Now he's fighting for benefits

RATHDRUM — Kristopher King’s eyes catch flashes of dark figures, hiding in the corners of his Rathdrum home.

Figures outside, none of them really there, roam in the street at night. He sees them when he’s up late or very early because sleep is hard. They disappear quickly, so do the voices.

But King, 31, a U.S. Army combat veteran, can’t keep them away with just his mind. A medication he’s been prescribed is what he relies on.

Today, King aspires to be an advocate for veterans like himself. His first mission in that new role is fighting for the benefits he believes he deserves.

King attended Lake City High School in Coeur d’Alene and graduated from Project CDA Alternative High School in Coeur d’Alene in 1998, he said. King’s parents are John King of Coeur d’Alene and Colleen Collins of Post Falls.

King witnessed the toll war takes on the lives of people, a world away from his home now in Rathdrum, on the streets and in neighborhoods of Iraq, some slums that he remembers reeked like sun-soaked hills of garbage, during his 355-day deployment there starting in March 2003.

People got blown up around him, others ran for their lives screaming, the poverty was extreme and depressing. Often all that ran through King’s mind while in the heat of it all was “don’t die here,” and don’t let any of his fellow soldiers die there, so far from home.

“There’s no way I could prepare myself for all that was happening around me,” said King, who had to make more than one “them-or-me” type decision.

“I felt a complete lack of control,” he said.

Those experiences left him with feelings of isolation, anxiety, hopelessness, sleeplessness, chronic fatigue, and thoughts of suicide.

“I can race to anger now,” King said, who was in the military from July 2001 to May 2004, and finished as an army specialist.

“I’ve been fighting for my disability benefits ever since,” he said.

He said he has post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as PTSD, and moderate traumatic brain injury, from explosions and residual sounds from modern warfare and weapons.

He believes he’s a disabled combat veteran, and has been seeking disability benefits from the Veterans Benefits Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The VA describes post-traumatic stress disorder as an anxiety disorder that can occur after someone has been through a traumatic event.

“A traumatic event is something horrible and scary that you see or that happens to you,” according to its Web site. “During this type of event, you think that your life or others’ lives are in danger. You may feel afraid or feel that you have no control over what is happening.”

He first filed a disability compensation claim in 2006, but hasn’t yet received the disability rating he believes he deserves.

“How we’re being treated now as vets, that’s the hardest thing to talk about,” he said. “I want to be an activist so people know” what returning combat veterans can face.

King’s brother, Kyle Collins, 23, of Post Falls, said: “His way of being is completely different” since returning from Iraq.

Collins himself is getting ready to join the U.S. Navy.

Collins said he can’t simply call his brother up anymore and expect that King will take him up on a offer to go to the mall, or out with friends.

“He’s day to day,” Collins said.

Kevin Schneider, a Boise-based spokesman for the benefits administration, said federal laws prevent him from commenting on specific cases.

Speaking generally, though, Schneider said if a soldier believes he has a disability such as post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of military service, he is evaluated by a psychiatrist.

“They may have been in combat, but they may not be diagnosed with PTSD,” Schneider said. “A psychiatrist determines whether there is evidence of a current diagnosis.”

Schneider said that even though someone is taking medication, that doesn’t necessarily mean someone has a disability.

Depending on the severity of a disability, some could receive monthly compensation, he said. Disagreements about disability come up from time to time.

“We try to look out for their best interests,” he said. “We’re bound by policy.”

King said crowds bring on anxiety. His home, which he shares with his former wife, Tiffany Amber King, 28, is set up to make staying home often convenient, and comfortable. It’s a sanctuary, at least when he’s not being surprised by figures, or whispered at by muffled voices.

Soon after returning from Iraq, King often called his brother to vent.

Collins said: “I didn’t want to believe that he had a problem, and I figured he’d just work it all out himself.”

King takes three different medications, including an antidepressant, and a drug for anxiety. He used to self medicate. He said he’s stopped that. He sees a mental health doctor, and a primary-care doctor regularly.

The service disability claims King has filed have been denied twice, and he’s hoping this third attempt will produce a different result, and he said he’s done a lot of research to provide additional evidence of the disability he believes he is living with.

“The VA is constantly making me relive it all,” he said.