thedrifter
08-02-07, 03:30 PM
Battalion's mission is to lay path for wounded
Marines get help in taking next step
By Bruce Lieberman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 2, 2007
CAMP PENDLETON – Marine Sgt. Ricardo Ramirez resisted help from anyone after his left hand was shattered in February 2006 during a patrol in Iraq.
Having completed a lengthy rehabilitation with a new prosthesis, Ramirez is now working as an urban warfare instructor at Camp Pendleton – and he's eager to get back into the fight.
Now there's a new Marine Corps battalion whose sole mission is to help Ramirez and other wounded Marines make their next move.
“Whether our wounded warriors return to the battlefield or transition on to new challenges, they are without question still in the fight,” said Lt. Col. Charles H. Johnson III, commander of the Wounded Warrior Battalion-West.
The battalion, activated yesterday at a ceremony at Camp Pendleton, is intended to place the Corps' focus on caring for wounded Marines under a single command, Johnson said.
“We're going to keep track of the Marines, to make sure that quality (care) is provided across the board as far as the amount of support they're getting and that nobody gets lost in transition,” Johnson said.
The battalion includes wounded Marines and support staff who will help them manage their health care and other benefits from the federal agencies that serve them: the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Support personnel will attend to the basics, such as making sure recovering Marines keep their medical appointments. They will also advise the wounded on more complicated matters, such as how to make their medical care as seamless as possible as they transition from active duty to life as a veteran.
The Corps will also contact wounded Marines who have left the service to make sure they are receiving the care and benefits they need, Johnson said.
Ramirez said the battalion will be vital for Marines.
“A lot of the command does not have the right idea about how to process an injured Marine if he wants to stay in or get out,” Ramirez said.
There are two Wounded Warrior battalions; the other was activated last month at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
The order to establish the Wounded Warrior regiment, made up of the two battalions, came in November from Gen. James T. Conway, the commandant of the Marine Corps, Johnson said.
It predated highly publicized revelations early this year of substandard housing, poor care and a dysfunctional bureaucracy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Johnson said.
As battlefield medical care has advanced, an increasing number of Marines are surviving injuries that in the past would have killed them, Johnson said. Once back at home, they deserve the same level of continued care they received abroad.
“We can't do enough for these wounded,” Johnson said.
Camp Pendleton's battalion is starting small, but it will grow, Johnson said. It has a support staff of 21 Marines and 18 injured residents at Camp Pendleton's Wounded Warrior Center, which opened a year ago.
The battalion is nowhere near the size of a typical battalion of 1,000 or more Marines. But Conway wanted a colonel and two lieutenant colonels in charge of the effort – a decision that necessitated forming a regiment with two battalions, Johnson said.
The battalion's support staff is expected to double within months, and next spring the base will break ground on a 100-bed medical facility that could eventually expand to 200 beds, Johnson said.
Sgt. Maj. Bradley Kasal, who spoke at yesterday's ceremony of the importance of the new battalion, was severely injured in November 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq, and later received the Navy Cross.
“I know it's hard to be in your prime, and in an instant your life is changed forever,” Kasal said.
“For anyone who gets wounded or injured, there's a lot of help out there for you, and my advice to you is to accept that help.”
Bruce Lieberman: (760) 476-8205; bruce.lieberman@uniontrib.com
Ellie
Marines get help in taking next step
By Bruce Lieberman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 2, 2007
CAMP PENDLETON – Marine Sgt. Ricardo Ramirez resisted help from anyone after his left hand was shattered in February 2006 during a patrol in Iraq.
Having completed a lengthy rehabilitation with a new prosthesis, Ramirez is now working as an urban warfare instructor at Camp Pendleton – and he's eager to get back into the fight.
Now there's a new Marine Corps battalion whose sole mission is to help Ramirez and other wounded Marines make their next move.
“Whether our wounded warriors return to the battlefield or transition on to new challenges, they are without question still in the fight,” said Lt. Col. Charles H. Johnson III, commander of the Wounded Warrior Battalion-West.
The battalion, activated yesterday at a ceremony at Camp Pendleton, is intended to place the Corps' focus on caring for wounded Marines under a single command, Johnson said.
“We're going to keep track of the Marines, to make sure that quality (care) is provided across the board as far as the amount of support they're getting and that nobody gets lost in transition,” Johnson said.
The battalion includes wounded Marines and support staff who will help them manage their health care and other benefits from the federal agencies that serve them: the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Support personnel will attend to the basics, such as making sure recovering Marines keep their medical appointments. They will also advise the wounded on more complicated matters, such as how to make their medical care as seamless as possible as they transition from active duty to life as a veteran.
The Corps will also contact wounded Marines who have left the service to make sure they are receiving the care and benefits they need, Johnson said.
Ramirez said the battalion will be vital for Marines.
“A lot of the command does not have the right idea about how to process an injured Marine if he wants to stay in or get out,” Ramirez said.
There are two Wounded Warrior battalions; the other was activated last month at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
The order to establish the Wounded Warrior regiment, made up of the two battalions, came in November from Gen. James T. Conway, the commandant of the Marine Corps, Johnson said.
It predated highly publicized revelations early this year of substandard housing, poor care and a dysfunctional bureaucracy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Johnson said.
As battlefield medical care has advanced, an increasing number of Marines are surviving injuries that in the past would have killed them, Johnson said. Once back at home, they deserve the same level of continued care they received abroad.
“We can't do enough for these wounded,” Johnson said.
Camp Pendleton's battalion is starting small, but it will grow, Johnson said. It has a support staff of 21 Marines and 18 injured residents at Camp Pendleton's Wounded Warrior Center, which opened a year ago.
The battalion is nowhere near the size of a typical battalion of 1,000 or more Marines. But Conway wanted a colonel and two lieutenant colonels in charge of the effort – a decision that necessitated forming a regiment with two battalions, Johnson said.
The battalion's support staff is expected to double within months, and next spring the base will break ground on a 100-bed medical facility that could eventually expand to 200 beds, Johnson said.
Sgt. Maj. Bradley Kasal, who spoke at yesterday's ceremony of the importance of the new battalion, was severely injured in November 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq, and later received the Navy Cross.
“I know it's hard to be in your prime, and in an instant your life is changed forever,” Kasal said.
“For anyone who gets wounded or injured, there's a lot of help out there for you, and my advice to you is to accept that help.”
Bruce Lieberman: (760) 476-8205; bruce.lieberman@uniontrib.com
Ellie