Our Journey Continues

This has been an emotionally hard journey for us. When I started this blog, it was to vent and hopefully get the word out about toxic leadership at Tripler. I had no idea it would have turned into such a daunting battle. I am so fortunate to have supportive family and friends.  Especially my mother-in-law who is just as enraged as I am about this situation. (A Mother's Letter to the General)

My husband, who has served in the Marines and then the Army, will have 17 years of active duty service come October 2014. He has dedicated his life to serving his country. He had a plan to progress from Special Forces Army Medic to a Physician Assistant (PA). This was the most logical step, being that he loved medicine, and he loved caring for his soldiers. He had hoped to go back to SF someday as a PA, before planning on retiring. He also thought being a PA as a civilian, once retired from the military, would be a great way to support our family. 

*He loved, he hoped, he planned. 

This journey has brought pain, confusion, doubt, tears, rage, disappointment and awareness to my husband and myself. My husband and I learned that not all sections of the military are created equal. Where you find reasonable people in one place, you may not in another. Had we known the personality conflicts would be this great we never would have decided to go the “PA route”. We would have understood that AMEDD is a place not suited for some personalities. A person who is a leader, strong willed, not afraid to stand up for what is right, not afraid to face the enemy, (someone with a dominating personality perhaps?), will most likely not survive this area of the Army.

Life is about learning from mistakes. Life is also about standing up for what is right. 

My husband made a mistake. His punishment DOES NOT fit the “crime”. A permanent GOMOR is way beyond the level of punishment my husband deserved. Yet, a General saw fit to issue one. A General who refused to meet with my husband before he made his final decision. A General who sided with a Captain holding a grudge against my husband. What this General did was wrong and the way he went about it was deplorable!

I was informed by an ExO of the AMEDD command in Ft. Sam that the IPAP directors were planning to relieve him of PA school if the GOMOR was filed permanently. (It is of their own decision and there is NO regulation stating they HAD to relieve him.) For me to get that information, I had to call this man’s office freaking out and crying like a crazy Army wife! Yes, I did. I broke. I NEEDED answers. I got them finally. 

On Sept. 11, 2014 my husband was officially told he was relieved from IPAP. He was given 3 days to appeal. We decided together not to appeal and email the school stating this. Why not appeal? Well, two reasons:

1. We know from experience their minds were made up on the decision to relieve him because of the permanent GOMOR. Appealing would only keep us under AMEDD and Tripler Command that much longer.
2. *The love, the hope, the plans have been burnt into a pile of ash now blowing in the wind. There is NO passion for medicine left within my husband. He has realized this was not the path he was meant for. 

What happens next?

We are waiting for the school to finalize his relief from the program. After which he will get orders back to SF. This is the happy part of a 2 year journey laced with toxic leadership and failed dreams. At least we can go back to a place we love, a work environment he loves and a support system that goes beyond our blood relatives. We will be with family again. He will be with brothers again. We will be home.

The fight is not over, however. There is the matter of that pesky little letter called a GOMOR. I, along with friends and family, will be on the campaign to have it rescinded. This GOMOR was, has and will always be a prime example of the toxic leadership at Tripler Army Medical Center, under that General. 

Let the Storm Begin!!!

There is a line in every mothers life that may or may not be crossed. That very line has been crossed and shat on by Tripler Army Medical Command, specifically the General of Pacific Regional Medical Command.

 A letter to the General along with nearly 300 other members of the government and media had been mailed out via U.S. Postal Mail Service Monday night, September 1, 2014. This letter is from my husbands mother. I support her whole heartedly and wish I could have helped more in the effort.

Thank you "mamma bear" for protecting your cub! The letters from NY have been rumored to make landfall in Hawaii!

You, my reader, can click here to view the letter sent out.

A Mother's Letter to the General

Send in the Clowns!

I am sitting here shaking my head. I still cannot understand how these people are allowed to be in the positions they are in. I can’t believe that a General has decided not only to file the GOMOR, but file it permanently! 

The General would NOT EVEN MEET WITH MY HUSBAND TO HEAR HIS SIDE! The General refused his request to a meeting! That's wrong, and goes against AR 600-20 2-2 (Open Door Policy)!!

"To the General: 
     You sir, are a COWARD. You don’t even have the nerve to look my husband in the eye and tell him what he did was worthy of a GOMOR, because you know it is a bunch of bull! 
                                         -Jamie B."

How can a General hand down a career altering decision without knowing all sides of the story? Why was the company commander supported in this decision? Why was the first GOMOR rescinded for a new one? Why is so much effort being put into punishing my husband over a piddly matter? Where was the support for my husband? 

This is absolutely despicable of the General and his command at Tripler Army Medical Center. 

After the first GOMOR was rescinded, and we saw the second, we knew what was trying to be achieved. The first GOMOR was to be filed locally, but I guess that wasn’t good enough. The General rescinded it to give a new one. (See GOMOR 2.0) At that moment, we knew they were going for a permanent filing of a GOMOR. (So, add more nonsense to a rescinded GOMOR to make a new GOMOR that can be put in a permanent file? WTF?)

The fact of the matter is my husband made a mistake and these clowns turned it into a side show circus act! One company commander with a grudge can throw you under the bus, all because she doesn’t like your opinion? I’m sorry, I thought this was America! I was under the impression we all had the right to our own opinion? It was the company commanders OPINION that my husband was disrespectful in an email. Well, it is my OPINION (and everyone else who read the email and knows the story) that he was NOT disrespectful. It’s a matter of opinion, and the only one the General saw fit to even consider was the company commanders’. Toxic, toxic, toxic!

To expedite the process of "exiting" the PA program, my husband requested to resign from the program just after official word was given on the GOMOR. The school said, "No!" The school won't let him resign and won't kick him out...what is going on??!!!  

Just give us the decision!! Allow my family closure so we can move on with our lives. 

The collusion in this chain of command is mind boggling. Is this the way of AMEDD? I for one am so happy this is all coming to an end. I would be very embarrassed to be a part of this division in the Army. It reeks of posers. It is nauseating.

Over the passed two years I have learned that AMEDDC&S, along with Tripler Army Medical Center Troop Command, is infested with cowardice, fake, weak, two-faced people riding too high on their horses. No humbleness to speak of. A bunch of peacocks running around trying to exert any power they can conjure up, displaying a false image of authority.