A Frustrated Marine Wife

About three days ago while I was on Myspace, I came across a bulletin. The bulletin was written by an actual military wife who is frustrated with the military system about Tricare, the military’s Medicare. Instead of instantly posting about this, I contemplated whether or not to write about it. She fully expresses her frustration, and at the end truly tells how she feels about the military. My first instinct was to edit the posting, but then I thought I would be doing a disservice to my readers. I have to let all truths come out, even if it negative.

Now this is not a scholarly journal written by the government or military, I believe there is truth and meaning to what she has wrote. Realize that everyone does not write formally. This should not question her credibility as a military wife. Remember her role is a military wife. She probably has better insight than any other person. Please read her posting before continuing with mine.

“Ok soooo if you know me and my fabulous family you know we are in the marine corp......Wellllll I have been havin the hardest time gettin an apt. for my youngest. Seriously ya..ll i have been callin almost everyday to get her an apt. since she was six months, so if you have kids then you know about the well baby check ups. Our daughter is now 11 1/2 months old and just seen her doctor.The last time she saw him she was 4 months....So i sat down and had a lil..chat with my girls doc. and asked him what the crap was goin on and that i felt that it was freakin rediculous that i had to even worry about my girls after all the sacrifices we make for the Gov. youd think the least they can do is give us propper health treatment..yeah right...ok so my conversation goes on with this doctor and he tells me that they dont have enough doctors...i said well there needs to be a limit and the rest of us should be able to go to civillian doctors...He tells me that the civilian doctors wont except tricare because tricare(wich is military insurence) actually pays less than the state insurence(medicaide)how sad is that?. I then said Oh really then what can we do to fix this? He said spread the word and get it to congress that our military and there families are being treated this way.....SO HERE I AM!!!! YA KNOW it really ticks me off that i cant even get my babys a doctors apt. or get myself a rootcanal or have to worry about anything at that! The reason they have well baby check ups is for a reason....what if my baby had something wrong with her?????? and we could have caught it sooner, but because the of our shortness of doctors too bad.....I DONT THINK SO! My baby is fine by the way! I just wannna get this out there because there is always a WHAT IF...and behind those what if..s is actually happening to someone.... thats about it! OH AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO THINK OF JOINING THE MILITARY WITH FAMILY ITS NOT FREAKIN WORTH IT AT ALL , YOU SACRIFICE TOO MUCH AND MISS OUT TOO MUCH , MY HUSBAND EVEN SAYS ALL THE TIME HOW IT IS NOT WORTH IT! FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT ARE SINGLE HAVE FUN WHILE YOUR IN BUT IF YOU WANT FAMILY GET OUT FIRST! Repost this help us get this out and if you know how to get to congress please get this there.....for all our troops do for ya..ll this is the least you can do for them and there families!!!! THANK YOU! AND ALWAYS SUPPORT THE TROOPS AND THERE FAMILIES IT HELPS! Much love to you all~marine corp wife”

I would like to clarify one thing in her postings that I disagree with. I am sure this one wife’s situation represents others wives as well. However, Tricare, the military healthcare, can be accepted by civilian doctors—many do. I know from personal experience because I have friends that use Tricare in the civilian world, as well as my boyfriend. But it is true that there is a shortage in the military for doctors. I have heard of appointments taking a long time schedule because of the lack of medics. Sometimes it boils down to the wife who is the most demanding that receives the quickest attention. But that should not happen. Everyone deserves medical treatment, including the military families.

Earlier in my blog I mentioned there are a lot of good Marines out there, and because of the lack of support many do not reenlist. I suggested something needed to change in order to prevent situations like the one written by the wife from occuring. Maybe the answer is what the wife is suggesting, to write our congress, and get public awareness so the status quo for military families changes for the better.

The Troop’s Advocator