clevebtch's Blog

That is a question I've been pondering for a week, now.  My husband, a 20-year veteran of the USAF (both active and reserve), was diagnosed with cancer and had to begin an aggressive form of chemotherapy recently.  Because he felt it was the right thing, he informed his supervisor and the medical personnel of his base in Youngstown of his condition (otherwise, they were probably going to be none the wiser).  But, because he's an honest individual who felt it necessary to divulge the situation, he now has seen what 20 years of his loyalty, as well as his honesty, has paid off to be.

He had previously submitted his paperwork for retirement which goes into effect in December of this year.  He was told by his doctor that he is permitted to continue on with his monthly weekend duties during his treatment for his last 6 months.  He submitted his medical records to the USAF so that they had everything, including a statement from the doctor indicating that there should be no issue of him continuing to pull duty.  My husband is in a supervisory position with a pretty high enlisted ranking and is not required to do heavy physical work for them.  He basically has a desk job as his days of working on the flight line were pretty much done, and has been for a while.

Last weekend, he reported as required and was set to meet with the base doctors concerning the condition and to go over the records submitted by Ireland Cancer Center.  With no hesitation, the doctor meeting with my husband told him in an official "nice" military way, that they were giving him the boot because they can't use and abuse him in whatever fashion they want.  Why?  Because he wasn't deployable due to his disease?  Probably.  But, they fail to see over the last 20 years all the times he HAD been deployed, including his time spent for the Iraqi war.  Now he's got 6 months to go for retirement and they most likely wouldn't have deployed him, anyhow, since they generally don't with members who are in process for retirement.

Last year, a guy in my husband's shop had cancer and had undergone treatment.  The Air Force permitted him to remain on duty under a P-3 status - allowed to participate, but non-deployable.  After this guy's treatment, the condition was reassessed and when his health was back to 100%, they took him off of profile.  The status at which they put my husband is called P-4 - or no pay, no points.  In other words, my husband will be losing pay toward his hard-earned retirement and other benefits because he is not permitted to participate at all for his last 6 months.

His supervisor has been fighting with them to reinstate my husband, but still has not been successful.  My husband has an excellent record with the military and has never once had a black mark against him.  He served with honor and dedication to our military and even after he was diagnosed with cancer, he was still determined to finish out his final 6 months toward retirement.  Being a chemo patient is hard enough, not just physically, but emotionally.  Quite often, the effects of chemo will tend to lower a person's self esteem.  Because my husband was so determined to fight through and finish his term as a military member, it gave him drive and a goal in that he wouldn't allow this disease to get him down and kept a positive attitude toward his disease high.  An attitude which is very important to the fighting and recovery with cancer.

Now, he feels betrayed by our military as he gave 20 years of his life - always healthy and never a problem - and for what?  So that his retirement for which he worked so hard could be ruined because our military does not care about its members?  We've talked to other military personnel who have either seen first hand, or experienced, situations similar to my husband's and has said that it was always standard practice for the P-3 status of a member with an illness, but who could still physically perform their duty while on treatment.

Is this our government's way of getting out of paying money which was hard-earned and well deserved by someone who has shown true dedication, honor and patriotism?  It really makes me wonder where our government's true dedication lies - to its people who dedicate their lives serving?  Based on this scenario, I don't think that's the case.  They never even gave him a chance to prove he could do it.