Wounded vets working their way back into world

Wounded vets working their way back into world
by Kristen Alloway/Star-Ledger
Sunday December 14, 2008, 9:11 AM
When he returned from deployment in Iraq last March, 1st Sgt. Paul Wilcock couldn't walk because of back and neck injuries sustained in roadside bomb attacks.

Yet the 39-year-old Andover man who joined the Army when he was 17 is determined to return to his reserve unit next year. In the meantime, he has a regimen of doctor appointments, medical tests, and several hours of physical therapy each week.

Wilcock also has a job at Picatinny Arsenal's Quick Reaction Task Force, making him one of the first soldiers to work at the Army base in Rockaway Township while recovering from war injuries.

Another wounded soldier, Sgt. Adriel Gonzalez, just started working in the ammunition division at Picatinny. Gonzalez, an Elizabeth native who served two tours overseas, suffered a severe knee injury in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan in March 2007 and expects to be transitioning soon to civilian life.

With 2,800 members of the New Jersey Army National Guard currently serving in Iraq, Picatinny officials expect there may be more wounded troops who will need similar assistance in the future.

"If we can help a wounded warrior out, we want to do that," said Paul Manz, a senior acquisition officer at Picatinny who coordinated the effort at the base.

If they are able, every wounded soldier is assigned a job, internship or takes continuing education classes during their recovery, said Col. Jimmie Keenan, chief of staff of the nation's Warrior Care and Transition Office. The goal is to place troops in jobs that match existing skills, help them learn new ones, or, if an injury means they need a new career, help them find one.
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