A heavily decorated Marine who was honorably discharged in 1985 now faces a new reality: paralyzed below the waist from a blood clot that occurred during surgery late in December of 2013, Robert Miller is being denied VA benefits.
Nancy Houser wrote a fantastic piece on the matter for Digital Journal.
As noted by Way Cool Dogs, Miller was deployed to Lebanon between 1980 and 1985, where he sustained injuries to his back, legs, and arms. A sergeant, Miller was part of a 4,000 member Marine platoon that was deployed with “peacekeeping intentions.”
Peaceable intentions or not, the platoon’s deployment and condition in Beirut deteriorated as suicide bombers took their toll. In 1983, in what was at that time history’s largest explosion of a non-nuclear bomb, 200 marines were killed when a suicide bomber drove a TNT laden car into the marine barracks.
Although his actions were heroic and earned him awards such as the Purple Heart and the Medal of Valor, his service was during a period in history that was not considered a war. And, in non-war periods, the United States “is not required to pay VA benefits.”
Miller is currently in rehabilitation at the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln. Because he is living in an institution, he is being denied a wheelchair (which, by the way, costs an astounding $20,000). But, in a circular pattern, it is because he is being denied a wheelchair that is living in the rehabilitation center, and not at home.
All that now remains the sharp-shooter of his previous physical abilities is a minimal use of his fingers.
By way of Nancy Houser, here is Miller's GoFundMe page: GoFundMe.com/helpSGTbobandblue
Sources: www.digitaljournal.com, onenewspage.com, Way Cool Dogs
Photo source: onenewspage.com
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