Returning Vets and Purchases

[alsaqr]

This is why you answer "NO" to absolutely every question they ask you at on all of the surveys and evaluations. You never know how screwed the rest of your entire life can get from even one "YES" answer.

My godson is a Special Forces soldier on his 7th combat tour since 911. When he visited here prior to leaving for Afghanistan he would not hog hunt with me using a gun. The man was afraid he would return fire if i shot a hog. He did get a hog with my crossbow.

There's no one active duty troops with depression, PTSD and/or TBI can turn without getting shafted.

 

[1 old 0311-1]

My godson is a Special Forces soldier on his 7th combat tour since 911. When he visited here prior to leaving for Afghanistan he would not hog hunt with me using a gun. The man was afraid he would return fire if i shot a hog. He did get a hog with my crossbow.

There's no one active duty troops with depression, PTSD and/or TBI can turn without getting shafted.


Amen to that. I go to the VA, 100% disabled with back injury, and there are a LOT of guys I talk with there that are afraid to seek PTSD help for fear it MAY restrict their gun purchases.

 

[Ehtereon11B]

The best part is when they say "seeking help will not hurt your career." I always laugh quiet a bit. It was a humbling experience when my unit went through de-mob and our 1SG dropped a phone book on the ground (intentionally) to see who would jump. Everyone did.

 

[knifestuff]

VA can make a determination that a veteran is incompetent and they do it all the time. That determination has the authority of a Federal adjudication as it is being done under established procedures of a Federal agency--it is a functionally the same as a board process. Further, VA is required to report same to the NICS if they do find a veteran to be incompetent.
if VA does propose to make such an adjudication, they are required to give the veteran notice of their intent and he can seek a hearing to rebut/refute such a proposal.
I know a little about this as I have succesfully represented several veterans in opposing a VA incompetency determination.

 

[FMF Doc]

ATF...probably not. Each state has their own detrmination of what disqualifies someone for various reasons of mental illness/incompetance.

PTSD, TBI, meds...etc...I find it shameful that honorable vets in any condition are prohibited from exercising the rights they defended with their lives. Now it seems that being a vet is often more of a liability than anything else. Sorry for the minor hijack and soapbox.

 

[Jim K]

Having read both the law and the BATFE instructions on Form 4473, I don't see how he would fit into a prohibited category. The 4473 section is too long for me to type, so I am making it an attachment.

Jim

 

[knifestuff]

The exception language is pretty clear--VA can make an adjudication that a vet is mentally incompetent, and if that adjudication is not overturned or the vet hasn't completed treatment or satisfactorily resolved his mental issue (to the VA's satisfaction), the vet is in a prohibited category. Yup, its a scary world; that's why I enjoy representing vets in challenging these determinations.

 

[xfyrfiter]

i've never been "in" or in combat , but I jump at unexpected loud noises too. Does this mean I have PTSD? Reference #29

 

[Shadow 7D]

i've never been "in" or in combat , but I jump at unexpected loud noises too. Does this mean I have PTSD? Reference #29

Um, buddy, we can tell that
now, did you orientate, while drawing and attempting to identify targets
have you ever had the sudden urge to put a car off the road that suddenly pops into you awareness and is closing/crowding you for fear it may suddenly go Kaboom....

there is MUCH more to it, and they tell you 'it's OK'
but then you get shafted, like the guy in Maryland that called the late night 'if you need help, the VA cares...' number, except the fine print is that this 'help hotline' is actually the VA suicide prevention hot line...

there were a few threads, see the guy wasn't suicidal, and wasn't helped by the guy concerned about him how suicidal he might be, and was rather pissed actually that this guy thought he might be suicidal...

well this disgruntled vet was pulled out of his house by the local LE, seems telling the 'help line' operator to do naughty and or mean things to himself can be taken as being a danger to yourself or others.....

and it's crap like this, and that in the military that there is NO privacy that establishes a US/them mentality, which is reinforced.

 

[Ehtereon11B]

i've never been "in" or in combat , but I jump at unexpected loud noises too. Does this mean I have PTSD? Reference #29

Nope. Its not just jumping because a car backfired and you got rattled. Its shouting up to the gunner of your truck(who isn't there) to raise is crew served over the direction of the noise in traffic. Its looking for POI and POO when you hear IDF. And if you don't know what those are it isn't PTSD. Its going underneath a table when the phone rings because it sounds like the incoming siren. Its waking up screaming from a nightmare in the middle of the night because you remember that time you rode on the back of a bouncy truck holding the back of your friend's skull on after getting shot. That is PTSD.

Back to topic though. The VA and all those other "help groups" have an agenda, and depending on which one depends on which it is. The best help I get from my PTSD is not in any hospital, VFW, or clinic. Its talking to other vets. I was in a class when I got back from overseas that was open to only veterans, even the teacher was. We wrote about how experiences, more therapy than a grade. That helped more than any jingle phone number on some card from de-mobilization

 

[Tim the student]

PTSD isn't limited to war veterans. Sometimes people forget that, and could use a gentle reminder. Not intended for any specific person here, just commenting.

 

[Shadow 7D]

amen brother

 

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Orientate?

 

[bikerdoc]

The best help I get from my PTSD is not in any hospital, VFW, or clinic. Its talking to other vets.

Worked for me after Viet Nam. Not saying the dark moods or the nightmares go away but they are less frequent.

 

[Ehtereon11B]

PTSD isn't limited to war veterans. Sometimes people forget that, and could use a gentle reminder. Not intended for any specific person here, just commenting.

True. I often times forget that myself. PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Not Post Traumatic War Disorder. I have seen people try to claim they have PTSD from getting in fender benders so they can get out of work. So I tend to get a little defensive sometimes.

 

[Ehtereon11B]

Saw this article on FOX and immediately thought of this thread.

"I love our veterans, I vote for them all the time. They defend us," Schumer said. "If you are a veteran or not and you have been judged to be mentally infirm, you should not have a gun."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/12/03/veterans-gun-rights-sticking-point-in-defense-bill/