Robert
Racial or Ethnic Identification: Caucasian
Branch of Military: Marine Corps
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Unsure of what to do with his life, Robert joined the Marine Corps and was stationed on the USS John F Kennedy aircraft carrier during the Gulf War. He was part of a small set of Marines on the ship and had difficulties navigating the social dynamics. He experienced unhealthy living conditions due to bad plumbing, poor-quality drinking water, and food prepared with the water that tasted “funky.” He was put in dangerous health-related situations, such as wearing bad protective gear and being exposed to asbestos and chemicals. “The joke used to be like, don’t smoke after you get out of the shower- you could catch on fire.” Robert also voiced concerns over the number of immunizations and pills they were given but knew nothing about.
Soon after returning from the Gulf War, Robert had symptoms of neuropathy and nerve damage, PTSD, vision problems, confusion, and memory issues. He described having difficulties attending school to complete his degree, “…it felt like I would go to the class, it was my first time there. Like so I wound up having to withdraw from that semester. And then I went to the neurologist.” While navigating these symptoms, he discovered a tumor on his pituitary gland cause by a condition where the body makes too much growth hormone. He has not received adequate care for his vision problems: “…my experience trying to navigate the VA…was always very difficult.”
Robert has never been told by a VA or civilian doctor that he has Gulf War Illness. More recently, a VA doctor told him that his health problems might be connected to exposures in the Gulf War. He is still researching and navigating this issue and said there are still a lot of unknowns. He has had the tumor removed from his pituitary gland and has received different treatments for his symptoms. He quit drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes several years ago and has focused on maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Robert has feelings of abandonment and being let down by the military and government. He only went back to the VA after talking to other Veterans who convinced him to seek out VA care. Robert enjoys connecting with other Veterans and participating in activities for Veterans. He hopes that healthcare professionals can learn to “talk more in a language everybody can kind of understand.” He hopes in the future that Veterans can be better supported by the VA and government in terms of providing the benefits owed to them.
Robert shares frustration with certain aspects of the VA.
Robert shares frustration with certain aspects of the VA.
Well first of all, the VA’s got to stop overpromising and underdelivering, right. And I don’t mean that like, they have great ideas, but when they implement them, I mean it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of planning to it, so then, and everybody’s not on the same page. You know like with this stuff to go see the civilian doctors and things like that, like the way they communicate to them is horrible and they don’t, then you wind up being the guy in the middle. Oh, well I’m here, but they didn’t approve this, so you know like well you’re wasting my time, right, you’re not getting the care, or every time you turn around you got to get another authorization from the VA. So your care just gets stretched out longer, and longer, and longer, and longer, which is what’s happening with my eyes. But, so they need to be like on the same point as everybody else, I think the doctors and the direct healthcare professionals are very good at the VA, right? Especially the young guys, because, students or whatever, they're there excited about being doctors, they're looking at the cutting edge stuff, they're very fresh minded about their approaches to stuff, the attendings are older have a ton of experience.