saw this in the courant the other day

and i thought it was a great story. i'm sorry mr tinsley got shot (more than sorry) but i am so very happy he's not only found work, but been kicking butt at his job. shout out to the va and mike wolf for helping mr tinsley and giving mr tinsley a chance, along the way

Disabled Veteran In Bloomfield Builds Bikes As He Rebuilds His Life

By STEVEN GOODE |The Hartford Courant

BLOOMFIELD — - Brian Tinsley lost a lot that day in Afghanistan.

The bullet that entered one of his temples and exited the other took away his sight, his sense of smell and part of his sense of taste.

But it didn't take away his ability to find a silver lining.

"Someone else might not have survived," said Tinsely.

Tinsley, 25, joined the Army after graduating from Bloomfield High School in 2001. His goal was to serve his country, learn to be a mechanic and take that skill with him back to civilian life. Tinsley was doing both, providing special forces support in 2003, when he was shot.

The bullet also took away his memory of that day.

"I don't have any recollection," he said. "I regained consciousness in Walter Reed Hospital about a month later."

But Tinsley didn't lose his desire to live an independent, productive life.

Tinsley went to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Eastern Blind Rehabilitation Center in West Haven to learn how to maintain his mobility and read Braille, and even helped Habitat for Humanity build a house in Hartford.

"It'll drive you nuts if you just sit and do nothing," he said.

Tinsley eventually found his way back to a local bicycle shop he frequented in his youth when he rode stunt bikes. But this time around, he wasn't looking for parts, he was looking for work. Specifically, he wanted to build bikes...........

photo: BRIAN TINSLEY, 25, of Bloomfield, was shot in the head while in Afghanistan on military duty in 2003 and lost his eyesight. Tinsley now works at the Bloomfield Bicycle and Repair Shop in Bloomfield and was hired by Mike Wolf, left, owner of the store, who said, "We hope that he'll be with us a long time." (ROSS TAYLOR / HARTFORD COURANT / November 13, 2008)

did you know we had 11,000 returning troops

in our state (from the war)? i didn't. that's a HUGE number. did you know that at the VERY LEAST 1/4 of them have symptoms for ptsd? i didn't.

Many Returning Troops Struggle To Reconnect
By LISA CHEDEKEL Courant Staff Writer
From a distance, the more than 11,000 state residents who have returned from war in the past five years have disappeared seamlessly into the Connecticut landscape — back to colleges, spouses, civilian or military jobs.But up close, the transition has not been so smooth.A first-ever survey of returning state troops shows that at least one-quarter of them meet the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder, while many cite problems with a spouse or partner and difficulties "connecting emotionally with family" as major concerns. A state mental health hot line has fielded more than 300 calls for assistance from Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their family members in the past nine months. Recently, the state veterans' affairs commissioner has begun working with the courts to ensure that increasing numbers of recently returned troops who are arrested for domestic violence, drunken driving or other offenses are flagged and referred to counseling programs."There's a lot of real high risks here — not only for the military members themselves, but for their families," said Linda Schwartz, commissioner of the state Department of Veterans' Affairs. "We have people in almost every town in our state who have served deployments, and the VA is just not going to be able to get to them all. We have to do more to reach out to them … to catch them when they fall."............

......The state's mental health hot line for military members who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and their family members is 866-251-2913................

FINALLY

ryan riddle gets his benefits. WHICH of course are due him. being SHOT in iraq and all....

Southington vet to receive benefits

by News Channel 8's Alan Cohn

Southington (WTNH) _ The Veteran's Administration has reversed its initial decision to deny benefits to a soldier injured in Iraq.
For months, the VA stubbornly stuck to its decision that it could not find any evidence that Ryan Riddle was shot in Baghdad and deserved combat-related benefits.
Riddle received the call from VA's Director of Benefits and he could not be more relieved saying, "I thought it was about time. Thank God everything has been made right. It's a big relief off my shoulder, like someone came and picked up that boulder off my shoulder."
Riddle's military records were lost after he was discharged from the Army, and when he first applied for combat-related benefits, the VA told him for all they knew he was "shot on the streets of Hartford."................

update on ryan riddle

(and yet ANOTHER shout out to news channel 8)

a soldier SHOT in iraq and denied benefits here, given the run around yet one of the men responsible for the run around is given a $33,000 BONUS? shite, that just is NOT right

why did wtnh channel 8 have to go out to find proof ryan riddle was wounded in iraq? why didn't
ronald aument find proof? isn't that part of HIS job?
shouldn't our veterans, ESPECIALLY the wounded ones be taken care of?


Soldier denied benefits, cutting through the red tape

(Southington-WTNH)_An Iraq War veteran and Southington resident is a living example of the red tape that is bogging down the Veterans Administration.
While soldiers like Ryan Riddle struggle to get medical coverage for war wounds there is word that some VA officials in charge of their paperwork are getting huge cash performance bonuses. Team 8 Investigator Alan Cohn recently confronted, Ronald Aument, one of the bureaucrats who received one of those bonuses.
"The question is, how could a TV station from Connecticut reach out to people in Baghdad and confirm that this private was shot and the VA can't?""Frankly, I don't know the facts, but I'll be happy to look into it," Aument said............