Photo By Patricia Dubiel | Brig. Gen. Patrick D. Frank (right), commanding general of the Joint Readiness...... read more read more
“It’s not very often that we get to honor a Vietnam veteran, especially a combat medic — one of our own,” said Col. Marla J. Ferguson, BJACH commander. “I am so honored and grateful that we could do this for you this week, and know the rest of the staff feels the same way. I hope you consider this your ‘official’ welcome home ceremony and that you know that you are truly are a Soldier for life.”
Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk commanding general, Brig. Gen. Patrick D. Frank, also attended the ceremony and presented Pillette with a commemorative 50th anniversary Vietnam War lapel pin. Frank shared a few remarks.
“Sir, when I read your bio, I see a warrior,” said Frank. “All the Soldiers in this room stand on your shoulders. You are one of the giants out there. We are the best Army in the world because of veterans like you, and I thank you very much, sir.”
During the ceremony, Pillette shared his experiences of war, injury, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, family strength, the dedication of brothers-in-arms, recovery and redemption.
Pillette enlisted in the Army in 1963, went through basic and advanced individual training at Tiger Land here at Fort Polk; then to Fort Benning, Georgia for airborne training; Fort Bragg, North Carolina for Special Forces training; and was finally assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group as a medic for A-team 105. Once his team arrived in Vietnam, it was tasked with reconnaissance operations for the 101st Airborne Division.
“We were on a seven-day operation looking for the (enemy) base camp. On day three, I was wounded,” said Pillette. “I was shot through the mouth and in the back, and we still had four days to go before we would be picked up. I had to have a tracheotomy, but I was the medic. I had to explain to (another Soldier) how to do it, and he made the incision and put the bamboo shoot in so I could breathe.”
When Pillette said he had to “explain” the procedure to another Soldier, remember that he had been shot in the mouth, damaging the jaw and tongue, the bullet exiting out of his cheek, and speech was impossible. His explanations to the other Soldier, a weapons sergeant whom he remembers as “Sgt. Willie,” were hand-written.
During those four challenging days, Pillette had to administer his own morphine injections in an effort to stay alive.
“I put myself on morphine, using the (injection) tubes that you just push into your leg, and that’s how I managed to deal with the pain. Then (the medical team) did an initial surgery in Saigon (Vietnam), and I imagine that’s where they cut off a third of my tongue — the bullet had gone through the bottom of my mouth, in one side and out the other. I don’t think they paid any attention to the shot in my back because of all the (facial damage.)”
Pillette said he doesn’t remember a lot of what happened after he arrived in Saigon, but can recount certain events based on his reading of the official record.
“After my surgery, I was air lifted to Okinawa (Japan) and spent about 15 days or so there, and once the wound had healed enough that I could take the pressurization of an aircraft, they flew me to the U.S. I ended up at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. According to the records, I got there in January. They did a number of surgeries, but I was suffering from PTSD and I was a morphine addict, so I don’t remember a lot of that time. The one thing I do remember is that I was in restraints all the time — I guess because I would get very violent.”
Marrissa Lopez, the Physical Evaluation Board Liaison Officer facilitating the medical evaluation for Pillette at BJACH, pointed out that his morphine addiction was not his choice, but the result of the hospital’s decision to give him daily doses.
“The addiction came from the military, from continuously giving him morphine at Brooks Army Medical Center and at the VA Hospital, because they had him tied down and locked in a back room,” said Lopez. “They did this because they didn’t know how to deal with it (PTSD). He was not an addict — they made him an addict.”
Pillette said his end of time in service date was supposed to be June 7 of that year, 1966.
“But undoubtedly nobody knew that. It was not until July 22 that they had me sign an affidavit stating I would remain in the Army to complete my medical treatment, then go to a physical evaluation board. On Sept. 8 they did a (medical evaluation), listing all the things that were wrong with me, then on Sept. 21 they called my parents and told them to come get me because they were putting me out. When they (Pillette’s parents) picked me up, they were told to take me to the VA Hospital in New Orleans, which they did. I stayed in that hospital from September to December, and after that, the VA gave me a 50 percent disability rate and I was an outpatient for the next two years. I went to speech therapy, but it was very difficult because I was battling the morphine addiction,” he said. “Had it not been for my mother and the VA I probably wouldn’t be here today.”
Though he has few memories of that time in his life, he remembers they were dark days and his mother had to be strong and persistent to help him through.
“The drug addiction was terrible. I ran off for a while and stayed in the streets until my family came and got me, and they locked me up (at home),” he said. “It took me about five years to get straight.”
Pillette said he managed to go back to college and started having a life again, but he was still plagued with memory loss. He knew he had been in the Army and that he was wounded, but he could not remember any details. He tried working offshore for a time, but it didn’t last because of his vivid nightmares. Even at home, his sleeping arrangement had to be modified because he had the potential to harm his wife while sleeping.
“I couldn’t keep jobs because I have nightmares. Even at home, my wife sleeps in one room and I sleep in another because of it. They lock me up at night. We’ve made all these adjustments over the years and it’s worked. My kids understand, too. I can’t eat much; I live mostly on soft foods. Thankfully I have a good wife who prepares my meals in a way that I can eat them. I suffer from pain, I was shot in the shoulder (back) but never received treatment for it — but I survived,” he said. “I am fortunate to have the wife and kids that I have. This has been a tremendous adjustment for them, too.”
Then one day, his brothers-in-arms came calling.
“Seven of the guys that I graduated from the Special Forces course with back in the 60s were looking for me after Hurricane Katrina had hit New Orleans. They remembered that I was from Louisiana, so they wanted to find me and see if I needed any help,” he said, adding that it took them two years to finally track him down. “They found my oldest son’s name on Facebook, because he has the same name, and through him they found me. I ended up at a reunion in El Paso for a guy that was dying of Agent Orange cancer, and the guys told me that they had visited me at the hospital in Saigon, but I was out of it (from the morphine) and restrained. Then they visited me again in San Antonio, but I don’t remember any of it.”
They asked if he was medically retired from the military due to his injuries, and when he explained that the Army simply released him and sent him to the VA, his old Army buddies told him that was not right and that his situation needed correction.
“So they gave me the applications I needed, I filed with the (Army Board of Medical Records Correction), and the board denied it. They said I didn’t have enough evidence — but they were the ones with all my medical records. So I kept fighting it, kept appealing until they told me I couldn’t appeal anymore,” Pillette said. “When they did that, I talked to a Special Forces organization in Washington D.C., and (a man there) explained that I needed to sue them. So I did, and the case went all the way up to appellate court. It ended up at the Supreme Court, they saw the problem, and then they contacted the Army and now, here I am — it has been a long trip.”
Pillette said he hopes his story will inspire other veterans to review their records and, if they need it, get the help they are entitled to.
“I am grateful to finally have this opportunity for the Army to make up for what they did — and it wasn’t really the Army, it was just the people in the Army at the time,” Pillette said.
“There are a lot of other veterans out there like me. If I could fall through the cracks, how many others have also fallen through? A lot of them are out there and they don’t know they have this right.”
Those who suffer with PTSD like he does are especially vulnerable, he said.
“The combat (experience) is something you never lose, you just bury it in your mind. But when you do that, it can wipe out a lot of the present at the same time. So you exist, but that’s it. Sometimes I’ll just float away. I can be looking right at someone and suddenly my mind just drifts away,” said Pillette. “I know there are a lot of others out there suffering from the same thing right now. A lot of them are walking time bombs. You know, we have trained better than any Soldiers in the world, and that knowledge is still in there. So what type of trigger will it take to set them off? War is a terrible thing. The casualties are what we have to take care of. So I’m happy to have this opportunity to tell my story, and maybe someone will see it and say, ‘Hey! That’s what happened to me!’ And then maybe they can get the help they need.”
If you or someone you know is a veteran of the Vietnam war and needs a review of their medical case, visit http://arba.army.pentagon.mil, or type ABCMR into your favorite Internet search engine.
| Date Taken: | 03.30.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 07.16.2018 15:12 |
| Story ID: | 284441 |
| Location: | FORT POLK, LOUISIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 185 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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