Rare News Desk
U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant Brendan O’Toole is running across America. Sergeant O’Toole is running because there are thousands of his fellow combat veterans who can’t — and never will. After a decade of war America has a crisis. It’s a crisis of community and conscience: thousands of our veterans are permanently injured, mentally and physically, and they need medical care.
Videos by Rare
It’s for them that Sgt. O’Toole runs. He runs to raise money — $2 million to be exact — money that will go to the USO, Team Red White and Blue, and Give an Hour. These three groups are among the most prominent veterans’ care organizations in America and will use the money Sgt. O’Toole raises to help wounded vets and their families get the care they need — care that an overburdened and neglected federal bureaucracy can’t give them.
As Van Hipp, chairman of American Defense International writes:
After a friend and fellow Marine committed suicide, SGT O’Toole suffered an injury in Afghanistan. Coming home, he experienced the bureaucracy of a system firsthand that is supposed to help our veterans with their medical needs and successfully transition them into civilian life.
That’s when SGT O’Toole took things into his own hands. I remember him coming to my house last fall with a friend. We sat in my den and this young Marine told me of his vision to start “The Run for Veterans” and run across America to bring awareness to our veterans, their families and the issues that they face. I was impressed with how he articulated the real problems being faced by our soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen returning home and what was needed to be done to deal with a dysfunctional bureaucracy. I was equally impressed with his “Concept of Operations” or “Plan of Attack” as we ex-military types like to say. In short, he had a plan to make “The Run for Veterans” a grass roots effort across the country to help our veterans and their families. Today, as he runs across the State of South Carolina, that vision has become a reality.
When Sgt. O’Toole ran through Dallas, he was given what he called the “ultimate halftime speech” by former President George W. Bush.
Here’s what Sgt. O’Toole is running to fight:
- 16,000 Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) veterans are severely wounded, including 1,653 limb amputations.
- The VA estimates that 18 veterans or service members take their own lives on a daily basis. Of those, 5 are receiving VA care at the time of their death.
- 43,299 veterans have been diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
- Over 4,000 new cases of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
- 896,540 pending Disability Compensation Claims.
- Over 66% of Disability Compensation Claims are over 125 days.
- 6.7% of veterans are out of work. For OIF and OEF veterans, that figure is 9.7%
For every returning veteran, peace can be just as tough as war for both themselves and their families. Sergeant O’Toole knows that first-hand. He struggled through the same bureaucratic minefield that awaits every wounded soldier who makes it home. He struggled to get the care he earned, to transition into civilian life without ending up broken and destitute.
There are so many more who fought that battle too, who still fight it. That it’s a battle at all is a disgrace. No returning veteran should have to fight harder to make it in America than he did fighting to protect America.
It’s why Sgt. O’Toole is running.
