Private First Class Justin Harts loved serving his country in the Army. He went into the United States Army right out of high school and felt he had found his calling. But, just as his Army career was getting off the ground, Justin found out more about the Army than he bargained for.
Justin was involved in a military exercise when a .50 caliber machine gun fell off a truck striking him on the head.
A fifty caliber machine gun, depending on its configuration, can weigh from 84 to 128 lbs. In other words, you don’t have to be shot by a .50 caliber machine gun to be killed by it. Just have one fall on your head.
After the incident, Justin was not allowed to seek immediate medical attention, but upon return from the exercise, he was examined and told he may have suffered a concussion. The Army doctor prescribed Tylenol and told him not to go to sleep.
The pain grew intensely worse so PFC Justin Harts returned to the hospital where he was treated for a concussion and internal bleeding.
His command didn’t believe a word of it and demanded he show up for work and bring in medical paperwork.
Even after presenting the paperwork, the Army accused Justin Harts of faking his injury. Line commanders seemed to know much more about PFC Harts physical condition than his own doctors.
On or about June 7, 2021, Justin Harts was scheduled for a TBI (traumatic brain injury) appointment, but missed it. He said, “First Sergeant Lou told me that my mission comes before my health.” The sergeant should have included “during war time in a combat situation” in his little retort to PFC Harts.
SEEING DOUBLE ARE YOU?
GO DRIVE THESE CADETS AROUND THE BASE
Justin Harts, now with extreme nausea and a throbbing head was ordered to drive West Point cadets around in an Army truck. It turns out it wasn’t just PFC Harts the Army didn’t care about. Their indifference extended to West Point cadets as well.
If the Army really cared about their West Point cadets, they would not have allowed a physically impaired driver to cart them around in a military vehicle. Some piss-poor leadership there for sure.
PFC Justin Harts was not qualified to drive this particular level of truck, but the Army didn’t care.
According to Justin, the Army falsified his military driver’s license to include that category of truck. So in violation of procedure, they ordered him to drive the truck without the required training.
The Army is very lucky that an accident didn’t occur. Civilian lawyers would have mopped up the floor with Army negligence if an injury accident had occurred.
Oh but wait, the Feres Doctrine says military members cannot be held responsible even in cases involving gross or wanton negligence. All ignorant people in the military are thereby protected from injuries caused by their own stupidity.
On or about July 7, 2021, Justin received a weekend pass for the upcoming weekend, but when he returned to base he was accused of being AWOL. He said, “Sergeant Thorton cussed me up and down the floor even though they had given me permission.”
PFC Justin Harts was now a marked man. Any mistake no matter how small would have been converted into something akin to selling secrets to the Russians.
And, even if he didn’t make any mistakes, the Army was bound to conjure up some fictional evidence to rid themselves of what they deemed as a malcontent.
Finally the Army elevated the harassment towards criminal charges against PFC Justin Harts.
Justin went to the legal affairs office at Ft. Drum seeking legal guidance. Ft. Drum legal department gave him a phone number to call an Army JAG lawyer in California for advice.
Why the Army would not assign an attorney to him from Ft. Drum is still a mystery.
INJURED AGAIN
September 14, 2021, Justin was injured again. This time he had hurt his back and hip joint. Because Justin Harts was under such stress caused by chronic and unyielding harassment from his chain of command, he began to suffer stomach problems. He suspected he was now suffering from peptic ulcers, but really didn’t know the cause.
On October 6, 2021, PFC Harts was rushed to the hospital with severe stomach pains. Even with the pain as severe as it was, Justin had the presence of mind to let his supervisor know he was going to the hospital, but the command still was suspicious.
SFC Morgan called the hospital to see if Justin Harts was really at the hospital. SFC Morgan demanded the doctors tell him exactly what was medically wrong with PFC Harts. The hell with HIPAA laws.
On December 13, 2021, the Army hospital completed an MRI that revealed Justin Harts had suffered a torn hip labral that required corrective surgery. For the doctors, Justin had internal injuries that required surgery, but for the wannabe doctors in his chain of command (COC), Justin was just faking the pain and suffering. The leadership trait was pure ignorance fortified by extreme arrogance.
When he returned to his unit, Justin was given a task he said he was not physically able to do. Justin felt the order as an attempt to potentially injure him further.
Military doctors concluded Harts was a injured soldier, but members of his chain of command concluded Army doctors didn’t have a clue. His COC decided he was a malingerer, just attempting to get out of work details.
Sergeant Plant ordered PFC Harts to go out and stand in the snow for his entire shift. Sgt. Plant was alleged to have said, “Go outside and stand in the snow. Get out of my face.” Is standing in the snow for several hours considered as EMI (Extra Military Instruction) by today’s new Army?
On April 6, 2022, Justin filed a complaint with the Army Inspector General’s office. After hearing nothing from the IG, Justin’s grandmother jumped in the fray by calling the Commanding General’s office. Major General Milford Beagle Jr. had been newly assigned a year prior.
MG Beagle’s secretary (Tammy?) was consoling, saying she would call back the following day. According to Justin’s mother, Tammy never called back and was no longer answering any calls from that same phone number.
But, when Justin’s mother called from a different phone that had a different area code, Tammy answered right away. The Army employed their strategy of dodging and weaving until the complaining parties give up and move on. It’s a gatekeeper’s trick.
Justin’s mother and grandmother were told by Company Commander, Captain Moultrie that Justin was not sick, that he was faking all of it. I guess, we need to call her Captain and Doctor Moultrie.
The Army was desperate to get something on PFC Justin Harts, so they yanked him in for a urinalysis in the hope of finding THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) in his blood stream so they could allege he was using marijuana. It was a Hail Mary pass, but it didn’t work.
From the Army’s point of view, PFC Justin Harts was feigning illness to get out of work details. They did everything they could to denigrate the young man in the hope of getting him on something they could court-martial him for.
With any luck, Justin might just become so enraged as to take a punch at someone. The Army was hoping a praying they could break this kid.
From Justin’s point of view, he had been continually harassed, traumatized, and castigated by the United States Army.
He said he was under so much stress, that he sought out counselling but abruptly stopped after he discovered SFC Morgan called the counselor to find out exactly what PFC Harts was revealing during his counselling sessions. This is sometimes indicative of a command that has other things to hide.
PFC Justin Harts was ultimately earmarked to be thrown out of the Army. If the military cannot get you with their judicial system, they will kick in their administrative discharge machine.
Harts was administratively discharged with a “General Discharge, Under Honorable Conditions.” Major General Beagle couldn’t be bothered with such a trivial matter as making sure one of his soldiers was not being railroaded out of the Army with an administrative discharge.
God only knows, what happened to the Inspector General. The whole inspector general corps is pathetic at best.
SUMMARY
It’s a crying shame. PFC Justin Harts really loved serving his country and wanted to stay in the Army. He was a good and reliable soldier until he sustained debilitating injuries compounded by the unwarranted relentless harassment he was caused to endure.
After he was injured, the Army viewed PFC Harts as “damaged goods” and did whatever they could to rid themselves of this so-called underperformer. The military’s term they love to bandy about is, “a slacker.”
To all young men and women thinking of joining the military after high school or college, you have better think twice about joining the military. Pray that some individual in your chain of command doesn’t view you as “damaged goods,” because the military will throw you away like a used paper cup.
We fully understand. There is a breaking point when military supervision has to say, “sounds like a personal problem.” A lethal, cohesive military unit, cannot spend too much time coddling people who get injured. So, if a decision is made to release a soldier for injuries he sustained in the line of duty, why harass him?
If the injury was not the soldier’s fault, why did he all of a sudden become “less than Honorable.” Why didn’t Justin Harts receive an Honorable discharge?
Remember we left our enemies (the Taliban) $80 Billion of our military equipment. No one, as far as we know, has even been reprimanded over how that debacle unfolded.
The irony is just too much. PFC Justin Harts gets kicked around like a dog, and the general’s name is “Beagle.” You can’t make this stuff up!
