We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:21:12 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:53:05 -0600
Basically, the body reacts to dioxin by excreting porphyrins and, long story short, you bleed through your skin -- blood blisters that swell, then burst, and when they heal, the scars are depigmented. Mine's localized in my arms because we had to wrestle the drums onto Hubert, and we took our shirts off, but left our T-shirts on, so we got direct skin contact with Orange and White, but couldn't wash our arms until hours later, when we hit the showers after the spray missions..

No reason to wash it off immediately -- "The stuff is perfectly harmless to human beings," according to the briefing we got.
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86144 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86144 Mon, 23 Mar 2009 05:41:38 -0600 "Oh, wow! You see pictures of this in the textbooks, but they tell you you'll prolly never see it in real life!"

Would you mind terribly if I asked what the medical miracle is?  I share the fascination-over-squeamishness mentality of your doc... [And I completely understand if you're not inclined to do so...]

I suspect that some day down the line I'm going to have nightmares with the VA.  I'm honestly terrible with paperwork and I know it.  It's all I can do not to set my medical records on fire by accident...
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86131 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86131 Sun, 22 Mar 2009 22:38:40 -0600
Good move, keeping the records. My stack is about four inches thick, and I brought originals *and* two copies of everything to my initial VA appointment.

Mac, pay attention to the flying and leave the admin stuff to the pixie.
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86090 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86090 Sun, 22 Mar 2009 05:09:45 -0600

MacGyver thinks I'm crazy but I keep ALL of the paperwork related to him and his physical health (and mental). I make copies of his medical files (and mine, and the kids') each and every time we move. I request duplicate copies of all labs, discharge paperwork, etc. He thinks I'm nuts. I think I'm saving him (and me) more than a few headaches when the time comes.
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86088 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86088 Sun, 22 Mar 2009 02:53:04 -0600
Not so much...

I'm an OLD grunt, and atop the 13 years of Marine grunt-ness was a skyrocketing weight, subsequent system damage, and then the weight loss, but the damage (I think) has been done.  Now that I am back in the trenches, there are all manner of twinges, pains, and restricted movement that I don't emember from the heady days of my youth, and my thought is that now is an excellent time to get all that documented.  (Like the truely impressive array of vericise veins on my left leg...)

My issue is combatting the who "You're going to sick call, ergo, you are a whiny little man" mentality that not only pervades my psyche, but is evident on the faces of most of the leadership (you can see it in their faces, and hear it in their conversations"...)

Pride is a wonderful thing, in some cases, but not so much when it comes to admitting that you ain't eighteen anymore...
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86085 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86085 Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:59:50 -0600 John, I understand. I've had arthroscopic fixes done on both knees, and held desk jobs since the early 1980s, but I still weigh what I did 25 years ago. So, it can be done. It's not fun and there are many things I'd rather do, but it can be done. Walter M. Clark (in the bomb shelter and digging deeper). http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86083 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86083 Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:58:35 -0600
And the cause of that ruck is two of my 60's on the 60-60-60-30-10 ratings.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86080 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86080 Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:32:34 -0600 Say, John, just to cause trouble and stir up things, I wonder how much better the tourist bit in San Juan would have been if you weighed now what you did when you made Captain? Walter M. Clark (ducking into the bomb shelter). http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86079 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86079 Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:37:33 -0600
It helped that he was more fascinated than squeamish...

"Oh, wow! You see pictures of this in the textbooks, but they tell you you'll prolly never see it in real life!"
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86076 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86076 Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:32:00 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86072 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86072 Sat, 21 Mar 2009 08:28:38 -0600 After going through the mind numbing event for ever and a day and then suddenly out of the blue receive a letter saying "Gee you've been approved" I envisioned this person at a desk cackling as he received each sheet.

Heh. Mine was just the opposite. After an hour of reviewing all my documentation, the doc said, "I wish everybody who came in here had a paper trail this complete. Did you save *all* your flight physicals?"

A month later, I got the multipage "disapproved" letter which cited items that I hadn't claimed and *didn't* cite the items the doc validated. Took three weeks and four visits before they'd believe that a Clerical Error had crept into the system, then another month before the "approved" letter appeared. Which, having seen the mountains of paperwork adorning a couple of clerks desks in just one corridor of just one floor of just one VA hospital, I considered Priority Handling.
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86069 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86069 Sat, 21 Mar 2009 05:33:02 -0600 As I said it always boggled me. After going through the mind numbing event for ever and a day and then suddenly out of the blue receive a letter saying "Gee you've been approved" I envisioned this person at a desk cackling as he received each sheet.
"I'll approve this one! BAH This one is from Montana nobody actually lives in Montana! Must be a fraud Denied!" and so on and so forth in a Monty Pythonesque rapport]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86065 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86065 Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:53:59 -0600 ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86053 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86053 Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:59:15 -0600
It's not manly to skip sick call to get an injury documented.

It's a self-inflicted wound.

The more the documentation (don't be a pest, but be real) the easier it is for VA to justify the rating.

When you do your periodic physicals, list the problems, even if they aren't disabling now.

You probably don't want to whine yourself into a permanent profile, but periodically through your career, cataloguing your injuries is insurance against the time later in life when those injuries *are* disabling, and you're paying guys to hang sheetrock and doing painting you could otherwise have done yourself for a lot less money than you're paying out now.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86051 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86051 Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:42:27 -0600 If you are still active, be a puss once in a while and get the bum knee looked at and put in your records. If it isn't in your file when you get out, it never happened.
My left knee is a prime example.
I went to see the docs for my right knee. They gave me vitamin M, or other pills for pain, etc...
When the left one started acting up, I just took the meds I had left over from the docs and figured that I would suck it up.
Guess what? The left knee is never mentioned in any med file. I didn't get service connected for that knee.
Got a 0% for the right, which is now really bothering me, so that may come into play as was stated.
The left one ain't much better, and I can't do squat about it with the VA.
Just saying.
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86049 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/03/building_a_berm.html#comment-86049 Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:56:39 -0600