| Home makeover for Andover veteran |
|
|
| Wednesday, 12 November 2008 | |||
|
by Eric Hagen Staff writer It may not have been “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” but volunteers recently helped an Andover veteran remodel his home. Two organizations that offer assistance to veterans and their families, a local contractor and three Twin Cities companies pitched in to help 24-year-old Ryan Hallberg, who served in the U.S. Army from May 2001 to October 2007.
For about two weeks in October, volunteers converged at Hallberg’s home in the 2600 block of 134th Avenue and replaced the siding, windows, doors, soffit facet and gutters. This project did not cost Hallberg one penny. It was help he needed considering the Army had stopped sending him $1,500 monthly payments six to eight months ago. He does receive $1,630 from the U.S. Veterans Administration each month. Hallberg was injured in a March 28, 2006, attack in Iraq that led to his right leg being amputated in January 2008. “I told Ryan this is huge for you,” said his mother Cheryl Berg-Wineman. “Obviously I love this because this is helping my son, but what we really wanted to do is get the word out there that there’s help for vets because a lot of these guys don’t know about it. “They don’t know where to turn. They’ve got issues going on and they’re sort of left feeling stuck in the middle of bureaucracy.” Family friend Chris Skogman, a private contractor, worked with the Minnesota Patriot Guard to find volunteer labor. The Bryan T. McDonough Foundation covered 100 percent of the material costs, which came in at around $10,000. “Home is where the heart is,” Skogman said. “Especially when you leave home and you come back and it’s kind of in disarray and he’s got to deal with all his medical issues. If we can give him a peace of mind, then we get one too.” Hallberg’s dream Ever since he was a young boy, Hallberg wanted to serve in the military and become a police officer or a firefighter. Hallberg fulfilled one dream by serving in the Army and is now fulfilling his other dream as a Community Service Officer for the Coon Rapids Police Department. Berg-Wineman said her son is an “adventure junkie,” but he has always wanted to serve others. “He likes to help people. That’s his thing,” Berg-Wineman said. “He’s all about service. He’s just always had that since he was little.” When he was a 17-year-old junior at Coon Rapids High School, Hallberg enlisted with the Army. After graduating with the class of 2002 he was assigned to the Headquarters Company, 34th infantry division. For one year during the middle of 2003 and 2004, he served a tour in Bosnia. After Bosnia, he enlisted in drill sergeant school and was assigned to the 100th division. Deployed to Iraq In March 2005, Hallberg was deployed to Iraq with the 80th Division out of Virginia. His original assignment was to work in a military office in the Green Zone in Baghdad.
The missions appealed to Hallberg because he was cooped up in an office in Bosnia working on various administrative tasks. “When I went to Bosnia I didn’t get to see much of the countryside,” Hallberg said. “When I went over to Iraq, I really wanted to be part of the deal so I felt I was actually doing something for the cause and not just running a radio or working on a computer.” This decision put Hallberg in harm’s way daily. During a mission on March 28, 2006, what was believed to be an improvised explosive device (IED) hit Hallberg’s convoy on its route from Baghdad to Fallujah, but there were no casualties from that first attack. In almost the same spot on their way back to Baghdad, an explosion hit the Humvee Hallberg was in. The enemy engaged the convoy with small arms fire for three to five minutes. One U.S. soldier died in this attack. Hallberg was the gunner, so he was slightly exposed standing in the middle of the Humvee. He believes divine intervention saved his life. For some reason, something in his mind told him to get down as low as possible and after this, the IED exploded. Two trucks headed back to base to get reinforcements. Hallberg believes it took approximately 40 minutes for help to arrive. The dead soldier and the wounded were transported back to base. Hallberg was conscious the whole time. When he saw his legs he could not fathom how badly hurt he was. Hallberg recovers Doctors at the military medical center at Camp Anaconda in Ballad, Iraq, determined that both of Hallberg’s legs were broken. They treated him to their best ability before flying him to the U.S. military operated Landstuhl (Germany) Regional Medical Center. Hallberg does not know how many hours had passed until he called his mother, but Berg-Wineman said around 6 p.m. on March 29, 2006, she was at home when her son called with the news that his convoy had been hit by an IED and both his legs were broken. Berg-Wineman said when her son called she was not in shock and remained calm. She said she had a gut feeling he would get hurt in Iraq, but she cannot explain why she felt this would happen. She was in disbelief and became scared when a U.S. military spokesperson called her on March 31, 2006, and asked if she had a passport to fly to Germany in case she had to pick up her son’s body. Hallberg was in critical condition and she was told he might not make it. The next day, however, Berg-Wineman received another call from the Army and was informed that her son’s condition had been upgraded to serious and he would make it. The Army flew Berg-Wineman out to Washington, D.C., and gave her a room to stay in the Fisher House next to the Walter Reed Medical Center where her son arrived on April 5, 2006, for further treatment. Berg-Wineman said Ryan’s biological father Tom Hallberg and his wife Connie Hallberg came out for a week to visit. Several of soldiers in the 80th Infantry Division visited him in the hospital, but because he was in Washington, D.C., it was difficult for more people to visit, she said. Lying in a hospital bed was not where Hallberg wanted to be, so he was allowed to go home to the Twin Cities on May 6, 2006. “When I was in the hospital my legs were in traction. I was in incredible pain,” Hallberg said. “I think I lost 30 pounds. There was nothing to do. There was really no one to talk to. It was just utterly depressing.” Hallberg was allowed to have one month of “R and R” (rest and relaxation) at home, but had to fly out to Walter Reed for about one week in June. He flew back to Minnesota for another month off and then flew out to Walter Reed one last time for another check-up. Hallberg’s right leg below his knee got no feeling back even after months of rehabilitation three times a week at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids. Doctors concluded that he would never get feeling back in his right leg, so he decided to have it amputated in January 2008. When he initially left Walter Reed in May 2006 until about three months later, he was in a wheelchair and then used a walker. Today, Hallberg walks on his own. Payment problems In August 2006, which was not long after Hallberg got back from his last trip to Walter Reed, Hallberg bought a home in Andover and moved in with his half-brother Joe Hallberg, 18. Hallberg also has a half-sister, Ashley Bonin, 20, and a sister, Lisa Hallberg, 28. Once Hallberg was medically discharged from the Army in October 2007, it took about a month for the paperwork to get processed so he could continue to receive his monthly payments. Everything was fine until about six to eight months ago when the $1,500 monthly Army payments stopped coming. Hallberg thinks the Army may have started a different payment plan, but he is not sure. “I don’t think anybody that I ever talked to really knows what happened or what happens or why it does,” Hallberg said. Patriot Guard When Hallberg heard about the Minnesota Patriot Guard, he signed up because it helped veterans. The Patriot Guard formed in 2005 and has over 4,000 members statewide. Some ride motorcycles decorated with American flags to serve as a flag line for troops leaving the States or getting back from a tour of duty or for a funeral. Others like Hallberg do not have a motorcycle, but are part of a large network of veterans who will pitch in whenever or wherever help is needed. Deb and Jeff Good of Ham Lake, Patriot Guard Northeast Metro Sector Ride captains, said members visit people in veterans homes and play games with them or they help with miscellaneous projects. “I like being with the Patriot Guard myself because I see what it does for other families,” said Berg-Wineman, who along with her husband Tom Wineman are Patriot Guard members. Help on the Homefront is a committee of Patriot Guard members that helps wounded or injured veterans and their families who may have slipped through the cracks. Help finally arrives Hallberg was somebody that slipped through the cracks. Berg-Wineman said due to the loss of Army pay, her son did not know how he was going to pay his bills. Hallberg knew his windows and doors were not energy efficient and had to be replaced so he could afford his heating bill, but he could not afford to replace them. Berg-Wineman contacted a committee member of Help on the Homefront and told him Ryan’s story. Within hours, she received a list of names to contact. “It’s nice to be able to help out these young men and women doing things like this versus going to a funeral,” said Jeff Good. “It makes us feel good that we can give something back and help them out and they get to meet the people that are in support of them. It’s just a win-win situation.” One of the Patriot Guard contacts was Tom McDonough, who heads the Bryan T. McDonough Foundation. He named the foundation after his son who was killed by an IED in Iraq on Dec. 2, 2006. The foundation’s main fund-raiser is an annual golf tournament. Proceeds have helped veterans in a variety of ways. McDonough said a few purchases the foundation has made for veterans include a new washer and dryer, an ATV and a hand-peddled bike. The Hallberg project was the first home repair the foundation has been involved with, McDonough said, but the second home project. The foundation also constructed a new home for John Kriesel, who was a passenger in the Humvee that Bryan McDonough was driving when the IED hit them. Tom McDonough said when he and his wife Renee McDonough started the foundation, they thought it would be easy to find veterans to help, but the Army keeps records private so it has not been as easy as they thought. They hear about veterans in need through word of mouth. Skogman erected a flag pole on Hallberg’s front lawn in Andover and later utilized his contacts in the construction industry to obtain help for the home renovation project. South Side Lumber of Rogers, Minnesota Exteriors of Osseo and South Side Electric of Bloomington chipped in, Skogman said. With the material and labor costs covered, work ensued on Hallberg’s Andover home. It began on Oct. 11 and wrapped up later that month. “At the drop of a hat, I’ll help any of my brothers do anything they need,” said Ed Yurick of Maple Grove, a Patriot Guard member who volunteered for the Hallberg project. On Veterans Day (Nov. 11), the Patriot Guard honored Hallberg with a flag line and friends and family gathered for a party to celebrate how something good can come out of something bad. “It was great they volunteered their time,” Hallberg said. “They took time out of their day to come out here and work on my house. “In the back of my head, I felt that I deserved it because of all the crap I had to deal with in the military. I don’t want to say it was the Patriot Guard’s responsibility to do it because it wasn’t, but obviously the Army’s not going to send people out to work on my house.” “I was incredibly grateful that they were able to step up and do it. “It was really awesome how it came together. It was the smoothest project I have ever seen. There were no arguments on who’s doing what. Everyone just kind of picked up a tool and went at it.” Eric Hagen is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . |
|||
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|