Relating my experience about Ft. Benning.
I've often been accused of being a "chicken hawk", a keyboard member of the elite 101st. Because I support the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and believe they should be won.
I rarely respond to those attacks, because there are parts of my personal life that are painful for me. You see I enlisted in the military in February 2006, and I was sent to Ft. Benning, Georgia to commence training my OSUT training to become an 11x in July of 2006.
Infantry for the uneducated.
I had initially feared to enter the military because my vision is... horrible, I make no bones about it but I thought perhaps the proper glasses would be enough to allow me to join.
Well I went through MEP's, and during the eye review is where my tenuous journey began. I was summarily informed that I had nystagmus, a disease of the eye that entailed "rapid involuntary rhythmic eye movement, with the eyes moving quickly in one direction (quick phase), and then slowly in the other (slow phase)"
I was devastated, and waiting the two weeks for the eye consul remained the most stressful of my life. Finally after a review by an eye physician I was told that I had just barely made it over the line, by the skin of my teeth.
I want to say something here, my recruiter told me flat out that this could come back to haunt me. He said that I would be subjected to more stringent tests at processing at Ft. Benning and there was a chance I would be discharged.
I continued my enlistment process knowing the risk, so after I departed and arrive at Ft. Benning. I went through more eye tests, was sent to a specialist.
Here is where the break down of Army bureaucracy begins; you see when you first arrive at processing. You arrive with as many as two hundred other guys, and bonds are instantly formed with these men.
It amazed me how quickly bonds formed within a week, so after I was done processing a PA made a mistake on my file. They should have held me from shipping "down range" to begin my training, but they didn't.
So I began the first two weeks of my training, and it was hard but more rewarding then anything I've ever done. Then on our annual day of rest (Sunday) I was called into my Senior Drill Sergeants office.
He summarily gave me a report from an eye specialist that recommended my immediate discharge because in his view my nystagmus was far worse then the doctors at MEP's thought.
My DS told asked me about my eyes, and I told him the scrap of truth as painful as it was about how hard it was sometimes to see it was. I did this was because integrity is a core value the Army instills, and my Drill Sergeants are men who I respected deeply.
Taking upon himself he sent me to no less then two other doctors, who agreed with the other doctor’s initial diagnosis. I was completely blown away, and when all that evidence was in front of me.
I cried that night, for the first time since my brother had died. My dream of serving was being crushed because I was to damn blind; anyone familiar with nystagmus knows that laser surgery is not available to cure it.
I was already using the strongest glasses prescription available, and combined with their recommendations my drill sergeants had no choice but to discharge me.
I know the reason, as much as I yearned to be with my buddies why they are in harms way. I would have been more of a liability then a help with my eyes, and would have endangered them.
My buddies from my platoon were understanding, and the best friends any guy could ever ask for. Nine weeks later I arrived home, and I decided to enroll in college.
There might come a day, I really hope it does that my vision can be fixed and if it does I intend to reenlist with all due haste. Because for a short time I was apart of something great, and literally living my childhood dream.
I want to say something very clear, so there is no mistake.
I am not a veteran, I am not someone who was sent in harms way to fight why my family existed in a perpetual state of fear I might night be coming back. I was a guy who was allowed the privilege of wearing the uniform of the United States Army for four months.
I'm writing this diary to present a view, that the next time you call someone a chicken hawk... please make sure the title is deserved.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...