Email   Print   Share By Staff Sgt. Tiffany Evans, 11th PAD

Facebook Digg Delicious November 1, 2012 | Living

Courtesy graphic

Graphic illustration by Dawn Pandoliano, Sentinel Design Editor

Warrior Transition Brigade Soldier in Transition Staff Sgt. Vincent Sharp pets a therapy dog. Gloria Montgomery, WTB Public Affairs

The WTB is in partnership with various 501c3 nonprofits, including Comfort for America’s Uniformed Services (CAUSE), which provides weekly massages to WTB Soldiers and their Families. During the April 350-mile Ride2Recovery Texas challenge, CAUSE volunteers did their magic on several WTB Soldiers participating in the ride. Working out the kinks in Staff Sgt. Tom Courtright’s legs is Jackie Sheffield, a CAUSE volunteer. Gloria Montgomery, WTB Public Affairs

Texas Ranger pitcher Scott Feldman and his wife, Kelli, shake hands with Warrior Transition Brigade Soldier Sgt. 1st Class Charles Armstead, who was chosen to throw the first pitch during a softball game between the WTB and Texas Rangers Legacy Alumni that was held July 1. Gloria Montgomery, WTB Public Affairs

Soldiers practice fly tying for therapy. Events such as fly tying, fishing and hunting are popular activities that help in a Soldier’s recovery. Fly tying, a monthly event sponsored by Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, is both therapeutic and fun. Not only does it relieve stress, but it helps increase dexterity and Soldier bonding. Gloria Montgomery, WTB Public Affairs

Fort Hood’s Warrior Transition Brigade Soldiers cheer on Ride2Recovery riders as they leave Fort Hood April 19 for Waco. The 2012 Don’t Mess with Texas Challenge drew 200 riders who began the six-day, 350-mile trek in San Antonio April 16. The riders ended their journey April 21 when they rolled into Arlington’s Texas Stadium. Ride2Recovery, founded in 2007, is a nonprofit foundation that provides wounded service members weeklong cycling rehabilitation experiences around the country. Gloria Montgomery, WTB Public Affairs

Over time, technology and improved medical care on the battlefield have helped save many Soldiers who previously might have died from their wounds. However, this and the catastrophic injuries, some visible, some not, have proven to be a new challenge for a military that has been at war for 10 years.

Improvised explosive devices – the enemy’s weapon of choice – can cause Soldiers to lose limbs develop post-traumatic stress disorder, cause traumatic brain injury, break bones and cause numerous other wounds and injuries.

To help these Soldiers transition either back into the military or move on to civilian life, the Army has developed specialized units to care for wounded, ill or injured Soldiers. In 2008, Fort Hood’s Warrior Transition Brigade was created for these Soldiers.

The WTB accepts Soldiers injured in combat, those with chronic medical conditions, those who are seriously ill, those with mental or emotional conditions, and Soldiers injured during training or off duty.

When Soldiers require at least six months of complex medical care, their doctors can put in a packet for them to be moved over to the WTB, where the Soldier’s only mission will be to heal and prepare for transition.

One such Soldier who recently transitioned out of the Army after a successful experience with the WTB is retired Staff Sgt. Vincent Sharp.

“After two deployments to Iraq as a combat medic, I found myself suffering from an injured knee that needed complete reconstruction, TBI and (a) back injury from an IED blast in 2009. The biggest issue that I was facing was PTSD,” Sharp said. “At the time I was accepted to the WTB, I had become so frustrated about my PTSD and how I felt like I had let my unit/Army down that I had even contemplated suicide. One of the biggest problems that I faced was an inability to seek the help that I needed. Some of it was embarrassment and some of it was just a lack of knowledge.”

Sharp spent months trying to prepare for another deployment, but at the last minute, Army doctors wouldn’t clear him during the deployment-readiness phase.

“I had been in denial about how much help I really needed. I was literally limping along trying to be the best Soldier I could be,” he said, adding that orthopedics and behavioral health were refusing to clear him for deployment. “While I was attached to the rear detachment, the acting battalion commander approached me and expressed the idea that I might benefit from the WTU. From there it was a matter of seeing what my providers thought, and my case ended up before the WTB Triad of care. They felt that I would benefit from being assigned to the WTB.”

According to the Warrior Transition Command, which coordinates the Army’s Warrior Care and Transition Program, healing and transitioning success is based on a Soldier-centric model that emphasizes flexible and innovative solutions to support the individual. Each Soldier works with a Triad of Care – primary care manager, nurse case manager and squad leader – in addition to a multidisciplinary team of medical and transition professionals. Soldiers also develop a personalized Comprehensive Transition Plan to ensure they are progressing toward transition with short- and long-term goals in each of the six domains: physical, social, spiritual, emotional, Family and career.

The WTB is similar to a traditional “line” unit, however, it has one mission: to provide wide-ranging outpatient management and support that allows Soldiers to accomplish his or her goals outlined in the Soldier’s CTP to ensure successful healing and transitioning.

According to the 2011 Comprehensive Transition Plan Guidance, “The CTP is the Soldier’s roadmap to his desired future, and it consists of the self-assessment, the scrimmage, the Focused Transition Review, and the Reintegration Checklist as we move toward ‘transition eligible.’ The Soldier owns his CTP, and it empowers him to take charge of his own transition. The Soldier and his Family develop the CTP with the support and guidance of his interdisciplinary team.”

Clinical providers and non-clinical leaders/supporters make up the

interdisciplinary team, who constantly monitor and provide support for the Soldiers.

Before Sharp transferred to the WTB, he came from a unit that had been heavily deployed and was focused on mission and training.

This, he said, hindered the amount of time noncommissioned officers had to devote to helping Soldiers like Sharp.

“I couldn’t do my job, I couldn’t run, I couldn’t focus,” he said. “To top that, I couldn’t deal with my PTSD. At some point I needed to step back and take care of myself, but I didn’t know where to go. Through the WTB, I was able to expedite my treatment with orthopedics, neurology, the TBI clinic and a host of behavioral health providers.”

With the help of the WTB’s one-on-one sessions, Sharp said he was able to work on cognition exercises weekly and biofeedback exercises bi-weekly.

“The biofeedback was a great tool to help my concentration, and the skills I was taught in the one-on-one helped to emplace strategies to help deal with the memory loss,” Sharp said. “My memory loss and cognition had become such a problem prior to entering the WTB that it took an extra year to finish the bachelor’s degree that I had been working on for so long on.”

Thanks to the help of WTB’s occupational therapists like Amanda Helm, who taught him more efficient ways of learning, Sharp said he was able to earn his bachelor’s degree and is now enrolled in graduate studies through a competitive master’s program at the University of Northern Colorado.

“I had to re-teach myself how to learn,” he said. “Although I have had to alter the way in which I learn things because of the work I did at occupational therapy, I am finding it more manageable in my classes.

“The success of a Soldier’s CTP is ultimately up to the Soldier,” Sharp added, noting that it’s up to the Soldier to work hard to accomplish their goals.

“The CTP was a way to express my concerns, needs or just how I was doing with the chain of command,” Sharp said. “At first I thought it was some anonymous questionnaire and that surely no one was really reading it. However, it became apparent that my CTP was being monitored at all levels of the chain of command and medical support.

“It was a valuable way to stay involved with my treatment and transition,” he said, adding that one of his goals was to reduce his medications, which he was able to do, thanks to his providers and the clinical pharmacist.

“For the first time I began to see a silver lining in my treatment,” he said, crediting the WTB staff for their involvement and knowledge in his successful transitioning. “The cadre and staff at the WTB know where to send you to get the help you need and ensure that you receive the necessary care.”

More information about the WTB and WTC can be found on the following websites: www.wtc.army.mil, www.facebook.com/FortHoodWTB, and www.crdamc.amedd.army.mil/newSite/wtb/.