Marine veteran calls attention to condition related to years of using shoulder-fired rockets – Steamboat Pilot & Today
News | Jan 23, 2025
jrussell@SteamboatPilot.comSteamboat Springs resident Mike Lozano sat down for an interview with NPR’s Jon Hamilton last fall, hoping to bring attention to arteriovenous malformation, or, AVM, a condition related to years of using shoulder-fired rocket launchers.In the story, Hamilton, a correspondent for NPR’s science desk, tells how Lozano and a fellow Marine, William Wilcox, both suffer from AVM, a rare tangle of abnormal blood vessels prone to bleeding that is present in fewer than one in 1,000 people.“His AVM burst, but mine was caught in time,” Lozano said in an interview last week. “Many other heavy weapon operators who were deployed have been diagnosed with similar brain injuries because of the concussive blast exposure. I still struggle with cognitive issues aside from my post-traumatic stress and anxiety.”Lozano served in the Marine Corps from 1991 to 2004 and as part of the Air Force Reserves until 2021. He operated tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided missile systems in training and in combat.“We fired a lot of TOW (anti-tank) missiles,” Lozano said. “We fired them in combat, in training — all types of weapons — and it was constant.”Lozano also recalls being knocked unconscious during an intense firefight in Iraq as the squad he was leading rescued a tank disabled by a rocket-propelled grenade during an ambush. The veteran said he was returning fire when another American tank near him fired a shot and the recoil force knocked him sideways and left him in a daze.Lozano said he feels incidents like that, as well as the repeated use of shoulder-fired weapons, led to the formation of an AVM that was discovered by a neurologist in his right frontal lobe in 2019. He had a successful craniotomy operation but still struggles with residual effects; but Wilcox’s AVM ruptured, leaving him with lifelong health issues.Lozano credits his wife, Valery, for convincing him to see a doctor after noticing that something wasn’t right.“We were firing 153-millimeter missiles from our shoulders, so it’s becoming a big issue,” Lozano said. “I still remember the feeling of firing the SMAW (shoulder-launched multipurpose assault weapon) … there is a big boom, it shakes you and it rocks you.”Lozano said he didn’t recognize the symptoms until after he left the Marines, became a reserve with the Air Force and began working with federal law enforcement and as a firearms instructor with the Department of Homeland Security. His post-Marine life has included severe headaches, trouble connecting thoughts and problems sleeping. He has had lapses in memory and difficulty filling out the detailed forms required in his position; and he has dealt with other impacts resulting from the trauma of war, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. Lozano said he has also experienced night terrors and could not escape the feeling that life outside of a combat zone wasn’t normal. “I take medication for the headaches, to help me to sleep at night, and I take medicine for the PTSD, which calms me,” Lozano said. “I don’t like taking the pills because of the side effects, but the ones I’m on right now have been good. It was a nightmare going from one medication to another, and they just kept throwing medications at me until I thought there’s got to be something else.”That “something else” came along in 2019 when the Lozanos started the Warhorse Ranch in northern Routt County to help other veterans. Lozano said he finds great satisfaction in helping others deal with the ongoing effects related to the trauma of war.Lozano also has joined the Agricultural Behavioral Health Work Group, where he hopes to make an impact shaping guidance related to behavioral health care for ranchers and farmers.In his newest specific mission, Lozano has helped bring health services to the area and is thankful that UCHealth is part of the Veterans Administration Community Care Program and works with the Tricare and TriWest networks to help provide care.“They are exceptional when it comes to the care of veterans’ physical well-being,” Lozano said. “Before my neurologist, Dr. Tracy Vargas, came on board at UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center, I would have to travel to Glenwood Springs for a half-hour appointment. It was too burdensome to travel, so I did not get the treatment I needed.”Lozano said care from Dr. Vargas has reduced his headaches, and she can relate to the difficulties that veterans go through “because she is an Army veteran.”He also said he would like to see more mental health care opportunities in the Yampa Valley, which has less than five mental health therapists who are part of the Community Care Program and accept Tricare and TriWest, as well as more Yampa Valley dentists that are enrolled in the Community Care Program.Lozano said he relies on, and is grateful for, the free dental visit that is provided by Pine Grove Dental Arts, which is available on Veterans Day.“We truly are the .01 percent of the population that have fallen through the cracks of the constant struggle with medical insurance,” Lozano said. “We have the benefits, but we don’t have the providers. If our mental health and dental providers in the Yampa Valley choose not to be a part of the VA Community Care program, this will not help veterans.”John F. Russell is the business reporter at the Steamboat Pilot & Today. To reach him, call 970-871-4209, email jrussell@SteamboatPilot.com or follow him on Twitter @Framp1966.
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