PFC Nathaniel Cruz, United States Army
At the young age of 20, Nathaniel Cruz enlisted in the Army in February 2020 and was trained as a 68W (combat medic).
In October of the same year, he deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), where he witnessed and attempted to treat, but was unallowed to assist, a disemboweled 5-year-old boy who died minutes later.
The aforementioned event led Nathaniel Cruz to begin having nightmares and hallucinations, seeing the deceased child in his dreams and asking, “Why didn’t you save me?”
In February 2021, Nathaniel was sent back to the States as the troop drawdown began, and soon after, a target was placed on his back.
He was once again at war. Not with a foreign enemy but with the same individuals who sent him off to war.
One of the most common situations USJAG encounters in its investigations revolves around adverse side effects of medications prescribed to treat certain ailments, including PTSD.
The cure is worse than the symptoms themselves, and Nathaniel’s situation was a textbook case of how the Department of Defense (DoD) weaponizes certain behavioral issues stemming from adverse side effects, leveraging them to kick out service members under less-than-honorable conditions and stripping them of their benefits, honor, and dignity.
Why? Because they have become a liability on the balance sheet of the DoD.
Nathaniel was in dire straights. He was brain damaged, and the medications being administered to him were causing insomnia, weight gain, a confused mental state, and exhaustion.
His command started to leverage his altered state of mind to label him a malingerer and slacker. In other words, he was a bad soldier who deserved to be thrown out into the streets of society to fend for himself.
There was only one problem; his command had no legal reason to kick him out and deny him his rightfully earned full medical retirement. They had to devise a plan, even if it involved entrapment, false testimony, and violating his medical provider's treatment plan.
Sometimes the coverup is worse than the crime committed, and Nathaniel's new battle has just begun.
They [command] started preparing to roll out the red carpet for him, and it was littered with landmines, just waiting to strike when the timing was right.
Nathaniel’s story would be given zero justice if it was squeezed into a 500-word email newsletter which is why a national news story is being worked on.
The story will dive into what those landmines were, how they were placed, and the individuals behind the entire operation.
It’s mindblowing!
Nathaniel Cruz was granted a full medical retirement through the efforts of USJAG, but nobody was left unscathed through the two-year-long, drawn-out ordeal.
There were casualties, including the Department of Defense.