Fort Carson – Fort Carson has a new “warrior transition unit,” where wounded soldiers are to report with one mission: heal.
So far, 100 soldiers are assigned to the unit. Among them is Army medic Crystal Witte, a 22-year-old from the southern Colorado town of Florence.
On March 2, 2006, a 122mm rocket exploded within 5 feet of Witte, knocking her unconscious and leaving her bloodied from shrapnel wounds to the neck, shoulders and thighs.
When Witte came to, she could not hear. She has since been diagnosed with post- traumatic stress disorder and is under evaluation for a mild traumatic brain injury.
By Jan. 1, the Army plans to have “warrior transition units” in place at installations throughout the service.
The goal is to better manage care for the nation’s wounded soldiers with hopes of restoring their health, whether they stay in the Army or not.
“Their mission is to get better. Healing is their mission – mission one,” said Col. Kelly Wolgast, the new commander at Fort Carson’s Evans Army Community Hospital.
The soldiers assigned to the unit have traditionally remained with another unit preparing for deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.
That created tension when injured soldiers who had medical appointments missed mandatory training exercises. Assignment to the new unit alleviates the conflict.
“Overall, I think this is the best thing that they’ve come up with so far,” said Andrew Pogany, an investigator with Veterans for America, an advocacy group that has been critical of Fort Carson’s care for soldiers with post- traumatic stress disorder.
Soldiers whose physical and psychological injuries require medical care for six months or longer are assigned to the unit. Eventually, it will be the size of a battalion, roughly 200 people. Depending on the need, Fort Carson has the ability to staff the unit with 164 people – case managers, squad leaders and primary-care managers – who will oversee appointments and care.
Since March 2003, 27,279 service members have been wounded in Iraq, and since October 2001, 1,472 service members have been injured in Afghanistan, according to the Defense Manpower Data Center.
Lt. Col. Gaylene Weber, commander of the unit, said leaders are challenged to familiarize themselves with each soldier.
“They’re new coming in, and they each have their own individual story. It’s very much a story- driven type of unit,” Weber said.
Witte, the medic who lost her hearing, said she has 10 medical appointments a month. She has had surgery to reconstruct her eardrums and has regained about 60 percent to 70 percent of her hearing.
She said behavioral health professionals at Fort Carson have helped her manage her PTSD, which mainly makes her “really snappy sometimes. People can say something to me and I just snap, and I never used to be like that.”
Witte, who works in a clinic at Fort Carson when her schedule allows, said she appreciates the help from the unit.
“They make sure everybody gets the appointments that they need and that we go to them,” she said. “They make sure that they get the care that they need.”
Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com.
