According to an investigation by Scripps News, “In the last couple of years, hundreds of injured and sick Air National Guard members have filed claims for medical care and pay that get approved by local commanders and then denied by national headquarters.”
To that end, more than 20 percent of injury benefits approved by local units have been reversed by the Air National Guard.
The Gateway Pundit spoke to Major (ret.) Jeremy Sorenson of Uniformed Services Justice & Advocacy Group (USJAG), which advocates on behalf of injured service members who have essentially been discarded by the military they once served proudly.
While fighting for service members’ rights and benefits, he seeks accountability that often falls on deaf ears.
Scripps News Investigates: Military benefits, damaged bridges and fake diet drugs https://t.co/5lfWvqIjFt@SecAFOfficial, @ChiefNGB, @AllvinGen123, @SecDef are destroying thousands of @usairforce Airmen lives and families: violating federal law – denying medical care,…
— Guard Reserve (@GuardReserve) October 17, 2024
With mounds of evidence at his fingertips, accompanied by the stories of multiple USJAG clients, the USJAG Director of Guard and Reserve Affairs said, “The United States Air Force, including Secretary of the Air Force, Frank Kendall; Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Alexander Wagner; Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Troy McIntosh; and the Inspector General of the Air Force, Lt Gen.
Stephen Davis, are all engaged in a coordinated, corrupt effort to deny injured service members in the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve their congressionally mandated benefits, which are guaranteed by federal law.”
According to him, “They are doing this to save government dollars at the expense of our heroes’ health and lives.”
To explain, Sorenson said, “The blatant disregard for injured service members raises the question of what are the monetary motivations to deny service members the benefits that are guaranteed by federal law, and their rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.”
Over one year ago, The Epoch Times reported on one such National Guardsman by the name of James Buckley that has “basically been told to pound sand” by the Air Force after reporting a 2019 shoulder injury as well as migraines he attributes to exposure to burn pits while deployed in Iraq between 2003 and 2005.
Master Sergeant (MSgt.) Buckley, who is one of thousands who have been abandoned by the Air Force without proper consideration of Line of Duty injuries through the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Disability Evaluation System.
Without providing proper evidence, Sorenson said Buckley was given a “Not In the Line of Duty” (NILOD) determination by the U.S. Air Force, meaning his injuries did not occur while in the military.
Therefore, he is no longer eligible for treatment by the military nor will he receive the benefits earned through decades of service and sacrifice.
Beginning in 2022, Buckley began making multiple appeals to every level of the senior leadership of the U.S. Air Force.
“Every appeal has been denied, and no reason has been given for those denials,” Sorenson disclosed.
“The Air Force maintains that everything was done properly, which flies in the face of all of the evidence that demonstrates MSgt. Buckley was never afforded due process throughout the entire matter,” he said, adding, “Secretary Kendall refuses to correct injustices and refuses to hold anyone accountable for violating the law.”
With no formal education in medicine or law, the culinary arts-trained Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Troy McIntosh maintains that evidence for Buckley’s NILOD is his Form 348, Sorenson shared.
Air Force Form 348s are not evidence, but merely a report generated by the Air Force. “In Buckley’s case,” Sorenson said, “they are fraudulent and contain false and misleading statements without evidence, [and] no actual evidence has been provided because it does not exist.”
Interestingly, Buckley’s appeal to his NILOD determinations were sent to the Secretary of the Air Force Personnel Council, which directly reports to the Director of the Air Force Review Boards Agency, Dr. Gerald D. Curry.
“Dr. Curry refused to consider Buckley’s lawful contentions and personally upheld the false NILOD determinations despite not being part of the board that heard the appeal, according to Sorenson.
“Dr. Curry’s abuse of power to shield his subordinates and harm Service Members indicates extraordinary corruption at the senior levels.”
Federal law mandated Buckley to remain on military status through the process, but that did not happen.
“Rather,” Sorenson said, “the Air Force delayed and mishandled the paperwork, and then used those delays as the excuse to prevent Buckley, and others like him, from remaining on military orders and continuing to receive medical care.”
Referencing DOD Instruction (DODI) 1241.01, Sorenson said, “the US Air Force is now admitting that if the U.S. Air Force had properly processed his paperwork, Buckley would still be in a military status throughout the Disability Evaluation System that he’s been in for two years.”
But there’s a problem with this new conclusion: “No one in the Air Force is going to admit that the senior leaders are intentionally violating the law to save money.
No one will be held accountable, nor will they properly return Buckley to military status.”
Instead, Sorenson said, “It is now going to have to go through a Board of Correctional Military Records (BCMR), which is underneath Dr. Gerald Curry—the same corrupt official who has already acted repeatedly against Master Sergeant Buckley and many others.”
How many other service members follow, or have followed, the same path as Buckley? A path that brings hardship induced by the military rather than the benefits earned through years of serving the country.
“Thousands have been intentionally abandoned,” Sorenson shared. “We call on the U.S. Congress to investigate the Secretary of the Air Force, Frank Kendall, and his lapdog Inspector General, Lt. Gen. Stephen Davis for their dereliction of duty, ignoring violations of federal law and the Constitution, and for endangering the lives of thousands of Airmen.”
“This is a very large systemic problem … and it must be stopped,” Sorenson lamented.
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