Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Wounded Warrior program helps Marine

DAN LASKO's mission was clear on April 24, 2004: He had to root out Taliban forces who were hiding in Afghanistan.

DAN LASKO's mission was clear on April 24, 2004: He had to root out Taliban forces who were hiding in Afghanistan.

Lasko, just 21 at the time, was three years into what he thought would be a four-year stint in the Marines.

He wondered what life would hold for him beyond that time.

But his thoughts about the future were rendered moot that day when two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) blew apart the armored vehicle he was driving.

The blast took his left leg and left pieces of shrapnel in his face.

Lasko, a native of Bethlehem, Pa., spent a year recovering in military hospitals. He returned home a young, disabled veteran, in need of a new direction and purpose.

Now, he thinks he found that purpose thanks to the Wounded Warrior Program.

The program - launched last year by U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, D-Pa.; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. - provides disabled Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans with two-year fellowships with the House of Representatives.

The fellowships can lead to full-time jobs in congressional offices.

Thus far, nine wounded vets have been awarded fellowships. Lasko became the first Marine in the country to take advantage of the program when he went to work two months ago for U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa.

Lasko, 26, spends his days in Schwartz's Philadelphia office helping veterans with a variety of issues, from getting their medals to straightening out disability claims.

"So far, it's been great," he said. "I'm really getting interested in politics and I have a job I like to do."

After the war, Lasko said he received an associate's degree in criminal justice from Northampton Community College but also struggled at times to adjust to his disability.

"It was a long road back," he said.

"I'm grateful they started a program that helps wounded veterans."

Schwartz, who represents the 13th Congressional District, including parts of Montgomery County and Northeast Philadelphia, said she "jumped to be a part of the initiative when I heard about it.

"We have to do everything we can to help our veterans reintegrate into the community and the workplace," said Schwartz, whose father served in the Korean War.

For more info on the program, visit: http://cao.house.gov/wwp-about.shtml. *