Solid Gold

   September 12th 2017- I was on my way back to Florida from the funeral services of my beloved mother in the Dominican Republic. I was accessing the damages caused by hurricane Irma, the same hurricane that had me stuck on that “paradise island” during those sad times.  We suffered the winds of that hurricane in the Dominican Republic and suffered the same nightmare again but this time from a distance. Thinking about the horrors that my hometown could be going through, not knowing what the final outcome will be and wondering will I have a home when we get back? Praying to God to protect the lives of all our loved ones. It was too much stress for a combat wounded veteran.

It’s been a horrible month with Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria, Mexico earthquake, Puerto Rico, Nuclear crisis in North Korea!! But the tip of the iceberg was on Monday September 18, 2017. I received the final blow, a combat wounded veteran, a brother in arms, a personal friend had committed suicide in Pensacola Florida, his name I will reserve. His kids used to play with mine on several veteran related events. They were a beautiful family very similar to mine. This time it was him but next time it could be anyone. It is difficult not to compare his situation with my own case, only God knows at the end. We are all in the same boat.

For as long as I remember I have always felt strongly about supporting our nation’s military in one way or the other.  Because of the deep respect that I have for those who are willing to defend our country and sign that dotted line knowing the sacrifices and the risk that it entails. That’s primarily the reason that made me want to become one of them. Today I am a veteran that was also wounded in Iraq while serving with the United States Army First Infantry Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004.

It’s been a long journey from that tough time to this day. As many people may believe the traumas of war don’t end when the guns stop firing. It took me two and a half years to finally get medically discharged from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. There, I was receiving treatment for my combat wounds post traumatic epilepsy consequent to a penetrating traumatic brain injury, loss of all vision in my right eye and a full thickness macular hole in my left eye retina that leaves me legally blind. Among other wounds, the worst of all was the post-traumatic stress disorder that I did not want to recognize or even accept that a soldier like myself could have something like that.

Today, I know that the post-traumatic stress disorder that I am suffering is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength. PTSD is nothing but surviving something that most people fear to do. It took me a long time to interiorize this. In combat, you must make decisions immediately regardless if you feel that decision is right or wrong and you must live with those consequences for the rest of your life. Sadly, some of our veterans say that they won’t or can’t live with those consequences anymore.

And there you have me, when I was just released from that military hospital now with a family of my own and juggling between worries and responsibilities some of them so simple as just trying to remember when to pay my water bill on time and as complicated as readjusting to my new way of living in the tranquil tempest of my blindness. After 31 years of being perfectly sighted this was not an easy task to do. Today I wish that the people around my life during that tough time could understand the screaming demon that resides inside of the chest of a wounded veteran.

Every day 22 service members in this nation decide that they will take their own life. That’s a suicide every 65 minutes. This is a shocking number and could even be higher. I know that the problems and issues of military suicide are too complex for a single answer because it could be a financial, housing or a relationship issue that is driving those feelings of being overwhelmed and depressed. It could be from any physical issues, like the loss of a limb or a mental issue like the PTSD. The point is that we cannot address this issue with a band aid solution anymore. We need a definitive solution.

That’s why the approach that our organization, The Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes is bringing to this problem is to secure the family first, by providing a part time, flexible time job to a veteran or their caregiver so they can feel productive and understood one more time. Because when the family is secure, a good soldier will never fail.

Many of you may agree with me that the strength of our nation stands on our armed forces in the same way that the strength of our armed forces stands on our soldiers but the strength of our soldiers stands and relies in our families. Yes sir, our families.
When a soldier goes to war, the family also goes to war. In the same way, when a soldier gets wounded, our family also gets wounded.

The Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes brings an effective approach to this problem by allowing our Veterans to be apart of a program with the possibilities to excel the recovery process of any Veteran or wounded family. From my personal experience, when I am immersed in this cyber work space calling our donors to say thank you- I am not thinking about any of the bad memories that haunt and brutalize me daily. Each and every call I make for the Heroes Thanking Heroes Program makes me feel one step closer in my personal road to recovery.

Now that you know about this great program, the Heroes Thanking Heroes from The Coalition to Salute Americas Heroes, would you like to help us provide work for 6 months of flexible time to a recently wounded Veteran or his/her caregiver?
Come join us in our goal to have zero Veteran suicides in one month. The life of our wounded Veterans are in danger, the life of our Veteran’s worth is way much more than solid gold.