bayer-z28

iTrader: (14)

I was USAF AD CE Ssgt Heavy Equipment Operator from Feb 03 to Oct 08. Got MEB'd for asthma when I started having breathing problems about 6 mo after I got back from Afghanistan in 06.

Fast forward to June 2007: I was set to deploy to FOB Stryker/Balad or something T-series orders. Was in Ft Dix for training and I started getting a shooting pain down my left leg, to the point where I couldn't stand up straight in formation any longer and running or jogging was a pulsing pain. Long story short, I got pulled off and sent back to Holloman (Home.) It got MUCH MUCH worse once I got back. It was crippling pain and they sent me out for an MRI. No MEB when I got pulled off for some reason. The MRI showed two herniated discs (L4 and L5) contacting my Syatic nerve. Went through PT and everything to try and help it. Kinda did but I also got hooked on the pain meds in the process... . heh.... Kinda funny, but not.. It fuked me up pretty good.

Anyway.. Back to the breathing problems/Asthma.. I don't think it REALLY bothered me until about the late fall of 2007. Went to the Doc and I ended up getting put through an MEB for Asthma. They said it's not a big deal if it's controllable and they'll prolly just have me PCS or crosstrain. Nope. Verdict came back about a month later for "Discharge."


You gotta be kidding me. I really didn't want to get out... AND I had bought a house and re-enlisted 6 months prior. It's been a hard thing to get over but the only closure I seem to have found in all this was that I wonder how I would have faired with the deployments, the heavy job and everything else with a blown out back. Asthma or no asthma. I think it may have still been a sore spot and it does still pinch occasionally and every now and then it gets kinda painful, but nothing near as bad as it was when I came home from Ft Dix.

I take it people with these back injuries typically won't last long... Not to mention my knees have been killing me lately.

blubaldmontess

iTrader: (4)

Bayer,

Your story is one of hundreds of thousands with the same problems. I work in the MEB section for the army, I see some stuff that I find a little ridiculous with the system but heres what I've learned about knee and back problems. They don't go away, and especially in high demand jobs such as yours, they can and usually will get worse. Would you have made 20 and gotten out, well maybe, but the worse it got, the more you would have worried. Think about it like football players, many go past their prime, and then wonder why they did it 10 years later. Same thing with the military, some people peak and begin to roll downhill, then retire at rock bottom iwth bad knees, ankles, shoulders and a back problem. Sorry, no amount of money is worth it if at 40 I can 't play catch with my kids

wyome

I got asthma and bad knees and back now too. My crap didn't start till at 19yrs, and my boss was asking me to deploy again. It killed me to not be able to go outside the wire again, but my best military days are behind me now...and if I can't give it my all like my Airman and NCOs then I don't need to be there anymore.

Physical pains like you have never really go away, and in today's way more deployments than before military we just can't hide folks in non-deployable spots anymore.

Thank you for your service, now thank those that continue to serve and wish them well.

bayer-z28

iTrader: (14)

^ ^ Thanks for the kind words guys.

My job just had such a high ops tempo. I mean we were deploying for 8 months and back fro about 10 when we'd typically get tagged again. A month in training, a month in transit and then our 6 months when we get there. I got back in July 2006 and was tagged again in April 2007. That's when the word came down. orders were for July or so. Whenever we got there.

The junior NCO's in CE are still as much of a worker as the Airmen are, but they're more crew leads, TC's and Supervisory. We were pretty much going Army the way we were training and deploying. Any Soldier who deployed with us knows.

But needing to be able to ruck for a couple miles, react to direct and indirect fire is critical. I thin a lot of that is what beat my back up and it would only get worse or stay the same. They won't keep people in if they're tagged as non-deployable, which I got from the Asthma. my commander gave me a good word, but it came down to mobility.

Oh well.. I don't think I would have made it to 20 without going through an MEB for my back. Not sure if they would have kept nursing it with PT or what. I just took great pride in my job, and upholding USAF standards when I had to. I was in a bad spot with my shop and the corruption that was going against me. But that's a whole other story I'd rather not get into. I'm over that anyway. It's over an no need to re hatch it. Sometimes I find it difficult to talk about the Military or sometimes hard to watch any Mil type movies. Sometimes I just feel like "I'm not done" or I didn't do enough to help.. But not a lot of people can understand that when I say it. It's just a gut feeling.

minytrker

iTrader: (13)

I got hurt in the AF and they lost my MB package so I had to go through the whole process again. By the time all that happen I was getting to the end of my second enlistment. I could either stay in past my enlistment or just get out without nothing. I chose to get out, it was the best thing I did. Once I got the VA and they checked me out I found out how bad off I really was. I now have to have 1 disc replaced in my lower back and also have to have two disc removed from neck. All the years of me having back and neck problems the AF doctors just kept giving me pain pills and never actually fixed anything. Now years later I am paying for it everyday. The VA has done more in the last 2 years than the AF did in 10 years. So in my case getting out the AF was a good thing.

firemech21

iTrader: (9)

I injured myself last year, doing my current job MTI. The AF doesnt want to do anything for other than kick my a$$ out. So i have been trying to live with the issue, until my last PT test. I passed it, but thought I was going to die after I was done. Im about to hit 8 yrs time in service, I just dont know if I like the idea of being a civilian and loosing all my benefits. The crappy part is i can do my normal AFSC, I just cant yell and call commands all day.

Undertow74

iTrader: (45)

Yea Yea Firemech, there you go again complaining about everything, if you knew how to work on vehicles then you would not be a MTI!! haha just messin with you man, how you been over there anyways? im headin out the door again next month back to iraq 4th times a charm.

firemech21

iTrader: (9)

If i knew how to work on vehicles???? Dont you just play around with NORMAL vehicles and some formula. If your feeling froggy buddy tinker with a firetruck and maybe a TRANS AM. LOL. I hope you have fun in Iraq, i would definately take your spot if I could. Im trying to get the hell outta Lackland now.

Undertow74

iTrader: (45)

Oh wow, sorry for taking this thread off topic OP. but yea you forget im SP, and yes i do work on firetrucks also, just finished rebuilding a t-3000 top end that someone fucked up and did not adjust valve clearance right on and bent the valves and fucked the cam pretty good. and yes your trans am does have more weight in a plastic body kit on it than my formula, so who stands corrected. haha so i take it your LOVING being a MTI if your trying to get outta lackland

But OP, it is crazy how many shitty people they keep in on waivers and Fat profiles and such, but then kick the good ones out on medical that dont want to leave.....

firemech21

iTrader: (9)

SP mechanics, if I remember correctly the AF did away with them. An just made all the main shop guys grease monkies of the same sorts. That sucks about the T-3000, what engine was it? Yes my T/A does have more parts to make it look better as it passes you... LOL. On a serious note is your car driving? last time i talked to you it was still on jackstands. Mine is getting the motor pulled and a full rebuild begining June 1. But the ole girl should run good after all the parts im putting into it. Yeah i want out of of the MTI corp, lackland is ok. But this job isnt the greatest.