ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior

7/28/2019 ClaraLewis012 Wounded Warrior

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The War and the Wounded:Fort Knox; Lieutenant Colonel Blake Settle

By Clara Lewis

Journalism & Communication Arts Magnet

duPont Manual High School


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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.


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Blake travels from his house in Elizabethtown to the Fort Knox base to receive

treatment almost everyday.


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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.


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So familiar with the rehabilitation center and its workers, Blake stops to chat before his

appointment, joking about casually.


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The program set up in Fort Knox in 2009 is responsible for the treatment of nearly

200 wounded warriors. Treatment is constant.


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.


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Shortly after, Blake went to the media.

His case and police report is still

ongoing.


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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.


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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.


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The OT then gives Blake his appointment schedule for the week, and has him add it

into his calendar, each with an alert.


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Blake often has to take breaks. It took him 37 minutes total to add in 12 appointments


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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.


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After the therapy session, the OT leads Blake to the next set of rooms designed to

help other aspects of Wounded Warrior rehabilitation.


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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."


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"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.


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"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."


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Blake stands outside the TBI brain gym where he has recently completed treatment for

cognitive, visionary, and neurologic aspects of his case.


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After returning day

after day, Blake has

become well

acquainted with

everyone that works

there.


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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 "

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