The Broken Soldier

For the last few days I’ve had a little fun at my tormentors’ expense. Why not? Fallacy theory is easy, in Army and Guard attempts to justify action and inaction fallacies are numerous, and I’ve been dying to put my overpriced, underutilized education to use. And of course, my life is full of pain, worry, loneliness, and boredom. This series served to distract me from that life for 5-10 minutes a day. But in reflecting on this series I realized I was adding to the confusion surrounding this issue.

This is very simple. I have a line of duty injury. The Army and Guard are required by law to treat it. They’ve not done so fully. The Guard is required by law to give me six months of incapacitation pay. They have not done so. They justify not accomplishing what they are required to do by law by falsely claiming I have not satisfied their requests for paperwork.

The justifications the Army and Guard have used for their actions and inactions are disgusting. Beyond bad form and bad content, their arguments are violations of law and our shared ethics, and are affronts to common sense. While the arguers deserve to be derided for the stupidity and apparent lack of serious concern for the very real harm they’ve caused their arguments reveal, I will never again intentionally confuse the matter with satire or anything else. I am permanently disabled, suffering from major clinical depression and chronic pain, I’m addicted to pain medication, and I’ve taken the first step towards declaring bankruptcy. There’s nothing funny, theoretical, or academic about this.