New veterans adjust to life after combat

FORT IRWIN • Every day Spc. Chris Koning thinks about the one day in Iraq that changed his life forever.

On that day, he and six soldiers were in the Iraqi city of Ba’qubah combing through a palm grove and searching for improvised explosive devices when Koning’s boot tripped a fishing line, setting off a booby-trapped bomb.

“It threw me quite a ways — like 30 feet,” said Koning, who at first recalled not feeling any pain. Then he looked down and saw blood pooling around his body.  “I saw my leg and knew it was kind of bad,” said the Chino native. “I thought I was going to die.”

Koning, who served 11 months in Iraq, is already a war veteran at age 22 and among the hundreds of soldiers returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan with physical injuries and psychological trauma. He’s dealing with the wounds of war with the help of Fort Irwin’s Warrior Transition Unit, where soldiers can get help ranging from physical therapy to finding a psychologist. There are 42 soldiers currently in the unit, according to Sgt. 1st Class Calvin Wineglass, WTU senior platoon sergeant.

There are 23.2 million veterans in the U.S., according to a 2008 Census Bureau report. Of that group, 1.9 million are younger than age 35.

For the most part, Koning has already dealt with repairing his body from the IED explosion that lodged shrapnel into both legs and his left arm and kept him wheelchair-bound for months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. While he’s now able to walk, Koning still has to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and trouble sleeping.

“It’s a part of me that I have to live with now,” he said.

Group therapy sessions have helped Koning cope with combat flashbacks — which have lessened, he noted — and nightmares, but at first Koning viewed group therapy as a sign of weakness.

“Now I’m open about it,” Koning said. Soldiers who’ve experienced combat can relate to each other on a different level, he noted.

“It’s like a total understanding...it’s like a different language,” Koning said. “The most helpful thing I’ve found is other soldiers to lean on.”

Sgt. Joe Moncrief said soldiers will need support after they exit the military and return to civilian life and search for new jobs. The 32-year-old Orange County native — who deployed to Iraq twice — will be medically retired after 13 years of service.

“The word ‘retirement’ at (age) 32 — who thinks of that?” said Moncrief.

Because of combat injuries — ranging from a shoulder recovering from surgery to a herniated disc — that limit him, Moncrief said he’s concerned about what job opportunities will be available. And he worries about generally adjusting back to civilian life.

“I don’t know if I’m really ready for it. The Army has been all I’ve known since I was 18,” he said.

For Koning, readjusting from war has included participating in activities like the Ride 2 Recovery this past October — a six-day, 400 mile bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles that raised support for wounded soldiers.

“It’s a step towards the right direction,” he said. Koning said it feels a little odd to think of himself as a veteran, since typically veterans bring to mind an older generation of soldiers from the Vietnam or World War II eras.

“It’s kind of weird when you get thanked for your job,” he said. Koning said he looks at his scars daily and despite being reminded of past injuries on the battlefield, they’re also a reminder of his future.

“I feel like everyday is an extra day of life for me,” he said.

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4122 or elee@desertdispatch.com