This disabled Iraq War veteran suffered a traumatic brain injury from an IED. Now permanently disabled, he’s incarcerated—and searching for community. “I need to find friends who are gonna have my back. People like I had when I was in the Army.”
This U.S. Navy veteran is serving a 10-year sentence far from home, making visits from loved ones nearly impossible. He’s doing everything he can to grow in a violent, unstable environment, but prison doesn’t make it easy. For many veterans, isolation is a second sentence.
He served overseas in the Army for six years. Now he’s in prison, with no outside contacts, and fighting to receive the veterans benefits he earned. This is not what justice looks like. This is what abandonment looks like.
This Army veteran is a writer, teacher, and self-proclaimed coffee-loving book nerd. He also happens to be incarcerated. Today’s Memorial Week post highlights his voice, and the truth that “To treat a person inhumanely is one of the most awful acts there is. To do so is violence; you reduce a person to a thing.”
Over 100,000 veterans are incarcerated in the U.S., often without access to mental health care or support. Kenneth, a disabled Army vet and former teacher, shares what it’s like to be erased while still alive.