I can vouch
I joined up in 92. We were told "!DO NOT! ask what is in the shots or we will grass drill you!". We were even threatened with the stockade if we
asked or refused because they wouldn't tell us.
From this, I know a few unfortunate things. (Warning... Do not read further if you have a weak stomach)
The shot we got in the waist (the exact spot - though I can't prove it) caused a cyst that was literally the size of a large lemon that had to get cut
out of me 20 years later. It grew from a very small bump that I couldn't scratch for a few years, to that lemon I had to get removed. Such pain!!!
They had to squeeze every bit to make sure it was all out in the end. I still have a #2 pencil lead sized hole in my waist where it was.
Some of my buddies got the shakes and the craps so bad they could hardly stand. Though, they say that this was from uranium tipped artillery rounds
that they were firing from tanks and mobiles. To be honest, I think it started in Boot. Reason being is coming up next.
I ended up, even to this very day, with the shakes so bad that I can't grip something tightly in my hands without them convulsing. If I hold my hand
out, it shakes. If it's only a little cold outside, I shake badly! It's almost like losing control of your motor functions but I can still hold on
to things without dropping them. I have strength in my extremities but it's not the strength, it's the ability to keep them steady.
Anxiety! Wow... Since then, I've felt like I've literally been plugged into a wall socket for the last 20+ years. It was manageable (outward
appearance) but on the inside, I felt often that I was losing my mind! The past year I finally let some of my stubborn pride go and saw a doctor who
put me on some anti-anxiety meds, which seemed to work great for a little while but now only 'ok'. They put me on antidepressants as well because
they didn't know for sure which one was causing the other. The SSRIs didn't do anything at all but made me want to ball my eyes out every second.
When I say Anxiety was bad... I'm not talking only a little. It was craziness in this body. I could hardly sleep at night and if I did, it was at
the last hour before I had to go to work or until my brain totally exhausted me to the point that I just had to fall out. Great for multitasking and
figuring things out
Though, not so good for real life relationships. I could control it and I was aware of it but man it was hard!!! Now... I
feel like the world is totally different.
Wizzing blood isn't a fun thought but while in boot, not all that long after the shots, I went to the latrine and did my thing but it wasn't clear..
wasn't orange... it was blood. It just kept coming like I had a full bladder of the stuff but never seemed to stop and I didn't seem 'full'. I went
to the MCT2 and saw a navy doc and she asked me in various ways if I had "stuck something up there". I looked her like she was nuts! There was no
trauma to any area prior. I just came in after training one day and started wizzing blood. Though, it was only for that moment. I hadn't since. I
was checked for everything from an infection to STDs and nothing was found. I really thought after that, they thought I was lying just to get out of
training, which was total BS.
Overall... You just don't know WHAT they give you. I got 2 in one arm, 1 in another, one in the hip and one in the butt (oh that was pretty painful
because it was thick and ice cold - like semi frozen peanut butter). Then you're given a handful of "vitamins", oddly only having to take once. One
of them was this big brown wafer. Rumor was that it was saltpeter. The stuff that's supposed to stop you from getting the urges - but also used in
gunpowder... ??? lol
Anyways... That's my story. We knew it was funny back then and very odd but none of us wanted to go to the stockade. When you join the Army, you're
theirs and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it. You knew it.
Today? Well.... ehhh I hear it's a different military.
edit on 8-11-2018 by StallionDuck because: (no reason given)