By Jim Garamone
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2015 – It’s an ethos burned into the
minds of generations of American service members to “leave no one behind.”
This ethos has grown in response to America’s wars since
9/11, with coalitions devoted to the treatment and care of wounded, ill or
wounded service members and their families.
U.S. Special Operations Command and the services are looking
at innovative ways to ensure service members get the care they need and
deserve. All are working to ensure there are no gaps in care or assistance for
these service members.
Congress gave U.S. Special Operations Command the authority
to provide a wounded warrior care program for its 69,000 personnel, said Army
Col. Cary Harbaugh, the director of the command’s Care Coalition Wounded
Warrior Program.
No Small Job
This is not a small job, Harbaugh said. There are more than
5,100 special operators enrolled in the program. Officials also track more than
2,400 special operations veterans, and assist more than 400 families.
Most special operators have deployed multiple times, the colonel
said. They are “at the tip of the spear,” he said, and even when not deployed
to combat areas, they often work in underdeveloped or undeveloped areas. Their
training is tough and realistic.
All this takes a toll, Harbaugh said. Most special operators
in the program are combat wounded, he said, but others are ill from disease
contracted during deployments. Still others, he added, are in the program
because they were injured -- either from training accidents or the accumulated
tolls on their bodies.
The Socom coalition looks to get special operators back to
their teams quickly, or if that is not possible, to transition to other jobs in
the military or to veteran’s status.
Began in 2005
The Care Coalition began in 2005 to fill in the gaps in care
for special operators, Harbaugh said. The coalition, he said, is more focused
on retention and preserving service members in the force even after they’ve had
a wound, illness or injury.
As the number of wounded, ill or injured special operators
grew, the program grew, he said.
“It’s all about advocacy,” the colonel said.
“You don’t know how to navigate the medical system until you
have to do it,” said Army Sgt. Maj. Kelly Ammerman, the Care Coalition senior
enlisted advisor.
Like the community it serves, the Care Coalition is small,
quick and agile. The organization has a total of 90 people with most serving
with the forces where they are needed, said Lt. Col. Theresa Lewis, an Army
nurse in charge of the program’s Recovery Care Center.
Immediate Situation
Coalition liaison officers handle the immediate situation.
“They are at the bedside while the service member is in the hospital,” Lewis
said. “They also deal with the immediate issues with the family throughout the
process.”
Advocates -- also called recovery care coordinators -- are
more long-term. Advocates help with appointments, financial issues and family
issues, whether the service member is returning to duty or transitioning to
veteran’s status, she said.
Liaisons and advocates are with the force, wherever there
are special operations forces -- at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Dam Neck,
Virginia, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and at other installations. They work
at positions at military treatment facilities like Walter Reed National
Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and at San Antonio Military
Medical Center in Texas.
The coalition is involved throughout. For those wounded,
there is a coalition representative in Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, who makes
the initial assessment and works in-country with medical teams. The
representative notifies the coalition liaison at Landstuhl Medical Center in
Germany as the special operator is medevaced.
If the patient is moved stateside, liaison officers and
advocates are part of the process at every step of the way.
The Process
Liaison officers and advocates at the installations are part
of the process for those ill or injured, Harbaugh said. “There is always
someone involved with the special operator,” he added.
The advocates and liaison officers are senior people who’ve
served in special operations on an average of 26 years.
“They know how to find the ‘yes’ answer,” Ammerman said.
“They are bureaucratic wall-busters.”
The advocates and liaison officers are people that special
operators will talk to about their problems. “Our community is relatively
close-mouthed,” the sergeant major explained. “They are only going to deal with
somebody they feel comfortable with -- a vetted source.”
Special operators want to stay on the team, Ammerman said.
They don’t want to be away from their friends, he added, and they want to do
their share of the labor.
“They are going to do all they can -- including ignoring
injuries -- to deploy and continue to be operational, because that’s why they
signed up,” he said.
But at some point there comes a time when they realize they
cannot deploy, and they need someone they trust to talk with, Ammerman said.
“Our advocates are people who have been there before,” he said.
More needs to be done, Harbaugh said, but the work is
advancing. The Care Coalition works to assist those operators who don’t remain
in service, supporting the transition to civilian life and to veteran status.
The Care Coalition works closely with Veterans Affairs to ensure seamless
transition, he said.
“This is a work in progress,” Harbaugh said.
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