Photo by Sharon Taylor Conway Mission escorts Sgt.1st Class Kareem Coston and Lester Price listen intently to a family member at the airport. An administrative attendant escort service transports the families of wounded warriors from area airports and train stations to Walter Reed. A team consisting of a driver, Warrior Transition Brigade platoon sergeant or squad leader and a civilian escort assistant trek to welcome, transport and console arriving families.

“I didnít know how bad he was until I saw him,” said Pierson.

It was the first trip to Washington, D.C. for the father of the 23-year-old National Guardsman from Franklin, Ind., located 30 miles outside of Indianapolis. A trip to the big city, coupled with the unknown gravity of his sonís condition, troubled him.

An escort mission team from Walter Reed Army Medical Center greeted the two at the airport: Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Uth of the Warrior Transition Brigade (WTB) and Lester Price, a civilian attendant escort assistant. Uth and Price helped the couple locate their luggage and whisked them off to a hotel for check in, then to the hospital to see their son.

“Once we got in the van, the guys made us feel so at ease,” Pierson said.

“It just went as smooth as can be. The way we were treated made it so much better,” Pierson said. “They saw me on the elevator a month after and remembered me. They asked about my son.” He recalled, “We were treated like royalty. Not one negative experience.”

Pierson said although his sonís injuries werenít as severe as those of other Soldiers, Walter Reed staff made him feel just as important.

“I felt like I was the parent of the first Soldier that was ever treated there. They really took it personal,” Pierson said.

The grateful father spent six weeks with his son while he recovered. He said he made friends at the Soldier and Family Assistance Center (SFAC). “They hugged us when we left,” he recalled.

It [the Walter Reed experience] wasnít what you heard or what was on the Internet. Thereís so much there for the Soldiers and their families. Itís unreal,” Pierson said.

The father said the time spent at Walter Reed changed him. “ It has changed me forever. I am more proud of my son and every Soldier, and what we all go through. Itís one big family.”

“I sleep better at night knowing the care is there [for wounded Soldiers] if they ever need it,” Pierson said.

Families like the Piersons find a cavalcade of services at Walter Reed to assist both them and their wounded warriors.

Escort Mission Service

An administrative attendant escort service transports the families of wounded warriors from area airports and train stations from as far away as Richmond, Va., to Walter Reed, the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., or supporting area civilian hospitals where the warrior is recovering. The Army began the escort mission service in March 2007.

A team consisting of a driver, WTB platoon sergeant or squad leader and a civilian escort assistant, trek to welcome, transport and console arriving families.

The service operates 24-hours a day, seven-days-a-week, ready to pick up their passengers as early as 4 a.m. in the morning or well past midnight. The group generally has four hours notice to coordinate a transport, but has responded to missions in 15 minutes or less, according to Gene Parsons of an Army contracting company that manages the Walter Reed-based operation.

“We are the fastest way for the family to get to Walter Reed,” said Lester Price, a civilian attendant escort assistant.

The 81-year-old Price is a veteran of World War II, Korean and Vietnam wars, with an uncanny ability to identify his passengers in a crowd and put them at ease upon the first hello. “Some come in crying, some jolly and calm,” Price said.

“I try to help with anything they need. They are your primary concern,” said Sgt. 1st Class Eliseo Torres, squad leader. “I t’s an awkward position [for them] to be in.”

After a brief stint to check the family into a neighboring hotel, it’s on to Walter Reed, where the escort mission team places care of the family in the hands of the SFAC, a comprehensive centralized coordinating office that provides assistance for Soldiers wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom and their families.

Soldier Family Assistance Center

“The SFAC is the Soldier’s and Family&rsquo:s ‘One Stop Shop&rsquo: for everything,” said Lisa Ramdass, SFAC liaison supervisor. “If we don&rsquo:t have the answer, we will find it for them. We do not want them to worry about anything. Their job is to help their Soldier heal.”

The sole mission of the SFAC is to aid the wounded warrior and their family. The SFAC helps families meet their immediate needs when they first arrive at Walter Reed. They assist with a place to stay, food, or whatever they need to sustain themselves while they support their Soldier since many necessities are left behind when the family rushes off to meet their wounded loved one.

The SFAC&rsquo:s family liaison helps coordinate child care while their parents are in surgery, and coordinates arrangements to fly their other family members here, if needed. The liaison ensures the family is directed to other services at Walter Reed. Many of those additional services are managed by the Army Community Service (ACS) on post.

Army Community Service

Army Community Service offers more than 13 readiness programs and 16 different services for Soldiers and their families. “Our mission is to take care of the entire family,” said Cynthia Rome, ACS director.

Rome explained wounded warrior families may arrive in the middle of the night and in the rush leave behind a stroller, car seat or high chair which the ACS Lending Closet can provide. ACS distributes grocery store gift cards for emergency food assistance and sponsors community building dinners for WTB families on the first and third Tuesday nights beginning at 5 p.m. in the lower level of Doss Memorial Hall (Bldg. 17).

ACS also administers the Army Emergency Relief, which provides emergency financial assistance to Soldiers. Rome said when Soldiers are transported out of theater they may not have immediate access to their money so AER provides $200 grants in the form of gift cards to cover their health and comfort needs.

Health and comfort provisions for wounded warriors and their families aren&rsquo:t the only needs supplied by services at Walter Reed. The Family Readiness Group provides families with a special kind of care.

Family Readiness Group

“I feel that the family support is vital to our brigade since no family prepares for their Soldier to get injured. [To] get here in a city and hospital of this size, sometimes alone, is a very scary feeling and if I can be a phone call away so they are not alone it is a great feeling for them and myself as well,” said Linda Rasnake, Family Readiness Support Assistant/Warrior Transition Brigade.

And she would know. When her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Gary Rasnake, was brought to Walter Reed in June 2006, she felt alone.

“It was a very lost feeling since there was no system set up to support the family within the Medical Hold and Medical Holdover Companies,” she recalled. So, the Army wife worked with command leadership to form a FRG.

Rasnake holds four main events a year in addition to numerous “special events” such as baby showers, and craft and yoga classes. Rasnake waits with patients undergoing surgical procedures to ensure they are not alone while their families are enroute. The FRG partners with ACS to increase WTB family participation at twice monthly community building dinners.

“I t is a great chance for all of us to get together and know each other and ensure that nobody is here alone,” Rasnake said.

“I have the most fulfilling job I could ever imagine and I would not trade it for anything,” she said. “I think the most heartwarming, uplifting times are watching our wounded warriors heal and move on in life.”

Social Work

“Several months after the formation of the WTU triad concept, the need for behavioral health assets, organic to each WTU was recognized and the decision was made to staff this with social workers,” said Marvin Yudkovitz, chief of WTB social work.

Each WTU is allocated one social worker for every 50 or 100 warriors in transition. WRAMC is at 1 for every 50 with a total of 12 WTB social workers. Social workers are assigned to specific companies and platoons.

Whenever indicated, or requested, social workers will speak with family members, and assist them. Due to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [patient privacy], there are some limitations on information that can be shared with family members, unless the WT provides consent.

Yudkovitz explained the most common issues discussed with the Soldier and family member include: reintegration after deployment, changes to their role in the family due to medical issues of WT, how to support a WT who has PTSD or other type of behavioral health symptoms, emotional support for them to talk about all the stressors they are experiencing, adaptation for all concerned, caregiver coping skills

“Helping [the] family understand and become comfortable with the healing process will in turn help the WT have an easier and healthier recovery,” Yudkovitz said. “Helping ease the stress within the family and build a supportive environment creates a more positive environment and aides in the healing process.”

Wide range of other services

Wounded Warriors and their families can tap into a wide range of additional services offered on post.

Walter Reed&rsquo:s Community Recreation Division and Family Morale, Welfare and Recreation (FMWR) hosts community events such as barbecues and celebrity concerts for the whole family to enjoy. Wounded warriors can enjoy special excursions off-post to professional sporting events and entertainment venues. CRD/FMWR Director Harryette Irving said recreation is a great tool for the healing process and helps to relax recovering Soldiers and provide an escape. Arts and crafts workshops, library services along with sports and fitness services round out the recreational outlets available on post.

The Army Wounded Warrior program (AW2) provides services for the very seriously wounded, injured or ill warriors, according to retired Sgt. Maj. Tony Kendrick, who oversees the program. Kendrick explained to a group of wounded warriors, “is that we&rsquo:re with you to provide services as long as you need us,” even after the Soldier transitions out of uniform. “We are the one agent that will connect you back to all the services you once used [on Active duty].”

Veterans Benefit Administration (VBA) and Veterans Health Administration representative offices are located near WTB administrative offices in Abrams Hall to provide wounded warriors easy access to those services. Linda Hurley of the VBA explained its important for Warriors to know what they&rsquo:re entitled to and to understand the provisions under the new GI bill that begin Aug. 1, 2009.

The Transition Employment Assistance Management Service meets the challenges of military Families by providing direct employment, skills, counseling and network resources for the entire Family.

Six online college courses will be available for Soldiers in January, according to Amy Moorash, director of the education services division at Walter Reed.