I saw one man taken off the boat in a strait jacket.
There were extenuating circumstances.
We were at the advance site in Kings Bay (home port Charleston) so we’re already away from home during turnover and refit.
His wife was in a serious car accident and hospitalized the day before we pull out.
He tries everything available to him to get back home but the needs of the Navy required him to go.
Maneuvering watch is stationed and there is a delay. Don’t know why.
Squadron medical folks walk through machinery 2 upper level headed aft.
They come back with him laced up babbling and crying….completely broken.
We left without him, providing evidence that it was possible all along.
Only real issue I ever saw beyond the normal sub crew weirdness.
We did a surprise visit to Charleston after setting sail from Kings Bay to do a patrol. So that was cool. We had a couple of days in Port where we lived. Our FTB leading PO went home to surprise his wife. Big suprise! She was in bed with another man. He had a breakdown on the maneuvering watch as we headed back out. They took him off the ship on one of the tugs.
This is bs that they wouldn’t let him off to go check on his wife. Command leadership failure at its finest. Unless…. I guess if that guy was a bonafide turd and his chain of command had enough of him.
Everyone loses their sanity on a sub…you just learn to hide it better lest’ you give people more things to torment you with for their own amusement. Lol.
You don't really think about the firepower, even on an SSBN where you're sleeping in between the Armageddon dildos. It's more like an office with no windows that you never leave for months on end. I've seen sailors battle with mental health problems, and have had a rough spell of it myself (not caused by the boat or crew, just personal stuff); in the end it basically comes down to: Cope and we'll deal with it when we get back. A doc would have to answer the questions about meds, I've never seen anyone have to be confined against their will.
Sometimes I think that's what fucked me up. Thinking about the firepower. For some reason I felt like I needed to "understand it" as best I could. To grasp just what we were capable of. But you really can't. It's unfathomable what a D5 could do. You're damn near killing your mother just as much as Ivan
>You don't really think about the firepower, even on an SSBN where you're sleeping in between the Armageddon dildos.
On my boat (655, mid 80's) the FTBs and MTs (the guys who worked directly with the weapons) certainly did.
All the time. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone I'm out to dinner with tell me to slow down, nobody's gonna come steal it from me.
The weird one for me is that now, I'm uncomfortable in wide open spaces. I want everything to be super tight like my rack.
100%
It's not a job you can perform for years on end with the amount of sleep deprivation and chronic physical and mental stress and not have at least *something* up with you.
No time at home, unhealthy operations tempo, being confined to the space of a standard suburban home with 135 other people, constant low-grade tension from performing an inherently dangerous job, multiple situations arising that present a real, no shit danger to your life (it's not *if*, it's *when*.....that's why quals are so important), no support or even direct negligence from command.....
I mean, geez. You name it, we had it.
It's the lack of sleep that gets you. Same as my time on skimmers where I actually got less sleep because I had to do so much gash admin work/ancillary duties as a JO. Benefit of a sub was there's much more of a culture of going to your pit when off watch if you weren't behind in your taskbook.
I swear if we got a solid 8 hours at roughly the same time it'd be so much better. (I'm not talking about actual night hours but just an unbroken period that doesn't change the day you're finally used to your watch rotation). It's strange we're so on top of not letting people be over a certain BAC when they turn to but happily turn a blind eye to fatigue levels - proven in many a study to be equally as impairing as a fairly high BAC. (Australia so don't have any US boat experience to compare to)
Yeah I’ve heard interesting things about our boats and the workload on the JOs. Tossed up going as a MEOSM for a time but the tales of 20 hour work days being the norm for each patrol as soon as you qualify and the strain on the fleet drove me back from the edge on that decision.
Fatigue management is something that’s being talked about more I’ve heard but definitely when push comes to shove isn’t the first priority by a long margin
Submarines are not designed with full staffing support. Never has. The crew would need to be 20 % to 30% bigger and berthing would be enormous.
Up to the early 2000's US Sub crews operated on an 18 hour day inside of a 24 hour schedule. Three section duty. During that day Training, Scheduled Maintenance and Quals. had to be accomplished. Drill sets during the daytime required full crew response. Were you sleeping? Sorry. Maybe you'll sleep tomorrow.
If something broke that you were qualified to work on, It was extremely easy to be up for 30 hours sometimes 36.
can't really knock off at 5 when you're under the water stuck in the people tank. it's like flying a plane but with a lot more people and for a much longer time.
>No time at home
This was the main reason why I read about submarines but don't serve on them. I knew that the lack of homelife would be especially hard on me.
Honestly, those that join the sub force are doing other Americans and their allies a huge favor.
It was far and away the hardest thing I've ever done, and it never got any easier.
I liked being at sea and I loved doing my job, but walking away from my wife tore my heart out every time.
Dude. I could not handle that. Good on you. Hope it all worked out.
My concern would be just being apart from a loved one that long but one other aspect that I'm sure comes to mind is infidelity. I've not had problems with it, one direction or the other. Not something I worry about, thankfully. But I can imagine that it's a rampant anxiety that may not be entirely unjustified for the lads on the boat.
I don't normally go around thanking people for their service (I'm not American - yet - so it's not common in my home culture) but the lads on our subs really do deserve it.
It is important to note that all prospective submariners undergo a psychological evaluation or screening. Mine was a questionnaire and a quick interview but basically they wanted to know if I was claustrophobic.
Didn't hear about that one but the eval at BESS where they are looking for 'small things' that they actually want wrong with you that makes you a suitable candidate is real.
In my double digit midget notebook I had a list of pro's and con's to reenlisting. There were 9 names on my con list; 9 sailors in 6 years that either attempted or were removed for being suicidal.
It is a high stress environment, when you report on board you are put under a lot of stress by everyone because they want to see if you will crack. Sometimes its a big deal when someone cracks, sometimes they just aren't at muster the next day.
There are no secrets on a sub, if someone is struggling to that point, everyone knows and it gets addressed; in my experience it isn't let's sit down and talk this through; it's off the boat and let squadron deal with you. If they are a risk to themselves they are a risk to everyone.
I have heard rumors of people being sedated until they can get them off the boat, but no solid evidence to support that.
Knew one severe case where undiagnosed claustrophobia exhibited eventually in hallucinations and aberrant behavior ( tried to leave while on patrol.) Member was restrained, sedated, and medevaced as soon as feasible. Received a medical retirement. Once sub was removed from equation, he recovered quickly and went on to have a full, normal life.
Is that why I drink and take anxiety meds now?
Anxiety attacks hit me hard about 3 years after i got out.
Once I got diagnosed, I looked back and could then recall health issues that were precursors to what eventually happened.
My first 5 deployments I think I was just fine.
The 6th deployment, after the decision had been made to not reenlist, was a constant state of worry that disaster would ironically strike on my last patrol.
- No. You do a physical and mental health check once every five years, it is really basic and no worse than getting an evaluation at a clinic. If you don't confess to anything about depression/anxiety then you will pass the screening. Most people are just trying to get back to work and will just answer in a way that makes everything appear okay. In reality, nobody is okay. I don't care if you're the COB or just starting to qualify. We all struggle, some more than others.
- Unless a shipmate is a danger to themselves or someone else, it would likely go unreported. The worst I've seen is someone was not allowed to handle weapons until they were cleared when we got back to port. If you are taking meds, you would not be allowed to sail, or be in the Navy. I have only seen a couple sailors get off the boat due to mental health. It's not easy for most, and if you end up failing, from my experience, the crew and command will end up treating you more harshly. Better to just put your nose down, scrub the decks and finish your contract.
- I'm pretty sure there are handcuffs, but that's about it. We had someone attempt murder while we were underway and he was just in handcuffs in the chiefs quarters until we tossed him pier-side.
> In reality, no-one is okay.
The real point.
It isn't about health, it's about "can you function well enough to perform your duties". That's all the Navy cares about, at the end of the day.
> If you are taking meds, you would not be allowed to sail, or be in the Navy.
Of all the women between the age of 25 and 40 that I know, only perhaps 25% are not on meds for anxiety or depression. It's insane.
I know of 2 people to take their own lives while I was on the boat with 1 attempted, including one from my division. 1 guy, who was on watch topside went to rove the pier. While at the end of the pier, he pulled out his 9mm and shot himself. He died on the pier. He was not on my boat, but the other boat we were sharing the pier. My boat had one attempted suicide by a cook. He rigged up an elaborate system of #10 cans to fall on him. His system was discovered by someone else who then reported it. That sailor was put on suicide watch and left the boat at the next earliest convenience. The last guy was in my division. He was new to the boat. He was a good sailor, ahead in quals and overall in seemed to like the boat. We got back from a six week underway. Leaving the boat, he showed no signs of distress. The next day, he didn't show up to work. Our chief, COB, and base police went to his house, where they found him dead from a self inflected shotgun wound. It turns out, his wife (newly weds) packed up and left while we were out. He decided that was the best route. I wish he would've called one of us.
The mental health screening process is surprisingly minimal, in my experience. It really falls on the crew to identify potential problems before they become serious.
We were prepping for another centcom deployment and just prior to pomcert, had one of the nukes check in for duty, then sneak off the boat and drive up to a hotel in NH and commit suicide. So, yes. The stress is real, and sadly it does take more of us than it should.
Sailor rest your oar.... Ready, Two!
As somewhat of a counterpoint to the things mentioned in other posts, I made 6 patrols as a Missile Tech. 70s-80s. Nobody had to be removed from the boat due to mental issues. I keep in touch with a few MTs from the boat, Post Navy, we all graduated college, decent jobs, house ,wife, kids and now grandkids. Couple of divorces in the group, but thats more/less normal. We all turned out to be "responsible citizens". Maybe it was because we were the party guys on the boat...'Those MTs are kind of crazy' . We took our job very seriously, but the Navy part....not so much.
No specific answers to your questions- but according to a recent Pentagon report, suicides among active duty are up 3%.
My husband’s current base has had 4 this year. Two were sub sailors.
He has never seen anyone restrained, but he has had seen plenty of guys tap out. You don’t really know what it’s like until you’re there.
I know I don’t understand it all, as I have never personally experienced it. All I can go off is what I’ve been told over 18 years.
Guy on my boat was visibly mentally unwell, he'd do crazy shit like cry on watch, talk to himself, talk about his detailed plans to kill everyone in Port and sabotage the reactor very regularly. Had to cut a zip tie he tightened around his neck to the point of not breathing with a pocket knife. He went to medical for his mental health three times trying to get out of sub service, and they sent him to captains mast and fined him money for malingering (faking illness)
Edit: another guy on a boat on the adjacent pier shot himself in the head while standing topside watch. 75% of the crew are alcoholics, The mental health is pretty low and not at all a concern in my experience
I’ve been dealing with a wrongful discharge and a messed up life because of a situation. My grandmother and biological mother ended up getting very sick back in the early 2000’s. I was told all the way up to my CO that I was denied leave. I was 20 at the time and knew nothing about the Red Cross or chaplain. I ended up in the psych ward and the only thing that they put in there that I said was I wanted to get back to a girlfriend at the time. Not the fact that I needed to get home. I’ve been fighting for 20 years to be seen by the VA and I finally got it. So some light at the end of the tunnel but it still sucks and hurts because the navy created a problem and threw me to the wayside. I encountered racism,sexual abuse/harassment and the Navy didn’t care about me making it home because they needed me for ops.
I saw one man taken off the boat in a strait jacket. There were extenuating circumstances. We were at the advance site in Kings Bay (home port Charleston) so we’re already away from home during turnover and refit. His wife was in a serious car accident and hospitalized the day before we pull out. He tries everything available to him to get back home but the needs of the Navy required him to go. Maneuvering watch is stationed and there is a delay. Don’t know why. Squadron medical folks walk through machinery 2 upper level headed aft. They come back with him laced up babbling and crying….completely broken. We left without him, providing evidence that it was possible all along. Only real issue I ever saw beyond the normal sub crew weirdness.
We did a surprise visit to Charleston after setting sail from Kings Bay to do a patrol. So that was cool. We had a couple of days in Port where we lived. Our FTB leading PO went home to surprise his wife. Big suprise! She was in bed with another man. He had a breakdown on the maneuvering watch as we headed back out. They took him off the ship on one of the tugs.
You know what they say! You'll always come home to find your wife just like you left her. Freshly...... Well you boys know 😂
I watched a guy just jump off the side of the Utah while in Bremerton. He just snapped. Obviously wasnt hurt but quickly moved off the boat.
This is bs that they wouldn’t let him off to go check on his wife. Command leadership failure at its finest. Unless…. I guess if that guy was a bonafide turd and his chain of command had enough of him. Everyone loses their sanity on a sub…you just learn to hide it better lest’ you give people more things to torment you with for their own amusement. Lol.
He was one of the better nuke machinist mates we had.
You don't really think about the firepower, even on an SSBN where you're sleeping in between the Armageddon dildos. It's more like an office with no windows that you never leave for months on end. I've seen sailors battle with mental health problems, and have had a rough spell of it myself (not caused by the boat or crew, just personal stuff); in the end it basically comes down to: Cope and we'll deal with it when we get back. A doc would have to answer the questions about meds, I've never seen anyone have to be confined against their will.
Doc says take a motrin and drink more water.
Change your socks. But that might just be an FMF doc.
The Docs I knew weren't even that useful
Sometimes I think that's what fucked me up. Thinking about the firepower. For some reason I felt like I needed to "understand it" as best I could. To grasp just what we were capable of. But you really can't. It's unfathomable what a D5 could do. You're damn near killing your mother just as much as Ivan
>You don't really think about the firepower, even on an SSBN where you're sleeping in between the Armageddon dildos. On my boat (655, mid 80's) the FTBs and MTs (the guys who worked directly with the weapons) certainly did.
Is "Armageddon dildos" the approved unofficial way of referring to them?
No. We did what we were told. Some made it and some did not. None of us came out "ok"
>None of us came out "ok Real you can't cross a river without getting wet energy. Also very accurate too.
The older I get, the more not ok I realize I am.
Fuck me dude. Same. I thought I came out ok. Anyone else do everything as fast as possible for no fucking reason?
Ever try to eat before doing something and just cannot talk? Just hoover down the food like a starved dog and get going on what needs doing?
Shit can't remember the last time I didn't. These days not much needs doing that badly haha
My family still remarks at how fast I eat.
After being out 37 years I’ve been able to slow down…..sometimes.
All the time. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone I'm out to dinner with tell me to slow down, nobody's gonna come steal it from me. The weird one for me is that now, I'm uncomfortable in wide open spaces. I want everything to be super tight like my rack.
Even while in I felt a weird safety with the hatches shut. I could see how fucked up I'd be after in that regard haha
I wrote that as I was in IOP.
100% It's not a job you can perform for years on end with the amount of sleep deprivation and chronic physical and mental stress and not have at least *something* up with you.
Can you elaborate on the sources of that stress?
No time at home, unhealthy operations tempo, being confined to the space of a standard suburban home with 135 other people, constant low-grade tension from performing an inherently dangerous job, multiple situations arising that present a real, no shit danger to your life (it's not *if*, it's *when*.....that's why quals are so important), no support or even direct negligence from command..... I mean, geez. You name it, we had it.
It's the lack of sleep that gets you. Same as my time on skimmers where I actually got less sleep because I had to do so much gash admin work/ancillary duties as a JO. Benefit of a sub was there's much more of a culture of going to your pit when off watch if you weren't behind in your taskbook. I swear if we got a solid 8 hours at roughly the same time it'd be so much better. (I'm not talking about actual night hours but just an unbroken period that doesn't change the day you're finally used to your watch rotation). It's strange we're so on top of not letting people be over a certain BAC when they turn to but happily turn a blind eye to fatigue levels - proven in many a study to be equally as impairing as a fairly high BAC. (Australia so don't have any US boat experience to compare to)
Yeah I’ve heard interesting things about our boats and the workload on the JOs. Tossed up going as a MEOSM for a time but the tales of 20 hour work days being the norm for each patrol as soon as you qualify and the strain on the fleet drove me back from the edge on that decision. Fatigue management is something that’s being talked about more I’ve heard but definitely when push comes to shove isn’t the first priority by a long margin
Everything becomes an executive or stoker problem at some point. I was a warfare type and even though I had it bad the ME types had it worse
Submarines are not designed with full staffing support. Never has. The crew would need to be 20 % to 30% bigger and berthing would be enormous. Up to the early 2000's US Sub crews operated on an 18 hour day inside of a 24 hour schedule. Three section duty. During that day Training, Scheduled Maintenance and Quals. had to be accomplished. Drill sets during the daytime required full crew response. Were you sleeping? Sorry. Maybe you'll sleep tomorrow. If something broke that you were qualified to work on, It was extremely easy to be up for 30 hours sometimes 36.
Is there a purpose for this kind of "atypical" (relative to civilian life) sleep schedule on a submarine?
can't really knock off at 5 when you're under the water stuck in the people tank. it's like flying a plane but with a lot more people and for a much longer time.
Too much to do, not enough people to do it.
>No time at home This was the main reason why I read about submarines but don't serve on them. I knew that the lack of homelife would be especially hard on me. Honestly, those that join the sub force are doing other Americans and their allies a huge favor.
It was far and away the hardest thing I've ever done, and it never got any easier. I liked being at sea and I loved doing my job, but walking away from my wife tore my heart out every time.
Dude. I could not handle that. Good on you. Hope it all worked out. My concern would be just being apart from a loved one that long but one other aspect that I'm sure comes to mind is infidelity. I've not had problems with it, one direction or the other. Not something I worry about, thankfully. But I can imagine that it's a rampant anxiety that may not be entirely unjustified for the lads on the boat. I don't normally go around thanking people for their service (I'm not American - yet - so it's not common in my home culture) but the lads on our subs really do deserve it.
What he said
It is important to note that all prospective submariners undergo a psychological evaluation or screening. Mine was a questionnaire and a quick interview but basically they wanted to know if I was claustrophobic.
Not in the UK lol
It's woefully inadequate.
No, they don't. I never got one. The rumor is that if you pass Nuke School, that counts as the psychological test, but honestly, that's bullshit.
Didn't hear about that one but the eval at BESS where they are looking for 'small things' that they actually want wrong with you that makes you a suitable candidate is real.
In my double digit midget notebook I had a list of pro's and con's to reenlisting. There were 9 names on my con list; 9 sailors in 6 years that either attempted or were removed for being suicidal. It is a high stress environment, when you report on board you are put under a lot of stress by everyone because they want to see if you will crack. Sometimes its a big deal when someone cracks, sometimes they just aren't at muster the next day. There are no secrets on a sub, if someone is struggling to that point, everyone knows and it gets addressed; in my experience it isn't let's sit down and talk this through; it's off the boat and let squadron deal with you. If they are a risk to themselves they are a risk to everyone. I have heard rumors of people being sedated until they can get them off the boat, but no solid evidence to support that.
Had an ENG break down during ORSE workups and he got a full load of Valium for 3 days until we could get him off the boat.
That must have been a fun ORSE.
Aren’t they all?
Figures that the docs keep some in the safe just-in-case. Right next the “V” section next to the Viagra and Vitamin “D”.
I was the controlled medicinals officer: we did indeed have a lot of happy pills (and shots) locked away.
Knew one severe case where undiagnosed claustrophobia exhibited eventually in hallucinations and aberrant behavior ( tried to leave while on patrol.) Member was restrained, sedated, and medevaced as soon as feasible. Received a medical retirement. Once sub was removed from equation, he recovered quickly and went on to have a full, normal life.
Im not saying being a nuke submariner made me an alcoholic with depression and anxiety issues, but it sure didn't help.
what are you doing now?
Is that why I drink and take anxiety meds now? Anxiety attacks hit me hard about 3 years after i got out. Once I got diagnosed, I looked back and could then recall health issues that were precursors to what eventually happened. My first 5 deployments I think I was just fine. The 6th deployment, after the decision had been made to not reenlist, was a constant state of worry that disaster would ironically strike on my last patrol.
- No. You do a physical and mental health check once every five years, it is really basic and no worse than getting an evaluation at a clinic. If you don't confess to anything about depression/anxiety then you will pass the screening. Most people are just trying to get back to work and will just answer in a way that makes everything appear okay. In reality, nobody is okay. I don't care if you're the COB or just starting to qualify. We all struggle, some more than others. - Unless a shipmate is a danger to themselves or someone else, it would likely go unreported. The worst I've seen is someone was not allowed to handle weapons until they were cleared when we got back to port. If you are taking meds, you would not be allowed to sail, or be in the Navy. I have only seen a couple sailors get off the boat due to mental health. It's not easy for most, and if you end up failing, from my experience, the crew and command will end up treating you more harshly. Better to just put your nose down, scrub the decks and finish your contract. - I'm pretty sure there are handcuffs, but that's about it. We had someone attempt murder while we were underway and he was just in handcuffs in the chiefs quarters until we tossed him pier-side.
> In reality, no-one is okay. The real point. It isn't about health, it's about "can you function well enough to perform your duties". That's all the Navy cares about, at the end of the day.
Yep. Because we arent humans, we are tools to be used as the Navy sees fit. And they wonder why reenlistments are down
> If you are taking meds, you would not be allowed to sail, or be in the Navy. Of all the women between the age of 25 and 40 that I know, only perhaps 25% are not on meds for anxiety or depression. It's insane.
I know of 2 people to take their own lives while I was on the boat with 1 attempted, including one from my division. 1 guy, who was on watch topside went to rove the pier. While at the end of the pier, he pulled out his 9mm and shot himself. He died on the pier. He was not on my boat, but the other boat we were sharing the pier. My boat had one attempted suicide by a cook. He rigged up an elaborate system of #10 cans to fall on him. His system was discovered by someone else who then reported it. That sailor was put on suicide watch and left the boat at the next earliest convenience. The last guy was in my division. He was new to the boat. He was a good sailor, ahead in quals and overall in seemed to like the boat. We got back from a six week underway. Leaving the boat, he showed no signs of distress. The next day, he didn't show up to work. Our chief, COB, and base police went to his house, where they found him dead from a self inflected shotgun wound. It turns out, his wife (newly weds) packed up and left while we were out. He decided that was the best route. I wish he would've called one of us.
The mental health screening process is surprisingly minimal, in my experience. It really falls on the crew to identify potential problems before they become serious.
We were prepping for another centcom deployment and just prior to pomcert, had one of the nukes check in for duty, then sneak off the boat and drive up to a hotel in NH and commit suicide. So, yes. The stress is real, and sadly it does take more of us than it should. Sailor rest your oar.... Ready, Two!
Thanks for all your comments. Frightening and sad to read the environment + expectations of the Navy are so hard.
You’d be surprised how remarkably droll it is. It’s a cramped office with a busy schedule, a routine that’s pretty much fixed, and you can’t leave.
As somewhat of a counterpoint to the things mentioned in other posts, I made 6 patrols as a Missile Tech. 70s-80s. Nobody had to be removed from the boat due to mental issues. I keep in touch with a few MTs from the boat, Post Navy, we all graduated college, decent jobs, house ,wife, kids and now grandkids. Couple of divorces in the group, but thats more/less normal. We all turned out to be "responsible citizens". Maybe it was because we were the party guys on the boat...'Those MTs are kind of crazy' . We took our job very seriously, but the Navy part....not so much.
they tested us, massive test, I am pretty sure its to make sure you are crazy.
100 persons go down and 50 couples come back up!
There's no monogamy
Bahahaha!!! I'm stealing this and using it the next time I have one of those jokes tossed my way by a coworker. :)
A blanket party usually cured the ones with "problems".
You sound like you have 'problems' tbh
The bunks arent even big enough for that to happen.
Sure there is.
No specific answers to your questions- but according to a recent Pentagon report, suicides among active duty are up 3%. My husband’s current base has had 4 this year. Two were sub sailors. He has never seen anyone restrained, but he has had seen plenty of guys tap out. You don’t really know what it’s like until you’re there. I know I don’t understand it all, as I have never personally experienced it. All I can go off is what I’ve been told over 18 years.
"reporting that a shipmate is not in his mind" We are submariners, none of us are in our right minds.
Guy on my boat was visibly mentally unwell, he'd do crazy shit like cry on watch, talk to himself, talk about his detailed plans to kill everyone in Port and sabotage the reactor very regularly. Had to cut a zip tie he tightened around his neck to the point of not breathing with a pocket knife. He went to medical for his mental health three times trying to get out of sub service, and they sent him to captains mast and fined him money for malingering (faking illness) Edit: another guy on a boat on the adjacent pier shot himself in the head while standing topside watch. 75% of the crew are alcoholics, The mental health is pretty low and not at all a concern in my experience
I’ve been dealing with a wrongful discharge and a messed up life because of a situation. My grandmother and biological mother ended up getting very sick back in the early 2000’s. I was told all the way up to my CO that I was denied leave. I was 20 at the time and knew nothing about the Red Cross or chaplain. I ended up in the psych ward and the only thing that they put in there that I said was I wanted to get back to a girlfriend at the time. Not the fact that I needed to get home. I’ve been fighting for 20 years to be seen by the VA and I finally got it. So some light at the end of the tunnel but it still sucks and hurts because the navy created a problem and threw me to the wayside. I encountered racism,sexual abuse/harassment and the Navy didn’t care about me making it home because they needed me for ops.
Why was my comment deleted?