LOCAL HERO SAYS GOV'T LET HIM DOWN AFTER RETURN FROM IRAQ

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LOCAL HERO SAYS GOVERNMENT LET HIM DOWN AFTER RETURN FROM IRAQ

By Frank Thomas Croisdale

Chris Kreiger is part of that other number associated with the war on

terror. While most Americans know that over 2,000 soldiers have

returned home in body bags since the first bombs fell on Baghdad, few

could tell you that 15,000-plus have been wounded in the line of

duty.

 

Fewer still could give an accurate description of what happens to

these injured heroes when they arrive back on American soil. Most

Americans would like to believe that a soldier injured in combat has

the strong arms of one of the benevolent branches of the United

States Armed Forces to fall into.

 

Chris Kreiger banked his whole life on that assumption, only to find

an Uncle Sam full of hot air and empty promises. Now, only the

kindness of a local cop and one of our area's best-known businesses

is keeping the Kreiger family from sinking into an abyss of debt and

despair.

 

What follows is a tale of two cities -- Baghdad and North Tonawanda --

and the disillusionment of a true patriot who feels betrayed by

those who sit in ivory towers, charged with the responsibility of

protecting the protectors.

 

Chris and Melissa Kreiger have been married for six years. For half

of the North Tonawanda couple's marriage, Kreiger has been an

absentee husband and father to their two sons. Kreiger wasn't out

chasing skirts or arm-wrestling one-armed bandits, he was serving in

locales like Bosnia, Ground Zero and Iraq as a combat medic and MP

for the 105th Military Police Unit of the National Guard.

 

What started out as an opportunity to make a few extra bucks one

weekend a month and two weeks a year turned into an up-close look at

a hell most of us will never see. The experience has left Kreiger

injured and suffering from trauma.

 

It has also left him teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.

 

To understand the story of Chris Kreiger, one needs to go back to the

beginning. In 1992, while working full time in construction and as an

EMT, Kreiger attempted to join the National Guard, but was

disqualified because of a leg injury. He applied again in 1997 and

was accepted.

 

" I was overjoyed. I'd always wanted to serve my country and I was

finally getting my opportunity, " Kreiger said.

 

A year later, he was sent to Bosnia. Ten months of close proximity to

tank firings left him with permanent hearing loss in his right ear.

 

When terrorists struck on Sept. 11, 2001, Kreiger and the 105th were

among the first wave of troops dispatched to New York City. Chris and

his unit would stay for six weeks.

 

On Valentine's Day, 2003, the 105th touched down in Iraq, remaining

there for 15 months. Those 15 months would impact Kreiger's life in

ways that continue to define who he is and where he is headed.

 

While deployed, Kreiger was wounded on four occasions, the most

serious being an ankle injury. Kreiger wanted surgery done on the

ankle immediately. Because of the shortage of soldiers in the field,

he says, the surgery request was denied and he was issued a set of

crutches. He stayed in the field and on the job. The ankle injury

worsened.

 

Things on the home front were not going much better. Kreiger's wife,

Melissa, buckled under the pressure of caring for a newborn and an

infant without the help of her husband. She was hospitalized on

numerous occasions and had to give up her job of 10 years as a

paramedic.

 

Kreiger returned home from Iraq to a life that was a shell of what he

had known before joining the National Guard. His injuries prevented

him from returning to work in construction. Flashbacks from his

service experience made the blood that is part of an EMT's daily work

unbearable.

 

Kreiger took a job at the Buffalo VA Hospital. It paid far less than

he had earned previously, and the Kreigers soon found themselves

swimming in debt.

 

In May of this year, he finally had ankle surgery. The military

promised he would receive 100 percent compensation. After the

surgery, they reneged on the promise.

 

" The surgery that was performed was done on my foot, " Kreiger

explained. " They said that wasn't the same injury -- it wasn't the

ankle. I gave them statements from two surgeons saying that the

surgery was proper. They both said the best way to heal the ankle was

by operating on the foot. "

 

The couple saw no other option but to sell their home.

 

That's when an angel by the name of Mark Lemke stepped into their

lives.

 

Lemke, a longtime North Tonawanda policeman, is also a real estate

agent for Hunt Real Estate. The Kreigers called him to list their

home. After hearing their story, Lemke told the Kreigers he'd get

back to them in a few days.

 

" He calls and said, 'We can't list your house,' and I'm thinking,

what else can go wrong, now we can't even sell the house, " Kreiger

said. " When he came out and told us why, it just floored me. "

 

Lemke said that he and his colleagues at the Hunt office in

Wheatfield had decided not to help the Kreigers sell their home.

 

They were going to help the Kreigers keep it.

 

It's not often that a real estate agent turns down a commission in

order to perform an act of kindness, but Mark Lemke doesn't view his

gesture as extraordinary.

 

" I'm sitting here, living with my family in a nice home, while this

guy went and fought for me, and I'm supposed to just sell his home

and let his kids go live in some small apartment? No, I don't think

so, " Lemke said.

 

Lemke and the Hunt team went to work on behalf of the Kreigers. They

solicited donations and reached into their own pockets to offer

financial relief. They contacted the mortgage holder and explained

their intentions, buying the Kreigers some much-needed time.

 

A benefit to aid the Kreigers will be held this Friday, Nov. 11, from

7 p.m. to 11 p.m., at the Gratwick Hose Fire Hall, 110 Ward Road,

North Tonawanda. The benefit will feature plenty of food and drink,

along with live music by the Flipside Band.

 

One thing that will probably never be repaired is Kreiger's

allegiance to the federal government.

 

" I love my country, but I don't trust my government anymore. I'll

always be a 100 percent full-blooded soldier, but the government has

left a bad taste in my mouth, " Kreiger said. " When they wanted to

ship me out, I was there, no questions asked. Now when I need them,

it's like, go to hell. "

 

Kreiger makes it clear he's not looking for handouts.

 

" They wanted to put me on 100 percent disability. I'm not looking for

welfare. I'm young and I can work. I just want what's fair and for

them to live up to what they promised, " he said.

 

It was tough for Kreiger to accept Lemke and the Hunt agency's

proposal.

 

" At first I thought, if I can't support my family, I don't want any

help. It was a pride thing. Then Melissa said, 'It's a blessing that

people care about us,' and I realized that she was right. "

 

Kreiger is ready to take his disappointment with the way injured war

heroes are treated to a national audience.

 

" I'm ready to go to Oprah and go on CNN. People need to know what

happens to injured soldiers when they come back home. They need to

know that this government doesn't care about keeping their promises.

What are they going to do, throw me in jail for telling the truth? "

Kreiger said.

 

As in Charles Dickens' novel of the French Revolution, there is both

sweetness and sorrow in this tale of two cities. And as Dickens

limned the backdrop to his story saying, " It was the best of times,

it was the worst of times, " Chris Kreiger has found himself facing a

paradox. An opening sentence like Dickens' deserves a closer of equal

merit. Kreiger was up for the challenge.

 

" Here's a company who doesn't know me from Adam and they're trying to

give me the world, while my own government doesn't want to give me a

damn thing, " he said.

 

 

 

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Frank Thomas Croisdale is a contributing editor at the Niagara Falls

Reporter and author of " Buffalo Soul Lifters. " You can write him at

NFReporter.

 

http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/localhero.html