One Soldier's Trip Through the Maze
Eric's sister Anna Frese sent CBS News the stack of business cards her family collected throughout their bureaucratic odyssey- 107 cards high. Eric is now at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago – the best treatment facility for traumatic brain injury nationwide. And since he's still on active duty, the Pentagon picks up the tab. But Frese estimates it took thousands of emails, three trips to Washington, endless meetings and hundreds of phone calls to get him there.
Through their research, Eric's family also came across this bureaucratic gem a little known 2003 Memorandum of Agreement between the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense. It authorizes the Pentagon to pay for full time personal care attendants. This leaves some families wondering whether or not their own care for wounded family members might be reimbursable. So far, no word back from the Pentagon.