National Guardsman Says Air Force 'Abandoned' Him After Being Injured on Duty

By J.M. Phelps of The Epoch Times
10/10/2023

A National Guardsman has raised his service-related health issues to the highest levels of the Air Force. But according to him, he’s “basically been told to pound sand.”

After beginning active-duty military service in 1999 in the Army, Master Sergeant James Buckley joined the Mississippi Air National Guard in 2010, becoming a member of Air Force Special Warfare’s Tactical Air Control Party. Embedded with troops on the ground, air-to-ground communication was his expertise.

In 2019, a new physical fitness test was implemented for special operators. The new test went beyond the standard push-ups, sit-ups, and 1.5-mile run to include a medicine ball throw, agility events, and more.

MSgt. Buckley was injured while performing “a farmer’s carry,” an event that required running 100 meters with a 50-pound sandbag in each hand. Initially describing a pain in his shoulder as “an inconvenience,” he pushed himself to complete all the events of the test. In the months to follow, the pain was persistent. In July 2020, he noticed that his ability to perform pull-ups was drastically reduced. An MRI scan revealed a torn labrum, a thick tissue attached to the shoulder socket.

“I was asked to write a statement about the injury,” he said. “In an email, I explained that I thought I injured it in 2019, and by the beginning of 2020, I knew I had really injured it.” To his surprise, the email statement was used against him. According to him, the email was misconstrued, and it was determined that an injury did not occur in 2019 because it was not reported in 2019. The Epoch Times has viewed this email and other documentation referenced in this report.

As a result, he said, “I was not issued a Line of Duty (LOD).” A LOD determines duty status and eligibility for medical care and military status in the National Guard. “I was basically told that I was on my own and they wished me good luck.”

At the time, a flight physical had also revealed high blood pressure and arrhythmia. Despite ongoing issues of sleep apnea, migraines, and an occasional loss of vision, MSgt. Buckley was also told that a LOD would not be initiated because the symptoms were not related to any physical injury while in service.

However, MSgt. Buckley attributes the migraines to 2003 and 2005 deployments to Iraq and a 2017 deployment to the East African country of Djibouti. “In 2005, I was exposed to burn pits which caused neurological issues and the migraines,” he said. In 2017, “migraine attacks” became worse. Djibouti and Iraq are nations listed on the Veterans Affairs Burn Pit and Environmental Hazards registries. Open-air burn pits have been specifically linked by the National Institute of Health to neurological conditions, as well as a host of various cancers.

“I didn’t want to file a formal complaint or get anyone in trouble, but after going back and forth over my injuries and the failure to initiate a LOD, I called the Inspector General on my base and shared my problem,” he said. “Finally, it was determined that my shoulder injury was an aggravation of a previous injury.” A LOD for his shoulder had to be initiated as a result.

MSgt. Buckley was informed that the process could take up to 30 days to be awarded a LOD. “Thirty days passed,” he said, explaining that his paperwork was not submitted properly. “At the time, I was getting help for some mental health issues, and because they dropped the ball on my paperwork, I was starting to feel abandoned and anxious because they held my future in their hands.”

“At a time when I was at my worst, they bungled the paperwork and I was kicked off orders October 31, 2021,” he said. “I had to cancel my mental health appointments and my shoulder surgery,” he said. “I lost pay and benefits and everything remained untreated.”

Seeking Help

Reaching “a breaking point,” MSgt. Buckley reached out in desperation to Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Despite feeling like he was “public enemy number one” for reaching out to CMSgt. Bass, Sen. Rubio’s office helped remedy the situation. “I went back on orders,” he said, but only for treatment of his shoulder injury. MSgt. Buckley was denied LOD initiation for his other conditions, and therefore denied treatment.

“I had my shoulder surgery in May 2021, and started physical therapy at Tyndall Air Force base [in Florida]” he said. “During one of the passive range of motion exercises, a physical therapy assistant bent my arm back behind my head and I felt my should pop and it was retorn.” The physical therapy assistant (PTA) was impaired by means of alcohol during Buckley’s time of treatment, and after injuring MSgt. Buckley, he entered an alcohol treatment program. According to MSgt. Buckley, the PTA should have been removed from care, but he was allowed to continue to practice on MSgt. Buckley and others.

“Tyndall kept telling me it was scar tissue that popped and I was healing, but I kept telling them my shoulder was torn again but no one was listening,” he said. “Telling me my shoulder was fine, they stopped scheduling me for appointments.” Msgt. Buckley was denied appointments after reporting the impaired provider. As a result of the clinic refusing to schedule new appointments, MSgt. Buckley was terminated from active duty on Medical Continuation orders.

“I was terminated from medical care with a torn shoulder [in January 2022],” he said. Requiring a second LOD for this injury, MSgt. Buckley found himself “pleading for help with no one listening.” Finally, an officer outside of his chain of command was able to help and reinstate his medical care. “My own chain of command would do nothing for me, and they even threatened me with UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) action.”

“But my medical group in Mississippi said I didn’t have an official diagnosis of a torn shoulder while I was on qualified duty status, so they wouldn’t start a LOD for me,” MSgt. Buckley shared. “An MRI confirmed I had a full-thickness tear of my rotator cuff and surgery would be required.” Upon confirmation of the new rotator cuff tear, MSgt. Buckley’s medical group in Mississippi falsely told him that the injury “Existed Prior to Service.” They used this new rationale to deny a new LOD. Once again, MSgt. Buckley had to involve the IG and Sen. Rubio’s office. The Epoch Times has reached out to both offices for comment.

A second LOD was initiated as a result of contacting Sen. Rubio and filing an IG complaint, although previous issues of high blood pressure, arrhythmia, sleep apnea, migraines, and temporary loss of vision continued to be ignored. “They made a false determination that these conditions were not in the line of duty and existed prior to service,” he said.

“I’m fighting this, because they must use clear and unmistakable evidence to overcome the presumption that [my health issues] were in the line of duty—and they have to provide that evidence to me,” he said. “They’re mandated to do so,” he added. “This is law and in multiple regulations.”

‘Systemic Injustices’

MSgt. Buckley has appealed their decision multiple times to no avail. He’s taken the issue to Maj. Gen. Keith G. MacDonald, commander of the Air National Guard Readiness Center, who is the appellate authority in this matter. For information concerning the decision to deny benefits for MSgt. Buckley’s health issues, Maj. Gen. MacDonald told him to make a FOIA request and reach out to the Board of Corrections of Military Records if he believed a wrong or injustice occurred.

Maj. Gen. MacDonald denied MSgt. Buckley’s appeal by “abusing his discretionary power,” MSgt. Buckley said, explaining that Maj. Gen. MacDonald is mandated by the Secretary of the Air Force to apply “Clear and Unmistakable Evidence” in overcoming the presumption that an injury, illness, or disease was incurred or aggravated in the Line of Duty.

“He’s saying that because the burden of proof is on the Department of the Air Force,” MSgt. Buckley said. “If I go to a Board of Corrections of Military Records, one, I'll be out of the service, and two, the burden of proof would now shift to me, the service member, to prove that a wrong or injustice occurred.” According to him, “This shifting of the burden of proof from the Department of the Air Force to me is a gross abuse of power.”

For the military to leave issues unresolved and fail to address them is a violation of Department of Defense Instruction (DODI) and Department of the Air Force Instruction (DAFI), according to MSgt. Buckley.

The Epoch Times also spoke to Major (ret.) Jeremy Sorenson of Uniformed Services Justice & Advocacy Group (USJAG), who said, “this is, unfortunately, par for the course.” According to him, “The Air Force and the National Guard Bureau senior leadership disregard injured Service Members and the law.”

“Buckley’s case and systemic injustices have been raised directly to General Brown, now Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Frank Kendall, Secretary of the Air Force, and General Hokanson, Chief, National Guard Bureau, but completely ignored,” he said. “Their silence is deafening, [and] the total lack of accountability truly baffles me as a retired officer myself.”

DODI 1332.18 states:

c. Presumption of Incurrence or Aggravation in the LOD for Members on Continuous Orders to Active Duty Specifying a Period of More Than 30 Days. (1) The Secretaries of the Military Departments will presume that diseases or injuries incurred by Service members on continuous orders to active duty, specifying a period of more than 30 days, were incurred or aggravated in the LOD unless the disease or injury was noted at time of entry into service. The Secretaries of the Military Departments may overcome the presumption that a disease or injury was incurred or aggravated in the LOD only when clear and unmistakable evidence indicates both that the disease or injury existed before their current period of military service and that the disease or injury was not aggravated by their current period of military service.

DAFI 36-2910 states:

1.9. Standard of Proof for LOD Determinations. Member’s conditions are presumed to have been incurred in the line of duty for injuries, illnesses and/or diseases sustained while in a qualified duty status. The burden of proof is on the government to prove NILOD [Not In Line of Duty].

“[According to these instructions], my condition should have been resolved, or I should have been referred into the Disability Evaluation System (DES),” MSgt. Buckley said. The DES determines whether a service member returns to duty, medically separates, or medically retires due to his or her disability.

“On August 9, 2022, I was terminated from active-duty medical continuation (MEDCON) orders with no pay, no benefits, and no medical care.” It took months before MSgt. Buckley’s case was submitted to the DES.

At first, MSgt. Buckley’s medical group attempted to submit him to the Non-Duty DES. This type of referral meant that MSgt. Buckley would be forced to agree that none of his conditions were duty related, and therefore he would not receive any benefits for any of his injuries. MSgt. Buckley fought this referral, once again with the help of Sen. Rubio, and “my case was then sent up as a Prior Service Condition Case (PSC),” he said. “A PSC case was not warranted, and the Air Force published a memo stating so.” According to MSgt. Buckley, he was not given this memo. He said the PSC referral was instituted so that he would not be placed on MEDCON during the process.

‘Abandoned’

MSgt. Buckley was given a 20 percent VA disability rating for compensation for his shoulder injury. Numerous other health issues were not issued a rating.

He appealed this decision to Col. Linda Hoover, Secretary of the Air Force Personnel Council. “Although,” he said, “my appeal was denied because I, Jim Buckley, did not provide sufficient compelling evidence to overturn their determination.” As a result, he said, “Right there, again, this is a violation of DODI, because it states that the Secretary of the Air Force must use clear and unmistakable evidence to overcome the presumption.”

According to Mr. Sorenson, “MSgt. Buckley’s government provided counsel failed to submit MSgt. Buckley’s complete contentions to the Air Force in his final appeal, which indicates a serious breach of responsibility and might create a legal dilemma for the U.S. Air Force because it appears that his counsel may have been working against him to cover for the government’s misconduct.”

As a result, MSgt. Buckley said, “Once again, I have the Inspector General involved, deciding my fate right now on the benefits I should be eligible for that could alter the course of my life.”

Through this whole process, MSgt. Buckley said he “has been abandoned by the DOD.” According to him, “Only one organization has stepped in to help, [and] that organization is USJAG.” He said, “Through the help of their Guard/Reserve Representative, Jeremy Sorenson, they have fought back against the injustices in the National Guard and Air Force.”

According to Mr. Sorenson: “The Air Force rampantly violates their own regulations and federal law to deny disability benefits, [and] they make the suffering service member fight with their hands tied behind their back to attain medical care and benefits they are entitled to by law, especially those with PTSD or other mental health issues.”

“It wears the member and their family down,” said Mr. Sorenson. “This has hurt thousands of Airmen, [and] it’s disgusting and really just unconscionable.”

For Msgt. Buckley, “It’s a lonely road to walk when you are fighting against the Big Air Force.” According to him, “They can do whatever they want, violate whatever law or policy they want with impunity because Senior Leadership covers for each other.”

“When I’d lost hope, USJAG stepped in, and I feel like I have a way forward. I am not just fighting for myself, I am fighting so these injustices are not perpetrated on my brothers and sisters. I am dug in and prepared for the long fight; it has never been in me to just give up.”

MSgt. Buckley’s final appeal to the Secretary of the Air Force was denied on Sept. 27, 2023. He will be forced to retire without a medical retirement. His fight will continue with the filing of a Board of Corrections for Military Records appeal. If he is unsuccessful, he said he is prepared to bring suit against the DOD.

The Department of Defense did not return an inquiry from The Epoch Times.

J.M. Phelps
Author (Freelance Journalist)

J.M. Phelps is a writer and researcher of both Islamist and Chinese threats. He's on Twitter at @JMPhelpsLC