After he was injured in Iraq, Richard Twohig found himself fighting an unexpected foe: the U.S. Army.
By Paula Span
Sunday, February 25, 2007; Page W10
THE SHADES IN RICHARD TWOHIG'S GARDEN APARTMENT ARE DRAWN TIGHT AGAINST THE SUMMER SUN. This is partly because it's 94 degrees in Knoxville, Tenn., this afternoon, but also because light can trigger one of his bad headaches, the kind that make his knees buckle. His kids have grown accustomed to dimmed surroundings.
They've been cavorting on the living room carpet, Lizzie with her fuzzy pink dog named Princess, her little brother, Damon, with his prized jeep. Their chirpy ebullience isn't unusual for a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old who haven't had much chance to romp outside today but noise can bring on Twohig's migraines, as well. "Why don't you go up and play a while?" he suggests mildly, and they troop upstairs to their shared bedroom.
The apartment, which the family moved into three weeks ago after a nomadic year, still feels a bit empty. There's a couch and a coffee table and a big TV in the living room, but the walls are bare. Twohig wishes he had a yard for the children and their real dog, a boisterous Great Pyrenees named Athena. Still, the place is clean and comfortable, and he can manage the $570 rent on the disability checks that the Department of Veterans Affairs sends each month.
"If I have a good day, I try to take them up to the park at the school," he says, knowing that the kids should probably be outdoors more. It's only a two-minute drive. But he doesn't have so many good days.
Link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/22/AR2007022200891.html********************************************************************
"After we're no good to them, they just get rid of us." Thank God Corporal Twohig has had the guts, determination and love of his mother to get him through this hell.
This is
outrageous. Bureaucratic foot-dragging, an archaic disability rating system, buck-passing - and only three lawyers and a paralegal working full-time at Walter Reed handling disability cases, who don't meet with clients until one day before the disability board hearings. Our fighting men and women deserve much better than this.
(The author of this piece, Paula Span, and Mark Waple, the attorney representing Cpl. Twohig, will be conducting an online chat regarding this article on Monday at noon ET.)
Link to Monday's onliine discussion:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/02/23/DI2007022300671.html?sub=ARAnother outstanding report from the Post.