BLACKFIVE: Our wounded in transition need some help

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Our wounded in transition need some help

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

Pam from Maine is a member of the Warrior Legacy Foundation who has been working to help our wounded troops who leave the service make their way. She has seen some holes in the system that need work and wants to discuss how WLF can help with this. Here are her thoughts.

There is a clear sense of urgency for me to continue thiswork so as few wounded as possible slip
through the typical administrative gaps that clearly affect them on a regular basis.

The bottom line is that as many as 65% of these individuals are coming back home with either

TBI, PTSD, or both. Many symptoms for each tend to dovetail into each other and make the

medboard process long and tedious so the DoD can define what type of disability they may

be cut loose with. As you may, or may not, know, the DoD selects the most severe injury or

condition, rates them according to that, and retires or discharges them - usually not coinciding

with their original ETS date issued upon enlisting. Once the medboard process is complete, these

servicemembers are no longer considered active duty and that pay stops. If they are lucky

enough to have had someone who's on the ball involved in their outprocessing, they may already

have gotten help filing for Social Security benefits. Many aren't that lucky. So, pay stops, they get

sent home and now have to start the whole evaluation process over again, based on a completely

different system within the VA. Many are too injured to work, have no more active duty pay,

and can wait months for their comp & pen evaluations to get scheduled.

The VA takes into consideration the DoD's disability rating, and may (or may not) give additional

percentages for the other, less dominant, injuries they will now have to continue treating. Once

the evaluations are complete, and the ratings are issued, if the servicemember is not satisfied with

that rating because they feel it is too low, they have a mandatory waiting period of 657 days to

have their appeal heard. And there is no guarantee that the VA rating will go up. That's just the

wait time. Most get frustrated after the long medboard process, and can't be put on hold for another

two years for resolution and settle for the lower percentage just to move on.

So, what I get after all this is military coming home with debilitating PTSD and/or TBI issues, and a lot

of frustration at their situation. Now, these are people who may have lead units in combat, directed

missions or whatever. And because they are trained to handle things, shake it off, fix the problem, etc.,

they end up too proud, embarrassed or what have you to step up and ask for help early on. They've

served their country proudly, yet are told to apply for public assistance, food stamps, and other ways

to provide for themselves and their families. I see many foreclosures, bankruptcies, folks way behind

in their bills and can't pay their rent or buy basic necessities. Forget about Christmas for their kids or

other non-essentials.

Trying to navigate the gargantuan VA/benefits system is overwhelming for the average person. For

these guys with the signature wounds of this war, PTSD and TBI, it is next to impossible. I spend a lot

of time trying to walk them through it as best I can. Sometimes it's as easy as making the right phone

call for them or pointing them in the right direction. Most of the time it's not.

They get frustrated, angry, and they lose faith and are reluctant to ask for help because they can't

handle one more entity letting them down after all they've been through up to this point. Many times

it's a bit of work to gain their trust.

So, the bottom line for me is this; these folks have served their country proudly and asked for nothing

in return. They should be able to walk away from their years of service with their head held high,

be able to take care of themselves and their families, and be taken care of with dignity. With only one

percent of our country part of the military, that leaves the other 99% of us in a position to make that

happen. I raise money to do this and awareness to shed light on this issue. Most are unaware and are

shocked and are more than willing to step up once they've been enlightened.

I plan events that do both of these key things. I do public speaking, I plan fundraisers, I do hands-on

casework, I do media events (radio, news articles, interviews, etc.). I have been very luck to have the

best people in the world fall into my lap and come aboard to offer help. I have made friends with the

Free Masons in our state who organized a benefit dinner that brought in over $4,000. I have good friends in the motorcycle community that have helped me put on an upcoming benefit ride next month. We're potentially looking at a riding contingent of 400-700 bikes with full police escorts, a bagpipe group, and other fun stuff. I have new friends in a local gun club that have helped raise money and connected me

with other groups. I just spent last weekend on the road in three states with a model who flew in from

South Dakota to do appearances/meet and greets and helped us raise over $2,200.

I've made regular appearances on local radio programs that are incredibly supportive of our military.

The list of wonderful people is long and I am grateful and honored to do this work with their support.

I do hope we can work together to keep making people aware of the difficult and unique challenges

our country's wounded face after being injured in the line of duty. The mission is important and I'm

ready to hit the ground running if we share the same vision and are ready to get to work.