Your Worst Employment, EVER.

[bropro]

5 hours ago, Marathoner said:

Most don't have access to records like their DD-214, so the VA denies their service (and care).

There was a friend of mine that I was there with who called me one day a few years back, and asked if I would write a letter addressed to the VA stating that I had served with him while in country. I asked him if he had his DD-214, and he said yes, but they wanted further proof. To me, that was just crazy. That didn't make any sense as everything they need to prove he served in theater was right on the DD-214. I wrote and sent the letter, and he eventually got his compensation, but wow. Anyway, have a blessed week end Marathoner, and thanks for your service then, and now.

Gary

[Marathoner]

11 minutes ago, bropro said:

There was a friend of mine that I was there with who called me one day a few years back, and asked if I would write a letter addressed to the VA stating that I had served with him while in country. I asked him if he had his DD-214, and he said yes, but they wanted further proof. To me, that was just crazy. That didn't make any sense as everything they need to prove he served in theater was right on the DD-214. I wrote and sent the letter, and he eventually got his compensation, but wow. Anyway, have a blessed week end Marathoner, and thanks for your service then, and now.

Gary

The Lord bless you, brother. 

Three years ago, a Gulf War vet (my time of service, so we are around the same age) and brother in Christ came to our nonprofit for assistance. I spent a great deal of time with our brother. He needed someone to listen, so that's what I did. 

He was attached to the State Department (he was an Army Warrant officer) and because he is a fluent Hebrew speaker, he was assigned to work with the IDF. He was there three years before Desert Shield started and once that phase began, volunteered to relieve soldiers and Marines so they could rotate out stateside. He served a total of six tours in the theater.

I won't repeat the burdens he carried here, but his VA record numbered over 800 pages. Within those pages were dozens of after action reports detailing declassified combat operations, and he sustained a number of injuries all over the Middle East. When he came to us, he was homeless and in dire straits.

He was encouraged by fellow vets to submit a disability claim with the VA... how many times did the VA reject his claim? Three times, my friend. In spite of overwhelming evidence of his injuries and disabilities (those after action reports prove they are service connected), the VA kept coming up with a reason to deny his claim. So, our brother found a lawyer who specialized in dealing with the VA.

The fourth time worked. Even with iron-clad proof, the VA will reject a vet's claim. 

[bropro]

20 hours ago, Marathoner said:

The fourth time worked. Even with iron-clad proof, the VA will reject a vet's claim. 

It's really sad that he had to go through all that run around. I've heard a lot of stories of a similar nature. I was blessed in that when I initially filed my claim, it was processed within 6 weeks. Nice chatting with you. Be Blessed.

Gary

[bropro]

47 minutes ago, Slibhin said:

Since we're on the subject of awful jobs, software engineer is right up there. It killed my husband quite literally.

So sorry to hear. I can't even imagine what it is like to lose a spouse. 

Gary

[Sower]

On 3/10/2023 at 7:42 PM, bropro said:

In '68 we were on a hill for 77 days, and the only shower I got was when it rained 3 days out of that 77.

In winter of 66 I was in country for just over two weeks in the tent, and that day the salts went running out of the tents shouting. The rain had stopped, the clouds cleared and the sun made it's first appearance those whole two weeks.

"Get your clothes out and wash and hang them up (tent ropes) fast, and don't forget your socks/boots. No telling how long it would last. And later it didn't take long before I found out what real heat was like in that steam bath, and I come from central Texas where it's always hot.

150 years ago, on a hot August day in San Antonio, the distinguished and dust-caked General Philip Sheridan uttered;

“If I owned Texas and all Hell, I would rent out Texas and live in Hell.”

[Neighbor]

2 hours ago, Slibhin said:

This is a common issue in this industry and you can't just up and leave your job easily, so people stay and put up with it.

Sorry. 

It is so sad that so many of us end up having to  live on after very similar consequences suffered as we lose those closest to us.

I have to readjust my own thinking when I question,  in my own mind, what's with  those  going through what is now called the great quit.

 

 

 

 

 

[bropro]

19 hours ago, Sower said:

And later it didn't take long before I found out what real heat was like in that steam bath, and I come from central Texas where it's always hot.

Yes, very hot and very humid. And it was cold at times during the monsoon season where we were, which was fine with me because I am a cold weather lover.

Gary 

 

[Starise]

I hesitate to even bring this job up because I am almost ashamed to admit I did it, but I was very young with a wife and child and one of the companies I worked for grew slack and laid me off.

My rent was still due and there was no other means of help but prayer and trusting God's provision. I don't even remember how I got the tip about this job but it was very hard work and a salaried position, and believe me, they took full advantage of the fact that my hours were in no relation to my pay. I was willing to do pretty much anything honest at that point to make some $$ to get by.This was a holdover type of job I hope I never have to do again.

If you are/were Jewish ( as in no pork) you will find this even more disguisting. I worked in a modern sow confinement building. The pigs were mostly on wire so all waste goes into a large sump underneath that would get pumped out periodically. The place was set up like a school, with different areas the pigs graduated to. Final graduation was to a truck and on to a processing plant. The young pigs would be left with their mother and then 'graduated' to the next area where they were on a different feed. Everything was in a huge windowless building with ventillation fans in the walls. We were not allowed to go into the building until we went through the pre shower area and then we showered when we left. The pigs were clean for the most part because there was no mud and they were on wire, but man did that place smell! 

I was the 3rd wheel there in addition to the manager and his main helper, but they needed more help. This amounted to some tension always because they seen me as taking some of their 'cut', which often amounted to nice bonuses. So from the very beginning the manager didn't really want me there, but wasn't the owner as it was owned by a group of local farmers together and they had decided to hire me. The work tension, very hard and frankly gross work at times, along with the atmosphere there had me to the point of breaking, so luckily I found another job. I did the work they asked me to do . I'll never forget having to shower to go into a pig building lol. The odd thing is that some people in Ag just love that job and can think of nothing they would rather do. They get a house to live in not far from the complex. No thanks. 

The scary thing is you stopped smelling that smell after awhile, but others could smell it on you.

[Dennis1209]

1 hour ago, Starise said:

I hesitate to even bring this job up because I am almost ashamed to admit I did it, but I was very young with a wife and child and one of the companies I worked for grew slack and laid me off.

My rent was still due and there was no other means of help but prayer and trusting God's provision. I don't even remember how I got the tip about this job but it was very hard work and a salaried position, and believe me, they took full advantage of the fact that my hours were in no relation to my pay. I was willing to do pretty much anything honest at that point to make some $$ to get by.This was a holdover type of job I hope I never have to do again.

If you are/were Jewish ( as in no pork) you will find this even more disguisting. I worked in a modern sow confinement building. The pigs were mostly on wire so all waste goes into a large sump underneath that would get pumped out periodically. The place was set up like a school, with different areas the pigs graduated to. Final graduation was to a truck and on to a processing plant. The young pigs would be left with their mother and then 'graduated' to the next area where they were on a different feed. Everything was in a huge windowless building with ventillation fans in the walls. We were not allowed to go into the building until we went through the pre shower area and then we showered when we left. The pigs were clean for the most part because there was no mud and they were on wire, but man did that place smell! 

I was the 3rd wheel there in addition to the manager and his main helper, but they needed more help. This amounted to some tension always because they seen me as taking some of their 'cut', which often amounted to nice bonuses. So from the very beginning the manager didn't really want me there, but wasn't the owner as it was owned by a group of local farmers together and they had decided to hire me. The work tension, very hard and frankly gross work at times, along with the atmosphere there had me to the point of breaking, so luckily I found another job. I did the work they asked me to do . I'll never forget having to shower to go into a pig building lol. The odd thing is that some people in Ag just love that job and can think of nothing they would rather do. They get a house to live in not far from the complex. No thanks. 

The scary thing is you stopped smelling that smell after awhile, but others could smell it on you.

Good morning!

I can relate to that one also delivering propane to National City, Illinois, a stockyard. Several slaughterhouses, Swift, Krey, and forgot the other. I could smell them several miles before I got there if the wind was right.

I would have to go inside the slaughter plant to get the bill signed by a supervisor and get a little tour. I would have to say the smell was the fifth worst I have ever been exposed to, behind diabetic wound clinics, rotting human corpses, commercial chicken slaughterhouses, and home basements used as septic tanks, respectively.

Other than the smell, two main points impressed me for life.

·         How giant tapeworms are inside pig intestines, and why I would never eat chitlins.

·         Conveyer belts dump all the pig waste from slaughter into dumpsters. The only waste coming out was hair; evidently, the “oink” is sold for consumption too.  

Over time with each delivery, the smell did become less noticeable, but I would not pick it as a spot for my lunch stop.

Like many city folk, my wife still wants to imagine our food coming from behind the double doors at Walmart, Kroeger, and IGA. 😊

[Starise]

34 minutes ago, Dennis1209 said:

Good morning!

I can relate to that one also delivering propane to National City, Illinois, a stockyard. Several slaughterhouses, Swift, Krey, and forgot the other. I could smell them several miles before I got there if the wind was right.

I would have to go inside the slaughter plant to get the bill signed by a supervisor and get a little tour. I would have to say the smell was the fifth worst I have ever been exposed to, behind diabetic wound clinics, rotting human corpses, commercial chicken slaughterhouses, and home basements used as septic tanks, respectively.

Other than the smell, two main points impressed me for life.

·         How giant tapeworms are inside pig intestines, and why I would never eat chitlins.

·         Conveyer belts dump all the pig waste from slaughter into dumpsters. The only waste coming out was hair; evidently, the “oink” is sold for consumption too.  

Over time with each delivery, the smell did become less noticeable, but I would not pick it as a spot for my lunch stop.

Like many city folk, my wife still wants to imagine our food coming from behind the double doors at Walmart, Kroeger, and IGA. 😊

I have decidedly moved away from pork although I still have an occasional weakness for bacon and sausage. My main diet now is usually poultry, fish and occasional beef.

Those old sows made the best sausage ever though. I haven't tasted  better since.

I won't go into detail about the gross part of that job, but it involved removing the afterbirth when little piglets were born and running the dead larger pigs out to a hole in the back dug expressly for the purpose. That was probably the breeding ground for every fly for 100 miles.

Not the kinds of memories I care to recollect. 

When I was installing propane furnaces, the main concern was safety. Propane is heavier than air and if it leaks it can settle into a basement and go boom boom. I just had my tank filled last week. The price of propane wasn't as bad as I expected.