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Stryker soldier finds his life plans derailed

Nov-11-2004 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

We've mentioned the story of Trevor Phillips before (here and here). The following article provides an update on his situation, which has been frustrating to say the least.

[Link to Full Article]
CHRISTIAN HILL THE OLYMPIAN

ONALASKA -- Sgt. Trevor Phillips sacrificed more than his right hand on a May 11 combat patrol in Iraq.

Phillips, 26, a vehicle commander for the Army's first Stryker brigade, lost a clear future for himself and his family.

Phillips planned to join his wife, Christa, and their two young daughters in this Lewis County town after his tour, leave the Army and join the Coast Guard.

Those goals ended when he crested a hill in Mosul and an improvised explosive device detonated 4 feet from him while he was manning a machine gun from his vehicle's roof hatch.

Now, as he struggles with depression and memory loss, Phillips doesn't know when he'll leave Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where he's receiving physical therapy.

He doesn't know when he'll leave the Army and, most of all, he doesn't know what's next.

He's due to receive medical retirement and $1,260 a month from the Army.

"You can't live off that," Phillips said from his brother's Onalaska home, where he was visiting this week, the stub of his right arm resting on a couch cushion. "I'd like to go to school or do something, but it's going to be hard to go back to school. The ... (Veterans Affairs) said they were going to get me a computer. Never happened. It's just a bunch of promises that have gotten broken."

He's now on medical leave visiting his family but is scheduled to return to Walter Reed in a week to finish physical therapy.


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