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Decorated veteran stuck in red Paperwork delays leave family broke as soldier fights for his benefits By CE SKIDMORE Published: Monday, February 18, 2008 Matthew Welch's left calf looks like a turkey leg after the Thanksgiving meal. His right thigh is peppered with shrapnel scars and parts of him will probably cause an alarm to sound at the airport. To be fair, he has looked worse. Welch, 26, served in the Army National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry, Glens Falls. It is the same unit that lost Pfc. Nathan Brown, of South Glens Falls, who was killed in action on April 11, 2004, in Samarra, Iraq. Seven months later in the same city, a Humvee that Welch was driving was hit by a roadside bomb. Dates and milestones that passed during his years in the service are hazy, Welch said. But he will never forget Nov. 24, 2004. "He had to plan it just right," Welch said. "I was doing 5 miles an hour, and he must have set it off right in front of me ... I don't know how they didn't kill me." Welch was flown to a hospital in Germany, where surgeons stitched together the remains of his left leg with blue thread. Somehow, he managed to document the event with a disposable camera. In the photos, he is more Frankenstein than man. "I asked them to take my leg ... to amputate it," he said, "I can't really feel anything in my foot anyway, and I thought I'd do better with a fake one. But the Army prefers to keep you a whole person if they can." Amputees are eligible for a higher disability rating and, therefore, receive more benefits from the Army. But the classification of his injuries isn't Welch's primary problem. Because of a Catch-22 involving lost paperwork, Welch and his family have yet to receive any benefits at all. Answering the call In 2000, Matthew Welch had completed his freshman year of college in western New York. He was on his way to a degree in business management, but money was getting tight. "My mother asked me to join (the Army) because we couldn't afford school anymore," Welch said. Being a soldier wasn't a foreign concept. His father was also a military man, moving the family around when Welch was a child before finally settling in Corinth. "The recruiter told me that we hadn't gone to war in 20 years, and I had nothing to worry about," Welch said. On Sept. 11, 2001, he was in boot camp. "It was like every old war movie you see about Vietnam, where a bunch of guys are huddled around a radio in the pouring rain," he said. "That's exactly what we did. It was raining so hard and we were all crowded around one little radio trying to get any information we could." Welch knew his military career would be more eventful than his recruiter predicted. "For a while, we were put on 'show of presence' missions, where we would just walk through the subways in uniform carrying our weapons so that the people would see us and feel safe," he said. But in February of 2004, Welch's unit deployed to Iraq. "They called at school and told me that we were going," he said. "I try to be a man of my word, and I said I would go if they needed me to go, so I went." Before leaving, he married his high school sweetheart, Diana. "I wanted to be sure that if something happened, that the money would go where it belonged," he said. Waiting for help After he was wounded, Welch was flown back to the U.S. He spent a month in recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where doctors had to relieve pressure and swelling in one side of his leg by cutting the other side open and irrigating it. He was home with his family in Corinth by Christmas of 2004. When he was well enough, Welch began working with a recruiter in Glens Falls, sometimes aiding with recruitment. "Kids always ask the same question when you go into the high schools," he said. "They all want to know if you've ever killed anybody. I couldn't honestly say if I did or if I didn't. Did I ever fire bullets in anger? Yes. But I was more concerned with finding the next place to get behind so I wouldn't get shot." Welch's discharge didn't become official until Nov. 10, 2007. The process was in limbo for two years because of lost paperwork, according to Welch. He was supposed to receive $1,100 monthly retirement benefits starting Dec. 1, 2007, he said, but to date has not seen a check. "I keep getting juggled around," he said. "There's no communication. ... One department tells me I need to call a different department, and they tell me I need to call someone else." He is having similar luck with Veterans Affairs. Although the Army has rated Welch at 50 percent disability, the VA must evaluate him separately to process his claim. They must also establish whether his wounds are service-connected. The evaluation date keeps getting pushed back, Welch said. He isn't hopeful he'll be seen before spring. Civilian life Because of his injuries, Welch is unable to get a job in fields where he has previous experience. "I've done everything from bartending to changing oil, but I can't be on my feet all day for a job like that anymore," he said. He has applied for office work, but has been unsuccessful so far. "I even put in an application with the town of Corinth, my hometown, and didn't get a call back. The mayor of Corinth has been to my house, and I can't even get a call back." Diana is pregnant with the couple's third child, due in June. Their last pregnancy ended in miscarriage, and they have decided Diana should not work until after the baby is born. "When we were living off of his active-duty checks, things were good," Diana said. "We were able to buy a house." "All I ever wanted was a house for my family and a car I felt safe driving them around in," said Matt. The only income in the Welch house now comes from Diana's father and his wife, who moved into the family's home temporarily. The family shares a three-bedroom, double-wide trailer in Corinth. Matthew and Diana's toddler, Infinity, moved into their bedroom to make room for Diana's father. The couple's savings are gone. Last month, a Saratoga-area charity called Gaudy Gala helped them pay for groceries. A private veterans organization has offered to help with their bills next month. After that, they're not sure what is going to happen. Matthew Welch received a Purple Heart for his injuries, retiring as a sergeant. He does not regret his decision to join the service, he said. But he does hope to see reform in the way paperwork is filed. "If my DD-214 (discharge record) shows that I have a Purple Heart and the Physical Evaluation Board has rated me with a disability, the VA should be able to breeze through the paperwork." But Welch and his family continue to wait. ______________________________________ END of Post Star profile |
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LIVE CHAT 6 PM to 9 PM EST Live Chat 6 PM to 9 PM EST ONE VOICE Chat Community Stories Of Human Torture By the VA Process The Torture of Sgt. Mathew Welch (Personal Album)
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