by Steven Verburg

Wisconsin State Journal

The military trained them for war. Now it's preparing them for peace.

The return Saturday of the most banged-up Wisconsin National Guard unit since World War II will test crucial veteran care efforts that will roll into high gear in January when 3,200 citizen soldiers come back from a year in Iraq.

"We're looking at every possible potential angle to welcome our troops home and wrap our arms around them," state guard Transition Assistance Adviser Jeff Unger said.

Unger and others have been preparing for months for Saturday's return of the 951st Engineering Company to Rhinelander, gathering information from other states on successful techniques for connecting veterans with treatments for depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress syndrome.

The unit endured nine months of rocket-propelled grenade attacks and roadside bomb explosions in Afghanistan, racking up 15 Purple Heart medals and 100 combat action badges, said guard spokeswoman Lt. Col. Jackie Guthrie.

"A lot of these people will be on sort of this hyper-vigilance roller coaster," state guard Director of Psychological Health Robert Evans said. "It takes them a good seven, eight months to return to civilian life."

And unlike active duty personnel who return to their bases, guard personnel aren't in daily contact with superior officers who can refer them for treatment if symptoms appear, said Capt. Brian Barth, the engineering company's commander.

Talking with police

In addition to encouraging soldiers and their families to seek professional help as needed, Wisconsin guard officials are for the first time talking to police about how to handle combat veterans.

Last week Unger and Evans briefed 22 police commanders from 17 northern Wisconsin counties about ways to de-escalate confrontations with veterans.

"We need to make sure that we don't turn our veterans into common criminals," Unger said. "Their last year of their lives they've focused so much on the environment they were in, when they come home, they'll still be in that."

Even driving a car can be a challenge, especially for veterans who have faced constant danger of attack if their vehicle was forced to slow or stop. Hyper vigilance, or constantly studying the environment for possible threats, may create a feeling of anxiety and prompt the veteran to ignore stop signs or red lights, Unger said.

"Their battle minds and their battle thoughts are something that we need to consider so that we don't turn our citizen soldiers into non-productive citizens in jail, because that's not where they belong," Unger said.

After being prohibited from drinking for so long, some will overindulge, creating more risk of run-ins with the law, Evans said.

Officers can calm agitated veterans by respectfully acknowledging their military service. "On duty, they had be under control, and if you remind them of that it produces a linkage that says ‘Hey, you're a soldier, so behave like one,'" Evans said.

Evans said he's not seeking preferential treatment for the returning veterans, but that police should know that counseling for alcohol abuse and anger management are available to veterans as an alternative to arrest and jail, he said.

Among those who are getting the message is Kurt Heuer, the president of the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association. He said he and others who met with Unger and Evans will spread the word.

Emergency dispatch personnel need to be trained to ask about military status when taking domestic violence and suicide calls so they can tell responding officers, said Heuer, who is chief of the Wisconsin Rapids Police Department.

"There certainly may be a period of time where the transition could be a little tough," Heuer said. "It could it be a call on a domestic situation where there may be some anxiety present and we have to dig a little deeper to see that it has to do with the experience they have gone through the last 12 months."

"In light of what's going on and what these soldiers have been exposed to we've got to have it on the forefront," Heuer said.

'Getting T-boned'

Wounded soldiers from the 951st engineering company were photographed for Time magazine on Sept. 8 minutes after a roadside bomb exploded on a remote road in Wardak Province. Some were sent home before the unit's scheduled return Saturday.

TJ Fecteau of Eau Claire was the Wisconsin National Guard specialist driving the armored truck that tripped the bomb that day.

"The only way I can describe it so that a civilian can understand is a vehicle collision on the highway at 65 miles per hour, getting T-boned. It's huge," Fecteau said Thursday.

"Our job was to go out and find the IED, and unfortunately a lot of the times the IED found us," Fecteau said of the homemade bomb, or improvised explosive device.

In the Sept. 8 incident, the 20-year-old Fecteau suffered two pressure fractures in his spine. He spent six weeks under doctors' care at Fort Knox, Ky., before returning home two weeks ago wearing a full wrap-around back brace that will be his uniform for another three to six months.

"It keeps my posture to where it's normal," Fecteau said. "I can't bend, sitting is complicated."

His pain and discomfort have been eclipsed by the imminent return of his unit. Members have been at Fort Shelby, Miss., for up to a week, and are set to arrive for a welcome home ceremony at Rhinelander High School.

Fecteau is especially eager to see his best friend, Spc. Codey Johnson, also of Eau Claire.

Johnson rushed to his aid after the explosion. One Time magazine photos shows Johnson crying as he kneeled over a stretcher-bound Fecteau.

Reports on each injury and any signs of PTSD symptoms have been compiled for medical providers at home, and soldiers will be contacted regularly with offers of help with reentry into civilian life, said Barth, the company commander. Barth said he is proud of the unit.

Many soldiers are still grieving the loss of Sgt. Ryan Adams. A rocket-propelled grenade killed Adams, 26, of Rhinelander, and wounded seven others in Logar Province on Oct. 2.

More info:

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt_and_politics/article_d707b914-d5fc-11de-acad-001cc4c002e0.html

Areas of Focus:

User Comments