JAMES RAYMOND, DISABLED VETERAN: “ I thought it was a joke and then I was shocked.”
Honorably discharged vet ordered back to Iraq despite disability
Derek Gee/Buffalo News James Raymond, now a student at the University at Buffalo, was honorably discharged from the Army in 2004 and given a 10 percent disability by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
James Raymond lost the hearing in his left ear while fighting in Afghanistan. The former U.S. Army specialist later suffered a knee injury that required him to be flown back home for surgery.
In September 2004, he was given an honorable discharge and the Department of Veterans Affairs determined that he was 10 percent disabled, enabling him to receive $120 a month for the rest of his life.
So it was much to his surprise Thursday when Raymond — now a University at Buffalo student — got a call from his stepfather that he was being deployed again — to Iraq.
“I thought it was a joke, and then I was shocked,” said Raymond, 26, who is from Irondequoit, a suburb of Rochester.
Raymond figured it was all just a big misunderstanding. He thought he would be able to call the Army’s human resources department, explain that he is a disabled vet and that they would cancel his redeployment.
That was not the case. Raymond is expected to report for training May 18 at Fort Benning, Ga., where he would undergo a medical and mental evaluation. Five weeks later, if he is determined to be fit to return to duty, he will be deployed to Fort Dix, N.J., where he would join up with a Reserve unit there. In September, the unit is expected to be sent to Iraq.
“Why am I, as a disabled vet, to be called up?” he questioned. “Why isn’t there a process around this to get me out of having to go to Fort Benning and drop my life?”
When Raymond was discharged, he was told his name would be included on a list of what’s called the Individual Readiness Reserve.
He said it was explained to him that “your name goes into a big computer in St. Louis [where the Army’s Human Resources Command is based], and unless World War III breaks out, your name is never going to be called.”
Raymond said that left him with the impression that he didn’t have to worry about being redeployed.
He enrolled in UB, using college funding he earned during the three years he served with the Army.
He began pursuing a degree in communications. Like many other UB students, he rented a house with some friends in University Heights. He was named Homecoming King this school year. He was expecting to live a normal student’s life until he graduated in December.
Now, he is looking at the very real possibility that he will be in Iraq instead.
With the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq dragging on, the Army has been calling up soldiers in the IRR pool.
Since 2001, 12,226 IRR mobilization orders, both voluntary and involuntary, have been issued. Currently, there are 6,578 IRR soldiers on active duty, Army officials said.
Maj. Maria Quon, a spokeswoman for the Human Resources Command, explained that all soldiers in the Army “incur an eight-year statutory Military Service Obligation.” Most soldiers fulfill part of those eight years in active duty and then serve the rest as part of the reserves. The IRR is considered a Reserve unit, but its members are not required to report on weekends or for special training. However, they are expected to be ready to be deployed if necessary.
She said IRR soldiers can be “involuntarily mobilized in time of national crisis, as we have seen today in support of the Global War on Terror.”
Quon added that the orders can be challenged for reasons of extreme hardship or physical disability through the Army Human Resources Command.
But Raymond said he has learned the process involves filling out a complicated 18-page form requiring signatures from doctors and officials that must be completed by April 23. He said he was also told that almost no one is granted an exemption.
Quon said that it is also up to the soldier to let Human Resources Command know that he or she has been given a disability rating by the VA.
Raymond questioned that. He can’t understand how the government can send him checks for being disabled one day and then ask him to fight in a war the next.
David Autrey, spokesman for Disabled Veterans of America, said he has heard many reports of disabled vets being called back to duty.
“It all depends on if they were disabled enough to be considered undeployable,” he said.
Being 10 percent disabled many not necessarily exempt a vet from being redeployed, Autrey said.
But, he said, it’s also not unheard of for vets to be low-balled in their disability rating.
Raymond worries about how his knee will hold up, as well as coping with his hearing in a war zone. He also knows he is not as physically fit as he was when he left the Army. And he has gained 50 pounds and hasn’t been able to quit smoking, a habit he picked up in the military.
In addition, he is uncomfortable with the idea of being forced to join a unit with which he has no history.
“When I was in the military, I was active duty,” he said. “I served with men that I lived with, that I trained with on a regular basis. I knew who was going right and who was going left. . . . Now the Army expects me to go down there and be activated to a Reserve unit with guys that train on weekends, that aren’t as trained as active-duty [soldiers]. And they’re in New Jersey. I’m not a New Jersey guy. I’m from New York.”
Raymond has reached out for help from local politicians, including Reps. James Walsh, R-Syracuse; Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport; and Brian Higgins D-Buffalo, and has taken his story to local media in the hopes that he will be able to avoid being redeployed.
He also wants to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
“I want families who have a son or daughter who got out to know their son or daughter might be redeployed,“ he said.
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It would seem that once someone joins the military the Bushies consider them property to do with as they please.
After serving their tour and being honorably discharged, the government repudiates it's agreements, changes the rules and steals more of their life.
There is no honor amongst thieves.
The Bushies should live up to the contracts they signed with the soldiers instead of ripping them off.
But cynically they think the soldiers volunteered so f--- them.
I wouldn't be surprised if they lowered the enlistment age to 16 so that they could con and send children(yes in this country we call 16 yr olds children when it suits us) to fight their war(s)
Honorably discharged vet ordered back to Iraq despite disability
James Raymond lost the hearing in his left ear while fighting in Afghanistan. The former U.S. Army specialist later suffered a knee injury that required him to be flown back home for surgery.
In September 2004, he was given an honorable discharge and the Department of Veterans Affairs determined that he was 10 percent disabled, enabling him to receive $120 a month for the rest of his life.
So it was much to his surprise Thursday when Raymond — now a University at Buffalo student — got a call from his stepfather that he was being deployed again — to Iraq.
“I thought it was a joke, and then I was shocked,” said Raymond, 26, who is from Irondequoit, a suburb of Rochester.
Raymond figured it was all just a big misunderstanding. He thought he would be able to call the Army’s human resources department, explain that he is a disabled vet and that they would cancel his redeployment.
That was not the case. Raymond is expected to report for training May 18 at Fort Benning, Ga., where he would undergo a medical and mental evaluation. Five weeks later, if he is determined to be fit to return to duty, he will be deployed to Fort Dix, N.J., where he would join up with a Reserve unit there. In September, the unit is expected to be sent to Iraq.
“Why am I, as a disabled vet, to be called up?” he questioned. “Why isn’t there a process around this to get me out of having to go to Fort Benning and drop my life?”
When Raymond was discharged, he was told his name would be included on a list of what’s called the Individual Readiness Reserve.
He said it was explained to him that “your name goes into a big computer in St. Louis [where the Army’s Human Resources Command is based], and unless World War III breaks out, your name is never going to be called.”
Raymond said that left him with the impression that he didn’t have to worry about being redeployed.
He enrolled in UB, using college funding he earned during the three years he served with the Army.
He began pursuing a degree in communications. Like many other UB students, he rented a house with some friends in University Heights. He was named Homecoming King this school year. He was expecting to live a normal student’s life until he graduated in December.
Now, he is looking at the very real possibility that he will be in Iraq instead.
With the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq dragging on, the Army has been calling up soldiers in the IRR pool.
Since 2001, 12,226 IRR mobilization orders, both voluntary and involuntary, have been issued. Currently, there are 6,578 IRR soldiers on active duty, Army officials said.
Maj. Maria Quon, a spokeswoman for the Human Resources Command, explained that all soldiers in the Army “incur an eight-year statutory Military Service Obligation.” Most soldiers fulfill part of those eight years in active duty and then serve the rest as part of the reserves. The IRR is considered a Reserve unit, but its members are not required to report on weekends or for special training. However, they are expected to be ready to be deployed if necessary.
She said IRR soldiers can be “involuntarily mobilized in time of national crisis, as we have seen today in support of the Global War on Terror.”
Quon added that the orders can be challenged for reasons of extreme hardship or physical disability through the Army Human Resources Command.
But Raymond said he has learned the process involves filling out a complicated 18-page form requiring signatures from doctors and officials that must be completed by April 23. He said he was also told that almost no one is granted an exemption.
Quon said that it is also up to the soldier to let Human Resources Command know that he or she has been given a disability rating by the VA.
Raymond questioned that. He can’t understand how the government can send him checks for being disabled one day and then ask him to fight in a war the next.
David Autrey, spokesman for Disabled Veterans of America, said he has heard many reports of disabled vets being called back to duty.
“It all depends on if they were disabled enough to be considered undeployable,” he said.
Being 10 percent disabled many not necessarily exempt a vet from being redeployed, Autrey said.
But, he said, it’s also not unheard of for vets to be low-balled in their disability rating.
Raymond worries about how his knee will hold up, as well as coping with his hearing in a war zone. He also knows he is not as physically fit as he was when he left the Army. And he has gained 50 pounds and hasn’t been able to quit smoking, a habit he picked up in the military.
In addition, he is uncomfortable with the idea of being forced to join a unit with which he has no history.
“When I was in the military, I was active duty,” he said. “I served with men that I lived with, that I trained with on a regular basis. I knew who was going right and who was going left. . . . Now the Army expects me to go down there and be activated to a Reserve unit with guys that train on weekends, that aren’t as trained as active-duty [soldiers]. And they’re in New Jersey. I’m not a New Jersey guy. I’m from New York.”
Raymond has reached out for help from local politicians, including Reps. James Walsh, R-Syracuse; Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport; and Brian Higgins D-Buffalo, and has taken his story to local media in the hopes that he will be able to avoid being redeployed.
He also wants to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
“I want families who have a son or daughter who got out to know their son or daughter might be redeployed,“ he said.
_______________________________________________
It would seem that once someone joins the military the Bushies consider them property to do with as they please.
After serving their tour and being honorably discharged, the government repudiates it's agreements, changes the rules and steals more of their life.
There is no honor amongst thieves.
The Bushies should live up to the contracts they signed with the soldiers instead of ripping them off.
But cynically they think the soldiers volunteered so f--- them.
I wouldn't be surprised if they lowered the enlistment age to 16 so that they could con and send children(yes in this country we call 16 yr olds children when it suits us) to fight their war(s)
