Through this series of blogs, “A Failure to Act” I have discussed issues relating to a failure to act during the planning stages of a conflict for the known problems associated directly with combat, and the significant rise in suicides of Veterans in fiscal year 2009.
Today, I will begin to try and put a face to the issues we have discussed. Unless you personally know someone who suffers from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), TBI (traumatic brain injury), or a Veteran who has committed suicide we tend to get lost in numbers and don’t think of the human tragedy associated with that number. We all have the same basic problem, “what does 12,000,000+ Veterans look like?” Until we are able to place a face with a number it is difficult to get too involved in fixing the problem. So for the next few blogs I am going to try to put a few faces, personalities, and souls to the numbers.
I will start with Sgt. S.R. Sgt. S.R. has been a member of the Arizona Army National Guard for approximately 9 years. S.R is an infantry soldier who was assigned to Afghanistan, along with National Guard Unit for a 2 year tour of active duty. He spent 15/16 months stationed in Afghanistan attached to a Regular Army Unit. During his tour of duty S.R. along with several others from his unit were assigned to protect an EOD unit (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) on a highly traveled military road just outside of an Afghan Village. As S.R. and others from his group traveled to their designated location they came under heavy fire from the Taliban and other terrorist. They soon realized that they had driven into an ambush and were both outnumbered and in a difficult spot to protect themselves. The initial barrage of fire from the ambush killed several of their group and pinned down everyone else. S.R. and the remaining soldiers from his group returned fire and for the next hours the firefight continued. Calls for air support and attack helicopters to assist them in withdrawing from the ambush were denied due to the rear echelons concern of “collateral damage to the civilian population”. Sgt. S.R. and the others that were there to protect the EOD Unit fought throughout the day until the enemy broke off contact. At the time, this was the longest sustained firefight in the history of Afghanistan and Sgt. S.R. was awarded the Army Commendation Medal with “V” Device for Valor.
Upon returning to Phoenix, AZ with his unit Sgt. S.R. started to notice that he was different from the person who left for Afghanistan, his wife C.R. started to point out some issues that were effecting her and the children, he then began the process of reporting these issues to the VA Hospital and to the VA.
The balance of Sgt. S.R.’s story will be the topic of my next blog.
Please forward this to as many of your contacts as possible because the only way we will ever correct the problems is if we “shine a light” on the problem and come together to insist on changes. www.projectweremember.org