Wives demand answers, action on soldiers' behalf

[RhodaGrits]

http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2005/01/03/dcspouse.htm

(Lower Hudson Valley NY local paper)

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Whether they are advocates for husbands in hospital beds, spokesmen and women untethered by the military chain of command, partners willing to listen or voices of authority insisting they get help, families – especially spouses – play a critical role for soldiers returning from combat.
Even before her husband was wounded, Christine Loria urged Robert to tell her about his experiences in Iraq. She did it in phone calls, and she did it when he came home. "Just to get him to talk about it was like pulling teeth," she said. "But I knew he had to or it would eat him alive."
One day Robert called her extremely upset about a children's hospital. He wouldn't ever want to talk about it, he said. He didn't call again for a month.
So she asked one of his Army buddies who came home. That's how she heard about the children's death ward, where the ones too wounded to treat were sent to die. "I can't even imagine what he saw," she said.

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The article lists the following contacts for getting help for these soldiers:

Department of Veterans Affairs
www.va.gov

VA Benefits department:
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

VA Hudson Valley Health Care System
Castle Point 914-831-2000
Montrose 914-737-4400

Orange County Veterans Service Agency
and Orange County Veterans Coalition:
Tel: [phone]
email: [email protected]

Wounded Warriors Project
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
www.woundedwarriorproject.org

Disabled American Veterans
Tel: [phone]
www.dav.org

Walter Reed Army Medical Center
www.wramc.amedd.army.mil