Josh Burnett (PHOTO COURTESY OF WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT)

Hollywood, MD – A career in the military was an easy decision for Josh Burnett. Born in Germany when his career military father was stationed there, Burnett and his family resided in numerous locations during his childhood.

The Hughesville resident told The BayNet he received a full Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) scholarship to Kansas University after graduating from high school. He was a fledgling college freshman Sept. 11, 2001. That’s when his military career—first in the Air Force and subsequently in the Army—began.

While in the Air Force, Burnett became a munitions systems specialist, acquiring expertise in explosives, which was considered a “combat specialty” by the Army. Burnett transferred to the Army as part of the effort to address that service branch’s manpower issues.

Among his military career assignment locations were Texas, Georgia, Germany, Spain, Norway, Italy, Iraq and other locations he declined to disclose.  “I’d definitely do it all over again if I could,” he said.

As he explains it, in 2005 and 2006, Burnett sustained multiple injuries in three separate incidents while stationed in Iraq. “I should have sought some sort of medical treatment,” he admitted. Instead, he allowed the psychological and physical effects of the incidents to fester. Burnett conceded that by 2012, “my depression and anxiety had been getting worse and worse. My wife kept prodding at me to get treatment.”

Burnett recalled that during his period of denial he suffered “major breakdowns” that jeopardized the tranquility of his home life. In order to prevent the alienation of his family he finally sought treatment.

The initial treatment was done at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. It was as a result of that treatment that physicians determined Burnett could never have a combat assignment. “That was the end of my career,” he said, adding that the diagnosis definitely added to his anxiety. “It’s the first time I felt like the uniform didn’t want me anymore.”

Continuing with the treatment wasn’t always a sure thing either. Burnett said he transitioned from military medical care to Veterans Administration (VA) care in 2014. The VA, however, wasn’t always available to help him. He would schedule an appointment, take off work and drive a long distance only to arrive and be told a doctor wasn’t available.

He kept prodding the VA and finally was issued a card that guaranteed him treatment at any hospital. “It took me two years to get that guarantee from the VA,” Burnett said.

There was another entity Burnett discovered could help him deal with the lingering issues. Through the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), Burnett began attending monthly “peer-to-peer” counseling meetings. “It’s nothing but wounded veterans” and the group, which could be as small as five or as large as 24, discuss coping with the numerous issues they encounter—whether it be employment-related, social stress, reclusive behavior or something else. “

The hope is somebody has dealt with it before,” said Burnett. “I was in a very bad place when I first showed up for a meeting.”

By the end of his first year of peer-to-peer counseling, Burnett was helping run the group. Now he helps point other members towards resources while fully aware that he needs the help of other group members from time to time. “It’s still a recovery and it’s not going to end,” said Burnett.

Burnett has his own computer network/security systems business in Charles County and stated his business is totally committed to hiring and employing a 90 percent military veteran workforce—a pledge he made when acquiring certain loans to start up the business. He conceded that post-service employment is a huge challenge for combat veterans.

“I’ve watched some go years without finding a job,” said Burnett, who explained the biggest problem veterans have seeking employment is that they don’t know how to explain the many “skill-sets” they have mastered while deployed in combat. Additionally, “employers don’t understand the skill-sets.”

Burnett is effusive in his praise of WWP and touts the peer counseling group is the best of all their mental health programs. He also made it abundantly clear he is unconcerned about some of the controversy that has swirled around WWP.

“It’s a private organization,” he affirmed, adding that the WWP personnel he has dealt with “are very professional and dedicated. They understand they are working for a nonprofit organization.”

The Wounded Warrior Project’s familiar logo—one soldier carrying another—also has Burnett’s love as he deals and aids others in dealing with, the vulnerabilities that challenge America’s combat veterans. “Some days you can be the guy carrying somebody else or you can be the guy being carried,” he said.

For more about the Wounded Warrior Project, visit the WWP web site.

Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com