By Audrey Parente
Daytona Beach News-Journal, 11 September 2005
Desert sand splattered when the mortar hit.
The blast slammed Army Sgt. Steve Pyle into a nearby truck -- in May 2003, during the Shock and Awe invasion of Iraq.
"When I came to, I couldn't get up. I was bleeding. I saw a couple of guys running toward me." They were enemy Iraqi soldiers. "We struggled and fought. They beat the hell out of me."
Since then Pyle, a 40-year-old father who lives in DeLand, has faced surgery, pain and confusion; wheelchairs, crutches and canes; doctors, medical complications and mental evaluations.
The Veterans Health System says he's one of nearly 85,900 veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and are back home using their medical benefits.
Funding is short, the number of returning veterans is growing and Florida is getting the biggest portion of them.
Because Veterans Affairs sets priorities within its 21 service districts nationwide for who receives benefits, Pyle -- as a combat-wounded, low-income vet -- has so far gotten all the medical care he needs at the Daytona Beach VA Clinic. But the clinic is operating with a short staff, and some veterans who might otherwise be entitled to care there have to look elsewhere or make co-payments.
And medical care isn't the only issue for the newly disabled veteran, his pregnant wife and their six children. They're getting by in a two-bedroom, one-bath home on his veteran's retirement benefit which is set, for now, at $1,400 a month.
Meanwhile, some predict the strain on veterans' services will worsen here. According to a state-by-state report from the Democratic National Committee, Florida has more than 1.7 million veterans already, and currently, 19,456 men and women from Florida are fighting overseas. And that doesn't count veterans from elsewhere who may end up here.
A new Orlando VA medical center is expected to help but is not scheduled to open until 2010, said Karen M. Myers, who heads a Seamless Transition Task Force for veterans returning or moving to South Georgia and Northeast Florida, including Volusia and Flagler counties.
"Everybody wants to move south where it's warm. I don't think any of us thought this war was going to be as long, as traumatic and as devastating to the soldiers as it has been," Myers said.
When the mortar blasted Sgt. Pyle off his feet, just before he passed out, he saw two of his men running toward their Humvee. When he regained consciousness, he thought the two men running toward him were his men. Instead, they hammered and kicked Pyle's head and body. Three writhing bodies wrestled for Pyle's rifle.
"They were tugging on it, kicking and hitting me. They tried to get the bayonet strapped on my vest. It all happened so fast, I was afraid if they got that I was done."
In a softer voice: "I took care of one of the guys." In a whisper: "I disabled him to prevent him from disabling me."
He couldn't get off a shot as the second attacker ran away.
When Pyle visits the local clinic, his entire family usually goes along. He cannot retain the details of what he's told by the doctors and his wife, Debbie Pyle, 36, has never left her children in anyone else's care, she said.
During a recent appointment, volunteers gave lollipops to the children: Brook, 8; Steven, 7; Cassie, 5; Chloe, 3; Michaela, 2; and Mandy, 1. A nephew came along, too. The family was allowed to use a conference room as a waiting area. There was no nurse to assist.
Robert T. Hands, the clinic's administrative officer, said the staff shortage is one of the ways a national funding shortfall is being felt here.
"We are 12 to 13 people short, including nurses. Doctors have to call in their own patients," Hands said.
Also, some veterans who don't meet need and financial criteria must agree to co-payments or can't receive service. And the shortfall has limited the clinic's ability to prevent waiting lists for services such as MRIs by paying to have them performed by a non-VA provider in the community, Hands said.
Recently, the Department of Veterans Affairs reported being underfunded by billions. The underfunding occurred because the budget is figured three years ahead, and no one could have anticipated "two wars and the additional demand placed on the system," a VA spokesman said. Congress only recently authorized a supplemental appropriation, he said.
Proposed benefit cuts for next year's veterans budget were avoided in Congress, but veterans groups criticized legislators for voting down proposals to increase funding, said Luis Navarro of Washington, D.C., spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party.
Hands said the funding problems have not, however, affected money earmarked for building the new clinic wing, which is under way.
"And we haven't had any problems with equipment," he said. "We have gotten all that we have needed."
During his 20s, Pyle served four years in the Army. Afterward he earned a wastewater license to work for the Ormond Beach Water Department and did other similar jobs Meanwhile he also served four years in the Army Reserve. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he felt a new wave of patriotism and re-enlisted.
He regained his former rank as a sergeant and was among the forces that marched into Iraq until he was wounded.
Pyle suffers nightmares and daytime flashbacks. He's not capable of helping run the household or holding a job.
"I'm supposed to wear hearing aids, but when the children get wound up, I can't hear very well," Pyle said. Sounds seem to be the same volume, and he can't shut out background noise, he said.
He angers easily.
"I have to sleep on the couch. I try to sleep in the bed, but I can't -- bad dreams," he said. " I have an old truck I used to work on a lot, but it's in the barn now. I used to take the motor apart and put it together. I have tried, but I get confused. I can't even figure out how to build a rabbit cage."
His wife, Debbie, said: "Some days are better than others. He used to be really easygoing, but not now. But one good thing -- we fight, and he can't remember it. But I can never expect an apology, because he's forgotten about whatever it was."
Since Pyle's retirement from the military, she hasn't seen a doctor related to her pregnancy because she has not filed the proper forms to extend her military-related medical benefits yet. Coordinator Myers said there is coverage, with deductibles and co-pays, for family members of retired veterans.
Steve Pyle is not sure if he'll ever be rehabilitated enough to work or get a further education.
A friend and former co-worker of Pyle's from the water-treatment plant in Ormond Beach met up with Pyle recently.
Sam Butler, chief plant operator of wastewater, said he used to play sports and go out after work with Pyle and other co-workers.
"We played basketball, tennis and he was a very happy person. Everybody that hung out with him enjoyed his company," Butler said. "He didn't have his family until he moved on to another facility -- I think in DeLand. We went to a few parties and I met his wife and kept in contact here and there.
"He stopped by the other day asking about using his . . . wastewater license," Butler said. "He has a bit of a stutter in his voice, which inhibits his communication, and he limps and walks with a cane, which inhibits his ability to get around -- but he still seems pretty happy."
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Citation: Audrey Parente. "Returning war wounded strain veterans' services," Daytona Beach News-Journal, 11 September 2005.
Original URL: http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/03NewsHEAD01091105.htm
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