Battle Is Won Back Home : Ex-Marine Hurt in Gulf Wins Disability Case

Brett Doggett has just ended his second battle.

The first occurred in the Persian Gulf War, when the 26-year-old Marine corporal stepped on a land mine and lost his left foot and the big toe of his right. The second was his two-year struggle with the Department of Veterans Affairs for recognition that his injury was serious enough to warrant full-disability payments.

The government recently relented, but only after hundreds of phone calls, dozens of letters and thousands of miles traveled, including a trip to Washington, where Doggett, accompanied by a congressman, removed his shoes and socks to show government officials the stump of his toe. Then he hobbled back and forth on the floor in front of them.

“That was so they could see how unsteady he was,” explained Susan Doggett, 40, Brett’s wife of two years, who, like hundreds of other women, contacted him in the wake of the national publicity when he returned as a wounded Marine.

Veterans affairs officials say that the department’s initial decision to award Doggett less than 100% disability was the best one possible based on the medical evidence available at the time.

“He added to his disabilities as the claim progressed,” said Chris Allen, assistant adjudication officer in the Los Angeles office where the decision was made. “It was a judgment call.”

For Doggett, who now lives in Orange, the ordeal began on March 3, 1991, four days after then-President George Bush had declared victory in the war with Iraq. Doggett, a light-armored-vehicle gunner in Kuwait, had left his post momentarily to get a cup of hot chocolate when an officer ordered him to lead a foot patrol in search of snipers.

He was walking past a smelly chicken coop near an old well, Doggett recalled, when the blast of the land mine ripped through his lower extremities.

“I looked down and the left front of my boot was missing completely and the right boot was peeled back like a can,” he said.

The prosthesis on his amputated foot makes that leg 1 1/4 inches longer than the other, which has since resulted in a painful back condition. He also gets chronic skin rashes, which he blames on the poisonous chemicals to which he believes he was exposed. And he suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome, which keeps him tossing and turning almost every night.

“We can’t even sleep in the same bed because I’m afraid that he’ll kick real hard and hurt me,” said his wife, who first met the young veteran after noticing his picture in The Times.

Able only to walk slowly with a cane, the former Marine--who used to bowl, play tennis and jog seven miles a day--now finds it painful to sit or stand.

“Every wall in my house looks like a kid lives here because he has to lean on all the walls,” Susan Doggett said.

Two years ago, when Doggett filed his original claim, the Department of Veterans Affairs awarded him a pension of $742 a month, about 60% of the full amount possible. They later increased it to 80% in recognition of his post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Doggett protested at every turn, insisting that his disability was complete.

In the past two years, the Doggetts have traveled countless times to Los Angeles and San Diego for medical documentation, and have enlisted the aid of Disabled American Veterans--a national support group for injured vets--as well as Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton).

“This was an unusual circumstance,” Royce said of his personal involvement in the case. “For Brett to get on with his life, he needed to have this tug-of-war with the VA resolved.”

Doggett’s persistence finally culminated in his appearance last month before the Board of Veterans Appeal in Washington, where, accompanied by Royce, who testified on his behalf, the injured veteran bared his wounds and demonstrated his wobbly gait.

“That may very well have turned the decision,” Allen said. “When you’re dealing with physical disabilities, you have volumes and volumes of medical evidence to go through, and there is a somewhat wide latitude for disagreement and judgment.”

In addition to $2,312 a month for the rest of his life, Doggett will receive about $14,000 in retroactive payments dating to the beginning of his claim, Allen said.

The former Marine, who is pursuing an undergraduate degree in political science from Cal State Fullerton, said he is happy to receive the money but that the fight has left him disillusioned.

“They didn’t take care of me the way they should have,” he said. “I would think that if you are willing to risk your life or lose your body parts, that they should be willing to give you the best care possible with the least amount of hassle.”

Nor will the money compensate for his loss, he said.

“All I ever wanted to be was an officer in the Marines,” Doggett said. “I’m not that optimistic; what I really wanted to do in life I can’t do anymore.”