ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
-
Upload
jcshowcase -
Category
Documents
-
view
219 -
download
0
Transcript of ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
1/24
The War and the Wounded:Fort Knox; Lieutenant Colonel Blake Settle
By Clara Lewis
Journalism & Communication Arts Magnet
duPont Manual High School
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
2/24
I don't really talk to people I got
deployed with. I don't really want
to... when you start talking to
them, you just start to talk about
the bad things.Lieutenant Colonel Blake Settle
has been married for 16 years,
with three sons: Nathan, John
Silas, and Quinton. Out of those
16 years, 10 have been spent in
six deployments to Jordan,Afghanistan, and Iraq. This is in
2008 when he returned from his
first, but not his last deployment
to Afghanistan.
His longest deployment to date,
he missed John Silas's birth.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
3/24
Blake travels from his house in Elizabethtown to the Fort Knox base to receive
treatment almost everyday.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
4/24
When he returned from his final deployment in Iraq, he had knee problems, back
problems, and soon he soon discovered, brain problems. He began suffering from a
traumatic brain injury. See when I got back I didn't know I had a TBI. But it was like
day to day things were suddenly difficult.. nothing would sink in. I couldn't evenremember the day beforeever.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
5/24
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
6/24
So familiar with the rehabilitation center and its workers, Blake stops to chat before his
appointment, joking about casually.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
7/24
The program set up in Fort Knox in 2009 is responsible for the treatment of nearly
200 wounded warriors. Treatment is constant.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
8/24
Blake has been seeing his occupational therapist since his return from his last deployment in the spring of 2012.
Responsible for setting up the program and commanding it, his OT has been treating Blake for his TBI. [In this
job] It's seeing intangible things you get back from the soldiers, wisdom, knowledge, and the facilitation of their
recovery. You get out of it what you put in. It is a joint recovery process with the soldier and therapist... to see whatthe soldier has overcome.. Blake has come very far.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
9/24
Every appointment starts out the same:Remember to rank on a scale of 1-10, how's the pain?
I can still feel it in my knees... back.. but a 3.
Stress?
Down to a 2,
Fatigue?2.
Good? Now what's the good thing did you do for yourself this
weekend and the good thing you did for someone else?
I spent all Saturday with my wife and son, watching movies. I
was happy and it made me feel good to be with them.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
10/24
Your brain is different when you've been deployed. Your chemistry is different, you're in a different climate.
The soldier has been in that state of fight-or-flight for so long, he/she is looking at death everyday, and that
changes the chemistry in their head. I look at how that injury sustains and how it affects them afterward.
Ready to delve back into his everyday life, the turmoil from his head injury was evident not only mentally andphysically, but socially as well.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
11/24
In the spring of 2012, shortly after his return home, Blake
returned to Louisville to renovate some of his properties. He was
dressed in sweats and covered in concrete dust. Before he made hisway home, he went to mid-city mall to pick up a gift card (wife's
orders.) Upon entering the mall, he was stopped by a police officer
who told him he was going to have to leave the property and there
was no loitering allowed. Blake told the police officer he had just
been working on some properties, and was picking up something for
his wife. The officer continued to ask him to leave despite Blake's
explanation of what he was doing. But, due to his TBI, he had greatdifficulty articulating his intentions and that he was a wounded
warrior who had just gotten back from Iraq. When he reached down
to get his ID the officer pulled his taser and asked him to put his
hands up and get against the wall. After another minute of
inarticulate explanation, the cop tackled Blake to the ground, had
called backup, and didn't allow for any explanation on his actionsexcept for profiling Blake.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
12/24
Shortly after, Blake went to the media.
His case and police report is still
ongoing.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
13/24
The night the police
assault happened. Even
right after it happened,
Blake was sure to take
the first steps to setting
up a case against the
police officer. The case isstill ongoing today. As a
result, improvements
have been made in the
police program including
a mandatory 45 minute
session dealing withwounded warriors and
consistency in police
protocol.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
14/24
But despite the initial
rocky start, a new
program development
called Technological
Assisted Touch has
helped Blake move
along. The system ismade for rehabilitating
soldiers and their time
management,
organization, and
memory.
Here, Blake's OT
reminds him... again of
how to use the iPod
purchased for him.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
15/24
The OT then gives Blake his appointment schedule for the week, and has him add it
into his calendar, each with an alert.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
16/24
Blake often has to take breaks. It took him 37 minutes total to add in 12 appointments
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
17/24
We use this in order to get consistency. I just want him to get an iPhone so he'll onlyhave to keep up with one thing rather than 2 or 3.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
18/24
After the therapy session, the OT leads Blake to the next set of rooms designed to
help other aspects of Wounded Warrior rehabilitation.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
19/24
Cognitive recovery is
often aided with physical
work outs as well. "We
often keeps the lights off
and play some music, it
keeps the mood lighthearted and makes it not
feel so much like
treatment."
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
20/24
"The result of returning from war often induces great stress into these wounded warriors. Things as simpleas a plane flying overhead can bring back memories of picking up survivors or dropping off supplies." The
machine is used, typically in the dark, by hooking up a pulse monitor to their ear. They sit in a chair calledthe "Egg," which is designed to surround the WW and block out distractions.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
21/24
"Basic social skills have to be
re-taught. We have games so
that the soldiers can get used
to winning but also losing and
disappointment. It's a small
step but a necessary one."
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
22/24
Blake stands outside the TBI brain gym where he has recently completed treatment for
cognitive, visionary, and neurologic aspects of his case.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
23/24
After returning day
after day, Blake has
become well
acquainted with
everyone that works
there.
-
7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior
24/24
After a two-hour long session Blake's leaves the hospital only to know he's returning tomorrow. "People always
ask me if you could go back 10 years in time and change anything I would always answer no. I know I've
missed out on raising my sons and have done a great deal of damage to my body but its impossible to
experience the good unless you've experienced the bad. You have to see the big picture, all the shit going ont th t th t f th littl d t d thi 't bi f d l l k th "