Published: April 05, 2008 06:18 pm         

You personally can help this family

THE MILITARY VIEW

By Jerry Hogan



This is not a pretty story. And it is certainly not a feel-good story. Instead, it is the story of a young man who grew up in Anchorage, Ak., went to war for his country, got wounded and medically discharged from the US Army, and now he and his wife are wondering how they are going to live a “normal” life.

Richard Watson graduated from High School in Anchorage in 1993 and entered the University of Alaska that fall. Unfortunately neither he nor his parents had the money for him to just go to college; he also had to work a 40 hour week to try and get enough money to stay in school. He also found out about “Student Loans” and used those to help pay tuition and fees while he worked and went to school.

Finally in 1997, getting farther behind in school and constantly working in dead-end jobs, he decided he wanted a change to put more focus and purpose in his life. His family of father, grandfather, and uncles had all served in the military, so hearing the stories they told of their experiences, he joined the US Army. He said “I wanted to serve my country. I never worried about war or what I would do if faced with death in the service of my country.”

After basic and advanced Infantry training at Fort Benning, Ga., he was sent to Germany to serve in the 1st Infantry Division; just in time to be deployed for peacekeeping duties in Kosovo. And sometimes it just doesn’t pay to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

While in Macedonia on a weekend pass from Kosovo, a group of civilians attacked an American soldier. When Watson attempted to rescue the man, he was struck on the head by a club receiving the first of ten concussions he would get in the next nine years.

Completing seven months in Kosovo, he was reassigned to Fort Lewis, Wash. where he joined one of our new Stryker brigades; a fully mobile mechanized infantry unit of about four thousand Soldiers.

In November of 2003 the unit was deployed to the Mosel area of Iraq. On October 14, 2004, he was injured when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) exploded near his vehicle. Again he sustained another severe concussion but was returned to duty shortly after the incident.

The unit returned to Fort Lewis in November of 2004 and then redeployed back to Iraq in May of 2006; 18 months in the States before going back into combat. In October, another IED explosion again caused a concussion to Staff Sgt. Watson, this time while he was a squad leader for nine soldiers that he was responsible for leading in combat. Additionally, while jumping out of his vehicle, he broke a bone in his ankle which he “taped up with an Ace elastic bandage as he didn’t want to leave his men.”

The next incident was the worst. As described by Watson, “We were on patrol watching for terrorists and suddenly there was a huge explosion off the side of the vehicle. We dismounted and began treating one of our casualties while we waited for a stretcher.

“I had put my guys along a wall watching across the street covering those of us who were working on the injured man. As I walked over to report the actions to our Lieutenant, an explosion rocked my world and I opened my eyes only to realize I was face down on the pavement. I don’t remember much after that but my Platoon Sergeant told me that I ran under fire and picked up one of our guys who was bleeding and out cold, grabbed his drag handle, not realizing rounds were going off all around both of us.

“I heard nothing and felt nothing. Suddenly someone was there helping me and we got the guy out of the alley and back inside the vehicle where he was protected from fire. I stood up in the hatch of the vehicle and felt my legs buckle and everything went cross-eyed and I couldn’t stand up any more and I just slumped down in the seat.”

Arriving back at their operating base in Iraq, Watson was treated initially for a major concussion. After six weeks of light duty working in an office because he could not carry out his normal duties as a squad leader, he was sent for a CAT scan. Since this was his 10th concussion and his symptoms were still persistent, a medical decision was made to evacuate him out-of-country to Germany to be seen by the neurology department at the general hospital located in Landstuhl.

From Germany he was sent to Brook Army Hospital in San Antonio where he was finally diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), that same diagnosis so many of our soldiers are coming home with and the one we are starting to see so much about on the evening news. With this injury, the Army decided Sgt. Watson could no longer serve in the military, so he was sent back to Fort Lewis where his family was located and where he would go before a medical board where the final decision was reached that he be medically discharged.

So what now? According to Watson, “my wife had to stop working to take care of me. I can no longer drive, stand up for too long, or do most of the things I used to enjoy. I still suffer from vertigo, blackouts, flashbacks, nightmares, and seizures.

“I have to wear glasses now because the TBI affects my vision causing a loss of my peripheral which the doctors are unsure of its return. I still suffer from short term memory loss so my wife must give me my medications and help me in my normal daily living like putting my clothes on, helping me shower, etc.

“She has been at my side during my treatments and I don’t know what I would have done without her being there. I do not have any anger over what has happened to me. The only thing I regret is I cannot be the man I once was for my wife and three kids. I’ve proudly served my country, fought hard and long, countless days and nights doing what I learned to love. The memory of those who didn’t make it back will always be with me. God bless those men and women still in harm’s way and the families that stand behind them.”

Sgt. Watson and his family have recently returned to his wife’s hometown, Gun Barrel City, where they have rented a small house. Economically things do not look good for them. Because of his disability of the TBI, he will receive about $1,300 each month from the VA.

He cannot work, and may never be able to work again, and thus far neither can his wife as she must care for him. Their car was stolen right before he went back to Iraq and now, unfortunately they are upside down with an SUV with a $1,100 a month car payment. Additionally they are being required to repay his student loan with a $400 per month loan repayment. Add to that their rent and normal living expenses, and you can see the $1,300 will just not stretch far enough.

They have received some help from organizations such as the Wounded Warrior Program and Aid for Our Wounded Soldiers, but additional help will be needed. Sergeant Watson can be reached at Richard.W.Watson@US.Army.mil, and an excellent web site where funds may be specifically directed to him is www.AidForOurWoundedSoldiers.org

My wife and I met with Richard and his wife, Tonya, in their home not long ago. Here is a young man who has given everything he can to help keep us free. He has not asked for a single thing nor has he complained about his treatment or the consequences of his injury. Both of them are worried about their future and how they are going to be able to make it, but they continue to talk about “the great Soldiers he served with and how proud he is of being with them and leading them in combat.”

If you can help in any way in telling this family “Thank You”, please do so.



If you have a friend or relative in the military and would like to see their story told in this column, please contact retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Hogan at jerryhogan@sbcglobal.net.