British Army Med Discharge

Hi All
Well my story, i have been diagnosed with the chrones for 5 yr now ,and have served 14 yr in the British Army,i have done many tours of Afghan and Kosovo back in 1999, i love my job as an infantryman(bullet catcher).
i am currently in Cyprus and have been told i am getting posted back to the UK where i will be sick at home and await for a Med Board which in time will end in a Medical Discharge from the army(gutted).however before i joined the army many years ago when i was a young whipper snapper, i never had the chrones and as a result of me contracting the disease whilst serving in the army i could be eligible for a pay out££££££,,,,if i can somehow blame the army in someway that whilst serving in a very stressful career, many hazardous environments and occasional poor diets then it could help me in the future when i am back on civvi street.
i have absolutely no idea what to do now and would appreciate any help and guidance.

many thanx Jack.

Live for today and Never EVER give up!

Hi Jack and welcome!

I'm sorry to hear of your predicament, it's always hard when disease takes away more than our health

To clarify, are you looking for ways that you might be able to blame your Crohn's Disease on your time with the army? Or are you looking for insight into what you should do once you're out of the army?

Again, welcome

Hi David.
I guess i am looking for answers on how the Army could have been to blame.

i have a huge amount of help when i leave the army both with help with my chrones from websites such as this and future employment and career workshops.

many thanks david.

If I was your attorney I could probably make one heck of an argument as to why your time in the army led to your Crohn's Disease. But I'm not sure that it would be correct.

They don't know for sure what causes Crohn's Disease so it would be hard to correlate X, Y, and Z in the army causing the disease for sure. If I was the other attorney, I would argue that the Crohn's Disease very likely would have come about anyway, and potentially sooner.

If I was in your position I would search for reputable studies/papers on stress and crohn's disease, diet and crohn's disease, and vitamin d and crohn's disease and argue that the three created a perfect storm that led to your expressing an active Crohn's Disease phenotype. I would also try to find data to see if the number of people in the army discharged with Crohn's Disease is greater than that of the general population. If so, you're golden.

Brilliant.
Thankx David i am going to get as much info and case studies as i can.

Being an elderly ex British soldier 1960-1969] and a crohnie of long standing, I have to be honest with you. Once diagnosed, the Army will have little option than to implement a medical discharge.

Infantry rations issued in Borneo and Malaya were hardly gastronomic delights, nor was the swill dished up away form active service. That being said, it would IMO be well nigh impossible to draw any correlation between your military service and your present circumstances. Regrettably and inexplicitly disorders such as Crohn's just leap out of the blue to bite you.

If you wish to retain your sanity, please do NOT consider litigation. You will only end up with more stress- which is the last thing that you need.

Please accept my sincere sympathies for what has happened, I appreciate your anxiety and fears for your future. Perhaps you might have a word with your unit Padre? Part of their { I am not in the least religious} role is akin to social work in matters that you have outlined. Another avenue of approach might be SAAFA to determine what help they might be able to offer.