Printer Friendly Page

VETERAN HAS NO REGRETS, ONLY FRUSTRATIONS WITH

VA TREATMENT -- "The VA is really screwin'

so many people."

 

 

Story here... http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=
17496135&BRD=1306&PAG=461&dept_id=187823&rfi=6

Story below.

--------------- 

Veteran has no regrets, only frustrations with treatment

By: Mischa Aaron Arnosky, Staff Writer

Staff Sgt. Peter Pinnel of Cheltenham isn't bitter about the time he spent in Iraq or even the time he's spent in Afghanistan or Kosovo.

Joining the U.S. Army right out of high school, Pinnel knew the risks and accepted them. It's how he's been treated after arriving home that's causing him a problem.

Sitting in his Cheltenham home, wearing a Miller High Life baseball cap and smoking a cigarette, Pinnel, 26, is not the kind of veteran who would get a second glance by anyone rudely staring - he's almost got "regular guy" status, but beyond his appearance it's clear he was affected by his tour in Bayji, near Tikrit in Iraq.

Even though Pinnel put in his time and was completely out of the Army, he re-enlisted after getting a call from a friend who was being deployed to Iraq. His friend said the combat experience of Pinnel would help his unit.

"I said, 'I'll go to Iraq with you, Hell yeah!'"

He left in December 2004 with Alpha Co. 1st Battalion 111th Infantry, out of Philadelphia, with quite a few Cheltenham High School graduates.

"I wanted to make sure a few soldiers came home, because I knew how to do that, at least," Pinnel said. "And I'm not bitter about it now, but I'm disgusted with the way the officers acted."

Pinnel said while on the quick reactionary force, he would perform about two patrols per day - about 40 patrols per month.

"Quick reactionary force is basically like being a fireman sitting at a fire station," Pinnel said. "You get called out whenever 911 calls and you could get sent out seven times a day."

While on patrol he said his lieutenants and those above him were hard to work with. He said the higher-ranking officers wouldn't go out on the missions with him - they didn't have to, but he said he recommended several of his men for Bronze Medals with Valor, and none has received them.

"It's not so much the lieutenants, because they're new and don't know any better," Pinnel said, "but those above them. Their job is to hand out a mission packet, and for that, they get all the medals. I thought that had to be addressed."

Complaining about officers seemed to be a form of venting for Pinnel. In spite of higher-ranking officers allegedly taking advantage of him, Pinnel had bigger problems as the result of a May 14, 2005, roadside explosion.

"Everyone gets banged up a lot in combat, but when you get hit by an IED, your truck shakes somethin' terrible," Pinnel said. "You really get knocked around."

Pinnel lifted his right pant leg to reveal his calf - which still had shards of metal in it.

"A little bit of the floorboard blew out, it wasn't much, just a few holes and I look down and say, 'Wow, I'm glad that didn't hit me,' but I didn't realize at the time that it did because I had my kneepads on," he said. "It didn't bleed much because it instantly cauterizes."

Pinnel also took a small shotgun round to the face. He said because troops were so spread out at the time, he went back on patrol.

Pinnel arrived home in November of last year. According to his parents, he shows signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, has trouble sleeping and has terrible dreams.

"A lot of Peter's internal anguish is because of his job - picking up body parts," his father, Roger, said. "We've heard his stories into the early morning about his recurring dreams, trying to match body parts and being bombed."

"He's been living in this 24/7 situation of a war going on, and after a year, it takes its toll," his mother, Frances, said. "It's bad enough for people to have sleep deprivation, but here it's multiplied by the fact that you live in a dangerous situation. No one leaves a situation like that unaffected."

Pinnel said he knew what he was going to incur by going to war again. However, he applied for military health benefits last November through the regional VA and hasn't seen any. He has been on visits to see a psychiatrist, but said no further help has been provided.

"I applied a year ago," Pinnel said, "and I haven't seen one single benefit and no money. They sent me on a couple appointments, where they didn't give me any medicine. It was just nothing. They wanted to yell at me for a while."

Pinnel said when he goes to appointments set up through the VA, they make him feel like he is trying to get free money. He said they feel he has no ailments and should get to work.

"When you go to the VA, they think all the vets are money-hungry, looking for disability, and honestly I can't work. I'm collecting Social Security and [the Social Security people] say I'm disabled," he said.

His mother said she feels that people who live here, like children, get more attention when it comes to counseling and that the VA people don't understand the mental toll the war takes on soldiers.

Pinnel said he's trying not to be disabled. There are times when he will go days without going to bed, or spend the day sleeping, but he's still a student at Montgomery County Community College (on the honor roll, his father added).

However, Pinnel said his social worker feels he can't be disabled if he's attending school.

"Going to school is the only thing in my life that's the least bit therapeutic right now - seeing people that are my own age," Pinnel said.

Pinnel said he knows that he volunteered to go to Iraq, but he expected to see the benefits. And selflessly, he said he knows that others are probably being denied benefits if he is.

"The VA is really screwin' so many people," he said. "One of my friends in the vehicle that was blown up, he wasn't walking for a long time, and he's having trouble with his benefits. If he is, and I am, then other people are too."

On the upside, even though the war in Iraq is unpopular, he said individuals are very grateful to him and the service he has put in.

"People will stop to thank me," he said, "but that feeling doesn't follow over to the VA."

Pinnel's social worker refused to comment and calls to the Regional VA were not returned.

---------------

Larry Scott