" CHIEF HEALTHCARE ADVISER " for ROB SHAVER --
2018 U.S. SENATE EXPLORATORY COMMITTEE
WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT - A WARRIOR'S EFFORTS TO EXPOSE THE
TRUTH SINCE 2008 - DR. POLLOCK
Mar 11, 2016
* VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE TRUTH, THE RECORD &
HISTORY...TO ME *
* I am a Veteran, Wounded Warrior &
Physician / Major who was wounded in 2008-09 while on my second deployment to
Iraq.
I came home with both Physical wounds & PTSD/Depression
& was placed on TDRL. After my honorable discharge on TDRL at 50%, I was
NOT cleared for work (therefore "job fairs" mean nothing)
had about $45 K in savings & 3 family members depending on me as before.
My monthly bills were about $3200 or so ...&
the cost of transition, unexpected costs, etc.. mounted up FAST. On TDRL at
50%, I was paid 50% of my RANK salary or about $1600 / month. This sounds ok ,
but I had about normal debt, 3 people relying on me, medical illness draining
my mental strength & >$3000 in monthly bills.
As fate often plays out, I have multiple emergency
situations involving my mother (had a stroke during this time), problems with
my car (Altima) & another family member needing medical financing facing
possible death. These items plus relocation costs, bills left & right &
getting my mother stable, cost me most of my savings (if not all).
On top of that , it took the 'VA' over a year to give
me a rating & many months for even slight help from small organizations.
I am very faithful (FAITH) to God, so suicide was NOT
(never) an option for me, but it would be a THIS POINT where most
Wounded Warriors or post - dd214 struggling VETS decide to pull the trigger or
jump off the cliff.
I managed by sleeping for a few weeks in the woods
dodging the Police as ahomeless person outside
of Bandera, TX... only 2 years after living God's blessing as a Physician upon
joining the DOD after 9/11.
I survived, struggled for 13 months, but this
is what the WWP (& USAF WW Program) BOTH told me, " We don't help
Wounded Warriors with DIRECT financial aid; our mission statement clearly states
that we 'EMPOWER' WW's to help themselves and other WWs. " I sat silent on
the phone for about a minute to BOTH entities before hanging up.
I promised GOD from that point on that I would
EXPOSE the WWP
.If you google the name of reporter 'EVE
SAMPLES' & my name 'JAMES POLLOCK', you
will find TWO ARTICLES that she syndicated in 2012 over a
years time (Investigation) for which she won the TOP journalistic
award in Florida.
Without trying to sound 'Narcissistic', it was NOT
"CBS NEWS" or anyone else who first "broke" this story
across the nation in several newspapers...it was SCRIPPS WRITER
EVE SAMPLES & MYSELF - DR. JAMES R. POLLOCK, MAJ., USAF/SOCOM (WW) which
DETAILED everything that CBS did recently PLUS MUCH MORE.
In my opinion, reporter EVE SAMPLES deserves GREAT journalistic
recognition nationally & credit for doing MY STORY despite myself
being very 'Conservative' & her being very 'Liberal'; Veterans are from ALL
walks of life.
I wanted to outline this here now for the LASTING
RECORD so that the truth is known to all.
God works in mysterious ways.
Lord, I kept my promise ...still the 'VA' to go.
In my opinion, the WWP & USAF WW Program
should BOTH be disassembled & the monies BETTER spent elsewhere.
***** MY OFFER ------> As a Physician-Executive who has already offered
my resume' to the TRUMP & CRUZ folks for consideration as the next
"U.S. VA SECRETARY" (OR AT LEAST HIS/HER 'CHIEF ADVISER'), I will now
also (once again) offer my services to the WWP to become THEIR CEO or COO
......PRO-BONO FOR ANY OF THOSE POSITIONS .............as it should ALWAYS be !
JP.
I made a promise to God Almighty in the woods in 2008-09 that I would scratch
my way BACK , make a CENTRAL difference in the 'VA' & expose the
WWP..............ONE DOWN, ONE MORE TO GO !
......GOD BLESS AMERICA ! .....
(I will try to post the two links in another comment block here as well
or simply google the key words).
.........remember, GREED NEVER WINS OUT AT THE END OF THE DAY
JOHN 3 :16-18 !
...........[ NOTE:: EVERYONE SHOULD INVESTIGATE WHERE THESE TWO MEN END UP
TWO YEARS FROM NOW, HOW THEY MAY STILL BE TIED TO THE WWP & ALL OF THE
MONEY TRAILS LEADING TO MANY PRODUCTS, BRANDS, ETC.....IN MY OPINION,
CONSIDERING THE ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF MONEY THEY HAVE BROUGHT IN, A FEDERAL GRAND
JURY SOUNDS APPROPRIATE. ]
NEWS
Eve Samples: Decorated Air Force doctor 'abandoned by the
system'
July 01, 2012
Dr. James Pollock at
Fort Sam Houston Veteran's cemetery showing respect on a Veterans Day.
Dr. James Pollock at Fort Sam Houston Veteran's cemetery
showing respect on a Veterans Day.
Maj. James Pollock
near Balad, Iraq.
Maj. James Pollock near Balad, Iraq.
PHOTO PROVIDED Maj. James Pollock, formerly of Stuart,
poses at the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad, Iraq. Pollock was a medical
doctor in the Air Force.
PHOTO PROVIDED Maj. James Pollock, formerly of Stuart, poses
at the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad, Iraq. Pollock was a medical doctor
in the Air Force.
Dr. James Pollock's
wedding to Solangel Pollock; "God's prayers answered."
Dr. James Pollock's wedding to Solangel Pollock; "God's
prayers answered."
By Eve Samples of TCPalm
About this story
Eve Samples, a local news columnist based in Martin County,
met Major James Pollock in spring of 2011, when he was working at a walk-in
clinic in Stuart. She has been interviewing him on and off for more than a year
and spent the last several months researching problems wounded veterans face on
the military's Temporary Disability Retired List.
Maj. James Pollock just wanted to sleep.
And he did, about 14 hours every day.
After two deployments to Iraq, he was on a cocktail of
medication for severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The drugs made him tired. Sleep let him forget, temporarily,
that his career in military medicine was unraveling.
A decorated Air Force doctor, Pollock had cared for hundreds
of the Iraq War's worst casualties ? victims of roadside bombs, children with
life-threatening wounds.
"You exemplify the true warrior medic," his
commander wrote in 2005, after Pollock treated four severely burned soldiers.
"Without your care, these soldiers would not have
survived their injuries," the commander wrote.
Pollock was proud.
Three years later, he felt helpless.
Honorably discharged in 2008 and placed on the military's
Temporary Disability Retired List, Pollock had mounting bills and limited
income. At the same time, he was struggling to navigate the complex world of
military disability ratings.
"That's a critical time when people are sitting there
deciding, do you take a gun to your head? Do you jump off a bridge?" said
Pollock, now 43.
He was not suicidal, but he didn't know how he would claw
his way back to a normal life. It's a dilemma an increasing number of
combat-wounded veterans face while on the Temporary Disability Retired List.
Although problems with the system were highlighted in 2009,
many veterans continue to struggle with it today.
One morning after the worst of Pollock's fatigue had passed,
he woke up in a green tent pitched in the woods near Bandera, Texas.
"Going from a proud doctor, patriotic major ... to
being broke, hungry and living in a tent was the lowest point in my life,"
Pollock said.
How did a military doctor who had once been featured in an
Air Force recruitment video fall so far?
SAVING LIVES, DODGING MORTARS
To understand the high point of Pollock's military career,
look no further than the Air Force Achievement Medal he received in 2006.
A certificate presented with it reads:
"Major Pollock coordinated lifesaving intensive care
for 580 of the combat theater's most critically injured patients.
"He took charge as a team leader and cared for 29
patients in Balad Air Base's largest-ever mass casualty, the (Sept. 29, 2005)
bombings.
"He completed duties under constant threat from enemy
insurgent activities, including over 120 mortar attacks on Balad Air Base
during his deployment."
It was war, and war was what Pollock had signed up for. The
son of a retired Air Force senior master sergeant, Pollock was working at
Martin Medical Center in Stuart in 2001, when terrorists attacked the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon. The 9/11 attacks pushed him toward military
medicine.
"I feel like everyone should have a sense of duty to
the country," said Pollock, who describes himself as a "proud
Christian and patriot."
In 2003, hoping to launch a career in the military, he paid
$36,000 for special malpractice insurance, called "tail insurance,"
that let him leave Florida and remain covered for any liability stemming from
his prior work.
By 2004, he was working at Wilford Hall Medical Center in
Texas. Later that year, he starred in a recruitment video to help attract
physicians to the Air Force.
In the video, a smiling, clear-eyed Pollock says military
medicine allowed him to focus on patients and get "more out of life than
just trying to crunch the numbers in order to make your money."
He didn't know then that his Air Force career would bring
its own number-crunching nightmare.
PTSD GOES THROUGH THE ROOF
Pollock's first deployment to Iraq, from September 2005 to
January 2006, was difficult but gratifying.
He was honored when his commander asked him to take a lead
role in the intensive care unit at the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad, a
unique opportunity for a family practice doctor.
Pollock worked long hours in the tent hospital and routinely
inserted chest tubes, managed ventilators and removed wound packs from patients
with grave injuries.
The work yielded the most precious of his military awards,
the achievement medal.
His second deployment, in 2008, was more traumatic.
While stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, Pollock
was asked to go to Iraq with an "elite special operations task force"
engaged in ground combat. He provided around-the-clock emergency care to troops
during the classified missions, which he declined to discuss in detail.
Almost every morning during that deployment, mortars were
lobbed into Pollock's camp.
"After four or five of those hit nearby, that's when my
PTSD, my anxiety, started going through the roof," he said.
He slept in his helmet and protective vest.
"And you take Ambien," Pollock said, referring to
the anti-insomnia drug. "Everyone's on Ambien."
When he returned to Nellis, he was overwhelmed and
exhausted.
His psychological injuries proved debilitating
.
TDRL HELL
In December 2008, Pollock was relieved from active duty and
placed on the Temporary Disability Retired List -- a category of retirement
used for members of the military who are unfit for duty because of
service-related illnesses or injuries that are expected to improve or worsen.
Because the service member's condition could change, the military holds off on
a final disability rating for up to five years, requiring the person to face
physical evaluation boards every 18 months.
Some service members call it "TDRL hell" because
it can be so frustrating -- yet an increasing number of service members have
been added to the list during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The severity of Pollock's PTSD and depression prompted him
to receive a disability rating that qualified him for 50 percent of his rank
pay on TDRL. His conditions were caused by "exposure to combat casualties
while deployed to Iraq," according to Air Force documents.
Pollock was enrolled in the Air Force Wounded Warrior
Program, which aims to ease the transition to civilian life for injured
veterans like him.
Still, he found it more difficult than anything he had
experienced.
"I felt totally alone and abandoned by the
system," Pollock said.
DEALING WITH BUREAUCRACY
The sudden drop in pay was the biggest shock.
When Pollock was released from active duty and placed on
TDRL, his salary was cut to half his rank pay -- about $1,800 a month, or
$21,600 a year.
It was a huge decline from the $170,000 a year he earned as
a private physician before entering the military.
His post-military pay was not enough to cover $3,000 a month
in bills, including payments for his Nissan Altima and about $120,000 in
student loans from medical school.
The little savings he had dwindled quickly.
He wasn't in the Air Force anymore, so he didn't have the
advantage of on-base support. Nor had he been cleared for Social Security
Disability payments or benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs,
which often take months.
At the same time, he was not medically cleared to return to
private-sector work because of his PTSD and depression.
"The reduction in pay can be a huge difficulty,"
said John Maki, assistant national service director for Disabled American
Veterans, a Washington-based advocacy group.
When wounded troops are relieved from active duty, they
often move back to the city they came from -- in Pollock's case, he was trying
to get to San Antonio, where his military career started ? and the cost of
finding a new place to live can be a strain.
Wading through the paperwork required on TDRL makes the readjustment
even more challenging.
"The frustrating thing is there's not much you can do
about it. You're dealing with a bureaucracy," said Martin Zickert, a
Vietnam veteran and president of the Veterans Council of Indian River County.
"They just go, 'Oh, is that a problem?' "
HITTING BOTTOM
After his discharge, Pollock rented a cheap motel room near
Nellis and stayed there for a few weeks with his mother and golden retriever,
Katie. He later loaded a U-Haul and drove with them to his native state of
Arkansas, then continued on his own to San Antonio.
When Pollock ran out of money in Texas, he pitched his tent
in a wooded area near Bandera.
In a sense, it was a relief to be away from society.
"You get to a point when you actually feel at peace
with having nothing because you can't go any lower," Pollock said.
Pollock laid awake crying many nights, understanding why so
many veterans are homeless and why veterans suicide rates are so high.
He lived in the tent for two to three weeks. Then, nervous
about getting caught by police for camping illegally, he moved in with a
friend.
In the months that followed, Pollock borrowed money from
friends and family and received about $9,000 in grants from veterans nonprofits
so he could afford a place to live. The aid was not easy to come by, and it
didn't start rolling in until Pollock had hit his all-time low.
Not until his VA benefit checks started arriving in 2010 did
he begin to feel stable.
His mother, Faye Pollock, was surprised by the lack of
initial support for her son.
"I've always been for the military ... but the men and
the boys need better treatment and faster," she said.
She had a stroke in October 2008, just as she was helping
her son through the depths of his PTSD and depression. Pollock helped care for
his mother during her recovery, even as he was struggling with his own.
"My mom suffered through all this, too," Pollock
said.
A GROWING PROBLEM
Across all branches of the military, the number of service
members on TDRL grew 43 percent between 2003 and 2007 -- from 9,983 to 14,285 ?
according to a 2009 report from the Government Accountability Office.
In theory, keeping service members on TDRL allows the
military to gauge their disabilities and, in some cases, return them to active
duty. But only 1 percent ever return to service, according to the GAO report.
In the meantime, wounded veterans like Pollock are living in
limbo, with physical examinations and evaluation board reviews required every
18 months to determine if their disability rating should change.
After Pollock's first physical evaluation, he begged to
receive permanent disability retirement. He needed stability, for his benefits
and for his peace of mind.
He was denied.
Disabled American Veterans' formal comments included in the
2009 report sum up the biggest problem wounded troops have with TDRL:
"Instead of getting on with their lives, they will
always have the uncertainty of what is going to be the final outcome. There is
no reason to be placed on TDRL. The service member has probably been dealing
with his/her medical problem for at least six to 12 months even before it goes
to a medical evaluation board. If the service member hasn't improved by then,
they more than likely won't. Therefore, just make it permanent."
The GAO report pointed out that many veterans end up with
the same rating they started with anyway.
"The (Department of Defense) and the services do not
effectively manage key aspects of the TDRL process," the GAO concluded.
Both the GAO and the Department of Defense recommended
Congress consider shortening the five-year maximum for TDRL to three years, so
veterans wouldn't have such a long period of uncertainty.
But Congress has made no legislative changes to the system.
Although the problems were brought to light three years ago,
the average service member on TDRL is not better off now, said Maki of Disabled
American Veterans.
"It's such a small, tiny percentage of people on TDRL
who actually return to active duty," Maki said. "You wonder how
useful a program it is."
Complicating matters, he said, is the military's new
integrated disability evaluation system, which aims to deliver VA disability
benefits more quickly. It has been slowed by a huge backlog of claims and faced
its own criticism.
"The entire process is breaking down," Maki said.
POLLOCK'S REFORMS
Pollock has spent three and a half years on TDRL, and he
remains on the list today.
He gets emails about once a month from his case manager with
the Air Force Wounded Warrior Program, which serves 1,532 airmen with
combat-related injuries and illnesses, about 20 percent of them on TDRL.
All of the wounded warriors are offered help with their
transition back to civilian life, Air Force spokesman Michael Dickerson said.
"The Air Force tracks the combat-injured airman from
the time of injury or identification and provides assistance, advocacy,
services and resources for as long as needed thereafter," Dickerson wrote
in an email.
Pollock thinks the program could do much more.
The Air Force Wounded Warrior Program does not provide
direct financial assistance for injured veterans struggling with living
expenses. Instead, it refers them to outside charities and on-base referral
centers.
"In the first three to six months, they need to prop
people up a little better," Pollock said.
He wants to testify before Congress about the difficulties
veterans face on TDRL before VA benefits kick in.
He has a list of reforms he believes the military should
embrace. His top three are:
1. Give full rank pay to veterans on TDRL, at least during
the initial months after discharge.
2. Make the VA disability rating for all combat-wounded
veterans 100 percent for the first six months after discharge.
3. Allow the Air Force Wounded Warrior Program to provide
bill-paying assistance for combat wounded veterans during the first six months
after discharge.
"Failure is not an option in getting these three things
changed," Pollock said.
Local veterans advocates generally agree more financial
support would help ease the transition.
Donna Carlsen, an officer with St. Lucie County Veterans
Services, said she has encountered many veterans caught in the
"wait-to-rate trap."
She would like to see every newly discharged wounded veteran
provided with seed money for civilian housing: first month's rent, last month's
rent and a security deposit.
John Haddox, Martin County Veterans Services supervisor,
called Pollock's proposal to increase TDRL pay a "very worthy goal."
He has seen veterans come into his Stuart office with
depression and anger that is amplified by financial stress.
"I think they feel like, 'I've been over there fighting
for my country, and now I'm back and I'm on the verge of being homeless because
I can't find a job,'" Haddox said. "And if they have even a touch of
PTSD, it just aggravates it."
'TRYING TO BUILD MY LIFE AGAIN'
Pollock's life has stabilized since his low point in Texas.
He got married last year to a woman named Solangel, whom he
calls his angel. They moved to Miami to be closer to her family, and Pollock's
mom lives with the couple.
He now receives VA benefits. His doctors cleared him to
return to work part-time in 2010, and he moved back to Stuart.
He worked several days a week at Martin Medical Center and a
walk-in clinic in Stuart.
"I was doing OK and trying to scratch my way back ...
I'm not a freeloader," Pollock said.
Pollock suffered a setback last year when complications from
what was supposed to be routine surgery for a glandular condition caused
temporary paralysis. He has not been able to return to work since then and
walks with a cane.
Still, he is making progress and intends to find a new job
when he fully recovers, possibly at an indigent clinic or working as a teacher.
"I'm trying to build my life again," Pollock said.
He hopes it's not such a difficult prospect for the next
generation of injured veterans.
"They need to understand what's going on," he
said, "so in a year or five years or 10 years, when there's another war,
we don't repeat it."
In some ways, he was better off than the majority of
combat-injured troops who return to civilian life: He had a professional career
to fall back on; he didn't have children to support.
His life almost fell apart anyway.
"If it can happen to me," Pollock said, "I
think it can happen to anyone."
ABOUT MAJ. JAMES POLLOCK
Age: 43
Professional history: Family practice doctor with
osteopathic medicine degree from Oklahoma State University. On staff at Martin
Medical Center from 1999-2003 and from January to May 2011.
Military history: Entered the Air Force in 2004; deployed to
the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad, Iraq, from fall 2005 to early 2006;
deployed to Iraq in 2008 with a special operations team.
Post-military life: Honorably discharged from the military
in December 2008 because of PTSD and depression. Placed on the Temporary
Disability Retired List, which he remains on today.
WHAT IS THE TEMPORARY DISABILITY RETIRED LIST?
Disabled service members can be placed on TDRL for up to five
years if their disabilities are considered impermanent or unstable.
Those on TDRL must get physical evaluations every 18 months
to determine if their disability rating has changed.
TDRL veterans receive temporary retirement pay and benefits.
Pay is based on military service and rank, with a minimum of half of their rank
pay.
THE LIST IS GROWING
Here is a look at the military's Temporary Disability
Retired List caseloads in all branches:
2003: 9,983
2004: 10,795
2005: 12,024
2006: 13,084
2007: 14,285
Source: Government Accountability Office
Eve Samples thumbnail
About Eve Samples
Eve Samples is the opinion editor and audience engagement
editor at Treasure Coast Newspapers. Connect with her and other opinion
journalists by tagging your posts with #tcopinion.
Facebook @EveSamples eve.samples@tcpalm.com 772-221-4217
Eve Samples: Wounded Warrior group doesn't offer
bill-paying help to veterans
July 02, 2012
About this story
Eve Samples, a local news columnist based in Martin
County, met Major James Pollock in spring of 2011, when he was working at a
walk-in clinic in Stuart. She has been interviewing him on and off for more
than a year and spent the past several months researching problems wounded
veterans face.
Broke and grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder
after two deployments to Iraq, Major James Pollock turned to one of the biggest
names among veterans charities.
The decorated Air Force doctor had a simple request when he
called Wounded Warrior Project after his 2008 discharge:
Please help me pay my bills.
Pollock was thrust into the civilian world by his
combat-related disabilities and unable to work because of them.
The $1,800 a month he received on the military's Temporary
Disability Retired List was not enough to cover his basic expenses, which
included hefty student loans.
The former Stuart resident spent several weeks in early 2009
living in a tent, desperate for money.
Wounded Warrior Project would not provide it.
The charity -- which reported revenue of $74.1 million last
year -- politely referred Pollock elsewhere.
"Our philosophy is we would rather provide the tools so
they can take care of those things on their own," said Ayla Hay, executive
vice president of communications for Wounded Warrior Project.
Known for its celebrity spokespeople and cable television
commercials, the Jacksonville-based charity offers 18 different programs for
post-9/11 era combat-injured veterans. They range from outdoor retreats to
job-placement services. Wounded Warrior Project also has a "benefits
team" that works with veterans to ensure they get the help they are
entitled to.
But it does not provide financial aid for wounded warriors
who cannot pay their bills, Hay confirmed. That is not part of the nonprofit's
mission.
The many veterans who call Wounded Warrior Project looking
for such help are referred to other charities, often smaller organizations with
more limited resources.
"I believe people should pick themselves up, go to
school, get a job," Pollock said. "But there are times when a person
needs a safety net, and 2009 is when I needed it."
INCOME TO SURVIVE
Peggy Baker often gets calls from injured veterans who have
been referred to her by Wounded Warrior Project for help.
The Army mom started her Virginia-based charity, Operation
First Response, in 2004 after realizing how many injured troops and their
families were struggling with money upon return to civilian life.
"There's times when there's no income or very little
income to survive," Baker said.
Operation First Response now provides emergency financial
aid to roughly 1,000 injured veterans a year. Its revenue last year was about
$753,365.
"We are approached by mountains more," Baker said.
She gives them grants to help cover rent, utilities,
groceries and other living expenses.
When Pollock received a grant from Operation First Response
in 2009, it was a turning point.
He had to wait more than a year after his discharge to
receive disability benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and
Social Security Administration. The Air Force and other branches of the
military offer transition assistance programs, but Pollock was not finding the
help he needed.
It was Operation First Response and the Air Force Aid
Society -- both of which bring in a fraction of the donations that Wounded
Warrior Project attracts ? that helped him get by.
He received about $9,000 from the two nonprofits over the
course of several months, Pollock recalled.
The money was a path to stability. It allowed him to move
back to Stuart in 2010 and relaunch his medical career after he was cleared to
return to work part-time.
Pollock believes such support should be easier to come by --
especially for veterans of lower ranks who would receive less than him in
temporary disability retirement pay. The typical staff sergeant would have a
much more difficult time.
"I was a single man with no kids ... and I was a
major," said Pollock, who married last year.
A 'D' RATING
Of the $74.1 million in revenue Wounded Warrior Project
generated last year (most of it from donations), $13.8 million was spent on
fundraising, according to IRS documents.
Other expenses are listed on its audited financial
statements:
$11.5 million in salaries
$8.9 million in consulting and outside services
$5.5 million for meetings and events
$3.1 million for travel
Pollock is skeptical of such spending, considering Wounded
Warrior Project's policy on basic aid.
The charity's financial practices earned it a "D"
grade from CharityWatch, an independent organization that rates and evaluates
nonprofits.
According to CharityWatch's calculations, only 43 percent of
Wounded Warrior Project's annual spending went for programs -- not including
direct mail, telemarketing and other solicitation costs.
Accounting rules let charities count those costs as
"program services" if they also serve an educational purpose -- for
example, by including a line on a direct mail piece that encourages donors to
write their congressmen. But nonprofit watchdogs tend to be skeptical of the
practice.
"These are nice things, but it's not what people are
thinking of funding when they give to a veterans
charity," said Daniel
Borochoff, president of CharityWatch.
The picture improves for Wounded Warrior Project if such
solicitation costs are included. Then, it jumps to 63 percent of spending --
still not near the 75 percent that CharityWatch considers "highly
efficient."
Wounded Warrior Project points out it is more favorably
viewed by the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance, which calculates
that 82 percent of the charity's money goes to programs. But the BBB includes
money used for "public awareness" in its estimation of program costs.
"The truth is that the systems for grading charities
are all valuable," Hay said, "but they're all different."
A VITAL BRIDGE
Some combat-wounded veterans get their permanent disability
ratings quickly, so full benefits roll in without much of a lag.
But it's often more complicated for veterans such as Pollock
who have invisible wounds such as post-traumatic stress disorder and
depression.
Nonprofit assistance becomes vital to bridge the gap.
Because the severity of his disabilities might change,
Pollock remains on the military's Temporary Disability Retired List, an
uncertain classification that can drag on for up to five years.
He is pushing for better support for combat-injured veterans
during the first six months after they are discharged, both from the military
and Wounded Warrior Project.
"That's the most critical time -- when people commit
suicide, have problems and can't even afford a lawyer to help them,"
Pollock said.
During a speech in June, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
pointed to financial distress as a factor contributing to the rising rate of
veteran suicides. Among active-duty troops, the suicide rate is about one a
day. Among veterans of all wars, it is about 18 a day, according to the
Department of Veterans Affairs.
Instead of bill-paying aid, Wounded Warrior Project offers
"economic empowerment" programs that aim to educate and train wounded
veterans. It also coordinates fishing trips, sky diving adventures and trips to
professional sports games.
"We've just chosen to go in a different direction. We
take a holistic approach to the programs and services we offer," Hay said.
"We want to make sure the warrior is healed in their spirit and certainly
any physical injuries they have."
Basic financial aid for injured veterans, she said,
"isn't one of the programs where we have deemed to be the greatest
need."
MONOPOLY ON WOUNDED WARRIORS?
Although Wounded Warrior Project does not offer bill-paying
help to injured veterans, it is considering making grants to charities that do.
This spring, Operation First Response received initial
approval for a $100,000 grant from Wounded Warrior Project.
At first, Baker was thrilled. Then she read the conditions.
To receive the $100,000, Wounded Warrior Project required
that her charity "cease use of the term 'Wounded Warrior' in any program
name or title." That included removing it from any printed materials or
website meta tags, which are labels used by Internet search engines to direct
traffic.
"We just couldn't go along with it," Baker said.
The term wounded warrior is part of the vernacular for this
generation of veterans. People looking for aid or wanting to donate would be
likely to type in those key words online.
"If I can't have that in the meta tags of my website,
I'm not going to come up on any searches," Baker said.
One of her main programs is called the Wounded Warrior Financial
Assistance Program. Accepting the grant would have meant changing the name and
printing new materials -- money she believes should be spent on aid for injured
veterans.
"That makes no sense to me at all," Baker said.
"I don't think anybody should have the monopoly on the phrase wounded
warriors."
It was not easy for her to walk away from the cash.
"When you're struggling for funds and you're listening
to what we're listening to -- these guys and these girls on the phone every day
-- turning down any money is a real struggle," she said.
Hay confirmed that Wounded Warrior Project took grant
applications for nonprofits wanting to provide direct financial aid, but said
it did not award any grants in its first round.
"We do consider proposals for financial assistance and
are reviewing several in our second round," Hay said.
'BASIC NEEDS NEED TO BE MET FIRST'
Pollock hopes Wounded Warrior Project will reconsider its
stance on bill-paying aid. As his own life has become more stable, he has
started crusading for reforms that will help the next generation of veterans.
Wounded Warrior Project is one of the most visible veterans
charities in the country, and it has the power to make life better for
combat-injured troops who are at their lowest financial point, Pollock said.
He sees merits in some of the charity's existing programs,
including its widely publicized outdoor adventures. But he hopes Wounded
Warrior Project executives realize some veterans are falling apart financially
while the organization offers fishing trips and surf camps for others.
The problem is not going away. An estimated 900,000 veterans
are waiting on benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Through Operation First Response, Baker will help put out
the fires for some of those veterans. She will help them pay the rent after an
eviction notice arrives, or cover the power bill after the lights go out.
But there are far more cases than her charity and others
like it can handle.
"Basic needs need to be met first," Baker said.
Maj. James Pollock
Age: 43
Professional history: Family practice doctor with
osteopathic medicine degree from Oklahoma State University. On staff at Martin
Medical Center from 1999-2003 and from January to May 2011.
Military history: Entered the Air Force in 2004; deployed to
the Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad, Iraq, from fall 2005 to early 2006;
deployed to Iraq in 2008 with a special operations team.
Post-military life: Honorably discharged from the military
in December 2008 because of PTSD and depression. Placed on the Temporary
Disability Retired List, where he remains on today.
Tale of two veterans charities
Operation First Response
Phone: (888) 289-0280
Headquarters: Culpeper, Va.
Revenue: $753,365
Fundraising expenses: $4,482
Chief executive compensation: $35,000
Employees: 3
Source: 2011 IRS Form 990
Wounded Warrior Project
Phone: (877) 832-6997
Headquarters: Jacksonville
Revenue (Oct. 1, 2010-Sept. 30, 2011): $74.1 million
Fundraising expenses: $13.9 million
Chief executive compensation: $319,692
Employees: 147
Source: 2010 IRS Form 990
About Eve Samples
Eve Samples is the opinion editor and audience engagement
editor at Treasure Coast Newspapers. Connect with her and other opinion
journalists by tagging your posts with #tcopinion.
