Brooks, Harvey: - It was brought to my attention, a great number of civilians believe, unless you were fighting in a war zone, you're not as great a patriot as those that did fight in a war. Unfortunately, this attitude carries over to the department of defense. The Marines I served with, including myself, suffered injuries seen and unseen during training. Any large Corporation in America would compensate their employees for injuries on the job. My question is, "why is the U.S. government the exception to the rule?" Some injuries are mental and other injuries are physical. In either case the government has denied veteran claims by the hundred thousand. In my case, injuries related to Desert storm and arthritis caused by sleeping on ice for twelve weeks in South Korea, including training in sweltering 120 degrees heat in 29 Palms California. During those training I suffered 50% hearing loss in my left ear while shooting artillery cannons for eight years. Carrying 100 lbs. artillery shells and riding in the back of a five-ton truck with artillery shells bouncing in the air, land on top of my legs.