Fund helps fallen soldiers back on their feet

A new ambitious fund-raising effort is gathering support to build a state-of-the-art rehabilitation facility for U.S. veterans who have suffered catastrophic disabilities in or out of combat.

The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund will pay for the construction of a 60,000-square-foot structure at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and will include "$35 million in top of the line indoor and outdoor facilities," the fund's website states.

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Rendition of completed Center for the Intrepid.

"The center will serve military personnel who have been catastrophically disabled in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan," according to the site. "The center will also serve military personnel and veterans severely injured in other operations and in the normal performance of their duties, combat and non-combat related."

The Brooke Center already serves the severely disabled, but a larger, more comprehensive facility is needed. According to U.S Senate research, the amputation rate for combat troops has doubled. Six percent of those injured in Iraq have amputations compared with 3 percent in previous wars.

The most severely injured soldiers at the facility suffer from double and triple amputations, severe head and body trauma, blindness, deafness, and partial and full paralysis.

According to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, the use of improvised explosive devices in Iraq has resulted in many cases of severe burns – "The care and rehabilitation of these men and women who have sacrificed so much for our nation demands that they be given the care they need and deserve."

When the facility is completed the Fund will present it to all five military branches and to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Bill White, president of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, makes an appeal for help on the website:

"I would like to urge you to join this very special effort to help support those brave men and women [with severe injuries] by contributing to the Fund. One hundred percent of your donation goes directly to building this vitally needed rehabilitation center. We refuse to take any administrative costs from the funds contributed."

Donations can be made via the organization's website.