Reminder: I am no kind of activist. I do not encourage nor support efforts to force the system to change. Such efforts do not result in substantive change in the attitudes of those who run the system. They still hate us, and so any time they are forced by political leverage to make adjustments, they carefully structure the changes to ensure that no real beneficial difference can slip through.
I’ve seen glimpses of the system here and there. We’ve got decent people trying to serve disabled military veterans at the lower echelons, but the system above them restricts their hands. They are not allowed to do what they already know is in our best interests. It’s the folks higher up who still hate us and want us to just go away and die. That’s how bureaucracy works.
So, I’m not working from the inside. If I were to try, the bureaucratic hive-mind would strive with all it’s power to force me to change my moral character, of spit me out of the system. That’s a part of why I decided to leave the military in the first place. Of course, the ostensible reason was physical disability. The system already saw the extent of my injuries, and still offered an assignment for which I was physically incapable, as if to mock me.
Yes, this is the reality, and it serves no purpose to be bitter. Rather, I’m warning everyone who doesn’t already know: The promises they make about taking care of you are lies. Not in the sense of blatant nothing-there kind of lying, but a cynical and Orwellian kind of lying. They give the appearance of delivering, but then every step of the way is a nightmare of bureaucratic entanglement, always denying care on the most improbable technicalities.
I can’t count how often I’ve had to call in the big dogs (Senators, ombudsmen, lawsuits, etc.) to force the system to do better for me on some issue. If you are considering serving in the military, don’t be fooled by the promises. Go into it knowing that it’s all lies. Know that they will chew you up and spit you out, and barely manage to mumble a fake “thank you” as they bundle you into a coffin. If you elect to serve, do so only because you must, despite the abusive nature of the system.
