Army claims: “bullet wounds are pre-existing” rejects benefits

Military personnel are in the spotlight again as the VA health system has denied Army staff sergeant Marcus Alexander his veteran medical and disability benefits. Why? They claim the sergeants gunshot wounds and subsequent complications are pre-existing.

According to the military, Sergeant Alexander was shot three times, twice in the buttocks and once in the leg, prior to enlisting in the military and being deployed to Afghanistan.

“This is beyond absurd” says Alexander, who is presently paying out of pocket for medical treatment including physical and emotional therapy in relation to a firefight against insurgents where he states he suffered three shots to the right side of his body from enemy fire.

Alexander tells us:

I think I would remember being shot three times, twice in the ass before enlisting. They’re denying all of my claims, thankfully my parents are willing to pay for the surgery out-of-pocket.

When the Tribune looked further into the Sergeant’s DD-214 discharge papers, the reason for separation from service included “immediate re-aggravation of injuries both pre-existing and concealed from military medical personnel when enlisting into service“.

“This is an adequate justification for denial in for a Veteran’s Health Care” VA Health Care spokesperson Tammy Matos says. She continues:

not to mention Sergeant Alexander’s case is one of thousands! Veterans have been caught trying to suck the government out of money to pay for a wide range of pre-existing mental and physical injuries they claim to a sustained over in the battlefields of the Middle East.

She continues:

Many soldiers continue to employ this scam, such as veteran Dean Brown. Brown, a PFC who after a rocket propelled grenade detonated against the wall he was using for cover, attempted to cash in by claiming PTSD, partial blindness and headaches. Brown claims his wounds are from the detonation and subsequent shrapnel, which is false. The soldier clearly hid these wounds from enlistment doctors upon enlistment.

“It’s a shame and we hate to see it but it happens every day” says Matos. Tammy Matos concludes:

“Servicemen conceal the mental health States, missing limbs, blindness and more, and suddenly those pre-existing conditions re-emerge the moment they want to back out of their contract with Uncle Sam. What a disgrace”.

Sergeant Alexander’s mother however paints a different picture of her wounded vet, stating that he has suffered for months with memory loss, deliberating pain, depression and a terrible gait. Her son wants nothing more than “basic medical treatment”.

Many military experts say and this editor agrees: Alexander needs to suck it up.