Blake Hall
Several days ago, we reported that military veteran and addiction specialist Brandon Coleman suffered the indignity of watching his coworker turn his injuries into a Halloween costume. A photograph of the insulting Halloween costume was published to Military.com, exposing the cavalier attitude the VA hospital harbored towards wounded warriors and whistleblowers.
After the office Halloween party, Coleman was shocked to learn that a VA social worker dressed as his mirror image. While dressing up as a coworker can be a light-hearted joke in some offices, Coleman knew immediately that his coworker–now identified as Jeremy Pottle–was trying to shame him after he exposed several abuses in the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Hospital System.
Though he hadn’t attended the party himself, a coworker alerted Coleman of the joke and described the costume in full. The military veteran didn’t hesitate to call foul and alert the proper people.
“Mr. Pottle wore blonde hair with a long blonde ponytail,” Coleman wrote in an email to VA Secretary Bob McDonald. “Jeremy also had a fake blondish colored beard. He wore a shirt with the sleeves cut off along with fake tattoos on both arms. [He] also used a cane and had a pillow or something under his shirt to represent an oversized beer belly.”
Not only does the photograph provided to Military.com prove that the costume existed, but it also shows that the hospital administration enjoyed the costume. Of the ten costumed employees featured in the picture, only the Santa Claus looks perturbed by Pottle’s costume.
“I walk with a cane because I blew out my right foot while on active duty,” Coleman told McDonald. “I have had 9 surgeries total to my right foot and 6 of those have taken place at the Phoenix VA hospital. Why would Mr. Pottle make fun of me for being injured while on active duty and trying to get care for my injuries at the Phoenix VA hospital as a disabled veteran?”