this generation of warriors. I surely understand your concern.

If I may suggest that one way you help is in his avoiding abuse of chemical crutches and/or self-medicating. This seems to be a commonality among the 16 post-9/11 military suicides I know of. You can give him support in letting him know that while it was difficult the WWI and WWII generations seem to have overwhelmingly been able to hang in there and move ahead despite the obstacles. Calm reason and management techniques can be used to overcome our physical shortcomings.

--
Sincerely,

Hobie

May the Supreme Architect watch over your Son and your Family.

Many vets who received all sorts of injuries had to rethink their future in light of those injuries. Many non-vets were injured early on in life and that changed the course of their lives as well. I was one of them.

But life is full of opportunities and wonder if a person is willing to accept the limitations and move ahead. Sometimes we just can't be and do what we want to be and do and beating our head against a wall won't help.

I can't tell your son what is ahead of him, but life can be good whether or not he can fly airplanes.

I now teach college and know we are required to make accommodations for folks who have injuries or problems. Every semester I have one of more students that need accommodation and I am glad to do it. I have several students that spent protected time in the sand box. If your son is having difficulty in college then accommodations can be made for him. It is done all the time. But he does need to make the difficulty known to the school administration.

All I know about the VA is what I hear from folks who deal with them, and those stories are similar to that of your son. It is a huge bureaucratic morass that is hard to deal with. Persistence seems to be the key to getting what is needed.

Let your son know that are lots of us who deeply appreciate his service to this country and are praying for his success in life.

Thank you all... GRIN

But I have some experience dealing with a loved one with short term memory loss due to brain trauma. I hope you don't think me too forward but this place (and I'm sure there are others like it) does some amazing things with brain trauma patients.

http://www.patneal.org/home

Persevere, you and your son have options.

Good luck
Joe

God bless you both Don and thank both of you for your service.

We all know what kind of life we want, but we end up with the life we got. God kept that boy alive for a reason, Don. Give him a hug from the Sargent family.

I see groups on TV claiming to advocate for Vets. I don't know if they are as good, worse, or better than the DAV. If I was your son I would join each one in succession until I found one that was effective at dealing with the VA. I would start with the DAV. A group is much more effective than one person.