Matthew... is who we do it for.

On any given night, it's not unusual to catch a ride out of the local strip clubs. In fact, if it's a slow night, this is a treasure trove of interesting people. On one such night, I picked up Matthew after closing time.

The first thing I noticed about Matthew was his physical challenges.  A young man in his late 20s, he walked with a cane and without the full use of his arm. I didn't think any more of it and just focused on the helping him into the car...to the extent he wanted it. 

I swiped the app to start the trip and saw that we were going to have some quality time in the car.  The story that came out was one for the ages, and yet, I was left with the strong sense that it was painfully common.

Matthew is a US Army veteran, deployed to the Afghanistan Area of Operations (AO). Several years ago, a roadside IED destroyed his Humvee, flipping the vehicle, killing his infantry comrades, and leaving him with a traumatic brain injury (TBI).   Matthew was med-evac'ed to Landstuhl, Germany with a critical brain bleed and leaving him in a coma for 3 months.

Recovery began when he awoke in the Phoenix VA hospital with full paralysis on the right side of his body. When most people would breakdown out of pure desperation for their situation, Matthew manned-up and endured 9 months of physical therapy. This wasn't any ordinary PT, though.  Through the advancement of U.S. medical science, an electronic device was implanted in his knee to stimulate his leg muscles.  Without it, he'd be confined to a wheelchair. As it is, the atrophy in his right arm sadly revealed the limitations of our medical system. While he has mobility with his paralyzed leg, his arm remains a functionless appendage. 

Anyone would have been moved by his story, but what came next would have rocked even the most jaded person.  Not long after his release from the hospital, Matthew and his family received a bill from VA for $900K. In the service of his country, Matthew lost use of the right side of his body, but the government saw fit to recuperate THEIR costs! Adding insult to injury was a line item in the bill that included his air-evac from the AO to Germany. When Matthew applied for disability, he was DENIED! By all measures, he should have been classified as 100% disabled; I know people with far greater mobility and higher disabiity ratings than Matthew received...0%.

I don't consider myself a bleeding heart, by any measure, but here's one of many men and women giving everything but their last measure of devotion (their lives) in service to their country, who in turn, bills them out of gratitude. Even as a fiscal conservative, I'm embarrassed. I can't think of a more righteous reason for a budget deficit than taking care of the people who are taking care of us.  

In our government's persistent myopia, they forget with whom they are dealing. They forget that they've spent a lot of money on these men and women to be resilient, stubborn, and consummate fighters. Matthew and his family took the VA to court. And while he didn't win the war, he won a significant battle. The net result was a 50% reduction in the attributed costs.  

His resilience translates to other elements of his life.  His girlfriend of 8 months works at the club I collected him from. He owns and operates several small businesses as an independent entrepreneur. And while he's still living at home, he's working through his challenges quite successfully.  

I don't share Matthew's story to garner sympathy or pity for his circumstances, but to highlight an egregious failure within our system. Moreover, for those of us who have spent so much of our lives in the Intelligence Community, I wanted it to serve as a reminder that this is who we do it for... as motivation to better to protect our fellow countrymen... and to wake us from our complacent slumber, because there is no safety net... for even those most deserving.