[Vision2020] Fending for Themselves

[Tom Hansen]

>From the September 4, 2006 edition of the Army Times -

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Fending for themselves
Severely wounded soldiers find modified housing hard to come by

By Kelly Kennedy
Staff writer

Staff writer

Sgt. 1st Class Juanita Wilson lost her left hand and part of her arm when an
improvised explosive device exploded near her convoy in Iraq in August 2004.

Rather than retire with full medical benefits, she re-enlisted in the Army
Active Reserve. 

But when she began to modify her home to accommodate her injuries, she found
she had to pay for it. Veterans are eligible for $10,000 to $50,000 grants
to install garage-door openers, lever doorknobs, wheelchair ramps and rocker
switches, but Wilson's not a veteran. 

"We're not entitled to veterans' benefits," she said, "and there's no money
in place to help active-duty soldiers. The severely wounded - we're going to
have to start making some noise here."

In June, Army officials changed policies to allow soldiers with amputations
up to a year to decide whether they would like to continue a career in the
Army. 

But the Army only provides housing-modification assistance to soldiers who
live on post. 

Ned Christensen, spokesman for the Army's Installation Management Agency,
said soldiers can work through their housing offices to get help with
modifying government housing. Those who live off post have to come up with
their own funding.

"The government does not pay to modify a private home off post," Christensen
said. "Some private organizations . have done a lot of good work in helping
with that."

Terry Jemison, spokesman for the Veterans Affairs Department, said soldiers
are eligible for housing-modification grants only if they have already been
rated at 100 percent disability through the medical evaluation board
process. "It's basically for those who are awaiting discharge," Jemison
said. 

Veterans also have to meet a series of requirements to prove they are
eligible for VA grants for the "severely disabled," such as missing both
legs, blindness in both eyes or the loss of both arms.

"If I'd taken the discharge, I could have gotten full medical benefits and
help with my housing," Wilson said. "But I wanted to continue to serve."

Her case is not isolated.

A rocket-propelled grenade left Staff Sgt. Josh Olson with one leg when he
was stationed in Iraq in 2003. He decided to stay in the military as a
member of the Army Marksmanship Team when the unit's commander sent a note
to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., looking for soldiers with
amputations. 

While buying a house at his post, Fort Benning, Ga., he had to figure out
whether he wanted hardwood floors or carpeting, whether he needed a
one-story home, and that he wanted handrails and a seat in the shower.

"I wanted it to be easy to get in and out of everything," he said. "No, the
Army didn't help. Then again, I didn't ask."

He said no one informed him of any programs to help soldiers with those
modifications.

Staff Sgt. Daniel Metzdorf actively looked for help modifying the home he
owns when he returned to Fort Bragg., N.C., after he lost his right leg to a
roadside bomb in Iraq.

"On post, they will do anything you need, but off post, it's not in the
system yet," he said. "Everyone wants to do it. It just needs to be
changed."

When he wanted shower bars installed and railings leading into his garage,
the guys in his 82nd Airborne unit offered to do it. He turned them down.

"We need to do this the right way, or we'll keep getting turned down," he
said. "Some changes will come when they see the influx of soldiers wounded
in action staying on active duty."

He talked up and down his chain of command, and said his wife had lunch with
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's wife to talk about the issue. "Next
thing I knew, two guys from Homes for our Troops were flying in," he said.

That time, he accepted the help. 

Tom Benoit, chief operating officer for Homes for our Troops, said his
organization "just helped Dan out with some handrails.

"It had been going on for months, apparently," he said, referring to
Metzdorf's quest for help. "We just sent someone down with a hammer who took
care of it."

Normally, Homes for our Troops has a waiting list as it looks for funds and
volunteers, but Benoit said they took on Metzdorf's case "for a friend."

Juanita Wilson also sought help outside the Army.

TJ Cantwell, program director for Serving Those Who Serve, said his
organization installed everything from doorknobs to a security system at
Wilson's home in Rosedale, Md.

Serving Those Who Serve began in September 2005 to help service members who
were severely injured in Iraq or Afghanistan - usually veterans who chose to
medically retire after they were hurt. The group, funded by Countrywide
Financial Corp., helps modify troops' homes, as well as their caregivers'. 

Cantwell said he met with the communications director from the Wounded
Warrior program Aug. 8 to talk about what his organization can do for
soldiers.

Wilson said they, and Baltimore radio station 98 Rock, changed her life.

When she returned home from Walter Reed Medical Center, she and her
7-year-old daughter, Kenyah, slept on an air mattress in the living room of
her two-story home because she feared a burglar might break into the house.

"I felt disadvantaged because of my one hand," she said. "I couldn't hear
what was going on downstairs."

The radio station had a security system installed.

"We're in our beds now," she said.

As Serving Those Who Serve employees looked around her house, they made more
improvements: a new shed with a better organization system; new gutters
because her basement was flooded; and a gas fireplace because Wilson was
carrying wood into the house with one hand.

"If you're not used to not having a hand, you don't even know what you
need," she said. "They're an organization that was ready and willing to
help. But I had to do a lot of fighting to stay here in my house."

Home help
Nonprofit organizations offering housing modification help for severely
wounded soldiers:

www.homesforourtroops.org

www.servingthosewhoserve.org

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This is ABSOLUTE bull dung.  If somebody (regardless of their status) is
suffering from a service-connected disability, the Department of Veterans
Affairs should be the first ones their offering assistance (financial and
otherwise) without qualification.

Pro patria,

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.