Marine Veteran Dealing With Multiple Injuries, PTSD
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Heroes to Todd Watkins are the men and women who serve their country and don’t come home alive. But listening to Todd tell his story, one has no doubt that he’s an American hero himself. Originally from Warsaw, Todd is the son of Diana Rhoades and stepson of Bill Rhoades. He graduated in 1986 from Warsaw Community High School, joining the Marines a year later. During his time in the Marines, Todd served in Desert Storm, Panama in 1989 and Black Ops in the type of missions the public doesn’t hear about. He was in Special Forces, and a combat veteran “several times over,” he said. He worked with the Navy SEALs, Green Berets, CIA and a lot with the DEA on drug interdiction in South America. He was shot a total of four times. He was blown up, filled full of shrapnel, and thrown 30 to 35 feet in the air. Todd landed on his neck, which injured him severely. From all the injuries Todd sustained, he’s had numerous surgeries. He received an implant in his bladder to help him urinate on his own because his nerves were severed. In the last year, he’s had two neck surgeries. His whole cervical spine is plates and pins. A surgery is planned that will open Todd’s leg up and install a pain medication pump to his stomach to provide him a constant flow of medicine. He’s already on the strongest Oxycontin that can be prescribed to him. Todd takes what he’s suppose to and when he’s suppose to, which includes 75 to 100 pills a day. “It’s to the point now where he’s on so much medicine, we’re afraid of him overdosing,” said Suzie Gaunt Watkins, who married Todd in April. Starting in 1990, the military started giving servicemen like Todd shots that were never tested. Todd said a lot of guys got sick from them, but the government won’t acknowledge it. “As for health wise,” Suzie said, “it has taken its toll.” Todd suffers from chronic severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which he also is receiving treatment for now. “I’m 100 percent fully disabled, which means I’m individually unemployable,” Todd said. “We deal with a lot of stuff nightly,” said Suzie. Todd said he has flashbacks and relives some of the events of his military career nightly. Keith Stevens, a friend who accompanied Todd to his interview with the Times-Union Thursday morning, said Todd was the only survivor of an explosion. Because he survived, Todd deals with survivor’s guilt. Todd was part of two eight-men teams that went down to Panama. One team was Navy SEALs, the other Recon. The objective was for the teams to take over an airport. “We were sent in because we were the closest. We were ambushed. They knew we were coming. The driver was shot in the head and I had to take over and I had brains all over my face,” Todd said. “We relive that about every night,” said Suzie. “I dig at my face until it’s raw, trying to get the blood off. The stench of death I can’t get rid of. If you’ve ever experienced it, you’ll never forget it. That is something I wish on no one,” Todd said. He also suffers from severe sleep apnea. When he was given the initial test, it wasn’t even three-fourths of an hour before he stopped breathing 100 times within that period of time. Todd now has a CPAP machine for use at night. “That helps a little bit with PTSD at night time, too,” said Suzie. “It’s a calming, soothing effect,” Todd said. Now, she said, they’re starting to deal with Todd twitching, which they think is from the medicine. Todd said he’s starting to experience seizures, which he hopes is not something like Parkinson’s disease. It isn’t easy for Todd to talk about his experiences. His mother and wife had to push for him to talk about them in anticipation of Veterans Day Nov. 11. Todd will be recognized then. When Desert Storm, which was an air campaign, kicked off in 1991, Todd said, “We were behind enemy lines gathering intel and picking targets.” When it came time for the bombers to come in, Todd said they guided the planes to the targets with a laser.For his service, Todd has been decorated with countless awards, including the Good Conduct medal with four stars, Presidential Unit Citation with two stars, Combat Action with two stars, Navy Achievement with Gold Star, Combat Valor, Meritorious Unit Citation, Purple Heart, Silver Star and Bronze Star with Combat V for heroism. One of Todd’s happiest times was reconnecting with Suzie. “We knew each other all through middle school and high school,” Suzie said. “We dated on and off through school. We went our separate ways,” Todd said, only to reconnect on Facebook. “We said hello. It was a grand reunion. We always wanted to be together,” he said. “I’m behind him 100 percent of the time,” Suzie said. Together, they have five children. Todd has a son, and Suzie has three daughters and a son. Suzie’s son is in ROTC. Todd is thankful for the understanding of his wife and family. Without them, he wouldn’t have made the progress he’s made. He comes from a military family. Todd’s grandpa Joe Watkins was in the Army, serving in the Battle of the Bulge, and received a Silver Star and Bronze Star. His other grandfather, Dale Smith, was a Marine and received the Bronze Star and Navy Cross. An uncle served in the Air Force in the Vietnam War, while his cousin Kevin was a Somalia veteran and Apache pilot. “Through all of that,” Stevens said, “one thing he’s very proud of is he never left one man behind.” “One thing I wish is that there were more people advocating for the veterans. There are so many of them,” Suzie said.
