One day last August, while manning the .50-caliber gun atop his Humvee on a dirt road in northern Iraq, Army Spc. Joey Haun suddenly lost consciousness. His vehicle had been struck by a buried bomb, an “improvised explosive device.” Haun was ejected, his vehicle flipped over.
On impact with the ground, Haun’s left hand was driven up toward his forearm, crushing his wrist. The surgeon who rebuilt the wrist, using a metal plate and screws, told Haun last year that his infantry days were over.
The blast also blew out Haun’s right ear drum, which required surgery to partially restore his hearing. That surgeon warned him to avoid sustained exposure to any loud noises or risk having to wear a hearing aid.
As to head injuries, a neurologist diagnosed the 24-year-old with post-concussive syndrome and mild traumatic brain injury, the likely cause of his daily headaches since the attack. Finally, a psychologist urged Haun to get counseling for his post-traumatic stress symptoms or they could devolve into post-traumatic stress disorder, a more debilitating condition. So while recuperating in a wounded warrior unit at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, Haun regularly saw a psychologist. He takes the drug Tramadol for his migraine headaches and Elavil, an anti-depressant, to ease his stress.
Adding to Haun’s stress is this surprising news: he’s returning to Iraq.
Though Haun expected to be separated or retired on disability, Army doctors have cleared him for transfer back to his infantry unit, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division.
Also, because Haun’s 39-month enlistment doesn’t end until January, he will have to stay in Iraq under a stop-loss order. His active-service time will be involuntarily extended by at least nine months.
Haun doesn’t sound angry or bitter describing his predicament. But he doesn’t understand why the Army wants to keep him. “I can’t do push-ups because I can’t bend my hand that way. I can’t climb rope. I can’t do pull-ups. I don’t have any strength in my hand,” Haun said. “I can’t really carry anything that’s heavy with my left hand because there’s always the possibility of popping some screw loose.”
His father, Earl Haun of Crestview, Fla., suggested there’s a screw loose already — with any Army policy that allows redeployment of soldiers obviously not fit for duty. His son is just one of many, Earl Haun said, and it’s time somebody called the Army on it.
A Government Accountability Office report in May cited inconsistencies in Defense Department instructions on predeployment health assessments.
“During our site visits to three installations,” said the GAO, “we found that health-care providers were unaware that a medical record review was required, and medical records were not always reviewed by providers conducting the pre-deployment health assessment.”
Earl Haun said something sure is wrong.
“He got blown out of a Humvee about 25 feet in the air, his commander told me. He crushed his arm. He’s only got 30 or 40 percent use of it. And his first surgeon told him he was done,” said Earl Haun, an Air Force veteran who repaired aircraft during the Vietnam era. “Now, all of a sudden, some new surgeon comes in, says ‘Hey, you’re deployable again.’ That’s kind of stupid. They’re sending a kid back over there who’s half a man,” at least half an infantryman, the elder Haun said.
Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., Earl Haun’s congressman, has asked the Army to review the decision to return Joey Haun to full duty, given his disabilities, but hasn’t heard back.
Joey Haun said he doesn’t regret enlisting to fight in Iraq. But most Americans, he said, don’t understand how hard the assignments can be. He was involved in another IED attack three weeks before he was injured.
“I thought we were untouchable. Now there are so many more things I’ve seen,” he said of his first deployment. “Now I realize it can happen at the blink of an eye. So I’m a lot more nervous about going over again.”
To comment, e-mail milupdate@aol.com, write to Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA 20120-1111 or go to www.militaryupdate.com.
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