ShareThisHealing Through Homes
With the war in Afghanistan now in its ninth year and no immediate end in sight, many of us have pushed the mission out of our immediate consciousness as something that’s happening “over there.” Occasionally we will be reminded of the violence by a particularly heinous or tragic event. Yet in our numbness we are prone to forget the real cost of the war in lives lost and lives changed, both military and civilian lives. As deaths and casualties continue we can expect to see the cost increasingly brought home to our own communities.
Already as many as 3,420 soldiers have been seriously injured in Afghanistan, not including the 31, 882 who were injured in Iraq. These wounded soldiers who volunteered to serve their country are now steadily returning home to their families and hometowns. After coping with physical healing and rehab, these men and women must now face re-integration into a society that is largely ignorant of what they went through, and deal with the more mundane but difficult stress of providing for family and functioning normally in society.
In 2004 a nonprofit group, Homes for Our Troops, recognized the need for specialized housing for servicemen and servicewomen coming home with serious disabilities and injuries. The organization raises money, building materials and professional labor to coordinate the process of building a home that provides maximum freedom of movement and the ability to live independently. The homes provided by the organization are given at no cost to these veterans and their families.
Homes For Our Troops (HFOT) makes it a policy to construct the most sustainable houses possible in order to ensure comfort, healthy indoor air and energy affordability. Earth Advantage Institute, a U.S. Green Building Council provider, is honored to be able to guide two HFOT projects in Oregon towards LEED for Homes certification, one in Parkdale and one in Sandy, both on the shoulder of Mt Hood.
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SSG Christian Bagge was serving in Iraq when he was severely injured on June 3, just south of Kirkuk. During a routine road-clearing mission about 100 miles north of Baghdad, the explosive power of the two bombs tossed the soldier's Humvee into the air.
Christian is currently living in a home that is not wheelchair accessible. All the bedrooms are upstairs and the doorways are not large enough to accommodate a wheelchair. As Christian says, "If your home is not accessible, it can quickly become a prison." Christian will be presented with the key to his new home in Parkdale on February 5 at 11:00am. If you would like to volunteer to help get the home ready on February 4, cleaning and setting up for the ceremony the next day, please contact HFOT.
See SSG Bagge's story here.
Army SPC Kevin Pannell was serving in Iraq with the 1st Cavalry Division when he was severely injured on June 13, 2004. Kevin's 12-man unit was on a routine foot patrol in a dangerous area of central Baghdad when he was ambushed in an alleyway.
Pannel heard two "clinks" behind him. He said the sounds were from grenades, thrown by insurgents, landing at his feet. One of the grenades rolled against his right foot and exploded, knocking him down and ripping his legs apart.
After tourniquets were applied by his fellow soldiers, he was transported in a Humvee to the 31st combat support Hospital in Baghdad's Green zone. He was eventually transported to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he underwent 13 operations including the amputation of both of his legs; one below and one above the knee.
Kevin and his family was able to move into their new home at the beginning of the year.
See SPC Pennell's story here.
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