To whom it may concern:
We desperately need your help. This is about a hero's dignity and respect. I am the wife of a US ARMY Staff Sargent. His name is Rafael Gutierrez. He retired from the Army Reserve last November with 22 years of active duty military service under his belt. He wasn't planning on retirement, but he was found "Unfit for Duty" by the ARMY after being injured in theater. Even though his retirement date was Nov. 27, 2013, just last week he was told by someone at the Florida VA office that he still needs to wait anywhere from 2 to 15 more months to start receiving his pay. Add this to the 2 ½ months we've already been waiting.
We were told at the time of retirement, that the entire process would take 45 days. When we called the Florida VA, almost double those days had passed. Being told that at that moment his processing hadn't even started and had to wait 2-15 months because they were backed up was disheartening and EXTREMELY infuriating.
Let me tell you his story and why we CAN NOT just sit and wait, besides the obvious reason of this being insulting.
SSG Gutierrez has been deployed and/or away from us so many times that of the 20 years we've been married, we've actually been "together" less than 15. Through his deployments he suffered from severe PTSD and constant headaches but was told that it would all "go away" with time, and did not receive treatment for either.
He VOLUNTEERED for his deployments. He could not sit by and watch his military brothers & sisters fighting and barely getting by in the news, and do nothing to help. He also volunteered for these deployments so that we as a family could make ends meet and afford medical coverage. We have 2 kids and our son is in the Autism Spectrum and couldn't afford his treatment or medications.
His last deployment was to Afghanistan. His headaches got progressively worse. Then one day, he lost consciousness at the wheel of a Humvee. The vehicle was a total loss. He suffered injuries to his neck, shoulder, back, hips, and knees. He was medically evacuated from Afghanistan to Germany on Oct 2009, from there he was sent to Ft Gordon, GA. They told him in Germany that they couldn't perform the required tests.
In GA he spent months seeing doctors but was not given any physical therapy and was told not to exercise without medical supervision. This resulted on a man who previously weight a healthy 235 pounds with a 7% index body fat, accustomed to physical labor and exercise, only to gain 75 pounds sitting in a room, taking medications that made him gain weight, waiting for someone to do something and give him answers. Needless to say, none of this helped his already set and untreated PTSD.
This (he wasn't receiving a medical/hospital diet) also resulted in high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and worsening of the injuries mentioned above, still, no one attended the extra problem that weight gain represented. This resulted in more medications.
After a while they transferred him close to home, to the Warrior Transition Battalion in Orlando. Having him home made a big difference but the weight caused by the medications wasn't coming off. Still, it wasn't being addressed. As to why he lost consciousness and the reason for the headaches, which had by now become severe migraines (about 5 per week, each lasting anywhere from 16 to 48 hours), no answers.
We finally DID get an answer, 9 months later at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, at Bethesda, MD, where he was finally examined extensively by a group of specialists. They discovered he had suffered 2 brain injuries during his first deployment to Iraq, back in 2004, when he was told that everything would "go away."
After returning home, everything went back to taking pills. The communication between his doctors was so bad that he almost overdosed. This went on from 2009 to 2013 where he was hospitalized at the VA Hospital in Tampa for 3 weeks last September. There, his weight problem had finally reached an all-time danger high with diabetes.
He was told once too many times that he was the most difficult case they've seen, because no matter what they tried, the migraines would not go away, and there was "nothing we can do." He still has them. He needs help on daily simple things like driving, getting dressed, taking his meds. He has trouble concentrating, remembering, getting organized; he still can't exercise as before and he's still dealing with losing weight. Since Tampa, he has finally been able to lose 40 pounds just by switching his medications and the times when they were taken.
Needless to say, this has been a very disappointing journey. Once the military finally decided that he was unfit for duty, he was given his retirement date with a disability percentage of 90%. The VA gave him 100%. This brings us to the right-now.
While we are still under the ARMY's umbrella, waiting for the first VA check that was supposed to take 45 days from November 27, 2013, we're being paid a lot less while, of course, still having the same expenses. Our emergency savings are gone, yet we still have to wait 2-15 more months?! I have to stay home for my soldier, he can't hold a part time job…what are we supposed to do while the people who are supposed to support their heroes the most just say "it will go away," "there's nothing we can do for your pain," and "you have to wait" even longer?
My husband has never been treated with the respect a wounded soldier deserves and now it has come to the unthinkable, we have to borrow money from relatives to pay for our kid's graduation, prom, college admission, braces, and God forbid we have a real emergency while living check to check, AFTER giving SO MUCH for this country.
Guess what are the worst triggers for his migraines? Stress, high blood pressure, depression, anger, frustration. He's back to the severity of when this all started years ago. YEARS!
We are DONE waiting and going along with excuses. We demand the respect and the benefits we deserve NOW, not in 15 months! We CAN'T wait, and we shouldn't have to, but we can't do it alone. We need the backup and the help from our elected officials; from YOU. How can we get my husband back his dignity? PLEASE HELP!!
Att.
Gretchen (https://www.facebook.com/gretchengautier?fref=ts)
PLEASE if you have any way, method or form to help, please do!
...and remember...not all of our fallen heroes have passed away, most of them are among us...
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