Hollowed ground was made of the Saint Pete, Florida’s Sirata Beach Resort as the Region 8 Veterans Council stood down for their annual Regional Veterans Conference.

Although the conference did offer time for rest and recovery from the delegates’ hectic schedules, the conference was not without a clear and decisive mission - a more comprehensive understanding  of today’s war injuries and the Wounded Warrior Project.

As the war on terrorism, Operation Iraqi and Enduring Freedom continues so does the severity of the injuries including Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI), the signature injury of today wars.

Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s), account for 25 percent of today’s combat casualties. Milliseconds after the explosion, an over pressurization wave engulfs the human body, and just as quickly, an under pressure wave follows. Ear drums burst, bubbles appear in the blood stream and the heart slows. The brain violently slams inside the skull, back and forth. A soldier can survive the blast without a single penetrating wound, but still receive the worst diagnosis … TBI.

TBI specialist, Dr. Joel Scholten from Tampa’s James A. Haley Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital, gave an excellent and informative presentation, noting that with today’s advances in body armor, transportation techniques and state of the art field hospitals both on the ground and in the air, more and more soldiers are surviving these severe injuries. The VA is taking great strides and working with many other medical and service organizations on health issues and research related to TBI’s. While these heroic measures are yielding unprecedented survival rates they also carry the grim reality that no other war has created so many seriously disabled veterans. This is something the public needs to understand and be ready to assist veterans.

The James Haley VA Hospital is one of the busiest VA facilities in the U.S. With over 500 beds in constant use, the Haley VA Center is a tertiary care teaching hospital accredited with the prestigious designation as a Magnet Hospital, the national benchmark for excellence in nursing care.

The James Haley VA Hospital is one of four VA hospitals across the U.S. with a Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center and one of seven VA hospitals with a TBI treatment, evaluation and research center.

Dr. Scholten supported everything the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) is about. WWP is the not for profit organization and adopted project of the Region 8 Veterans Council.

Jeremy Feldbusch, the first national spokesperson for the WWP, was severely wounded in Iraq during a mortar attack on the Haditha Dam on the Euphrates River in 2003. Totally blinded and suffering with a small amount of TBI, Jeremy went through many months of rehabilitation and surgeries.

Jeremy was a key player, who spoke in Washington D.C. regarding creating the new Traumatic Injury Insurance for our soldiers, which went into effect by law in 2005. Jeremy from Blairsville, PA, also lobbied the Pennsylvania Game and Wildlife Commission to enact a law that created hunting possibilities for the blind using a licensed sighted partner and laser grip. Since then, Jeremy has bagged many big game trophies and continues his family’s tradition of being an avid outdoorsman and sportsman.

Jeremy gave an inspiring testimony of himself - his injuries and with his supporting family, he stated that anything is possible with determination, goals and family support. Jeremy is a great role model for everyone he comes in contact with and Jeremy’s mom, Charlene, and dad, Brace, are very active in Jeremy’s rehab and often speak in important summit meetings and conferences on TBI and Polytrauma care for our soldiers.  

Jeremy wants nothing for his work and freely speaks about the WWP’s free services and programs for the severely wounded and the important role WWP plays during rehab and the transition back to productive civilian life.

During the conference, a donation for WWP of $11,404.00 was presented by Region 8 Veterans Council President, Mark Peterson from Local 2069, located in Dublin, VA. Peterson explained how the funds were raised including a group of veterans, Run for the Wall (RFTW), who ride across America every year in route to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, “The Wall”, during the Memorial Day weekend. Last year, during a “Welcome Home Ceremony” in the neighboring county of Wytheville, VA, Mark explained Region 8’s adoption of WWP and spoke of the services and programs offered.

Inspiring as the WWP is, the RFTW eagerly adopted the WWP as their charitable organization. RFTW rode across America speaking of the WWP and received many donations from community citizens along the route as well as many donations from participants in the ride. Many of the donations came in memory or in honor of loved ones. Peterson added, “This is another way we can help the WWP, educating others and bringing others on board with WWP.”   RFTW raised $6,700.00 of the $11,404.00.

The WWP is dedicated to assisting the new generation of severely wounded servicemen and women. Most of these injuries include traumatic amputations, gunshot wounds, burns and blast injuries that will retire these brave men and women from their military service.

Highlighting the conference, as dramatic and informative as all the other guests were, had to be the reunion of three Vietnam Veterans and former Prisoners of War.

  In the opening statements of the book “Why Didn’t You Get Me Out?” guest speaker and author Frank Anton stated “Nothing fully prepares a young man to go to war, but every soldier carries with him some expectations, or at least preconceptions, about what is expected of him and what he expects from the government that has sent him into battle”

Having survived being shot down twice without injury and facing the stark reality of many times being the target of enemy fire, Frank Anton had prepared himself for the possibility of being wounded and or killed. What Frank had not been prepared for was being captured as a Prisoner of War.

During the Vietnam War, Frank flew hair-raising missions as an aircraft commander of a UH-1 Huey gunship in January of 1968; he was shot down and captured flying a nighttime helicopter mission. He then spent the next five years as a POW of the Vietnam War. Three of these years he spent in the jungle death camps through South Vietnam and the final two years in Hanoi. 

Frank described in detail in his book, the horrific conditions within these camps and the long 500 mile forced march along the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the north while weakened by disease and starvation. Half of Frank’s comrades did not survive the barbaric conditions.

First David Harker and then Junior Long, both from Virginia, joined Frank in jungle camps and shared the same conditions. Each man shared his own dramatic story of their battle and then capture. After being released in 1973, the three men had not collectively been together since the days in Hanoi some 35 years ago.

Frank brought and sold copies of his book, “Why Didn’t You Get Me Out?”, and also found the WWP an outstanding organization and donated to the cause.

All three men gave moving testimony of how dreadful those days were and what it took to pull themselves and the others through their ordeal where each day meant another day in hell and death could be moments away. Half of the men who passed through the jungle camps did not make it home. Many of the captives were buried by the prisoners just outside their camps. All three Frank Anton, David Harker and Junior Long, served our country honorably and courageously and are examples of what is meant by God, Duty and Country. “Freedom is not Free.”