Operation IMPACT Makes News Across Divisions > Wounded Warriors Get Hope and Career Help Through Operation IMPACT

Wounded Warriors Get Hope and Career Help Through Operation IMPACT
May 2007: Home Town Clipper

Sergeant Scott Strasburg and his friend, Colonel Duane Hardesty

Duane Hardesty downplays his rank of colonel when he visits with severely wounded soldiers in medical facilities. "When a youngster comes in and sits down, it's the only time I tell them my rank," says the man known to many as "Dad H." Colonel Hardesty, a retired Vietnam veteran, serves as an outreach director for Operation IMPACT (Injured Military Pursuing Assisted Career Transition).

Colonel Hardesty helped develop the program run by international defense company Northrop Grumman. A Northrop Grumman flier describes Operation IMPACT as providing "transition support to military service members who have been severely injured in the global war on terrorism by identifying potential career opportunities." Colonel Hardesty touches on another important benefit to the injured soldiers, which is that "part of this program is to give them an anchor of hope."

He hands out cards with his personal cell phone number to those he describes as "wounded warriors," urging them to "call me any time you want," and they do. One of the many calls he received was from a soldier about to commit suicide. He recalls, "I was running to my car, talking on my cell phone, and giving him a tactical route to travel" that led to the front door of Madigan Hospital, where the colonel met him.

Operation IMPACT sponsors job fairs, but the colonel clarifies that "This is not a jobs program; it's a career adjustment." He uses military words to explain their new life to seriously injured soldiers. He asks them to imagine that they have a mission to cross a bridge, and then the bridge is destroyed. This analogy helps them see that they need to take a different path, which may lead them out of the military.

Approximately 1000 soldiers have been helped to date by Operation IMPACT. Program participants "are assigned a human resources point of contact in he corporation," explains the colonel. The same human resources contact will continue monitoring the soldier during the entire process, which can take years. The group also extends help to family members who must serve as the primary breadwinner after a soldier is injured.

The Colonel can relate to the soldiers' war experiences as he himself served in Vietnam at a time when the life expectancy for a platoon leader was "less than one week." When soldiers ask him how he coped, Colonel Hardesty tells them, "I can't do it myself. I have a source of help and Power" in God. He emphasizes, "My relationship with the Lord has driven my life." He says that when he went through a mandatory PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) screening at his retirement from the army, the doctor told him, "I feel like I've been counseled, because you've got something that I don't have. I don't have that strong, spiritual foundation that you have."

"Our program focuses on the severely injured because we know they're the ones who'll have the most difficult time," says Colonel Hardesty. He tells of a mother who quit her job, sold her house, and moved to Virginia to be with her soldier son who had lost both legs in the war. Another young soldier remarked to the colonel, "I've had ten operations and probably have 20 more to go."

One of those helped by Operation IMPACT and Colonel Hardesty is Sergeant Scott Strasburg. The sergeant, who is currently in temporary medical retirement, had to face PTSD and the debilitating effects of Meniere's disease when he came home from Iraq as well as the heartbreaking experience of attending 38 compatriots' funerals. Colonel Hardesty says of the sergeant, who is not yet well enough to be employed, "This young man is a wizard in communications areas." He joined the army in 2000, and has been in the program almost two years. Sergeant Strasburg says of the colonel, "He's an angel to a lot of people." He elaborates, "If he hadn't approached me the way he did, I probably would have turned to drugs and alcohol and everything else."

The Sergeant, who has a "wonderful, wonderful" 15-year-old daughter, is a Virginia native. Due to a previous injury, Sergeant Strasburg had the choice of staying behind when the soldiers in his unit were deployed, but he decided to remain with them.

Colonel Hardesty and Operation IMPACT "provided me with hope," Sergeant Strasburg testifies. The sergeant says that he has become more spiritual due to his experience. "Every morning when I wake up, the first thing I think of is 'thank you' that I'm alive." He wants to spread information about Operation IMPACT, the colonel, and his Christian faith. "When I feel good, I try to help other people," Sergeant Strasburg states. "There's help out there when they need it, and I know who to send them to." He muses, "Even if I can't be on active duty, I'll still be able to affect soldiers' lives."