Civilian Life to Military Life.
Now, Back from Military Life to Civilian Life .
by: Paul Kim
E4 Corporal, Retired

Posted on June 24, 2009

It's a different world to go from civilian life to military life. In the civilian life, they make money, move around. In the military life, we're trained to kill terrorists.

The Veterans Affairs hospital in Washington, D.C. provides services to anyone who came back wounded from the military.

I am retired now from a brain aneurysm, a bleed in my brain. I am satisfied from the services that the Washington V.A. (Veterans Affairs) has offered. I am taking Speech Pathology (word-finding), Physical Therapy, and Occupational Therapy to help me regain my right-sided weakness because of my brain injury.

I am now at Adapt Clubhouse for brain-injured survivors, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. For Tuesdays and Thursdays, I go to Washington Veterans Affairs to get therapies listed above.

I was injured during MCMAP (Marine Corps Martial Arts Program) training in Okinawa, Japan. I was doing it too hard (my body was worn out) and all of a sudden it just seemed like something was going on inside my head and the Instructor said leave the room if you're not going to participate. He sent me towards the back of the room and I sat down. Another Marine (Corporal Liebener) asked if I wanted some water. He went to the water fountain and as he was walking back, I was having a seizure/epileptic episode. He got the Instructor to call the ambulance back to base and the Captain said I have to go to the hospital.

The left-frontal hemisphere of my brain is removed. I'm having word-finding problems, right sided weakness (my right hand doesn't open up), and seizure disorders. I had worn a helmet so nothing can harm me. My left-front brain is removed so I had to wear a plastic-white helmet. I didn't have a bone in my left-frontal skull. Plastic surgery was a success. I had to go to therapies for all that and still am. This all happened in August 2006.

Kim, Paul J.
United States Marine Corps - Veteran/Retired
E-4  Corporal
Military Occupational Specialty - 0621
Field Radio Operator
5th ANGLICO (A)ir-(N)avel-(G)unfire-(LI)aison-(CO)mpany
20060123 - 20080401