Over 50,000 U.S. Army veterans are part of a class action lawsuit involving their discharge characterization. These veterans have PTSD, TBI, service related mental conditions, etc. They argue the possible contribution these conditions may have had on the actions they took that lead to their being discharged.
The Army Discharge Review Board (ADRB) provides a path for Soldiers wanting to rectify an unfair discharge. However, they’ve been accused of frequently denying claims to “upgrade” discharge characterizations related to PTSD.
Many veterans affected by these discharges saw an impact on their veteran benefits. They argue that the ADRB disregarded the Department of Defense’s orders to take PTSD and other conditions into consideration. They’re hoping that this lawsuit would force the ADRB to comply with the DOD’s requirement.
From Military.com:
Although the Army Discharge Review Board promises these veterans a path to correct unjustly harsh discharges, the ADRB frequently denies claims in defiance of recent Department of Defense policies intended to ease this process for veterans with service-connected PTSD and related conditions, according to the plaintiffs.
“This decision means that thousands of service members who have been denied the support of VA resources because of an unfair discharge status may have another chance at relief,” said Kennedy, who served in Iraq and is a founder of the Connecticut chapter of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
“The cost of this continuing refusal to reckon with the reality of mental illness in the military is more than unjustly denied benefits — it is a generation of lost promise and opportunity for countless soldiers suffering the invisible wounds of war as a result of their sacrifice for country,” Kennedy said.
You can read more here.
Comments
246 responses to “Class Action by Veterans with Less Than Honorable Discharge”
IAVA. Nuff said.
However, the story does not answer (or ask) a number of questions, such as:
-Why was the OTH given?
-Was the member given an opportunity for treatment before being discharged?
-Did the members in question active seek help?
-Was the diagnosis of TBI and/or PTSD made by military/VA medicine, or self-diagnosis?
IOW, how many of these would be considered legit gripes versus not? Anecdotally, I’ve known folks who were drinkers, who did receive treatment and/or counseling, but who went back to drinking and as a result of that or actions while drinking received an OTH. Sad, but not really worthy of consideration of an upgrade to discharge.
Same with drug use and misconduct which leads to an OTH or worse.
YMMV.
“IAVA. Nuff said.”
That pretty much sums it up for me.
I am one of the individuals who will benefit from this lawsuit. A shipmate rated me out for smoking spice back in 2011. When I went to my court martial, they tacked on a bunch of other bs: larceny article 121, article 92, DUI and a few other charges.
Issue I have is nobody gave me a counseling after I was rated out by my shipmate. I asked for SHARP by OCS Jurnigan and ENC Cuttler who never gave me a fucking counseling or SHARPE. I was having mental issues due to my brother committing suicide and my fucking command never asked if I needed help so I started smoking spice to ease the pain.
I have a total of 4 years and 11 months of service including brig time. Shouldn’t my time in the service count for fucking something?!?! I earned my goddamn keep!?!? I am now homeless and find myself giving favors for a roof over my head and non of my former shipmates want anything to do with me. My life has been shit since and the VA wont give me any help all because of a Bad Conduct Discharge. The Naval Board of Corrections has denied me twice and since my discharge I have been in and out of jail and my ex wont let me see my daughter.
This lawsuit will help guys like me get back on my feet. I earned by goddamned keep!! I shouldn’t have to be going through all this right now I deserve some goddamn respect! I live in a fucking motel before this I slept in the woods. All because some dick on the USS Sampson sold me out and a fellow shipmate who was an acholic got SHARPE and all I did was smoke spice!?!?
Anybody who can help with this please do.
IT2 Matt Trahan
USS Sampson
Your Avenue for redress is the NDRB,and would be anyway, notwithstanding your applications to the Board of Corrections. This is true unless you were prosecuted by a General Court Martial.
I assume you had a Special Court Martial.
I seem to recall that the Board of Corrections is the only agency that can address a BCD by General Court Martial or a Dishonorable Discharge. I represented veterans at DRB hearings and filed petitions to the different Boards of Correction while a National Service Officer with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). I retired in 2000 so I dont clearly remember all the differences between the DRB and BOC. The BOC mostly addresses alleged errors made by the service department, (awards not issued, pay grade, etc.) Mostly, in BOC cases, we dealt with veterans who believed they should have been medically retired instead of discharged. Rarely saw someone with a BCD. Did you have a period of honorable service and then reenlist? If so, you are eligible for benefits based on the honorable period of service. VA sometimes fails to see or apply the provision of regulations that govern this situation. Did you enlist the help of an attorney or a veteran service organization to assist with your BOC applications? In what state do you live?
Hey Matt… the Navy (and Armed Forces have had a “Zero Tolerance” policy in place for drugs for over 30 years. You were told about it when you joined and should have been told when you reported to new commands and annual GMT.
Did you seek help from a counselor/medical about your issues with your brother’s death and was it documented? My guess is that you didn’t.
Using illegal drugs (Spice was made a Schedule I drug in 2011) is a one way ticket out of the service. Telling the CO at Mast or at a Courts Martial about a death in the family being the “trigger” for your drug abuse is a piss poor excuse for your behavior.
It seems like you made a slew of shitty decisions and haven’t learned how to accept responsibility for your actions. The shipmate that “Rat” you out did the his fellow shipmates and the Navy the right thing – deal with it. You were doing synthetic pot and got your ass kicked out. Why should the Board of Corrections change your discharge when you basically told the Navy “fuck you”?
It’s long past time for you to clean yourself up, take responsibility for your bad decisions and stop blaming everyone else for your problems. You rolled the dice when you started smoking spice, and you lost everything that the Navy could have given you.
THIS!!!!
” … they tacked on a bunch of other bs: larceny article 121, article 92, DUI and a few other charges.”
WTF, dude? The Navy simply invented these charges? You were not guilty of those charges?
I just LOVE this: “I earned my keep and the navy thinks a few bad acts is worth nothing!”
You earned a kick to the curb. You can’t be doped up in the military, regardless of your job or duty status. You would be more than half way to retirement now yet you did something you knew was illegal and you got caught. You’ve been twice denied by the NBCR (sp ?). Good. I hope they deny you every time you apply. You’re a fuckup who got what he deserved. Better get on with life and drop this ‘woe is me’ bullshit. You earned it … deal with it.
There’s a lot of information that you’re leaving out with your comment. As others pointed out here, the fact that you smoked something that you weren’t supposed to smoke reflects poor judgement… Something that you should hold yourself accountable for.
The fact that you weren’t given a counseling statement for this action hints at the possibility that you’ve been given negative counseling statements before, that you’ve been known for exercising poor judgement and doing what you weren’t supposed to do at the expense of what you were supposed to do.
This further hints that you’ve done other things that aren’t consistent with “good community”. If no other shipmate wants to have anything to do with you, it’s because you’ve established a track record of refusing legitimate help, and of expecting them to do for you the things that’d spare you from having to hold yourself accountable.
This hints that you’ve became toxic to the point that people distance themselves from you.
So, with the reporting of yet another misconduct, it was a “no brainer” for them to send you to XOI and CO Mast based on someone’s account of you smoking “spice”.
One common trend that I’m seeing, and that others have hinted here, is an excessive amount of pride on your part, your tendency to put yourself on a pedestal, your poor judgement, etc. So far, I’ve yet to see you own up to your contributions to this.
Chances are that you’re seeing the comments here as a refresher of what you’ve repeatedly been told while you were in the Navy.
I’m also seeing an example of poor judgement on your part. You provided enough of your name to give anyone the opportunity to do further research on you via Google. One such search pulled up a page suggesting that you’ve had run ins with the law… which you’ve alluded to with your claims of being in and out of prison. Another search showed your profile page where you’re attempting to get a gig. Your history doesn’t provide a potential client any justification to hire you. In fact, your profile shows that you’re hiding information.
I mean, at your age, all you have to show for it is a desire to do something, based on the fact that you spent 4 years and some change in the Navy, and that you did a related activity in high school. What you left out speaks volumes as to why you shouldn’t be hired.
Smoking spice as a way to deal with a family member’s suicide? Everybody loses someone to death, most don’t go about dealing with their grief by breaking the law. Based on your explanation on your circumstances, there’s a good chance that you’re using the suicide as a “Get out of jail card” for your smoking spice.
The fact that you’ve been in the brig, as well as in and out of jail, shows that you have a tendency to refuse to learn from your mistakes, or to own up to the problems that you cause yourself in life. It shows that you have a tendency to exercise poor judgement.
This, in turn, boils down to your tendency to possess an unhealthy amount of pride… Enough pride to blind you to your own shortcomings, as well as blind you to your faults. Your pride blinds you to the very imperfections you refuse to acknowledge.
Thus, it’s easier for you to blame anything and everybody around you, and not yourself.
Excessive pride has been your constant downfall.
As others here have suggested, you need to recognize the reality of your situation… to include the fact that you’re not perfect, that you make mistakes, and that you need to learn from your mistakes.
Also, you’re no longer stationed on the USS SAMPSON, and you’re no longer an IT2. Using both of these in your “signing out” section shows the excessive pride that I see with your actions.
You need to take what others, and I, say to heart. Your excessive pride is going to make it painful and rough to read what we say, but you have to push through to it. That excess is the monster mentioned above.
Based on your statements here, what others here have observed, and what I’ve found doing a search of your name, I highly doubt that you’re going to get any luck with appealing your situation.
Accept this past and learn from it. Failure to learn from this mistake, and failure to move forward from it, only guarantees that you’re going to be dealing with this same problem over and over again.
I disagree with the assessment. I feel that what good things I did in the Navy outweigh the bad things.
I smoked spice I admit it because of a my brothers suicide. I asked ONC Jernigan and ENC Cuttler for help after I was ratted out. They gave me nothing. We had an IT1 who had a drinking problem and he got SHARPE. Why was I never offered help yet everybody else was?
I am considered not a veteran? But all those nights spent standing watch? I am a veteran regardless of what anybody says. The Navy could have helped me but they didn’t. Ever since then my life has been chaos!
If I ever see those Mofos on the street in Tampa they will pay the piper. The fact is I’m having to things I am not proud of for a roof? Seriously the navy screwed me!
IT2 Matt Trahan
Nope. You screwed yourself, and now you’re crying rape. I’m sorry you’re reduced to “doing things you don’t want to do to survive”, but the Navy didn’t put you there. Matt Trahan did.
Probably because he asked for it and you didn’t until you were in trouble. At some point you became a criminal and you’re still acting like one. Everything is someone else’s fault and not as bad as what someone else has done. You’re not telling the whole story about what happened and what you are telling you’re trying to skew to show yourself in the best light. Even that makes you out to be a shitbird. You’ve lived with it for so long got don’t even realize what you’ve become.
I would be interested to know what it is that you are not proud of to put a roof over your head.
My response got you in the jugular, didn’t it? I knew it would, I expected you to respond to what I said, based on the profile that you presented of yourself based on your responses.
Matthew Randall Trahan: I disagree with the assessment.
Yes, I knew that you were going to disagree with this assessment on the account of your excessive pride. As I indicated above, your excessive pride is not going to want to see a description of you that contradicts the image that you have of yourself.
However, you provided us with sufficient evidence, through your postings including this one, that you fit the profile that we have on you. Even with this most recent post, you are attempting to play the martyr, and attempting to point to others as if they were persecuting you.
Matthew Randall Trahan: I feel that what good things I did in the Navy outweigh the bad things.
Understand that in any human organization, whether that is a military organization or any other organization, whether the good that someone has accomplished outweighs the bad depends on that person, that person’s impact on the organization’s mission, and that person’s impact on others around him/her.
It also includes the whole person concept, to include redeemability and salvageability… And positive potential if recovered.
What you feel are the “good things” that you did in the Navy are not “get out of jail free cards” to cover you down the road in case you do anything bad later on. Whether that is in the Navy, another branch of the military, or anywhere else where people come together to accomplish a goal, key is consistency with regards to superior/reliable performance.
Yes, other people are not going to be perfect, they are going to do things that are considered “bad”. However, their actions, like yours, are going to be based on the “whole person concept” as well as their impact on others and on the organization.
Different situations, for different people. In your case, it appears that the costs of your “bad deeds” exceeded the benefits of keeping you around. It also appears that they didn’t see any value in terms of your future contributions.
As I mentioned above, there appears to be a history, a pattern, in your conduct and actions. They don’t just send anybody to Captain’s Mast/Article 15 without doing their research. There may be cases where people were sent that shouldn’t have been sent, but they’re not the majority of the cases.
Matthew Randall Trahan: I smoked spice I admit it because of a my brothers suicide.
Owning up to something goes beyond simply saying, “Yes, I did the act.” Owning up to it includes pointing the finger to yourself. It also includes “letting go” of your grievances of the people you claim “wronged” you in this situation.
As others have mentioned to you, above, you did this on your own free will. You made the decision to smoke spice. Nobody pointed a gun to you in order to force you to do so, nobody twisted your arm to force you to smoke it, nobody roughly handled you, nobody forced you to smoke spice.
You chose to smoke spice instead of finding a more constructive, normal, way to grieve your loss. Looking at your replies on this thread, people can’t help to conclude that you are refusing to own up to your actions. It also shows why you feel like your life is “messed up”.
Your smoking spice, plus any other things that you’ve done up to that point, culminated in the Navy deciding to conclude your Navy commitment earlier than scheduled.
Matthew Randall Trahan: I asked ONC Jernigan and ENC Cuttler for help after I was ratted out.
I bolded the word “after” in the statement. You see, your problem was that you did not seek help until someone ratted you out. What you showed these senior NCOs, by waiting to be ratted out, was that you sat on information involving your misconduct, and that you acted in response to being reported.
Meaning, had your shipmate not ratted you out, chances are you would not have asked for that help. After you were ratted out, you’re requesting that help was an attempt to “control” the situation to mitigate the consequences to you.
Both individuals, being privy to your actions and decisions, took the course of action that they ultimately took.
Matthew Randall Trahan: They gave me nothing. we had an IT1 who had a drinking problem and he got SHARPE. Why was I never offered help yet everybody else was?
Chances are that this IT1 decided to get help before his drinking issue became a problem for the command. He may have taken the initiative, or his chain of command caught him in time.
It appears that in your situation, your chain of command got broadsided with the smoking incident. However, based on your commentary here, and on the incomplete story that you provided on your initial post here, I would say that there were other issues that the command had to deal with that related to you.
It would be great to have one or a combination of them come here to give us their perspectives.
Matthew Randall Trahan: I am considered not a veteran?
I’m not privy to your complete record. Based on your description, you would have to see a lawyer that specializes in this topic to inform you, based on your official records and on your claims regarding what happened to you, whether you would actually be a veteran or not.
Matthew Randall Trahan: But all those nights spent standing watch?
You were supposed to be standing those watches. Just as you were supposed to be doing everything else that you consider is “good”. Unfortunately, smoking spice, and any other result of your poor judgment, outweighed all what you consider as “what you have actually done for them”.
Being familiar the performance traits, and evaluation form, you should be familiar with the 1.0 to 5.0 scale. If you did everything, that you were supposed to do, and that’s it, you’re looking at a 3.0 on a 1.0 to 5.0 scale.
Just that one incident, smoking spice, would bring you down below 3.0 on one or a combination of those traits. Let’s add the other traits impacted by your poor judgment, and all of a sudden we are looking at somebody who did not meet the standards.
Whatever it is that you did, it was great enough for you to get the discharge you ultimately ended up receiving.
This alone works against what you are implying with regards to what the Navy “owes” you.
Matthew Randall Trahan: I am a veteran regardless of what anybody says.
See above, regarding whether you would be considered a veteran or not.
Matthew Randall Trahan: The Navy could have helped me but they didn’t.
Correction, you could have helped yourself in this situation in two ways. The first way you could’ve helped yourself was to learn from your mistakes, which apparently you have been making these mistakes throughout your time in the Navy, and throughout your time after you left the Navy.
The second way that you could’ve helped yourself was to seek counseling and help long before you were reported to the command for DUI and for smoking spice.
You seeking help, after the fact, simply reeked of somebody trying to “control the situation” in order to get away from suffering the consequences of your actions.
Matthew Randall Trahan: Ever since then my life has been chaos!
Your life has been “chaos” because you consistently refused to learn from your mistakes. Somehow, you think that all of the actions that you have taken were “justified”, and those that hold you to account were “in the wrong”.
There is an excellent chance that not only do you need help for smoking spice, and DUI if it is related to alcohol, you also need to speak to a psychiatrist about your excessive pride, and apparent control issues.
If you haven’t looked for help in these areas yet, you need to find a way to access this help… Then receive this help.
You’ve made your life chaos, others are not responsible for that.
Matthew Randall Trahan: If I ever see those Mofos on the street in Tampa they will pay the piper.
You see, this is indicative of your having control issues. You seek revenge against people who would normally do what a reasonable person would’ve done had they observed someone doing the things that you did.
This reeks of somebody who feels that he is entitled to take certain actions, and who is entitled to certain benefits, regardless of whether those actions are warranted or not and regardless of whether you meet the standards for those benefits.
It’s your excessive pride that refuses to see how you’re the one that you should be mad at, not those who would “pay the piper” if you see them in Tampa.
Chances are that they have forgotten about you, or they are not thinking about your situation right now. They’ve moved on from this incident. You should to.
I recommend letting it go, and stop being mad at these former shipmates. You need to look at the mirror for the person that you truly need to be mad at. But, that “anger” should be translated into actions. You need to recognize your fault in your situation, and you need to take steps to learn from your mistakes and to move forward from this.
More importantly, seek help for drug/alcohol abuse if either is still applicable. Those around you would be hinting to you that you need help. Additionally, you need to seek help for your apparent control and excessive pride issues.
Matthew Randall Trahan: The fact is I’m having to things I am not proud of for a roof?
You mention doing things that you’re not proud of doing, in order to have a roof over your head. However, you haven’t detailed what it is that you’re required to do that you’re not proud of doing.
Based on what I’ve read so far, on your posts, I wouldn’t be surprised that what you have to do, for the roof over your head, involves you “earning your keep”.
I’m sorry, the fact that you are required to take the trash out, clean the bathrooms, vacuum the floors, dust the horizontals, wash the dishes, clean up the kitchen, etc., does not put you in a situation that justifies complaining about doing things that “you’re not proud of” in order to keep a roof over your head.
That’s nothing to be ashamed of. You did a lot of cleaning in the Navy, you most certainly could do similar cleaning in the house of the people that allowed you to stay with them until you could pick yourself up.
Matthew Randall Trahan: Seriously the navy screwed me!
Negative, the Navy did not screw you over. You screwed yourself over, and you continue to screw yourself over. You’re suffering the consequences of the actions that you took that resulted from a poor judgment call on your part. You made a series of these decisions and actions. It is you that is to blame.
The only person that could change your life for the better is the one that stares back at you when you look in the mirror. Seek the help that others here, and I, recommend that you seek. Once you seek that help, and once you take that help seriously enough to change your life around, you will be happy and thankful.
Let go of the Navy. Let go of those in the Navy you claimed “screwed you over”. Let go of what you can’t control.
Defeat this monster and move forward.
So lemme get this straight:
No PTSD diagnosis.
No TBI.
You were going through a rough patch and as a result, you WILLINGLY took a drug you knew was illegal, whether or not you’d be caught by urinalysis. You knew the rules, you broke them, you got your dick hammered flat as a result.
Sorry, but your situation is of your own making. You were not in combat. Your situation did not arise out of that. Your issues were not service-related.
This is my earlier point, and while I should be more taken with the Xmas spirit, I’m also mature and pragmatic enough to say, you made your bed. The guy who dimed you out isn’t to blame–YOU ARE.
The sooner you understand and accept that, the sooner you can move on.
He hasn’t accepted it, and he hasn’t (and probably will never) move on from it. The Navy did this to him and he’ll hold a grudge against it until his last days on Earth. He’s a bitter, bitter little man…
Negative I asked for SHARPE AND NOBODY WOULD HELP ME! I asked OSC jurnigan and EMC Cuttler for help!
Spice was not illegal at the time! Plus the USS Sampson was filled with drugs our cruise song was called USS Sampson Gets Me Lifted “I wanna talk to the USS Sampson, fly to my moon bitch Alice Kramden, cause it’s hard bein a sailor and gifted, sometimes I just want to throw it all down and get lifted, because everybody knows in my neighborhood USS Sampson’s shit is best got the whole town on lockdown” the drugs on the Samson where a problem.
I was on a deployment not in conventional way but on a ship doing VBSS is just as dangerous and I did deploy to Italy which is just as dangerous and does a combat deployment merit more than doing a cruise to Italy…I think not..serving is serving.doesnt matter what you did you just serve.
The Navy should not have been involved in my off duty activities so who cares if I smoked spice. I’m sure you now see it from my perspective.
Gonna let you in on a little secret…
SPICE WAS ILLEGAL BEFORE 2010.
When did you get the boot? Be careful now, we do know how to file and FOIA and a Google search. Also, CM records/results are online and searchable.
Care to rephrase or correct your statement?
I got out in 2011. I’ll be careful I’m sure you know how to do an anal cavity search too. Get off your high horse you dildo! Fuck you don’t make threats and if you do want to then come to fucking Tampa and we can settle this. Spice didn’t become illegal
til 2011. You are a dumbass .
IT2 Matt Trahan
Salty Sailor
Try again. 2009. Over 400 were discharged for it in FY 2011 (which began in October 2010.)
It was made illegal by the FDA in March of 2013.
And I don’t know why you have such an anal/phallic fixation, but that ain’t my bag, baby. You do you, bro.
Tough times? Try doing around 200 Convoy Escort Missions like I did in A-Stan after coming back in following a nine year break in service and then doing another tour in Kuwait where I had to deal with someone else’s stupidity killing two of my Subordinates and permanently injuring a third. MY first Overseas Tour was in Korea from 92-93 where I was less than 2 1/2 miles from the Southern Tier of the DMZ when I was in Garrison! I’ve seen and done some things and what I’ve done is very tame compared with other TAH regulars. I also saw a number of dirtbags with attitudes JUST like yours that were thrown out with the previous day’s trash, one doing time in Mannheim before his BCD. I saw a few others thrown out for drugs who accepted and owned up to what they did, and guess what? They straightened up and went on with life, and you’ll never make it anywhere but to prison and/or an early grave as long as you stay married to those demons you keep with you!
Bub, you need to apply the First Rule of Holes:
When you find yourself in one…. STOP FUCKING DIGGING.
And another guest what? If your off-duty activities interfere with your on-duty responsibilities, fuckin A right the Navy has the right to be involved, just as my current civilian employer does (I am subject to random drug/FFD testing.)
Give it up. Nobody is buying what you’re selling.
A cruise to Italy is not in the same league as a combat deployment, Sailor. Not even close. To claim it like it’s a hardship tour and not the career highlight most think it is shows your true “woe is me” attitude.
No shit. I did FIVE Westpacs (and other longer underways) including spec-ops, etc., and never once would I consider my time anywhere near a combat tour level. Ever.
Here, maybe you can read this – it’s the MILPERSMAN for Separation from the Navy for Drug Abuse.
https://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/milpersman/1000/1900Separation/Documents/1910-146.pdf
Let me point out a couple of things for you on why the Navy separated you:
1.Definition of drug abuse is “illegal or wrongful use, possession of controlled substances or attempts to commit drug offenses”.
2. “Other than the above exceptions, drug abuse must be
processed using administrative board procedures (MILPERSMAN 1910-404) with Under Other Than Honorable (OTH) being the least favorable characterization of service considered.”
Yopu went to mast and got hammered, or got really stupid and asked for a Courts Martial and went to the brig for all charges. They kicked you out with an OHT for it.
BTW – while in the service, you’re on duty 24/7 and subject to the UCMJ – remember you signed an enlistment contract. You line of reasoning (“The Navy should not have been involved in my off duty activities so who cares if I smoked spice”) is so fucked up I don’t know what to say.
BTW – I was Admin Officer at HM “A” School in Great Lakes for almost two years and I processed out individuals who did the same stupid shit as you did.
You fucked the Navy, Matt… and tin return the Navy fucked you right back.
Grow the fuck up, little boy
Substandard Discharge= Shitbag.
Fuck you, Turd. You smoked drugs and got caught.
I am sure it was the PTSD Navy Boy.
No. You’re a fucking dumbass.
Who will arbitrate if a mental health issue was the cause of an OTH discharge, the ADRB? Do mental heath care professionals have a seat at the board, or will they provide recommendations to the ADRB?
Likely among them are a large number of fraudsters looking to get their unwarranted VA pay day.
I have ZERO doubt about that!
Brain injuries and mental health are still rather poorly understood.
Are we truly addressing the needs of our servicepeople? I have doubts, based on a long history of post-hoc corrections, “Harmless” Agent Orange and “harmless” burn pits, for examples.
I do think we need to take a very hard look at any case where decent or better folks got concussions, or worse, in the line of duty and subsequently went sub par.
I personally have had a number of concussions, and struggle daily with the most recent major one. “Grumpy” barely covers how I feel when the headaches rampage.
It has definitely impacted my work.
So I am willing to take a very hard look at this issue. Not a free pass for stupid stuff, but definitely a hard look.
Wondering if our medically-oriented professionals here could comment on current state of understanding, and likelihood any of these folks have legitimate issues overlooked by DoD.
Going to be a tough one to call… there will be a subset who went from stud to dud, but I suspect the majority will fall under the ‘barely par to subpar’ category’. And who is to say someone who started as a dickweed didn’t get legitimately injured? Glad I don’t have to adjudicate, especially since many of the dickweeds are scammers to begin with.
it is not a tough call, PTSD may cause problems, but it does not cause criminal behavior.
Criminality is the only path to an OTH discharge. Being late to formation because you overslept, or getting a DUI net you a General Discharge.
IAVA knows these folks are dirtbags and is making a case to people who don’t know any better.
all 50,000 are dirtbags? That’s a bit of a stretch I think.
Perhaps there’s a portion of them that are, but saying 100% of them are is a bad stereotype. Especially since I know veterans who have had issues with their chain to the point where they got a less than favorable career due to toxic dirtbags above them. As I’m sure we all do.
This 50k also would date back to at least the Vietnam era. In other words, this 50k is 2/10th of a percent of veterans in the US. It sounds like a huge number, which is what the lawyers are going for.
However, I’m with you that not all of them were shitbirds.
Thanks to 2/17’s link below, I can see this only afffects post-9/11 OTH PTSD discharges. So that changes the numbers considerably.
Estimates are there are 2.77 million GWOT veterans. So looking at 1.8% in this group. This class action also only includes Navy and USMC discharges.
Word.
11B-Mailclerk
A friend of mine from the ERFD whom I haven’t talked to in a few years calls me and says that after losing sight in one eye, his foot amputated and a thyroid problem, and has a 100% disability now. the VA after a ten year fight admitted that he was right when he said Agent Orange was used in S. Korea when he was there as a 2nd Lt. Turns out the Officer running the show, admitted that he used too much orange and too much fuel oil in the mix. These VA peeps as well as the EPA peeps who said the burning products at the 9/11 twin towers sight were nothing to worry about should be thrown in prison for the rest of their lives.
The silicates in the finely pulverized concrete and glass, all by itself, is hazardous in modest quantities.
Burned plastics.
Burned electronics.
Vaporized people
Pulverized iron, aluminum, copper, lead, etc.
Same thing applies to burn pits. I’m certain this lovely COPD I live with is a result of burn pits and oil field smoke. Proof? I have nothing tangible. Just messed up lungs.
Class action my ass. Most assholes in service were assholes before they enlisted and continued to be assholes after they got the boot. Screw-em.
A lot of questions here about a class action. How many of the Less than Honorable class have or claim PTSD? When and by whom was it diagnosed? Did these people ever serve OCON US or in an area warranting hostile fire pay?
BTW what happened to the old bad conduct discharge(BCD) six, six and a kick used frequently in the OLD Corps. What happened to the Undesirable Discharge and the DD 214 number codes?
I want a service dog. If I can’t have a service dog, I want a cabana boy and a personal butler. If I can’t have these things, I will go pout in a corner.
I’m shocked you don’t already have one of each….
Hello? You could have had a Canuck Cabana Boy by now…..
Imagine how useful that would be during the holidays!
Drugs are bad.
DWI’s are bad.
Enjoy your DD, it was the byproduct your own decisions.
I have been diagnosed with both TBI and PTSD, and I have never done anything illegal or otherwise conducive to an unwanted discharge from the Army.
All the cases I have seen were dudes doing stupid shit and then using teh PTSD as an excuse.
Oh, I did get in trouble once, for speeding an M998 in the range area outside Fort Campbell, but I didn’t blame it on PTSD.
The class action part bothers me. These are all on a case by case, individual basis.
I don’t doubt that there could be extenuating circumstances or contributing factors, yet, if the character of service was such as to warrant OTH then the character of service was OTH.
A key element of the services is uniformity and conformity. When someone is unreliable, for whatever reason, they have to either be retrained, corrected or otherwise guided back into meaningful compliance. Or not.
All else withstanding, there probably are cases where some service members have been railroaded out under OTH, nefarious or ulterior motives. Having a course of appeal is a good thing, at the individual level.
PTSD does not excuse bad behavior. Giving someone the boot from the Army is a big pain in the butt. You got to be a serious turd to make it that far.
I concur. During my AD Days in the early nineties, I didn’t see anyone get booted for anything less than a Field Grade Article 15 with max punishment.
Between about 2005 and 2015 there were many dismissals for reasons preventing someone from deploying.
Quite a few people were kicked to the curb quickly and quietly due to King Barry’s “Reduction of Force” policy wherein bureaucrats were let off the leash to find any and every excuse possible to kick people out.
But yes, it can be a pain in the butt to kick someone out with an OTH unless it’s for drugs or DUI. However I also noticed that at certain points after 2010, JAG Offs (Army Lawyers….badum-tish!) were getting so many cases that they started doing blanket “plea deals” of general discharges to anyone pissing hot. The Soldier didn’t get an OTH, but they also agreed to leave quickly and quietly. I had a couple of younger Soldiers who did dumb things one time and I was willing to save them. In a couple other cases I was glad they were leaving. As was mentioned above, “case by case basis” is really what it comes down to.
In theory, I support treating everyone who has sustained an injury due to their military service, especially those sustained in combat. Like most theories, putting that into practice is somewhere between difficult and impossible to do.
Sure, some claims are exaggerated or fabricated. Is it better to suffer with those than to miss those who legitimately earned it? Probably. And, some folks are just bad people, but once earned, treatment should still be available to them because they earned it no matter what they did before or since. In my view.
I’m going to speculate that this is fallout from the reduced military entrance standards in place from sometime in 2003. I got shit kids fresh from AIT that probably would’ve failed out of the Boy Scouts. Even got one with raging Aspergers, he never should’ve made it past MEPS.
How the fuck does an Assburger get on in the Army. Pls tell!
Kid was a chronic fuckup, he’d try, but he couldn’t focus on anything long enough to complete it. Poor hygiene, couldn’t keep his clothes clean, just failing at life. Got sent back from Iraq because he couldn’t keep track of his weapon. I was rear D 1SG, he was my shadow, always in my sight. Mental evaluation showed Aspergers and other problems. He’d been passed through the system his whole life. Army passed him through the system. I sent him home. He’s gonna need assistance his whole life.
I’m surprised he make it through basic and AIT. Also would have thought the structure might have helped with Aspbergers.
We had a civilian contractor working with us, she has a son with Aspergers. She diagnosed this kid in 10 minutes. Docs confirmed it a couple weeks later. Felt bad about sending him home, adopted kid with sketchy parents. Felt like I threw him to the wolves.
Sometimes you have to Ranger Up.
Systems and Operations dictate the pace in training environments.
You must work with what you have.
Good of the Service, SFC D. That kid was eventually going to get some helpful soul killed, or a bunch of uninvolved folks.
You knew that. No offense intended. But you -did- do the right thing, sucky as it may seem.
No offense taken, 11B. It had to be done. Sometimes, it can be enjoyable to boot a chronic shitbag. This was not one of those times. I would like an hour or so with his recruiter, MEPS staff physician, drill sergeants, and parents.
Below is the link to the court order granting class-action status to the suit at issue. The “class” consists of Navy and USMC personnel who rec’d OTH discharges bewteen certain dates. The glaring problem is that the Navy’s review board rejected 85% of appeals from OTH discharge recipients while the Army and Air Force rejected 55% and 63%, respectively. That’s a huge, eye-catching difference. I don’t like middlemen, so here’s the link to read the order yourselves, if you like:
https://law.yale.edu/system/files/documents/pdf/lso/manker_rulingonclasscert_11.15.18.pdf
I am one of the individuals who the navy has fucked over and over again! I was booted for smoking some spice. I have requested my case be reviewed! Thanks for taking my side. I earned my keep and the navy thinks a few bad acts is worth nothing!
IT2 Matt Trahan
Earned your keep? How?
You shit on your service with Larceny & Wrongful Appropriation, Dereliction of duty, DUI & other charges. Stop blaming other people for what you did.
Did you get a reduction in rank IT2 Trahan?
One “aw shit”, and smoking spice is a huge aw shit, erases thousands of attaboys. You knew spice use was illegal, you used spice, you accept the consequences. Were you forced to use it? Coerced? Congratulations. Your bad decision yielded bad results.
OK, class action status has been approved. Now what? Each individual case must necessarily be reviewed and a decision made based on the merits of the appeal. I’ve read hundreds of cases for what goes into the decision-making process. Those evaluations are available on the net. Sometimes a favorable decision is made based on what the individual has done in the civilian sector. Have they conducted themselves honorably, holding a job and benefiting the community in some manner? If so, that could be the impetus which results in a decision favorable to the veteran. Regardless of class action status I’m thinking the vast majority will require an individual review. I’m a little concerned re the disparity between the % of cases resulting in a favorable outcome for the Navy veteran and those of other services. Seems the numbers should more closely parallel each other. Kinda hard to believe that the Navy has that many more true shitbirds than do the other services.
Don’t flatter yourself.
Had I been your LPO, based on what you’ve said here, I would have considered your separation a good thing.
Bottom line, you’re not doing yourself any favors.
The problem I see with this is, how many ship captains have been fired in the Navy over the last couple years? How many of them were the ones holding judgment against Sailors to this effect, while being a total shitbag themselves and getting fired, but still continuing duty until retirement?
I see that as a potential defense in “some” of these cases where their boss was a shitbag who later got fired. Granted, if you got kicked for drugs, well, you pissed hot and that’s on you.
I am one of the individuals who will benefit from this lawsuit. A shipmate rated me out for smoking spice back in 2011. When I went to my court martial, they tacked on a bunch of other bs: larceny article 121, article 92, DUI and a few other charges.
Issue I have is nobody gave me a counseling after I was rated out by my shipmate who told on me for smoking spice. I asked for SHARPE by OCS Jurnigan and ENC Cuttler who never gave me a fucking counseling or SHARPE. I was having mental issues due to my brother committing suicide and my fucking command never asked if I needed help so I started smoking spice to ease the pain.
I have a total of 4 years and 11 months of service including brig time. Shouldn’t my time in the service count for fucking something?!?! I earned my goddamn keep!?!? I am now homeless and find myself giving favors for a roof over my head and non of my former shipmates want anything to do with me. My life has been shit since and the VA wont give me any help all because of a Bad Conduct Discharge. The Naval Board of Corrections has denied me twice and since my discharge I have been in and out of jail and my ex wont let me see my daughter.
This lawsuit will help guys like me get back on my feet. I earned by goddamned keep!! I shouldn’t have to be going through all this right now I deserve some goddamn respect! I live in a fucking motel before this I slept in the woods. I am about to be homeless again. All because some dick on the USS Sampson sold me out and a fellow shipmate who was an acholic got SHARPE and all I did was smoke spice!?!?
Anybody who can help with this please do.
IT2 Matt Trahan
USS Sampson
You made it to E-5 and then pissed it away smoking spice? So you were a fuckup in the Navy, you obviously continued to be a fuck up after the Navy. You tell me why you deserve the same benefits as those who were not shitbirds. If anyone gets the same benefit for serving then Honorable service means nothing. You pissed it away … sucks to be you.
“All because some dick on the USS Sampson sold me out….” The guy who you say sold you out performed a service for his shipmates. You blame him? Did he obtain the dope and smoke it? Did he steal whatever was stolen? Did he drive the vehicle under the influence? You puked all over your service and now you want to be rewarded? Happy Holidays. IT2 Matt Tahran, USS Brig
Yeah, just what we need…
Some yahoo on board a nuclear equipped ship smoking crack or spice or whatever it was.
It was your mistake and with 30 years of sobriety, I learned to accept responsibility for my own stupidity.
And there was a lot of that…
A whole lot of it…. I mean… One hell of a lot of stupidity…….
Come back and talk to us when you get 5 years sober…
Exactly. Shipmate didn’t screw him over, Trahan screwed his shipmates over. Who can trust their life to a teammate who’s high?
I can’t wait to be here in 10 years or so when the dipshit dealing acid on the Reagan who just got busted shows up and tells us how he earned his keep and just got fucked over by some rat.
Whaddayamean that you earned your keep??? What exactly did you do to earn anything from the rest of us? Sounds like exactly nothing.
Seriously, if you really want to play at that game, you can get in line behind the rest of us who actually contributed something and are not whining about all the bad stuff that other people did to us.
If you are representative of those in this class action, then it is certainly a bunch of crap. You are where you are because of the choices you made.
listen I earned my keep. I stood watch and served my country. All I did was get rated out and if I wasent I would probably still be in the navy! All because some jag off!
My brother committed sucide and I was dealing with it. I smoked spice but whats worse smoking some spice or getting drunk every night? Exactly I am sure you see my point. I am tired of being a punk bitch I godamed earned my keep for this country and deserve a little goddamed respect around here.
Take some advice, the first thing you need to do is take that huge chip off of your shoulder!
Let’s say you were in a good civilian job when you were arrested. Drugs, theft, DUI you say? You would be shit canned from that good job. The company would not hire you back. You would have a criminal record. You would not be hired by a good company before years past and you proved that you were clean and sober. Still, many places wouldn’t hire you, especially if you were older than 18 when the arrests occurred. But your job was in the Navy and, somehow, you deserve respect and you deserve benefits, and you deserve this and you deserve that. No, no you don’t.
Or, let’s say you were a contractor. 15% disability for sleep apnea? NOPE. Burn pit? Tough shit. Hearing loss? Huh?
You dealt with your brother’s suicide poorly. Matter of fact, I’m sure at some point before you were kicked to the curb, at least once you were told you were using your brother’s suicide as an excuse for your drug abuse, which you were.
10,000 attaboys, negated by 1 aw shit. I do recall having heard that somewhere before.
You demand respect from us, and yet you still haven’t figured out you don’t demand it, you COMMAND it through deeds, leadership by example, shit like that. When is that gonna sink into your fucking skull?
You keep using that, “earned your keep” phrase. I do not think it means what you think it means. Get your shit together, stop blaming the world for YOUR issues, put on your big girl panties, and join the rest of the adult world, mkay?
Matthew Randall Trahan: listen I earned my keep.
The way you worded this indicates that you have control issues. You didn’t truly address what I, or others, pointed out regarding how you come across to us. What you did was do what you were required to do in many instances, then you fell back in other areas.
Stood watches? You joined the Navy, you were supposed to do that. If you didn’t fall short of the minimum, the Navy would’ve done its part and kept you in.
As for “earning your keep”, do you even understand what that term means? This suggests that you were an asset to the Navy, to your unit, and to your fellow Sailors. The Navy didn’t see it that way. More than one Sailor determined that it was best that the Navy and you parted ways.
This isn’t a conclusion that they’d reach if someone had “earned their keep”. Usually, if someone “earned their keep”, the unit or organization would find a way to help the person in order to keep that person. Based on what you said, your unit got rid of you to minimize toxicity, liability, etc.
Matthew Randall Trahan: I stood watch and served my country.
You’re not owed certain things simply because you did what you were supposed to do. You were expected to serve honorably, or under honorable conditions. Based on your description in your initial posts, it appears that the Navy didn’t feel like you served honorably, or under honorable conditions.
As others pointed out here, a major screw up will wipe out a whole bunch of “Atta boys”. This is true in the military, this will be true anywhere else you go.
Matthew Randall Trahan: All I did was get rated out and if I wasent I would probably still be in the navy! All because some jag off!
This sentence shows that you haven’t learned from your mistakes, and that you haven’t truly owned up to your mistakes. Simply acknowledging that you did something that you weren’t supposed to do isn’t sufficient.
Now, if you were to acknowledge that you made a decision to do something stupid, and that caused you to get kicked out of the Navy, you’d be getting somewhere.
However, I doubt that you’d still be in the Navy if you didn’t get reported for this one incident. You would’ve done something that’d eventually gotten you kicked out.
There’s more to this than what you’re willing to admit. The “BS” charges that they tacked on? Good chance that those charges are related to the smoking spice charge.
Just as you’ve exercised poor judgement here, and just as you’ve exercised poor judgement in the Navy and in life, your continued poor judgement, followed by the execution of the action based on that judgement, would’ve still gotten you out of the Navy.
Matthew Randall Trahan: My brother committed sucide and I was dealing with it.
Like everybody that has lost someone close to them, you were dealing with grief. As a result of dealing with that grief, you considered a series of options. You exercised poor judgement and executed a clearly wrong choice.
During your shipboard indoctrination class, or its equivalent, you’ve had the Chaplin and others come in and explain the resources available to deal with negative moral. During suicide awareness training, you guys would’ve received the resources needed to deal with should you find yourself emotionally down. Dito with pre-deployment classes.
I refuse to believe that you weren’t made aware of other options available to you to deal with something like this. Armed with this information, you still chose to smoke spice, instead of talking to your ship’s chaplain, or one dedicated for your command. You also had the Fleet and Family Support Center, something that would’ve been repeated to you during your tour onboard USS SAMPSON.
You knew what options you had, you exercised poor judgment, and you executed a poor decision.
Matthew Randall Trahan: I smoked spice but whats worse smoking some spice or getting drunk every night?
It doesn’t matter if you smoked spice once, or smoked it multiple times. The fact of the matter is that you engaged in an activity that you weren’t supposed to be engaged in… Unless things changed, the Navy has zero tolerance to illegal drug use.
Comparing your “smoking spice once” to someone’s “getting drunk every night” is like you saying, “I ate poop one time, but what’s worse, eating poop one time or drinking someone’s piss every day?”
What you’re trying to do here is rationalize a poor decision. By comparing yourself to someone that “did something worse”, you’re attempting to make your action “normal”… Thus, put yourself in a position of “not doing something that was wrong, or that wrong.”
Matthew Randall Trahan: Exactly I am sure you see my point.
As you can see, you and I don’t see things the same way. When someone says this, they’re usually driven by an excessive amount of pride, as well as an excessive amount of control. Not only are you attempting to control this argument, you’re arguing back against legitimate constructive criticism.
I have no doubt, based on your conduct on this thread, that you were like this throughout your Navy career. When someone tried to help you, whether that was with your job or things in general, you argued back against their constructive criticism.
Matthew Randall Trahan: I am tired of being a punk bitch
If you’re tired of being a “punk bitch”, then you’ll take our advice. Your failure to take our advice, freely offered to you as a gift on this thread by multiple people, is what’s going to ensure that you’re going to spend the foreseeable future as what you don’t want to be seen as.
Matthew Randall Trahan: I godamed earned my keep for this country
Simply reporting to the ship and being one of its “breathers”, keeping one of its chairs warm as you ate one of its meals, and doing the things you were expected to do, doesn’t put you in position of “earning your keep”.
How you did what was expected of you is what leads to whether you earned your keep for this country or not. Your service was supposed to be honorable, or under honorable conditions. That’s how you earn your keep. There are other conditions as well, conditions that you appear to not have met.
What happened is that you fell short of the minimum required for serving under honorable conditions.
Matthew Randall Trahan: and deserve a little goddamed respect around here.
After four years and some change in the Navy, it doesn’t appear like you’ve learned the concept of mutual respect. You have to earn respect in order to expect that respect from those that you demand respect from.
Your conduct on this thread, and your arguments here, suggest that you do not rate the kind of respect that you demand from us.
I noticed that you failed to address the question on what, exactly, you did that you’re not proud of that keeps a roof over your head. You also failed to address the other important points made.
Read what you’ve stated here to understand why you’ve had the bad experiences in life that you’ve experienced so far.
“listen I earned my keep. I stood watch and served my country.”
First, try learning to spell and use correct punctuation. Using caps where appropriate is also a good thing.
Here’s the deal, Skippy … If you think you earned your keep by standing watch you are woefully misguided. Sounds as if you did the minimum required of you. You stood watch … BFD. So does every other Sailor. You had your 15 minutes here so go the fuck away. Every time I read your BS the more pissed I get. I don’t have any fucks to give but maybe I can find a medal from my shadow box to give you for standing watch. Come back in a few years and tell us what steps you have taken to fix your crappy life. You’re trying to convince a group of veterans who were able to have a successful career w/o smoking spice or shortchanging their shipmates, which is what you did. It’s exactly what you did … you did not fulfill your commitment to your fellow Sailors or to the Navy. I told you on another entry what to do. We have no sympathy for you past what advice we have given you.
You got paid for being on duty. Then you made some poor decisions. The pay ended.
But you continue to say that you “earned your keep.” Either that phrase doesn’t mean what you think it means or you are flat out lying. You may or may not have earned the pay that you got, but you certainly didn’t earn anything beyond that.
Unlike those of us who served honorably for a career, and earned a pension from the deal. You didn’t do that but seem to be insisting that you get what I earned without doing the work to earn it.
Look out. You dropped your “homeless veteran” cardboard sign while you were screaming about unfairness.
Fuck off.
Hey Trahan, you truly sound JUST LIKE nearly every perp my LE Friends tell me about. NONE of the trouble they got into was their fault, it was all because someone snitched,… So tell me, did someone put a gun to your head and MAKE you smoke that crap? I don’t blame whoever turned you in, I don’t like working with “Heads” at all, let alone being deployed with one, all too often all they care about is their next high.
I -know- the monster.
-you- know the monster.
The monster Blames everyone but the monster. The monster says it will help, that you can handle the shit.
-stop- listening to your fucking monster. Stop parroting it.
Beat that monster. Look it right in the eye and tell it to fuck off and die.
No more.
Go get help from AA or any bunch of folks that quit. Whatever they quit. Any one. Start now.
Because you already can, if you want to. the monster is lying to you.
The monster is lying to you.
The monster is lying to you.
No excuses. Can’t fix the past. But you -can- change.
Want it?
11B-Mailclerk… good words, but Matt won’t listen. He can’t let go of it… it’s the Navy’s fault.
He DORKED THE SQUEAKHOLE…
Has to be said. I may be pissing into a gale, but so be it.
He didn’t -start- smoking that shit when his brother died. No way.
He will likey go to his grave, probably early, blaming every other thing for life biting in him in the ass, never once considering not sticking that ass in the Monster’s jaws.
Kudos to the one(s) that turned him in. They did their Ship and Shipmates a service. This guy won’t learn from anything less than the clue-by-four of “hard life, self-inflicted”, and he hasn’t gotten to the bottom yet. Not by a long shot.
And lo, I gaze upon my fertile soil, which in the past has produced massive numbers of fucks. But, being winter and the fertile soil unable to produce, I find that my field is void of fucks. I have no fucks to give. I am void of fucks.
Fuck you. I can imagine a scenario in which you would be needed by your shipmates and you’re doped out of your mind. Whoever turned you in has my respect. You? Not so much. Deal with it, loser.
Your field is barren too? Thank the Lord, I thought it was just mine. I was suspecting a potato-famine type blight.
There are people in the service whose job it is to be listeners, e.g., chaplains and psychs, so that you can unload your angst and move on.
If this individual’s drug use was in place of getting grief counseling over a family member’s suicide, then I don’t have a lot of sympathy in my piggy bank for this. There are other, better solutions.
“There are other, better solutions.”
And he probably would have utilized those better solutions, if they had been as much fun as smoking dope.
Nah. 100-1 odds, he smoked that crap before his brother died.
Users use. People, drugs, lies, whatever. Never their fault.
Here’s one thing I’d say is a huge difference in the Army vs Navy when it comes to drugs. In the Army, if one of my Soldiers isn’t functioning right I can send him home for a day and no one else gets effected.
In the Navy, you’re on a ship/boat with lots of other personnel who count on you to do your job to make the ship function. Your boss can’t just send you home for the day. You are on a ship and stuck there fucked up in the head where you can potentially endangering and causing disaster to hundreds/thousands of other personnel.
And for decades the military has had treatment programs for drugs/alcohol. If you ‘fess up before you piss hot, you go through the program and come out the other end pissing negative, then you’re fine.
I’ve heard your same sob story a dozen times, at least. I’ve also worked hard to save Soldiers who did something wrong and showed they fucked up and fixed themselves. Get over it and fix yourself.
I sent two of my men to the Navy’s six week treatment program in Jacksonville, Florida. Both had drinking problems and I could have thrown them under the bus, but I felt they had enough redeeming characteristics to warrant being salvaged. Both turned their life around and returned to being productive, squared away Sailors. Seems if the command didn’t come to your assistance it was b/c you had established a pattern of being a fuckup and they wanted nothing more to do with you. I could be wrong.
I would suggest the following. Available on Google are hundreds of cases of Sailors/Airmen/Etc. who have had their cases reviewed for an upgrade. By reading them, you can learn what it is that the boards look for in upgrading a troop. Having a stable relationship, a stable job and community involvement play a huge role in a positive recommendation being made. Now, it will take some time to establish this pattern, perhaps years. You say you have had problems in the civilian community as well. What does that suggest to you? Well, that will suggest the same thing to the review board. I’m thinking they probably research your name on Google or other sites. Of course, also considered are the circumstances that led to your being kicked to the curb. If it was a borderline call, that might work in your favor.
Do the work. Research. Perhaps hire a civilian lawyer. Make sure you get one with expertise in such matters. Your friend Bob’s uncle who practices real estate law won’t be able to help you. Go to the folks who know the ropes.
I’ve trashed you in other posts here, but the fact that you keep coming back suggests that you are desperate. I’m thinking your life truly sucks. You say you are forced to do things you dislike just to put a roof over your head. I would like to know what those things are.
I find myself wishing you well, although I’m not sold on the idea that you deserve a second chance.
“My life has been shit since and the VA wont give me any help all because of a Bad Conduct Discharge.” Your life is shit because of drugs, alcohol, or both. Typical blame others crap. There are many things a clean and sober person can do to make a living, with or without an OTH discharge. You won’t win at anything until you get your ass cleaned up. And that there is some hardass truth.
Like I said above, many of these OTH shitbirds are just looking for a VA payday. This guy, Trahan, is exhibit “A.” Anyone want to take a bet on how long it takes him to make a disability claim with the VA if he gets his BCD turned around? Who wants their tax dollars to go to pay for his “keep” he thinks he earned by a few years of questionable service in the Navy?
Yeah, rgr769. He is Ex A. Stories like his turn potentially sympathetic ears into unsympathetic ones. He just doesn’t get it. He is the victim. The world owes him. Pathetic.
What the hell, I’ll play. Buddy boy gets smoked up, steals some shit and drives. He gets stopped and he gets nailed. The sailor who turned him in either was the theft victim or knew the sailor who was. I really don’t want to hear M. Trannie’s account. It will all be a lie. Druggies do that, lie and steal. It’s what they do.
There is a reason they are called “user”. They use people too.
Cops will say, “ a junkie is a junkie is a junkie.”
I have service connected disabilities so I will be filing a claim the second this is resolved? I am a veteran and deserve the same rights as you.
IT2 Matt Trahan
USS Sampson
You’ve gotten what you deserved.
And no you’re not a veteran like me. I didn’t pop on a piss test and commit more serious crimes that resulted in a BCD.
Why are you still posting?
Your rights to any VA benefits went up in smoke the second you fired up that spice.
(getting popcorn and beer)
And exactly what might those service-related disabilities be, pray tell? Can’t wait to hear this one.
No, you aren’t and you don’t. I, for one, and while I can only speak for myself, know many others here have the same history, earned certain rights by conducting myself honorably, meeting and exceeding expectations, remaining fit for duty, and fulfilling my enlistment obligations. You can’t legitimately claim any of that.
You threw away any rights you could have earned. And spit in the face of every veteran who served honorably.
So quit lying. Mostly quit lying to yourself. It would serve you much better to be honest with yourself about all this. Lying to the rest of us isn’t very smart. Lying about us is even worse.
WTF, why are you still here? I will say you are entertaining as hell. What is this BS:
” I am a veteran and deserve the same rights as you.” Are you fucking out of your mind? You got what you deserve … a kick to the curb and no VA benefits. I know it must suck to be you, it really must. That you continue to come here suggests true desperation on your part. You don’t deserve what I have w/o having earned it. How is it you feel you have earned the same benefits I have?
What is it you’re not telling us that makes you think you are on equal footing with the others on this site?
I am desperate I have done many things I am not proud of for a roof, food, and general survival.
I do deserve th same benefits all I did was smoke a little spice which isn’t that bad. I guarantee you did just as bad but you never got caught. I feel after this lawsuit I will be on equal footing.
I am here because I know I’m right. I didn’t do anything that bad. I served my country in some dangerous places in this world and that time should count. Regardless smoking spice I’m tired of this veteran bullying from other vets! I earned my keep goddamint I deserve some respect and I did just as much if not more than everyone on this site and im tired of the bullying on this site.
I dare anyone here to come to Tampa and see what happens. I won’t be a punk bitch anymore I’m over it but I will put another vet making fun of another homeless vet in their place.
Regardless of what you say, your act of smoking spice was illegal and you knew that when you did it. Right now IMHO and that of others here, your attitude toward the past and life right now is what you are letting cripple yourself in more ways than one, you need to own up to the consequences of what you did, get over the past and do something more constructive,.
Like I’ve said already, you’re a criminal and are acting and thinking like one. I’m not sure what you were looking for by coming here, but now that you haven’t gotten it you’re making physical threats. If you didn’t want to know what we thought, you shouldn’t have asked the question.
Breakin the law breakin the law
So now you parrot “Beavis and Butthead”, wow what an intelligent comeback!
Threats of violence…isn’t that in the playbook somewhere?
Yes, chapter six. The first five chapters deal with making excuses and blaming others. When that doesn’t work, it’s time to threaten others with violence. How it works is, if he can’t sway us to his side with (flawed) reason, he will challenge us to a fistfight. If we go to Tampa he will tune us up, individually and collectively. That will make his life better and earn him his VA benefits.
Dude, I didn’t do anything worse than you and not get caught, as you suggest. I served 23 years w/o once being fucked up.
“I guarantee you did just as bad but didn’t get caught.”
THAT is what Sigmund Freud referred t as “Projection” where one feels so afraid of or intimidated by their thoughts or pas that they “project” it onto others, you’re doing it right now with us via your statement that I quoted above. No, most of us didn’t do drugs while we served, I sure didn’t and no, I didn’t steal or get a DUI either! You possess the same attitude and demeanor of someone I remember getting himself kicked out when I was AD and my bet is that he’s now out on the street like you, in prison or dead and your current attitude in life will lead to more prison time and an early grave. I and many others here have experienced some very dark times and overcome them, you can do so as well but nobody is going to be able to help you until you want t help yourself! I wish you a Merry Christmas and hope the best for you, but you need to own up to what you did in the past, that’s a good first step!
Really stupid move making threats… you still haven’t dealt with YOUR fuck ups in life.
Until you do, your life won’t get any better.
Your momma is stupid
One, you don’t know his mother.
Two, he made a good point, which you failed to address.
Three, you resorted to childish antics, re-enforcing what we already know about you… That you’ve yet to grow up.
You’re giving us a very good idea of what your shipmates on the USS Sampson saw of you. Chances are that the guy that asked for help and got it, the alcohol guy, was valuable to the ship. You? Excellent chance that you created a hostile working environment, were difficult to work with, refused constructive criticism, argued against attempts to help you, etc.
You’re at the point to where we have to now approve your comments before they show up here.
Your narcissism is like an anesthetic that dulls the negative effects of actions, and that blinds you to where the real problem lies.
Hint, look into the mirror and you’ll see the one responsible for what you’re going through now.
Not to mention drugs and security clearances just don’t mix.
You have been making threats here… there are people here that have are or have been LEO’s and could make your life real unpleasant…
Threats… fat fingered it.
That auto-spell can be a real Mother Forklift from time to time!
Fixed that for you.
So he can get another government funded roof over his head and three squares?
He can stay on the street doing dope while being a dope and playing his one man band pity party.
Any respect I might have had for you I no longer have. You don’t know any one of us or the family members of any of us. It is terribly, terribly immature of you to call a member’s mother stupid. I now know why you are in the plight you have found yourself. You’re an immature little person, void of common decency. You came here, I suppose, hoping for suggestions to aid you in your attempt to better your life. I have give you the best advice I have, the same advice I would give to a friend/relative I love. Necessarily accompanying that advice is the laying on of verbal abuse. Why? Because you earned it. Don’t come here thinking we will fawn over you. We’re going to trash you b/c you deserve it, but many here have also make sincere recommendations. That you would now resort to calling a troop’s mother ‘stupid’ speaker volumes of you. You are a pathetic little creature and no amount of help from us can change that. You owe an apology to whomever in that chain you disrespected.
And, no, you are not my equal.
Guarantee, huh?
Yeah, no. So don’t even throw the accusations out there.
Acceptance is the first step. I suggest you seek treatment. AA is a good place to start.
Yeah, Italy in 2009. Running around Naples and LaMadd must have been a real motherfucker, to say nothing of doing “The Gut” over in Toulon.
Get some time on the pond, bitch.
You do receive respect. Whenever you appear in court as a defendant, you are called Mr. Trahan, aren’t you? At 5/6″ and 130 lbs. I bet you’re Bubba’s top spin aren’t you? If not yet, that’s the future you can look forward to. As for threats, I know that you don’t have a gun. If you ever did, you sold ot on the street for dope. Now, get back to the dumpster behind the pizzeria. There’s a line forming and those dicks aren’t going to suck themselves.
See, I knew it. He’s got “service connected disabilities.” He likely broke his taint or has the PTS of D from the trauma of standing his watches on the USS Sampson, cuz being on a Navy ship is really scary. Thus, we all owe him a lifetime of VA disability payments and free medical care.
What’s with the attitude keyboard warrior come to Tampa I dare you. Better pray you never see me.
Listen bro you don’t know what I saw on the Sampson it was rough days and I’ve had issues since. So why not quit the schoolyard bullying? A brother making fun of another brother in arms? You are pathetic.
IT2 Trahan
More criminal mindset. You think because you’ve lived on the street, committed crimes and been locked up that makes you a tough guy. It just makes you a crook. I remember some of rgr769 past from things he’s shared here. Be careful what you wish for.
There is one more explanation for why you come back here – you know that we will not coddle you and that we may be the best ones to steer you in the right direction to actually earn the respect you evidently so desperately crave.
Respect. It’s something one earns, not something any of us can expect by simply demanding it. If you want to have some, you must do something to earn it.
Think about it. Should you decide to quit lying about all this and own up to your own responsibility in making bad decisions, that alone puts you on a path which allows others to respect you. What you do after that is your decision, but the possibilities for doing good things for yourself and others are endless.
Nobody can change the mistakes we made in the past. None of us. Most of us haven’t done things for which we could do hard time, but others of us have recovered from being in some very dark places. The direction you go is entirely up to you.
Should you decide that a life enjoying what and who are around you beats what you have now, this group and many others will support you on the journey of getting there. But, before that happens you must make some difficult decisions. Lying to yourself and others doesn’t seem to be working too well for you so you probably need to seriously consider other possibilities.
This being the season of hope and all, I wish it for you, Matt. Only you can take advantage of the possibilities and good things you can make of your life.
I’ve got a pretty good idea what you “saw” under way, toots. Not impressed.
While I won’t “guarantee” it, I feel reasonably confident you would have gone sad panda before the first Maneuvering Watch (that’s the boat version of Sea and Anchor Detail) was called away.
There’s a person who posts here (infrequently) who made an under way or two with me who knows what we did and some of the stuff we’ve done.
Let’s just say the weak didn’t last long. And thieves and druggies got shitcanned so fast they left a vapor trail. Fortunately we had damned few of either.
Matthew, in all your comments you make it quite clear that you are blaming other people for what YOU did.
Not how it works, not at all.
No one – NO ONE – forced you to do anything illegal. You chose it. It’s on YOU, not other people. Refusing to take responsibility for doing stupid things – which everyone has done at one time or another – is up to you.
I repeat: NO ONE FORCED YOU TO DO DRUGS. YOU chose that path.
Grow up.
Trahan,
As it happens, rgr769 was an Army Ranger in Viet Nam. He’s also a card-carrying member of TAH’s resident ‘Nam vet mafia. I’m gonna take a wild guess that your grim comment about “come to Tampa” is going to be about as effective as Pee Wee Herman threatening to let the air out of somebody’s bicycle tires.
He’s wanting to go back to the loving arms of the boys at the BTJT Deli (Home of the WORLD FAMOUS Cockmeat Sammich)… Mr. “Tiny” is looking for him to be his “wife” again.
I’d like to see rgr769 get the opportunity to do some wall to wall counseling on this turd.
Even having a few decades on him, I don’t think there’s anyone here that would bet on Trahan!
Really? I’ve seen a few things myself starting with my time within spitting distance of the Korean DMZ in the early nineties and on my two tours in the Middle East after I came back in after a nine year break in service, just what did you see or have to do before you got yourself in all that trouble? I’ve been through some stuff myself and there are others here on TAH whose experiences make mine look tame, you need to divorce yourself from those demons you carry around with you and learn to live life sans that big chip on your shoulder!
API, he saw Italy. That boot shaped hell gave a lot of men the thousand yard stare…70 years ago. So unless this guy was with my grandpa at the battle of the Rapido River, he can suck a wet fart.
Complaining about Italy. I’d have killed to see Italy on the fed’s dime.
You are not my brother, just another gimmee, looking for a government handout. I sent more than one drugee dipshit like you to the stockade that ended up with an OTH discharge, for charges surprisingly similar to those that got you booted. We didn’t have “spice” in the Viet of the Nam, but heroin was just as illegal. Tell me, if I come to Tampa will I find you on the street holding a cardboard sign? Oh, and I have a pretty good idea what you saw on the Sampson, in peace time, and I doubt it compares to humping a rifle and a rucksack in the jungle and eating nothing but C-rats or cold LRRP rations and sleeping in a hole in the ground 24/7. Go post at the IAVA website; they might listen to your whining more compassionately.
“What’s with the attitude keyboard warrior come to Tampa I dare you. Better pray you never see me.”
Yeah.. right away, because someone will go all the way down there just to confront you over what can be just as easily stated here. Not inconvenient at all, right?
With that attitude it’s safe to say you were a shitbag in the fleet and a shitbag before the fleet and a shitbag since being booted. Good riddance.
I’m still amazed that I got out with an Honorable what with all the shit I pulled.
All I can say is that I have one of the greatest Guardian Angels.
I can sympathize with the ones that got a BCD for reasons that happened while on duty.
Other than that is that I can understand the want to clean up a big dumbass mistake.
Same here. I have a good conduct medal which led me to say “my NCO’s weren’t looking very close.”
However, I have some buddies who got caught pulling shit and now pay the price with a dishonorable discharge. Not once have they whined about it in over two decades. They own it and have moved on.
I took on a project a few years ago that was a case of mishandling of reported rape and rape kit evidence(the disposal there-of), several ART-15’s (nothing too major) a lot of burn pit duty and discovering the perp had a criminal record a mile long, before entering the Army.
The complainant pestered me to help to no end, sending every piece of paperwork the complainant had, plus the
evidence photographs from a medical facility in country complainant was transfered to, before air-med flight to Germany.
Somewhere in the middle of this goat rope, complainant was issued an OTH while en-route to Germany, told to sign the line after discharge from hospital. VA turned down complainant’s application based on the OTH but did get basic medical care. Fast forward; Complainants case
was reviewed by Army board, presentation of supporting documentation, highlighting the mis-handling of rape kit evidence. OTH discharge was upgraded to Honorable, complainant is now fighting major health issues from continual burn pit duties (excessive exposure) and KBR gets a pass from responsibility because they were the contractor responsible for the burning of waste.
So, there are a few that were wrongly discharged, that is a given. It became clear after many months that the complainant’s OTH was done for expediency, specifically for that of the convenience of the company commander, whom took the low road (with a strong possibility but not able to prove) had a spouse that was a BN C/O in another theater whom was consulted on what to do, then had the balls to stand by a shitty investigation and loss of evidence that CID is proud of.
How does another individual “BS” your “DUI, and a few other charges…”?
Shut the fuck up. Go away.
I’d rather see the time, money, advocacy and resources going into this “class action” go towards finding, training and employing better qualified VSOs.
A good VSO can, will and does get those who need and deserve it the upgrades that qualify them for the care they earned. Are there some out there who got a raw deal? Certainly. But the answer, in my opinion, does not include a grandstanding suit that will cause more harm than good.
My one year in the American Legion after I retired I met a “loafer” with chronic low back pain living with his son. The guy told me he had PTSD from getting “rolled” on liberty in Naples in 1982 when on the USS America. He had a PTSD claim in.
If this ass wipe gets anything but a denial letter I’ll be pissed. I phased out from the A.L. when I realized they were not really military and more like the Lion’s Club. Mostly nice guys though.
CAPT Bones USN (ret)
Class action? lolz
Fukk these guys.
This is what you sound like. 🙄
But, seriously, you’re proving to us, the more you post, why none of your shipmates wanted anything to do with you, and why they got rid of you when they kept someone else that “fucked up”.
You have anger control issues, narcissism issues, have a thin skin, and demonstrate other characteristics of someone that can’t handle constructive criticism, and who has to have things go his way.
Follow the advice that all of us give you here. In fact, bookmark this page and come back here on a regular bases. Read everything that we say until you get that “EUREKA” moment, the light bulb comes on, etc.
You’re going nowhere fast, and your attitude shows that you’re going to be in this predicament longer than you realize.
Realize that you’re wrong, you’re not right.
Mr. Trahan (not IT2, seems you’ve rightfully lost the right to claim that title), if you are indicative of the people involved in this case, then I see this not going well for you.
What a bunch of losers.
Curious as to how many went AWOL as well.
Fuck them. They were substandard then and now they want some cash for their “service”.
Mental issues made me smoke crack! And steal from my friends! And get a DUI!
I got you beat, GT.
My cats made me buy catnip for them so they could get dizzy.
It’s all their fault. I didn’t have to buy that stuff for them, but they made me!!
Like you GT, I wonder what percentage of them:
Went AWOL to avoid deploying or some other lame excuse
Popped hot for drugs
Were recipients of Field Grade Article 15’s
Had multiple UCMJ Actions
Were separated for DUI and how many had more than one
Were convicted by Court Martial
Were perpetually sub-par in multiple ways
Or any combination thereof?
Taking a General Discharge used to be the easy way out of a Court Martial.
I remember seeing that, a number of Units used that as a quick, easy and cheaper way of jettisoning their ash and trash.
Here’s one to throw on the list:
Anyone that claimed to be homosexual during the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” period to get out a set of undesirable orders or deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan? God, I lost count of how many played that card wen I was the DFA at HM “A” School in the early 2000’s. The anti-war types were telling Sailors about playing that card to get separated.
Orders to go to war sure tells who joined for real and who just came in for the freebies, don’t they? I remember seeing some Soldiers bawling to snooze reporters that they joined for the college benefits, etc. and NOT to go get shot at after 9/11.
Took a while to catch up on the Trahan saga but I gotta say that was some great reading.
Top notch, level headed advice from people he wishes were his peers.
Excellent teamwork getting the truth out of him as he lost his rudder and spun in.
And what the hell is Spice?
Synthetic marijuana.
Most of the materials used to make it are banned by the FDA, DEA, or both.
https://drugabuse.com/library/the-effects-of-spice-use/
Tanks NHSparky. Stuff sounds like pot with glue and sawdust.
This stuff ain’t the Woodstock era dope. I had a guy pending early exit from the Army that decided to spice up his Friday afternoon. Him and his buddy spent the weekend tripping heavy in Huachuca canyon. Partner wandered out Monday morning, MP’s picked him up. I had 50 people searching for the other turd burglar, he wandered out of Garden Canyon, buck naked, screaming that the jackals were gonna get him. And Matthew here says it’s no big deal.
Be a lot less harmful if it was. Heart and liver damage for starters, along with a bunch of other stuff it would take IDC SARC or HMCS/HMC to explain.
Millennials apparently aren’t stupid enough, so they have to smoke stranger and stranger chemicals. Like bath salts, potpourri, and synthetic weed (cause weed is so hard to find?). Takes them from an already borderline functional IQ to a drooling window-licker.
“Bath Salts” is a marketing nickname first given to the synthetic weed compounds, I remember hearing about ones like “”K2” and a few others, they first popped up in “Stop & Rob” stores in seedy areas as well as headshops.
It was bath salts that famously had that dude in Florida eating that other dude’s face off in broad daylight.
Sounds like fun. Where do I get some?
Just check the “off limits” memo posted at your local military installation. The smoke shops are probably top of the list.
Drugfacts.gov shows this as the effects of Spice:
Synthetic cannabinoid users report some effects similar to those produced by marijuana:
-elevated mood
-relaxation
-altered perception—awareness of surrounding objects and conditions
-symptoms of psychosis—delusional or disordered thinking detached from reality
Psychotic effects include:
-extreme anxiety
-confusion
-paranoia—extreme and unreasonable distrust of others
-hallucinations—sensations and images that seem real though they are not
Sounds familiar.
Spice is a truly horrible drug and the effect it has on a person can vary widely. The way it is marketed is really ingenious. When a ‘variety’ comes on the market, the State determines its components. They then make those components illegal. Doesn’t stop the dope peddlers, though, they simply make slight changes in the components and presto, it’s back on the shelves. It’s sold in head shops, mom & pop stores, etc. Then the cycle repeats. It’s a losing battle for the States. They have to identify each ingredient when a change is made. There can be a lag time of several weeks or months between the arrival of the new ‘variety’ and the State’s ability to determine its components and make it illegal. Yes, there was a case where a person partially chewed off the face of another. People have been known to go batshit crazy while on the stuff. I’m not sure if this is being addressed on a national level. Perhaps those in the know, the LEOs and others, can advise re this.
I do know one thing for absolute certainty … this stuff can make one crazy out of their mind or have pretty much no effect on them. There is no way a Sailor can fulfill their duties to the Navy and still smoke this stuff, even if they do so while in a liberty status. As HMCS mentioned, the Sailor is on duty 24/7. There truly is no absolute down time for a member of the armed forces. For someone to say they ‘only’ smoked spice is to be mistaken as to the effects of this drug and the legality of smoking it. Well, I imagine it is that effect that the individual is seeking.
Trahan says that spice was not illegal until, I think, 2011. IDK the timeline and it’s really not important. He had to know it was illegal for him to smoke or it would not have to be done in secrecy. He says he was in slightly less than 5 years and the good he did outweighs his smoking dope. That’s not how it works. If it were, an individual could act with impunity given their having a sufficient number of years of active duty. That others did it and the ship had a bad reputation re drug abuse does not justify his behavior.
If you came here for absolution, you’re not going to get it. You seem to think that we will support you in your struggle for exoneration. No, not gonna happen. Even if we did, what difference would it make? We have given you advice and that’s the best we can do for you. I know of no one in high places who can reverse your OTH status.
“He had to know it was illegal for him to smoke or it would not have to be done in secrecy.”
Nailed it, Sir.
But again,maybe somebody else held the lighter. Wasn’t ALL his fault…
By that standard, my high school did me an injustice. I was railroaded. Myself and three… associates… were unfairly suspended. Bill had a firecracker, Dave had matches, I lit it, John threw it into the auditorium. We all got a 3 day suspension even though it wasn’t 1 individual’s fault. Not fair! Where’s my lawer, I want a class-action suit!
Who built such an accessable auditorium? Negligence! Negligence!
The MILPERSMAN makes it clear… you have the stuff in your possession and your booted out for drug abuse. I has a Sailors that “borrowed” a piece of luggage from a “roommate”. When the barracks was swept by drug sniffing dogs, they went nuts over his bag – when it was opened, they found a baggie of “spice”. NCIS tested it and the idiot was booted out with an OTH for drug abuse… this happened in 2004.
I made the mistake of googling his name.
Mugshots galore. Drugs.
This entire thread should be introduced as evidence in the Class Action to show just what is at play here.
They should require all cases to be reviewed by TAH with recommendations up or down.
Then proceed accordingly.
If this is the same guy, they weren’t all for drugs.
https://www.rapsheets.org/florida/palmetto-jail/TRAHAN_MATTHEW/10513914
Nice guy. If all he got from the Navy was a BCD, he may have gotten off light.
I’m sure that Mr. Trahan has many another arrest to come in the future given the attitude he displayed here.
Likes beating on pregnant women, eh?
Talk about “bravery”.
Something tells me he won’t be coming back.
Listen Sparky hit the road jack and dont you come back. Listen I have done things I am not proud of and had the Navy helped me I would be a Master Chief right now and have a succcessful Naval Career but I was cohersed into doing drugs and rated out and railroaded.
When you walk in my shoes and do things you are not proud of and are taken advantage of just for a roof and some food then you can talk. I have had people take advantage of me and I deal with it becaues I need a roof for the nirght. This lawsuit is going to help a brother in arms.
No, you would not have made Chief by now, let alone Master Chief.
You’re a fuckup in virtually every sense of the words, and too stupid to realize it.
Cohersed, or coerced, either way, nobody held a gun to your head and made you bake your brain, then get behind the wheel. As I and everyone else have told you over the last 3 days, your issues are of your own making.
As far as making Chief, or anything in life not involving paper hats and a fryolaytor, you have to lead by example. In your case, people follow you, but only out of a morbid sense of curiosity.
Mr. Trahan, you are fooling nobody but yourself! You’re living under a lake of lies and letting your inner demons feast on you in both mind and soul. You telling NHSparky to hit the road will go nowhere, he’s been a TAH Regular for longer than I have and I’ve been here for some time, that’s like going into a neighborhood bar for the second time and telling a longtime regular customer to take off and never come back. I do hope you wake up to the truth about yourself and your past before you end up either in prison or an early grave. Don’t bother looking for me, especially in Tarpon Springs or New Port Richey!
You could have had a successful naval career. You chose instead to be a fuck up. You have by now confirmed to all here that you have risen the fuck up ranks and are now certified as a Master Fuck Up First Class.
Feel free to use that in your signature in place of the rating you forfeited when you shat on your service.
Listen I might even reenlist after this lawsuit and my discharge is corrected.
I’m still waiting to hear how that’s going to happen, even if his discharge gets upgraded.
Something about that RE-4 (which won’t EVER get changed) will make that slightly problematic, not to mention the fact he likes beating on pregnant women.
You? Re-up? Are you really this disconnected from reality that you think you can wipe clean a sordid, tattered history that YOU created all YOUR lonesome?
I don’t know what you’re smoking now, but if it makes you this delusional, you should stop before a bus hits you.
Get some counseling. Do it now. You are delusional if you think the Navy would take you back.
I said, and will repeat: NOBODY MADE YOU SMOKE SPICE. IT WAS YOUR CHOICE.
Oh. LOOKIEEE!!!
He says here ‘I’d be a Master Chief’, whereas below, he sayd ‘I’d be Chief’.
Looks like Trahan can’t keep his stories straight, because now he’s contradicting himself here and in a couple of other places.
Yeah, da troot route is H-A-R-D.
Well, on to other things!
I stopped searching after three hits.
That one is a ringer.
What a POS
Looks like Matt has a history on the ‘web. Saw a profile of him on a acting/modeling page. Also, shows up as a health insurance salesman in Florida.
Saw a couple of restraining orders for domestic violence and he’s been evicted from a couple of apartments and a couple of citations.
A real weenier…
“but it was just a little spice, no big deal”.
Had I not received a BCD I would be in a better spot. I would have access to mental health help. As I stated I was sold out and was unjustly prosectured have had issues since.
This lawsuit will help me get my life on track and get off the cheeva. Drugs are terrible and I feel victim because a shipmmate got me into them. I was a stellar sailor and had I not of been kicked out of the NAvy I probably would be sailor of the year right now. Probably would be a Chief right now being a star sailor. I am not kidding I had a great career ahead of me but individuals lead me wrong.
Kid, right now your career path is a long greasy slide into a cold lonely death. Your excuses are your death warrant. You don’t have time to wait for this lawsuit. You need to start talking to mental health and rehab people now, as in you should be reaching for your damn phone as you read this.
“mental health help”
Free help is avaiable. Walk into a Lutheren Church. Be nice. They will point you in the right direction. Be humble.
You’ve had issue before you took your first hit, sonny. Again, your LPO probably breathed a sigh of relief the day you got the boot.
You’re 31 years old and you can’t get your shit in one sock? Every damn issue in your life is because it’s someone else’s fault, not your’s. You can’t see your kid, because of her mother. You’re kicked out of the Navy with a BCD because you were “rated” out. You have been arrested and sued because of someone else… never because of Matthew Randall Trahan. The problem is MATTHEW RANDALL TRAHAN, not everyone else.
BTW – you never would have been a Master Chief, nor a Chief, because of you fucking up and never taking responsibility for your actions. If it wasn’t getting kicked out for Drug Abuse, larceny and God knows what else, your history of domestic abuse and failing to honor your debts would have gotten you kicked out. I’m guessing you were a smart kid that didn’t use a lot off common sense to keep yourself out of the DivO or DivCPO’s office for a daily ass chewing.
Grow the fuck up, MATTHEW RANDALL TRAHAN…
I would have been a Master Chief. I was shit hot before my shipmmate dupped me into spice. I was on my way. I was a star sailor always a 5.0 on all evals. I never got in trouble until this one incident. Then after that my life turned to garbage.
After this lawsuit I might reenlist after my discharge is corrected. Stranger things have happened.
Listen boy I have grown up. I am a man I am just at a rough point in my life. I asked for freakin SHARPE and never got the help I asked for. I asked OSC Jurnigan and ENC Cuttler for help. IT1 got to go to Sharpe but not me…why not? exactly, I never recieved a counseling which I should have.
Don’t count on it… you’re present history shows that you haven’t learned a fucking thing, except to blame your troubles on everything else.
BTW – I’m 20 years older that you… you’re just a little thug punk wanna be. I’ve done things in my life that never got me a BCD from the Navy or arrested. I’m at peace with my life and have very few regrets… and take responsibility when I fuck up.
” IT1 got to go to Sharpe but not me…why not? exactly, I never recieved a counseling which I should have.” Because you were in possession of spice (read above = drug abuse) and busted for a few other things. Why give a dirt bag like you a chance to stay in when the IT1 probably had a few redeeming traits to keep in him.
Get a clue… and a life.
The military has this thing called a “limited use policy” concerning drugs. Basically, it says if you use drugs, and you come forward and admit it, you will be given the help you need and you will not be prosecuted.
However.
If you piss hot, get caught in possession of, or are otherwise busted for drugs, your ass is done. Game over, thanks for playing, there’s the door.
You are exhibit 1 of how that works.
Stop with this “unjustly prosectured” bullshit. You’ve already admitted here, in an open forum, that you broke the law and regulations and consumed a prohibited substance.
You’re right where you belong with that massive chip on your shoulder, in the gutter with the other trash.
Some guys on here have given you great advice, showing true compassion (if a little tough love). They have given you here what you said you lacked in the service; mentorship and guidance from experienced senior NCOs. That you say you want it and then ignore it and attack the people trying to help says lots about you as a person.
Grow the f— up. Be a man and take some responsibility for your life. Even saying that this lawsuit is somehow going to turn your life into sunshine and roses is still yet another way of expecting someone else to fix your screw ups.
Yeah, Trahan, and you like beating up pregnant women, too. So how do YOU expect any reasoning being to believe anything you say?
Just grow up. Grow the fuck up now. Shut your piehole and grow up.
To quote shaggy “It wasent me” and I was fully exnorated in a court of law. I am grown up. All my issues can be traced back to one minor error in judgement and if I can rectify it I am on my way to moving on up.
You don’t get it. You’re not the only one with errors on their record.. Errors on your record are not the problem.. It’s how you deal with the whole “pick your head up and move on” thing..
And, if you think getting your bad discharge upgraded is going to help you “move on up” (magically change your life), you’re mistaken.. If you haven’t already been clawing your way to get to where you want to be then you have no desire to “move on up” and an upgrade will not change that. Errors on your record, bad conduct discharges, etc do not prevent people from going to college, getting good jobs, being successful, etc. The folks on this thread are right, even the ones who are a little harsh.. Get your mind right. An upgrade should be the least of your concerns right now and if you can’t see that, well… keep trying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efHzGxEzDQA
So how do you rectify it, un-smoke the spice? Sorry, ain’t gonna happen. What CAN happen is you find some help getting your head and ass wired correctly and dealing with your existing problems. The old problems are far astern.
Sorry, but with all the other nonsense you’ve posted here, I find it difficult to believe anything you say, now and in the future.
So beating up women, especially pregnant women, is one of his more charming qualities???
I’m sure he will show up to defend his indefensible behavior… except it isn’t really HIS fault, eh?
It’s plain that his current history is at least as bad as his prior history.
I’m sure he’d come up with some lame-ass excuse saying that she made him do it, what a damned dirtbag!
That never happened and was fabricated and I was fully exnorated in a court of law.
PROVE IT!!!!
What probably happens, as often does in domestic violence cases, is the victim recants or refuses to cooperate with the prosecution. Usually because their either completely snowed by the SOB and that “he’s changed” or because they’re terrified of him.
Either way, in the court of public opinion, he’s a pregnant woman beating, dope smoking, not honorably discharged loser.
Sheesh, lots of spelling mistakes on that one. Sorry TAH grammar police.
Sister Mary Grace forgiveth thee, since it is between Christmas Christmas and Orthodox Christmas. She covers all aspects of such things, including Norse gods chasing off the Frost Giants by burning the Yule Log.
Matthew Randall Trahan will blame the woman, he committed domestic violence against, for “ratting” him out.
Just looking at his conduct here, it’s easy to see that his poor judgement int he Navy followed him throughout his life. He doesn’t have a series of life accomplishments that he could be proud of.
So, he’s trying to gun for improving his discharge characterization as a “consolation” price. If he continues to rake up one failure after another, in two decades we could potentially see a stolen valor post of him claiming to be a SEAL or something. 🙄
Matthew Randall Trahan has control, anger, narcissistic, stress, and other issues. A Google search of his name shows the link to the above post.
To quote Shaggy “It wasnt me” Also this inciedent was totally fabricated.
THAT’S what nearly every guilty perp says as soon as they’re arrested and/or questioned. SURVEY SAYS, *BZZZZZZT!*.
I knew a guy who came out of prison who told me that he not only did what he was convicted of but that he did a great deal more. The reason for his honesty was that he was clean and sober and a changed man. He joined AA and NA in the joint and wasn’t gaming the system for good-time credits. Aside from him, no one ever did shit to land in jail or prison. Just minding their own business and the next thing you know they were sing, “Nobody knows, the trouble I seen…”
Oh ABSOLUTELY, I always heard that there is no such thing as a Guilty Man in any jail or prison!
“could potentially see a stolen valor post of him claiming to be a SEAL or something”
I would rather be in his present situation than end up here as SV.
You truly can see Hell from here.
He came here seeking validation, and got a rude awakening instead. But, he’s not waking up. Not hearing what he wants to hear is “hell” for him.
Matthew Randall Trahan, you continue to shift blame, as if you’re hell bent on on convincing us, and convincing yourself by a larger extent, of your misconceptions about who you are, as well as your misconceptions of other’s impacts on you.
Own up to the fact that you screwed yourself in the past. You’re proving to us that what happened to you, with regards to the Navy and the USS SAMPSON, was warranted. The wrong wasn’t on their end. The wrong was on your end.
Plain and simple, if you didn’t smoke spice, something you clearly have control over, you wouldn’t have been hammered for smoking spice.
Your poor judgement, and your refusal to own up to the results of your poor judgement, are what’s screwing you over and making your life harder. Not the other people. You.
The sooner you accept responsibility for your actions, the sooner you accept the reality that you’re the one that brought this on yourself, the sooner you could move forward.
You need to seek help. You also need to follow our advice. What we’ve done, over these past few days, was given you a gift. We’ve given you the key to freedom from what you got yourself into. We’ve also given you the key to move forward to a better life.
You have to accept and use that key.
According to one mugshot, he’s a hulky 5’6” and 130 pounds, barely a baitfish!
See what happens when you go on that “special diet” at the BTJT Deli (Home of the WORLD FAMOUS Cockmeat Sammich and Ghey Whey Shake).
Cocaine, meth, and/or heroin will do that to ya. Great weight loss program.
It’s not uncommon for overweight people, especially women, to resort to meth to lose weight. Problem is, they are immediately hooked. I was talking with a mental health professional who told me that the instant one takes a smoke from a meth pipe, it immediately rearranges their brain cells, receptors or some such stuff. I don’t understand it. After that most, perhaps all, can no longer use the drug recreationally, their body demands it. Yeah, meth users are often easy to ID. They have sores, often on their face, b/c they have the sensation of ‘bugs’ under their skin. They often have rotten or no teeth. They can lose tremendous amounts of weight. The drug big time drug pushers should be given the choice of a bullet or a rope. Fuck them and the poison they sell. And don’t get me started on the ‘war’ on drugs.
Meth is also a sex drug. More so for women. Or so I am told.
Trahan is just like every other alcoholic/drug addict in denial. Every problem they have is someone else’s fault.
“No, it wasn’t because I was smoking spice, it was because my shipmate ratted me out.”
True story time: I had a best friend that I had known since elementary school. His name was John. We were in Scouts together, took the same classes, hung out a lot. Our birthdays were one day apart, and we were inseparable most of the time.
In high school, we both smoked a little weed. Hey, it was the 70’s, what can I say? After graduation, he went to college, I went into the Army.
John was one of the smartest, funniest guys I knew. I still have the letters he wrote me in Basic Training, they cracked me up.
We still got along great but somewhere along the way he “graduated” to harder drugs. We stayed in contact by letter but only saw each other intermittently.
By the late 1980’s, I was on active duty at Fort Lewis and his life had taken a definite turn for the worst. Lost jobs, kicked out of apartments. (Keep in mind, this was a guy with a college degree and a teaching certificate.)
Every time I talked to him, the one thing that struck me was the same thing that struck me with reading Trahan’s comments above: Nothing was his fault. Nothing.
If he lost his job, it wasn’t because he was too strung out on drugs (heroin, at one time) to work. No, it was because “the boss has it in for me.”
If he got arrested for committing small time thefts, it wasn’t because he was committing small time thefts it was because he was on foot “if I’d been on my bicycle, the cops would never have caught me!” he asserted.
If his credit was wrecked it was because “my roommate ran up a huge phone bill and then left and hey, I’m not going to pay it!”
I John briefly in 1998, when I returned home to Colorado after a deployment to the Balkans.
The thing that occurred to me was that the way he talked, the way he thought, the way he acted, was exactly like he was in high school.
We were both 36 years old but John still acted like he was 17.
Every now and then he’d just disappear. Then a few months later he’d contact me again, and the story was all the same: He fell off the wagon, got strung out on drugs, etc. But now he was committed to getting clean!
I last talked to him in the Spring of 1999. He was “getting his act together.” We talked, I gave him my phone number, didn’t hear from him again.
In November of 2005 I got an email from a mutual friend. Apparently John had gotten into a minor accident on his bicycle. He’d been treated at the ER and sent home, but I guess he got an infection. When he didn’t check in with his family on Thanksgiving day, his brother went to check on him and found him dead. They didn’t say how long he had been there.
Was it drugs that killed him? Not directly. He didn’t OD or get shot by a dealer. His family said he had been ‘clean’ at the time of his death (not sure I believe that, but I wasn’t in contact with them so who’s to say?)
Nevertheless, it was certainly the screwed up, dysfunctional lifestyle he led that eventually caused his premature death at the age of 43. What a waste of a great mind.
R.I.P. John Sisneros, 1961 – 2005.
And my point in telling this story is that I see the same kind of future in store for Trahan if he doesn’t start accepting some responsibility for the things in his life.
There are people who have committed horrible crimes and who have gone on to be decent human beings so I like to think that nobody is truly “irredeemable.”
But it’s got to start with accepting responsibility. Matt, blaming other people for screwing up your life is a dead end. Start taking responsibility for what you’ve done and that’s the first step on making a better life for yourself.
“There are people who have committed horrible crimes and who have gone on to be decent human beings so I like to think that nobody is truly “irredeemable”.
I concur! I have known and worked in my past with at least a few who did prison time in their past and were open about it with me, those guys did NOT give off any of the crap that our spice boy did, they’d look you or me in the eyes and say they didn’t blame anyone but themselves once they realized they had done wrong and were paying for it. One of them even told me that every now and then someone who was once a fellow inmate would contact him saying they had another “game” or something to that effect and his response was “Hell no, I’ve gone straight and I’m staying there!”
Yep. Every screw up any of us has ever known remained a screw up until they decided to be something other than a screw up. None of them accidentally fell into a better way of life. They had likely all bumped into better on multiple occasions but were only able to take advantage of the good offered to them after they decided to be better.
All the screwed up things in my life were either my dumbass moves, or random bad chance with my dumbass response.
Oddly, once i realized that, life suddenly got easier and better. Doing great now.
Weird, huh?
I can always count on 2/17 to be the most compassionate among us. His latest:
“Now, get back to the dumpster behind the pizzeria. There’s a line forming and those dicks aren’t going to suck themselves.”
I don’t care who you are, that’s some funny shit. I have in the past made similar suggestions but, Trahan, I’m thinking that won’t help you get your life back on track. I’ll say this, though, if your appeal ever again goes before the board, they will almost certainly conduct a social media search of your net activity. The problems you have had with the law will be available to them. There is no way around that. Also, they are likely to stumble on this site. When they read your threats, your not accepting responsibility, and your general attitude that everything that happened to you is someone else’s fault, you’re going to be dead meat. You say you’ve been before them twice (?), so doing so a third time will be difficult, unless you’re part of this class action movement and your case will be a mandatory review.. Third time might be a charm but you have so many negatives I don’t see you prevailing. I would start racking up positive attributes and hope that sways the board. Maybe you could cure cancer or something. If not, you should probably just take the advice from 2/17.
Given your history with drugs in the civilian sector and the way you treat women, I’m not even sure I want you to be successful with your appeal.
That’s some funny shit. Man, I love this site.
I kindly disagree they have 0 time to look at social media and I have done well. I give to charity like the Salvation Army. Hell man I am living in a freaking motel. How are my hard times funny? Vets bullying other vets you should be ashamed.
Matthew, you’re missing something here. Those who decide the merits of your case aren’t working in a vacuum. Don’t say they have 0 time to conduct a review. They have at their disposal others who will do this. You can research on Google the composition of the board. You’re just winging it when you say they have 0 time for this review. Also, how is the board going to know you donate to the Salvation Army and how will that help you? They will want examples of your having changed your life. Of importance will be letters from members of the community extolling your virtues. Letters should be from members of the clergy, local politicians, business leaders, retired and active members of the military and other prominent persons. Don’t bother with letters from Uncle Ralph; those carry no weight and, in the absence of letters from those I have mentioned, note desperation on your part. Well, I’ve kinda laid out a scenario that might be beneficial to you. Don’t know if you deserve any such help. And, please, stop blaming others. Also, there is 0 possibility you will be allowed back into the service. Absolutely none. The Navy has 0 interest in your services. You’re delusional to think otherwise.
One more thing. You keep returning with the same song and dance. I’m beginning to think this is entertaining to you and you are stringing us along. No one can be as dense as you seem to be. Could be wrong re that. I would like to know what steps, this week, you plan to take to improve your life such that the BCNR (?) will upgrade your discharge? What will you do? Giving to charity doesn’t count.
Matthew: Did you come here thinking we would hold hands and hum a religious chant? You knew what we were about prior to your coming here. Do we find this funny? Not so much funny as entertaining. Most here have given you valid advice, the advice you would pay someone for in the civilian sector. Stop blaming us and your Chiefs. Believe it or not, YOU’RE the bad guy here, not us or your Chiefs or PO1. You have yet to accept that reality as gospel.
HMC, there is a certain “Hymn” that the mighty TAH choir sings on occasion.
Hymm F? Yes.
“How are my hard times funny?” No one is poking fun at hard times, yours and anyone’s. We are roasting YOU, bright light.
THOU fucketh thyself, Mr. Trahan, IMHO you came here with a blame-everyone-else jailhouse attitude and we pointed it out to you in TAH-style fashion and that you will continue to have a lifetime of misery until you either turn around and own up to your actions or an early grave, nearly everyone here on TAH has been around the proverbial block at least a few times!
I helped to pave the damn block, API.
I can agree with that, you were probably out in the SE Asian jungles paying your dues while I was sucking on a bottle and shitting in diapers!
It seems to me that in your case, the Navy system worked perfectly, Mr. Trahan.
“or anything in life not involving paper hats and a fryolaytor …”
Man, that’s some funny stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuZofpHiLYc
I’m not sure I’d even hire him to be a shit-shoveler with the attitude he has now, his job future has sweeping, mopping, taking out trash and MAYBE working the deep fat fryer!
Looks like you guys have been busy over Christmas. I tried catching up on this Matthew Randall Trahan nonsense, but it’s been difficult due to the fact that he’s either an illiterate dipshit or he’s actually writing in some other language that may or may not be part of the Germanic family.
From what I gather, it appears that the sole purpose of Trahan’s existence is to serve as a warning to others.
Dumfuk doesn’t even realize that the Sailor who “rated him out” probably saved his life.
I’ve been wondering how he could be “rated out.” Not sure what it means to “rate someone out.” Bad performance evaluation, perhaps? Since the past tense of the colloquial American English verb “to rat” would be “ratted.” But then again, I’m not entirely sure the dickhead is actually speaking/writing English. He’s definitely a world-class seven-layer loser either way.
Exactly. I’m an alcoholic and did some dumb shit and got caught. I realize that that as well as realizing that I was about to lose everything saved my life. If I had continued down that path I would have drank myself into an early grave.
My PTSD (or anything else besides my own choices) did not make me drink. My decision to take what I thought was the easy route and self medicate did. The days of drinking a beer or two while watching football are over for me. That ship has sailed. If I have one I will have 13. For me the first one is a choice and I won’t stop after that.
It’s my fault and nobody else’s. The sooner Matt realizes that for himself the better it will be for him and those around him.
Here is how it will all work out:
VA disability is awarded for conditions caused by or “exacerbated” by military service.
If he ever gets to file a claim it will be for a drug addiction “exacerbated” by military service. Personality disorder “exacerbated” by military service. Bed wetting “exacerbated by military service. Excessive masturbation “exacerbated” by military service.
The class action needs to fail.
I’m really surprised the class got certified. Typically class actions are certified where the type of injury or loss and the fact pattern between class members is relatively similar.
IOW, you buy a defective left-handed widget and it falls apart and hurts you. Pretty much everybody who bought the defective widget suffered the same damages and the redress (compensation for damages) is pretty much the same for all class members.
But this is going to involve thousands of cases, each one with a unique fact pattern, so I don’t see how it qualifies for class action status.
Somewhere above, among the 200+ cmts is my link to that decision. Should be north of here in the top 50 acres.