Iraq veteran Jason Carten: 'I did what I had to do'

Jason Carten will spend Veterans Day seeking medical treatment for his "invisible wound."
On Nov. 25, 2006, U.S. Army Pfc. Jason Carten of Muskegon single-handedly held off the Iraqi enemy in one of Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhoods, allowing his comrades to successfully rescue a wounded American soldier.

For 22 harrowing minutes, Carten and the others were under constant gunfire. But Carten — who was a trailblazer with the 72nd Engineers, 1st Engineer Battalion and assigned the dangerous job of seeking out land mines, bombs and other explosives — gave as good as he got.

He returned fire, and never let up.

Later, Carten's superior officers would say he "demonstrated outstanding heroism, professional skill and dedication to his comrades."

When the smoke cleared, the wounded U.S. soldier was treated and evacuated to safety. The other men in Carten's patrol were all still standing. Three Iraqi insurgents were confirmed killed.

And Carten, the 28-year-old from Muskegon who'd been in Iraq a little more than a month, was being credited for unselfish bravery.

"Anyone in my unit would have done it," he insists.

The Army disagreed with his modest assessment of the day's events. On April 29, 2008, Carten was awarded the Bronze Star with "V" for valor. It is the fourth highest military combat award, usually reserved for officers, not enlisted men.

"I don't know what to say, ma'am," Carten says. "I did what I had to do, what any of the guys would do."

Their service came at a great cost.

Only two of Carten's 14-man patrol are still on active duty in the Army. The other 10, including Carten, all were wounded.

At the time of his Bronze Star ceremony, Carten was a patient in the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Carson, Colo., receiving medical treatment for a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) -- both considered "signature" wounds of the war in Iraq. TBIs have been called the adult version of shaken baby syndrome. According to the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center in Washington, D.C., a TBI causes the brain to bleed and swell, resulting in a wide variety of neurological ailments.

As many as 15 percent of all wounded veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have struggled with TBIs, according to the Veterans Administration (VA).

"And that number's very, very conservative," says David Eling, executive director of the Muskegon County Department of Veteran Affairs.

In June 2008, the VA estimated that as many as 20,000 soldiers and Marines were misdiagnosed with PTSD instead of "mild" cases of TBI. Depending on the extent of the neurological damage suffered, symptoms can include everything from headaches to nausea, memory difficulties, mood changes, cognitive problems and loss of consciousness.

"All they did was put on their uniform and do what their country asked them to do," Eling says.

Closed head injuries, like Carten's, are being called "the invisible wound" of war -- invisible because it cannot be seen, like an amputated limb or a gunshot wound.

Chronicle/Darren BreenIraq War veteran Matthew Carten, left, demonstrates a gesture he and his fellow soldiers would make in Iraq to express how they felt as if their fate was determined by the role of dice. Also pictured is his mother Sarah Wheeler, center, and brother and fellow Iraq Veteran Jason Carten, right.

"When I signed up, when I enlisted, I knew I was going to Iraq. I knew what I was getting into," Carten says. "But would I do it again?"

He stops. He looks at his hands, which he constantly clutches as he speaks. He keeps his silence for a few minutes.

In August 2008, Carten was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army and returned home to Muskegon where he is being treated at VA Clinics in Muskegon, Grand Rapids and Battle Creek. He was diagnosed with a 20 percent service-related disability.

"It seems like it's taking so long ... to get better. I don't see any progression," he says softly. "I just wish these headaches would stop."

"We found bombs every day," he says, as if that were an explanation.

Today Carten will spend Veterans Day like every other day since he's returned home from Iraq -- going to the doctor, seeking medical treatment, hoping to feel well enough one day to go back to school or find a job.

"He came home pretty beat up," says his mom, Sarah Wheeler of Muskegon, who sees a "huge change" in her son since his injuries.

"I'd get a call at work from him telling me that one of his friends just got shot in the back of the head, or that he'd just been in a 20-minute fire fight. I'd have to go into the break room and just cry and shake for awhile."

Besides the headaches, Carten suffers from short-term memory loss and panic attacks in crowds. Noise bothers him. So do bright lights. A trip to the store or doctor's office requires significant effort.

"What people don't realize is traumatic brain injuries are lifelong injuries that need lifelong care," Eling says.

'You're not alone now'

When Carten was medically evacuated from Iraq, he was treated first in Germany before being sent to Fort Carson. He was on 17 medications, a number now reduced to four.

Chronicle/Darren BreenIraq War veteran Jason Carten shows his tattoos on his left arm, the lowest tattoo means "infidel" and was what Iraqis called soldiers.

"I remember being in an ambulance on the (airport) runway," Carten says, "wondering what was going on. I was totally alone."

"Not anymore," his mother answers, reaching over to hold his hand. "You're not alone now. You're home where you can get help."

In the first four months of his deployment to Iraq, Carten was involved in more than 20 firefights with the enemy, which resulted in eight confirmed kills. He also had made more than 50 discoveries and detonations of IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, on regular patrols. On a separate occasion from the incident for which he earned the Bronze Star, Carten ran toward enemy fire to help a soldier stranded in a Humvee that had been disabled by a roadside bomb.

By the time he left Iraq 14 months after deployment, Carten had been exposed to as many as 122 IED explosions or detonations. He had suffered at least three confirmed concussions. but there were probably more.

"We just stopped going to see the doc after awhile. We just lived with it," Carten says.

While in Iraq, he received two Army Commendation Medals for bravery. His family is waiting for him to receive a Purple Heart for his wounds, but military regulations don't include "closed head" TBIs in the list of injuries for which soldiers receive Purple Hearts.

"If you think of it, they were nothing but targets over there, really," says Mark Wheeler of Muskegon, Carten's stepfather.

Chronicle/Darren BreenIraq War veterans Jason Carten, 28, right, and Matthew Carten 25, left, and their mother, Sarah Wheeler, talk about their experiences of the Iraq War. "I would really like to see the soldiers come home," Jason Carten said. "I can't stress that enough. They need to come home."

At 6-2 and 135 pounds, Carten was courted by the football coaches at Oakridge High School from which he graduated in 1999. He was big enough for football or any other contact sport, but he preferred martial arts. He loved playing video games. His friends called him "Whitey" because he always wore long white tube socks.

Carten thought about going to college after high school, but it was a financial impossibility. He volunteered for the Army in 1999 but was rejected "because I had bad feet -- high arches or something," he said. He went to work for a soft drink distributor in Muskegon.

In 2003, his younger brother, Matthew Carten, enlisted in the Army, driven by a newfound sense of patriotism after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Three years later, Jason Carten followed him. This time, he passed the Army's physical exam, high arches and all.

"There wasn't too much holding me in Muskegon," Jason Carten says. "I wanted to go."

His decision panicked his mother. Matthew Carten was already in Baghdad when Jason Carten volunteered for service. He was deployed to Iraq within six months. Soon both sons were in the thick of battle.

"There were days I'd watch the news," Sarah Wheeler says, "and it would do me in."

Chronicle/Darren BreenIraq War veteran Matthew Carten, 25, talks about his experience of the Iraq War. He earned an Army Commendation Medal.

She lived with her cell phone. At night, she slept with it on her pillow. At Knoll Inc., where she works as a supervisor, she took every incoming call, with the blessing of her bosses.

"I prayed and I prayed and I prayed," Sarah Wheeler says. "I asked every night for protection for my sons and that a mighty strong angel would keep them safe."

Jason Carten says he's not ready yet to stand beside the other veterans of war at Tuesday's Veterans Day ceremonies in Muskegon.

"I'm not sure I fit in," he says. "I don't know where I fit yet."

He says he'll steal away for a time, though, and watch the videos he and the other men made of the battles they fought. They managed to attach miniature cameras to their rifles and recorded the war as they fought it.

Carten says he watches the videos often, reliving the sounds, the sights, the bombs, the battles. The images of war seem "more real," he says, than life at home in Muskegon.

"That's reality," he says.

It's not a reality he wants others to experience.

"I would really like to see the soldiers come home," he says. "I can't stress that enough. They need to come home."
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