Photo By Michael Bottoms | Army Lt. Col. Timothy Bible discusses how the Warrior Care Program was key to his...... read more read more
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Feb. 4, 2025 | Army Maj. Wes Shinego, DOD News
Captain Timothy Bible stared at the beige ceiling tiles and fluorescent lights above his hospital bed at Walter Reed Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. It was 2010 — four months since the motorcycle accident — but the ceiling that greeted him each morning was still a daily reminder that life as Tim knew it was over. His leg was gone, amputated above the knee, and what remained would take months to heal. Confined to Walter Reed’s “ward 57,” Tim’s mind raced. What now? What would he do? How would he care for his family, and be the same husband and dad they knew?
A year earlier, Captain Bible’s future seemed golden. In 2009, after a decade spent in the conventional Army, he bet on himself. Tim applied for a transfer to psychological operations and moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina for the PSYOP qualification course. That November, Bible graduated and joined the ranks of the Special Operations community as a newly minted PSYOP officer. He was elated, thrilled to be a part of the SOF team.
“I was on top of the world,” Tim said. “I had just finished the pipeline, and I had a beautiful wife and healthy one-year-old son at home. Life was perfect.”
Tragically, disaster struck just three days later. On Monday, Nov. 16, a distracted driver slammed into Tim’s motorcycle, crushed his knee, and destroyed the entire left side of his body from the hip down.
“I was t-boned going through an intersection,” Bible said. “I knew immediately it was catastrophic — I looked down and saw what was supposed to be my leg and thought ‘wow, that ain’t good, please don’t let me lose my leg.’ I was bleeding out, then everything went black.”
But this week, during a 1st Special Operations Forces Truth event at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, Bible briefed the Special Operations Command Team and hundreds of guests wearing an Army uniform. Despite his injury, he remains an active-duty officer.
Bible spoke to express his support for the Care Coalition — the Warrior Care Program featured by SOCOM during the forum.
The ethos “humans are more important than hardware” forms the bedrock of 1st SOF Truth, which reminds service members and leaders alike that the right people — well-trained and well-supported — remain the organization’s most valuable resource.
The Warrior Care Program — and the Care Coalition, specifically — exists in direct alignment with that ideal. Its mandate is simple: if SOF personnel have been wounded, fallen ill or suffered an injury while serving the Special Operations community, there’s a team ready to serve them and their families.
1st SOF Truth forums are held quarterly. On Jan. 29, over 400 virtual attendees listened as SOCOM’s senior leaders emphasized the need to communicate the Care Coalition’s capabilities across the SOCOM enterprise — especially to O-5–level command teams who best know their people.
SOCOM Commander Army Gen. Bryan Fenton, who convened this quarter’s 1st SOF Truth event to educate the community’s leaders on the value of Warrior Care Programs, opened the forum with a focus on his top priority: people.
“We take care of our people,” he said. “We believe in starting with the human in all our approaches, and the Care Coalition is critical to that mentality.”
Fenton expressed gratitude to the service members and veterans who shared their experiences, and offered guidance to attendees, with an emphasis on shared understanding. Resources known to SOCOM are not always common knowledge at lower echelons, and Fenton believes that universal awareness is critical to the Warrior Care Program’s success.
“First of all, to the men and women who provided testimonials, thank you,” Fenton said. “But your stories need to reach beyond this event — they must reach our people, because whether they’ve been in for one day or 30 years, it’s their Care Coalition.”
That coalition saw Tim through his recovery and return to active duty, where he continued his service and achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Bible credits the program for his miraculous return to form after the six-month stint at Walter Reed, which he calls “the toughest time of [his] life.”
“The SOF family and the SOCOM Care Coalition fought to be there for me when I needed it most,” he explained. “I said I wanted to stay in the military, stay in the fight, and go back to work; they supported me through everything.”
Established in 2005, the Care Coalition is a congressionally recognized Warrior Care Program that ensures SOF community members receive the critical support they need in the wake of life-altering injuries or illnesses.
Through a structured approach encompassing four key phases — Recovery, Rehabilitation, Reintegration and Transition — the program uplifts SOF personnel when they’re at their most vulnerable, inspiring a renewed sense of purpose that allows operators to continue their military service or transition to a civilian career.
During recovery, Recovery Care Coordinators guide affected SOF personnel and their families through every stage of the process using a Comprehensive Recovery Plan, ensuring they have access to resources like assistive technology, education, employment and housing.
Through initiatives like peer-to-peer support, respite programs and the Families OverComing Under Stress program, RCCs provide personalized assistance to help SOF personnel and their families navigate their recovery journey.
Navy Command Master Chief Petty Officer Ryan Gray, command master chief, Naval Special Warfare Group 4, expanded on the RCCs’ special role at the forum.
“Having the RCCs is critical because they have access to so many resources,” Gray said. “They’re trained to get the service member back to full duty as quickly as possible.”
The program’s reintegration phase leverages the Care Coalition’s Military Adaptive Sports program, which promotes both physical and mental well-being among wounded, ill and injured SOF personnel.
Adaptive sports and wellness activities help service members build resilience and regain confidence. And specialized athletic retreats and the Warrior Games provide participants with opportunities to stay active, compete and connect with the broader SOF community.
Army Master Sergent Jerry Millan, the Warrior Care liaison to Army Special Operations, shared his story at the event. He credited the Care Coalition’s Military Adaptive Sports program for his quick recovery from stage-four cancer.
“I put a half-marathon Spartan Race on my calendar, scheduled six months out from my last round of chemotherapy,” he said. “I had to prove to myself that I could still do these things.”
Millan, who is attending the Invictus Games this year, explained his sense of urgency through the lens of a warfighter, desperate to be back in the fight.
“The Military Adaptive Sports program provided me the opportunity to find new purpose in life [by] helping others going through similar situations”, he said. “[They] helped me rediscover my warrior identity.”
For those preparing to take off the uniform, the Care Coalition’s Career Transition program offers tailored support to help SOF personnel successfully enter the civilian workforce. Career Transition Coordinators connect service members with fellowship opportunities, job placement programs and education resources to ease transitions. By leveraging an extensive network of companies and organizations, this program helps service members translate their skills into meaningful post-military careers.
“When the military is all you’ve known, the thought of life on the outside is a stressor,” said Bible, who retires next month. “But I’m taking advantage of one of the Care Coalition’s fellowship programs and I feel ready — I’m trained.”
Finally, the Care Coalition’s Benevolence program fills gaps in support that may not be covered by the Defense Department or the Department of Veterans Affairs. By working with charitable organizations and securing grants, the program provides essential goods and services directly to SOF personnel in need.
Speaking on behalf of her husband, Army Major David Carr, a Special Forces team leader, Lauren Carr described how the coalition’s Benevolence program delivered critical support after an epidermoid brain tumor forced David to undergo surgery.
“After the surgery, my husband faced a long, hard road to recovery, with daily, in-patient therapy,” Lauren said. “The Care Coalition helped me secure housing at the Fischer House when doctors transferred David to the James Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa.
Carr lauded the Care Coalition’s support, which extended well beyond lodging.
"The coalition significantly eased our mental, emotional, financial and physical burdens” she said. “They were a steadfast presence in the worst season of our lives.”
Bible, Millan and Carr’s testimonials were reinforced by more than 10 other speakers who spoke to SOCOM’s commitment to the 1st SOF Truth mantra.
In the SOF community, Fenton’s people-first approach is vital to unit readiness and nested in Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s Jan. 27 “Message to the Force.” Since SOF personnel receive millions of dollars of world-class training, they’re not easily replaced. SOCOM’s position is clear: retention is at the foundation of SOF lethality, and the Care Coalition is one of the ways Fenton keeps warriors “on the team.”
Fenton’s focus on people has produced marked improvements to retention across the SOF enterprise. Backed by the Care Coalition, the community now returns 72% of wounded operators to military service. Lieutenant Colonel Bible’s reintegration story, for example, is among many other testimonials which speak to SOCOM’s uncommon resilience.
Fenton ended the event with a promise: no matter where an active duty or veteran operator finds themselves during their recovery journey, there exists comprehensive, lifelong support.
“We’re going to be with our warriors for the rest of their lives,” he said. “If anything happens, we’re going to take care of you and your family. You have given us so much, and your care is our sacred obligation.”
| Date Taken: | 02.04.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.04.2025 15:09 |
| Story ID: | 490086 |
| Location: | MACDILL AFB, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 100 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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