Richard Leonard
Richard Leonard joined the Army National Guard when he was just 21 years old and he’s still serving, both as an infantryman and as the newest fellow in the House’s Wounded Warrior Program.
Leonard enlisted in Minnesota, where he initially worked as an anti-aircraft missile operator.
Two years later, the National Guard discontinued that program and Leonard decided to reclassify to infantry.
Then he found out he was being deployed to the Middle East and to Tallil, in southern Iraq.
His mission was convoy security, so Leonard spent most nights keeping watch as a gunner. More than a year into his deployment, his convoy was attacked and hit by an improvised explosive device.
“I remember seeing a bright flash and I woke up five minutes later,” he said. “I guess I was pretty screwed up.”
Leonard suffers from traumatic brain injury, memory loss, back problems and vision and hearing problems as a result of the attack.
Soon after his return to the States, he went to a state funded employment center looking for a job. The center’s counselor told him about a position in Rep. John Kline’s office.
“It just appealed to me because I can relate to these guys and I think I’ll be able to help them,” Leonard said.
Leonard, now 26, is looking forward to working as a veteran’s caseworker in Kline’s district office. Prior to joining Congress, Kline, a 25-year veteran of the Marine Corps who retired at the rank of Colonel, was hand-picked to serve as a personal military aide to President Jimmy Carter, and subsequently President Ronald Reagan.
“I didn’t know they had jobs for veterans at this level,” he said. “I was pretty pumped.”
