Soliders

When you join the military you are taught to take pain, suck it up and keep moving. You learn early that the Military gives you IBPROFEN for everything and no matter what your going through “Drink Water” is the answer. The idea that your actually hurting doesn’t matter and you begin to realize just how much pain you can take. Some soldiers hide injuries so as not to look weak or be looked as someone that is riding sick call. Going to sick call in Basic was looked down on and it becomes this goal you work towards, never going to sick call.

I write this to caution all soldiers in the military that this has to change. This way of being a soldier has to become a thing of the past. The reason so many Veterans are dealing with issues after service is because of the military trend. One thing you don’t realize when you get out of the military is that if its not documented it never happened. I am pretty sure if you lost a leg in Iraq and it wasn’t documented the VA would say, “prove it.”

So to those soldiers that are reading this. If your getting ready to get out and you have an issue that you know you never went to sick call for, start now. Document everything from twisted ankles, aches and pains and even your dental. I would go as far as a cut that takes more than a week to heal. Document every doctor you see, every sick call you have visited and every medication you have taken. As I said before, if it isn’t documented it never happened.