A voice for veterans

Army Airborne Spc. Jason Billstein looked around the hospital at Fort Belvoir and saw despair.

Injured soldiers, many depressed and despondent, looked as though they had no hope. Their families were hundreds of miles away, their lives changed forever.

Billstein, 26, was one of the lucky ones. His grandfather, Culpeper resident Mason Hutcheson, provided him with what many would consider the simplest of needs — razors, a toothbrush and love.

His fellow soldiers, however, lacked even the most modest of possessions. There was help, in the form of the Army Emergency Relief Fund — but to the soldiers’ dismay, the money they borrowed had to be paid back with interest.

Now healed and set up with a job in the Department of State and attending Germanna Community College full time, Billstein is looking to give back.

To help raise funds for wounded veterans, he sells mums at the Culpeper Farmers Market on Saturday mornings from 7 a.m. to noon.

How he got here
In September 2007, Billstein, who grew up in Florida, arrived at Walter Reed Medical Center for spinal injuries he suffered in the Army Airborne Rangers.

A few months later, he was transferred to Fort Belvoir. At the time, there were between 50 to 60 soldiers recovering there; now that number has almost doubled.

When Billstein arrived, he was offered money from the Emergency Relief Fund; but since his family was nearby, he didn’t need financial help.

While some soldiers become depressed while recovering, Billstein became proactive. He joined Operation War Fighter, a program that puts wounded veterans into unpaid internships at various federal agencies.

The internship helped him recover mentally and expanded his career horizons.

“Chances are, when you’re medically retired or get out of the Army, you’re not going to do anything that correlates with being an Airborne Ranger,” Billstein said. “Jobs are pretty slim for a disabled vet.”

The spinal injury Billstein suffered has left him with chronic, severe back pain. He is no longer able to bend over and pick up objects, and he isn’t able to run the way he once did while training to become a Ranger.

“I’m lucky to be out of a wheelchair,” said Billstein, who is married and has a young son.

Operation War Fighter gave Billstein a reason to get out of bed in the morning and gave him hope for the future; however, he was saddened that other vets didn’t take advantage of the opportunity.

“My issue was, where do I go from here?” Billstein said. “One of the biggest reasons I was able to look at the bigger picture was because my wife and son were right there with me. Mason Hutcheson, my grandfather, came quite often. Ninety percent of them (soldiers) don’t have the funds to get their family up here. So the depression kicks in and the uncertainty of where they’re going to be sets in.”

Fighting for what was right
What many soldiers may not know is that Billstein has already helped them, in a way they may never realize.

While recovering at Fort Belvoir, he received a packet informing him that the Army was willing to offer 10 percent disability for his injuries.

There was a code attached to his injury that indicated how disabled he was. At 30 percent, wounded veterans receive their full benefits and are treated like retirees.

Billstein wasn’t happy with only 10 percent; his life was forever altered, and he wanted what was only fair.

He met with a lawyer, Danny Soto, from Washington, D.C., and decided to appeal his disability code. Immediately before the hearing, he sensed something was wrong.

“Before I even went into the room, they were talking with Danny in the back and he said, ‘They’re willing to offer you 20 percent (disability),’” Billstein said. “That right there showed me that something wasn’t right.”

Billstein turned down the 20 percent offer and went in front of the three-person board to plead his case. At the end, Billstein received the 20 percent offer, but was told that if his doctor backed up his claims of severe and chronic pain, they may bump him up.

“Essentially they’re trying to keep soldiers under that mark (30 percent), so you have a disabled soldier that kind of gets booted out,” Billstein said. “The problem they have then is, how do they get insurance when they already have this existing injury from the Army? And if they do get it, it will be extremely expensive.”

The doctor’s letter did nothing to help, so Billstein went to Eric Cantor, who represents Culpeper in the U.S. House of Representatives, asking the congressman to look into the case.

Cantor’s office launched a congressional investigation, and a few weeks later Billstein learned his code was changed to 40 percent disabled.

“Through the grapevine I heard about 60 soldiers cases were re-evaluated,” said a vindicated Billstein, whose mood, sullen just weeks before, instantly soared.

“It was amazing that I wasn’t just brushed aside,” he said. “I felt as though the Army was brushing aside a lot of soldiers. So for me to call up Eric Cantor’s office in Richmond and get the personalized help, it’s definitely shaped another path for my family.”

Billstein had an opportunity to thank Cantor a few months ago when the congressman visited Germanna Community College’s Culpeper campus.

“It looked like he knew who I was,” Billstein said. “I just told him he helped me with a military matter and I just wanted to shake his hand. So I shook his hand and gave him a thank you card that had an Airborne coin that I used to carry in my breast pocket. He seemed really appreciative that I was really appreciative.”

Giving back
Now recovered and living in Culpeper, Billstein can be found most Saturdays at the farmers market, selling mums bought from his grandfather, who owns Ebenezer Heights greenhouse.

Proceeds go to help wounded soldiers buy basic amenities.

Billstein says that giving back is the least he can do, as he is blessed to have recovered this well. His faith, helped along by his grandfather, is one thing that has helped him through it all.

“There’s a saying that there’s no atheist in a foxhole,” Billstein said. “I would say I was on the line, I considered myself a Christian, but I didn’t practice much. Seeing how God has affected my life, it’s a sign that he’s definitely there.”