Delayed Victory : Marine Wins 2-Year Battle With U.S. Over Injuries Suffered in Gulf War

Brett Doggett has just won his second battle.

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

The government recently relented, but only after hundreds of phone calls, dozens of letters, and thousands of traveled miles, including one 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,” said Susan Doggett, Brett’s wife of two years, who contacted him in the wake of the national publicity when he returned as a wounded Marine.

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

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

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 lives in Orange, the ordeal began March 3, 1991, just four days after President George Bush had declared victory in the confrontation with Iraq. A light-armored vehicle gunner in Kuwait, Doggett 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.

Doggett said he was walking past a smelly chicken coop near an old well when a land mine exploded and 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 resulted in a painful back condition. He also gets chronic skin rashes, which he blames on the poisonous chemicals he believes he was exposed to. He also 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,” Susan Doggett said.

Able only to walk slowly with a cane, the former Marine--who used to bowl, play tennis and jog seven miles a day--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.

In the last two years, the Doggetts have traveled countless times to Los Angeles and San Diego for medical documentation, and enlisted the aid of Disabled American Veterans as well as Rep. Edward R. Royce (R-Fullerton).

“This was an unusual circumstance,” Royce said of his 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 culminated in his appearance last month before the board of veterans appeal in Washington where the injured veteran bared his wound 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.

Doggett, who is pursuing an undergraduate degree in political science at Cal State Fullerton, said he is happy to receive the money but 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.”