For many war veterans, blindness becomes a bitter legacy

Sgt. David Kinney uses a device to read recently at home near DeLand. He may have lost sight in a delayed reaction to blasts in Afghanistan. (Julie Fletcher, Orlando
Sentinel / April 18, 2008)

For many war veterans, blindness becomes a bitter legacy

Darryl E. Owens Sentinel Staff Writer
May 4, 2008
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Sgt. David Kinney realized he had a problem when he struggled to read the e-mails his wife sent him in Afghanistan.

He suffered headaches and his vision grew steadily worse. Before long, the military shipped him home to DeLand. Now he's considered legally blind.

"I didn't get blown up or knocked out, or have a big piece of my head missing like some of these guys," said Kinney, who served in Orlando's 2nd Battalion, 124th Infantry Regiment of the Florida National Guard. "You didn't see it coming."

Kinney, 46, is among an increasing number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans losing their eyesight not because of bullet or bomb wounds but in what doctors suspect is a delayed reaction to the constant pounding of nearby explosives.

His eyes aren't the problem. His brain is.

Studies conducted by the military have estimated that up to 20 percent of the 1.7 million troops who have served and returned from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from mild traumatic brain injury, most often as a result of roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.Bill Wilson, a blindness-rehabilitation specialist at the Orlando VA Medical Center, sees a coming wave of woe."We won't know for months," he said.

"We can see the individuals and they may be perfectly fine, and then down the line they have problems."
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