned?
Were you reserve, or active army?
Did you commission via a service academy (that could be USPHS), direct, ROTC, or via battlefield?
How long did you serve?
When did you leave Army service to enter the USPHS?
How does your DD214 read when you first left Army service?
Have you written your two US Senators, and your US Congressperson for assistance?
Have you written the SECDEF and SEC of the ARMY to assist you?
Finally, drop a line to Obama for assistance, too.
What did your "detailer" have to say about possible retirement status?
These days, people in your position seem to be receiving DISABILITY RETIREMENT very easily.
You might investigate that option.
This thread is useful reading:
Officer Active Duty Service Obligations
Thank you for replying to me. The answer about my Commissiond career history is;
1986-I was commissioned in the USPHS Commissioned Corps. I served, actively and honorably, with them until 1989 at which time I 'interservice transferred' to the US Army (Nurse Corps). I served, actively and honorably, with the Army until 1994, at which time I got off active duty and entered the Reserves. In 1997 I filled out the paper work to interservice transferred back to the USPHS Commissioned Corps. I served, actively and honorably, with them until 1999. (ALL the evaluations I received from the USPHS Commissioned Corps, and the US Army, were 'good' to 'excellent'.)
While serving in my duty station at Ft Yuma, I found myself in a position where I was required to diagnose, treat, and prescribe prescription medication to after hour, weekend, and holiday patients, since the 5 physicians they had could not see patients during Clinic hours, and be on call at night.
As you know, the world is changing; a little bit of this went on in the Indian Health Service 'of old', in little hospitals on reservations hundreds of miles away from any other health care, that had inadequate physician coverage. The hospital at Ft Yuma, was 20 blocks away from the major medical center for that region.
Since Health Care was my field I learned some things about how things are funded, from graduate studies, and from the Officer Advance Course. For example, in the early 1990es the VA became aware that much of their care was provided to veterans who had health care coverage via other government programs, Medicare and ect. The VA sued to win the right to request reimbursement from 'other' health care coverage programs. When they won this right the Indian Health Service (IHS) pounced on this, since a lot of the care the IHS provides also goes to elderly, or disabled persons, and to Veterans, for that matter.
Treating the after hour patients at Ft Yuma obviously became a real money making business when the Service Unit Director sent out a memo saying that "from now on ALL after hour, weekend end and holiday patients will be written up on an Emergency Care (ER) form". The physician who was ostensibly "on call' would take the stacks of these forms (by then the flood gates had been opened and sometimes we nurses saw and treated more patients 'after hours' than the physicians saw in a Clinic day-after all, it's a lot easier to 'walk in' than to make an appointment, as the success of the 'doc-in-the box' walk in clinics attest, and the crowded after hours ER's these days attest to) and sign them as if he/she had seen and diagnosed the patient-and a patient written up on an ER form is worth a lot more in reimbursement than a 'runny nose' patient who gets some Benadryl, Motrin, and words of encouragement
It was obvious to all of us nurses that what we were doing was not legal, but it kind of came to a head with that order to write all the patients up on the ER forms. Like a fool I figured that since I was the nurse with the most (real) active duty history, it was my responsibility to try to do something about this. I sent the 'protocols' that the hospital had written allowing us nurses to diagnose and prescribe (antibiotics, epinephrine and so so on, not just Benedryl) to my State Board of Nursing, which of course replied that "these protocols 'may' be legal for those certified as Nurse Practitioners to use, but they are NOT legal for 'generic RN's' to use. I (in my naivete) thought that somehow these illegal practices and danger to our licenses would be addressed.
What did happen was that I was put out of the Commissioned Corps for "failure to demonstrate the necessary discipline and dedication to duty of a Commissioned Officer of the United States of America".
This was just ten weeks after my most recent 'excellent' evaluation at the Ft Yuma hospital.
This is how they did this. In the USPHS Commissioned Corps and officer can be put out for 'any reason' during a three year 'orientation period'. My three year orientation period was up weeks after this action against me was taken. That is what their regs say, so according to their regs, I don't have a leg to stand on.
I was shocked, to say the least. Especially because the woman who was in the Phoenix Indian Health Service who was the 'liaison' to the Commissioned Corps told me "you are getting a dishonorable discharge".
Now, to go in the Commissioned Corps one receives no training of any kind. A person is a civilian one day, and a Commissioned Officer the next day. They like to 'pretend' they have a 'Chain of Command', but it often involves people whom one has never met, in an office far, far away. As was the case at Ft Yuma there may be higher ranking Commissioned Officers working in the same setting, but they are in a different field, such as a physician or pharmacist, for example.
The Commissioned Corps also likes to 'toss around' phrases that they have heard used in military settings, such as 'dishonorable discharge', without having the slightest idea WHAT they are really saying.
This Dishonorable Discharge charge REALLY shocked me. When I was told this I asked this O5 'liaison', "do you know the kinds of things you have to have been PROVEN to have done to get a dishonorable discharge"? I can hear her voice to this day, "well, I don't know" she laughed (actually laughed delightedly, can you believe that), "but YOUR getting one".
When my orders came a week or so later they just said, 'terminated'. I was too much in shock to do anything else at that time. I left Yuma, let my house go on a 'quit claim' deed, and told my friends and family members that I had been dishonorably discharged. Many of them don't speak to me to this day.
My husband (who had been a Sargent in the German military-and to his credit stood by me during this whole ordeal) told me, "they can't do this, you have to fight this". So began the long process that I still find myself in to this day.
Almost a year later, after hundreds of phone calls and dozens of letters I found out that the Commissioned Corps does not even HAVE a category called 'dishonorable discharge'.
I also found out that the Commissioned Corps has a 'Board for Correction of Records'. "If you feel you have been discharged in error" I was told, "just apply to this Board and all will be set right". So I began the long process of appealing to the 'Board'.
The Board accepted my case, and then (I am NOT making this up) to add insult to injury, the first correspondence that I received from this 'Board' was seven spent 9mm bullet casings in a USPHS envelope. This was meant to scare me, of course, and it had that effect. I pondered for months whether I really wanted to go through with this or not. By then I had little 'PRN' nurse jobs to support myself, but I never applied for a job of any consequence, like with the Civil Service, because I simply did not know what I would put down when I was asked , "have you ever been fired from a job".
Eventually I did contact the Board, and explained that I had not received whatever it was they had sent me, and instead (why, and from who?) had received this horrid correspondence. I promptly got the first of many long installments from that Board, gathered relevant documents (such as my excellent evaluations, the illegal protocols, correspondence from the Texas State Board of Nursing and the American Nurses Association, all of whom sided with me), and patiently replied to the venom that the O6 attorney for the Division of Commissioned Personnel USPHS sent in reply to what I had to say, and so on, for almost three long years.
As I have said, the 'Board' finally did vote unanimously in my favor. I guess I didn't read the 'fine print' when I started appealing to this Board however, because i did not realize that his 'Board' is for show only. Their opinion means nothing. There is a 'quasi-government' ( what does that even mean) agency affiliated with the US Public Health Service called the Program Support Center. The 'Director' can be anybody, as far as i can tell, who is looking for a 'parking space' as they move up the ranks of Civilian job positions in the Washington DC area. First a man named Curtis Coy (a former Navy man) non-concurred with the Boards decision, and then, a few months later, a man named Mike Blank (who as far as I can tell was once a 'paymaster' for the USPHS) non-concurred with my appeal. So, three years of my life, with hope of some kind of redemption by the USPHS 'Board'-wasted.
I got 'redemption', of a sort however, eight weeks later. I was standing on a ladder painting my kitchen, trying to think what I would do now, when my phone rang, and the unmistakable voice of a Sargent said, "ma'am, nobody in this unit knows who you are, but you need to know that you have been activated in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and you have twenty four hours to report to duty". I almost fell off the ladder. Now I was REALLY confused. I know, from my active duty days, that missing troop movements is a federal crime, but HOW.....
To make a (very) long story a little shorter, lets just say I went out to the Barn and dug out my boots, uniform and dog tags, found out where I was supposed to be and reported in the next day. At least, back in the Army, I was able to get a few laughs about my situtation; by that time the Army had changed the headgear to the beret, they gave me one and told me to wear it, you can imagine how I put it on, flash right in front, and who knows what else... the enlisted soldiers got a real good laugh when they saw me, but, like it usually is in the Army, they set me straight and even made me privy to all their 'barracks tips' about how to maximize the 'look' of that strange headgear (for people who spend a lot of time out in weather IMHO, but I digress
I tried to launch into my story at the SRP, but you can imagine that the busy Sargent's who are SRPing troops DO NOT want to hear a story about how you many not be in the Army because you were in a Service they never even heard of, when I presented my Army Oath, and tried to say that I needed to take a NEW oath,...., well, right, "this one is fine ma'am, your good to go, NEXT"
Anyway, I didn't go to Iraq, I went to Ft Riley for 18 months. I was very, very happy to be back in the Army, but I was worried, HOW could this have happened? I made an appointment with the JAG. I told him the story, more or less as I have relayed here. I told him that I was worried that I was impersonating and Army Officer and I was not even really in the Army.
That JAG Officer listened to what I had to say. When I was finished he leaned back in his chair and tented his hands together for a while, then he turned to me and said, "you know, every time we have these massive call-ups we have people coming in here telling us how WE made a mistake and they are not really in the Army. I have to say that your story is a pretty good one, and in your case it has a happy ending because you actually want to be in the Army; it is my responsibility to tell you however, that, if you are putting on the uniform every day, and going to work every day and getting paid, that...you are in the Army now". I asked him to put that in writing, he said he would not, but I left that office feeling a lot better and easier in my mind.
Yes, I have tried all of the things you have suggested with writing to the Senators, and the President, (a previous president). I have learned a lot about how this stuff works...to my great disillusionment. When a person writes to a Congressman, Senator, or the President, the correspondence is 'forwarded' to the agency the citizen has an issue with. The agency reports to the forwarding entity that they have reply's to the concerned citizen. In my case the USPHS consistently replied that "your case is closed, and we do not comment on closed cases". (I believe that they could just as easily send the weather report or a recipe, and say "we have replied to the concerned citizen", and it wouldn't make the least bit of difference. The onus of responsibility is on the exhausted 'citizen' to write AGAIN, saying they are not happy with the reply, and the whole mill starts all over, "you case is closed, we do not comment on closed cases", just from someone at a little higher level.
Now, as for the mention of 'disability', I have thought about that, because all these events have done a number on my psyche, in some ways, but, although I am an old woman, now, I am a healthy person, I have worked, officially, since the day I turned sixteen, (and unofficially before that). I would work today, if I could. I am not opposed to cleaning houses, and sometimes I do, or even a job as a dishwasher, ( I have done that in my long career). If you yourself haven't noticed, ask your kids or grand-kids, jobs, of any kind, are not easy to get in this technological world of 'globalization'.
The day I turned 62 I applied for Social Security. I don't get much, but more than a lot of people. I am surrounded by people on 'disability', who work 'under the table' in this rural area where I live. Personally I am happy that money, in any form, comes into this economically depressed area. I let my nursing license expire as soon as I got Social Security. After the abuses I have see and experienced, that the US 'for profit' hospitals pawn off as 'first rate health care', I am embarrassed to have anything to do with the nursing profession in the civilian wold as it is now practiced in many (not all) places I have worked. That said I hope I occasionally was able to do some good and effect a positive health outcome among the many populations I have served.
I am proud of my military service, I was not the worst, I was not the best, I arrived to work every time I was scheduled well rested and ready to work. I have worked with people who dazzled me with their brilliance and skill, and worked with some who I had to wonder how they ever managed to get through school. I got pretty good at running a Ward. I would say I was a solid upper middle performer, but I always did my best.
After my fruitless, and punishing, foray into an attempt at bringing honesty to the dealings of the Federal government, I am the last person who is going to say a word about anything bordering on shady practices. I experienced the 'tall poppy effect' firsthand, once was enough, thank you.
I would like to add that my older brother who was a Ranger and in the 10th Cav in Vietnam, finally got disability in the last years of his life, and I am very grateful that he got to live out his final years in dignity because of this. I know that he suffered, a lot, from PTSD, agent Orange exposure and who knows what else, and he didn't even believe in these things for most of his life. I think that the scars of what he went through just got tougher and tougher and he tried to drown 'it' in that old friend alcohol, when underneath was the scared 22 year old Captain who walked point and tried to do the right thing in hopeless, frightening situations.
In Desert Storm I was in a Combat Support hospital in the Iraqi neutral zone with bombs going off around the berm when I sat by the cot of Sargent Potter as he recovered from friendly fire shelling. As he was coming out of the anesthesia he kept mumbling stuff like, "I've see that silhouette in training a hundred times", when he woke up I tried to gently persuade him to take it easy and not pull the covers back right away, but he insisted, and when he saw that his leg was gone, well, I hope I can show the same bravery that he did if I am ever in the same situation. He explained to me how they tried to 'make a star' pattern by lying in a circle with their hands touching and legs extended out (or something like that, I'm a nurse, how would I know), to deflect the heat sensors, as the tanks were firing on them, and I can just imagine.....
Years later, at Landstuhl, I took care of the young Ivy League graduate who had enlisted in the Army because he cared about his country, I gave him morphine and helped move him onto the stretcher so he could fly back to Walter Reed, I walked into the room of a 'new admit' flown in from 'downrange', and was giving him the normal admission assessment when I saw the left sleeve hanging from the safety pin that was where the arm was supposed to be. He never whined, not once, I was taken aback, he was sitting there on that bed like he just had a flesh wound, I had to stop in mid sentence to compose myself, all I could think to say was, "I am so sorry that happened to you", and the Major who laid for months with his hand sewed inside his abdomen hoping he could grow enough flesh to be able to someday have enough use of his hand to be able to help his kids; I won't even go into some of the things that happened to those poor 'contractors' from various third world countries, who will never see a dime of disability as then try to put their lives back together...A few years after that in the Republic of Georgia I saw how the former Soviet soldiers handled an injured comrade. In our 'modern' health care world we get all this training and caution about how to approach and move an injured soldier. I was looking out of a window during a live fire exercise there and saw a jeep (or whatever those vehicles that they got from the old Soviet Army are, I'm a nurse, how should I know what they are called They pull up at top seep, slam on the brakes, drag the guy out by his feet, throw him over their shoulder, and carry him into the field hospital, no stretchers or other niceties for them, and the injured soldier never uddered a word of complaint.
No, I am not going to ask for a dime of disability, I have SEEN disability, and I am NOT disabled.
I have learned lessons about the 'separation of powers' between the three branches of our government during my ordeal that I never could have learned any other way. Most recently I did the whole process of appealing to the Merit System Protection Board-they were nice, polite and professional, (not like dealing with the USPHS), and they even sent my case to the central DC Office, but, in the end, what could they say? The Commissioned Corps is a 'Uniformed Service', and EVERY avenue of appeal in the Executive Branch, with the exception of UCMJ, and the various Services 'Boards', are set up for 'Civil Service', and other such civilian petitioners. The Merit System Protection Board could ONLY say that they "do not have jurisdiction", which their web site made clear from the outset, but I was hoping against hope that they would have some advice...., all they could tell me in the end was "you may appeal this decision to the US Court of Appeals" (for $500, and lots of paperwork on my part). I called this Court of Appeals, and they were nice, civil, and honest enough to explain to me that ALL they can say is "yes, the Merit System Protection Board is correct, they do do have jurisdiction, OR, "NO, the Merit System Protection Board is not correct, they do have jurisdiction, and they must revisit your case".
The USPHS Commissioned Corps is so clever that they have effectually insulated themselves from ANY repercussions that any victim of their shady dealings may attempt to pursue.
Add to this the 'Indian Preference in Hiring' that the USPHS Indian Health Service legally practices-this means that if a position is open in the Indian Health Service they MUST take a person who has 'ties to a Tribe' over one who does not-if their qualifications are similar,-but they have gotten around this by 'dumbing down' the requirements for federal jobs to, in the case of the Service Unit Director who kicked me out ( a person in charge of several millions US government dollars), to "must maintain a valid drivers license"-as I learned to my surprised horror when I made a FOIA request for her federal job description, and you have a situation tailor made for graft and corruption. (The military was SO WISE when they 'stuck to their guns' and flat out REFUSED to have ANY US Troops under (Tribal) government control in the middle East.) Of course, there are many honest Native Americans who unknowingly depend on their 'Tribal Leaders' to do the right thing by them, but, just look at this mess I am trying to unravel, how can any ordinary working stiff Native American, or some granny out on a Reservation have any idea what really goes on with the money that is supposed to 'keep them healthy'? I guess their Casinos did create a lot of jobs, but...well, I digress again.
Citing this double dealing is not going to be of any benefit to me; I have discovered, to my disgust, that no one cares. All that political stuff is way out of my area, and a simple person like myself cannot effect these things in any way.
All I want is to quit wasting my time dealing with the Executive Branch, and see if, possibly, because of this SNAFU that the USPHS Commissioned Corps caused itself because they are too incompetent to even do a simple thing like completing an inter-service transfer in an orderly manner, might be to my benefit in a REAL Court of Law in the Judiciary Branch of our US Government, and to do this I need to know actual 'facts' that I can present to these busy Judges. Facts such as "have my my rights, and ability to have a career and an ability to support myself been comprised because I was involuntary holding a Commission in two Services at the same time?
Thank you if you have read this far; this is my long and boring personal story, but I was hurt, and not just financially, by the treatment I received at the hands of the very Country that I signed on the dotted line "to protect and defend". I would also like that hateful phrase, "does not have the necessary discipline and dedication to duty to be a Commissioned Officer for the United States of America" to be stricken from ANY record. I think MY record shows that this is not true. I will be gone one of these days, but someone in the future may do ancestry research on me, and is not fair to my legacy that such hateful, untrue, words as this should survive.
1986-I was commissioned in the USPHS Commissioned Corps. I served, actively and honorably, with them until 1989 at which time I 'interservice transferred' to the US Army (Nurse Corps). I served, actively and honorably, with the Army until 1994, at which time I got off active duty and entered the Reserves. In 1997 I filled out the paper work to interservice transferred back to the USPHS Commissioned Corps. I served, actively and honorably, with them until 1999. (ALL the evaluations I received from the USPHS Commissioned Corps, and the US Army, were 'good' to 'excellent'.)
While serving in my duty station at Ft Yuma, I found myself in a position where I was required to diagnose, treat, and prescribe prescription medication to after hour, weekend, and holiday patients, since the 5 physicians they had could not see patients during Clinic hours, and be on call at night.
As you know, the world is changing; a little bit of this went on in the Indian Health Service 'of old', in little hospitals on reservations hundreds of miles away from any other health care, that had inadequate physician coverage. The hospital at Ft Yuma, was 20 blocks away from the major medical center for that region.
Since Health Care was my field I learned some things about how things are funded, from graduate studies, and from the Officer Advance Course. For example, in the early 1990es the VA became aware that much of their care was provided to veterans who had health care coverage via other government programs, Medicare and ect. The VA sued to win the right to request reimbursement from 'other' health care coverage programs. When they won this right the Indian Health Service (IHS) pounced on this, since a lot of the care the IHS provides also goes to elderly, or disabled persons, and to Veterans, for that matter.
Treating the after hour patients at Ft Yuma obviously became a real money making business when the Service Unit Director sent out a memo saying that "from now on ALL after hour, weekend end and holiday patients will be written up on an Emergency Care (ER) form". The physician who was ostensibly "on call' would take the stacks of these forms (by then the flood gates had been opened and sometimes we nurses saw and treated more patients 'after hours' than the physicians saw in a Clinic day-after all, it's a lot easier to 'walk in' than to make an appointment, as the success of the 'doc-in-the box' walk in clinics attest, and the crowded after hours ER's these days attest to) and sign them as if he/she had seen and diagnosed the patient-and a patient written up on an ER form is worth a lot more in reimbursement than a 'runny nose' patient who gets some Benadryl, Motrin, and words of encouragement
It was obvious to all of us nurses that what we were doing was not legal, but it kind of came to a head with that order to write all the patients up on the ER forms. Like a fool I figured that since I was the nurse with the most (real) active duty history, it was my responsibility to try to do something about this. I sent the 'protocols' that the hospital had written allowing us nurses to diagnose and prescribe (antibiotics, epinephrine and so so on, not just Benedryl) to my State Board of Nursing, which of course replied that "these protocols 'may' be legal for those certified as Nurse Practitioners to use, but they are NOT legal for 'generic RN's' to use. I (in my naivete) thought that somehow these illegal practices and danger to our licenses would be addressed.
What did happen was that I was put out of the Commissioned Corps for "failure to demonstrate the necessary discipline and dedication to duty of a Commissioned Officer of the United States of America".
This was just ten weeks after my most recent 'excellent' evaluation at the Ft Yuma hospital.
This is how they did this. In the USPHS Commissioned Corps and officer can be put out for 'any reason' during a three year 'orientation period'. My three year orientation period was up weeks after this action against me was taken. That is what their regs say, so according to their regs, I don't have a leg to stand on.
I was shocked, to say the least. Especially because the woman who was in the Phoenix Indian Health Service who was the 'liaison' to the Commissioned Corps told me "you are getting a dishonorable discharge".
Now, to go in the Commissioned Corps one receives no training of any kind. A person is a civilian one day, and a Commissioned Officer the next day. They like to 'pretend' they have a 'Chain of Command', but it often involves people whom one has never met, in an office far, far away. As was the case at Ft Yuma there may be higher ranking Commissioned Officers working in the same setting, but they are in a different field, such as a physician or pharmacist, for example.
The Commissioned Corps also likes to 'toss around' phrases that they have heard used in military settings, such as 'dishonorable discharge', without having the slightest idea WHAT they are really saying.
This Dishonorable Discharge charge REALLY shocked me. When I was told this I asked this O5 'liaison', "do you know the kinds of things you have to have been PROVEN to have done to get a dishonorable discharge"? I can hear her voice to this day, "well, I don't know" she laughed (actually laughed delightedly, can you believe that), "but YOUR getting one".
When my orders came a week or so later they just said, 'terminated'. I was too much in shock to do anything else at that time. I left Yuma, let my house go on a 'quit claim' deed, and told my friends and family members that I had been dishonorably discharged. Many of them don't speak to me to this day.
My husband (who had been a Sargent in the German military-and to his credit stood by me during this whole ordeal) told me, "they can't do this, you have to fight this". So began the long process that I still find myself in to this day.
Almost a year later, after hundreds of phone calls and dozens of letters I found out that the Commissioned Corps does not even HAVE a category called 'dishonorable discharge'.
I also found out that the Commissioned Corps has a 'Board for Correction of Records'. "If you feel you have been discharged in error" I was told, "just apply to this Board and all will be set right". So I began the long process of appealing to the 'Board'.
The Board accepted my case, and then (I am NOT making this up) to add insult to injury, the first correspondence that I received from this 'Board' was seven spent 9mm bullet casings in a USPHS envelope. This was meant to scare me, of course, and it had that effect. I pondered for months whether I really wanted to go through with this or not. By then I had little 'PRN' nurse jobs to support myself, but I never applied for a job of any consequence, like with the Civil Service, because I simply did not know what I would put down when I was asked , "have you ever been fired from a job".
Eventually I did contact the Board, and explained that I had not received whatever it was they had sent me, and instead (why, and from who?) had received this horrid correspondence. I promptly got the first of many long installments from that Board, gathered relevant documents (such as my excellent evaluations, the illegal protocols, correspondence from the Texas State Board of Nursing and the American Nurses Association, all of whom sided with me), and patiently replied to the venom that the O6 attorney for the Division of Commissioned Personnel USPHS sent in reply to what I had to say, and so on, for almost three long years.
As I have said, the 'Board' finally did vote unanimously in my favor. I guess I didn't read the 'fine print' when I started appealing to this Board however, because i did not realize that his 'Board' is for show only. Their opinion means nothing. There is a 'quasi-government' ( what does that even mean) agency affiliated with the US Public Health Service called the Program Support Center. The 'Director' can be anybody, as far as i can tell, who is looking for a 'parking space' as they move up the ranks of Civilian job positions in the Washington DC area. First a man named Curtis Coy (a former Navy man) non-concurred with the Boards decision, and then, a few months later, a man named Mike Blank (who as far as I can tell was once a 'paymaster' for the USPHS) non-concurred with my appeal. So, three years of my life, with hope of some kind of redemption by the USPHS 'Board'-wasted.
I got 'redemption', of a sort however, eight weeks later. I was standing on a ladder painting my kitchen, trying to think what I would do now, when my phone rang, and the unmistakable voice of a Sargent said, "ma'am, nobody in this unit knows who you are, but you need to know that you have been activated in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and you have twenty four hours to report to duty". I almost fell off the ladder. Now I was REALLY confused. I know, from my active duty days, that missing troop movements is a federal crime, but HOW.....
To make a (very) long story a little shorter, lets just say I went out to the Barn and dug out my boots, uniform and dog tags, found out where I was supposed to be and reported in the next day. At least, back in the Army, I was able to get a few laughs about my situtation; by that time the Army had changed the headgear to the beret, they gave me one and told me to wear it, you can imagine how I put it on, flash right in front, and who knows what else... the enlisted soldiers got a real good laugh when they saw me, but, like it usually is in the Army, they set me straight and even made me privy to all their 'barracks tips' about how to maximize the 'look' of that strange headgear (for people who spend a lot of time out in weather IMHO, but I digress
I tried to launch into my story at the SRP, but you can imagine that the busy Sargent's who are SRPing troops DO NOT want to hear a story about how you many not be in the Army because you were in a Service they never even heard of, when I presented my Army Oath, and tried to say that I needed to take a NEW oath,...., well, right, "this one is fine ma'am, your good to go, NEXT" Anyway, I didn't go to Iraq, I went to Ft Riley for 18 months. I was very, very happy to be back in the Army, but I was worried, HOW could this have happened? I made an appointment with the JAG. I told him the story, more or less as I have relayed here. I told him that I was worried that I was impersonating and Army Officer and I was not even really in the Army.
That JAG Officer listened to what I had to say. When I was finished he leaned back in his chair and tented his hands together for a while, then he turned to me and said, "you know, every time we have these massive call-ups we have people coming in here telling us how WE made a mistake and they are not really in the Army. I have to say that your story is a pretty good one, and in your case it has a happy ending because you actually want to be in the Army; it is my responsibility to tell you however, that, if you are putting on the uniform every day, and going to work every day and getting paid, that...you are in the Army now". I asked him to put that in writing, he said he would not, but I left that office feeling a lot better and easier in my mind.
Yes, I have tried all of the things you have suggested with writing to the Senators, and the President, (a previous president). I have learned a lot about how this stuff works...to my great disillusionment. When a person writes to a Congressman, Senator, or the President, the correspondence is 'forwarded' to the agency the citizen has an issue with. The agency reports to the forwarding entity that they have reply's to the concerned citizen. In my case the USPHS consistently replied that "your case is closed, and we do not comment on closed cases". (I believe that they could just as easily send the weather report or a recipe, and say "we have replied to the concerned citizen", and it wouldn't make the least bit of difference. The onus of responsibility is on the exhausted 'citizen' to write AGAIN, saying they are not happy with the reply, and the whole mill starts all over, "you case is closed, we do not comment on closed cases", just from someone at a little higher level.
Now, as for the mention of 'disability', I have thought about that, because all these events have done a number on my psyche, in some ways, but, although I am an old woman, now, I am a healthy person, I have worked, officially, since the day I turned sixteen, (and unofficially before that). I would work today, if I could. I am not opposed to cleaning houses, and sometimes I do, or even a job as a dishwasher, ( I have done that in my long career). If you yourself haven't noticed, ask your kids or grand-kids, jobs, of any kind, are not easy to get in this technological world of 'globalization'.
The day I turned 62 I applied for Social Security. I don't get much, but more than a lot of people. I am surrounded by people on 'disability', who work 'under the table' in this rural area where I live. Personally I am happy that money, in any form, comes into this economically depressed area. I let my nursing license expire as soon as I got Social Security. After the abuses I have see and experienced, that the US 'for profit' hospitals pawn off as 'first rate health care', I am embarrassed to have anything to do with the nursing profession in the civilian wold as it is now practiced in many (not all) places I have worked. That said I hope I occasionally was able to do some good and effect a positive health outcome among the many populations I have served.
I am proud of my military service, I was not the worst, I was not the best, I arrived to work every time I was scheduled well rested and ready to work. I have worked with people who dazzled me with their brilliance and skill, and worked with some who I had to wonder how they ever managed to get through school. I got pretty good at running a Ward. I would say I was a solid upper middle performer, but I always did my best.
After my fruitless, and punishing, foray into an attempt at bringing honesty to the dealings of the Federal government, I am the last person who is going to say a word about anything bordering on shady practices. I experienced the 'tall poppy effect' firsthand, once was enough, thank you.
I would like to add that my older brother who was a Ranger and in the 10th Cav in Vietnam, finally got disability in the last years of his life, and I am very grateful that he got to live out his final years in dignity because of this. I know that he suffered, a lot, from PTSD, agent Orange exposure and who knows what else, and he didn't even believe in these things for most of his life. I think that the scars of what he went through just got tougher and tougher and he tried to drown 'it' in that old friend alcohol, when underneath was the scared 22 year old Captain who walked point and tried to do the right thing in hopeless, frightening situations.
In Desert Storm I was in a Combat Support hospital in the Iraqi neutral zone with bombs going off around the berm when I sat by the cot of Sargent Potter as he recovered from friendly fire shelling. As he was coming out of the anesthesia he kept mumbling stuff like, "I've see that silhouette in training a hundred times", when he woke up I tried to gently persuade him to take it easy and not pull the covers back right away, but he insisted, and when he saw that his leg was gone, well, I hope I can show the same bravery that he did if I am ever in the same situation. He explained to me how they tried to 'make a star' pattern by lying in a circle with their hands touching and legs extended out (or something like that, I'm a nurse, how would I know), to deflect the heat sensors, as the tanks were firing on them, and I can just imagine.....
Years later, at Landstuhl, I took care of the young Ivy League graduate who had enlisted in the Army because he cared about his country, I gave him morphine and helped move him onto the stretcher so he could fly back to Walter Reed, I walked into the room of a 'new admit' flown in from 'downrange', and was giving him the normal admission assessment when I saw the left sleeve hanging from the safety pin that was where the arm was supposed to be. He never whined, not once, I was taken aback, he was sitting there on that bed like he just had a flesh wound, I had to stop in mid sentence to compose myself, all I could think to say was, "I am so sorry that happened to you", and the Major who laid for months with his hand sewed inside his abdomen hoping he could grow enough flesh to be able to someday have enough use of his hand to be able to help his kids; I won't even go into some of the things that happened to those poor 'contractors' from various third world countries, who will never see a dime of disability as then try to put their lives back together...A few years after that in the Republic of Georgia I saw how the former Soviet soldiers handled an injured comrade. In our 'modern' health care world we get all this training and caution about how to approach and move an injured soldier. I was looking out of a window during a live fire exercise there and saw a jeep (or whatever those vehicles that they got from the old Soviet Army are, I'm a nurse, how should I know what they are called
They pull up at top seep, slam on the brakes, drag the guy out by his feet, throw him over their shoulder, and carry him into the field hospital, no stretchers or other niceties for them, and the injured soldier never uddered a word of complaint.No, I am not going to ask for a dime of disability, I have SEEN disability, and I am NOT disabled.
I have learned lessons about the 'separation of powers' between the three branches of our government during my ordeal that I never could have learned any other way. Most recently I did the whole process of appealing to the Merit System Protection Board-they were nice, polite and professional, (not like dealing with the USPHS), and they even sent my case to the central DC Office, but, in the end, what could they say? The Commissioned Corps is a 'Uniformed Service', and EVERY avenue of appeal in the Executive Branch, with the exception of UCMJ, and the various Services 'Boards', are set up for 'Civil Service', and other such civilian petitioners. The Merit System Protection Board could ONLY say that they "do not have jurisdiction", which their web site made clear from the outset, but I was hoping against hope that they would have some advice...., all they could tell me in the end was "you may appeal this decision to the US Court of Appeals" (for $500, and lots of paperwork on my part). I called this Court of Appeals, and they were nice, civil, and honest enough to explain to me that ALL they can say is "yes, the Merit System Protection Board is correct, they do do have jurisdiction, OR, "NO, the Merit System Protection Board is not correct, they do have jurisdiction, and they must revisit your case".
The USPHS Commissioned Corps is so clever that they have effectually insulated themselves from ANY repercussions that any victim of their shady dealings may attempt to pursue.
Add to this the 'Indian Preference in Hiring' that the USPHS Indian Health Service legally practices-this means that if a position is open in the Indian Health Service they MUST take a person who has 'ties to a Tribe' over one who does not-if their qualifications are similar,-but they have gotten around this by 'dumbing down' the requirements for federal jobs to, in the case of the Service Unit Director who kicked me out ( a person in charge of several millions US government dollars), to "must maintain a valid drivers license"-as I learned to my surprised horror when I made a FOIA request for her federal job description, and you have a situation tailor made for graft and corruption. (The military was SO WISE when they 'stuck to their guns' and flat out REFUSED to have ANY US Troops under (Tribal) government control in the middle East.) Of course, there are many honest Native Americans who unknowingly depend on their 'Tribal Leaders' to do the right thing by them, but, just look at this mess I am trying to unravel, how can any ordinary working stiff Native American, or some granny out on a Reservation have any idea what really goes on with the money that is supposed to 'keep them healthy'? I guess their Casinos did create a lot of jobs, but...well, I digress again.
Citing this double dealing is not going to be of any benefit to me; I have discovered, to my disgust, that no one cares. All that political stuff is way out of my area, and a simple person like myself cannot effect these things in any way.
All I want is to quit wasting my time dealing with the Executive Branch, and see if, possibly, because of this SNAFU that the USPHS Commissioned Corps caused itself because they are too incompetent to even do a simple thing like completing an inter-service transfer in an orderly manner, might be to my benefit in a REAL Court of Law in the Judiciary Branch of our US Government, and to do this I need to know actual 'facts' that I can present to these busy Judges. Facts such as "have my my rights, and ability to have a career and an ability to support myself been comprised because I was involuntary holding a Commission in two Services at the same time?
Thank you if you have read this far; this is my long and boring personal story, but I was hurt, and not just financially, by the treatment I received at the hands of the very Country that I signed on the dotted line "to protect and defend". I would also like that hateful phrase, "does not have the necessary discipline and dedication to duty to be a Commissioned Officer for the United States of America" to be stricken from ANY record. I think MY record shows that this is not true. I will be gone one of these days, but someone in the future may do ancestry research on me, and is not fair to my legacy that such hateful, untrue, words as this should survive.
Thank you for replying to me. The answer about my Commissiond career history is;
1986-I was commissioned in the USPHS Commissioned Corps. I served, actively and honorably, with them until 1989 at which time I 'interservice transferred' to the US Army (Nurse Corps). I served, actively and honorably, with the Army until 1994, at which time I got off active duty and entered the Reserves. In 1997 I filled out the paper work to interservice transferred back to the USPHS Commissioned Corps. I served, actively and honorably, with them until 1999. (ALL the evaluations I received from the USPHS Commissioned Corps, and the US Army, were 'good' to 'excellent'.)
While serving in my duty station at Ft Yuma, I found myself in a position where I was required to diagnose, treat, and prescribe prescription medication to after hour, weekend, and holiday patients, since the 5 physicians they had could not see patients during Clinic hours, and be on call at night.
As you know, the world is changing; a little bit of this went on in the Indian Health Service 'of old', in little hospitals on reservations hundreds of miles away from any other health care, that had inadequate physician coverage. The hospital at Ft Yuma, was 20 blocks away from the major medical center for that region.
Since Health Care was my field I learned some things about how things are funded, from graduate studies, and from the Officer Advance Course. For example, in the early 1990es the VA became aware that much of their care was provided to veterans who had health care coverage via other government programs, Medicare and ect. The VA sued to win the right to request reimbursement from 'other' health care coverage programs. When they won this right the Indian Health Service (IHS) pounced on this, since a lot of the care the IHS provides also goes to elderly, or disabled persons, and to Veterans, for that matter.
Treating the after hour patients at Ft Yuma obviously became a real money making business when the Service Unit Director sent out a memo saying that "from now on ALL after hour, weekend end and holiday patients will be written up on an Emergency Care (ER) form". The physician who was ostensibly "on call' would take the stacks of these forms (by then the flood gates had been opened and sometimes we nurses saw and treated more patients 'after hours' than the physicians saw in a Clinic day-after all, it's a lot easier to 'walk in' than to make an appointment, as the success of the 'doc-in-the box' walk in clinics attest, and the crowded after hours ER's these days attest to) and sign them as if he/she had seen and diagnosed the patient-and a patient written up on an ER form is worth a lot more in reimbursement than a 'runny nose' patient who gets some Benadryl, Motrin, and words of encouragement
It was obvious to all of us nurses that what we were doing was not legal, but it kind of came to a head with that order to write all the patients up on the ER forms. Like a fool I figured that since I was the nurse with the most (real) active duty history, it was my responsibility to try to do something about this. I sent the 'protocols' that the hospital had written allowing us nurses to diagnose and prescribe (antibiotics, epinephrine and so so on, not just Benedryl) to my State Board of Nursing, which of course replied that "these protocols 'may' be legal for those certified as Nurse Practitioners to use, but they are NOT legal for 'generic RN's' to use. I (in my naivete) thought that somehow these illegal practices and danger to our licenses would be addressed.
What did happen was that I was put out of the Commissioned Corps for "failure to demonstrate the necessary discipline and dedication to duty of a Commissioned Officer of the United States of America".
This was just ten weeks after my most recent 'excellent' evaluation at the Ft Yuma hospital.
This is how they did this. In the USPHS Commissioned Corps and officer can be put out for 'any reason' during a three year 'orientation period'. My three year orientation period was up weeks after this action against me was taken. That is what their regs say, so according to their regs, I don't have a leg to stand on.
I was shocked, to say the least. Especially because the woman who was in the Phoenix Indian Health Service who was the 'liaison' to the Commissioned Corps told me "you are getting a dishonorable discharge".
Now, to go in the Commissioned Corps one receives no training of any kind. A person is a civilian one day, and a Commissioned Officer the next day. They like to 'pretend' they have a 'Chain of Command', but it often involves people whom one has never met, in an office far, far away. As was the case at Ft Yuma there may be higher ranking Commissioned Officers working in the same setting, but they are in a different field, such as a physician or pharmacist, for example.
The Commissioned Corps also likes to 'toss around' phrases that they have heard used in military settings, such as 'dishonorable discharge', without having the slightest idea WHAT they are really saying.
This Dishonorable Discharge charge REALLY shocked me. When I was told this I asked this O5 'liaison', "do you know the kinds of things you have to have been PROVEN to have done to get a dishonorable discharge"? I can hear her voice to this day, "well, I don't know" she laughed (actually laughed delightedly, can you believe that), "but YOUR getting one".
When my orders came a week or so later they just said, 'terminated'. I was too much in shock to do anything else at that time. I left Yuma, let my house go on a 'quit claim' deed, and told my friends and family members that I had been dishonorably discharged. Many of them don't speak to me to this day.
My husband (who had been a Sargent in the German military-and to his credit stood by me during this whole ordeal) told me, "they can't do this, you have to fight this". So began the long process that I still find myself in to this day.
Almost a year later, after hundreds of phone calls and dozens of letters I found out that the Commissioned Corps does not even HAVE a category called 'dishonorable discharge'.
I also found out that the Commissioned Corps has a 'Board for Correction of Records'. "If you feel you have been discharged in error" I was told, "just apply to this Board and all will be set right". So I began the long process of appealing to the 'Board'.
The Board accepted my case, and then (I am NOT making this up) to add insult to injury, the first correspondence that I received from this 'Board' was seven spent 9mm bullet casings in a USPHS envelope. This was meant to scare me, of course, and it had that effect. I pondered for months whether I really wanted to go through with this or not. By then I had little 'PRN' nurse jobs to support myself, but I never applied for a job of any consequence, like with the Civil Service, because I simply did not know what I would put down when I was asked , "have you ever been fired from a job".
Eventually I did contact the Board, and explained that I had not received whatever it was they had sent me, and instead (why, and from who?) had received this horrid correspondence. I promptly got the first of many long installments from that Board, gathered relevant documents (such as my excellent evaluations, the illegal protocols, correspondence from the Texas State Board of Nursing and the American Nurses Association, all of whom sided with me), and patiently replied to the venom that the O6 attorney for the Division of Commissioned Personnel USPHS sent in reply to what I had to say, and so on, for almost three long years.
As I have said, the 'Board' finally did vote unanimously in my favor. I guess I didn't read the 'fine print' when I started appealing to this Board however, because i did not realize that his 'Board' is for show only. Their opinion means nothing. There is a 'quasi-government' ( what does that even mean) agency affiliated with the US Public Health Service called the Program Support Center. The 'Director' can be anybody, as far as i can tell, who is looking for a 'parking space' as they move up the ranks of Civilian job positions in the Washington DC area. First a man named Curtis Coy (a former Navy man) non-concurred with the Boards decision, and then, a few months later, a man named Mike Blank (who as far as I can tell was once a 'paymaster' for the USPHS) non-concurred with my appeal. So, three years of my life, with hope of some kind of redemption by the USPHS 'Board'-wasted.
I got 'redemption', of a sort however, eight weeks later. I was standing on a ladder painting my kitchen, trying to think what I would do now, when my phone rang, and the unmistakable voice of a Sargent said, "ma'am, nobody in this unit knows who you are, but you need to know that you have been activated in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and you have twenty four hours to report to duty". I almost fell off the ladder. Now I was REALLY confused. I know, from my active duty days, that missing troop movements is a federal crime, but HOW.....
To make a (very) long story a little shorter, lets just say I went out to the Barn and dug out my boots, uniform and dog tags, found out where I was supposed to be and reported in the next day. At least, back in the Army, I was able to get a few laughs about my situtation; by that time the Army had changed the headgear to the beret, they gave me one and told me to wear it, you can imagine how I put it on, flash right in front, and who knows what else... the enlisted soldiers got a real good laugh when they saw me, but, like it usually is in the Army, they set me straight and even made me privy to all their 'barracks tips' about how to maximize the 'look' of that strange headgear (for people who spend a lot of time out in weather IMHO, but I digress
Anyway, I didn't go to Iraq, I went to Ft Riley for 18 months. I was very, very happy to be back in the Army, but I was worried, HOW could this have happened? I made an appointment with the JAG. I told him the story, more or less as I have relayed here. I told him that I was worried that I was impersonating and Army Officer and I was not even really in the Army.
That JAG Officer listened to what I had to say. When I was finished he leaned back in his chair and tented his hands together for a while, then he turned to me and said, "you know, every time we have these massive call-ups we have people coming in here telling us how WE made a mistake and they are not really in the Army. I have to say that your story is a pretty good one, and in your case it has a happy ending because you actually want to be in the Army; it is my responsibility to tell you however, that, if you are putting on the uniform every day, and going to work every day and getting paid, that...you are in the Army now". I asked him to put that in writing, he said he would not, but I left that office feeling a lot better and easier in my mind.
Yes, I have tried all of the things you have suggested with writing to the Senators, and the President, (a previous president). I have learned a lot about how this stuff works...to my great disillusionment. When a person writes to a Congressman, Senator, or the President, the correspondence is 'forwarded' to the agency the citizen has an issue with. The agency reports to the forwarding entity that they have reply's to the concerned citizen. In my case the USPHS consistently replied that "your case is closed, and we do not comment on closed cases". (I believe that they could just as easily send the weather report or a recipe, and say "we have replied to the concerned citizen", and it wouldn't make the least bit of difference. The onus of responsibility is on the exhausted 'citizen' to write AGAIN, saying they are not happy with the reply, and the whole mill starts all over, "you case is closed, we do not comment on closed cases", just from someone at a little higher level.
Now, as for the mention of 'disability', I have thought about that, because all these events have done a number on my psyche, in some ways, but, although I am an old woman, now, I am a healthy person, I have worked, officially, since the day I turned sixteen, (and unofficially before that). I would work today, if I could. I am not opposed to cleaning houses, and sometimes I do, or even a job as a dishwasher, ( I have done that in my long career). If you yourself haven't noticed, ask your kids or grand-kids, jobs, of any kind, are not easy to get in this technological world of 'globalization'.
The day I turned 62 I applied for Social Security. I don't get much, but more than a lot of people. I am surrounded by people on 'disability', who work 'under the table' in this rural area where I live. Personally I am happy that money, in any form, comes into this economically depressed area. I let my nursing license expire as soon as I got Social Security. After the abuses I have see and experienced, that the US 'for profit' hospitals pawn off as 'first rate health care', I am embarrassed to have anything to do with the nursing profession in the civilian wold as it is now practiced in many (not all) places I have worked. That said I hope I occasionally was able to do some good and effect a positive health outcome among the many populations I have served.
I am proud of my military service, I was not the worst, I was not the best, I arrived to work every time I was scheduled well rested and ready to work. I have worked with people who dazzled me with their brilliance and skill, and worked with some who I had to wonder how they ever managed to get through school. I got pretty good at running a Ward. I would say I was a solid upper middle performer, but I always did my best.
After my fruitless, and punishing, foray into an attempt at bringing honesty to the dealings of the Federal government, I am the last person who is going to say a word about anything bordering on shady practices. I experienced the 'tall poppy effect' firsthand, once was enough, thank you.
I would like to add that my older brother who was a Ranger and in the 10th Cav in Vietnam, finally got disability in the last years of his life, and I am very grateful that he got to live out his final years in dignity because of this. I know that he suffered, a lot, from PTSD, agent Orange exposure and who knows what else, and he didn't even believe in these things for most of his life. I think that the scars of what he went through just got tougher and tougher and he tried to drown 'it' in that old friend alcohol, when underneath was the scared 22 year old Captain who walked point and tried to do the right thing in hopeless, frightening situations.
In Desert Storm I was in a Combat Support hospital in the Iraqi neutral zone with bombs going off around the berm when I sat by the cot of Sargent Potter as he recovered from friendly fire shelling. As he was coming out of the anesthesia he kept mumbling stuff like, "I've see that silhouette in training a hundred times", when he woke up I tried to gently persuade him to take it easy and not pull the covers back right away, but he insisted, and when he saw that his leg was gone, well, I hope I can show the same bravery that he did if I am ever in the same situation. He explained to me how they tried to 'make a star' pattern by lying in a circle with their hands touching and legs extended out (or something like that, I'm a nurse, how would I know), to deflect the heat sensors, as the tanks were firing on them, and I can just imagine.....
Years later, at Landstuhl, I took care of the young Ivy League graduate who had enlisted in the Army because he cared about his country, I gave him morphine and helped move him onto the stretcher so he could fly back to Walter Reed, I walked into the room of a 'new admit' flown in from 'downrange', and was giving him the normal admission assessment when I saw the left sleeve hanging from the safety pin that was where the arm was supposed to be. He never whined, not once, I was taken aback, he was sitting there on that bed like he just had a flesh wound, I had to stop in mid sentence to compose myself, all I could think to say was, "I am so sorry that happened to you", and the Major who laid for months with his hand sewed inside his abdomen hoping he could grow enough flesh to be able to someday have enough use of his hand to be able to help his kids; I won't even go into some of the things that happened to those poor 'contractors' from various third world countries, who will never see a dime of disability as then try to put their lives back together...A few years after that in the Republic of Georgia I saw how the former Soviet soldiers handled an injured comrade. In our 'modern' health care world we get all this training and caution about how to approach and move an injured soldier. I was looking out of a window during a live fire exercise there and saw a jeep (or whatever those vehicles that they got from the old Soviet Army are, I'm a nurse, how should I know what they are called
No, I am not going to ask for a dime of disability, I have SEEN disability, and I am NOT disabled.
I have learned lessons about the 'separation of powers' between the three branches of our government during my ordeal that I never could have learned any other way. Most recently I did the whole process of appealing to the Merit System Protection Board-they were nice, polite and professional, (not like dealing with the USPHS), and they even sent my case to the central DC Office, but, in the end, what could they say? The Commissioned Corps is a 'Uniformed Service', and EVERY avenue of appeal in the Executive Branch, with the exception of UCMJ, and the various Services 'Boards', are set up for 'Civil Service', and other such civilian petitioners. The Merit System Protection Board could ONLY say that they "do not have jurisdiction", which their web site made clear from the outset, but I was hoping against hope that they would have some advice...., all they could tell me in the end was "you may appeal this decision to the US Court of Appeals" (for $500, and lots of paperwork on my part). I called this Court of Appeals, and they were nice, civil, and honest enough to explain to me that ALL they can say is "yes, the Merit System Protection Board is correct, they do do have jurisdiction, OR, "NO, the Merit System Protection Board is not correct, they do have jurisdiction, and they must revisit your case".
The USPHS Commissioned Corps is so clever that they have effectually insulated themselves from ANY repercussions that any victim of their shady dealings may attempt to pursue.
Add to this the 'Indian Preference in Hiring' that the USPHS Indian Health Service legally practices-this means that if a position is open in the Indian Health Service they MUST take a person who has 'ties to a Tribe' over one who does not-if their qualifications are similar,-but they have gotten around this by 'dumbing down' the requirements for federal jobs to, in the case of the Service Unit Director who kicked me out ( a person in charge of several millions US government dollars), to "must maintain a valid drivers license"-as I learned to my surprised horror when I made a FOIA request for her federal job description, and you have a situation tailor made for graft and corruption. (The military was SO WISE when they 'stuck to their guns' and flat out REFUSED to have ANY US Troops under (Tribal) government control in the middle East.) Of course, there are many honest Native Americans who unknowingly depend on their 'Tribal Leaders' to do the right thing by them, but, just look at this mess I am trying to unravel, how can any ordinary working stiff Native American, or some granny out on a Reservation have any idea what really goes on with the money that is supposed to 'keep them healthy'? I guess their Casinos did create a lot of jobs, but...well, I digress again.
Citing this double dealing is not going to be of any benefit to me; I have discovered, to my disgust, that no one cares. All that political stuff is way out of my area, and a simple person like myself cannot effect these things in any way.
All I want is to quit wasting my time dealing with the Executive Branch, and see if, possibly, because of this SNAFU that the USPHS Commissioned Corps caused itself because they are too incompetent to even do a simple thing like completing an inter-service transfer in an orderly manner, might be to my benefit in a REAL Court of Law in the Judiciary Branch of our US Government, and to do this I need to know actual 'facts' that I can present to these busy Judges. Facts such as "have my my rights, and ability to have a career and an ability to support myself been comprised because I was involuntary holding a Commission in two Services at the same time?
Thank you if you have read this far; this is my long and boring personal story, but I was hurt, and not just financially, by the treatment I received at the hands of the very Country that I signed on the dotted line "to protect and defend". I would also like that hateful phrase, "does not have the necessary discipline and dedication to duty to be a Commissioned Officer for the United States of America" to be stricken from ANY record. I think MY record shows that this is not true. I will be gone one of these days, but someone in the future may do ancestry research on me, and is not fair to my legacy that such hateful, untrue, words as this should survive.
zddoodah
Well-Known Member
Any particular reason you resurrected this 3 1/2 year old thread?
The likelihood that anyone will read through that novella you wrote is pretty low.
The likelihood that anyone will read through that novella you wrote is pretty low.
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