Wounded warriors testified before Senate leaders Wednesday and decried the bureaucratic circus, lack of communication and unnecessary delays veterans face after surviving combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
The hearing marked the second time in as many weeks the issue of collaboration between the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs dominated the powerful Senate Veterans Affairs Committee’s agenda, but this occasion included testimony from both wounded vets and government officials.
Retired Army Spc. Steve Bohn said he suffered severe injuries in Afghanistan when a suicide bomber attacked his outpost, causing internal, spinal and traumatic brain injuries that continue to plague him. He said months after his injuries, he still hasn’t been assigned a primary VA doctor.
“After worrying about your health constantly, everyday’s a struggle just getting out of bed, you want somebody to take care of the paperwork,” Bohn said.
Bohn said he experienced “some rough transitions” after inadvertently being sent to Fort Campbell, Kentucky rather than Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, where he was to undergo spinal surgery.
To make matters worse, Bohn was then ordered to return to Fort Campbell, only to be returned to Walter Reed for gall bladder surgery. “They didn’t pay for my family to come visit me when I was getting my surgery,” Bohn said.
North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr asked Bohn if he had a federal care coordinator, a staffer charged with helping him navigate the veterans health system. Bohn said he didn’t know that was an option until a few days ago.
It’s absurd veterans aren’t given “a phone number and a human being they can talk to” upon exiting military service, said Republican Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson.
Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Jim Lorraine, executive director of the Wounded Warrior Care Project, said simply finding vets after they return home is a challenge because they often come from rural areas. “Right now I’m not confident we know where our veterans are, nor what their needs are,” he said.
Lorraine offered systemic improvements like additional Senate subcommittees to provide oversight of Defense and VA departments, or a separate committee to help veterans reintegrate. He also advocated increasing the amount of federal care coordinators and preventing veterans from enduring unnecessary travel for procedures when similar care is available closer to home.
VA and Defense officials testified in a separate panel and said they were working to increase the number of care coordinators. Defense officials said they have 150 care coordinators and more are undergoing training.
Lance Corp. Tim Horton said he often faces several month delays before receiving appointments to adjust prosthetics for his left leg. “A little rubbing spot on an amputee is like someone having their ankle broken terribly,” Horton said.
Both Horton and Bohn said once they receive care, the treatment is great, but they worried limited communication between the departments will continue as more wounded warriors return from the war zones.
To make matters worse, Department of Defense officials didn’t get their official testimony to the committee 48 hours in advance as required.
Burr was furious. “If they can’t do that on time than I have little faith that we can ever achieve the seamless transition,” Burr said.