For the overseas deployments of the 101st
Airborne Division to Iraq
and Afghanistan, the National
Capital Chapter of the 101st Airborne Division Association supports our
wounded troopers and their families at Walter Reed
Army Hospital,
assisting during their often lengthy recoveries. This visitation program ministers often to
unrecognized needs of both the wounded trooper and their family.
When we walk into to the soldier’s room for the first visit,
we meet their mothers and fathers, their wives and children, aunts and uncles,
younger and older brothers and sisters, and other family friends.
Their needs during this difficult time of recovery are
sometimes similar, but can vary greatly. By assessing the needs of each trooper
and their family, we can provide the right level of assistance during our
weekly visitation.
Once they become out-patients, we sponsor community
activities, such as spring and summer BBQs for the soldiers and their families,
along with other opportunities for the soldiers and their families to leave the
hospital grounds to attend Wolftrap concerts, sporting and other social events.
We have often assisted the soldiers in resolving problems
that cause negative concerns and worries that work against the positive
attitudes necessary for a good recovery from severe wounds.
In one particular situation, we encountered a young soldier
with life-threatening wounds and his young wife in tears after receiving a
civil court summons for failing to make five mortgage payments (the young wife
had been at his bedside since he had arrived at Walter Reed five months before). We immediately contacted the court along with
the lawyers of the mortgage company who had requested the court action, and
informed them of the young soldier’s condition at Walter Reed. They withdrew their court action and offered
the soldier and his wife sufficient time to catch up on their payments. Lifting this burden from the soldier allowed him
to now fully apply his thoughts and energies to his recovery.
The National Capital Area Chapter of the 101st Airborne
Division Assocation will continue to provide support to our wounded troopers
and their families until the last one leaves Walter Reed hospital.
Their needs during this difficult time of recovery are
sometimes similar, but can vary greatly. By assessing the needs of each trooper
and their family, we can provide the right level of assistance during our
weekly visitation.
In one particular situation, we encountered a young soldier
with life-threatening wounds and his young wife in tears after receiving a
civil court summons for failing to make five mortgage payments (the young wife
had been at his bedside since he had arrived at Walter Reed five months before). We immediately contacted the court along with
the lawyers of the mortgage company who had requested the court action, and
informed them of the young soldier’s condition at Walter Reed. They withdrew their court action and offered
the soldier and his wife sufficient time to catch up on their payments. Lifting this burden from the soldier allowed him
to now fully apply his thoughts and energies to his recovery.