Veteran helps injured soldiers adjust
SOMEONE YOU SHOULD KNOW
by JESSICA L. FINCH

Bob Kunkel

While Bob Kunkel's work at Walter Reed Army Medical Center is a story of strength and dedication, he insists that the message be about the injured soldiers returning from today's war.

Kunkel, an Army veteran, lived the same nightmare, returning from Vietnam as a young, injured solider. He enlisted at 18 and in his own words, was blown up at 19. He spent 18 months at an Army hospital in Fort Devens, Mass.

"When I got out, the country was in the height of protest," the Amherst resident said. "I had destructive behavior. For whatever reason I am still alive."

While he was recovering, his left leg was fused at the knee, resulting in its being 4 inches shorter than the right. Today he still deals with pain and discomfort.

Years later he was watching television and realized his life experience could help injured soldiers. The show featured an event in Washington, D.C., and the camera zoomed in on injured soldiers.

"It rattled my cage," he said. "The newly injured soldiers had no idea how dramatically their lives had been changed."

He went to the Veterans Affairs Hospital to offer his help but didn't find a great need, so for the next year Kunkel wrote letters to Walter Reed, volunteering his services. Four years ago he finally received a response, being invited to volunteer with the soldiers. Since then he has been traveling about once a month to the hospital near Washington, D.C.

Kunkel spends four days during each trip visiting with soldiers and their families. He'll take soldiers out to dinner at a restaurant that now knows him as a regular.

"At least for an evening the soldiers get a sense of normalcy," he said.

Kunkel doesn't arrive empty-handed. Something he hears most often are requests for nontraditional adaptive equipment. He has located zipper dress ties and cutting boards designed for amputees. He has invented a fishing rod that can be used with one hand.

"I arrive with a suitcase full," he said. "When the nurses or staff call to ask if I can find something, I say 'no problem,'" he said.

He has many stories of success. One of the soldiers now assists Kunkel with helping soldiers adapt to life as amputees. Joe had an amazing transformation, Kunkel said. Confined to a wheelchair, Joe was in a coma for eight days, and during that time his wife of seven years filed for divorce. Joe has remarried and assists Kunkel in teaching self-defense moves to injured soldiers to give them back a sense of pride and strength.

A third-degree black belt in Danzan-Ryu jujitsu, Kunkel has trained for 22 years. He uses that experience to teach the soldiers how to protect themselves and their families in real scenarios on the street. Kunkel develops effective solutions for the various injuries inhibiting the soldiers.

"They are real warriors who came out of real combat," said Kunkel, who was featured as a CNN Hero.

During one visit, Kunkel said he complimented a soldier's sunglasses that were placed on the man's head. The two started talking, and Kunkel described his work as a martial artist. The soldier told him he would like to see that sometime, and . Kunkel obliged and demonstrated some moves. When a doctor walked by, the soldier successfully applied a technique that caused the doctor to drop to the floor. It was afterward that Kunkel learned the soldier was completely blind.

That is just one of the reasons that Kunkel will keep traveling once a month and won't stop, "until the wounded stop coming or they kick me out."

Kunkel uses his life experience to help the soldiers get on with their lives as fast as possible. While many want to return to duty, they are unable to do so and have a hard time adjusting to the thought of a "desk job."

"I didn't adapt well, but I eventually got tired of being nonfunctional," he said.

He is one of only 12 outsiders allowed to work as a volunteer and pays for all his travel expenses, as well as the adaptive equipment he delivers to the soldiers.

"If I can help one soldier, then my time and money couldn't have been spent better," said Kunkel, who considers himself lucky to be interacting with them. "The soldiers and families I meet make me thankful America comes up with such people. ... I have never heard one complain."

If you have a suggestion for someone to feature in this column, send it to Jessica L. Finch, Amherst Bee, associate editor, P.O. Box 150, Buffalo, NY 14231-0150, or call 204-4917.