TACOMA, WASHINGTON - Helping soldiers who are about to medically retire isn't for the faint of heart. Transition Coordinators (TCs) know helping a soldier in recovery find their future path isn't easy. TCs converged on Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM) this week for annual training, where best practices, opportunities, and challenges were discussed.

Mary Ball, a nine-year Transition Coordinator at JBLM, said she loves what she does to help soldiers. "I find it rewarding sitting down with soldiers figuring out their goals."

Ball recently helped Spc. Joey Parli come through the JBLM Soldier Recovery Unit (SRU) after barely surviving a devastating hit-and-run motorcycle accident on May 26, 2022.

"I medically retired on June 29, 2024. I'm only 26 years old, and it was not my plan to have such a short time in the Army. I wanted to serve and was using this as an opportunity to see where it would take me."

Parli, a Corrections/Detention Specialist, went through rehab at the Audie Murphy VA hospital in San Antonio, where they specialize in prosthetics, spinal cord injuries, and more, before coming to the JBLM SRU. Adaptive sports, career education, and readiness opportunities helped him recover.

Ball explains that TCs have to be ready to change with the soldier. "Joey is extremely gifted in golf, and his plan changed as he was just taking general ed courses in college. He decided he would go one way, and then it changed," said Ball, who is happy Parli found a way to take his degree and merge it with his passion for golf.

Once Parli and Ball figured out a path forward, the stars all aligned. "His goal was to work in the golf industry, and as he planned backward, getting his degree in kinesiology (the study of movement) was that stepping-stone; it made sense for him to be able to do that program while in the SRU," said Ball.

"My Transition Coordinator and others at the SRU were a great help to me. Ms. Ball helped me with grants I was eligible for, and others helped me with processes to do things moving forward," explained Parli now studying at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, where he lives.

Ball is proud of Parli's progress. "We can't take the credit; he did it himself. We just helped set him up for success!"

When Parli looks back at what happened, he is still in amazement at how it all happened, but ready to take on the future. "I never knew two weeks before my deployment date, I would end up in the hospital on my deathbed. Now it's my resurrection bed with the help of the SRU, the TCs, the hospitals, and, of course, my family."

Ball described helping soldiers in transition as putting pieces of a puzzle together. She stressed that you don't always find the right piece immediately, but Transition Coordinators are ready to go the extra mile. "Every Soldier is different. My job is to find all the resources to help soldiers on their path. The key is to connect soldiers with the right person or program. We may not have the immediate answer, but we will find someone who does."