This is the story of Billy Ranhalt, who is struggling with one of the most difficult challenges one can face. He is in defense at a trial within himself as well as in society that came about in the prime of his life. He is being tried for an injury or as some would say illness that can be found in every society throughtout the world. He is guilty before his trial. His offence is almost invisible to himself as well as many others that may suffer from his offence. His injuries are almost invisible to those surrounding him, yet he sees them himself but does not want to see them. Billy Ranhalt tries to overlook the impossible but must face trial. The injury Billy suffered is one that has become more prominent to our society in the past few years with the growing number of war veterans. The character Billy Ranhalt; is a person most people have seen or may see some day within their job, their friends or among family and very well themselves. The intent of this story is to open the eyes and minds of people incurring awareness and respect to those suffering as Billy did from an incurable but not, untreatable suffering. The only cure Billy finds is not what he really wanted, which is carried out by those unwilling or failing to see his injury. The setting takes place in modern day United States, among a typical American family. It has a strong emphasis on a Gulf War veteran, yet similarites found throughout the world in various surrounding. The ending is not a good ending for Billy, his family or friends. However, an ending that foresight and forethought could have been prevented.
Trial of Billy Ranhalt
His Steps of LifeBy Clifford D. CopeAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2010 Clifford D. Cope
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4490-1102-4Contents
Preface.....................................ix1. The Sign................................12. Saved...................................43. Road to Recovery........................164. Welcome Home............................245. Thanksgiving............................456. Back To The Wall........................767. The Board...............................948. Proceedings.............................1089. The JAG.................................11710. Appeal..................................12211. Back Home...............................13112. Ranch Life..............................13613. Horse and Pony Show.....................15414. The Trial...............................17115. Punt....................................18816. Judgment................................205
Chapter One
The Sign
You may be asked to leave in the event of an emergency or when deemed necessary by the staff. Your cooperation is appreciated. Thank you.
This was what the sign on the door read just across from where Billy sat waiting his turn. Above this sign were the words department of neurology and cardiac telemetry.
Billy was not in a waiting room. He was sitting in one of two old, nonpadded, steel chairs against the wall; against the wall in a hall waiting to take a breathing test. To get there he had walked down four long corridors. They were long and lonely white barriers that Billy had followed from his hospital bay room to this testing room. The hallways were quiet and almost vacant of other patients or staff. With no pictures or any fashion of decoration and no windows or doors, a person could go only one of two ways other than into one of these testing rooms such as Billy was waiting for.
Billy was waiting to take a breathing function test in order to further diagnose his possible injuries and extent of-disability. This was the only test or physical evaluation he encountered here. He thought he would have gone through many more after being here for a couple weeks. He had carried all his medical records, including the negatives of the three arteriograms and one MRI he had undergone at Mayo, to this army hospital. This was a worthless endeavor because the army did not accept civilian records and X-rays, so Billy just lugged them around and saved them just in case they were ever needed.
He had been in this army hospital at Fort Sam Houston to undergo a medical evaluation to determine if he was fit to return to duty, or to be found unfit for duty. After eighteen years in the army and a lifetime career by choice, this was not the place to be. However, he knew he was not in the best shape and willing to go through the regular procedures. Most of all he was very thankful to be alive. He was just recovering from a traumatic brain injury (TBI) of unknown origin. He had been under observation and review in the neurology ward of this army hospital after undergoing nine and a half hours of major brain surgery at Mayo Clinic. After spending twenty-four days at Mayo, he was placed on convalescent leave pending his recovery-that is he could not return to his unit. He was not allowed postoperative treatment at Mayo Clinic because he was out of critical danger and the army would take up where the civilian treatment left off.
The surgery took place at Mayo Clinic because the army did not have the capability. At Fort Sam Army Hospital he felt like a horse put out to pasture. That is a place where ranchers put their old or injured horses or cows to wait their death. During his three months in the neurology ward at this army hospital, which is about the best the army has, there were three men carried out covered up.
Just after two weeks on that ward, Billy got up out of his bed and went to the bathroom. While standing at the urinal, a little old man who stayed in the bed about four beds down from Billy, came in stood nearby and began trying to use the urinal. He was having all kinds of trouble; for him just, taking a piss was a task. Life had become difficult for him. He was an old man though. He was a veteran, a veteran of military service. He was a veteran of some war before Billy's war. But he was the same as Billy, simply a veteran of services from the past.
Just after Billy returned to bed, breakfast was brought in and put on the trays at the beds. The little old man did not return. The medics and nurses on the ward rushed into the bathroom, carried him out, and put him on his bed. A code blue team came scurrying in with various carts of equipment; CPR and other procedures were performed while we ate. After fifteen minutes the doctor pronounced him dead. He was covered up and the bed curtains were pulled around him. After thirty minutes, two medics came and took him out. His breakfast was probably still warm when it was removed with everybody else's trays. Most of which were untouched.
Twenty veterans or active-duty soldiers such as Billy were on this ward in one big bay room. There were two special private rooms for the known to be dying or fully paralyzed. They were required to eat each meal while in bed. After breakfast, the patients were allowed to put on civilian clothes and could roam the hospital, go to the TV room, or sign out and walk across the street to the small Post Exchange (PX). Billy did this each day just to get out of the place or to help another soldier by getting something for them. For several days he helped a Major, who was awaiting brain surgery for a brain tumor walk to the PX. He was not capable of going be himself so Billy went along beside him and his walker to get a daily ice-cream. Billy finally was released from the army hospital to go home on leave and wait for the army's decision. This was almost as difficult as physically recovering. He was waiting on two systems. The first and most important was that system of his body and mind. When one or the other takes a suffering the other will also suffer. This was a personal trial.
The second system was that which he had joined eighteen year earlier to work and serve in. The one in which, one could be all that one can be. Waiting in this army hospital was beginning to form a fuzzy picture in Billy's thinking. He felt like he was in a big barn with the big doors on either side open. Through one he could see his Special Forces unit going off to a new and exotic country. Through the other he could only see a big open field with shadows of something unidentifiable off in a distance. Through the open slats in his stall door he could see a fence surrounding a limited area. A corral to keep him confined even if he were able to open the door.
Billy had a lot of time on his hands to think about how he got into this mess, as well as how to get out of it and back to normal. It all began in Iraq just across the Kuwait border.
Saved
Staff Sergeant Billy Ranhalt and his small unit, with the 12th Special Forces Group (A), had been in Iraq for about a month. Their job was to perform reconnaissance missions inside Iraq looking for Iraqi Republican Guard Army units and their movement. They were also looking for any areas of significant operation such as communication centers, Headquarter facilities, mobile rocket launchers, and main supply routes. Before the ground war began, Sergeant Ranhalt and his team of twelve fellow soldiers were the eyes and ears for the coalition long range attack assets like the fighter bombers, long range bombers and cruise missiles. Each day they would call in locations of possible enemy threats then watch as they were destroyed sending the Iraqi army into more confusion each and every day.
The day the ground war was launched, his unit waited for the elements of the 1st Armored Division of the United Kingdom to rush into southern Iraqi then turn toward Kuwait city, closing the door on the Iraqi Republican Army preventing them from leaving Kuwait. Their job with the UK division went off like clockwork, looking for targets of opportunity for the close air support that swarmed the battle zone. Unpredicted by all, the ground war was fast and furious. Most of the fighting stopped after about four days. It was the end of the great 100 Hour War. On the last of the four days of fighting it also came to a fast end for sergeant Ranhalt.
As his team ran to a waiting helicopter to be taken to a missile site to be destroyed, Billy fell to the ground as if he had been shot. He lay on the ground clenching his helmetless head. His team leader stopped to help him get up after his unfortunate stumble. However Billy was not going to get up. He cried out to his leader that he had a pain in his head as if he had been shot. His team leader signaled to those waiting in the helicopter to come to him. He informed Billy that he had not been shot and asked Billy what happened. Billy could only squeeze his head and cry out that the pain in his head just happen without any obvious cause. He then stated that he was sick at his stomach confirming to those gathered around him as he violently vomited. Sergeant Ranhalt had never been seen sick. He had been wounded and injured before, but nothing could stop him. As he would say Sick-call is against my religion. The team medic called for a litter to be brought from the waiting Black Hawk. As the team placed Billy on the litter, the team leader ran to the helicopter and informed the pilot that they would be altering their mission a bit. After securing him on the helicopter floor the team loaded up in the two Black Hawks and flew directly to a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH). After a quick X-ray, the MASH surgeon had Sergeant Ranhalt transported to a Saudi hospital and within hours he was sent on to Frankfurt, Germany, and then finally to Mayo. There he was told that his chances of survival without undergoing major open brain surgery were zero. His first diagnosis was that he had internal brain bleeding with unknown cause. He was informed that his chances of survival during the surgery were about 50 percent, and there were many possible side effects, such as paralysis, loss of sight, loss of hearing, and loss of speech. For ten days he lay in the Intensive Care Unit at Mayo waiting for the internal bleeding to stop and for the blood clot to be absorbed by the body as they normally do with time.
During this long ten days, he lay in bed with no visitors, no food (except liquids), and no television or music. He was allowed only a light behind the head of his bed. The three doctors who were looking after him did not want any disturbances, physical or mental, which could restart the intracranial bleeding. The cause of this intracranial bleeding continued to be reported as unknown. The army report stated that Sergeant Billy Ranhalt had suffered from a serious brain concussion when an enemy rocket hit their position. Two days before Billy fell to the ground his unit was shot at by an Iraqi unit with a small anti tank missile. Neither he nor his special operations team suffered any direct wounds or trauma at the time of the explosion.
The only fact known was that there had been severe bleeding within the brain on both sides, blood clots had formed, and he said he was in so much pain that you could cut his leg off with a chain saw and it would not bother him. The chief doctor finally allowed one visitor per day for ten minutes and they had to be either members of the family or the military. His wife and two young kids had moved from his last duty station to the family ranch her parents worked on in Texas. His duty station was a couple states away, so he was somewhat alone to begin with. His wife flew down to see him, stayed for a few days, and then flew back home to wait until the time of surgery.
As for medical status, the doctors were a bit confused. They would have to patch the left side of his brain, where they thought the broken artery was, with titanium. They were uncertain about the right side, which had the largest blood clot.
On the sixth day in the hospital, a nun visited him. Sister Mary was her name. She knocked very gently on the half-closed door and asked, "Sergeant Ranhalt or Billy, are you awake and may I have a word with you?"
"Yes, come in," said Billy.
"How are you feeling, Billy? May I call you that?" Sister Mary quietly asked.
"Yes, you may," Billy responded quietly and with no emotion. "I feel okay, other than that I have a lot of pain in my head and I am also hungry. They don't give me much to eat, in case I have to be rushed into surgery, and I cannot have anything for pain because they are afraid that that could cause further damage. Now I lie here and await my fate."
"May I ask what is your faith, Billy, and do you have a person from your church or one from the town here visiting you?"
Billy replied quietly, "No, I have not had a church person visit me, and I do not belong to any church."
Sister Mary gently sat down on the edge of the bed near Billy's feet. She reached a hand out put it on Billy's foot and said, "Billy, do you know that there is some confusion about your condition, and that there has been a very great change in your condition?"
"No," Billy replied. "Why is it that you have come to talk to me and not the doctors? It must be for the worst. But tell me anyway what it is you have come to tell me, or did you just come to pray for me?"
"Your condition is not any worse, really, it is at least half better anyway. You see, Billy, they did two arteriograms and one MRI here. There was confusion as to where the bleeding had come from that caused the massive blood clots in both sides of your brain. This is also what has led to the confusion as to what caused the bleeding to begin with. Yesterday, they did a third arteriogram, and there is no blood clot or any sign of damage in your right brain, which was the side with the worst damage just a few days ago. Now there is really some confusion among all of the doctors. Two of the doctors have chosen not to do surgery on you, because it is too much of a risk to open the brain cavity and possibly cause the bleeding to start again. There is a little bit of disagreement as to what happened on the right side of your brain. There is some suspicion by one of the doctors that there was a mess-up on the arteriograms. There is also some interest by one of the doctors about the antinerve drug you were taking in Desert Storm. The doctor that is taking over as chief on your case will be in today and talk to you about this. However, I do not think he will tell you much, because he may not know all that is going on. Also, I do not believe he wants you to become upset, this will not be good while undergoing surgery, which I believe will be done in the next day or so. During the surgery if the bleeding starts, the only way to stop it would be to close off the artery, thus causing all parts of the brain that it feeds to die. This would lead to major disaster, of course.-Now Billy, I don't want you to become upset because of what I have told you. It is my job here at the hospital to come visit people and families. If you wish, I will contact anyone you would like to visit with. Your wife has been called and she will be arriving tomorrow. We have arranged for her to stay here in the hospital."
Sister Mary was interrupted by Billy asking, "Is she bringing my son and daughter?"
"No, Billy, I don't believe she is. I believe the doctor told her that it would be best if they did not come and visit you, that this could lead to making you upset."
Billy was sitting up halfway in his bed, which is the only position he was allowed day and night. He was not allowed to get up out of bed to go to the bathroom. He quietly looked at Sister Mary and said, "I am ready to have this surgery done and get out of this place and get back to work. I was training to enter the military Olympics. The qualifications will be held in June in Frankford, Germany, and so far I have surpassed all the qualifications, but now I am a bit behind with that."
Sister Mary looked at Billy with a long, very unemotional face and asked, "Billy, have you prayed to God about this matter and asked for help?"
Billy looked at her with a smile and said, "Of course I do, day and night. After all, I have lots of time on my hands and I cannot sleep well, so I spend a lot of time praying and talking with God. In my situation that is about all one can do. It may not do any good, but it won't do any harm."
"Well, Billy, I agree with that, but I believe it must be God who has done a miracle on you and this has led to the doctors confusion," Sister Mary said with a small smile.
"The only problem is that He did not finish the miracle," Billy replied.
"Maybe He will just do that another way as he does every day," Sister Mary replied. "If I may ask, what is your religion?"
"I have no religion, Sister, and if any, it is far from Catholic. I talk with God the way my father taught me. And I live the life that I find in my heart that my father taught me," Billy answered plainly.
"Do you believe that you did something wrong or that God put you in this position for a reason?" Mary asked.
"I do not know why this happened to me; it just did. I ask that same question to God. I get no answer, or really I think I am just asking myself these things and that is something we all should do each day. But I do not believe bad things come upon us by the devil or for punishment for what we have done. If that were the case we would not have any use for jails and prisons. Things just happen, both good and bad in this world, and we just live it if we so choose. But, yes, I do pray and talk with God, and I will talk to you about that later if you want to, but for now I need to get through this surgery. Okay?"
"Sure, Billy, I understand. I will see you after that, but if you need me, just call me, okay?"
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Trial of Billy Ranhaltby Clifford D. Cope Copyright © 2010 by Clifford D. Cope. Excerpted by permission.
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