Josh W. joined the Marines in 2007, and when he wasn’t training to deploy, he was driving trucks. An ankle injury sustained during deployment training caused an untimely departure for Josh from the Marines in 2010. Multiple surgeries and an unstable ankle rendered him physically unfit to deploy, and he got out on a medical.
During out-processing, his routine psych assessment doc stated she thought he might have anxiety issues. He agreed, she wrote orders for therapy sessions and he went as ordered. His anxiety diagnosis was successfully treated without use of medication — he saw a therapist, learned his triggers, and got his sign off after a few sessions.
Josh re-integrated into the workforce as a warehouse worker. His home state is Missouri, and they did not have the troops-to-truckers provision in place at the time, so he wasn’t able to get his CDL by just taking the written test, which is a possibility today in most states if you have recent prior military commercial vehicle experience. He was unhappy with warehouse work, and it aggravated his bad ankle. The VA not only suggested he get his CDL, they paid for him to go to community college to get it.
In 2013, Josh disclosed his anxiety diagnosis to his medical examiner, who when advised that it required no medication had no problem signing off on it. He got his first medical card and his CDL that year, and began his civilian professional trucking career.
2014 renewal went the same — full disclosure to an outside medical examiner, no medications, no problem. 2015 renewal time gets close, and because he knows procedures have changed, he starts the process early, but unfortunately, not early enough.
He was told by an approved clinic staff physician that she could no longer sign off on any mental health diagnosis. She wasn’t clear on whether or not his attending physician (the VA) could do it, but she knew she couldn’t, so she denied his medical card until the mental health provision, which she couldn’t be specific about, was met.
