Caregivers focus of ABC, at least some of us

It is fabulous that this generation has a lot more than senior veterans and our families have but it is unfair. We've been through all of this longer and had a harder time but Vietnam veterans and families just don't matter enough. All veterans deserve equal care.

The Unsung Heroes Behind the Wounded Warriors
ABC News
BY TERI WHITCRAFT and BRINDA ADHIKARI
March 31, 2014

When Jessica Klein married her husband, Capt. Edward Klein, a 6-foot-tall, West Point graduate, the young couple had plans for adventure, in addition to raising a family.

"We were going to climb Mount Rainier," Klein told ABC News' Diane Sawyer. "We were going to go, just do all these amazing things when he got home."

Today, though, Klein is the primary caregiver as her husband, known as "Flip," fights his way back from a massive lower-body injury that he suffered in an IED explosion in Afghanistan.

He lost his legs, an arm and the muscles that allow him to sit. And those are just the visible wounds.

Former Sen. Elizabeth Dole said she witnessed the towering battle that caregivers face when she was at Walter Reed National Medical Center three years ago, caring for her husband, former war hero Sen. Bob Dole.

After speaking with the caregivers and hearing their frustrations, Elizabeth Dole said she decided it was time for the nation to help.

So she and her foundation -- The Elizabeth Dole Foundation -- commissioned a report from the RAND Corp., putting hard numbers to the caregivers to assess their needs and recommend programs that will help them.
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