Purple Coronary heart conflict hero fights for advantages at residence 12 years after IED blast overseas

A U.S. Marine who suffered two near-fatal mind accidents combating terrorists is in a brand new combat at residence — attempting to get a medical retirement from the army so he can obtain full advantages.

Invoice Bee adopted in a household custom of combating in each conflict for the reason that American Revolution and instantly signed up when 9/11 occurred. However the subsequent 13 years within the Center East introduced horrors and heartbreak as he witnessed dying on a big scale, unprepared to take care of the psychological trauma.

He now has recommendation for different energetic army and veterans chronicled in a brand new ebook, The Shot.

“Out of all that I discovered, I need individuals to interrupt down and ask for assist as an alternative of simply sucking it up,” Bee, 40, instructed the Washington Examiner. “There may be assist, however it’s regarded down upon in a few of the models. If you happen to aren’t able to dealing with your issues, then you're labeled by some leaders as weak — you don’t should be there.”

The quilt of Bee’s ebook includes a well-known 2008 information photograph that was taken the second he narrowly missed dying because the Taliban fired a shot at his head. Bee tried to protect behind a wall and is seen grimacing as particles from the shot ricochets round his head, his rifle pointed on the enemy.

Bee was knocked out from the blast and carried off in a stretcher, miraculously surviving but additionally sustaining mind accidents. He continued to function a squad chief in Afghanistan and two years later discovered himself in one other near-fatal blast, this time with a booby-trapped home.

This time round, there can be no extra battle zone deployments.

“Half my squad was speaking to 2 sergeants standing in a nook. Considered one of my guys referred to as me over to clear a jam from his rifle,” Bee stated. “I walked over to him and that constructing blew, and I awakened just a few hours later inside an MRI machine.”

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The troopers the place Bee stood moments earlier have been killed immediately. Bee suffered a second main mind damage that brought on listening to loss and steadiness and reminiscence issues. Flashbacks “scared the hell out of me,” he stated.

“Typically I'd hear individuals calling for me, or if I noticed a shade of white, I'd begin smelling smoke grenades,” Bee stated. “I'd be sitting there and one second later [visualized] being dragged out by a flak jacket. The following second, I’m sitting on somebody’s garden as a result of I drove there and didn't understand it.”

It was clear that Bee couldn’t be in fight, so he was assigned to Camp Johnson in North Carolina, the place he educated Navy personnel in medical models on the way to work in fight conditions. He suffered from post-traumatic stress dysfunction and was awarded a Purple Coronary heart however by no means sought assist due to the army stigma that doing so was an indication of weak point.

“I had been instructed ... ‘Hey, let me get you a straw — suck it up,’” Bee stated. “It’s not as unhealthy now, however on the time, there was an enormous stigma about speaking to a shrink, particularly within the infantry. Folks averted it just like the plague.”

At one level, Bee tried to kill himself by shortly ingesting two bottles of tequila. He was rescued by a good friend and began looking for the assistance he wanted.

“It compelled me to go to a shrink and discover out that this truly works. Possibly we have to speak about these things,” he stated.

Whereas the repair wasn’t rapid, Bee determined that serving to others can be a path to restoration, so he grew to become the bottom’s suicide prevention counselor. He channeled the craze he felt at his teammates’ deaths into one thing constructive.

Bee was discharged in 2013 and have become a contractor working with the Division of Veterans Affairs to show enlisted women and men about their advantages.

He pushed them to hunt assist and fought for the appropriate to see his personal physician outdoors a clogged VA community. This grew to become a coverage change in 2019. However he continues combating on one other entrance — to have the Board for Correction of Naval Information award a medical retirement that enables therapy by any physician with out crimson tape.

The Navy, which oversees the Marines, refused to grant this distinction, and Bee has been interesting the choice for 4 years.

“It will be good if it occurs, but when not, that is how they've been working since I acquired out,” Bee stated. “The usual is that if the DOD finds you 30% or greater medically disabled, they'll award retirement as an alternative of a discharge. I'd see dozens upon dozens of individuals getting out which have been medically retired due to PTSD.”

Bee nonetheless has neurological harm, so he has a medical situation as effectively, he says. The army discriminates towards active-duty personnel over others who haven’t served as a result of it believes wartime troopers ought to be capable of take care of their issues, he stated.

“You see guys [successfully] use it as an excuse, and in the meantime, we now have guys who suck it up their complete profession, and when it’s time to retire, they get shafted,” he stated.

The Navy didn't reply to a request for remark.