r/Veterans

As the title states, I'm wondering if anyone else got out and went to med school.

The trajectory for my degrees kind of shifted recently, and instead of just looking at a PhD, I'm looking at doing an MD-PhD program to better supplement my research.

I did 8.5 years in the Marine Corps, got out and went to school, and I'm 28. I start my Master's in May, but I feel like I'm too old at this point to take on, what would most likely be, a 10+ year venture.

If anyone has done it before, some advice would be great. TYIA

Im 32 and starting to realize that I have abandonment issues and that Im the cause for my poor personal life experiences. My professional life has been very well, I excelled in college, and got into graduate school easily and have a job where I make good money and make over 6 figures.

My personal life has been a mess especially with intimate relationships. I've never been in a long term relationship because I get extremely anxious and self sabotage and then I hate myself creating a viscous cycle. Its a self fulfilling prophecy because I always tell myself, this is too good, and not real. Something is going to happen to cause it to end and I usually overreact causing the end of relationship which is not at all what I want but it happens.

I avoid the feeling of impending doom by just filling up my days off with more work so I don't have to feeling anything.

Recently I met a nice woman who I really didn't care about but she started showing me attention and I really liked the way she looked at me and smiled in my presence. I took her out on a nice extravagant date and I started to just spiral down thinking she ghosted me. I get very angry and upset. When I confronted her I let my emotions get ahold of me and scared her off. After it happened I found out that there was a misscommunication and it was just me being needy.

Im starting to recognize I have a pattern of self sabotaging and self destructive behavior because that same situation has played out many times over the years. I hate myself for it because I'd be having the life I wanted if it wasn't for this behavior. I dont know why I make life difficult for myself.

I am 100% P&T but its not just for PTSD because I have a few other things going on because I was injured in Afghanistan and got lung disease from the burn pits. I dont have any hardcore injuries so sometimes I feel like I'm okay and dont see myself as damaged but I am a disabled veteran for a reason.

Does anyone have problems like this? Ive been really banging myself up to the point of losing sleep because I just realized how bad I fumbled a potential relationship YET again. I wish I could go back in time so bad. I just feel sick to my stomach literally.

Walking across the parking lot at the VA clinic is basically a workout at this point. My L4/L5 and both knees have been shot since 2009, but I’ve been stubborn about the whole thing for years. I’m 38 and I didn’t want to be the guy with the blue tag while looking relatively "fine," but after almost wiping out at Home Depot last week because my left leg just gave out, I'm done.

The biggest hurdle was the 4-month wait for a primary care appointment just to get a signature on a DMV form. I’ve been trying a few things this month to get mobile again - started using those $160 custom insoles, added a daily stretching routine for my lower back, used ParkingMD to get the evaluation handled online, and I’m looking at one of those seat cushions for the truck.

Does anyone else feel weirdly guilty using the spots even when you’re clearly limping? I still feel like some random person is going to yell at me because I’m not 80 years old, but walking 200 yards across hot asphalt just isn't happening anymore.

I’m dealing with too much right now. There’s so many emotions on my shoulders, I feel like I’m about to collapse. My dad died, and then my brother had a psychotic breakdown and blew up the family. Now, I’m dealing with all of this alone. It’s all too much to handle. I feel like I’m going to break.

I’ve cried 12 times today. But I’m not crying from grief, I’m crying from exhaustion.

I’m not suicidal, but I just want to feel nothing. I crave just not existing, to just disappear so this burden can be taken away.

I can’t sleep anymore. I’ve been up for two days straight. It’s so much.

why am I more comfortable being deployed than working at a tire shop? I am shell of what I used to be and it's taking a huge toll on my life

There is an Easter memory that’s been on my mind lately. It may sound corny or cliché, but I wanted to share it anyway. It can be for anyone, but I think it fits here.

When I was a small child, probably three or four (1990?), my family had an Easter egg hunt.

There were a lot of cousins there, all different ages. The older ones hid the eggs while us younger ones waited behind a line with our baskets. Most of the eggs were real hard-boiled eggs dyed in the traditional Easter colors, but there were probably some plastic eggs too, with coins or little prizes inside.

I remember being so impatient when they asked us to pose for pictures. When they yelled “Go!”, we all ran.

I remember how excited I was. I was young enough that some of the adults gave me hints about where eggs were hidden. I ran all over the yard, filling my basket.

But then I ran into a problem.

Real eggs are a lot heavier than plastic eggs. I had gathered so many that my basket became too heavy for me to carry. The hunt wasn’t over yet, and I didn’t want to stop searching for eggs, but I couldn’t keep going on my own.

So I made a decision. I went and asked an adult to help carry my basket so I could keep hunting.

It sounds like such a small thing. A child needed help carrying something, asked for help, got help, and kept playing the game.

Life can be a lot like that Easter egg hunt.

Our experiences are the eggs, and we all have our own baskets to carry. Some eggs are light, like plastic ones, filled with good things that make us happy. Others are heavier, like real eggs, and weigh us down.

When we’re children, it’s easy to admit when something is too heavy and ask someone to help carry it.

For adults, especially veterans that have the PTSD label in our records, it isn’t always so easy.

Some people carry baskets so heavy they feel like they can’t keep going. Sometimes the weight gets so overwhelming that people step out of the game entirely.

Please don’t stop searching for eggs.

Life will always have both light ones and heavy ones, but they all shape us. And when your basket is too heavy to carry alone, find someone to help.

That person might be a deity, a family member, a friend, a significant other, or even someone on a hotline.

Before you decide the game is over, tell someone.

We aren’t superheroes. We aren’t invincible.

We’re human.

And sometimes humans just need someone to help carry the basket.

And if you see someone struggling with their basket, grab the handle and help carry it with them.

Is anyone else having a serious problem with their VA provider forgetting to refill lifelong schedule prescriptions? I take a prescription that causes major withdrawal symptoms and my VA doctor "forgets" more often than not to refill it which requires me to chase people down.

This practitioner also "didn't follow up" with important paperwork that would have greatly improved my quality of life for a month.

I have the OIG on speed dial and yes, I know I can switch providers but I feel it's my duty to report this practitioner to prevent harm to other veterans. Thoughts?

Found a tool to help it sounds cheesy but it’s simple and helps me stay grounded in the present not so much into the past and focused on moving forward the gratitude alone has helped me greatly. Helps me stay more focused in the present build up my self esteem and not be as angry about things.

I am awaiting to be seen by the orthopedic from community care because I have tried physical therapy as well as PRP injections to alleviate the pain, but no matter what it will not go away and I can barely run anymore. It’s very frustrating physically but even more so mentally because I am still considered young to most people. Also this has been chronic for the past 2 years at least. Does anyone have any success stories?

Hey there,

Looking to give my wife half of my GI bill, but not really sure what that actually gives her and leaves me? Is that like 2 years of school for her and 2 for myself or is it a chunk of money? Thanks, my fellow Vets.

Hello all! Seeing if anyone here has had success with skillbridge programs, i’ve reached out to multiple listings on the DOD site and have received no responses. Looked up a few of them and some have been out of business for years.

Anyone have a better tip on how to secure? Thanks!

Does anyone have experience with the Houston VA Residential Rehab Program?

Hi. My counselor approved me for a laptop and printer package. I asked for a MacBook since that's what I'm use to but she said several times.

She gave me an authorization code to buy a laptop and printer at my University’s bookstore but didn't give a budget or say which one to purchase.

Do I just purchase whatever laptop I want?

Filed with a lawyer November 2024 and my case just went into Case Closed status. My lawyer reached out for the decision letter and they sent an encrypted zipfile with the decision letter.

Of course, the password doesn't work. I can however see a file '214_lastfirst' but cannot open it. From what I can tell the file is corrupted. Reached out to my lawyers but it's Good Friday. Emailed the AFDRB telling them it's corrupted but now response yet. ID me with evetrecs has me in an endless loop of verifying my identity.

As you can tell by now, I'm losing my mind after waiting so long. Can anyone verify what the PDF is? I don't just want to assume an updated DD214.

Thanks!

As a retiree, I can't for the freaking life of me log into MilConnect or Triwest to access my Tricare Healthcare information because of this damn MyAuth prompt.

I've only ever been able to successfully log in once, and every time since then I've gotten not stop errors preventing me from logging in.

>Bad Request

>Unable to initiate factor enrollment: No successful push challenge sent

>There was an unexpected internal error. Please try again

Cookies are cleared. Pop-ups are on. Tried on both Chrome and Edge. Nothing works.

Is anyone else having these problems??? Freaking ridiculous.