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Who Needs HIPAA When You Have the Army


This week, Nate and Francis discuss get in deep with mental health once again. This time for military dependents who found themselves barred from enlisting in the military because they sought counseling when they were minors.

Francis tells a story of his own enlistment in which he lied like a rug to the doctors before signing up, mostly because his recruiter told him to. You can see why in this story as one of the daughters was pulled in the middle of basic training and the other just flat out told she's not allowed to join up.

We're not big fans of putting people on lists on this podcast, unless it's lists of free medical care and the list is everyone. We're especially not fans of children who probably needed counseling because their father was deployed multiple time and the family was constantly moving, having future options taken away from them. If these two are deemed unfit for military service, does this bar them from other federal service? Why or why not? These are pressing questions which these women deserve to have answered as it seem reaching out for help, as we're all told to do, screwed them over. Just like many service members fear.

Then Nate and Francis talk about the firing of former VA secretary David Shulkin (and his replacement, a Navy doctor who said the president is healthy as a horse). No one is defending Shulkin and his grifts, but this is another step in the march towards VA privatization, which will turn the health of veterans into something that needs to be profitable. For this week’s bonus interview, Nate spoke with Joe Glenton, a former British Army soldier whose opposition to the War on a Terror is the basis of his book “Soldier Box” (link). Nate and Joe discuss the British military, deployment experiences, and what the role of leftist veterans might be in our society.

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