????杰西?R?阿科斯塔：失明老兵為戰(zhàn)友代言

????年齡：57歲

????職務：客戶服務現(xiàn)場分析師

????任職公司：Sempra Energy公司南加州瓦斯公司

????地理位置：加登格羅夫，加利福尼亞州

????2006年1月16日,，在伊拉克的沙漠里,，一發(fā)迫擊炮彈擊中了美國陸軍軍士長杰西?阿科斯塔，導致他雙眼失明,。他不僅失去了雙眼和部分下頜,，而且還承受著外傷性腦損傷。他總共經(jīng)歷了接近40次手術——為了醫(yī)療護理曾與退伍軍人管理局（VA）斗爭,，結果得到的只有止痛藥,。他表示，自己后來對鎮(zhèn)痛劑上癮,，而且持續(xù)了四年之久,。但阿科斯塔沒有認命，他開始還擊,，不僅戒掉了服用止痛藥的習慣,，而且學會了在失明的情況下行走。2009年,，他開始利用自己康復的例子來激勵其他人,，還成立了一家叫感謝老兵（Thank A Vet）的公益組織，為老兵提供工作培訓。他還加入了另外一個慈善組織獨立基金會（The Independence Fund）的理事會,。這個基金會致力于為受傷老兵提供設備和治療,。如今，在大部分假期,，阿科斯塔都用來與自己的德國牧羊犬“查理小子”一起巡游全國,，宣傳基金會。目前,，這個基金會已在南加州購買土地,，計劃為受傷老兵興建一座治療中心。至于推動自己努力的原因,，阿科斯塔早已找到了答案,，那就是“退伍軍人有權享受但卻沒有享受到的關懷，這是首要原因,?！?財富中文網(wǎng))

????譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

????Jesse R. Acosta

????Age 57

????Occupation Customer Service Field Analyst

????Company Southern California Gas Sempra Energy

????Location Garden Grove Base, Calif.

????The mortar that blinded Army Sgt. Major Jesse Acosta hit him in the middle of the Iraq desert on Jan. 16, 2006. He lost both of his eyes and part of his jaw, and suffered traumatic brain injury. In all, he would undergo close to 40 operations—struggling with the VA for health care, only to be prescribed painkillers. He became addicted, he says, to opiates for four years. But Acosta battled back, kicking his painkiller habit and learning to navigate without sight. And in 2009, he began using own recovery to inspire others, founding a nonprofit organization called Thank A Vet to provide workforce training to veterans. He also joined the board of another charity, The Independence Fund, which provides equipment and therapies to injured vets. Acosta now devotes all of his vacation days to traveling the country—with his German Shepherd guide dog, Charlie Boy—to promote the fund, which has purchased land in South Carolina to build a treatment center for wounded veterans. As to what drives him, Acosta has a ready answer: “It’s the care that these men and women are entitled to that they’re not getting, number one.”