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"He wasn't supposed to live. And then he wasn't supposed to walk or talk," said Lisa Schuster, mother and caregiver to Matt Drake, the sole survivor of an 2004 IED attack in Afghanistan.
The medical staff at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., rehabilitated Drake's body, but a new nonprofit organization, Team Red, White Blue, has helped the now-retired soldier rehabilitate his social life.
The organization was started in the summer of 2010 by University of Michigan alum Mike Erwin, who earned a master's degree in psychology from U of M. Erwin is a major in the U.S. Army and today teaches psychology and leadership at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he lives with his wife and children.
Jonathan Algor, a member of the governing board for Team RWB, is also brother-in-law to founder Eriwn. He said he agreed to get involved with Team RWB not just because he was a family member, though many members of Erwin's family are deeply involved in the organization.
"For me, being a vet myself, I recognized the issues I came back with and I felt I came back whole," Algor said.
He added that he can only imagine the difficulties that wounded veterans have integrating back into society after a tour with the military.
"It all started when Mike raised $20,000 or $30,000 for another nonprofit, the Wounded Warrior Project," Algor said. "He gave the money, but he had no personal connection to any of the vets he raised the money for. At the same time, he was studying positive psychology, which is focused on relationships, and it gave him the spark to start Team RWB."
Personal connections are at the heart of the nonprofit's goal for wounded vets.
The nonprofit's mission statement, in part, reads that the founder's vision is to "transform the way wounded veterans are reintegrated into society when they return from combat and exit their position... Strong relationships between wounded veterans and their fellow Americans are critical to veterans' reintegration into civilian life, as well as our nation's success."
The model originally was solely to connect a community volunteer, called an advocate, to a veteran for one-on-one friendship and support. However, the board of the nonprofit quickly realized that model didn't work for all veterans, so Team RWB has branched out to include more group "meet and greet" events, as well as outings to sporting and fitness events and other group socializing opportunities. Continued...
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