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Navigating Financial Success

Navigating Financial Success: Essential Tips for Young Veterans After Discharge

 

Transitioning to civilian life after military service presents a unique set of opportunities and challenges, particularly when it comes to personal finances. As young veterans adjust to life after discharge, the need to establish a strong financial footing is paramount. This guide from Vets Help Center is designed to provide foundational advice to help young veterans navigate their post-military financial landscape with confidence.

 

Crafting a Comprehensive Budget

 

The cornerstone of financial stability is a well-crafted budget. For young veterans, developing a budget that accounts for both fixed and variable expenses is essential. It’s about understanding the flow of your money – where it comes from and where it’s going. A comprehensive budget serves as a roadmap, guiding you toward financial goals and highlighting areas where adjustments can be made to ensure those goals are met.

 

Finding Employment

 

Securing stable employment is the next critical step. Crafting a professional resume that translates military expertise into skills applicable to civilian jobs is crucial. This document is not just a formality; it is a testament to your value as a potential employee, showcasing the unique skills and experiences acquired during service that can benefit future employers.

 

Saving for a Home

 

Homeownership is a common goal and, for veterans, more accessible thanks to VA loans. These loans offer significant advantages, such as no down payment and no need to purchase mortgage insurance, making the dream of owning a home more attainable. Exploring this benefit can provide a valuable stepping stone towards long-term financial security.

 

Managing High-Interest Debts

 

High-interest debt can be a formidable obstacle on the path to financial independence, often acting as a drain on one’s resources due to the relentless nature of compounding interest. Proactively addressing this challenge by focusing on paying down credit card balances and personal loans can mitigate long-term financial strain. This strategic approach not only liberates funds for more productive uses like investments and savings but also accelerates the journey toward true financial liberation.

 

Investing in Your Education and Career

 

Pursuing an online business degree program offers a flexible and efficient pathway to enhance your earning power, providing comprehensive knowledge in areas such as management, finance, and marketing. This mode of education allows for the continuation of full-time employment, enabling students to apply theoretical knowledge to practical workplace scenarios in real time. The accessibility and adaptability of these programs make it an attractive option for those looking to advance their careers.

 

Resisting Lifestyle Inflation

 

As income increases, so can the temptation to spend more. However, maintaining financial discipline by resisting lifestyle inflation can lead to greater financial freedom. It’s about striking a balance that allows for a comfortable life while still prioritizing savings and investments.

 

Networking with Veteran Communities

 

There is immense value in the shared experiences of the veteran community. Networking with peers who have successfully transitioned can offer insights and opportunities that might not be apparent. These connections can become a source of support, advice, and potential career advancement.

 

Exploring Supplemental Income

 

Diversification is a principle not just for investing but also for income. Leveraging the skills learned during military service can lead to additional income streams through part-time work or freelance opportunities. This not only bolsters financial stability but also enriches professional experience.

 

The journey to financial success for young veterans is a multi-faceted endeavor. It requires a blend of strategic planning, community support, and personal discipline. By taking proactive steps to manage finances, seeking employment that leverages military skills, and pursuing homeownership through a VA loan, young veterans can lay a strong foundation for a prosperous civilian life. The path ahead is one of great potential, and with the right approach, financial success is not just a possibility, but an expectation.

 

Join the effort to uncover the truth about governments and war veterans at Vets Help Center. Explore our resources, watch impactful documentaries, and become part of a community dedicated to seeking justice and support for all veterans. Visit us at Vets Help Center for more information.

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Military-Veterans-College-Guide

The Ultimate College Guide for Veterans & Active Service Members

Veterans and active service members applying for college qualify for resources that help ease the transition to campus life. Read on for a guide to picking a VA-approved school, scholarships, credit for service experience, and community support.

https://bestaccreditedcolleges.org/resources/military-veterans-college-guide#0561

 

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PTSD and Sleep

Guide to Sleep and PTSD

https://purple.com/blog/ptsd-and-sleep

The guide covers:

  • What PTSD is and how it impacts sleep
  • Common sleep disturbances associated with PTSD, such as insomnia or night terrors
  • Strategies for addressing PTSD-related sleep issues
  • How to improve sleep hygiene and create a safe sleeping environment
  • Tips for partners of people with PTSD 

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Camp Lejeune Claims Center

We exist to help military veterans harmed by the contaminated water at Camp Lejeune to get the financial benefits they deserve. We’re ready to help you — at no out-of-pocket cost to you or your family.

What Happened at Camp Lejeune?

Camp Lejeune is a U.S. Marine Corps Base in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Toxic chemicals were released into the water supply systems from 1953 to 1987. This means that nearly 1 million people may have been exposed to these harmful chemicals. As a result, anyone who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune for at least 30 days during this period may now be entitled to compensation.

File a claim or call (866) 860-1236

https://www.camplejeuneclaimscenter.com/

https://www.camplejeuneclaimscenter.com/water-contamination/

 

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Guide to VA claims

Mesothelioma VA Claims Guide

Far too many veterans are currently suffering from mesothelioma, a rare cancer caused from exposure to asbestos that takes 20-50 years to develop. Getting compensation for this disability is often a difficult process for veterans as well with many pitfalls and things that can cause their claim to be wrongfully denied. That’s why we made a guide on everything veterans need to know about the VA claims process.

Mesothelioma VA Claims Guide – https://lanierlawfirm.com/mesothelioma/veterans/guide-to-va-claims/

We put a ton of work into it. If you think this guide could be helpful for your veterans, would you consider sharing a link to this somewhere on your page? I’m sure you get a lot of requests like this, but I think it may be worth a look.

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Reasons for Hiring Veterans and How to Complete This Patriotic Mission

Reasons for Hiring Veterans and How to Complete This Patriotic Mission

Anyone who runs a company knows that skilled, reliable employees are tough to come by. Many applicants lack the qualities that make for a dependable worker. Military veterans tend to be some of the best candidates available. The following explains why, along with tips on how to bring them on board.

Qualities That Come With Recruiting Vets

Having been in the military, armed forces graduates possess abilities many do not. As members of an organized system, they’ve internalized the importance of taking orders and following instructions. You couldn’t ask for better team players, a vital element for any organization’s success.

Similarly, soldiers who’ve held leadership roles become effective business leaders. They understand wielding power responsibly and take duties seriously. Accustomed to working under pressure, they’re comfortable making weighty decisions. Other qualities include independence and a strong work ethic.

Advantages That Come With Recruiting Vets

Veterans have considerable skills regarding health and safety protocols. Preparing to face life on the battlefield requires mastering all styles of medical emergency techniques. If your business involves heavy machinery or dangerous situations, the presence of one of these individuals is especially welcome when someone experiences an injury. Those with medical experience during their time in the military are perfect candidates for healthcare positions, including surgical assistants, radiologists, and respiratory therapists.

Veterans are also often comfortable using technology. Many roles in the armed forces involve computers, such as code cracking and drone surveillance. As such, they tend to be savvy at finding information online.

Students of virtual commerce say that, by the year 2040, 95% of all transactions will take place over the web. You don’t want your company to get left behind when it comes to Cyber sales. Someone comfortable with computerization can assist with this transition and will be a stellar pick to become your chief technical officer or IT specialist.

Additionally, your business can earn tax credits for hiring veterans. Ask your accountant about the Veterans with Services-Connected Disability rebates and unemployment tax credit possibilities.

Strategies for Recruiting Vets

Maybe you’re convinced hiring veterans is the right move, yet you aren’t sure how to do it. It’s essentially the same process as looking for civilian employees. Still, there are techniques and sensitivities human resources departments should utilize when placing the call.

Start by letting your local Veterans Service Organization know your interest. These organizations sometimes have job placement programs that will match you with applicants.

Follow this by making a hiring announcement through social media. One key to an attractive job listing is a graphical element. With an online photo editor, you can resize image for Instagram or any other social media platform so they’ll load fast and still look great. From there, uploading files to a variety of platforms is a cinch.

Create job listings that appeal to veterans. Emphasize why your opportunity is perfect for those with backgrounds in the armed forces. Increase comfortability with the prospect of working for you by correctly using Military Occupational Specialty codes. During interviews, refrain from asking about specific deployments or the official reason for discharge, thus sidestepping the perception that you’re probing for confidential military information or a disqualifying medical condition, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Hiring veterans is one of the best moves a business leader can make. Those who’ve served are strong both mentally and physically, not to mention highly skilled. Search for patriots who can protect your company with the same vigor they defended the nation.

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Guiding You From Addiction to Recovery

Addiction Treatment Lifeline

https://www.addictionguide.com/

Addiction Guide is designed to be a reliable source of information about addiction, from how it happens to how to overcome it. Whether you are struggling with addiction yourself or concerned about a loved one’s substance abuse, our mission is to lead you to a healthier, happier life.

Learn About Addiction

or call (866) 698-0737

Nobody Fights Addiction Alone

Watching your loved ones struggle with addiction can leave you feeling helpless but know that you are not alone and that there is hope for a successful recovery. Offering support and finding professional treatment is the best way to get someone on the road to a sober and happy life. We offer comprehensive information on how to determine the right treatment and how to stay on track to a happier, healthier, addiction-free life.

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Speech Pathology Degrees

Speech Pathology Degrees

Compare All Types of Speech Pathology Degrees

Speech pathology is an extremely important science that focuses on communication and swallowing issues in clients in all age groups. If you are the type of student that is seeking a career that can influence the quality of life for clients in need, this field could be one of many that can help you meet your career goals.

 

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A Guide to Hiring Veterans in Your Small Business

Image via Pexels


A Guide to Hiring Veterans in
Your Small Business

Find more helpful content for
veterans at
Vets
Help Center
.

There’s a strong business case for
hiring veterans. Military veterans bring unique experiences and
skillsets to the table and are known for their loyalty, integrity,
and strong work ethic. Companies that hire military veterans also
benefit from tax incentives and a positive public image. Want to know
more? Here’s how to tap the talent of America’s veterans for
business success.

Transferable Skills
for Veterans

From a civilian’s perspective, the
military workforce can seem like a different world. However, military
veterans possess many skills valued by employers.

Soft Skills

Veterans are widely recognized for the
soft skills they bring to the civilian workplace. These include
skills like:

  • Integrity

  • Leadership

  • Teamwork

  • Communication

  • Critical thinking

  • Planning

  • Problem-solving

  • Resilience

  • Flexibility

  • Dependability

Hard Skills

Hard skills specific to a veteran’s
MOS can translate to the civilian workforce as well. Take, for
example:

  • IT and cybersecurity. Tech
    jobs are in high demand for both large and small businesses, and
    veterans who worked as IT and cyber operations specialists are
    well-positioned to transition into these careers. Veterans also have
    access to IT
    training programs
    through Hire Our Heroes and other
    organizations.

  • Translation services.
    Military interpreters and translators are skilled in a variety of
    languages including several Middle Eastern languages. How
    much do translators make?
    Expect to pay $25 or more
    per hour for translation services for niche target languages.

  • Maintenance technicians.
    Military mechanics work with automotive and mechanical
    equipment, industrial control systems, and blueprint and technical
    diagrams, making these veterans ideally suited for jobs
    in building maintenance
    . New building maintenance
    technicians earn around $40,000 per year.

Incentives for Hiring
Veterans

Employers may be eligible to receive
incentives for hiring veterans.

The most well-known is the Work
Opportunity Tax Credit. This federal tax credit of up to $9,600 per
qualifying worker is available to employers who hire target
groups
including certain military veterans. Before
claiming the WOTC, employers must apply for and receive certification
of a worker’s eligibility.

The HIRE Vets Medallion Award is a
federal-level award that recognizes companies that hire, retain, and
develop veteran employees. Small employers can qualify for a platinum
or gold medallion based on the percentage of veteran employees among
other
metrics
.

How to Become a
Veteran-Ready Employer

Employers should do more than hire
veterans. Creating an environment where veterans thrive maximizes the
benefits of hiring military veterans.

Getting approved as a Registered
Apprenticeship Program is one important way that employers can
recruit and develop veteran employees. Registered apprenticeship
programs that get certified under the GI Bill are eligible to provide
GI Bill benefits
including housing allowances and
stipends to qualified apprentices.

Employers should consider appointing a
dedicated human resource professional to support veteran employees.
Veteran employee initiatives should help veterans integrate
and adapt
to the civilian workforce as well as learn
job-specific skills and concepts. This requires managers and leaders
to acquaint themselves with military culture and terminology in order
to meet veterans on common ground.

Familiarity with military culture also
empowers organizations to effectively screen and interview veteran
candidates. Tailoring
questions
to military applicants ensures talented
candidates don’t fall through the cracks as a result of irrelevant
interview questions. Interviewers should questions about an
applicant’s discharge status or disabilities. Such questions are in
violation of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment
Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Military veterans add diversity to your
team while offering hard and soft skills that are highly valued in
the civilian workforce. However, the advantages of hiring veterans
may not be obvious to organizations new to military culture. Use this
information to improve your veteran recruitment and retention
strategies so your company can reap the benefits of hiring America’s
veterans.

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Drug and Alcohol Detox Centers Directory

DetoxRehabs.net was founded on one simple principle: connect individuals suffering from addiction, and their families, with the best detox and inpatient treatment program possible.

Active addiction takes an incredible toll on the individual suffering and everyone around them. During a time of crisis, it’s critical to find a treatment program that will best suit the personal struggling’s individual needs.

If you are new to the process, the first step is making a phone call and being honest during an intake assessment. While some individuals may need to medically detox at a detox center, others may be able to go straight into a residential alcohol and drug rehab center. A reputable intake specialist will be able to determine what level of care an individual needs and will create a treatment plan that fits both your needs and budget.

https://www.detoxrehabs.net/

 

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A Guide to Housing Benefits for Veterans

Veteran’s United reports that 58% of all veterans are currently planning to buy homes in the next five years. Buying a home is a big step in life, and can sometimes be prohibitively expensive. Our article shares resources that could lower costs of living and secure a dream house at an affordable rate for veterans and their families. The full article is available here:

A Guide to Housing Benefits for Veterans

https://www.propertytaxfunding.com/blog/veteran-housing-benefits-guide

 

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5 Ways Veterans Can Boost Their Sleep and Mental Health

The following is one of many articles from Vets Help Center to offer support and insight to war vets.

 

5 Ways Veterans Can Boost Their Sleep and Mental Health

Are you a veteran who is sick and tired of being tired? You’re not alone. Veterans are commonly impacted by sleep issues, which can have detrimental effects on their mental health. Since mental health can also be a stressful issue for veterans, it’s important to have the resources and information you need to make improvements to the quality of your sleep and overall well-being. That’s where these simple wellness and health tips from Vets Help Center can come in handy:

Seek Out Social Connections

Mental health and sleep can be closely intertwined, which means that if you are struggling with depression and other emotional issues, finding relief could also help you find better sleep. One way you can take better care of your mental health is to stay socially connected, especially after your separation from active duty service. Social connections are essential for both your mental and physical health, so look for ways to stay in touch with friends, family members, and even other veterans. If you’re missing out on the comradery you felt while serving, you can also check out your local VFW or American Legion chapter to meet up with fellow veterans. Joining one of these organizations can be a great way for veterans to stay socially connected so they can boost their mental health and sleep.

Eliminate Sleep Disruptors

Do you wake up with jaw pain or headaches? Have your teeth been chipping or cracking? If so, you may be grinding or clenching your teeth at night, which reduces your sleep quality and can lead to other problems that make it more difficult to sleep. The good news is that it’s easy to solve this issue with nighttime aligners. They provide a soft, slick surface between your top and bottom teeth so they don’t wear down, and as a bonus, they can even straighten your smile in as little as 10 hours a day. There are a lot of options for aligners (with Byte and Smile Direct Club among the most popular), so consult an online buying guide to help you decide which option is right for helping you sleep more soundly.

Schedule More Time for Self-Care

Many people seem to think that self-care is a luxury, self-care is actually a basic necessity for managing mental and physical health. So if you are not making self-care a priority, you could be putting yourself under more pressure and strain that can lead to more issues with your mental health, and of course, your sleep. For maximum sleep benefits, try adding relaxing self-care to your evening routines. Unwinding with a hot shower or breathing exercises can help quiet any thoughts keeping you up at night and prepare your body for sleep. If you tend to have racing thoughts that make it hard to fall asleep, you can also keep a journal by your bed so that you can get them onto paper and off of your mind at bedtime.

Shop for a New Mattress

Are you still sleeping on a full-size mattress leftover from basic training? Upgrading to a quality queen-sized mattress could be the key to improving your sleep. A queen mattress can be a great option for individuals and couples alike, providing more space to sleep without taking up too much space in your home. Having a bigger mattress can actually be better for couples and provides more room when sleeping with your partner. Sleep style and support needs can impact your mattress choice, but brands like Purple and Nectar have multiple options that could be a good fit. Finding the right mattress is one of the most basic steps you can take to reduce discomfort and disturbances during the night, so no matter what size you buy, you should make sure you purchase the best bed for your body type, needs, and sleep preferences.

Search for Veteran Benefits & Support

When you are constantly missing out on quality sleep, you are doing some pretty serious damage to your body and brain. Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to chronic disease, cognitive impairments, and even premature death. So if improvements to your bedroom or routine don’t seem to improve your sleep, you may need to reach out to professionals. Thankfully, the VA does offer help with sleep issues, since many veterans experience sleep issues after their separation, particularly if they have PTSD. You can use these benefits to complete sleep studies and you can work with your healthcare provider to create a treatment plan that will reduce those sleepless nights. If stress about your mental health is making it difficult to sleep at night, you can also seek mental health help from your local VA or veteran organizations.

If you want to get back on track with your life and improve your mental well-being, you have to find ways to get back on track with your sleep. The tips above can be helpful for improving all aspects of overall health, but they can be especially beneficial for enhancing your sleep and taking back control of your life.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

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Top Strategies for Veterans Purchasing a Home

Purchasing a home is one of the most significant purchases you will ever make. If you are a veteran planning to take this step, consider these strategies brought to you by the Vets Help Center to prepare you for the process and inform you of veteran-exclusive options that can save you money.

 

Examine Your Finances

Doing your financial homework before you begin house shopping can save you time and disappointment. Start by getting a free credit check. Your score can impact your likelihood of getting approved for a loan, as well as the loan terms you may be offered.

 

If you discover that your credit score is not optimal, there are strategies to improve it. First, report any errors in your report. Next, prioritize paying each bill by its due date. To make sure you aren’t late with payments, employ strategies such as autopay from your bank or alerts on your computer.

 

It’s also important to improve your debt to credit ratio by paying off as much of your current debt as possible. If you don’t have the means to do this, you can approach it from the other direction by asking your credit card company to increase your credit line. When your credit increases while your debt remains constant, your credit score improves.

 

Determine Your Price Range

To set a reasonable price range for your new home, examine current income and expenditures. Then, calculate your projected monthly payments for different loan amounts, taking into account additional expenses such as utilities, property taxes, insurance, and homeowners association fees.

 

Consider Your Loan Options

Homebuyers have several loan options to choose from, including:

  • Conventional adjustable-rate mortgages
  • FHA loans
  • USDA loans
  • VA loans

 

Many veterans opt for a VA loan, which is available to active duty and veteran members of the U.S. military and their families. These are excellent options for qualified individuals because they offer generous terms that aren’t available with other loan types. A VA 30-year fixed mortgage loan, for example, eliminates the need for a down payment and offers low interest rates. The interest for these rates, however, are typically for single-family residences, and they are subject to change. 

 

In addition to determining the best loan for your situation, you should also compare offers from several financial institutions. Because details such as interest rates, loan terms, APRs, and other fees can vary, it’s wise to shop around for the best deal. Also, apply for a loan pre-approval because it puts you in a better position for negotiating.

 

Use a Real Estate Company

Contact a real estate company early in the search process and let them know your budget, the type of home and neighborhood you are seeking, and which items on your wish list are must-haves. These professionals can educate you on the housing market:

  • What can you expect to get within your price range?
  • What is the best time of year to purchase?
  • How does location influence pricing?
  • Which neighborhoods are most desirable?
  • What amenities and services do the neighborhoods offer?

 

Once you find the perfect home, your agent can use your pre-approval to move quickly, negotiate the price and closing costs, and set a closing date. At the closing, both sides sign all the necessary paperwork, and then you officially become the owner of a new home!

 

If you are looking forward to purchasing a new home, make sure you are fully prepared. By following several simple strategies, you can increase your confidence and be better positioned for the house-hunting process.

Image via Pixabay

 

 

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VA Home Loan Centers

How VA Home Loans Improved Recently

According to Real estate experts, VA home loans are the best government loans available due to their incredible benefits, government guarantee, and money-saving opportunities. However, VA loans did not begin in their current state; that is a direct result of the 77-year history of continuous updates and expansions through several administrations.

The first significant update to take place was the Veterans Housing Act of 1970, which President Richard Nixon signed into law, made it possible for veterans to take advantage of VA loans more than two years after they finish their service. Eight years later, President Jimmy Carter signed the Veterans Housing Benefits Improvement Act of 1978, which increased the number of eligible applicants.

These updates and many other smaller ones have improved VA home loans over time and adapted them to the needs of veterans in more modern days. Thankfully the updates have not stopped, and the latest one of these major updates has improved VA home loans by making changes to the VA county loan limits and closing costs.

The Bluewater Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019

Signed into law on June 15, 2019, by former President Donald Trump, the law’s primary goal was to increase the medical benefits for Vietnam War veterans who might have been exposed to dangerous chemicals during their deployment. This includes internationally recognized chemical weapons like Agent Orange or Mustard Gas.

In addition to these changes, the act also made the previously stated changes which have made a significant improvement on VA home loans. Changes made by the new law have led to an 11.4% increased usage of VA home loans in 2020 compared to 2019.

  • Funding Fee Changes

The funding fee is paid by VA loan borrowers to reduce the costs of VA benefits to the American taxpayer which because of this law saw an increase from 0.15% to 0.30% for veterans and active duty service members. At the same time, the funding fee was reduced by an equivalent amount for members of the National Guard and reservists.

There are, however, some groups of applicants that were not affected by the new law. This includes veterans with service-related disabilities who already enjoyed an exemption for paying the VA funding fee.

  • Loan Limit Changes

Perhaps the biggest change made to VA loans by this new law is the removal of loan limits for first-time VA home loan borrowers. This is significant because it allows borrowers to buy a home anywhere in the country without having to follow VA county loan limits.

Although, it is important to know that the borrower will have to follow county limits set up by individual qualified lenders. At the moment, VA Home Loan Centers has lenders who have a $5 million loan limit for eligible applicants, meaning that it is possible to borrow that much without making a down payment.

In addition to removing loan limits for first-time borrowers, the law also removed loan limits for Native American Veterans who are taking out a loan to purchase a home or build a home on Federal Trust Land.

There are limitations to these loan limit removals with borrowers who have more than one active VA home loan still having to adhere to county loan limits which in most low-cost counties is set at $548,250.

Conclusion

Since their founding, VA home loans have helped more than 25 million veterans become homeowners. Hopefully, with these latest updates more eligible applicants will take advantage of their VA benefits and buy a home for little to no money down. In addition, VA loans and their constant upgrades show the U.S. Government’s commitment to rewarding current and former service members for their service.

Phil Georgiades is the CLS for VA Home Loan Centers, a government-sponsored brokerage specializing in VA loans. He has more than 22 years of experience working in the real estate industry. For more information about VA home loans or apply for a VA mortgage loan, call us at (877) 432-5626.

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Helpful and Affordable Sleep Tips For Veterans

Helpful and Affordable Sleep Tips For Veterans

 

According to research, many veterans have trouble getting a good night’s rest. Some of the issues that can cause disruptions in your sleep are PTSD, restless leg syndrome, and anxiety. It can take some work but having a well-rested night is still possible with these easy-to-implement, budget-friendly tips, presented by Vets Help Center.

 

Utilize Health Services

According to Health Finder, you should be getting between seven and eight hours of sleep per night. Of the many benefits you can expect when you’re well-rested include a reduction in stress and an improvement in how well your body fights off illnesses. In order to reap the benefits, try to time your sleep habits nightly; our bodies are naturally programmed to get better sleep at night than in the day. If you suspect an illness may be interfering with your sleep, be sure to consult a doctor. If you’re on a tight budget, consider taking advantage of the health services offered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. You can access care from persons who are familiar with your specialized needs, and these services are free for up to a year after your separation from the military. 

 

Develop a Bedtime Routine

An effective bedtime routine can be very helpful, especially if you’re dealing with issues like PTSD. There’s no one-size-fits-all routine for everyone, so make sure you find out what works well for you. Some of the things you can try are going to bed at a particular time, trying out some calming exercises close to your bedtime and doing something relaxing like listening to music. Keeping the light low and cutting down on disruptive noises are recommended as well. If you have trouble sleeping in silence or are being affected by ringing in your ears, a white noise machine can make your quest for sleep more attainable.

 

Create a Sleep-Friendly Bedroom

An integral part of sleeping well at night is having the right setup in your bedroom. When you’re creating a sleep-friendly space, the National Sleep Foundation suggests dimming the lights and keeping intrusive noises to a minimum. You should keep the room cool and use soothing scents like lavender to help you relax. It’s also recommended that you have a comfortable mattress that’s complemented by the right pillows and bedding. You can pick up many of the things you need at affordable prices at a retailer like Target. If you decide to shop at Target online, make sure to take advantage of online deals and discounts, such as coupons and promo codes.

 

Document Your Sleepless Nights

While your sleeplessness can be caused by a number of factors, it’s important to keep notes if your sleep doesn’t improve after changes to your wellness routine. One of the health issues that can disrupt your nights is sleep apnea and you need to recognize the symptoms. If you’re gasping during your sleep, waking up feeling short of breath or waking up with a sore throat, you may need to talk to your doctor. To make sure you’re giving the doctor all the information they need, you should write down any issues that concern you when it comes to how you’re sleeping.

 

Getting a good night’s sleep is essential to many aspects of mental, emotional and physical health. When you’re being deprived of restful sleep, it can create a terrible negative cycle. To keep this from happening, make sure you develop a sleep-friendly routine and consult the professionals when you need them.

 

Vets Help Center offers informative content to help educate veterans on life after service.

 

Photo courtesy of Pexels

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6 Gestures to Show Veterans and Active Duty Military Your Support and Appreciation

6 Gestures to Show Veterans and Active Duty Military Your Support and Appreciation

 

Are you looking for ways to support the veterans and active duty military in your community? The members of the United State Armed Forces and those who have served have sacrificed so much for our freedom and security. So, it makes sense to show your respect and gratitude for that sacrifice. You may already remember the military and veterans in your prayers, but how else can you support the people who have given so much? Well, you can start with one of these actions recommended by Vets Help Center, to show your appreciation and help veterans in need. 

 

Pursue a New Career in Social Work 

 

If you really want to go the extra mile for veterans, you can think about working toward a Master of Social Work. Several universities offer online programs which also require about 900 to 1,200 hours of field work to fully complete. Once completed, you can use your degree to help veterans and soldiers with anxiety and depression or assist with major transitions in their life, such as separating from service or adjusting to life with a new family. 

 

Help Senior Veterans Access Healthcare 

 

It’s no secret that figuring out the VA healthcare system can be a challenge, but when Medicare is mixed in, veterans can become completely lost. It’s difficult for senior veterans to access the healthcare they need, but you can make it easier by offering your help to a vet who is struggling. You can help them make sense of their options (advantages and disadvantages to enrolling, late enrollment fees, etc.), and help them choose the coverage that will provide the care they deserve. One option is having them sign up for a Medicare Advantage plan. Advantage plans have additional benefits for dental and vision care and prescription drugs. 

 

Donate to Charities Dedicated to Veterans

 

Sometimes, it’s easier to donate cash rather than time to help veterans in need, and that’s okay. Every little bit helps when it comes to improving the lives of those who have served and are still serving our country. There are several reputable charities you can donate to, but be on the lookout for scams involving veteran causes. Even seemingly supportive organizations may not use those donations correctly, so be sure to research charities online before donating.

 

Send a Care Package to Deployed Soldiers 

 

When active duty service members are deployed overseas, they often lack access to the comforts of home. You can provide that comfort by sending a care package to a deployed loved one or friend, and then packing it with items they can actually use. Non-perishable snacks, lightweight books, and toiletry kits are always a good choice, but adding more personal reminders of home are always appreciated too. Don’t know anyone who is deployed? You can send a care package or letter to a soldier through groups like Soldier’s Angels. 

 

Invite a Service Member Over for Memorial Day 

 

Care packages are a great way to help soldiers who are thousands of miles from home. To help the active duty service members in your own community, think about inviting them over for your Memorial Day celebrations. Although this is a day to honor fallen heroes, providing a home-cooked meal for a soldier or veteran is always a gesture that will be appreciated. Just be sure to keep your celebrations thoughtful since many service members have lost friends, loved ones, and fellow soldiers in combat. 

 

Thank Service Members and Veterans for Their Service 

 

Making a difference in the lives of America’s true heroes can take action, but know that your words matter as well. So, if you see a man or woman in uniform or meet a veteran, be sure to offer your thanks for their service. It’s such a simple gesture that will be so greatly appreciated by the recipient of your kind words. Better yet, back up your words with a thoughtful gesture, such as paying for a meal or coffee for veterans and service members in uniform or taking a veteran out to get a free meal on Veterans Day. 

 

We owe a debt to the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms. You can repay that debt with something as simple as a “thanks” or as grand as a career in social work to help veterans who need it most. So, show your support in a way that feels right to you. 

 

Looking for more information about assisting veterans? Head over to Vets Help Center for helpful links, articles, and videos.

 

Photo Credit: Pexels

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Mental Health & Lung Cancer

Mental Health & Lung Cancer

https://www.lungcancercenter.com/lung-cancer/complications/mental-health/

 

When someone receives a lung cancer diagnosis, it may cause complications. These can include mental health effects on the patient, their family members, caregivers, and friends. It’s important to recognize these changes and understand how this can affect the patient and the people around them. Knowing the symptoms and warning signs of someone struggling can help you expedite getting the support and treatment they need to combat these effects.

Distress

This word has many meanings. Distress encompasses unpleasant emotions, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. Studies have shown the negative effects of distress in decision making and the person’s ability or willingness to keep up with their health. Patients describe feelings of distress as:

  • Anger
  • Helpless and/or hopeless
  • Loss of control
  • Panicked or anxious
  • Questioning faith, purpose, or meaning in life
  • Sad
  • Scared
  • Secluded

Some distress is to be expected during uncertain and intimidating times. Lung cancer is a stressful disease. If a person begins to feel overwhelmed to the point of concern, they may be having trouble coping. This can cause issues and disruptions in focus, sleep, and eating patterns.

If mental health effects begin interfering with the person’s quality of life, seeking professional help may be a good option. Common mental health conditions in lung cancer patients that evolve from distress consist of anxiety and depression.

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Helpful Resources and Ideas for Vets Looking to Become Entrepreneurs

Helpful Resources and Ideas for Vets Looking to Become Entrepreneurs

 

About 200,000 service members begin their transition to civilian life each year. While there may not be enough military-oriented jobs available to employ every veteran, there are still plenty of opportunities for making a fulfilling, successful career. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit and dream of working for yourself, then starting a small business might be the perfect path forward. By gathering the right resources and making good decisions along the way, you can put yourself in a position for long-term success. 

 

Vets Help Center gives veterans helpful information and advice on a variety of topics. Here is some practical guidance on how you can lay a solid foundation for your new small business.

 

Financial Assistance 

 

Thankfully, there are quite a few resources available to veterans for financial assistance. The best place to start is probably with grants, as you won’t be required to pay them back. However, don’t be discouraged if you don’t have much luck with grants because loans and other types of funding can also help you to get your business up and running. 

 

Begin your research with the Veteran’s Business Outreach Center (VBOC), which is managed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and offers a variety of financing programs, among other things. Other options include—but are not limited to—the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Program, Street Shares Foundation, and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.  

 

Training and Education 

 

There are also many agencies and organizations that specialize in providing veterans with business training and job training. The SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development (OVBD), Boots to Business (B2B), and Entrepreneurship Boot camp for Veterans (EBV) are all worth looking into. And of course, you could always go back to school, which could prove invaluable for your business and career as a whole. Look into the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill to figure out what your benefits are for covering the costs of education. 

 

Business Growth Information

 

Along with obtaining funding and training, it’s also essential to arm yourself with a variety of information pertaining to business growth. After all, you’ll need to understand how to build and scale your business if you are to experience long-term success. Research government agencies and private companies such as Zen Business that provide helpful information and programs that can help you learn things like how to create a solid financial plan, how to adapt your business operations during a pandemic, and how to take advantage of technology.

 

Business Ideas for Veterans

 

There are many types of businesses you can start that will allow you to make the most of the disciplines, skills, and knowledge you acquired in the military. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

 
  • Restaurant owner

  • Retail store owner

  • Healthcare advocate

  • Technology consultant

  • Private security

  • Self-defense training

 

Keep in mind that you don’t have to start a business that centers around your military-specific skills. At the very least, the discipline and self-determination required to serve in the military will prove to be a valuable asset, no matter what kind of business you start. 

 

Many employers covet the qualities that veterans bring to the table and are always on the lookout for veteran applicants. But if you want to work for yourself, or for some reason you haven’t been able to land a promising job, starting a business could be the best way forward. Look into all of your resources in terms of financial assistance, training, education, and business growth that can help you begin your business on solid footing. These resources abound, so continue your research to see what all is out there, and think carefully about the type of business you would like to run for the foreseeable future!

 

Are you looking for information and advice on how to navigate the world after service? Visit VetsHelpCenter.com today!

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Deck of Cards

It was quiet that day, the guns and the mortars, and land mines for some reason hadn’t been heard.

The young soldier knew it was Sunday, the holiest day of the week.

As he was sitting there, he got out an old deck of cards and laid them out across his bunk.

Just then an army sergeant came in and said, “Why aren’t you with the rest of the platoon?”

The soldier replied, “I thought I would stay behind and spend some time with the Lord.”

The sergeant said, “Looks to me like you’re going to play cards.”

The soldier said, “No, sir . You see, since we are not allowed to have Bibles or other spiritual books in this country, I’ve decided to talk to the Lord by studying this deck of cards.”

The sergeant asked in disbelief, “How will you do that?”


“You see the Ace, Sergeant? It reminds me that there is only one God.

The Two represents the two parts of the Bible, Old and New Testaments

The Three represents the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.

The Four stands for the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John .

The Five is for the five virgins there were ten but only five of them were glorified.

The Six is for the six days it took God to create the Heavens and Earth.

The Seven is for the day God rested after making His Creation.

The Eight is for the family of Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives — the eight people God spared from the flood that destroyed the Earth..

The Nine is for the lepers that Jesus cleansed of leprosy He cleansed ten, but nine never thanked Him.

The Ten represents the Ten Commandments that God handed down to Moses on tablets made of stone.

The Jack is a reminder of Satan, one of God’s first angels, but he got kicked out of heaven for his sly and wicked ways and is now the joker of eternal hell.

The Queen stands for the Virgin Mary.

The King stands for Jesus, for he is the King of all kings.

When I count the dots on all the cards, I come up with 365 total, one for every day of the year.

There are a total of 52 cards in a deck; each is a week – 52 weeks in a year.

The four suits represent the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

Each suit has thirteen cards — there are exactly thirteen weeks in a quarter.

So when I want to talk to God and thank Him, I just pull out this old deck of cards and they remind me of all that I have to be thankful for.”

The sergeant just stood there. After a minute, with tears in his eyes and pain in his heart, he said, “Soldier, can I borrow that deck of cards?”

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Posted in War

Persian Gulf War

Introduction


Persian Gulf War, conflict beginning in August 1990, when Iraqi forces invaded and occupied Kuwait. The conflict culminated in fighting in January and February 1991 between Iraq and an international coalition of forces led by the United States. By the end of the war, the coalition had driven the Iraqis from Kuwait.

Part II: Causes of the War

The Iraqi-Kuwaiti border had been the focus of tension in the past. Kuwait was nominally part of the Ottoman Empire from the 18th century until 1899 when it asked for, and received, British protection in return for autonomy in local affairs. In 1961 Britain granted Kuwait independence, and Iraq revived an old claim that Kuwait had been governed as part of an Ottoman province in southern Iraq and was therefore rightfully Iraq’s. Iraq’s claim had little historical basis, however, and after intense global pressure Iraq recognized Kuwait in 1963. Nonetheless, there were occasional clashes along the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border, and relations between the two countries were sometimes tense.

Relations between the two countries improved during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), when Kuwait assisted Iraq with loans and diplomatic backing. After the war ended in 1988, the Iraqi government launched a costly program of reconstruction. By 1990 Iraq had fallen $80 billion in debt and demanded that Kuwait forgive its share of the debt and help with other payments. At the same time, Iraq claimed that Kuwait was pumping oil from a field that straddled the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border and was not sharing the revenue. Iraq also accused Kuwait of producing more oil than allowed under quotas set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), thereby depressing the price of oil, Iraq’s main export.

Iraq’s complaints against Kuwait grew increasingly harsh, but they were mostly about money and did not suggest that Iraq was about to revive its land claim to Kuwait. When Iraqi forces began to mobilize near the Kuwaiti border in the summer of 1990, several Arab states tried to mediate the dispute. Kuwait, seeking to avoid looking like a puppet of outside powers, did not call on the United States or other non-Arab powers for support. For their part, the U.S. and other Western governments generally expected that at worst Iraq would seize some border area to intimidate Kuwait, so they avoided being pulled into the dispute. Arab mediators convinced Iraq and Kuwait to negotiate their differences in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, on August 1, 1990, but that session resulted only in charges and counter charges. A second session was scheduled to take place in Baghdd, the Iraqi capital, but Iraq invaded Kuwait the next day, leading some observers to suspect that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein had planned the invasion all along.

Part III: Iraq Invades

The Iraqi attack began shortly after midnight on August 2. About 150,000 Iraqi troops, many of them veterans of the Iran-Iraq War, easily overwhelmed the unprepared and inexperienced Kuwaiti forces, which numbered about 20,000. By dawn Iraq had assumed control of Kuwait city, the capital, and was soon in complete control of the country. Hussein’s political strategy was less clear than his military strategy. The Iraqis initially posed as liberators, hoping to appeal to Kuwaiti democrats who opposed the ruling Sabah monarchy. When this claim attracted neither Kuwaiti nor international support, it was dropped. In place of the Sabahs, most of whom fled during the invasion, Iraq installed a puppet government.

The United Nations Security Council and the Arab League immediately condemned the Iraqi invasion. Four days later, the Security Council imposed an economic embargo on Iraq that prohibited nearly all trade with Iraq. Iraq responded to the sanctions by annexing Kuwait on August 8, prompting the exiled Sabah family to call for a stronger international response. In October, Kuwait’s rulers met with their democratic opponents in Jiddah, with the hope of uniting during the occupation. The Sabah family promised the democrats that if returned to Kuwait, they would restore constitutional rule and parliament (both of which had been suspended in 1986). In return, the democrats pledged to support the government in exile. The unified leadership proved useful in winning international support for an eviction of Iraq. Fewer than half of all Kuwaitis stayed in Kuwait through the occupation; of those who stayed, some formed resistance organizations but with little effect.

Any armed attempt to roll back the Iraqi invasion depended on Saudi Arabia, which shares a border with both Iraq and Kuwait. Saudi Arabia had neither the power nor the inclination to fight Iraq alone; if the Saudi government invited foreign troops into the country to attack Iraq, however, it risked appearing to be under their influence. Saudi rulers did eventually open the country to foreign forces, in large part because they were alarmed by Iraq’s aggressive diplomacy and because U.S. intelligence reports claimed that Iraqi forces were well positioned for a strike against Saudi Arabia. Other Arab countries, such as Egypt, Syria, and the smaller states along the Persian Gulf, feared that even if Iraq’s conquests stopped at Kuwait, Iraq could still intimidate the rest of the region. Western powers supported a rollback of Iraqi forces because they were afraid Iraq could now dominate international oil supplies. Finally, other members of the United Nations (UN) did not want to allow one UN member state to eliminate another.

Beginning a week after the Iraqi takeover of Kuwait and continuing for several months, a large international force gathered in Saudi Arabia. The United States sent more than 400,000 troops, and more than 200,000 additional troops came from Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, France, Kuwait, Egypt, Syria, Senegal, Niger, Morocco, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain. Other countries contributed ships, air forces, and medical units, including Canada, Italy, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Poland, and South Korea. Still other countries made other contributions: Turkey allowed air bases on its territory to be used by coalition planes, and Japan and Germany gave financial support. The initial goal of the force was to prevent further Iraqi action, but most countries were aware the force might ultimately be used to drive Iraq from Kuwait.

The Iraqis tried to deter and split the growing international coalition through several means. They made it clear that their adversaries would pay heavily if war broke out, and they hinted they would use chemical weapons and missile attacks on cities, as they had against Iran during the Iran-Iraq War. Iraq also detained citizens of coalition countries who had been in Kuwait at the time of the invasion and said they would be held in militarily sensitive areas—in effect using them as human shields to deter coalition attacks. Iraq eventually released the last of the foreigners in December 1990 under pressure from several Arab nations. In an effort to weaken Arab support within the coalition, Iraq tried to link its occupation of Kuwait to the larger Arab-Israeli conflict in the region. The Iraqis argued that since the UN had not forced Israel to leave Arab territories it occupied during and after the Six-Day War of 1967, it should not force Iraq to leave Kuwait. The Iraqis further implied they might leave Kuwait if Israel withdrew from the Occupied Territories. Several Arab countries responded positively to Iraq’s statements; however, most of these were states such as Jordan and Yemen, which were not part of the coalition. Only in Morocco and Syria did government support for coalition involvement weaken as a result of Iraq’s initiative.

The coalition’s greatest military concern during the closing months of 1990 was that Iraqi forces would attack before coalition forces were fully in place, but no such attack took place. The coalition was also troubled that Iraq might partially withdraw from Kuwait, which could split the coalition between nations eager to avoid fighting and nations wanting to push for full withdrawal. The United States in particular feared that signs of progress might lessen the resolve of some coalition partners and so discouraged attempts to mediate the crisis. Iraq’s uncompromising stand helped build support among coalition members for the American hard line.

On November 29, with coalition forces massing in Saudi Arabia and Iraq showing no signs of retreat, the UN Security Council passed a resolution to allow member states to “use all necessary means” to force Iraq from Kuwait if Iraq remained in the country after January 15, 1991. The Iraqis rejected the ultimatum. Soon after the vote, the United States agreed to a direct meeting between Secretary of State James Baker and Iraq’s foreign minister. The two sides met on January 9. Neither offered to compromise. The United States underscored the ultimatum, and the Iraqis refused to comply with it, even threatening to attack Israel. For the United States, the meeting was its way of showing the conflict could not be resolved through negotiation.

A large minority of the U.S. population opposed military action. Opponents were concerned that the armed forces would suffer large casualties and argued that the only reason for the invasion was to guarantee a cheap supply of oil. Many such opponents thought economic sanctions would eventually force Iraq to leave Kuwait. President George Bush maintained that larger political principles were involved and that economic sanctions would not work. He also argued that the UN resolution gave him the authority to use military force. Other Americans believed the president did not have the constitutional authority to order an attack without a congressional declaration of war. On January 12, 1991, the U.S. Congress narrowly passed a resolution authorizing the president to use force, nullifying the domestic debate.

Part IV: The Coalition Attacks by Air

When the UN deadline of January 15 passed without an Iraqi withdrawal, a vast majority of coalition members joined in the decision to attack Iraq. A few members, such as Morocco, elected not to take part in the military strikes. In the early morning of January 17, 1991, coalition forces began a massive air attack on Iraqi targets.

The air assault had three goals: to attack Iraqi air defenses, to disrupt command and control, and to weaken ground forces in and around Kuwait. The coalition made swift progress against Iraq’s air defenses, giving the coalition almost uncontested control of the skies over Iraq and Kuwait. The second task, disrupting command and control, was larger and more difficult. It required attacks on the Iraqi electrical system, communications centers, roads and bridges, and other military and government targets. These targets were often located in civilian areas and were typically used by both civilians and the military. Although the coalition air forces often used very precise weapons, the attacks caused many civilian casualties and completely disrupted Iraqi civilian life. The third task, weakening Iraq’s ground forces, was larger still. The coalition used less sophisticated weaponry to strike Iraqi defensive positions in both Iraq and Kuwait, to destroy their equipment, and to undermine morale. After five and a half weeks of intense bombing and more than 100,000 flights by coalition planes, Iraq’s forces were severely damaged.

In an attempt to pry the coalition apart, Iraq fired Scud missiles at both Saudi Arabia and Israel, which especially disrupted Israeli civilian life. Iraq could thus portray its Arab adversaries as fighting on the side of Israel. The strategy failed to split the coalition, in part because the Israeli government did not retaliate. Iraq also issued thinly veiled threats that it would use chemical and biological weapons. The United States hinted in return that such an attack might provoke a massive response, possibly including the use of nuclear weapons. Iraqi ground forces also initiated a limited amount of ground fighting, occupying the Saudi border town of Khafji on January 30 before being driven back.

One month into the air war, the Iraqis began negotiating with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) over a plan to withdraw from Kuwait. Had this initiative come before the start of the coalition’s attack, it might have split the coalition; now it simply seemed a sign that the war was weighing heavily on Iraq. The war made diplomacy difficult for Iraq: officials had to travel overland to Iran and then fly to Moscow to ferry messages back and forth. Sensing victory, the coalition united behind a demand for Iraq’s unconditional withdrawal from Kuwait.

Part V: Land War

On February 24 the coalition launched its long-anticipated land offensive. The bulk of the attack was in southwestern Iraq, where coalition forces first moved north, then turned east toward the Iraqi port of Al Ba_rah. This maneuver surrounded Kuwait, encircling the Iraqi forces there and in southern Iraq, and allowed coalition forces (mainly Arab) to move up the coast and take Kuwait city. Some Iraqi units resisted, but the coalition offensive advanced more quickly than anticipated. Thousands of Iraqi troops surrendered. Others deserted. Iraq then focused its efforts on withdrawing its elite units and sabotaging Kuwaiti infrastructure and industry. Many oil wells were set on fire, creating huge oil lakes, thick black smoke, and other environmental damage. Two days after the ground war began, Iraq announced it was leaving Kuwait.

On February 28, with the collapse of Iraqi resistance and the recapture of Kuwait—thereby fulfilling the coalition’s stated goals—the coalition declared a cease-fire. The land war had lasted precisely 100 hours. The cease-fire came shortly before coalition forces would have surrounded Iraqi forces. On March 2 the UN Security Council issued a resolution laying down the conditions for the cease-fire, which were accepted by Iraq in a meeting of military commanders on March 3. More extensive aims, such as overthrowing the Iraqi government or destroying Iraqi forces, did not have the support of all coalition members. Most Arab members, for example, believed the war was fought to restore one Arab country and not to destroy another. The United States also worried that extending the goal would have involved them in endless fighting.

The Iraqis achieved none of their initial goals. Rather than enhancing their economic, military, and political position, they were economically devastated, militarily defeated, and politically isolated. Yet because the government and many of the military forces remained intact, the Iraqis could claim mere survival as a victory. The surviving military forces were used a short time later to suppress two postwar rebellions: one involving Shia Muslims in southern Iraq and one involving Kurds in the north.

Almost all of the casualties occurred on the Iraqi side. While estimates during the war had ranged from 10,000 to 100,000 Iraqis killed, Western military experts now agree that Iraq sustained between 20,000 and 35,000 casualties. The coalition losses were extremely light by comparison: 240 were killed, 148 of whom were American. The number of wounded totaled 776, of whom 458 were American.

Part VI: Consequences of the War

The end of the fighting left some key issues unresolved, including UN sanctions against Iraq, which did not end with the war. On April 2, 1991, the Security Council laid out strict demands for ending the sanctions: Iraq would have to accept liability for damages, destroy its chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missiles, forego any nuclear weapons programs, and accept international inspections to ensure these conditions were met. If Iraq complied with these and other resolutions, the UN would discuss removing the sanctions. Iraq resisted, claiming that its withdrawal from Kuwait was sufficient compliance.

Many Western observers believed the victory was hollow because Saddam Hussein was still in power. At first, when Hussein was greatly weakened, Western powers believed a rebellion might succeed in overthrowing him. Meanwhile, potential rebels within Iraq believed they might receive international help if they rebelled. But when the Shia population of southern Iraq rebelled shortly after the cease-fire, they were greeted not with international help but with Iraqi military forces returning from the southern front. It quickly became clear that the rebels would receive no international help, although several governments gave them verbal support. Under the terms of the cease-fire, which established “no-fly zones” in the north and south, Iraqis could not attack the Shias with airplanes, but could use helicopters, which they did to great effect. Spontaneous and loosely organized, the rebellion was crushed almost as quickly as it arose.

The defeat of the Shias made the debate over helping Iraqi rebels even more urgent. Ultimately, however, most Western governments decided that if Hussein collapsed, Iraq might disintegrate, ushering in a new round of regional instability. A short while later, Kurds in the north of the country rebelled, and they too received no help. The Kurds were able to withstand Hussein longer than the Shias, in part because they had a history of organized, armed resistance. In the end, though, the Kurds achieved only a very modest success: a UN-guaranteed haven in the extreme north of the country. No permanent solution—such as Kurdish self-rule—was negotiated.

Elsewhere the effects of the war were less severe. In Kuwait the prewar regime was restored, and in 1992 the emir, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, honored his pledge in exile to reconvene the country’s parliament. Palestinians in Kuwait fared poorly after the war, in large part because Yasir Arafat of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and other prominent Palestinians had endorsed Hussein and his anti-Israeli rhetoric. Blamed for collaborating with the Iraqis, most of the Palestinian population (estimated at 400,000 before the war) was expelled from Kuwait or forbidden to return.

Following the war, thousands of American soldiers developed mild to debilitating health problems, including abdominal pain, diarrhea, insomnia, short-term memory loss, rashes, headaches, blurred vision, and aching joints. The symptoms became known collectively as Gulf War syndrome but their cause was unknown. Speculation about the cause centered on exposure to chemical and biological weapons; experimental drugs given to troops to protect against chemical weapons; vaccinations against illness and disease; insecticides sprayed over troop-populated areas; and smoke from burning oil wells ignited by retreating Iraqis. The U.S. Department of Defense originally stated it had no conclusive evidence that troops had been exposed to chemical or biological weapons. However, in 1996 the department acknowledged that more than 20,000 American troops may have been exposed to sarin, a toxic nerve gas (see Chemical and Biological Warfare). In 1997 the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) suggested the deadly gas may have spread farther than previously thought, affecting perhaps hundreds of thousands of troops.

The UN continued to maintain most of the economic embargo on Iraq after the war, and several coalition countries enforced other sanctions, such as the no-fly zones. In 1995 the UN amended the sanctions to allow Iraq to sell limited amounts of oil for food and medicine if it also designated some of the revenue to pay for damages caused by the war; Iraq initially rejected this plan but then accepted it in 1996.

Contributed By:
Nathan J. Brown, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.
Associate Dean, Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University. Author of The Rule of Law in the Arab World: Courts, Politics, and Society in Egypt and the Arab Gulf States.
Further Reading

How to cite this article:
“Persian Gulf War,” Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2004
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

© 1993-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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Posted in War

Disabled Vets

    The number of Disabled Vets in the US are at an all time high, so much for this is not going to be another Vietnam, no its going to be longer and have a toll much larger.

    The number of disabled veterans has jumped by 25 percent since 2001 to 2.9 million at a cost of about $33 Billion a year.

    The VA system is getting overloaded with new cases, health care cost is rising, waiting time for health care is getting longer and there is no end in site.

    I have a feeling the Government will try to deny claims and push health care cost off to the disabled vets and other vets with no disabilities just to cut cost.

    We have disabled vets from every war: Gulf War, Vietnam, Korean, WW1 and WW2; all still working on problems that were unique to that war.

    The Gulf war has Depleted Uranium and Anthrax Vaccinations, Vietnam had Agent Orange, Korean War had jungle rot, WW2 had land minds and WW1 had Mustard Gas.

    The only thing all these wars had in common was the killing, maiming and long term health effects suffered by the people who fought in these wars.

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Posted in VA

Heads roll at Veterans Administration

Mushrooming depleted uranium (DU) scandal blame

By Bob Nichols

February 23rd 2005


“SFBV” – – Considering the tons of depleted uranium used by the U.S., the Iraq war can truly be called a nuclear war. Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter charged Monday that the reason Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi stepped down earlier this month was the growing scandal surrounding the use of uranium munitions in the Iraq War.

Writing in Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter No. 169, Arthur N. Bernklau, executive director of Veterans for Constitutional Law in New York, stated, “The real reason for Mr. Principi’s departure was really never given, however a special report published by eminent scientist Leuren Moret naming depleted uranium as the definitive cause of the “Gulf War Syndrome’ has fed a growing scandal about the continued use of uranium munitions by the US Military.”

Bernklau continued, “This malady (from uranium munitions), that thousands of our military have suffered and died from, has finally been identified as the cause of this sickness, eliminating the guessing. The terrible truth is now being revealed.”

He added, “Out of the 580,400 soldiers who served in GW1 (the first Gulf War), of them, 11,000 are now dead! By the year 2000, there were 325,000 on Permanent Medical Disability. This astounding number of “Disabled Vets’ means that a decade later, 56% of those soldiers who served have some form of permanent medical problems!” The disability rate for the wars of the last century was 5 percent; it was higher, 10 percent, in Viet Nam.

“The VA Secretary (Principi) was aware of this fact as far back as 2000,” wrote Bernklau. “He, and the Bush administration have been hiding these facts, but now, thanks to Moret’s report, (it) … is far too big to hide or to cover up!”

“Terry Jamison, Public Affairs Specialist, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs, at the VA Central Office, recently reported that “Gulf Era Veterans’ now on medical disability, since 1991, number 518,739 Veterans,” said Berklau.

“The long-term effects have revealed that DU (uranium oxide) is a virtual death sentence,” stated Berklau. “Marion Fulk, a nuclear physical chemist, who retired from the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab, and was also involved with the Manhattan Project, interprets the new and rapid malignancies in the soldiers (from the 2003 Iraq War) as “spectacular … and a matter of concern!”

When asked if the main purpose of using DU was for “destroying things and killing people,” Fulk was more specific: “I would say it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people!”

Principi could not be reached for comment prior to deadline.

References:

1. Depleted Uranium: “Dirty bombs, dirty missiles, dirty bullets: A death sentence here and abroad” by Leuren Moret, http://www.sfbayview.com/081804/Depleteduranium081804.shtml

2. Veterans for Constitutional Law, 112 Jefferson Ave., Port Jefferson NY 11777, Arthur N. Bernklau, executive director, (516) 474-4261, fax 516-474-1968.

3. Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter. Email Gary Kohls, gkohls@cpinternet.com, with “Subscribe” in the subject line.

Email Bob Nichols at bobnichols@cox.net

Copyright: San Francisco Bay View

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

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Posted in VA

No Alternative Medical Treatment, means no Medical Treatment at all

By U.S. Air Force, Medically Retired SSgt Jeffrey Scott Flesher
November 2009

This story isn’t all that different from that of other Vets I’ve met having the same symptoms, and history as myself. So I don’t intend this article to be just about me; but Vets like me — thus bringing to your attention, the struggle about Vets with Gulf War Illness (GWI); AKA Gulf War Syndrome (GWS), a disease that effects thousands of us, astoundingly still misunderstood, in spite of being openly acknowledged by the VA.

“I have been turned down for any type of Medical Assistance, Medical Treatment or Medical Devices that the VA deems Alternative”. . . let me explain. I’ve been treated for what I now call Gulf War Illness since 1991, having gotten it in November of 1990, and have not responded to any conventional medical treatment in that time period. I have tried every known mainstream Medicine, and Medical Treatment for sleeping disorders, depression, anxiety, PTSD and pain; with no help whatsoever in the long run.

Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) history: I came down with GWS in November of 1990 after getting 12 or more shots in the same day (Cocktail Inoculations), some of which were 3 part shots, again, all given in the same day. Shots like Anthrax’s, Botulism Toxin (BT), Plague, as well as experimental Vaccines and Drugs. I got sick and had no idea that what I got was GWS until after the Military Medically Retired me for having all the same symptoms as GWS.

I have been diagnosed by the Air Force and VA as having a rare sleeping disorder called Sleep State Misperception Disorder, Mild Periodic limp movement disorder (PLMD) and Abnormal EEG with fast activity during stage 2 sleep, with low REM sleep, culminating in No REM state sleep. While this is significant to me, it doesn’t even get rated by the VA — so why is this I ask you? Apparently the VA doesn’t deem it very important; but will rate you on things that may be the cause of this.

I have been Diagnosed by the Air Force and VA as having:

  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)
  • Temporomandibular Joint Disease (TMJ or TMD)
  • Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS)
  • Advanced Deteriorating Joint Disease (ADJD)
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • A rare form of Lymphoma
  • The bones around my 5th Lumbar have been broken
  • Chronic Pain
  • Anxiety
  • Major Depression

Just to name a few.

During my tour in Kuwait I was exposed to Depleted Uranium, Lead and Mercury in the water supply, Oil Fires, and many other toxic chemicals, that built up in my body, intern causing pain like Fibromyalgia, and Neuropathy. What I really need is to be detoxed with chelation therapy; but this is a Alternative Medical treatment not authorized by the VA, even though its the only medical treatment that could possibly help.

How do I feel you may ask? I don’t sleep good, I wake to feel like I didn’t sleep at all. I’m tired all the time, don’t feel like doing anything. Everything hurts: my back, my feet and my hands; to the point I can’t sleep at all. I wake up to a very load ringing sound in my head that never goes away, this alone can drive you crazy. I have very bad memory problems, so I don’t remember much of yesterday, so in the long run, all the days just run together into years and I have no sense of time what so ever. Its a vicious circle of pain and not sleeping that feeds the Anxiety and Depression and all these other symptoms that I have.

Now I ask you this:

  • With little to no REM Sleep in the last 19 years, how would you feel! Do you think that you might get or have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?
  • Take Anti Depressants like Prozac that make you nervous and find yourself clenching you teeth; think you might get or have Temporomandibular Joint Disease?
  • Get enough Depleted Uranium, Lead and Mercury in your system; think you might get or have Advanced Deteriorating Joint Disease?
  • Get all these vaccines and enough Depleted Uranium, Lead and Mercury in your system; think you might get or have a rare form of Lymphoma?
  • Do you think if the bones around your 5th Lumbar have been broken that your Back might hurt and that you might get or have Chronic Pain?
  • Think that if you only have nightmares and no dreams, and flashbacks of a things you do not remember or do not want to remember; that you might get or have PTSD?
  • Think after having all this happen to you that you might get or have Major Depression?

If you answer no to any of these questions; you must work for the VA or DoD.

It all comes down to some kind of Brain damage; to the point I do not communicate very well and can not interact with the general public all that well; in general I stay at home and never go out; a shut in; like most vets like me, I don’t want anything to do with the outside world or have anything to do with Doctors that just don’t understand this at all; they keep giving me a line about how I have to just get over this and get on with my life; they might as well have handed me a gun and just told me to get it over with; that is what they want is for all Vets like this just to check out, commit suicide; they tell us that this is acceptable behavior under these circumstances and the new Government Policy is almost demanding it.

I have to take sleeping medication every night; they don’t work most of the time; since I have built up a tolerance for all such medications; when if fact there is a device called an Alpha-Stim unit, which will help me to sleep without the consistent use of sleeping pills, which I have overdosed on many times over the years, trying to get some sleep; but then again; I still think that’s what they want, is for me to just die; since I’m nothing but a drain on their resources. I will also add that the Alpha-Stim unit will help with Anxiety and Depression as well as PTSD, and in the long run would be cheaper than all the medication and treatment I get for the same symptoms. From more information visit: Allevia Health

The bottom line is this: By denying us any Alternative Medical Treatment they are in fact denying us any Medical Treatment what so ever.
See VA findings on Gulf War Illness

PDF for VA findings on Gulf War Illness

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Posted in VA

Yesterday’s Lies

by John Cory

War is a waltz, A dance with the Devil On the bones of Angels.~John Cory

On September 21st 2007, Sgt. Gerald Cassidy died – alone and forgotten in all the body counts and statistics of war, political polls and campaign strategies. He was unconscious for perhaps days before passing away like crumpled and discarded newsprint, barely noticed, simply brushed aside with yesterday’s lies.

Sergeant Cassidy did not die in Iraq or Afghanistan. He died in America, at a new medical unit in Fort Knox – in America – where we support the troops, according to every single lapel-flag-pin-wearing politician and pundit on the airwaves, and yet, Sgt. Gerald Cassidy died neglected and unnoticed.

Shame on us.

Among headlines for that week were these gems: taken from www.democracynow.org

Report: Telecoms, White House Lobbying Congress to Dismiss Wiretap Suits”

“Senate Rejects Anti-War Measure, Condemns www.MoveOn.org

“Bush Vows Child Health Insurance Bill Veto”

Our Senate was too busy creating more veterans and condemning free speech to notice Sgt. Gerald Cassidy. And our president was too busy stealing healthcare from children to have time for someone like Gerald Cassidy. It takes a lot of concentration to rob a child. Adults are easy.

My friend Remy at Welcome Home Soldier does tireless work on behalf of veterans, and she was so pained by the story about Sgt. Cassidy and this article VA Reports up to 30 Percent of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Suffer From TBI, she sent them to me and asked, ”Why do we allow this kind of thing?” And being a true Louisiana belle, she began taking action. If you’re looking for something to do about this issue – go join her.

A group of Vietnam vets from Charlie Company, 1/52nd 198th, posted talk on their forum about the January 2008 article in GQ magazine about PTSD. The article covers Vietnam, 9/11 and all that has followed in Iraq and Afghanistan and PTSD. The article is titled, “The Long Shadow of War”by Kathy Dobie.

And there it is – all the pain and death of yesterday’s lies coming down hard in the winter storms of today.

As I browse through old pictures of my days in war, I find myself wanting to crawl inside a photograph or two just to touch and smell those wonderful faces and hear their voices again. And sometimes when I rub my fingers over a particular photo, I’m never sure which side of the picture I’m on. Am I looking in or looking out?

When Sergeant Cassidy died, he took another piece of America with him. How many more pieces can we lose before we become totally lost ourselves?

Yesterday’s lies kill and wound our troops, and yet Congress, afraid to face the truth, continues to fund and support the great lie of war. So look closely, my friends, and ask yourselves, how it is that we manage to find increasing amounts of money for war but continue to reduce funds for the care of our wounded and suffering troops?

Shame on us.

Have we forgotten our promise to veterans, in Lincoln’s words, “to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan?” Are we so penny wise and pound foolish as to begrudgingly buy the bullets yet refuse to pay for the bread and bandages needed for the survivors? Or have we become so jaded that we view the flood of returning wounded as a burgeoning market in the for-profit healthcare industry with war as the ultimate profit generator?

In his farewell address, Gen. Douglas MacArthur spoke these words: “Duty, honor, country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.”

Those words were spoken to the cadets at West Point. But they are for us – the citizens of this great experiment in democracy. We should be equally obsessed with duty, honor and country not as a slogan, but as a call to action. There is no “us” or “them” – as though our troops are not part of our daily fabric of American life. It is and was from the beginning, “We the people.” There is no differentiation between civilian and soldier.

Yes, it’s election season and the race is capturing all the ink and airtime. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – if you Democratic presidential candidates want my vote, then here is what you do:

Go to Dover AFB and don’t tell me they won’t let you in – you’re Congressional members elected by “We the people”, for cripes sake! Go to Dover and meet a plane of caskets and serve as pallbearers for the entire load. Carry them gently and with love for the price they have paid and send them home to their loved ones with a tear and a kiss.

Open your home or a community center somewhere and prepare a meal for several families who have lost their loved ones in this war, or who have wounded to tend to, and feed them the fresh baked bread of compassion and a warm supper of empathy and recognition for their fulfillment of duty, honor, country. Take their children in your arms and listen to them tell you how much they loved their daddy or mommy or uncle. And weep for yourselves that you never met them.

And do this all without cameras, campaign advisers and media consultants. We’ll know about it – trust me. We will know. And if you’re afraid, remember duty, honor, country as defined by General MacArthur, because it applies to you as well.

And then, by God, if you truly want my vote, you will go to Westfield, Indiana, and you will embrace the loved ones of Sgt. Gerald Cassidy and ask for their forgiveness on behalf of a grateful nation. And you will listen as they tell you all about him and show you their family photo album – not just the ones of him in uniform, but the boy and teenager, and the man who lived duty, honor, country. Then you will go to his graveside and place a wreath with the promise that you will never forget him. And on the ride back across the Indiana snow, you will write the beginning legislation that will never let this happen again: The Gerald Cassidy Veterans Bill.

That night as you drift off to sleep, you will hear the whispered lullaby: “War is a waltz, a dance with the Devil on the bones of Angels.” And you will understand.

Then you can sleep the good sleep, knowing you have begun to put an end to yesterday’s lies.

John Cory is a Vietnam veteran. He received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star with V device, 1969 – 1970.

Original Article

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What was the Gulf War About

By Jeff Flesher

     The Gulf War was not about Money… directly, or Oil… directly, it was about Slavery. Slavery you say, well that is just as stupid of a remark as I have ever heard; well tell that to the thousand of Third Country National’s (TCN) who died during the Gulf War. In fact, they were the target of the Gulf War, the only people who were systematically murdered during the whole war, so why is this?

     In 1960 when Kuwait was forming its work forces to operate the Oil fields, they employed TCN’s to become the work class, at slave salaries, they were promised that they would become Citizens, and in 1990 that promise was about to become history, but it will remain an untold story in the pages of history, as it turns out, in fact, its a little know fact at all.

     What you have to ask yourself is why didn’t main stream media report this? One reason, they were told not to, and they do what their slave masters tell them to do. This war was fought by slaves, because that is what all Army’s are made up of, slaves; you or I, as soldiers, vets, or just civilians, do not want to admit that we are slaves to the system, but to the Governments, that is all we are and nothing more.

     History was written by a group, or race of people called “Main Stream Media”.

     All Wars have been Holy Wars, the Gulf War is nothing different, now Iran will soon suffer this Holy War, and who will fight it? The Slaves.

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Project Vets Sanctuary (PVS)

Project Vets Sanctuary is a long term plan to provide food and shelter for Vets and their family.
The first facility will be built on approximately 1,000 acres of land that is surrounded by BLM property to make sure civilization doesn’t move in and want them to move out. The idea is simple: build a place for people to live, build a self-sustaining power, water and food supply center.

Why Project Vets Sanctuary?

Thousands of Vets are homeless, or do not fit into society, this is a sanctuary for them, a place that they can come to live out their lives in peace and harmony. A lot of people will say this is an impossible dream; but I say its a dream worth trying.

What type of life will the Sanctuary provide?

This isn’t going to be an easy life, you will have to work and help out, this isn’t a hotel where you get three meals a day and laundry done for you, we will try to provide the means and it will be your job to meet those needs.

We will provide fields and water to grow food and raise live stock; its up to the residence to tend the fields and live stock; to do their laundry and prepare meals and other chores that they have to do in society anyway. The idea is that this is not a city, we want it to be a community in the country; a simpler way of life; grow our own food, live like people should live. With enough donations we can have buildings built for people to live in; but this is all based on donations, we may have to find ways to make money to become self sufficient.

First things first: I need to raise the money to pay for a 501c charity so that I can start raising the money for this project; then we’ll start a trust fund where all the money will be held. We have to insure that everything is legal and binding throughout the ages, since this is a long term plan, we want it to be in place a thousand years from now, well, at least a hundred.

We will first purchase the land, put a well on it, then start construction on the common area, which will include a power plant, which will be a combination of solar, wind and alternate energy sources. In the next few months we will map out our plans in more detail.

This is list of requirements to date:

  • All facilities will be handicap accessible.
  • A van that will transport patients to and from the nearest VA on a weekly or biweekly schedule.

What Vets will be allowed in this facility?

This is a hard question to answer, since we do not want to discriminate against any Vets or their Family members, who must also fall under this same criteria.
We will have to further refine or requirements as time goes by.

  • Residence must not require hospitalization. Currently we have no plans to provide medical care, other than having a van that will transport patients to and from the nearest VA, therefore we can only provide for those vets that do not require hospitalization.
  • All residence must be self relent, meaning they have the means to provide for them-self, that is a broad statement, it simply means that they do not require staff to assist them, they can have a spouse or other person to assist them and still meet this criteria.
  • Residence can not be mentally insane, this falls under our criteria from above and is also for the safety of staff and people living there.
  • Freedom of Religion; this is a non-religious community by definition, residence have the right to worship any religion they want; but we have no plans to build churches or promote a religion.
    This is a grey area that can only be avoided by taken the states stance on freedom of religion and freedom from religion.
  • Residence can not have any outstanding warrants or criminal activity that can not be reconciled by being here, in other words; if payment is required to pay off tickets, arrangements can be made.
  • Most Laws apply here. There are way too many laws in this world and trying to enforce them is not going to happen here, we have no plans to hire police or allow them into the sanctuary other than to remove someone who has broken a law that requires them to be removed.
    Extradition is a given also; this is not a sanctuary from the law; don’t do the crime if you can spend the time.
    The intent is that this community as a whole will be law abiding citizens.
  • Tolerance to others is a hard enough thing to do when everyone is healthy and feeling good; this is a community where this isn’t the norm, people have issues, depression, anxiety, PTSD and other issues for a start, some residence will be missing legs and arms and have other war time injuries; tolerance to others is a must in this place.
  • Drugs will always be an issue in every city, town or community on this planet; this Sanctuary will be no different; we will not allow the use of certain types of drugs: like speed, cocaine or opiates not prescribed by a VA doctor and will not tolerate any drug that can harm the mind or body even if it is prescribed by a doctor unless its use is deemed required because no other treatment has helped.
    We will have a Grow permit for Medical Marijuana but will only condone its use as a medicine, for treatment for pain, depression, anxiety, PTSD or other related symptom that would benefit from its use. It may still require that the user gets a permit from the state in order to use it; remember we are all law abiding citizens. We do know that a security plan will have to be in place to make sure that this product does not get abused.
  • Any member who can not abide by the rules will be asked to leave; you can not have a community of peace and harmony unless everyone tries to abide by a simple set of rules.

There are many more issues that will have to be resolved and this is by no means a complete list.

The issue of schools, clothing, recreation and other things that required in normal society will be required here.

Currently a lot of Vets do not fit into society and as a result, they can not fit in, most of them commit suicide, or live a life not worth living; the goal here is to provide a means for those people to survive and live a healthy productive life.

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A look at Veterans

Should PTSD Victims be able to earn the Purple Heart?

From Stars and Stripes

by Jeff Schogol

May 14th 2008

The veterans group for combat wounded troops whose mission is to preserve the integrity of the Purple Heart has come out against giving the award to troops suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I don’t think people should get the Purple Heart for almost getting wounded,” said Joe Palagyi, of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

PTSD does not merit the Purple Heart, according to an Army regulation that lays out the criteria for the award.

Recently, a military psychologist at Fort Bliss, Texas, told reporters during a roundtable that making troops with PTSD eligible for the Purple Heart could help de-stigmatize the disorder.

Related Op-ed: Recognizing the Hidden Wounds of War

“These guys have paid at least a high — as high a price, some of them — as anybody with a traumatic brain injury, as anybody with shrapnel wound, and what it does is it says this is the wound that isn’t worthy, and I say it is,” said John E. Fortunato.

When asked about Fortunato’s suggestion later, Defense Secretary Robert Gates called it an “interesting idea,” adding the matter is “clearly something that needs to be looked into.”

But Palagyi, who was awarded the Purple Heart for service in Vietnam, said PTSD does not meet the standards for the award, the forerunner of which was established by Gen. George Washington.

Learn More at Military.com’s PTSD Center

“The Purple Heart was set up for combat wounds, for those who have shed blood, and I believe that although PTSD is a physical disease and is an injury … [it] does not qualify for the merit of Purple Heart based on that,” he said Tuesday.

Injuries that merit the Purple Heart must happen in a combat theater and must be a direct result of enemy action, said Jack Leonard, also of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

The group’s concern about PTSD is that it can be caused by other factors, not necessarily the enemy.

“Did it occur in boot camp? Did it occur because of the rough air flight into theater? Or did it occur because an individual saw the results of the Taliban massacre of a village? I can’t answer that,” said Leonard, who was awarded the Purple Heart after being wounded in Vietnam.

Stars and Stripes called the medical center where Fortunato works for a response, but a spokesman there referred questions to Army Human Resources Command, adding that Fortunato should not have commented on the Purple Heart in the first place because the issue is “out of our medical lane.”

Leonard said he does not mean to downplay war’s psychological injuries, recounting how he is sure how his father suffered from PTSD after fighting in World War II with the Marines.

“Like a flash in a pan, he would reach out and I mean full-force smack with a balled fist, without any indication that it was going to happen, and you’d go, ‘What the hell — what the hell just happened?’ as you picked yourself off the floor,” Leonard said.

He said his father, who also served in the Korean War and was close to suicide at the end of his life, was never awarded the Purple Heart.

Asked if his father should have been given the award, Leonard said no.

“There’s no physical manifestation of — that he ever shed blood,” Leonard said.

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Combat Disabled Veteran Has No Constitutional Rights

by Jere Beery

Sergeant Major Paul Cousins, from Stockbridge, Georgia, served for 27 years in the United States Army. He was awarded 3 Purple Hearts for wounds received in combat during the 2 tours he served in Vietnam.

Paul Cousins is a highly decorated combat disabled veteran with a distinguished military service record who has shed his blood protecting the principles and standards this country stands for. One can only imagine the pain and dishonor this proven American Patriot felt when he was told by a civil court judge that he had no Constitutional Rights in his court room.

Paul Cousins is one of the growing numbers of former military personnel faced with a broken marriage and divorce. Some studies indicate military personnel are 3 times likely to suffer a failed marriage, than non-military.

Sergeant Major Cousins was married for 14 years to a German National who is not a United States citizen. They had no children together. Cousins was not married at the time he was disabled from combat wounds in Vietnam. Yet, this combat disabled veteran was ordered to pay spousal support to his ex-wife directly from his earned disability compensation.

Superior Court, Judge Douglas C. Pullen, presided over the case of Cousins during a contempt of court hearing. A copy of a notarized statement signed by Sergeant Major Paul Cousins of some of the statements that took place in Judge Pullen’s courtroom for that contempt of court hearing in October 2005 can be found attached to this press release.

In the statement, when Sergeant Major Cousins refers to the Federal Regulations which protect his disability compensation from third party awards, Judge Pullen is quoted to say;

“WHEN I WAS ELECTED TO SIT ON THIS BENCH, I STOPPED READING THEM. I DO NOT HAVE TO ABIDE BY ANY FEDERAL OR GOVERNMENT LAW, BECAUSE I AM THE LAW. THIS IS MY COURTROOM AND I CAN DO ANYTHING I WANT TO IN HERE, DO YOU HEAR ME SERGEANT MAJOR? IN MY COURTROOM YOU HAVE NO CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS. I AM THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND I DO WHAT EVER I WANT TO IN HERE.”

Operation Firing For Effect National Chairman, Gene Simes says his organization is currently monortoring 38 simular cases where veterans’ disability compensation has been misused as a divisable asset in a divorce settlement.

According to Simes, Judge Pullen’s comments are totally unacceptable and Judge Pullen needs to be removed from the bench as soon as humanly possible. Simes is calling for Judge Pullen to step down immeately. “This renagade judge owes Sergeant Major Cousins an appoligy, and I am personnaly going to do everything in my powere to make certain he recieves it.” Simes stated.

Sergeant Major Cousins was ordered to pay his ex-wife $550 a month directly from his VA disability compensation, or go to jail for contempt.

Send your comments to:

Chattahoochee Circuit
Judge Douglas Pullen
P.O. Box 1340
Columbus, GA 31902
Work Phone: 706-653-4273

COUSINS DIVORCE CASE BACKGROUND:

Paul Cousins was ordered in February 1998, by Judge Douglas C. Pullen to pay his former spouse $550 per month from his Military Disposable Retirement Pay. This action is in accordance with USC, Title 10, Section 1408. This Federal Law stated that States courts/judges can only award up to 50% of a military disposable retirement pay and NOT any disabilities compensation.

In July 2003, Cousins came down with prostate cancer, which was caused from Agent Orange from combat in Vietnam. At that time the VA awarded Cousins 100% disability compensation. That action changed his military retirement pay to Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC). Now CRSE is a DOD compensation to retired veterans that suffered their wounds in combat. CRSC is a tax-free compensation and it is NOT subject to the Former Spouse Protection Act of USC, Title 10, Section 1408.

In October 2005 his former spouse filed a Contempt of Court order, after waiting for two (2) years after DOD stopped paying her the $550 per month. The DOD stated that she was no longer authorized any of his disability compensation. It was during the Contempt of Court hearing in October 2005 when Judge Pullen made those unjust statements in a US Courtroom.

To learn more about this issue, visit; http://jerebeery.com/5301%20Club.htm

Jere Beery
OFFE National Public Relations Director
jerebeery@aol.co

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73,000 Iraq War Veterans Dead

By The Idaho Observer

Last May, the Gulf War Veterans Information System of the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), published a report detailing the numbers of military casualties in the Gulf since 1990. The report shows that more Gulf War veterans have died than Vietnam veterans.

U.S. Military Gulf War Deaths:

Deaths amongst Deployed—17,847

Deaths amongst Non-Deployed—55,999

Total deaths—73,846

Total soldiers killed in Viet Nam was less than 56,000.

Gulf War veterans who have filed “Undiagnosed Illness” (UDX) claims is 14,874 and the total number of disability claims filed is 1,620,906 (407,911 among the deployed and 1,212,995 among non deployed).

Thirty-six percent of combat veterans have filed disability claims.

We know government estimates for Iraqis killed are as “low” as 70,000 while statistical analysis and anecdotal evidence supports numbers ranging from 700,000 to over one million. Likewise, government estimates for U.S. soldiers killed (less than 4,000) is low compared to the DVA total of 73,000.

The discrepancy is in the counting. The government is reportedly counting only soldiers that die, in action, before being taken away by helicopter or ambulance.

As a sad anecdote, a reliable source from southern California commented that a friend had just began working at a funeral parlor. In the first two weeks, he had been at the scene of six suicides—all of them gulf War vets. That is just one funeral parlor guy, in one mid-sized American town. The possible numbers of additional service-related deaths from suicide are staggering. Who is going to count those guys?

Consider the huge numbers of non deployed among the ranks of those the DVA counts as dead.

And will they ever count the numbers of men and women who will eventually die from illnesses linked to service-related toxic exposures of drugs, chemicals and depleted uranium?

When you count all the present and future casualties of the Gulf War since it began in August, 1990, this is by far the deadliest war in U.S. history.

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WHY DOES THE GOVERNMENT FEAR ARMED VETERANS?

PART 1 of 2

by Alan Stang

stangfeedback@gmail.com

January 4th 2008


Recent passage by the District of Criminals of the legislation known colloquially as the Veteran Disarmament bill raises the question of why the conspiracy for world government would want to disarm returning veterans. The conspiracy trusted these men to use the most devastating ordinance abroad; it does not trust them to keep and bear much smaller weapons here at home. The obvious answer is that these are the millions of well trained military men I was talking about in my recent piece about a possible assassination threat to Dr. Ron Paul.

These are the men the psychos at the top are afraid of, the men who can stick the red dot in their eye from a mile away. The psychos know these men are out there, watching, stewing, temperatures rising every day; they are beginning to understand that they are dying now because the psychos have poisoned them with Depleted Uranium in the field.

They are beginning to realize that the buddies and the limbs they left behind in Iraq were lost not in defense of this beloved country but in behalf of the megalomaniacal nightmare of conquest the psychos think is “normal.” Now the veterans understand that the monsters who sent them half way around the world to get sick are dismantling the system of freedom the Founding Fathers gave us here at home.

So far, they haven’t said much, but the psychos know they are simmering and that something could set them off. So, the Nazis at the top want their guns, because it is very nerve wracking to have to keep watching your chest and tum-tum, hoping that if you see the red dot there soon enough you will have time to hunker down before the round that follows it smashes through your perfumed skull and distributes gobs of your polluted brain all over the haute couture ensembles of the distinguished ladies enjoying cocktails on the balcony of your penthouse.

Proof that they are crazy is their assumption that passage of this “law”, signed by Communist world government traitor Jorge W. Boosh, will intimidate these men – who have come home from Hell – into surrendering the ordinance they are buying to the bare walls at gun shows and stores; which logically brings us to the proper application of the Second Amendment.

Some Americans understand that the main purpose of the Second Amendment is not hunting, not sport shooting and not even self-defense, although it would certainly underwrite those worthy activities. No, the Fathers wanted each and all of us to be armed in the event that somewhere down the road this shaky experiment they had created but did not trust themselves – the federal government – were to get out of control and try to destroy our rights.

They wanted us to “keep and bear” – to carry – the guns we would need to do the job if it became necessary to “abolish” the government. Remember, the government is not the country. They are two entirely different things. The District of Criminals is the government. You are the country.

Of course, these are not my ideas. I can’t take credit for them. Remember that the nation’s birth certificate – the Declaration of Independence – says that whenever government becomes oppressive, whenever it tries to deny their rights, the people under it have the unalienable right to rise up and cast it off, even “abolish” it.

So, I write with the authority and under the protection of the President of the United States, because the man who wrote the Declaration later became President. Indeed, he also wrote that every generation or so, the people should rise up and enjoy a bloody revolution, in which the tree of liberty is refreshed “with the blood of patriots and tyrants,” presumably to remind everyone who has the power.

Many Americans know this and believe it, but I have yet to see a piece by some expert explaining what it would be like today to “abolish” the federal government as the Declaration teaches. How would it be done? Remember, I am merely speculating about some statements by the President of the United States. I am advocating nothing. I am too decrepit to do something myself. Shirley Temple in her prime could take me down. And everyone I know is as decrepit as I am. I do know from the movies that the bullet comes out of the round hole in the gun, but that is all I know.

No, I am merely speculating as a professional commentator for almost fifty years about what others – others I don’t know – could elect to do. The fury of the responses I am still receiving from around the world to my pieces about the possible assassination of Dr. Ron Paul tell me that such speculation is desperately needed today – especially from the real military experts –but, strangely, I have seen none. So you will have to settle for speculation from me.

Who, in the Founding Fathers thinking, would abolish the government, if it goes wrong? It would be the militia. What was and is the militia? Despite the obfuscatory efforts of Nazi gun confiscators like Carolyn McCarthy and Sarah Brady (Lord preserve us from crazy women whose husbands have been shot!) and Chuck Schumer (another schmuck), the Fathers said the militia was the able-bodied men in a community, i.e., the veterans the Nazis are now trying to disarm.

What the Fathers could not anticipate, and would be utterly horrified to learn, is that the experiment they created – and were so suspicious of themselves – has by now metastasized into a totalitarian monster that makes George III and his charming, little tea tax look pleasantly quaint, something Ludwig von Mises and Dr. Ron Paul would endorse as a classic exemplar of Free Enterprise.

With the destruction by the Boosh treason gang of the Posse Comitatus law, our military now can intervene domestically like George III’s British Army. Local police have been militarized. Their SWAT teams have been trained to perform military functions. Brainwashing has turned some of them into imperial zombies who would make Darth Vader proud. The Boosh treason gang has canceled habeas corpus, the ancient jewel of our system of law, and its ability to spy on us would inspire Heinrich Himmler to register Republican.

Many commentators make the point that we must tread with great caution, to avoid giving Boosh & Co. the excuse to impose martial law. Those warnings are very wise. The Boosh treason gang is looking for such an excuse to try their new weapons that can fry your brains and look inside your underwear. If the militia accidentally gives them one, they will use it to cover and justify themselves.

But if the militia does not, the Boosh treason gang would not stand down and go home. It would concoct a reason. What we are really talking about here is timing, is when it will happen. Remember that four-star general Tommy Franks, who led the invasion of Iraq, said that the next emergency like Nine Eleven would cancel the Constitution. And when a four-star general speaks, I listen. So, the mistake the militia could make is not to act; it is to act at the wrong time.

Despite this, some people say the risk is too great; that only the moral power of non-violent resistance could work. Yes, it could and did, in British India and the American South. But it could work only against people who have consciences non-violent resistance can afflict. British India and the American South were Christian. The monsters who control the District of Criminals now are not. Using non-violent resistance against them would be like using it against a crocodile.

How could it happen? For about a century, we have lived under government by emergency. I have lived abroad in a couple of other countries, so I know what it is like just to live. Most Americans do not. Here we endure endless “wars,” and “emergencies,” in quotation marks because they are as phony as a one dollar bill, not just the military wars, WWI, WWII, etc. and etc., but also the “War on Poverty,” the “War on Drugs,” etc. So my speculation is that the next phase in the battle to subdue America will be launched with the pretext of some new “war” or “emergency.”

It could be financial via the impending, engineered “collapse of the dollar.” It could be military, via the attack on Iran. Another terrorist attack across the country, even bigger than Nine Eleven could launch it. My speculation is that the conspiracy could use a medical attack. Among the advantages of such an attack is the fact that it affects everyone. The victims don’t even know they are under attack. And Boosh has said in almost as many words that a contagious epidemic of something like “bird flu,” or some other concocted disorder could trigger a “national quarantine.”

What would that include? It would include the camps. Remember the camps? One hesitates to call them “concentration” camps, but that is where the population would be concentrated. Remember that the English invented concentration camps to win the Boer War. Then Hitler, ever the copy cat – he copied his racial “science” from people like Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger – copied them. Now they sit here, built by Halliburton, staffed, supplied, fenced, but empty, ready and waiting. For part two click below.

WHY DOES THE GOVERNMENT FEAR ARMED VETERANS?

PART 2 of 2


Waiting for whom? For illegal alien invaders of our country, brought here by the Boosh treason gang? My guess is no, because no illegal alien is incarcerated there, despite overwhelming provocations like enormous numbers. There are only two kinds of people in this country: illegal aliens and legal residents. If the camps are not meant for illegal aliens, they are meant for us. One reason – preeminent among many – could be a national epidemic.

A new “terrorist attack,” or a national quarantine could be the best “temporary” use for those camps. How would you get there? You would get there by bus, supplied by the kindly federal government, which would also help “solve” the “problem” of the guns. The Boosh treason gang knows as much about the guns as I do. More. They know the militia will not give them up. So, when the bus comes down the streets, would the militia fall for this?

“We’re not asking you to give up your guns, as we did in New Orleans. That lawyer, the one we saw on television promising that, if we came for his guns, somebody would die, scared us. The little, old lady the SWATster from California disarmed, was a public relations disaster. So, no, we certainly won’t take your guns. We don’t believe in that. Taking your guns would violate the Second Amendment. Just get on the bus. Leave your guns right where they are, in your gun cabinets. Be reasonable. The bus will be full of women and children. In such cramped conditions your guns could endanger them. The guns will be where you leave them when you come home.”

Would the militia fall for that? It sounds so “reasonable.” It would sound even more “reasonable,” if a preacher from the totalitarian “religious right” were there to plead with you to be “reasonable.” Do you really want to be a sorehead? Indeed, would the militia get on the bus at all, with or without arms? Or would the abolition of the government start at the curb? When the bus arrives, would it be too late? Or would the bus find no one home?

Which logically raises the forbidding question of how the militia would fight such fearsome weapons? Remember, I am writing under the protection of the President of the United States. I advocate nothing. I am simply speculating, wondering, which is certainly “reasonable” to do in the present situation. What would a galvanized militia do?

Tradition would pick a leader, organize and recruit, thinking that the new organization would grow quickly and do what is required. Sadly, that would probably be the worst action to take. During a century and more of activity, the conspiracy for world government has become quite adept at the art of infiltration. It infiltrates any and every organization that is or could become influential.

Indeed, before long the ringer the conspirators send to infiltrate the new patriot organization would be running it. How? Simply because the infiltrator would be the best member. He would be the man you always call on. He would do the dirty jobs, the jobs no one else will do. He would come early and stay late.

Other members of the group would be proud of him. “Good old Charlie. He’s the heart and soul of the group.” Soon, the group would be perverted, implementing a goal completely different from the one the founder proclaimed. The organization would be working against itself, useless. Remember the priceless New Yorker cartoon? It shows a dark, smoky opium den, in which half a dozen men hold guns on each other. The caption says, “You mean, we’re all Treasury agents?”

Any leader that emerges would be bribed, co-opted, blackmailed or killed. Hasn’t this happened again and again? You don’t need to guess about it. I have named some of the fallen in previous pieces. So, my speculation is that, when the feces hit the fan, the militia would choose different methods. What would they do? If organization and leaders wouldn’t work, what would? How can you win a battle without them?

My guess is that first they would read Anabasis by Xenophon, a historian who wrote some four hundred years before Jesus. Anabasis is the story of some ten thousand Greeks, betrayed and stranded on the Anatolian plateau, in what is now Turkey, who had to fight their way through hundreds of miles and numberless Persian enemies, from ancient Babylon, near modern Baghdad, to the Black Sea and home.

Their general, Clearchus, invited to a “peace conference” was captured and killed. They had no leader. Yet, the ten thousand beat the Persians, who outnumbered them by a factor too high to multiply. How? Xenophon, who was one of them, relates that when the leader in a Persian unit was killed, the unit would disintegrate. When a Greek commander was killed, the next man in line became the leader. Every Greek was a general. One of the most thrilling scenes in all literature comes when the head of the column arrives and the others hear them shouting, “The sea! The sea!”

How does this apply here and now? Remember, a military man really should be writing this. I am what George Wallace used to call a “pointy-head” – you can actually see the point on my head – not a military man, but I am writing it because I haven’t found a military man who is. Remember also that I write under the protection and with the authority of the President of the United States.

My speculation is that when the conspiracy for world government finally does come all the way out into the open, when it tries to nail the dictatorship down by imposing martial law, the militia would employ a tactic the military men in the Nam used to call “target of opportunity,” in a species of guerrilla warfare. There would be nothing to infiltrate; no address, no headquarters, no membership records to seize. There would be no leaders to execute. Every man would be a general, or, as one of my readers has suggested, a fish in the sea, a fish with teeth, a sea teeming with piranha.

The militia would strike from the shadows and be gone before the world government Nazis could respond. Wouldn’t that get nasty? Mercy sakes, yes, it would get nasty, nasty beyond the imagination of most Americans to conceive. It would get nasty because the conspiracy for world government is trying to impose a dictatorship and has already killed tens of millions around the world for the purpose in the most horrifying ways. They treat our own military men like dirt. If they were to obey the Constitution, my guess is that none of this would happen, but did you really think they would just put down their brain fryers and walk away?

What would the militia do? First, pray that nothing happens to the President. Yes, Boosh is a traitor, but remember that his successor would be Darth Cheney, who could be his control. Yes, Soviet agent Heinz Kissinger is a traitor, but the militia would probably not run into him and the same with traitor David Rockefeller who actually confesses in his autobiography that he is “part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States.”

They are protected by layers of security. Of course, they could accidentally become “targets of opportunity.” Pray that they don’t. Honestly, I would hate to hear that treasonous scumbag Herr Kissinger or David Rockefeller’s entourage turned the wrong corner and were obliterated by a superannuated 82nd Airborne unit (“Death From the Sky”) in a bloody cross fire that left their greasy body parts hanging on a fence.

When and if – God forbid! – this thing starts to happen, how will you know it is genuine, or phony? You will certainly know it is phony if it kills large numbers of innocent bystanders, who just happen to be present. That kind of thing is the telltale signature of governments conducting Communist terror to intimidate populations, like the bombings presently perpetrated in the Middle East. What we are speculating about here, on the contrary, would regrettably target the individual guilty perpetrators of world government crimes.

Who would they be? Some genius has said that all politics are local. The conspiracy for world government has a big Achilles heel. Somebody has to enforce the myriad dictatorial controls the conspiracy has imposed. Some of those controls are installed by local governments inspired by federal bribes. That is how the District of Criminals nationalized the local police.

Others are administered by locally-based federal employees. They range from the construction of your commode to the new, mandatory light bulb loaded with extremely toxic mercury; from banning political signs for the “wrong’ candidate on your own property to prison for a cancer victim who uses marijuana prescribed by his physician for pain, to the use of “federal” land, and on and on and on.

The totalitarian insults are endless. Yes, the militia could reach the monsters at the top only with the greatest difficulty, only by accident that creates a “target of opportunity.” But the pimps who must impose the metastasizing dictatorship – and are essential to it – are easy to reach. The militia knows who they are, where they are, even where they live.

They could even live next door. Sadly, they have made themselves progressively obnoxious. They strut and preen about their new power. They can’t be fired and make more money and benefits than you do. They think they are the new Lords of Creation. As you read this paragraph, each of you sees their exulting faces in mind’s eye. What would happen if one by one they disappear? Would not their ranks be roiled by panic? Remember that the dictatorship could not work without them. Would they start to call in sick?

What could such a tactic accomplish? Remember Alexander Solzhenitsyn? His Gulag Archipelago introduced a new word to our language. Because the Party line at the time called for constant reminders of the horrors of the Soviet system, he was a media darling here for a few years – until the famous speech at Harvard in which he denounced the spiritual collapse of the West and said that like his own people we have forgotten God. Our Communist media dropped him like a rock. He has been back in Russia for many years. Today, few Americans have ever heard of him.

Solzhenitsyn says this: “And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say goodbye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests . . . people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers or whatever else was at hand? . . . And you could be sure ahead of time that you would be cracking the skull of a cutthroat. Or what about the Black Maria sitting out there on the street with one lonely chauffeur – what if it had been driven off or its tires spiked? The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and . . . the cursed machine would have ground to a halt!”

Solzhenitsyn concludes: “If . . . if . . . We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation. . . . [W]e hurried to submit. We submitted with pleasure! . . . We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” Are we aware of the real situation? Do we love freedom enough? If not, we shall deserve everything the conspiracy for world government is preparing to do. Like Solzhenitsyn, you would have plenty of time to discuss it in the Halliburton camps.

There is another Achilles Heel. Yes, it is perfectly true that the psychos have weapons that would make most private arms look like sling shots. But precisely because those weapons are so sophisticated, they are run by computers. And the Freedom Forces have the nerds who run the computers, and who know that defeat would mean the loss of their internet freedoms. That is why Dr. No enjoys almost universal nerd support. And they can hack into anything! I speculate that when the fit hits the shan the nerds could bring the system down. What would that do to the psychos’ weapons? The plethora of history and economics majors in the Dr. Paul ranks can easily be explained. He is the only candidate who knows what they are talking about.

Remember, I do not advocate anything. I don’t do anything. Because I’m so decrepit I don’t know anyone who does. I’m too decrepit to hit a face with a pie. I’m simply speculating about what could happen, based on where we are now, combined with the scary feedback I am still receiving from the militia. The only thing I advocate is complete, docile obedience to law, in the true spirit of Romans 13 and the teachings of the President of the United States.

Which recalls the fact that fears for my own safety are now arriving. Regular readers warn I could be killed myself. I do not believe it. Why would anyone take the risk of rubbing out a man as meek, as mild and inoffensive, as your doddering correspondent? But just in case these warnings have substance, may I publicly suggest that I have earned the services of a professional who will commit to do a thorough job. My innumerable warrior grandma fans around the world would be very disturbed were an amateur merely to mess up my good looks. There is also the fact that these grandmas are already riled up. Believe me; you don’t want to make them any madder.

Alan Stang was one of Mike Wallace’s original writers at Channel 13 in New York, where he wrote some of the scripts that sent Mike to CBS. Stang has been a radio talk show host himself. In Los Angeles, he went head to head nightly with Larry King, and, according to Arbitron, had almost twice as many listeners. He has been a foreign correspondent. He has written hundreds of feature magazine articles in national magazines and some fifteen books, for which he has won many awards, including a citation from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for journalistic excellence. One of Stang’s exposés stopped a criminal attempt to seize control of New Mexico, where a gang seized a court house, held a judge hostage and killed a deputy. The scheme was close to success before Stang intervened. Another Stang exposé inspired major reforms in federal labor legislation.

His first book, It’s Very Simple: The True Story of Civil Rights, was an instant best-seller. His first novel, The Highest Virtue, set in the Russian Revolution, won smashing reviews and five stars, top rating, from the West Coast Review of Books, which gave five stars in only one per cent of its reviews.

Stang has lectured in every American state and around the world and has guested on many top shows, including CNN’s Cross Fire. Because he and his wife had the most kids in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, where they lived at the time, the entire family was chosen to be actors in “Havana,” directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Redford, the most expensive movie ever made (at the time). Alan Stang is the man in the ridiculous Harry Truman shirt with the pasted-down hair. He says they made him do it.

Website: www.AlanStang.com
E-Mail:
stangfeedback@gmail.com

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For What Its Worth


Buffalo Springfield 1966

There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down

There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

It’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and they carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side

It’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
You better Stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
You better Stop, now, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
You better Stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down

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War Vet, 50, Stunned By New Deployment

Former Soldier Last Served During 1st Gulf War

by Jeremy Finley

December 31st 2008

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — A veteran who has been out of the military for 15 years and recently received his AARP card was stunned when he received notice he will be deployed to Iraq.

Video: Gulf War Veteran Will Head To Iraq

The last time Paul Bandel, 50, saw combat was in the early 1990s during the Gulf War.

“(I was) kind of shocked, not understanding what I was getting into,” said Bandel.
Click here to find out more!

In 1993, Bandel took the option of leaving the Army without retirement and never thought he would be called back to action.

“Here he’s 50 years old, getting his AARP card, and here he’s being redeployed with all these 18-year-olds,” said Paul’s wife, Linda Bandel.

“I can understand, say, ‘Here, we have this assignment for you stateside. Go do your training,'” said Paul Bandel. “But, ‘Hey, here’s a gun, go back to the desert.'”

Involuntary recall allows the military, regardless of age or how long someone has been out of service, to order vets back into active duty.

“Anger’s not the word. I was more concerned about the financial impact it’s going to do. My pay’s probably cut in half,” said Paul Bandel.

“Right now, I’m just in disbelief because it’s like the disbelief that this could be happening 15 years after being out of the military. It’s like a dream or a nightmare,” said Linda Bandel.

The veteran is dusting off his old uniforms and torn between his duty to his country and obligations as a grandfather.

“I certainly never thought I’d be going back there at this point in my life,” said Paul Bandel.

The last missile system the veteran was trained to operate is no longer used by the military.

Calls to the Army and the Pentagon about how many men and women in their 50s are being called back to duty were not returned Wednesday.

Paul Bandel will be deployed overseas until 2010. His wife plans to move in with her elderly parents until his return.

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VETERANS DISARMAMENT ACT TO BAR VETS FROM OWNING GUNS

By Larry Pratt

September 22nd 2007

www.NewsWithViews.com

Hundreds of thousands of veterans — from Vietnam through Operation Iraqi Freedom — are at risk of being banned from buying firearms if legislation that is pending in Congress gets enacted.

How? The Veterans Disarmament Act — which has already passed the House — would place any veteran who has ever been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on the federal gun ban list.

This is exactly what President Bill Clinton did over seven years ago when his administration illegitimately added some 83,000 veterans into the National Criminal Information System (NICS system) — prohibiting them from purchasing firearms, simply because of afflictions like PTSD.

The proposed ban is actually broader. Anyone who is diagnosed as being a tiny danger to himself or others would have his gun rights taken away … forever. It is section 102(b)(1)(C)(iv) in HR 2640 that provides for dumping raw medical records into the system. Those names — like the 83,000 records mentioned above — will then, by law, serve as the basis for gun banning.

No wonder the Military Order of the Purple Heart is opposed to this legislation.

The House bill, HR 2640, is being sponsored by one of the most flaming anti-Second Amendment Representatives in Congress: Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY). Another liberal anti-gunner, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), is sponsoring the bill in the Senate.

Proponents of the bill say that helpful amendments have been made so that any veteran who gets his name on the NICS list can seek an expungement.

But whenever you talk about expunging names from the Brady NICS system, you’re talking about a procedure that has always been a long shot. Right now, there are NO EXPUNGEMENTS of law-abiding Americans’ names that are taking place under federal level. Why? Because the expungement process which already exists has been blocked for over a decade by a “funds cut-off” engineered by another anti-gunner, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY).

So how will this bill make things even worse? Well, two legal terms are radically redefined in the Veterans Disarmament Act to carry out this vicious attack on veterans’ gun rights.

One term relates to who is classified a “mental defective.” Forty years ago that term meant one was adjudicated “not guilty” in a court of law by reason of insanity. But under the Veterans Disarmament Act, “mental defective” has been stretched to include anyone whom a psychiatrist determines might be a tiny danger to self or others.

The second term is “adjudicate.” In the past, one could only lose one’s gun rights through an adjudication by a judge, magistrate or court — meaning conviction after a trial. Adjudication could only occur in a court with all the protections of due process, including the right to face one’s accuser. Now, adjudication in HR 2640 would include a finding by “a court, commission, committee or other authorized person” (namely, a psychiatrist).

Forget the fact that people with PTSD have the same violent crime rate as the rest of us. Vietnam vets with PTSD have had careers and obtained permits to carry firearms concealed. It will now be enough for a psychiatric diagnosis (a “determination” in the language of the bill) to get a veteran barred ­for life ­ from owning guns.

Think of what this bill would do to veterans. If a robber grabs your wallet and takes everything in it, but gives you back $5 to take the bus home, would you call that a financial enhancement? If not, then we should not let HR 2640 supporters call the permission to seek an expungement an enhancement, when prior to this bill, veterans could not legitimately be denied their gun rights after being diagnosed with PTSD.

Veterans with PTSD should not be put in a position to seek an expungement. They have not been convicted (after a trial with due process) of doing anything wrong. If a veteran is thought to be a threat to self or others, there should be a real trial, not an opinion (called a diagnosis) by a psychiatrist.

If members of Congress do not hear from soldiers (active duty and retired) in large numbers, along with the rest of the public, the Veterans Disarmament Act — misleadingly titled by Rep. McCarthy as the NICS Improvement Amendments Act — will send this message to veterans: “No good deed goes unpunished.”

© 2007 Larry Pratt – All Rights Reserved

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Keeping the Heart Healthy

Keeping the Heart Healthy is a full time job, you can not pick when you will work on it or you might find that it is too late. We all know the things we should do, exercise, eat right and get plenty of sleep; but we don’t always do this.

This is going to be a work in progress, so if you read it once, you might have missed something that has changed or added, so check back from time to time if you find this of any help.

This is a list; not an exhausted list; but a start:

  1. Watch your weight and Mean Body Weight (MBW) by Body Fat
  2. Eat only organic food
  3. Little to no red meat
  4. Drink only water, no coffee or tea not even herbal, they are dietetics, no juice unless you prepare it from fresh fruit; one class (2 to 8 oz) of wine, red with no sulfites, mineral water from good source.
  5. Only get fat from fresh nuts
  6. Fresh fish, no skin
  7. Carrots, green beans, corn, spinach if you like them or not; eat some of them fresh and un-cooked at least once a week
  8. Apples with skin and one or two seeds, no more every day
  9. Grapes with seeds and skin
  10. Oxygen, by mask, setting at 8 for 20 minutes a day; you must breath deep; in fact you need to learn to breath right; slow deep breaths.
  11. Colon Cleanse frequently.
  12. Vitamins in correct dosage only.
  13. Exercise in moderation according to your age and health
  14. Breath Slow and Deep
  15. Relax
  16. Have Fun!
  17. Stress at the moment then let the moment go, do not hold on to it.
  18. Get some Sun but don’t not get Sun Burned!
  19. Fresh Air
  20. Keep your mind active, but focused
  21. No Aluminum, nothing from cans
  22. Know what you put into your bodies; it is a temple

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120 US war veteran suicides a week

November 14th 2007


The US military is experiencing a “suicide epidemic” with veterans killing themselves at the rate of 120 a week.

At least 6256 US veterans committed suicide in 2005 – an average of 17 a day – the network reported, with veterans overall more than twice as likely to take their own lives as the rest of the general population.

While the suicide rate among the general population was 8.9 per 100,000, the level among veterans was between 18.7 and 20.8 per 100,000. That figure rose to 22.9 to 31.9 suicides per 100,000 among veterans aged 20 to 24 – almost four times the non-veteran average for the age group.

“Those numbers clearly show an epidemic of mental health problems,” CBS quoted veterans’ rights advocate Paul Sullivan as saying.

CBS quoted the father of a 23-year-old soldier who shot himself in 2005 as saying the military did not want the true scale of the problem to be known.

“Nobody wants to tally it up in the form of a government total,” Mike Bowman said.
“They don’t want the true numbers of casualties to really be known.”

There are 25 million veterans in the United States, 1.6 million of whom served in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to CBS.

“Not everyone comes home from the war wounded, but the bottom line is nobody comes home unchanged,” Paul Rieckhoff, a former Marine and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America said on CBS.

The network said it was the first time that a nationwide count of veteran suicides had been conducted.

The tally was reached by collating suicide data from individual states for both veterans and the general population from 1995

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Veteran Suicides

18 every day, 1,000 attempts per month

 

Eighteen American war veterans kill themselves every day. One thousand former soldiers receiving care from the Department of Veterans Affairs attempt suicide every month. More veterans are committing suicide than are dying in combat overseas.

These are statistics that most Americans don’t know, because the Bush administration has refused to tell them. Since the start of the Iraq War, the government has tried to present it as a war without casualties.

In fact, they never would have come to light were it not for a class action lawsuit brought by Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth on behalf of the 1.7 million Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The two groups allege the Department of Veterans Affairs has systematically denied mental health care and disability benefits to veterans returning from the conflict zones.

The case, officially known as Veterans for Common Sense vs. Peake, went to trial last month at a Federal Courthouse in San Francisco. The two sides are still filing briefs until May 19 and waiting for a ruling from Judge Samuel Conti, but the case is already having an impact.

That’s because over the course of the two week trial, the VA was compelled to produce a series of documents that show the extent of the crisis effecting wounded soldiers.

“Shh!” begins one e-mail from Dr. Ira Katz, the head of the VA’s Mental Health Division, advising a media spokesperson not to tell CBS News that 1,000 veterans receiving care at the VA try to kill themselves every month.

“Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see in our medical facilities. Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?” the e-mail concludes.

Leading Democrats on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee immediately called for Katz’s resignation. On May 6, the Chair of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, Bob Filner (D-CA) convened a hearing titled “The Truth About Veteran’s Suicides” and called Katz and VA Secretary James Peake to testify.

“That e-mail was in poor tone but the content was part of a dialogue about what we should do about new information,” Katz s aid in response to Filner’s questions. “The e-mail represents a healthy dialogue among members of VA staff about when it’s appropriate to disclose and make public information early in the process.”

Filner was nonplused and accused Katz and Peake of a “cover-up.”

“We should all be angry about what has gone on here,” Filner said. “This is a matter of life and death for the veterans that we are responsible for and I think there was criminal negligence in the way this was handled. If we do not admit, assume or know then the problem will continue and people will die. If that’s not criminal negligence, I don’t know what is.”

It’s also part of a pattern. The high number of veteran suicides weren’t the only government statistics the Bush Administration was forced to reveal because of the class action lawsuit.

Another set of documents presented in court showed that in the six months leading up to March 31, a total of 1,467 veterans died waiting to learn if their disability claim would be approved by the government. A third set of documents showed that veterans who appeal a VA decision to deny their disability claim have to wait an average of 1,608 days, or nearly four and a half years, for their answer.

Other casualty statistics are not directly concealed, but are also not revealed on a regular basis. For example, the Pentagon regularly reports on the numbers of American troops “wounded” in Iraq (currently at 31,948) but neglects to mention that it has two other categories “injured” (10,180) and “ill” (28,451). All three of these categories represent soldiers who are so damaged physically they have to be medically evacuated to Germany for treatment, but by splitting the numbers up the sense of casualties down the public consciousness.

Here’s another number that we don’t often hear discussed in the media: 287,790. That’s the number of returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who had filed a disability claim with the Veterans Administration as of March 25th. That figure was not announced to the public at a news conference, but obtained by Veterans for Common Sense using the Freedom of Information Act.

Why all the secrecy? Why is it so hard to get accurate casualty figures out of our government? Because the Bush Administration knows if Americans woke up to the real, human costs of this war they would fight harder to oppose it.

Think back to 2002, before the invasion of Iraq, when leading neoconservative thinker and Donald Rumsfeld aide Ken Adelman predicted the war would be a “cakewalk.”

Or consider this statement from Vice President Dick Cheney. Two days before the invasion, Cheney told NBC’s Tim Russert the war would “go relatively quickly, (ending in) weeks rather than months.”

Today, those comments are gone but the motivation behind them remains. This is why the VA’s head of mental health wrote “Shh!” telling a spokesperson not to respond to a reporters’ inquiry.

But all the shhing in the world cannot stop the horrible pain that’s mounting after five years of war in Iraq and nearly seven years of war in Afghanistan.

Unpleasant Facts

According to an April 2008 study by the Rand Corporation, 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans currently suffer from post traumatic stress disorder or major depression. Another 320,000 suffer from traumatic brain injury, physical brain damage. A majority are not receiving help from the Pentagon and VA system which are more concerned with concealing unpleasant facts than they are with providing care.

In its study, the RAND Corporation wrote that the federal government fails to care for war veterans at its own peril, noting post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury “can have far reaching and damaging consequences.”

“Individuals afflicted with these conditions face higher risks for other psychological problems and for attempting suicide. They have higher rates of unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, overeating, and unsafe sex and higher rates of physical health problems and mortality. Individuals with these conditions also tend to miss more work or report being less productive,” the report said. “These conditions can impair relationships, disrupt marriages, aggravate the difficulties of parenting, and cause problems in children that may extend the consequences of combat trauma across generations.”

“These consequences can have a high economic toll,” RAND said. “However, most attempts to measure the costs of these conditions focus only on medical costs to the government. Yet, direct costs of treatment are only a fraction of the total costs related to mental health and cognitive conditions. Far higher are the long-term individual and societal costs stemming from lost productivity, reduced quality of life, homelessness, domestic violence, the strain on families, and suicide. Delivering effective care and restoring veterans to full mental health have the potential to reduce these longer-term costs significantly.”

Bush and Congress have the power to stop this problem before it gets worse. It’s not too late to extend needed mental health care to our returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans; it’s not too late to begin properly screening and treating returning servicemen and women who’ve experienced a traumatic brain injury; and it is not too late to simplify the disability claims process so that wounded veterans do not die waiting for their check. As the Rand study shows, this isn’t only in the best interest of veterans, it’s in the best interest of our country in the long run.

To start with, the Bush Administration needs to give us some honest information about the true human costs of the Iraq War.

Aaron Glantz, a Foreign Policy In Focus contributor, is the author of two upcoming books on Iraq: The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle Against America’s Veterans (UC Press) and Winter Soldier Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations (Haymarket). He edits the website www.WarComesHome.org.

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Army suicides at record high – passing civilians

By Pauline Jelinek and Kimberly Hefling

Jan 29th 2009

Graphic shows active duty Army suicides from 1990 to 2008


    WASHINGTON – Stressed by war and long overseas tours, U.S. soldiers killed themselves last year at the highest rate on record, the toll rising for a fourth straight year and even surpassing the suicide rate among comparable civilians. Army leaders said they were doing everything they could think of to curb the deaths and appealed for more mental health professionals to join and help out.

    At least 128 soldiers committed suicide in 2008, the Army said Thursday. And the final count is likely to be even higher because 15 more suspicious deaths are still being investigated.

    “Why do the numbers keep going up? We cannot tell you,” said Army Secretary Pete Geren. “We can tell you that across the Army we’re committed to doing everything we can to address the problem.”

    It’s all about pressure and the military approach, said Kim Ruocco, 45, whose Marine husband was an officer and Cobra helicopter pilot who hanged himself in a California hotel room in 2005. That was one month before he was to return to Iraq a second time.

    She said her husband, John, had completed 75 missions in Iraq and was struggling with anxiety and depression but felt he’d be letting others down if he sought help and couldn’t return.

    “He could be any Marine because he was highly decorated, stable, the guy everyone went to for help,” Ruocco said in a telephone interview. “But the thing is … the culture of the military is to be strong no matter what and not show any weakness.”
 
    Ruocco, of Newbury, Mass., was recently hired to be suicide support coordinator for the nonprofit Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. She said she feels that the military has finally started to reach out to suicide survivors and seek solutions.

    “Things move slowly, but I think they’re really trying,” Ruocco said.

    At the Pentagon on Thursday, Col. Elspeth Ritchie, a psychiatric consultant to the Army surgeon general, made a plea for more professionals to sign on to work for the military.

   “We are hiring and we need your help,” she said.

    Military leaders promised fresh prevention efforts will start next week.

    The new suicide figure compares with 115 in 2007 and 102 in 2006 and is the highest since current record-keeping began in 1980. Officials expect the deaths to amount to a rate of 20.2 per 100,000 soldiers, which is higher than the civilian rate — when adjusted to reflect the Army’s younger and male-heavy demographics — for the first time in the same period of record-keeping.

    Officials have said that troops are under unprecedented stress because of repeated and long tours of duty due to the simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Yearly increases in suicides have been recorded since 2004, when there were 64 — only about half the number now. Officials said they found that the most common factors were soldiers suffering problems with their personal relationships, legal or financial issues and problems on the job.

    But the magnitude of what the troops are facing in combat shouldn’t be forgotten, said Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., a former Navy vice admiral, who noted he spoke with a mother this week whose son was preparing for his fifth combat tour.

    “This is a tough battle that the individuals are in over there,” Sestak said. “It’s unremitting every day.”

    Said Dr. Paul Ragan, an associate professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University and a former Navy psychiatrist: “Occasional or sporadic visits by military mental health workers are like a Band-Aid for a gushing wound.”

    The statistics released Thursday cover soldiers who killed themselves while they were on active duty — including National Guard and Reserve troops who had been activated.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the suicide rate for U.S. society overall was about 11 per 100,000 in 2004, the latest year for which the agency has figures. But the Army says the civilian rate is more like 19.5 per 100,000 when adjusted.

    An earlier report showed the Marine Corps recorded 41 possible or confirmed suicides in 2008 — about 19 per 100,000 troops.

    The military’s numbers don’t include deaths after people have left the services. The Department of Veterans Affairs tracks those numbers and says there were 144 suicides among the nearly 500,000 service members who left the military from 2002-2005 after fighting in at least one of the two ongoing wars.

    Army suicide prevention http://www.armyg1.army.mil/HR/suicide/default.asp

Original Link

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Soldier Suicides

Veterans are killing themselves in record numbers

But at the VA, not much has changed

By Beth Walton

May 14th 2008

Former Marine and Iraq war veteran Jonathan Schulze killed himself just days after he was told he was number 26 on the waiting list for the St. Cloud VA’s PTSD program

Former Marine and Iraq war veteran Jonathan Schulze killed himself just days after he was told he was number 26 on the waiting list for the St. Cloud VA’s PTSD program

Marine Bryan Benson of St. Paul shocked his family when he killed himself in 2005, just a year after his return from Iraq

David Fickel was never the same kid after he returned home. When his girlfriend moved out, he shot himself in the head.

On February 19th 2004, Private Jonathan Schulze’s life changed forever. The stone-faced, blue-eyed Marine got word he was going to war in Iraq, an environment completely different from his previous cozy posts in Okinawa, Japan, and California.

Two months later, Schulze found himself in the midst of a bloody, two-day firefight in Ramadi. He watched a rocket-propelled grenade decapitate his best friend. There was no time to grieve, he told his family; he had to “bag and tag” bodies with the dead man’s brains still smeared across his shirt. There were 16 U.S. fatalities that day.

Seven months later, after receiving a general discharge from the Marine Corps, Schulze returned to the family farm near Stewart, Minnesota, where he grew up. Although unusually quiet, his life seemed back on track; he worked construction with his father and fawned over his daughter, Kaley Marie.

In May 2005, Schulze suffered an on-the-job injury and turned to the Minneapolis Veterans Administration for treatment. For reasons unknown, his body was resisting antibiotics and he was continually developing infections.

But that wasn’t all that was wrong. Jonathan told doctors that several times a day he experienced panic attacks. His heart would race, his chest would hurt, and he’d feel like he was being choked. He couldn’t sleep at night and had developed a violent temper. One psychiatrist noted that Schulze said his “life was falling apart.”

Jonathan was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a serious mental condition that can result in nightmares, panic attacks, and hyper vigilance.

By January of 2007, Schulze’s binge drinking and violent outbursts had hurt his relationships with family and friends. He’d been convicted of driving drunk and was asked to leave an apartment he was renting.

Schulze hit bottom and realized that no amount of booze and anti-anxiety drugs would make the pains of the war fade. He inquired about residential PTSD programming at the Minneapolis VA and was told he had to wait until March.

So Schulze traveled with his father 75 miles to the St. Cloud VA. They had heard about its residential treatment program for PTSD and hoped Jonathan would be admitted on the spot.

At the hospital, Schulze told an intake nurse that he was suffering from severe PTSD and that he was suicidal, his parents say—a claim the VA denies. He was told to go home and wait for a phone call; the social worker who was supposed to conduct screenings was busy with another matter.The next day, Schulze was told that he had been admitted, but he shouldn’t pack his bags just yet: He was 26th on the waiting list.

“He got off the phone and he looked at me and his face just fell,” says his stepmother, Marianne.

Four days later, police found the 25-year-old motionless in a sitting position, semi-suspended from a blue electrical cord tied to a cross beam in his friend’s basement. He had hung himself.

THE DEATH OF PRIVATE SCHULZE reverberated far beyond Minnesota. Charles M. Sennott of the Boston Globe declared Schulze a “searing symbol of a system that…is vastly unprepared and under funded to handle the onslaught of 1.5 million veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who are returning home,” and wrote that the “apparent failure of the Department of Veterans Affairs to offer him timely and necessary care” raised questions as to “how a serviceman with such obvious symptoms faced a wait for hospital care. ”

New York blogger Bob Geiger wrote a post on January 31, titled “Young Marine Dies of PTSD—and Neglect.” Schulze, Geiger wrote, “died of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, of wounds to the soul and not the flesh. He died because the government that was there to send him far away to fight in 2004 wasn’t there for him when he got home.”

The following month the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Military Deployment Services for Youth, Families, and Service Members reported that there were “significant barriers to receiving mental heath care in the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs system.”

Today, as violence continues in Iraq and Afghanistan, and more and more troops return home from combat, the VA and Department of Defense have been unable to keep pace, says Dan Reidenberg, a doctor of clinical psychology and executive director of Suicide Awareness Voices of Education, a Bloomington-based nonprofit. In February 2006, the national VA said it was expecting 2,900 new PTSD cases; the actual number was nearly six times that, with some 17,800 documented cases, according to a 2008 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America report.

Recent studies show one in five soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD, Reidenberg says. With no draft in place and military recruitment numbers dwindling, the burden of this war has been put on a relatively fixed number of servicemen and women. Multiple tours of duty have put excessive stress on soldiers and their families. Homecoming often collides with failing personal relationships and legal, financial, or occupational problems, which can all contribute to higher levels of PTSD.

The nature of PTSD makes sufferers more likely to turn to suicide than people with other mental illnesses, Reidenberg adds. They can’t escape what’s going on in their minds and see suicide as the only way out.

Last year, 121 Army soldiers killed themselves, a 20 percent increase from 2006. Attempted suicides and self-inflicted injuries have increased by 400 percent in the five years since the start of the Iraq war, with 2,100 in 2007 compared to 500 in 2002. In Minnesota, there have been at least 13 active duty or discharged servicemen under age 30 who committed suicide since January 1, 2003.

“This is a huge problem,” says Reidenberg. “It’s bigger now than it has been in any other conflict the United States has been in.”

MANY SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN with PTSD don’t come forward because they’re afraid the diagnosis will affect their military rank and future employment, says Sue Abderholden, associate director of the Minnesota chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Often they don’t understand PTSD or know that help is available.

Marine Bryan Benson was one of them. After deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, Benson came home and enrolled in courses at the University of Minnesota. But on April 27, 2005, he shocked his family by driving far away from his St. Paul home and shooting himself in the head. He was 24.

“If Bryan can commit suicide, it’s really open season; it can happen to anybody,” says his mother, Denise Hinton. “He’s the last person anybody would have thought would die this way.”

Benson couldn’t wait to join the military; he signed his commitment papers even before his graduation from Como Senior High, where he was a member of the ROTC program.

Three years after Benson graduated, he found himself on a Marine ship patrolling the waters near Australia, the kind of comfortable military assignment that was to be expected in the pre-9/11 word. But when the Twin Towers came crashing down, Benson’s unit was immediately sent to the Arabian Sea. One month later, he was deployed to Afghanistan, where he served for four months. In March of 2003, Benson was sent to Iraq.

While in Fallujah searching for a missing Marine, the then-22-year-old was ambushed by Iraqi gunmen. He was shot in the abdomen, escaping death only because the bullet hit the magazine of his M-16 rifle. Later, he was shot in the leg. He told his parents nothing more about the incidents, other than that he and other Marines “dispatched” their assailants.

A natural-born leader, Benson returned from combat in 2004 with the ambition to move up the military ranks. He was admitted to the Marine Corps Enlisted Commissioning Education Program, which would allow him to transition from sergeant to officer. To gain entrance to the program, Benson had to pass several psychological tests and interviews with panels of high-ranking military officials.

“Nobody caught anything unusual,” his mother says.

Hinton noticed her son was different after the war, a little jaded, perhaps, but nothing unexpected for someone who’d experienced combat at such a young age. She wasn’t that surprised when her son told her he wanted to get a gun; he no longer felt safe in the middle-class St. Paul neighborhood where he grew up.

“When you experience war, nothing is ever going to be the same again,” says Matt Hinton, Benson’s stepfather. “For the rest of your life you are going to experience everything from a different perspective.”

This is especially true with the current wars, says Reidenberg. Because there are no front lines, soldiers have to always be on guard. Many of them, like Benson, bring that mentality home.

“The Iraq war is a very different kind of war,” Reidenberg says. “If you turn the wrong way, make the wrong step, it could be lethal.”

The Hintons thought Benson’s struggles would fade as he spent time at home. It wasn’t until after his death that they realized the full extent of his psychological pain.

“I just thought we’d have to love him up and get the sparkle back in his eyes,” says Denise Hinton. “But we were wrong, love wasn’t enough.”

MARINE DAVID FICKEL WAS too tough to ask for help, but not too tough to admit pain. When he came back to Litchfield in 2003 after tours in Southeast Asia and the Persian Gulf, he couldn’t shake the memories of sick and maimed children he’d seen overseas. He confessed to family members that his unit had fired on civilians, a fact that constantly troubled him, says his mom, Robin Aanden.

“He had changed from being a happy, fun-loving, really outgoing person into being more quiet and thoughtful,” Aanden adds. “He was very angry, a clean freak, uptight. He was not the same kid.”

When Aanden suggested counseling, Fickel got defensive. He said he was a Marine and could handle it. “It was like he felt he needed to prove a point that he wasn’t going to buckle under anything,” Aanden says. “He didn’t want to feel like he was beaten by his ghosts, his past. He really wanted to prove it, to us and to himself, that he could do it.”

Fickel’s solution to his anguish was to have a family of his own. At 25, he thought it would give him hope; he loved kids and hoped fatherhood would distract him from the nightmares and guilt.

But when Fickel and his girlfriend broke up in 2006, he just sort of gave up. Fickel had been through breakups before, but the stakes were higher this time, his mother remembers.

That weekend, Fickel canceled plans to march in the Memorial Day parade. Instead, he hosted a get-together at his apartment the same day his former girlfriend planned to move her stuff out. “He wanted to show her what she was missing,” his mother says.

By the time everyone arrived, Fickel was drunk and out of control. He’d finished all the beer in the apartment and started guzzling rubbing alcohol. He was “nuts that day,” his mother says. One minute he would act as if nothing was wrong, the next he was retching and sobbing.

When his ex-girlfriend finished packing her stuff and the truck pulled away from the driveway, it was as if he couldn’t take it anymore, Aanden recalls.

“He looked me in the eye, blew me a kiss, and went back inside the house. We heard a loud noise and I thought it was a door slamming,” she remembers. “I thought, ‘Oh, someone is pissed off,’ but he had shot himself in the head.”

DESPITE THE INFLUX OF VETERANS from two new wars, the number of beds dedicated to treating combat PTSD at the St. Cloud VA had not been increased since 1995, according to an inspector general’s report on Schulze’s death. In the wake of the suicide, the St. Cloud VA doubled the number of psychologists providing mental health care for veterans, including the hiring of suicide prevention coordinators, a national mandate for all VA centers.

Locally, “not much has changed,” says Joan Vincent, spokeswoman for the hospital, who canceled a scheduled interview with City Pages, citing ongoing litigation. She later clarified her statement, saying it was taken out of context. “Not much has changed in regards to PTSD treatment,” she explained over the phone. Vincent later reiterated that the report investigating Schulze’s death speaks for itself and that the VA was following appropriate protocol for PTSD programming at the time of Schulze’s death. “We were doing a good job then and we’re doing a good job now,” she said.

During the 24 hours surrounding Schulze’s visit to the VA on January 11, 2007, six beds were available in the acute psychiatry unit, a 15-bed wing at the hospital for patients who pose a risk to themselves or others. At the time, VA staffers failed to assess Schulze as suicidal, so he was put on a waiting list for elective PTSD treatment.

“They go into the military and they’re promised that help will be there when they get out, but it’s not,” says Marianne Schulze, who thinks if her stepson was admitted that day he would be alive to tell his own story.

The Schulzes are now participating in a class-action lawsuit against the United States VA. Two groups—Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth—are accusing the VA of neglecting the psychological consequences of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Schulze is one of several deceased veterans named in the suit, which was filed in San Francisco in July.

“The military is willing to send us off to combat at the drop of a hat, but then you come back and it’s like, “Get in line, take a number”, says Travis Schulze, Jonathan’s brother and a veteran of the Afghanistan war. Travis is currently receiving therapeutic care at the Minneapolis VA, but says he’s a “special case” and doubts treatment would be as accessible if he weren’t Jonathan’s brother. “What if there is no time left to take a number? What if you can’t wait?”

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16 US troops commit suicide in Iraq

September 8th 2008
Sixteen US troops from the a unit of the Airborne Division have committed suicide inside a military base in Iraq, security sources say.

Iraqi security sources have revealed that 21 US troops had committed suicide inside a former Iraqi air force base 27 days ago, Fars News Agency reported on Monday.

According to the sources, the 21 troops were treated in a hospital but only five soldiers have survived and they are in a critical condition. Security officials said they used potent narcotics to kill themselves.

The troops’ motivations for suicide are not known but according to Iraqi sources the servicemen belonged to a unit of the US Airborne Division that was behind the massacre of several Iraqi families– mostly women and children– in northern Baghdad, said Ali al-Baghdadi an Iraqi security official.

The suicides took place in the soldiers’ dormitory after the dinner time.

“The bodies of the US troops became misshapen such a way that they looked like 5000-year mummies,” said a witness.

According to Iraqi officials’ estimates, some 600 US troops, including senior officers, have committed suicide in Iraq since the invasion of the country in 2003. Half of the suicide attempts have been successful.


SB/DA

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Compassion and Understanding: Prevention within the Veteran Community

Statistics show that 22 veterans commit suicide every single day. This may seem high, but there are many factors that have contributed to this shocking figure. Veterans have faced high stress and trauma, both physically and mentally, during their service. The aftermath is still troubling because the adjustment into civilian life is not easy. With such lasting, negative effects on their lives, veterans are at a higher risk for suicide. The best thing that can be done is if we, as a community, educate ourselves on the facts, and offer what help and compassion we can.

 

Transitions and Effects

During military service, veterans are exposed to a number of threats that can lead to physical and mental health issues. These can include explosions, injury, death of fellow veterans or civilians, sexual assault, and the overall severity of a drastic lifestyle change.

After a veteran’s military service is complete, transitioning from a strict authoritarian routine to a more relaxed civilian lifestyle can prove difficult. In fact, most veteran suicides occur within three years of returning to noncombatant life. For an adjusting veteran, the lack of camaraderie, direction, and support of like-minded individuals can be devastating. Over all, they tend to experience disorientation, alienation, and insecurity after this period in their life has begun. These effects go deeper still, however.

With or without knowing it, there are physical and emotional side effects that a veteran will more than likely suffer from. They can include:

  • Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

  • Concussions

  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

  • Violent behaviors

  • Anxiety

  • Depression

All of these factors are very pressing and stressful. With these in mind, it is clearer as to why the risk is high amongst veterans, especially those who were deployed or experienced combat.

Veterans and the Risk of Suicide

Through their traumatic experiences, mental or physical harm may have been endured by a veteran. However, even if a veteran does recognize a mental or physical problem, they often cannot get proper help. The reasoning is complex, but may be due to:

  • Perceived negative consequences of reporting mental health issues (such as not being eligible for promotion, being seen as weak, or being denied a security clearance)

  • Lack of understanding of available resources

  • Lack of trust of treatment facilities

  • Fear of the diagnosis

  • Unwillingness to stay in ongoing treatment

Unfortunately, those who do seek help often drop out of recovery programs early. In fact, of those veterans who enter treatment, up to 50% do not complete the program.

These trends all lead veterans to live with undiagnosed and untreated issues. As part of dealing with problems such as PTSD, depression, anxiety, and sometimes addiction, they also deal with daily symptoms such as: nightmares, flashbacks, insomnia, and trouble concentrating.

When these things are left unresolved, they can become factors towards suicidal thoughts or tendencies.

What Can Be Done

Fortunately, in 2013, President Obama added $107 million to improve mental health treatment for veterans. These efforts have helped advance availability of resources for veterans who suffer from mental health issues, which may reduce the overall number of veteran suicide.

In addition to seeking assistance from mental health professionals, studies show that community involvement and being amongst peers may help improve the lifestyle of former military members. If a loved one in your life is a veteran struggling with any of these issues, being present and offering help is the first step to showing support.

Steve Johnson has always been dedicated to promoting health and wellness in all aspects of life. Studying in the medical field has shown him how important it is for reputable health-related facts, figures, tips, and other guidance to be readily available to the public. He created PublicHealthLibrary.org with a fellow student to act as a resource for people’s overall health inquiries and as an accurate and extensive source of health information. When he isn’t hard at work in his studies, Steve enjoys playing tennis and listening to his vintage record collection.

(Image via Pixabay by skeeze)

 

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BZ Timeline

by Erowid

  • 1958 Army begins experimenting with BZ.
  • 1962 – 1964 U.S. army produced over 100,000 pounds of BZ for use in Vietnam.
  • 1962 U.S. military allocates 2 million dollars to the construction of a facility designed exclusively for weaponizing conventional bombs with BZ.
  • 1963 Major James S. Ketchum, who participated in research experiments at the US Army Chemical and Research and Development Laboratories at the Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland, publishes a technical memorandum detailing BZ’s effects on 362 human subjects.
  • 1964 Army begins using BZ gas in Vietnam.
  • Late 1960’s BZ production is discontinued because “its effects on enemy front-line troops would be varied and unpredictable”.
  • 1986 U.S. military chemical arsenal at Pine Bluff still contains BZ bombs awaiting destruction.
  • 1990 The movie Jacob’s Ladder portrays the use of BZ during the Vietnam war.

References

  1. Lee MA, Shlain B. Acid Dreams: The CIA, LSD and the Sixties Rebellion. Grove, 1985.
  2. SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute). CB Weapons Today Volume II-The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare – e Humanities Press (1973).
  3. Harris R., Paxman J. A Higher Form of Killing- The Secret Story of Chemical and Biological Warfare. Hill and Wang. (1982).
  4. Ketchum, J.S. The Human Assessment of BZ: CRDL Technical Memorandum 20-29, U.S. Army Chemical Research and Development Laboratories (1963)
  5. U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine. Detailed facts about Psychedelic Agent 3-Quinuclidinyl Benzilate (BZ).
  6. Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program. U.S. Army Toxic and Hazardous Materials Agency, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD (1986).

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Pain pills prescribed by the VA don’t always work for PTSD and cause addiction.

Dr. Phillip Leveque Salem-News.com

(MOLALLA, Ore.) – The people who know the most and best about the benefits of marijuana as medicine are certainly not the physicians nor the pharmacologists such as myself. Frequently I get letters like this one I am responding to.

David is a Marine Combat Veteran/Victim of two extensive combat tours in Iraq. He definitely has PTSD with depression, pain and social and family problems. This is a sterling example of been there, seen that, done that.

He has been given pain pills by the VA which don’t work for PTSD and just cause addiction. Anti-depressants don’t work either, they just make most people dopey!

His pleas like many others is this, “please help other Vets like me and myself in trying to reason with these Govt. officials that used us and now that we are out (of the service) they just want to shove pills down our throats to medically drug us to keep our mouths shut.”

He pleads through me that I appeal to our 3 million or so Veterans and organizations for help in alerting and advising Congress to please do something for the Veterans.

Numerous stories are in newspapers and television about the miserable medical malpractice of the VA for these Veterans.

Apparently ONLY Congress can do something about it. A couple of years ago, senior generals running Walter Reed Army Hospital were FIRED. Has the situation improved?

David’s final plea is, “give us something that works”.

According to David and hundreds of other Vets, marijuana/cannabis is that drug.

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Medical Cannabis or Marijuana

Medical Cannabis

or

Medical Marijuana

After watching this video, I decided to get on board and change the name from Medical Marijuana to Medical Cannabis.

If you look at what California did, you can be ashamed to be a human; these dirt bags took a law that was meant to help the sick and turned it into a joke; its now just a money making scam for the Pot smokers to get high legally. This is why Marijuana has a bad name; you have bad people abusing it. You want to smoke Marijuana; do it; but don’t use laws that were designed for the sick who don’t want to get high; they need this drug to feel better so they can deal with their illness.

I think California should shut down all its so called Medical Marijuana Grow Facilities and go with a system proposed by Hawaii, a Medical Cannabis Secure Grow Facility; in fact, I think every state in the world should go to this system. It should be up to the people who run this facility to ensure that the people using it, are not abusing it; they can do this with the help of local and state law enforcement.

If they legalize Marijuana; this should not effect the Medical Cannabis laws and intent; nor change the Medical Cannabis Secure Grow Facility intent. The patients that need this drug should not have to go to a drug supplier to get Medical Cannabis; and that is what has happened in California since the drug cartel has taken over its program in disguise of a “Medical” program and giving out permits like they were tickets to a concert; you pay for them you get them.

I see the issue about Medical Cannabis and Marijuana use as two separate issues. Medical Cannabis patients have an option of being on this drug or some dangerous pharmaceutical medication, thus they have to choose the lessor of two evils; where as Marijuana users just want to get high and have no medical condition that they need to treat with this drug. I do not have a problem with Marijuana use; I think Alcohol use is much more of a problem; and believe that the only reason one is legal and the other is not; is due to the control of the substance; which is the distribution of it; thus the Alcohol and Drug cartels, wanting to have full control over the sale and distribution over these drugs.

As soon as we can agree that there is no profit in curing illness, we can agree that the Pharmaceutical companies have no incentive to do so; this is why they use Poison as a preservative in all of there products and if they are allowed to control the distribution of Medical Cannabis, they will add this preservative to it also. Alcohol is Poison, that is why its legal, just like Cigarettes; big business for Hospitals and the Drug cartels AKA Pharmaceutical companies. The Doctors are trained by Pharmaceutical companies and they work at Hospitals that are funded by them; do you really think they want to cure you? They would be out of a job.

The idea of taxing Medical Cannabis is very offensive to me; getting rich off the sick; you should be ashamed at even suggesting it.

You want a New Drug? One that will not leave you bored or having any feelings? One that will leave you helpless wondering what to do? Then try Fukitol.

Sincerely
Jeffery Flesher

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Medical Marijuana vs Cannabis

Medical Marijuana

Preferred term is:

Medical Cannabis

Please view all our Video’s on Marijuana

The truth about Marijuana is that it has been used as a drug for over 5 thousand years and people have used it with little to no side effects, you can not over dose on it and it is safe to use while pregnant, yes, I said it is safe, the babies do better, not worse in fact, I am talking about the use of Medical Marijuana and not smoking pot and there is a big difference, let me explain.

Medical Cannabis use is not the same as smoking pot, nor can the studies on smoking pot be used for talking about the use of Medical Cannabis.

Medical Cannabis use should be a controlled and metered use, only using the bare minimum to get the effects of the drug without the intoxicating effect or what they call high, or minimal intoxicating effect. This is accomplished by use of a Vaporizer or eating of a prepared dosage of the drug.

The VA can not talk about any Alternative health care of any kind what so ever and Medical Cannabis is no exception, but now that the VA has been told to allow Vets to use Medical Cannabis is states that its legal, things are changing.

The VA will not allow Vets to be on Narcotics and Medical Cannabis at the same time, in fact you might find yourself cut off from many more

drugs if Marijuana shows up in a blood test.

Civilian doctors are not much better; very few advocate Alternative health care, and fewer advocate Medical Cannabis use.

The VA has just issued a new directive that loosens the restrictions in states that Medical Marijuana is legal, but it will be some time before doctors change their attitude about it.

There are more and more web sites dedicated to the use of Medical Marijuana as time goes on; but currently I’m not all that happy with most of them; so I decided to take on this issue myself.

We will be posting articles on how to obtain a Medical Marijuana Card in states that it is legal in.
A few good organizations are:
Veterans for Medical Marijuana
NORMAL They have a nice Guild to check local laws; see drop down box for your state.
THC Foundation
MAMA

We will be posting video’s, books and articles on how to build grow rooms and cultivate Medical Marijuana.
We will be posting links very soon so stay tuned.

This site only advocates the use of Medical Cannabis in two forms, Butter and Oil. It is our opinion that smoking it, even Vaporizing it, does not give the patent the full benefit of the Medicine; some of the Cannabinoids may not survive the process of Burning, or being supper heated to a temperature of over 300 degrees. Many people will disagree, but that does not change our view; Smoking Marijuana, is also associated with getting hight, a stigma that we would like to avoid, a lot of people will use the Medical Marijuana law, to legalize the Recreational use of the drug, we are also against such practice, even if Marijuana is legalized, it should not effect the laws for Medical Marijuana use, which should be different then those laws for Recreational Use; Medical Cannabis replaces other drugs that a patient would normally be taken, as such, it might be present in the blood stream 24/7, if this was the case for a Recreational users, we could say they are abusing it.

It is best to make butter, we call it Medical Cannabis Butter or MC Butter, or simply MC-Butter, the Dash is silent. Put a little MC-Butter on your Eggs, and Green Eggs and Ham, will have a new meaning.

You can then measure it and make dosages that you can take, as you would any other Drug.

It has be brought to my attention that other Vets, may have a problem with Medical Marijuana use for Vets, as much as I would like to dismiss this, they are entitled to their opinion, since it was one that I once had, only a few years ago, I did not think that Medical Marijuana could be used as a useful medicine for the treatment of Gulf War Syndrome, or any other Disease, that it would only be used to get high, but, I was wrong, and I can admit that, and move on.

To shield the usage of Medical Marijuana from the stigma, we ask all Vets to use the Term: Medical Cannabis, and the Term: MC-Butter, and MC-Oil, we also recognize that some will still want to Vaporize it, so we will use the Term: MC-Vape, and those that want to smoke it, MC-Burn.

We will work with people that still have problems with these terms; to try to educate them in its usage and benefits to Vets, that do not have any other choice, since main stream medicine, does not help.

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For Veterans, Marijuana Can Mean Life

Switching from marijuana to legal “prescribed” drugs can be a killer

For one Vietnam Veteran in Illinois, a substance many call dangerous, medical marijuana, meant life. When Lynn Morse used it he could function and cope, when he abandoned marijuana in order to “comply” with the VA and go on prescription drugs, he died.

Lynn Morse served his country His partner of three decades, a pilot named Susan Tackitt from Marion Illinois, is also a VA volunteer who spends countless hours at the side of disabled and sick veterans. She has a few things to say about medical marijuana.

“My companion of 30 years, a Vietnam Combat Veteran from the 101st Airborne 2nd brigade was introduced to marijuana while serving his country between 1967 and 1968.”

She says it was given him as a stress reliever after a firefight. He was given the marijuana by people in his command, and many Vietnam Veterans experienced the same thing.

“My companion Lynn Morse continued to use it stateside to subdue the demons of war. He was a productive self supporting citizen as many Vietnam Veterans using marijuana for medical purposes are.”

But she says there was a big drug bust in Franklin County, Illinois where he lived. The incident exposed improprieties in the local police force and many were fired because of their involvement. Some twenty year sentences were handed out to pot growers.

“This made Lynn’s paranoia from PTSD even worse and he decided to seek help at the VA in Marion Illinois. He stopped smoking marijuana and started taking their psyc. drugs and that is when I lost the man I loved.”

She says Lynn lost his “drive” and was determined to be disabled from PTSD.

“Our daughter has a bone deformity which the VA never acknowledged as being related to Agent Orange. She lost her dad a year ago on October 19th 2006 at the VA intensive care unit. He would have been 60 his next birthday.”

So what was gained by the country’s archaic drug laws in this case? A man who was able to be productive watched that inner drive vanish. Marijuana is natural, drugs made in laboratories are not. It’s as if nobody can figure out that everything synthetic has roots in natural substance. Why spend millions replicating the effects of a treatment that is already useful and available in a garden?

Susan contends that marijuana still helps many Vietnam Veterans and they are reaching the age to retire. If steps to change existing laws are not taken, there will be many more like Lynn.

“We need to make medical marijuana legal for them because I see them enter the VA hospital and they are heavily sedated to calm them. I realize this cannot be proven but i am very thankful the American Psychiatric Association is backing medical marijuana. Now I pray the vote in December sways in favor of it.”

Susan Tackitt, unlike most of society, is willing to put her butt on the line she says, “not only because they served our country but because they got a raw deal.”

In spite of losing her life partner, she has remained in her volunteer role at the VA. She had a good reason too, her dad, another veteran, was living at the Marion, Illinois VA nursing home.

Susan Tackitt says she`ll keep fighting for Vet’s rights”My dad was in there but he passed away October 5th 2007.” She still volunteers there after losing her father too, it is a dedication that is rare in this day and age.

“I am very active in trying to get medical marijuana passed. I am pushing to get it all passed for the Vietnam Vets who still use marijuana and also for it to be an option to all veterans with PTSD. The government is who introduced to to our military and should be accountable for those veterans still using it today.”

She decries the use of deadly drugs so easily embraced by this society, and says marijuana is the happy medium for millions who suffer from PTSD.

“If these guys are given the drugs the government wants to shove down their throat to keep them from going off will put them on the couch in their own little world and some not able to function on their own. It tears my heart out when I hear a combat veteran with PTSD end his life because he didn’t get the treatment he deserved.”Visit Susan Tactitt’s MySpace page: myspace.com/shawneewinetrailcrashpad

Original Article

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I want a new Drug

By Jeff Flesher

Last update: 25 Sep 2011



I have Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) AKA Gulf War Illness (GWI); I only distinguish between them as a time reference or Political Statement: that said a lot of people still don’t understand that; the cause is not what I want to discus here, but its Genetic Damage that I am talking about, but its dealing with it that I want to talk about: so let me tell you what it means to me.

 

First off, the VA defines Gulf War Illness to effect some Military personal during the Gulf War from 1990 to 1991 and to includes these symptoms:

  • Chronic Fatigue
  • Persistent rashes
  • Hair loss
  • Headaches
  • Muscle pain
  • Joint pain
  • Neurologic symptoms
  • Neuropsychological symptoms (such as memory loss)
  • Respiratory system symptoms
  • Sleep disturbances
  • Gastrointestinal symptoms
  • Cardiovascular symptoms

 

I’ll address the things that I have problems with the most: Sleep Disorder, Chronic Fatigue, Headaches, Gastrointestinal, Respiratory, Neurological problems, Muscle and Joint Pain; well that covers most of the symptoms of Gulf War Illness; so it is safe to say that what I want a new drug for is related to GWS.

 

I have tired about every Pain Medication I know of; like: Morphine, MS Contin, Codeine, Napproxen, Naprozyn, Idocin, Percocet and Demerol, including off brand use of Psychiatric medication like: Lyrica, Gabapentin, Effexor, Elavil, Flexairil, Prozac, Zoloft, Pamelar,Temazepam, Klopin, Trazodone, Depakote, Serzone, Paxil, Robaxin, Valium, Wellbutrin, Citaopram, Luvox, Ludiomil, Nardil, Parnate, Asendin, Anfranil, Norpramin, Sinequan, Tripramine, Triptil, Surmontil, Cyclobenzapppine, Lansopprazole, Clarithomycn, Remeron, Zanax, Ambian, Quietipine Fumarate, Rabeprazole sodium, Methyphenidate, Ranitidine, Prednisone and Lorazepam just to name a few; none of them helped all that much if at all.

 

I have a rare sleep disorder called sleep misperception; basically it comes down to Lucid Dreaming that I am awake; since my REM sleep is interrupted by involuntary muscle movement; I do not get much REM sleep; nor do I have normal dreams. Its incurable and it affects people with GWS more then people without it; why is that? Maybe the type of Brain Damage that GWS caused to create so many ill affects on people; at least this is my theory. The damage started when the Military forced us (armed guards and threats of court Marshall) to get the Anthrax Vaccine; then they sent us to Kuwait during Desert Storm; where we were subjected to Depleted Uranium, Oil fires, MUD (a chemical used in oil production, it is a Bio-Chemical), Chemical Warfare, contaminated water supplies and things we don’t even know about. Then we got sick and became lab rats to test some of the drugs listed above. Its no wonder I have Chronic Fatigue; you don’t sleep good for the last 20 years; you’d have it too. My headaches are in the cluster headache group; like a lightning bolt shooting through my brain. Muscle and Joint Pain are all from all the chemicals that are now part of my body or damage from them passing through my body, and the Genetic Damage, which destroyed our 14th Chromosome and attached itself to the 6th and 7th, destroying them as well.

 

I remember feeling good; back before 1990; then I remember feeling bad; since 1990; like time is drawn into two lines; those before 1990 and those after 1990. Feeling bad to me is hard to define; like having the flu and a very bad hangover after running a 100 mile marathon with full gear and falling down a mountain for the last 5 miles hitting every rock on the way down. My back hurts, my hands hurt, my feet hurt, my jaw hurts and every joint in my body hurts. Hurt is not a strong enough word for it sometimes; they call it Neuropathy; its when all the nerves fire off for some unknown reason; it can feel like a burning sensation like its on fire or like its gone to sleep and you feel like thousands of needles are being stuck in you. I ca not begin to describe how much it hurts at times. As a result I suffer from Major Depression. I will go days without any good sleep and the pain will become overwhelming and I will start having anxiety attacks; this is a cycle I go through. I have a very bad ringing in my head; I use to think it was in my ears; but its not; its in my head; it drives me crazy; some days its louder than others; sometimes its so load its painful at times. My threshold for pain is lower than it should be; just a small cut or bump from falling down can be a major problem (as is falling down since I feel dizzy at lot); just little pains can become overwhelming at times. I smell things that no one else can spell; sometimes a smoky smell like rubber is on fire, other times it smells like something died. Emotionally I am a wreck; everything upsets me; I’m sensitive to everything; I ca not stand to be around a lot of people; sometimes I do not want to be around anyone. I get paranoid and feel claustrophobic at times. I do not have any good days; just days I do not feel as bad.

 

I want a drug that will make me feel good or at least better. I want a drug that will not make me tired, drugged out or strange. I would like to be able to think while I am taking this drug; most drugs make it hard to think. I hate drugs that make everything look like I am looking through a view finder; I do not like feeling like I am walking on sponge rubber floors either. I want a drug that I can sleep well on; not be so out of it that my body skips the REM state all together; not that this part of my sleep is all that good anyway since it always wakes me up. I do not want a drug that will make me not care about anything; most anti-depressants work like that. I do not want a drug that makes me feel drugged.

 

Problems with Narcotics and any Drug “God” did not make is that our bodies reject it; by God I mean Nature, when I say man I mean Human. Nature made Opium and Marijuana, man made Morphine and Marinol, Opium and Marijuana are easy on man and have little to no side effects; Morphine and Marinol have many side effects; they are known to cause panic attacks, depression and shut down your immune system and digestive process; thus making you sick or sicker than you should be. Morphine makes me shit a brick; its a figure of speech that best describes the full effect I get when on Morphine. I have more panic attacks, more depression and feel like I am dying; overall you feel like you need more so you increase your dosage; which makes things much worse. My body started to shut down; I would start having bowel movements once a month and it was literally like shitting a brick; I now have Diverticulitis as a result of that experience and that hurts so the doctors prescribe more pain medication. You see the cycle here; its ground hog day; you wake up every morning and Deja Vu, didn’t I go through this yesterday. Man made drugs have not helped me at all; in fact they have made things worse; yet if I do not take them the doctors want to tag you with words like “Malingering:, faking an illness; you will never convince them that the medication does not work; its like if you have this disease take this; if that does not work then you do not have that disease. Doctors are not that smart, in fact all they know is what they were taught and that is a bunch of shit and since its was taught in a brick building, you can say they are shitting bricks also, their Practice is just that, which Doctors am I talking about, you got it, Witch Doctors, that is what they all are.

 

Pain is a pain; dealing with it is a pain; living with it is a pain; living with someone who has it is a bigger pain. I say that pain causes depression and depression can cause pain; but which comes first? Once you are in the cycle it is endless; like a dog chasing its tail. People always want to compare their pain to yours; like it will make you feel better; its a slap in the face so do not do it to others; my first reaction is to kick them and ask if that hurts, its that irritating to me, when someone wants to share their pain with you just listen; their pain is theirs and yours is yours. If your pain makes it hard to sleep at night and makes you wish you were dead and all you can do is cry, then its a pain I am talking about. Doctors want to know on a scale of 1-10 how much it hurts; if you crying when you tell them; then its a 10; if you feeling like grabbing them somewhere it will hurt and asking them the same question its a 9. No one has the right to judge how much your pain is; only you know; and you have to know how much pain you can live with or how much of your pain people around you can live with. Pain is like a face; everyone has one; some are uglier than others; but everyone has pain.

 

Is Opium or Marijuana going to be that drug? I doubt it; but it has to be better than all these other drugs. It might help me sleep so I do not need to take drugs during the day; that would be my biggest hope for this drug. In some states you can get a license for Marijuana, I doubt if they will be giving out licenses to grow Opium any time soon. God gave us a drug to help; the Government took it away; what gives them the right to do this?

 

Legality has been one of my biggest concerns; I do not want to get into trouble by the Law, State or Federal Government or the VA. Although you can get a Medical Marijuana Card; it gives you very little protection at all. The cost varies from state to state, I have seen some states that have a reduced cost if you are on food stamps; but not if your on Disability, go figure that one out, this is nothing more then the states way of making money and nothing to do with helping people. In fact I would say a great deal of people in this program are using the drug for recreational use only; which is why no one takes Medical Marijuana as being a drug seriously. If you use just the right amount you can get pain relief without getting high; you can do the same thing with narcotics or alcohol; you take too much and you feel drugged; there is a fine line between taking a drug and abusing a drug; if you take it just to get high; your abusing it. This is why the laws were invented to begin with, at least that is what they want you to believe; besides the fact that the Federal Government was not making any money selling it; besides the CIA and DEA that is; now that the State found a way to make money off it again, the laws are changing again. But will the VA see Marijuana as a legal drug to take? The VA screens us for illegal drug use all the time; what will happen if Marijuana starts showing up in those test?
The VA makes you sign a contract stating you will not take any illegal drugs (as if the legal ones are any better); but if Medical Marijuana is legal in your state does the VA consider it legal? Recently the VA directives have changed to allow Medical Marijuana in states where its legal.

For Marijuana to be made into a drug; it would have to be processed into a pill form; smoking it will do more long term damage then the benefits could out way, not that it causes cancer, but all that tar can not be good for you; it has more tar in it than cigarettes; but its not as harmful, nor does it seem to cause long term health problems, as cigarettes do, and I do not want to smoke pot, there are vaporizers that work better. I want a drug that will help me deal with pain; to be at ease, with the dis-ease; I do not care what people think, smoking pot is always going to be just that; getting high; for some that is OK; to each their own. Now the law steps in again; if I get a permit to grow it; then I process it into a usable form like a pill; that I can take in a more controlled fashion; like knowing how strong it will be; how much I need to take; will the Feds look at it as a new drug? Will the laws allow me to process the Marijuana into a usable drug? I have come up with one solution; Medical Cannabis Butter, or MC-Butter, its easy to make and works great.

 

Note about Marinol and products like it: They can cause Panic Attacks; its not the same as Medical Marijuana; it has THC but none of the other 60 compounds.
A pharmaceutical product, Marinol, is widely available through prescription. It comes in the form of a pill and is also being studied by researchers for suitability via other delivery methods, such as an inhaler or patch. The active ingredient of Marinol is synthetic THC, which has been found to relieve the nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy for cancer patients and to assist with loss of appetite with AIDS patients. Morphine, for example, has proven to be a medically valuable drug, but the FDA does not endorse the smoking of opium or use of heroin. Instead, scientists have extracted active ingredients from opium, which are sold as pharmaceutical products like morphine, codeine, Hydrocodone or Oxycodone. In a similar vein, the FDA has not approved smoking marijuana for medicinal purposes, but has approved the active ingredient-THC-in the form of scientifically regulated Marinol; so its clear that as long as a Pharmaceutical Company is making it; then it does not matter, it can be poison as long as its a prescription based poison.

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The Blunt Truth: Combat Veterans, PTSD and Medical Marijuana

There’s a great article on the Web from the Salem (Oregon) News-Record of June 11, 2007, called “Marine Combat Vet Discusses Iraq, PTSD and Medical Marijuana,” linked here. The former Marine in question is Nicholas Burgin, and the subhead to the article is, “The courage of an Iraq War veteran continues in his honesty about PTSD.”

In the tradition of Tony Neff’s story, “All I Want is What I Deserve,” about getting his veterans benefts for a service-connected disability, linked here, Nicholas Burgin’s story is another great, first person narrative account of his experience, and what actually happened to him. (We’re in the process of seeing if we can get Burgin’s permission to reprint his story in full, here, because it would help so many readers.)

In the meantime, read his story, while it’s still up on the Web, or save yourself a copy of it, for future reference. It’s powerful. And don’t neglect reading the comments section, either, that follows the article. A whole lot of people checked in and said they knew what he was talking about, and they agreed, from Vietnam vets through other OIF/OEF combat vets.

Burgin is a young Marine who, like a highly decorated Marine with PTSD we’ve blogged about here, Daniel Cotnoir, worked in mortuary affairs for the Marines in Iraq – a more gruesome job hardly exists — and saw enough stuff to last a thousand lifetimes. Later on, of course, Burgin had trouble with the memories, and despite trying everything recommended to him, found one and one thing only that helped him ease the pain. He details his struggles, and his victories, in the excellent, first person narrative, and closes with the line, “Take what you will from this story, but I know for a fact marijuana has saved my life numerous times.” Good for him.

In the 60s, draft dodgers and anti-war types in the U.S. made their way to Canada to ride out the Vietnam war. Many stayed for years. Today, with an all-volunteer military, “escaping” to Canada isn’t nearly so popular; but if anyone compares the drug laws in the U.S. and Canada re: marijuana use, and finds themselves overly hassled by the perspective in the U.S. that it’s still a criminal offense, they might start to find Canada more attractive again. Depending on whether the party in power is liberal or conservative, their drug policy waxes and wanes, but more than 51% of Canadians are in favor of decriminalizing marijuna use, says the BBC, and using is often treated differently there than selling (possession v. intent to distribute).

Original Article

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Panel finds widespread Gulf War illness

11/16/08
ANNE USHER/Cox News Service
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WASHINGTON – At least one in four U.S. veterans of the 1991 Gulf War suffers from a multi-symptom illness caused by exposure to toxic chemicals during the conflict, a congressionally mandated report being released Monday found.

For much of the past 17 years, government officials have maintained that these veterans — more than 175,000 out of about 697,000 deployed — are merely suffering the effects of wartime stress, even as more have come forward recently with severe ailments.

“The extensive body of scientific research now available consistently indicates that ’Gulf War illness’ is real, that it is the result of neurotoxic exposures during Gulf War deployment, and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved with time,” said the report, being released Monday by a panel of scientists and veterans. A copy was obtained by Cox Newspapers.

Gulf War illness is typically characterized by a combination of memory and concentration problems, persistent headaches, unexplained fatigue and widespread pain. It may also include chronic digestive problems, respiratory symptoms and skin rashes.

Two things the military provided to troops in large quantities to protect them — pesticides and pyridostigmine bromide (PB), aimed at thwarting the effects of nerve gas — are the most likely culprits, the panel found.

The Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses, created by Congress in 2002, presented its 450-page report to Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake on Monday. It said its report is the first to review the hundreds of U.S. and international studies on Gulf War vets since that have been conducted the mid-1990s.

In a 2004 draft report to Congress, the panel said that many Gulf veterans were suffering from neurological damage caused by exposure to toxic chemicals.

The new report goes further by pinpointing known causes and it criticizes past U.S. studies, which have cost more than $340 million, as “overly simplistic and compartmentalized.”

It recommends that the Department of Veterans Affairs order a re-do of past Gulf War and Health reports, calling them “skewed” because they did not include evaluations of toxic exposure studies in lab animals, as Congress had requested.

The panel examined such tests and noted that recent ones — unethical to carry out on humans – have identified biological effects from Gulf War exposures that were previously unknown.

While it called some new VA and DOD programs promising, it noted that overall federal funding for Gulf War research has dropped sharply in recent years. Those studies that have been funded, it said, “have little or no relevance to the health of Gulf War veterans, and for research on stress and psychiatric illness.”

“Veterans of the 1990-1991 Gulf War had the distinction of serving their country in a military operation that was a tremendous success, achieved in short order. But many had the misfortune of developing lasting health consequences that were poorly understood and, for too long, denied or trivialized,” the committee’s report says.

The report also faults the Pentagon, saying it clearly recognized scientific evidence substantiating Gulf War illness in 2001 but did not acknowledge it publicly.

It said that Acting Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Gulf War illnesses Lt. Gen. Dale Vesser remarked that year that although Saddam Hussein didn’t use nuclear, biological, or chemical agents against coalition forces during the war — an assertion still debated — “It never dawned on us ././. that we may have done it to ourselves.”

“We know that at least 40,000 American troops may have been overexposed to pesticides,” Vesser said, adding that more than 250,000 American troops took the small, white PB pills. “Both of these substances may (be) consistent with the symptoms that some Gulf War veterans have.”

The panel is urging Congress to spend at least $60 million annually for Gulf War research. It notes that no effective treatments have yet been found.

The VA declined to comment until it has a chance to review the report.

The panel focused its research on comparing the brain and nervous system of healthy adults with those of sick Gulf War vets, as well as analyzing changes to the neuroendocrine and immune systems.

It found that in terms of brain function, exposure to pesticides and the PB pills hurts people’s memory, attention and mood. Some people, it notes, are genetically more susceptible to exposures than others.

About half of Gulf War personnel are believed to have taken PB tablets during deployment, with the greatest use among ground troops and those in forward positions.

Many veterans say they were forced to take the pills, which had not been approved by the FDA, and some said they immediately became sickened.

“Many of us got sick from the pills,” said retired Staff Sgt. Anthony Hardie, a Wisconsin native who was with a multinational unit that crossed from Saudi Arabia into Kuwait and then Iraq.

He said he was required to take them for several weeks and soon suffered from watery eyes and vision problems, diarrhea, muscle twitching and a runny nose. A fellow Special Forces officer, he said, lost about 20 pounds in short order. “All of us had concerns at the time.”

To ward off swarms of sand flies in Kuwait City and the eastern Saudi province of Dhahran, Hardie said trucks would come through at 3 a.m. and spray “clouds” of pesticides.

Fly strips that smelled toxic hung “everywhere,” especially near food. “The pesticide use was far and away (more) than what you’d see in daily life,” he said.

Several soldiers interviewed said they were ordered to dunk their uniforms in the pesticide DEET and to spray pesticide routinely on exposed skin and in their boots to ward off scorpions. Others wore pet flea collars around their ankles.

The federal panel added that it also could not rule out an association between Gulf War illness and the prolonged exposure to oil fires, as well as low-level exposures to nerve agents, injections of many vaccines and combinations of neurotoxic exposures.

Hardie, a panel member, is convinced that he was later exposed to the chemical warfare agent Lewisite in a freshly abandoned Iraqi bunker; he noted its signature strong geranium smell.

He said he and others in his unit who ran miles a day past burning oil wells later hacked up black chunks of mucus and what he says his doctors think were pieces of his lung tissue. He said civilian doctors have diagnosed him with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, dizziness, confusion, acid reflux disease and chronic sinusitis.

He was not among the 100,000 U.S. troops who were potentially exposed to low-levels of Sarin gas, a nerve agent, as a result of large-scale U.S. demolitions of Iraqi munitions near Khamisiyah, Iraq, in 1991.

Troops who were downwind from the demolitions have died from brain cancer at twice the rate of other Gulf War veterans, the report stated.

A panel member, Dr. Roberta White, chair of environmental health at the Boston University School of Public Health, found evidence last year linking low-level exposure to nerve gas among in Persian Gulf troops with lasting brain deficits.

The extent of the deficits – less brain “white matter” and reduced cognitive function — corresponded to the extent of the exposure.

In addition, the panel said, Gulf War veterans have significantly higher rates of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) than other veterans.

White said that while there is a lot of anecdotal evidence of Gulf War vets contracting multiple sclerosis (MS), studies haven’t confirmed a combat link to that degenerative disease. Questions also remain about rates of cancers, disease-specific mortality rates in Gulf War veterans and the health of veterans’ children.

Conversely, the panel said there is little evidence supporting an association or major link with depleted uranium, anthrax vaccine, fuels, solvents, sand and particulates, infectious diseases, and chemical agent resistant coating (CARC).

The fact that veterans repeatedly still find that their complaints are met with cynicism, she said, “upsets me as a scientist, as someone who cares about veterans.”

Hardie said the Gulf War veterans have felt profound frustration that the health community as a whole has only been treating affected veterans’ symptoms.

“If you have MS – ’here’s some Motrin.’ How long can you take nasal steroids without getting at root cause — the brain damage?” he said. “The sad thing is scientists are saying in more precise terms what veterans were saying all along: We are sick, sickened by Gulf War service, and we need health care to help us.”

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Rare Form of Lymphoma

When I was told I had a Rare Form of Lymphoma, I started wondering just how Rare it was; come to find out that by 1997 over 78,000 people who were in the Military or Civilian’s who worked for the war effort; were diagnosed with it; so why is that so Rare?

Lymphoma normally takes years to get the full symptoms of it; so its not uncommon to get it 10 to 20 years after you where exposed to what ever gave it to you, so my thinking is that more and more vets will be getting it soon.

My research has lead me to believe that conventional treatment of chemotherapy causes more harm then good; Chelation therapy has a far better rate of success and is more beneficial to the patent; yet the VA will not pay for treatments or give them to you, since they believe this is Alternative Medical treatment. I was lucky to find a group that was willing to give me the treatment at the cost of the drugs, otherwise I would not have been able to afford it and would not be alive today.

Jeff Flesher

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Research indicates that Gulf War Vets have Brain Damage

By Ed Timms and Sue Goetinck

The Dallas Morning News

December 1st 1999

 

Ailing Persian Gulf War veterans suffered brain damage that researchers believe was caused by exposure to chemicals, according to a study made public Tuesday.

A sophisticated medical test found abnormally low levels of a brain chemical in a test group of veterans who, since the 1991 conflict, have experienced a variety of mysterious symptoms, including fatigue, memory loss, sleeping disorders and chronic diarrhea. Low levels of the chemical are a well-established indicator of brain injury.

Scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas conducted the research and presented their findings on Tuesday at the 85th annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

“We’ve now shown definitively that the Gulf War syndrome is due to a brain injury,” said Dr. Robert Haley, chief of epidemiology at UT Southwestern and the lead researcher in a long-running examination of ailing Gulf War vets. “It’s not a psychological problem due to stress. This gives us a powerful tool for a diagnostic test to determine who has this and who doesn’t.”

Dr. Haley added that he’s optimistic that a treatment can be developed.

“We hope that announcement of these findings will inspire a lot of other researchers out there to see if we can cure this thing,” he said. “The most frustrating thing to me is that we’ve not tried treatments.”

Dr. Haley also suggested that the medical test could be used to help ailing vets receive service-connected health treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Many veterans have fought a long battle to get government officials to even acknowledge that they’re sick. Some have accused the VA of failing to provide adequate treatment.

“I hope . . . that this will turn the tide, so people will say, ‘Yes, there is something actually wrong – and the political repercussions be damned,’ ” said Charles Townsend, 49, an Army veteran of the Gulf War. “Maybe America will do something right.”

Couldn’t hold a job

After returning from the Persian Gulf, Mr. Townsend, a Dallas resident, said he had difficulty holding a job because of his symptoms. At one point, he lived in his truck. He obtained a disability pension from the VA earlier this year.

“We’ve still got guys who’ve never been able to collect a penny,” said Jerry Jones, 57, of Leicester, N.C., another ailing vet who served in the Persian Gulf with the Navy’s 24th Naval Mobile Construction Battalion. “Some have lost their homes. Some have had to move back in with their parents . . . . They’ve lost their businesses.”

Mr. Jones, who also served in Vietnam, had attained the rank of senior chief petty officer, one of the highest non-commissioned ranks in the Navy, by the time he was sent to the Persian Gulf. When he returned, ailing, he had to retire from his state job as a mechanic eight years early and lost two-thirds of his retirement. Between medical costs and lost income, he estimates his own financial loss at between $250,000 and $500,000.

He said his attitude about the government and the military “has changed drastically” because of his experience.

“When I first went to Vietnam, I was told that if anything happens to you, we’ll take care of you,” he said. “That’s an illusion.”

Defense Department officials have said that they are aggressively trying to explain why Gulf War vets are sick but acknowledge that mistakes were made in the past.

Pentagon’s quest

At a Tuesday news conference, Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, Pentagon spokesman, said the Defense Department has “invested a commitment of time and effort and $133 million to fund 145 ongoing research projects to try to come up with an answer or a partial answer . . . on Gulf War illness.”

“So we very much look forward to receiving Dr. Haley’s work, taking a much closer look – and I hope he’s right.”

Rear Adm. Quigley also cautioned that “there are many steps to go here” and that he would like to see a peer review in a professional journal.

Dr. Haley said the research is under review at a major medical journal that focuses on radiology.

The radiology study received funding from the Defense Department and the Perot Foundation of Dallas. A total of 22 ailing veterans and 18 healthy subjects were subjected to magnetic resonance spectroscopy, which uses radio waves in a strong magnetic field to measure chemicals in the body.

The veterans who complained of illness had up to 25 percent lower levels of the brain chemical NAA (N-Acetyl-Aspartate) in the brain stem, which controls some reflexes, and in the basal ganglia, which control some functions of movement, memory and emotion.

“Some of these patients are profoundly disabled. There are stories of some real heroes who now barely are able to drive to the store,” said Dr. James L. Fleckenstein, a UT Southwestern professor of radiology who presented the findings at Tuesday’s meeting. “Although the existence of Gulf War syndrome is considered controversial, this is evidence supporting a physical mechanism for the problem.”

Radiologists did not know whether the patients they were testing were healthy or sick.

Treatment hopes

Other medical scanners, such as standard magnetic resonance imaging, had not detected changes in the brains of ailing Gulf War vets. Dr. Haley said that indicates the brain cells “are still there in the brain but are injured,” which gives him hope that some kind of medication can be found that will help the veterans with their symptoms.

“It’s time to stop debating whether there’s a Gulf War syndrome,” he said. “These findings show that there’s a Gulf War disease, which needs to be treated.”

He plans to begin a larger study next year. There’s some urgency, he said, because the health of some veterans is worsening.

The findings made public Tuesday are the latest in a series of advances by UT Southwestern scientists who are studying ailing Gulf War veterans.

One earlier study concluded that veterans born with low levels of an enzyme that destroys chemical toxins were more likely to suffer brain damage from exposure to low levels of nerve agents and pesticides, explaining why some service members exposed to chemicals became ill and others did not.

Another determined that Gulf War vets used or were exposed to chemicals and medications that were not necessarily harmful apart but that could be toxic if combined. Those included pyridostigmine bromide, a drug administered to service members in the hope that it would help them survive a nerve gas attack, low levels of chemical nerve gas, the insecticide DEET and pesticides.

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Gulf War’s Dirtiest Secret

Scottsdale Tribune

September 26th 1999

Barry Forbes Columnist

 

They suffer excruciating muscle and joint pain, debilitating headaches, chronic fatigue. They experience memory loss and blackouts lasting minutes or even hours, regaining full consciousness miles away from a fading, fleeting memory. They undergo terrifying tremors and sudden seizures, falling uncontrollably, bruising and bleeding, time and again.

Some are in wheelchairs. Some are dead. Others wish they were.
Gulf War syndrome is hell. There’s simply no other word to describe it. It’s not at all what “peacekeepers” imagined when they volunteered to serve their country.

To date, around 40,000 Gulf War veterans have registered with the Department of Defenses’ Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation Program. Veterans Affairs says that’s not nearly enough: Add another 70,000 victims to the total misery list.

What causes Gulf War Syndrome? After conducting well over 100 studies and spending in excess of $100 million, the government says it simply doesn’t know.

But in June 1996, the Department of Defense released a blockbuster scenario. It claimed that back in March 1991, the U.S. destroyed a large cache of chemical munitions at the Khamisiya depot in Iraq. The Defense Department and the CIA released computer-generated images of a wafting, toxic plume enveloping and possibly contaminating 100,000 troops. Voila–Gulf War Syndrome.

The public swallowed the bait hook, line and sinker, but it turned out to be pure, unadulterated spin. One, the symptoms of Gulf War syndrome isn’t even remotely close to the effects of chemical weapons. And two, many of those suffering from the syndrome hadn’t been deployed in the Gulf.

In fact, some had never even left American shores.

What about Persian Gulf locals? There isn’t a single reported case of Gulf War syndrome among the Kuwaitis, Egyptians or Israelis.

So what did America’s troops–and those of Canada and Great Britain–do to earn this dubious, debilitating distinction? A growing number of medical experts believe it was nothing more than rolling up their collective sleeves for the anthrax shot. (or shots to “protect” them against a possible biological attack, some received multiple inoculations.)

The world’s sole supplier of anthrax vaccine is Michigan Biologic Products Institute (MBPI) of Lansing, Michigan. The “institute” has been under intense scrutiny since February 1998, when FDA inspectors visited the plant and cited it for two-dozen infractions. There were serious lapses in manufacturing and quality control. Several batches of the vaccine failed the potency test. Some had expired: many were improperly re-dated. Manufacturing line areas were filthy. Production was halted for several months.

Critics went ballistic. The government responded by kicking in a couple million bucks-of our money-to spruce up the facility. But the same, highly questionable vaccine continues to be foisted upon unsuspecting troops.

The Gulf War Veterans Association has declared war on anthrax immunizations. The vets point to sky-high casualty numbers incorporating myriad systemic reactions. They talk about terrible autoimmune diseases that are not easily diagnosed or treated. They quote Lt. General Ronald Blanck, commanding officer of Walter Reed Army Medical Center: Anthrax vaccine should continue to be considered as a potential cause for undiagnosed illnesses in Persian Gulf personnel…

Attorney Mark Zaid represented the non-profit Veterans for Integrity in Government. He litigated a Freedom of Information act against the government. Among his discoveries: The first large-scale use of anthrax vaccine was the 150,000 servicemen inoculated during the Gulf War. Worse, despite government and manufacturer safety assertions to the contrary, long-term safety studies have yet to be undertaken. (Ironically, the stuff is so potent it’s almost impossible to test on human beings.)

That doesn’t seem to faze the military establishment. Last year, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen approved implementation of a military-wide anthrax immunization plan-a total of six shots over 18 months plus annual boosters.
A handful of armed forces personnel has declined the vaccine. Those who refuse the madness, endanger their careers and face confinement, forfeiture of pay, even dishonorable discharge. It’s already happened.

There is, however, light at the end of the tunnel. Congress is considering two bills (HR2548 and HR2543) to end the forced implementation of anthrax vaccine. It’s voluntary in all other countries, including our coalition partners. It should be voluntary here in America.

Military service is already a sacrifice. No one signed up to be a sacrificial lamb.

Epilog: Last September, MBPI was purchased by BioPort Corp., a company partially controlled by retired Adm. William Crowe. BioPort immediately won a two-year, $29 million Pentagon contract to make anthrax vaccine for U.S. military personnel. Translation: unless Congress acts, don’t look for any sudden sea change in the status quo…

Barry Forbes can be reached at: bforbes@forbescompany.com

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The Gulf War Mystery

By Paul M. Rodriguez

 

A retired Army general officially denies implications of tests showing antibodies for synthetic squalene in blood of hundreds of sick gulf war veterans. But he admits recent experiments with a suspect adjuvant.

Since Insight first reported that preliminary laboratory tests on a representative sample of Persian Gulf War soldiers found high numbers of antibodies for a synthetic polymer called squalene (see “Sickness and Secrecy,” Aug. 25), the calls, letters and E-mails that have poured in have run the gamut from cheers to so-what’s to nothing but bunk and junk.

. . The gist of such communications thus far has centered on conjecture that gulf-war soldiers were inoculated with “cocktails” of immunizations that may have produced unwanted or negative reactions either singly or with such variables as exposure to chemical/biological agents, environmental contaminants, oil-fire pollution or a combination of all of these, to name but a few theories.

At the center of virtually all the comments we received were questions about how squalene could be an issue worth exploring as a possible clue to gulf-war syndrome, or Persian Gulf illness, given that squalene occurs naturally in the human body and often is used in health foods and cosmetics. Readers also asked why we emphasized a “discovery” of synthetic squalene as opposed to natural squalene: If they aren’t the same, shouldn’t they be?

We begin this week’s report much as we began and ended the initial report two weeks ago — that is, with no ready answers and more mystery.

In an Aug. 13 press conference at the Department of Defense, or DoD, to announce the latest studies into four cases of suspected chemical-warfare exposure of U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf War region, retired Army Lt. Gen. Dale Vesser gave the first — and thus far only — official government response to the Insight story. Vesser, who works for the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Persian Gulf illnesses, emphatically told reporters that only alum was used as an adjuvant in immunizations administered to soldiers during the war.

Vesser also said the theory of use of an adjuvant other than alum was explored by the military two years ago and was dismissed because 1) nothing but alum was used, and 2) no such sickness as adjuvants’ disease exists. This latter point deals with a theory that adjuvants can cause unwanted immune responses in humans.

Vesser then went on to state that while immunization records and other medical documents are missing, they do not total upward of 700,000, as some sources claimed. About the issue of synthetic squalene antibodies, Vesser declared:

“I can say, categorically, that squalene was not an adjuvant that was in any of the vaccines that were used by the Department of Defense at the time…. The department has never used anything but FDA-approved [adjuvants] to its vaccines. And that was what the troops got. They got U.S. vaccine.”
Vesser then dropped this item:

. . “I’ve been told that recently there’s been a small use of squalene as an adjuvant in some anti-malarial vaccine that some 50 test volunteers have been exposed to, [but] that this vaccine has never been used [during the war]. None of this happened at the time of the gulf war. That is recent. That’s all I can say on the subject.”

. This assertion that squalene has been used as an adjuvant in experimental tests on humans was not picked up by the press even though it was issued by a senior DoD official and previously was unrevealed information — the use of squalene and the use of human “volunteers” for military experiments with immunization programs, antimalarial or otherwise.

Despite repeated requests to Vesser and others at DoD, the government has refused to divulge any other information on squalene uses or experimental immunization programs and what types of volunteers (and how many) have been used over the years.

Which brings the story back to some basic questions the Defense Department has been stonewalling. For example, although a synthetic version of a compound should be just about identical to the original, say pharmaceutical manufacturers and medical experts contacted by Insight, sometimes a twist or a turn or an added sequence or element appears in the synthetic version that doesn’t appear in the original. This seems to be the case with synthetic squalene: Antibodies found in blood samples of Persian Gulf War veterans — those who served overseas and those who never left the United States — match only with a synthetic version and not with naturally produced squalene.

Why? Insight doesn’t know but is trying to find out through molecular and microbiological tests, as well as interviews with makers of the synthetic versions of squalene. To date, the manufacturers have declined to provide information because of claimed proprietary interests.

That said, could the tests employed to detect synthetic squalene be faulty or otherwise render false-positive readings for a substance that occurs naturally in humans but, for whatever reason, suddenly has become “foreign” enough in the body to spur antibody development? Insight also is in the process of testing the assays — yet again — to determine whether the laboratory tests are faulty and to identify any other indicators that may give clues about why antibodies for synthetic squalene are showing up in the blood of veterans stricken with gulf-war syndrome.

Pending such reevaluations and additional information, what is the significance of the initial laboratory tests that detected those antibodies? We don’t yet know and neither do the scientists involved in the testing. Speculation, assuming the testing assays remain correct, is that the compound was used as an adjuvant in an inoculation given to soldiers before, during and/or immediately after the Persian Gulf War. Given that the military has denied using any adjuvant except alum, how else could synthetic squalene antibodies have developed in the bloodstreams of soldiers, especially those who are the most ill?

When Insight raised the issue and reported the preliminary test results, which were derived from approximately 450 blood samples taken from a representative cross-section of soldiers involved or called into action for the Persian Gulf War, we expressed bafflement about finding something that 1) should not be there, that 2) the government said it never put there and 3) that generated antibodies to a product that is not approved for use in humans for anything but the most carefully monitored experimentation.

Insight also stated that despite repeated attempts to get government assistance to explain, knock down or confirm the preliminary test results, the military establishment declined assistance. Moreover, the military brass formally denied it had ever used squalene in any way, shape or form.

Although we were able to clear several layers of smokescreen put up by government officials concerning the uses of squalene as an experimental adjuvant in tests run out of the National Institutes of Health and the Walter Reed Institute, we were not able to get anyone in the military to state on the record who, what, when, where, why and how they used artificial squalene. The only available information comes from medical journals and military and civilian doctors who have confirmed some of the experimental uses of the synthetic squalene as an adjuvant in research for such diseases as HIV and herpes.

Prior to publishing the first story, Insight supplied information about early test results — and subsequently draft galleys of the story — to officials at the Defense Department, Veterans Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services. All were asked for input and to consider running their own tests to determine whether “official” research would reproduce the discovery of antibodies to the synthetic squalene in the sick veterans.

In all situations, the departments and the various agencies not only declined Insight’s overtures but threw up walls of silence immediately upon receiving the materials. Prior to this, many officials in these departments and agencies had cooperated or engaged in discussions of possible causes for gulf-war syndrome.

The only exception to the official no comment/no response attitude was Timothy Gerrity, a director for health services at the Veterans Administration, who said he would be surprised if the antibody tests were positive but, if they were, he would pursue the matter. And vigorously.

Whereas prior to publication officials in Washington were willing and eager to speak, such willingness halted after the preliminary test results began to come in. Why? And why has the stonewalling continued since publication of the first story, except for the now-and-again mantra that “we never used it” and therefore it can’t be there — as in Vesser’s comments?

The search for answers to the mystery of gulf-war syndrome continues. Many analysts believe the answer will involve chemical-weapons exposure in some fashion — but everyone outside official circles is taking care to say they are guessing. One reason is that so many records are missing. To their credit, the House and Senate veterans committees plan hearings about this for early fall, and the General Accounting Office is continuing to probe.

Part of these reviews will include questions first raised by Insight linked to the synthetic squalene lab results. Meanwhile: How did something that shouldn’t be in those sick soldiers get there if, as the government says, it never was used?

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Gulf War Illness

A look at the Veterans and the Issues Surrounding American

and Allied Veterans of The Gulf War

Gulf War Illness (Part 1 of 2)

 

www.Desert-Storm.com is proud to host a copy of the Gulf War Illness Awareness packet presented below. It is not meant to be a comprehensive exploration of GWI and its surrounding issues. Thanks go to Tonia Goertz for providing this compilation. If you wish to download this presentation in a more printer friendly format please right-click on the following link and choose Save As: gwi_packet.doc

The intent of this packet is to make you aware of the problems faced By Persian Gulf Veterans. It is NOT meant to be comprehensive, rather a more personal look at the victims of this War. American citizens, and Veterans who have proudly served this country and are now suffering due to the apathy of the public, the lack of media attention similar to the POW and Agent Orange issues faced by our predecessors, and inadequate and inappropriate medical care.

The goal of this packet is to make you aware of the reality of the life of our Veterans since the war, Included are the publicly available statistics, and the number to call for current statistics, excerpts of documents on major contributing factors, and Personal stories from the Veterans themselves.

Thank you for your consideration of this issue, and for more information please contact: E-mail: tinkerBel992000@yahoo.com

The stories contained herein are the stories written by the Veterans themselves, or their spouses. One is a Life magazine article about a group of Veterans and the issues faced by their children.

This packet also contains a few excerpts from some of the many documents available for your reading pleasure on things like the safety of Depleted Uranium, the anthrax vaccine, and the agents that the US government knew the Iraqi’s possessed because WE sold them.

I would like to publicly thank each person that has contributed to this effort through the sharing of their story, the passing of the word that I was working on this, or simply for sending up prayers that this has some impact or makes some kind of difference. I would also like to thank each of you, those reading this, for your time and interest in the lives of our Veterans.

For more complete information on this issue, here are a few of the sites available for answers to any questions you might have:

1. American Gulf War Veterans Association www.gulfwarvets.com
2. National Gulf War Resource Center: www.ngwrc.org
3. Desert Storm . com: http://www.desert-storm.com
4. New Hampshire Gulf War Syndrome Association: www.nhgws.org/index.htm
5. The Reigle Report: What veterans have been exposed to and a look at the U.S. government’s involvement: www.gulfwarvets.com/arison/banking.htm

A few personal looks at this issue:

Tom Colosimo: www.tomcolosimo.com
Candy Lovett: www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/1683/enter.html

The Mandatory Anthrax Vaccine and why it is a problem for All Gulf War Veterans, and All Veterans who have served since that time:

Major Sonny Bates: www.majorbates.com
Anthrax Vaccine Home Page: www.anthraxvaccine.org

Also, you can search Squalene, Gulf War, Gulf War Illnesses, Illnesses in Gulf war Veterans, Birth defects in Gulf War Veterans Children, or any variation of these topics and come up with thousands of links.

To begin, I will outline the issues, outline only due to the extensive nature of the information available on each of these on line. I will also state that I am not a doctor or any form of medical personnel, I am not a researcher, and I am not attempting to do anything other than make you aware of the FACTS that the media and government seem to chose to discount. My story is included herein and when you read it and the others, I hope that they will in some way motivate you to start asking some serious questions of our elected officials. We are but a few of those suffering.

The Issues:

I. Exposures

A. Chemical weapons like nerve agents, mustard gas, etc.
B. Depleted Uranium- from the tank armor to the spent rounds, to the destroyed Iraqi equipment.
C. Experimental vaccines and drugs:

1. Anthrax vaccine
2. Botulism Toxin Vaccine
3. Pyridostigmine Bromide (anti nerve agent pills)

D. Biological Weapons and viral agents engineered by man
E. Environmental Exposures:

1. Diesel fuel
2. Diesel fumes
3. Pesticides/insecticides
4. Chemical agent resistant coating (CARC)Paint
5. DEET

F. Indigenous diseases

1. Leishmaniasis
2. Brucellosis
3. Cholera

II. Medical Care

A. Denied claims

1. Inability to prove service connection due to missing records.
2. Inability to understand claims process due to lack of support from service organizations.
3. Denial of appeals due to missing deadlines due to not understanding the forms.
4. Denial of claims due to improperly submitted evidence.
5. Claims denied on the basis of being “not well grounded”
6. Claims approved on illnesses not requested for, or approved with no compensation.

B. Medical Treatment

1. Lack of care all together
2. Lack of appropriate care for illnesses presented
3. Lack of appropriate diagnostic tests being run
4. Denial or omission of positive test results
5. Treatment for psychological problems, unnecessarily, in the presence of heart, liver, or kidney problems.
6. Improper or limited diagnoses.
7. Being told by VA doctors that they, and I quote, “WE DO NOT TREAT GULF WAR RELATED ILLNESSES, BUT WE CAN REFER YOU TO PSYCHOLOGY.”
8. Refusal by both civilian and VA doctors to recommend diagnostic tests- VA based on the statement above, civilian due to the fact that they say go to the VA.

C. Family Issues:

1.Birth defects in our children
2.Learning disabilities in our children
3.Infection of our spouses and children with indigenous diseases and genetically engineered things.
4.Exposure of our families to our chronic illness, financial hardship, and in some cases even homelessness.
5.Inability to find causes if illnesses and issues in our children/ lack of medical care for them as well.

I am sure that I have omitted some of the things we face on a daily basis, but this is a fairly reasonable overview. The illnesses and problems faced are unique to each person. It seems as though no two people present exactly the same way. Each family faces different challenges and concerns, and the bottom line is that many are dying or already dead.

We are VETERANS, and the families of Veterans, we do not want your pity, or sorrow at our loss. We want your action.

For accurate up to date information contact: The Special Assistant
Four Skyline Place, Suite 901
5113 Leesburg Pike
Falls Church, VA 22041

Our e-mail address is: special.assistant@deploymenthealth.osd.mil or call: (800) 497-6261

Statistics:

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, as of March 1st 2001

– 696,661 U.S. troops served in the Gulf War between August 2, 1990 and July 31, 1991 — these are considered “Gulf War Conflict” veterans by the VA;

– Of the 696,628, 504,047 are separated from service and eligible for benefits through the VA;

– As of December 1999, more than 263,000 sought medical care at the VA;

– Of the 504,047 eligible veterans, 185,780 (36%) filed claims against the VA for service-related medical disabilities;

– Of the 171,878 VA claims actually processed, 149,094 (80%) were approved in part (note — most claims are made up of multiple issues, if any one issue is granted, VA considers it approved);

– Of the 504,047 eligible for VA benefits, 149,094 (29%) are now considered disabled by the VA eleven since the start of the Gulf War; and

– Another 13,902 claims against the VA still pending.

– More than 9,600 Gulf War veterans have died.

– Conflict veterans are 51% more likely to have their claims denied than “theater” veterans (those who served in the Gulf since August 1, 1991)

– Veterans who served at Khamisiyah and Al Jubayl are 37% more likely to have one or more service connected conditions than era veterans. Conflict veterans are 8% more likely than era veterans to have one or more service connected conditions. Theater veterans – those who served in the region since August 1, 1991 – are 16% less likely than era veterans to have service connected conditions.

According to the Department of Defense, by 1999, the military revealed

– As many as 100,000 U.S. troops were exposed to repeated low-levels of chemical warfare agents, including sarin, cyclosarin, and mustard gases;

– More than 250,000 received the investigational new drug pyridostigmine bromide (PB pills) the Pentagon “cannot rule out” as linked to Gulf War illnesses;

– 8,000 received the investigational new botulinum toxoid (Bot Tox) vaccine;

– 150,000 received the hotly debated anthrax vaccine;

– 436,000 entered into or lived for months within areas contaminated by more than 315 tons of depleted uranium radioactive toxic waste possibly laced with trace amounts of highly radioactive Plutonium and Neptunium, almost all without any awareness, training, protective equipment, or medical evaluations; and

– Hundreds of thousands lived outdoors for months near more than 700 burning oil well fires belching fumes and particulate matter without any protective equipment.

– Each of these exposures took place while troops were either engaged in combat, serving in a war zone, or stationed in the volatile region for a number of months.

The Veterans:

Paulie

My brother was a happy guy with out a mean thing to say bout anyone. He always smiled & joked with all that he met. He was the oldest of 5 children born in our family. He always got along with everyone. He decided to join the Army & was in the Paratrooper & was in Special Forces. When the fights began for what was later called Desert Storm & Desert Shield, he was called to go over there. He went willingly to help our Government. He was one of the first sent out & one of the last to return.

The brother that came back was not the same one that had left. For on the outside he still did all the things that he did before but his heart wasn’t there. Only his family could see the changes that had taken place. Though there wasn’t anything that we could do to lessen the pain or the horror that he witnessed. He was one of the many that were given clean up duty.

Such a ridiculous name for such a ghastly duty.

They were sent to check out those that had fallen to be sure whether or not they were dead.

They also collected the dead bodies of both our soldier’s & the fallen enemy. Many were in parts that had to be collected. Many of the enemy bodies were booby trapped so care had to be taken. Not a job that anyone would want to have to do.

When he came back, he was like many other soldiers that had been there.

Loud noised would put him on alert, he couldn’t stay inside for to long for he was used to being outside, he felt better being outside.

He was still fighting those that he was sent to fight; the war was not over for him.

Many soldiers never recover from this, nightmares continue to plague them, & they never cease to have them. They come in the daylight hours & when they least expect them.

My brother was one of the lucky few that was better able to cope with the things that he had to do. The sadness remained even though he went on with getting his life together.

His life was cut short only a few years after returning to us.

He died on May 16, 1998.

Though the Lord called for him, he remains in our hearts & on our minds with every passing day.

©Annette Thornburgh

Robert and Sheila

My name is Sheila Allen. My husband, Robert Allen, of just 8 months came down with Primary CNS Lymphoma. This was in the brain only. He was diagnosed on April 22, 1999. After extensive treatment, he still went home be with the Lord on Feb. 19, 2001. He served in Gulf war, and was in the service from 1977-1997. He was on the U.S.S. O’Brien over there floating around in the waters right off the gulf. Fortunately he did get a full service disability status. If you need more info, please feel free to write me, and ask. I would be happy to share with you. Also, I came down with thyroid disease in March of 99. Hashimotos disease, which is an autoimmune thyroid condition.

Art Tinker

I read what they said on the fibromyalgia/ cfs. It pretty well describes me I have been to doctor after doctor. Yesterday I was dx with fibromyalgia imaging that.

I was laid off last year in February. The year before I was taking off more work due to sickness than I ever have. When I was laid off it was a God sin because they were going to rid me because of my attendance.

Below is the letter I mailed to Congress last October and to several of our Hierarchy.

I have not returned to work. Sometimes I can’t even move or I am just paralyzed to all the symptoms I have. My memory has been altered. I am being punished because I go beyond appellate dates. Well you know something I find it hard to concentrate and I actually forget things.

Letter

Thank you for using www.Congress.org to send your important message to your elected officials. Congress.org is a public service Web site operated by Capitol

Advantage whose goal is to empower citizens to communicate and share their views with the nation’s leaders.

Message sent to the following recipients:
Chief of Staff Card
Special Advisor to the President for Cyberspace Security Clarke
Message text follows:

Art Hickey
October 13th 2001

To whom it may concern:

I know my letter is long but please at least read it and see if you can do something. Here is websites for desert storm http://www.ngwrc.org and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gulf-chat/message/9596 also feel free to browse it. Bottom line I need help now, not a year from now.

My life has been taken away from me because of this unknown disease. It has affected my family, my career path and everything I have worked for.

I served my country I was not drafted. I volunteered and for almost 14 years you had nothing but dedication. Now I need support and I feel that everyone is out to get me. Pretty soon I will have no income yet I find it hard to seek employment as I live in a nightmare. Am I angry, suicidal, homicidal, emotional, upset with the system, anxious and/or depressed?

I am having problems and they have been worsening since my time spent in the gulf. I don’t know whom to turn to because I’m having a problem focusing on the stuff in front of me. I am ok some days with moderate pain and able to function. Other times I am debilitated.

As I write this letter, I am hardly able to swallow. My tongue has some kind of virus that VA doctors can’t identify. My eyes water, I’m sensitive to light, my joints are aching, I’m bitter, angry, depressed, I gasp for breath, I’m fatigued and I’m just at my wits end. I lay at night, wondering, if I have given my family something.

I feel afflicted with a disease that has left me sick. I have suffered enough and reports show many have died. I am destitute and have depleted my savings in an unsuccessful search for an explanation for my ailment. I am a military veteran of the Gulf War. The only thing I am asking is for nothing more than the assistance I have earned. Refusal on my immediate assistance leads me to question the integrity of the nation I served.

I have cysts in my arms, and legs and also soars forming, headaches, chronic fatigue, upper respiratory problems and I feel like I am losing control sometimes because for the last 9 to 10 years I have been led to believe I was imagining all this. After Desert Storm, I went into the work force in Dec 94 and left Feb 2001, thank GOD I got a severance package because Lord knows what I would be doing now. The last year I worked, I took off so much work because of symptoms.

I am being told I have to wait for a decision. The proof is in the pudding, I am living it. Instead of putting the burden of proof on us soldiers why can’t the government open their eyes and prove we did not get a disease over there. Why must we have it documented while we were over there in medical records? As a matter of fact, I don’t care if it was anthrax, biological warfare or etc. Also, just because it might have not affected someone else in my unit or any other unit for that matter, they could have had a certain antibody for this anthrax and/or biochemical crap. It’s not going to do me any good to pinpoint my location in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. I just want it fixed so I can go on living a normal life.

Am I angry, suicidal, homicidal, emotional, upset with the system, anxious and/or depressed?

I have recently gone to VFW, and I will try and get justice. I am concerned however that the law states a veteran only has a year from the decision of a disability to include the family for extra pay. I was awarded 30 per cent yet sometimes the things I endure are debilitating. I have recently found out that I should have been drawing just a little more income for my spouse and son to help financially, however VFW told me the DAV didn’t put in for this and I didn’t know anything about it. Now that I know the law they say I cannot get back pay for something that was in fact owed to me, yet I didn’t know about. I should have been receiving pay since 93 my award didn’t start until 96. I am confused on how the system works because during my claim process, the DAV and the Appellate board knew I was married. My wife spoke in my behalf. Go figure. The law should be bent because DAV had my power of attorney. I should not be denied this.

The pain I experience is excruciating at times, I go into meditation as I was taught to endure pain via military, but I can only take so much at times so I have to rely on other resources when needed.

Sometimes I burst into tears for nothing at all because I feel worthless. I was so great and rising fast yet now I feel like my whole world has fallen. I was an account executive for a major firm, I served as an inspector for the 102nd Arcom, I was a maintenance sergeant and etc. I wiped a lot of noses in and out of service but I am having difficulty wiping my own.

What is it that we as veterans suppose to do with this disease of the unknown? VA can’t pay you compensation because it takes months to be approved at the appellate board if it is approved at all, and social security takes months if it is not denied. What are we to do in the meantime? Why isn’t there something set up for the obvious?

I don’t go to the VA every time I have a headache, nor do I when all my other ailments occur yet I must provide proof via a doctor these things are happening. So here I have severe apnea, which is one of the signs and it took me to go to a private doctor to finally discover this. I have chronic fatigue, upper respiratory problems, in which my chest hurts and the doc wants to maybe take a piece of tissue from my lung, I have rashes, cysts, soars that inflame and become unbearable to touch, my back aches yet I try and exercise and do normal things, and I always try to stay positive. For if all of this is in my mind please help me remove it so I can live and press on.

I wished you people were in our shoes; no I don’t because you wouldn’t be in the same position, and you would get something done, because you have power. Well why can’t you use your power for us.

Sgt Hickey
Paul
May 14th 2002
Paul F. Yelton Jr.

To whom it may concern,

Chances are if this letter is being displayed, a great friend of mine deemed it necessary to do so. I joined the service in 1987, a graduate from high school I wanted to make my parents proud. I joined the service so I could continue my education in the engineering field. Much to my dismay, this furthering of my education never happened. All throughout my history in The United States Army, I wore the uniform proudly, and served my country honorably. When tensions in the Middle East grew in the early nineties, apprehension of a conflict was in the air. Though I never served in the theater of Iraq during the war, my unit was deployed to Turkey. Before deployment our unit received multiple vaccinations, these we were told were necessary as to fight off any infections, or ailments resulting in going to foreign lands. Though not a glorious mission, ours was to help the refuges, also known as the Kurds. Once our mission was finished we returned to Germany, from there I was out processed, as I was involuntary extended under the circumstances surrounding the war. Many of times during my stay in turkey, many off us would awake to choking on the sprays, the Turkish soldiers used for the control of insects. Upon my returning to civilian life, the years passed by without a problem. I had often heard of other soldiers getting sick from the injections and shells that were used. None of the problems that plagued my brethren and sisters affected me so I did not worry about it. A decade after the cease fire, in the fall of 2000, the county where I live, decided to spray for the west Nile virus. Two months later, I became deathly ill. While driving a tanker trailer, I had a seizure. From that point in my life my world crumbled at my feet. Upon the diagnoses of seizure disorder, my life was to be changed forever.

No longer could I continue my career. Being a Professional Driver, having a seizure disorder ruined my career. The career that I had loved for so many years was gone in a flash. Having two young children and a wife at home my heart was crushed. I knew I had to start another career, after a few months I was returned to the work force. Working for a home improvement store now became my profession. Though not the first choice for a truck driver, being in retail started to give me a sense of well being, with a chance to move up into management in a short period of time. After two years one career destroyed, and a year to rule out any genetic link, my world once again has crumbled at my feet. Now facing financial ruin, and a potential loss of my home, I am disappointed in the people of the United States.

The Va. has diagnosed me with seizure disorder, possible ms, and cardiac murmur, all of which I self diagnose as Gulf War illness. I say Gulf War Illness because I spent a year ruling out any genetic link, and have found that far to many other gulf era vets have very similar problems. After two years of research myself, I believe my problems originated from the multiple vaccinations. Many Government experts believe this is not the case, I believe it is. The toll this has taken on me is very great, I struggle each day to try and remember yesterday, or the day before that, or the day before that. I watch, as my young son looks at me and says, dad, you didn’t remember we were going to do this, or that. The emotional struggle from day to day, as to whether or not I will remember the past, as so I won’t make the same mistakes in the future. Being in retail as a customer asks a question, I can’t remember so I ask what was asked, the reaction of anger towards me. As things in this life are always changing, so has this illness changed me. I used to be a quiet, simple man, now I have become a man driven, driven by the desire for my Government to answer my questions and tell me why and how come. A man at 34 yrs old who has made his peace with his maker, yet a wife a two children that do not understand his anger.

I served my country proud, I would serve my country again, and I am discouraged as to why my country will not answer my call. I have written our leaders numerous times, only to have my pleas, fall on deaf ears. To have other Veteran groups look down upon you, simply because our soldiers came home with yellow ribbons, and a parade. The battle for this group of veterans is not over, the mission a failure. The media tells all of no casualties, there are over one hundred thousand, and we are still falling daily on the average we lose two gulf era veterans. Folks, there are fifty thousand names on the wall, one hundred thousand gulf era veterans do not have a wall in which to have their names placed, only tombstones. The gulf veterans are not only who is affected by the war, our children are sacrificing for their country to, though they never signed their name. Many of our veterans’ children are born with birth defects. Not only our children, but also the children in Iraq are also suffering. Because of our nations agenda to apply sanctions, many children are suffering there as well. These diseases slowly wear at ones body, and eventually take ones mind.

I believe we all have an obligation to make a stand. The very freedoms we all fought for, in any war are threatened. New laws are being passed everyday, slowly taking away the very rights that our constitution was founded on. Freedom of speech, freedom of statement, our kids can no longer pray in our schools, how can we expect our God to answer our calls. I ask each of you who may read this to take a step back. Take a good long look, and ask yourself, what has happened, why have I allowed this to happen. All wars were lost, as the very principals we fought for have become tarnished. America has become so relaxed that we have allowed domestic enemies to infiltrate into our governing bodies. Take a look and ask, is this what I sacrificed so much for? Is this what I am going to allow to continue? I pray for our service men and women today, as they to will return, to have America turn her back on them. As George Washington once said, “The willingness of our young people to serve in any war, no matter how justified, is how they perceive the way those that went before them were treated. Will we allow America to continue to lose her honor? Anyone with any questions of this Veteran is welcome to contact me to validate the words I have written.

Thank you and may your god bless you.

Sincerely,
Paul F. Yelton Jr.
Yeltonp@aol.com
A once proud Veteran and very disappointed citizen
Freda and Lyle

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Freda H. Babinski and I am the wife of Lyle S. Babinski who had served with the 155th Engineer Co. National Guard Unit in Waverly, Tennessee 37185. Rank E-4, His unit was activated and sent to Saudi Arabia to serve in Operation Desert Shield/Storm from Jan. 1991 to June 1991.

At the time his unit left, my husband was in excellent health and state of mind. When me and Mr. Rogers (a young man who has lived with us since we were married in 1986) picked him up from the Nashville Airport, we both immediately smelled a very unusual odor on him, his uniform and all his belongings. It was not from lack of showering, this odor was very different. This odor had a chemical smell and the reason I know this is because I also served in the U.S. Army and I know that smell. You never, NEVER forget that odor.

After he was at home for about a month, I started to notice changes in him. The diarrhea would last for two or three days. It would stop for a week or so and then it would start up again. I see him get mad and upset over absolutely nothing and for no reason. His concentration span is very short. As he tries to do the normal things here at home like he use to, he’ll suddenly quit in severe anger or from exhaustion or bothMy husband can’t breathe through his nose and his nasal passages are swelled. He coughs and sneezes allot. With-in a month after he returned, I noticed that his nose got very red and dry and he complained of it hurting all the time. We tried all kinds of creams and ointments but nothing would work. VA has also given him nose sprays, hich helped for a couple days and then stopped. The redness on his nose is now across his forehead and cheeks. Also blood actually runs out of his nose several times a month. I thought he developed high blood pressure but I check it quite often and it’s normal most of the time. I use to be a Registered Nurses Assistant for twenty yrs. so I do know what I’m doing. There are times that his blood pressure will rise suddenly and then in minutes go back to normal.

During these times (which are several times a week now) his skin turns gray in color. Before this, the gray color was only happening at night when he slept. He can no longer sleep in the bed. He has to sleep in his chair or on the floor (when he does sleep and it’s only for a few hrs). This has been going on in the past yr. He yells in his sleep and he moans like he’s in severe pain while sleeping. Every night I have to keep checking him to see if he’s breathing because his skin has that gray look as if he’s dead. Also in the last few yrs. he has been getting lost coming home from work.

He said that he will suddenly find himself on the interstate wondering where he is suppose to be going and then he will remember. So I had to get him a cell phone so when this happens, hopefully he would know to call me and I could help him. This past yr. he’s come home disoriented many times. He acts like he’s not sure if he’s suppose to be here or not. He gets confused so easily. This will last about an hour or so. The headaches are more severe now than they were before and they are every day now. VA in Nashville advised me to request guardianship over him which I’ve already done yet have not gotten an answer from them as of yet. My husband hurts so bad in his joints and muscles and he is so exhausted all the time. He can only work part time now but I feel that even that is too hard on him.

The people he works with are wonderful because they watch him for me and they too have noticed some drastic changes in him. They see his how he hurts and what he goes through. He’s been missing allot of work lately because he feels and hurts so bad. The doctors there are seeing how sick he is now and are asking why he looks so bad. I have a civilian Neurologist check him constantly where he works and she found nerve damage in his lower spine and severe Carpal Tunnel in both wrists. After she did her exams she wrote a statement that he is whole body 70% disabled and that’s not counting his Gulf War symptoms. He is slowly losing the use of both hands and VA in Nashville TN. doesn’t seem to think that’s a problem. He also has a pocket of fluid in his brain that wasn’t there before and VA once again, doesn’t see that as a problem.

I’m by far not a physician but I do know that his symptoms and his pains are very real. Since June 1991 when he returned from the Gulf War his symptoms have increased at least 75%. It is not in his imagination nor is it in mine. He has also received both letters stating that his Unit WAS in the area of Khamisiyah and the letters were dated 7-24-97 and 12-05-00.

My husband and I do very little socializing but the friends we do have are the people he works with. He works at a hospital and if the Higher Ups knew how sick he is, I am sure he would lose his job. They already got rid of the other GWV’s. You see, I’m 100% disabled now and we barely make it from paycheck to paycheck. He is our main source of income. To tell you the truth, I don’t know how he makes it day after day. His age serves no purpose in this matter. Before Desert Storm, my husband could work any younger man into the ground, I’ve seen him do it and you know why? He always took extra good care of himself by exercising and eating right also he does not drink nor does he smoke. This man very seldom took an aspirin.

As for myself, it has increased all of my illnesses plus I now have other illnesses that I didn’t expect. I have epilepsy, which contain two or three seizures daily, degenerative bone disease, two discs missing in my spine. I’m always having pinched nerves in my spine and lower neck (usually about two times a month). These were illnesses I already had but now I suffer from severe migraines that have been diagnosed. When I get these migraines, I also get ruptured blood vessels in one eye (the side the pain is on). I also have severe low sugar and a hiatal hernia. My arthritis is so severe now that I have a worse time sitting, standing or walking for any distance. My husband and I recently found out that we both have Hep. C.

I also had 3 dogs and 2 cats that are ill. We already lost one cat to a kidney infection that our Veterinarian seemed very puzzled about because the cat wasn’t that old and was very healthy. Both of the larger dogs have strange knots all over their bodies, different sizes and shapes. One dog (who recently died this past Easter am.) has had four surgeries removing these knots but they kept returning. They all have kidney infections at least once a month. They all have rectal bleeding at times. They all have severe arthritis and all but one are sensitive to loud noises and that’s because she is completely deaf. They hide all the time as if they’re scared. The one dog that recently died was completely blind. The smaller dog is on medication for her lack of bladder control. All of them are very sensitive on the top of their heads like they’re in severe pain. They all get diarrhea periodically and run fevers for no reason. Our pets didn’t act or hurt like this before my husband went to the Gulf but they do now and it began after his return.

Washington DC knows about our situation and our pets and have had other reports of pets being ill with the same symptoms. It has been admitted to me by Jim Reeves who is now retired from OSAGWI that most Veterans will not report this problem much for two reasons and they are:

1) People will not believe them.
2) They haven’t connected it to the ill Veteran yet. If another family member can get this illness, then why not the pets?

Which should also tell you that this illness is contagious.

You see, I’ve only given you the short version of what all has happened to us. our lives and our future since my husbands return from the Gulf. By the way, I nearly forgot, we’ve already had to file Bankruptcy plus my husband is also a Vietnam Veteran who now has the nightmares again and how much more can this Country expect him to tolerate?

I certify that everything I have said here is the truth to the best of my knowledge. I AM AN AMERICAN VETERAN MYSELF THEREFORE I DO NOT LIE FOR ANYONE!!

May 14, 2002
Thank- You for your time….
Feel free to contact me ANYTIME if you want verification of my story and I will gladly go into more detail.

Freda H. Babinski
(The State that sent the most volunteers to the Gulf)
Robert D. Smith

Hello this is Smokey from the AGWVA B/B w/ the personal stories you were requesting. I have no problem w/ anyone asking questions about this story. You may feel free to reveal my web page or e-mail address to any who would scrutinize this story or your work. For me, the story begins w/ being attached to the 101st Air Assault Div. 1st BDE 2/327 inf. Right after the invasion of Kuwait the division went into action. Preparing for deployment. Part of this prep was being vaccinated for overseas duty. I received numerous shots that day just like in basic and before deployment to Panama. This time 2 new ones were added to the mix, Anthrax & Botulism Toxin. Around the end of Aug 91 we were in country and as best I can remember all was going well. Soon after arrival we were issued the PB tabs w/ instruction from our squad leader that he would hold formation after every meal and supervise everyone taking his or her PBs as ordered.

I made it through the conflict and came home. I can’t recall when I started noticing something wrong. Others noticed my change before me. Shortly after my return, I was reassigned from my inf. unit to the NCO academy as an instructor. This was due to my illness and not being able to adjust. Kind of a friendly light duty gesture from my CO at the time. I finished out my 4 yr tour there. But not without incident. My health was deteriorating.

I was removed from field exercises twice by ambulance when I went to the medic w/ my complaints. They were having a hard time locating a pulse and my blood pressure was nowhere to be found until I got to Blanchfield Army Community Hospital and hooked up to a heart machine. I knew something wasn’t right but what had started out as flu or cold had become more serious. I left the service in ’93 after only 4yrs in. (I went in thinking of it of as a career) Prior to my discharge during one of the out processing meetings. I was asked if I wanted to file a claim w/ the VA. Being advised they would take care of any follow on care I required. I agreed and filed my claim. In it I listed the following as my symptoms. 1stomach condition, 2chronic fatigue syndrome w/ dizziness & memory loss, 3lung condition, 4nervous condition, 5back pain, 6residuals of a fractured finger. I turned in this paper work and was discharged about a month later in Dec.

I arrived home and found work w/ the USDA Forest Service in April that yr. I still wasn’t doing good but needed to work to support my family. It was tough back then. I was having trouble keeping anything down. Other times I would have a mouth so watery that you either bent over and let it run out like a faucet, or swallowed and saw it all at once later. I would get cramps and muscular spasms, watery eyes and headaches from hell. It wouldn’t happen everyday but about 4 times a week. I was waiting to hear back from the VA papers I had put in. All I ever got for that whole year from the VA was ” We are having trouble locating your service records”.

Then eventually in mid 94 they made a decision. Out of all the listed complaints all but one was considered “not well grounded” Because the Army would not release my records to the VA. The one approved, the finger I broke while carrying a dragon missile for a friend. The rating was 0% for the entire muscle skeletal system. I took this news very hard. So hard I was becoming violent and near homicidal toward them. They had just called me a liar basically. I never appealed their decision. I didn’t know how.

All I knew was the people, who were supposed to help, left me to die. So with no med insurance from my gov’t job ( Because I was only a seasonal firefighter.) and no help from the VA. I suffered through the next 4 yrs. constantly contemplating suicide or at least leaving my family to spare them the pain of having to tend to my needs. (I spent a lot of nights w/ a trashcan next to my bed to vomit in every night.) Things were so tight I had to choose between going to a doctor or letting the family go hungry. It wasn’t till late 94 after that denial that I first heard o f Gulf War Syndrome. In 98 I had met a few other local vets. All of whom were Vietnam Veterans. We talked and I explained my situation.

They sincerely tried to help but the VA was not budging saying I missed the appeal and had no new evidence. But like last time all was not lost. They gave me a “not well grounded” on all the items I had claimed but granted me 10% for something I didn’t claim and never mentioned out of embarrassment. That was Irritable Bowel Syndrome. About this time I had caught wind of the Persian Gulf Registry exam. I signed up and things started happening for me. They were beginning to recognize my illness for what it was. Multi symptomatic. The exam took only 3 months. I had appt’s almost daily. I ended up w/ some diagnosis that made sense.

They include PTSD, which was the nervous condition I applied for originally (I did not know what to call it then). Also a motor tremor, severe hypothyroid problem, Acid reflux disease w/ Barrettes Esophagus. An Inguinal hernia, a bulging C-5 & 6 vertebrae in my back. It wasn’t till after that exam and on my 3rd claim for the same conditions over again that I received a Service Connection, but only for the PTSD. Everything else they deny. I’m starting to loose my focus, and need a break. I hope this helps explain to others what is going on. If I can ever be of any assistance, please let me know. I don’t think I said all I wanted too, but only what I can remember at this time. I know I’m not the only one suffering, and as sick as it sounds it’s a relief for me to know I’m not alone in this struggle. Sgt. Smith Robert D. A Co.2/327 infantry 1st BDE. 101st Abn. Div. 1989-93.

Pamela’s Husband
Hope I’m not too late:


My husband joined the US army in February 1970. He served in Vietnam 1971-1972 with B 159th Aviation and 362nd Aviation Co. attached to the 229th attached to the 1st Cav. and the Persian Gulf August-September ’90-101st Airborne Division. He was on profile for a back disability while sent over to Saudi and was evac’d back about a month later because of it. He never should have been deployed in the first place. He recalls MOPP 4’s many times during this one month of service in Saudi. They slept in tents on the concrete airfield in sleeping bags. He remembers that he had dehydrated and the company chaplain had difficulty in arousing him. Back state side he was in charge of HHC and handled baggage of other returning soldiers after the war. He retired honorably in November 1991.

Presumed service connected disabilities at time of discharge: Cervical spine strain, migraine headaches, lumbar strain, and dysthimia.

The lumbar disks were herniated with osteophytes, neural foraminal narrowing and documented in 1989 SMR CT report in the claim file, but they only gave him 10% for a “strain” He was on profile for Sciatica, and bilateral Radiculapathy (nerve involvement from the disks) the whole last year of his service but he didn’t have a problem on the day of his VA C & P, so they gave him “strain” 10%. They never ordered MRI. Treated at that VA facility for 9 years. 2000 the new VAMC finally ordered an MRI after he fell down the basement stairs backwards onto the concrete due to a side effect of a VA psychotropic medication, which caused him to lose the loss of use of his legs. Has had chronic radiculopathy (nerve pain) in both thighs but they say they can see no reason for it. New VAMC only recognize one lumbar disk and never investigates the c-spine. Completes EMG on the wrong side (as it was ordered) and reports negative findings. When brought to their attention they repeat it this time on the PROPER SIDE-they do a “limited” study and again report it as normal. EMG testers were inexperienced interns and inflicted undue pain. EMG was repeated via civilian Dr. (A board certified neurologist) and positive findings were found. 2002 comp still says its just a strain and raises him to 40%. (Claim for increase et al filed 1999-3 years earlier).

C-spine. Injured in in-service auto accident, whiplash injury. 1991 C-spine exam shows loss of normal cervical lordosis et al, but no problem found with the disks. Got a copy of the 1991 VA x-ray film. 2002 got a civilian MRI. MRI found two herniated disks causing MARKED flattening of the spinal cord-compared to 1991 X-ray-NO CHANGE. 2002 Comp maintains 10% cervical strain.

Migraines: Have increased in frequency and severity. 2002 raised to 40%-should be 60%.

Dysthimia: Is purportedly a “temporary” condition per VA. Have outside MD and an expert PhD witness for SSA and VA state that this is NOT dysthimia, but is PTSD-related to combat in Vietnam. But the VAMC doctor’s say it is “anxiety-related” disorder and NOT PTSD. Have a signed statement from the CO of the unit served in Vietnam. Filed a complaint with OIG for failure to diagnose & treat PTSD. Records documenting the disorder are in the VAMC medical record, but the Director fails to inform OIG during the investigation and OIG conveniently overlooks it. Case closed no merit. (OIG had the information from us). VAMC wants to use psychotropic drugs and “anger management classes”. Receiving treatment via civilian PhD for PTSD was approved for SS disability for PTSD. Cannot take medication due to fact of liver disease (related to all the drugs used for his back? or a hereditary disorder (according to VAMC). No decision rendered on liver disease.

Dependents: VA knew of impending marriage 6 months prior to and within six months thereafter that it took place per medical records. Took place 6/97. VA has a copy of the marriage license and birth certificate of stepchild. Documentation is in the claim file. Application for Dependency status filed 8/00 (through no request from the VA-I might add). He is still single according to the RO. 2002 Fired The American Legion. They had the case for over 10 years and did not do a very good job.

Well that’s his story in a nutshell. Case pending appeal. “Pamela Hassett”
Michelle and Brian

My name is Michelle Harvey, my husband is Brian and he is the vet. First, some of the paperwork nightmares. The DoD has him listed that he was in General Swartzcoff’s unit (I don’t know how to spell his name- sorry), which means, they think he had hot meals running water and nice hot showers! What a joke. My husband was transferred several times while he was over there. Since coming back his memory is shot and he can’t even remember what unit he served in. So, the gov’t thinks he was in the headquarters and that does not help with our claim. We have been fighting since about 1993-1994 to get benefits for him. The VA hospital has treated him very poorly.

When he presented for his registry and C&P exam he complained of the following (taken from the original list he brought with him): blurred vision, balance problems, dizziness, headaches every day migraines at least 3-4 times a week, nausea, stomach problems, diarrhea (Up to 6 times a day), sharp pains in both legs and arms, numbness and tingling both hands and fingers with the right being greater than the left, very fatigued and no energy, poor memory, difficulty controlling temper, difficulty performing tasks and concentrating, easily frustrated, no appetite, occasional skin rashes, swollen lymph nodes, fevers, and complete personality change- very isolated and antisocial when before he didn’t know a stranger.

What did the VA hospital do for him… an x-ray of his skull- not a MRI just an x-ray. They tried him on Midrin, Cafergot, Verapamil, Nortriptyline, Trilisate, Ibuprofen, Citrucil, Naproxen, Claritin, and Fioricet etc etc etc. They only seemed to want to try drugs, no wonder there are so many drug addicted veterans- they don’t want to treat the underlying causes. Needless to say, nothing worked. We refused to return to the VA hospital for substandard care after that. We went into the private sector with our own insurance and at first met just as much resistance. We were treated as if my husband just wanted to scam money from the gov’t. Like he was a worthless piece of crap.

This is just a portion of what one neurologist in Indiana said about my husband: his name was Charles Rehn.

“Although Brian Harvey would like to blame all of his symptoms on the Gulf War, I think most of his symptoms have a psychosomatic origin.” “He probably does have migraine without aura, but I would be hesitant to blame it on the Gulf War.”

This jerk went on to state how Brian became defensive! Of course, he had been treated terrible already and it was hard to get him to go back to a doctor and when he did, see how he was treated once again. There was a large time period in which he didn’t return to doctors which also hurt our claim- the VA assumed since he didn’t go to the doctor he hadn’t been sick. The truth was no one believed in my husband and treated him like a nut case. He refused to return to anyone who didn’t believe or validate that he might in fact have actual problems with his health.

He has had tons of blood work done, his stool has been check for C-diff, and every known parasite etc, he has had two EMG’s, and when he started having chest pains, he got an EKG, treadmill, halter monitor and I think ECHO done. When someone finally listened to me and ordered a MRI shock shock they found a brain tumor. He participated in a Gulf War research project at the Cincinnati, VA hospital (briefly) They found cardiac arrhythmia’s (multiple PVC’s bigeminy and trigeminy) He quit the study when he was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and the VA here denied our claim because he was no longer an undiagnosed illness. We have sent so many medical records to the VA for his claim and had so many family member write how he has changed it’s unreal. We’ve appealed and appealed, we’ve written congressmen and senators. We’ve testified in some hearing about his illnesses. He finally has received 30% for diarrhea that he has had every day since the Gulf. He no longer has normal functioning bowels.

On bad days when he has numerous bouts he has to use a bucket in the back of his work truck to “bag” one because he can’t make it to a bathroom. We’ve lost our modesty by now so excuse my harsh way of describing our situations! LOL. He got 10% service connection for his brain tumor and removal. He hasn’t received anything for nerve damage in his extremities, fatigue or the residuals from his surgery.

His scar goes from his forehead all the way around and down the side of his head and stops at the end of his earlobe, it is painful at times and numb on the top of his head, he has permanent vision damage in his right eye and memory problems. Since it wasn’t caught early enough he has to be followed closely for the rest of his life. He has to get MRI’s a lot and he’s had tons of CT scans. He is on Dilantin forever now, due to leg pains- he was on it to prevent seizures and a good side effect was that it helped with the daily sharp pains he got in his legs. He still has bad days where he has a little limp but the horrible pains that would cause him to not be able to sleep have gotten better. Since surgery his anger and terrible changes in his personality have gotten better. He no longer throws dressers over and breaks things like he did.

He no longer would forget our daughter was in the bathtub, which he did do when she was about 2 years old! He also left her in our home when he went to a gas station. I was asleep in the basement at the time because I worked night shift. He has gotten most of his judgment back after surgery, which is wonderful. I used to sit up and listen to him breathe before. I was so sure some nights that he wasn’t going to take that next breath. I used to listen to his heart and the way it skipped beats and had such funky rhythms. I would hold him and rub his head when all he could do was lay there and rock from the pain. I was there when he had diarrhea so bad there was blood in it, or when he would throw up blood. I was there when he was such a nasty person that no one wanted to be around him.

I was there when no one cared about veterans and I’m still here. I am taking care of my sick husband not the gov’t. We now get monthly compensation but not near enough for what he goes through. The VA asks what % of your life the illnesses affect you. What a silly question. All the vets are affected 100%- I just grieve over the men and women they could have been. And for all the sick people out there that don’t have support or anyone caring for them.

I know this is getting long! We have a daughter, too. She was born August 1995.I have been trying to get her on the registry for children and spouses since 1999. I have called the beginning of 99, 12/17/99, 10/18/00, 3/5/01, 12/7/01 and probably more times that I haven’t documented. As of May 02 no word yet! As for her health, the pregnancy was uneventful but she has so many allergies. She gets rashes for no reason. She is allergic to chocolate, meat- all meat even fish, broth anything, Penicillin, amoxil, zithromax, ceclor, augmentin and she used to be lactose intolerant. When she has too many milk products she has problems but we limit her. Her allergies were so bad that her school had a mold problem that affected her so badly that we are now home schooling her.

Not what I had planned but when she was on clarinex, singular and they wanted her on allergy shots in order to breathe I couldn’t let her stay there. We have to watch everything she eats, if she has stuffing that has turkey broth in it she will have such terrible stomach cramps and pains and diarrhea it is awful to watch. She is 6 and calls it “splatter poop”. So, my child can’t have chocolate chip cookies, a hot dog or any normal food. We have to get her “fake” corn dogs and chicken, all soy protein. It’s expensive shopping for her.

As for me, I’ve always been extremely healthy until being around Brian. I never believed that this illness could be passed to me. I understood about my daughter but not me. I still have a hard time believing it, but, since 1994, I am no longer able to eat any meat products either. Same response at my daughter and Brian can’t have red meat. I always ate meat, loved it. It never made me ill. I loved my BBQ ribs and steak. Now, only the slightest juice from meat dripped on my food leaves me sick for days. I began getting ovarian cysts that when some ruptured the first time I went the ER thinking my appendix burst. I get weird rashes and still have female problems. We desperately want another child but we’re scared of what will be wrong with it. We are still thinking about it and weighing the risks.

My OBGYN seems to think IF we can get pregnant it will be okay. He is leery but I would be followed up very closely. It is strange how much more consideration Brian gets now that he actually has something to validate some of his symptoms. Since he had a brain tumor and it was removed and the VA service connected him for it, it carries some weight. Plus, they know better than to say something to me. I’ve given many a person quite the earful for saying anything about GW vets.

I have a folder at home with 18 responses from various senators and congressmen, which isn’t even close to the number of letters I’ve sent out. Some were worthless and my DAV rep even said don’t send to them. He said all it does is tie up the claim and they carry no weight. They just pull the claim send a stupid form letter to the members and delay the process.

As if that weren’t enough the last slap in the face is that the veterans were promised a medal called the AAM? Anyway, the story told to my husband was Clinton just took office and he needed to sign or do something in order for the vets to receive the AAM and he still hasn’t received anything. Shock shock.

I probably have much much more but I can’t think of anything right now- I’m fried. Too much information. Right now I am sitting here with 5 large yellow envelopes on the computer bursting at the seams with papers about Brian and his claims and medical records. I will send this to some other vets. I posted about Brian’s tumor on the message board years ago and I wish I would’ve kept the emails I received. I have had so many email me about sons/ husbands etc dying from brain tumors it’s so sad. If you need more information please email me I would be happy to talk to whomever or write whatever I need to in order to get us heard. The GW vets need a voice. Now is a good time to speak up while everyone wants to be patriotic.

Thanks for trying.

Michelle
Mark A.Tink

Sorry it took me some time. I hope this helps. Please read it and correct it if it needs it.

Mark A

To all who care

This is my story of what I have gone through for the past ten years. I was born 1964 In Mexico; I was raised here in Detroit, Michigan. I joined the military in July 01 1986, went to Chicago for basic training from there I was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia for my four years of active duty on board with Vaw-126 who was a part of the USS John F Kennedy task force where we did our tours in the Mediterranean, Before we left the states I was administered my shots for over seas duty. Here is where I believe that I was affected with an illness. To this day a doctor have not been able to explain why I am sick today. When I joined I was totally healthy when I was discharge I did not start getting the symptoms until six months after. I did not relate my illness with other Vets due to the fact that my illness started with flu like symptoms, Except I was getting the flu every three to four months, this went on for about five to six years. I went to every doctor and not one could explain why. It was not until 97 that I was told by doctors that I should go to the VA and have them investigate my illness.

Now the VA was a nightmare. They had assigned me a primary care doctor who I have been seeing for the past ten years dealing with my illness. Now the VA is not to fond of putting blame on my illness due to my time in the military. They blame it more to my ancestry or something other then the fact that my illness was caused by the military. I have not worked for two years now and my illness does not let up on me. Now I have been diagnosed with FMS/CFS, IBS, Sinusitis, Migraines, and memory loss, loss of thought processes. Those are just some that I have been dealing with on a daily basis. I am one of those vets that was never over in the gulf. What I do have memory is the shots I received that had made me sick for three days straight, every time I received them, which was every six months, I never asked what the shot were due to the fact that I figured they knew what I was given. Well this is my story and I pray each day that they will have the answers for my illnesses.

Beckie
Veteran
Beckie Webb, age 44

USAR, retired with service-connected disability March 1992
Public Affairs Specialist
341st Medical Group
E-mail address: 2webbs@corpus.quik.com

Non-veteran spouse
Roger Webb, age 48
Married veteran in May 1993

In May 2002, I read a New York Times news article on the slow and agonizing recovery of the six Anthrax victims who –– so far –– have survived their infections. The Anthrax survivors described their earliest recollection of symptoms: intravenous tubes sticking out from every direction, severe gastrointestinal disorders, lymph nodes swollen the size of cherry tomatoes. And I thought how that description sounded just like me, a Gulf War veteran, between the end of 1990 and the beginning of 1996.

I read further into the description of their recovery since leaving the hospital: debilitating fatigue, shortness of breath, memory loss, symptoms that puzzle their doctors, an accelerated aging process, and the medical community’s shock that none have recovered more fully. If I changed the word “Anthrax” to the words “Gulf War Illness”, the article would be describing me, my sick husband, and thousands of other ailing veterans and their families that I have met since 1993 when Gulf War Illness first became a publicized issue.

I showed the Anthrax article to my husband. His response: “Yes, but at least they got treatment. They had doctors who kept them in the hospital with tubes running out every direction. Not like you, with doctors telling you that your insurance would not cover additional days of intravenous antibiotic therapy. Saying they would have to find some inject-able form of antibiotic or some pill to finish up your antibiotics even though you were still running a temperature. At least the medical community believed they were sick.”

Now I reflect on how much time and money I have invested since 1990 in my recovery from Gulf War Illness, the mystery illness that most refuse to believe is caused by neither age nor stress. And I look toward the future, and how much more time and money I will have to spend in light of the fact that now I am older and will have to factor age into my elusive quest for some measure of recovery.

I describe the GWI based upon my own educated experience, because GWI is to each victim according to that victim’s immune system and general health upon contracting GWI. GWI is an umbrella of diseases with at least seven sub-categories, including

1.) Auto-immune Diseases and Infectious Diseases
2.) Varieties of systemic fungus
3.) Varieties of parasites
4.) Chronic bacterial and microbial infections
5.) Chronic viruses.

Two other categories that do not apply to me are

6.) Exposure to oil-well fires, warfare chemicals and depleted uranium, and
7.) Nerve agent pills prescribed to soldiers who deployed to the Gulf.

The biggest obstacle to leading a normal life is the uncertainty of health on a daily basis. At one point in time, I could count on having four good days followed by three bedfast days. One of my coworkers described my illness as “living to go to work”. These days, 12 years after the fact, I rarely have good days. And when I do, I use them for subsistence: cooking, cleaning, laundry. I no longer have a job.

The single constant is debilitating fatigue, the symptom that irritates me more than all others put together because most people think it is the same as “tired”. Debilitating fatigue means fatigue beyond consciousness and functionality. I have passed out from fatigue. I have lost all memory of what occurred when I “blacked out” from fatigue. My legs have buckled out from under me. I stopped climbing stairs because I consistently collapsed upon reaching the top. I have crumbled in the parking lot when I rose from the seated position behind the wheel to standing position just outside the car. Now I use handicap tags wherever I park, in hopes someone will help me rather than rob me when they stumble upon my unconscious body.

The second factor is actually two factors wrapped into one. I usually have cluster headaches beginning at 4 a.m. throughout the winter. I never wake that early for any functional reason. Either the tears streaming down the right side of my face or the vomiting that accompanies the headaches roust me from what precious little sleep I get.

The third factor is the chronic hormonal imbalance that deprives me of sleep and has cost me my laughter. The mental factor costs me my ability to work on my career and to develop relationships. I lost my social skills because I am embarrassed about losing my ability to finish sentences or losing my speech altogether. I turn down fellowship opportunities because I’m unable to plan anything. I don’t know whether that particular day will be a bedfast one or a medicated one that precludes driving or maintaining balance.

My greatest fear is that the uninformed public and the medical community will continue to believe that Gulf War Illness afflicts only those who physically served in the Gulf during a six month period in 1990-91. They’ve never heard about the hundreds of thousands of stateside soldiers and sailors who were disabled by military vaccines, experimental vaccines, multiple vaccines given too closely together, tainted vaccines and expired vaccines. The public and medical community doesn’t understand how hundreds of thousands of veterans’ spouses and children have been afflicted because the public has been duped into believing the illness was related solely to chemical weapons and Persian Gulf environmental factors.

The reason it is so important to aggressively educate the public and the medical community is that our President has vowed to return ground troops to that toxic wasteland in the Middle East to renew a fight against Saddam Hussein. Once again, soldiers and Marines will be wading through the debris of decades of biological weapons blowing freely across the desert sand. The chemicals and oil fires are — no doubt — no longer a factor in this new war, and long forgotten by all but those who served in the original Gulf War.

The greatest fear for all should be that the infections and diseases us veterans and spouses have survived once, shall surely repeat themselves when this new wave of veterans come back from that barren wasteland with night sweats, chills, strange dreams, self-doubts, diminished physical strength, and a renewed wave of diagnoses called “somaticism”, “depression”, “malaise”, “gold-bricking”, or the best one of all “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”.

Strangely enough, I have the same GWI as my comrades who served in the Gulf 12 years ago. But I never left my home state of Texas during my tour of active duty in support of Operation Desert Storm, and during my Reserve duty for cleaning equipment returning from the Gulf after the cease-fire. But I managed to infect at least one other civilian, who has never met another soldier or sailor.

I believe that Gulf War Illness has grown into an epidemic within the borders of the United States. The only factor containing its growth is the death rate among the sick. The government does not factor in fatal car wrecks due to veterans passing out behind the wheel in its death tally. The government also does not factor in accidental overdoses or dangerous drug interactions because doctors failed to perform adequate blood work-ups to determine medical reasons for veterans’ ill health. And the government never looks beyond the deployment roster to determine the more realistic numbers of victims felled by Gulf War Illness.

My grim forecast is that Gulf War Illness and its next generation of sickness coming back from the Middle East wastelands is the epidemic that will become pandemic: Saddam Hussein has produced weapons of mass destruction with unfettered determination during the past few years. He used the invisible, but deadly, method of warfare in several instances throughout the last 20 years of the 20th century. I seriously doubt he’ll hesitate to use them again early in this 21st century.

The public needs to be fully alert and ever watchful, not comfortable and hypnotized as it was on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

Mortarman

I returned from the gulf, and went about my service time waiting for my ETS date. While waiting my health in service started the down hill cycle it is still on today. I was a hard core grunt, and earned my CIB, and was thinking about ranger school, but I started failing my runs on the pt test, and feeling heart pains, the docs at the base did not do too much, so I knew my health was not right, so I attempted to get out of service and pursue my health issues outside of the army, (This was in the FRG). I got out and my wife and I were expecting our first born, and she started having problems, so we went to the doctors, and they admitted her right away, needless to say we lost our first born due to a rare chromosome defect, and the German doctors were livid with anger, we tried to get answers from the base, but too no avail.

We moved on in our lives, and I was working there, I started to get tired real easy, and I started developing a canker in between my big toes, I could hardly walk, I then started getting blisters on my hands, big honkin ones. I went to the doc, and we got the teaspoon deep cankers takin care of. I then got worse with my shoulder pain, and hip pain, and constant headaches, cognitive problems, and energy.

We moved to the states, I worked on a ranch, and was having problems there as well, I came down with pneumonia, and have come down with it every year since 96 I was at the docs all the time, I told them to change my mailing address to the docs, cause I was there so much.

We moved to attend Bible school, and I struggled with memory, and cognitive skills that were no problem before, now came forth in a big way. I could not remember anything I studied. I flunked all the tests. So I had to stop my pursuit of the bachelors’ degree, and settled for the associate.

Being that I had to leave school, I had to work, I worked for a school, as a worker of the grounds, and I could not hack the 75-degree heat, and had to be assigned other duties. I missed a lot of work from going to the doc, with headaches, I stopped sweating and passed out, I could not handle physical labor any longer.

I then went to work at a day care, and was doing all right for a month, and then I got sick again stayed home and ended up resigning and did not work for a time, I then felt better and went back to work at another day care, and once again I got real sick, and had to stop working. I have not worked since 99.

My wife has seen me go through the down spiral in my health, I have become withdrawn, and do not go anywhere, my VA doc said PTSD, and I did not believe it.

I have had my exams, and then I decided to go for compensation, cause a 33 year old, should be a picture of health. I then fought with the delays, and the red tape hang-ups. It took 3 years before I received anything, not that I expected anything, I have been seen by my VA doc, and they mostly say here is a pill for pain, and then when I bring anything up to them, they seem to explain it all away.

I hope this helps, feel free to contact me if you have questions.

Mamilu353@cs.com

(I did not tell everything, cause I did not want to depress you).
Always ready
Always first
Mortar man

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The Ghosts of Desert Storm

by Bob Koehler
11/28/08

Seventeen years and three wars later, the ghosts of Operation Desert Storm – the cancers, the chronic headaches and dizziness, the fibromyalgia, the ALS and so much more that have stalked returning vets, whose medical claims have been denied, ignored, relegated to the paper shredder – have just gotten a reality upgrade.

“The extensive body of scientific research now available consistently indicates that Gulf War illness is real, that it is the result of neurotoxic exposures during Gulf War deployment, and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved with time.”

Thus concludes the 452-page report of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses, presented last week to Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake. Suddenly the government has several hundred thousand medical claims emanating from a few months in 1991 it has to start taking seriously – and that’s the easy part.

The implications of the congressionally mandated advisory panel’s report, chaired by James Binns, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense and a Vietnam vet, may not be easy to contain. In the name of sanity and the planet’s future, I hope this report blows the hellish toxicity of modern warfare wide open and creates a legal wedge by which the forces of moral outrage can hold governments accountable for what they do . . . for what our own government is doing right now.

For 17 years, the VA maintained that the strange, debilitating, sometimes fatal symptoms the vets of Gulf War I – that quick little romp that routed Saddam’s army and left America feeling so good about itself – began experiencing was, to the extent that it was anything at all (or anything that had to do with the war), a mental thing, PTSD-induced. Vets learned that fighting the war may have been nothing compared to fighting the VA for treatment and compensation. It was a struggle that thousands didn’t survive.

The Binns report estimates that more than a quarter of the GIs deployed during Desert Storm, around 200,000 of them, are suffering in some way from Gulf War Syndrome, and identifies two primary causes: pyridostigmine bromide, an anti-nerve gas medication all troops in the Gulf were required to take, and highly concentrated, DEET-like insect-repellents that were extensively used.

But the neurotoxic hell that is modern war cannot be reduced to two problematic substances. Many of the troops – and, of course, millions of Iraqi and Kuwaiti civilians – were exposed to a wide array of toxic chemicals, which the report did not rule out as contributing factors. These include: the smoke from burning oil-well fires; fumes from poison gas dumps blown up by the Army; anthrax vaccines; and the extremely fine radioactive dust of exploded depleted uranium munitions, which may prove to be the deadliest of all the poisons modern war leaves in its wake.

What the report also exposes is the cynicism and denial of the U.S. war establishment, which, as we all know, disputed the toxicity of Agent Orange for 20 years before giving in, and which, it now turns out, suppressed evidence that substantiated Gulf War syndrome. Quoted in the report, according to Cox News Service, is Lt. Gen. Dale Vesser, acting special assistant to the secretary of defense for Gulf War illnesses, who said in 2001 that, while Saddam Hussein didn’t poison U.S. troops, “It never dawned on us . . . that we may have done it to ourselves.”

And M.J. Stephey of Time magazine wrote that the report “serves as a grim reminder that sometimes a soldier’s greatest enemy is the government he or she is fighting for.”

All of this is true, but the irresponsibility of the war establishment and the enabling media goes, I believe, deeper than the betrayal of our own troops. What are we doing to the world, not merely with our satanic weapons systems but with the unregulated toxic waste of war?

Consider, for instance, a recent story in Army Times about the open-air burn pits throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, where the military disposes of hundreds of tons of war-zone waste every day, including “unexploded ordnance; paints and solvents; and even . . . bloody bandages and amputated limbs.” U.S. troops (and, of course, the locals) have almost no protection against the toxic fumes the pits produce. GIs report such symptoms as “stinging eyes, monster headaches, severe respiratory infections and ‘plume crud’ – prolonged hacking that produces blackened phlegm and sometimes blood.”

No matter that the smoke contains “arsenic, benzene, carbon monoxide, sulfuric acid and dioxin, the cancer-causing main ingredient in the defoliant Agent Orange,” the Pentagon insists that there’s no long-term environmental impact. Yeah, right. Who here believes the soldiers in the war on terror aren’t facing serious health problems because of such exposures? How long will we continue to tolerate our government’s pattern of pathological denial?

Perhaps the Defense Department understands that if it ever begins taking responsibility – and conceding liability – for what it does, a moral and financial hemorrhaging will ensue that makes war itself impossible.

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Gulf War Illnesses Debate Rages On for 18 Years: No End in Sight for the Sick

Thursday 19 March 2009

By Thomas D. Williams, truthout | Report

 

Barack Obama is now the fourth president facing the scientific and bureaucratic conundrum around the US-created ongoing wartime hazards producing disastrous health complications for soldiers and civilians.

Eighteen years after the six-week first Gulf War, maladies still haunt thousands of US and allied service members as well as estimated hundreds of thousands of Iraqi, Kuwaiti and Afghan civilians. A myriad of scientists and government officials insist it is bewildering to pinpoint whether countless chemical and radiological hazards either killed or sickened hundreds of thousands of US service members, allied soldiers and Iraqi, Kuwaiti and Afghan civilians. Federal health officials have not only denied monetary and health assistance to thousands of veterans, whose illnesses they say cannot be linked to US created wartime hazards, but they have mostly failed to assist the Iraqi, Kuwaiti and Afghan civilian health system.

“Our war (the first Gulf War) was the most toxic as far as exposures ever in history,” said Denise Nichols, a retired US Air Force registered nurse and veterans’ advocate, who herself suffers from wartime illness. “How can parents or the American citizens trust their government or encourage their young to enlist when this history of neglect and denial of gulf war illness is allowed to fester … [the US Department of Veterans Affairs] has betrayed us. [The Department of Defense] has betrayed us. The government for 17 years betrayed the trust we as soldiers, airmen, marines, or sailors had, and our trust must be regained by [incoming President Barack Obama].”

Medical records show Melissa Sterry, 46, a New Haven, Connecticut, resident, who cleaned up radioactive depleted uranium dust in tanks during the Gulf War, has post-traumatic stress, chronic headaches, upper respiratory infections and repeating pneumonia. The former US Army specialist also has three types of irregular heartbeats, muscle fatigue and spasms, joint aches, chronic diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and blood in her urine and stool. More recently, she suffered through a double mastectomy for breast cancer. “I don’t want to be disabled,” Sterry said, reacting to her extended battle with Veterans Affairs (VA). “I want to get off it. I’m telling them, ‘Fix me!”‘

Unemployed since leaving the military, Sterry has, at times, had trouble dressing herself and paying for food and a roof over her head. Today, Sterry is increasingly upset because Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell defunded the first state law nationwide forcing the tracking of sicknesses in Gulf War veterans. It was Sterry who single-handedly lobbied it into being at the Connecticut State Legislature. Federal officials, she said, were totally ineffective in detecting and treating deadly health effects of everlasting radioactive depleted uranium dust spread for hundreds of miles in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan.

Cover Ups of Wartime Hazards’ Connections to Illnesses

On various occasions since 1991, veterans, Congressmen and government entities, including the US General Accountability Office (GAO), have accused federal agencies, committees, Congress and three past presidential administrations of either covering up, obfuscating or ignoring solutions to Gulf War Syndrome. Informed critics found scores of Pentagon and US Department of Veterans Affairs inquiries inadequate or worse. Initially, in the mid 1990s, Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s officials tried to pin some of the blame for continuing illnesses on veterans’ alleged psychiatric stress. That medical composite was ultimately discredited by scientific critics, in part because the war lasted only weeks, and more significantly, because the diagnosis was completely inappropriate for most veterans examined.

So, they were sent to war. They became physically ill. They went to the doctor. But, ultimately, despite being physically ill, physicians were telling them: “Your mind is imagining that you are sick.” Back in 1996, George C. Vaughn, then 34, who said he was exposed to chemical warfare and a host of other war hazards, was given an Army disability for physical ailments that was later rescinded. At the time of his “mental” illness diagnosis, he said, “I feel like I have been stabbed in the back by my country. I feel like I don’t trust the doctors at Walter Reed any more and I don’t trust the whole process.”

Frustration for ailing veterans unable to get federal health assistance has carried on through for thousands taken ill during the present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, Veterans For Common Sense recently said the VA figures show that: “The number of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans receiving treatment at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities sky-rocketed from 13,000 to over 400,000 in the last four years.”

As medical claims mount, this month, the VA conceded to a US House of Representatives’ subcommittee that scores of veterans’ medical complaints and supporting documents at the VA offices in Detroit, Michigan, St. Louis, Missouri, Waco, Texas and St. Petersburg, Florida, were shredded before they could be evaluated. The VA inspector general’s inquiry into the destroyed documents is ongoing. Michael Walcoff, a deputy VA under-secretary for benefits, called the actions “clearly unauthorized and inappropriate.”

Meanwhile, little or no professional health assistance is being offered to untold numbers of seriously ill Iraqi, Kuwaiti and Afghan civilians, even as the wars in those countries continue to nauseate and/or kill tens of thousands more. In the first war alone, estimates of Iraqi deaths range from tens of thousands to more than one hundred thousand. In the meantime, during that first Persian Gulf War, untold hundreds of thousands of other Iraqis became afflicted from hazardous exposures or were wounded. Several small US organizations, frustrated by lack of federal support, have struggled to help Iraqi doctors and hospitals care for overwhelming legions of the sick civilians. Yet, former President George H.W. Bush proclaimed the US armed service members were duty bound to protect the Iraqi people.

Two Presidents, Father and Son, Say Iraqi People Are Paramount

“Our role is to help our friends in their own self defense… And let me make it clear that the United States has no quarrel with the Iraqi people. Our quarrel is with Iraq’s dictator and with his aggression,” said the senior President Bush, in a speech to Congress on September 11, 1990.

His son, former President George W. Bush, later insisted: “America is a friend to the people of Iraq. Our demands are directed only at the regime that enslaves them and threatens us. When these demands are met, the first and greatest benefit will come to Iraqi men, women and children.”

Bush’s promised benefits didn’t bind for hundreds of thousands of Iraqis sick from wartime exposures. Prior to her death from leukemia in September 2004, Nuha Al Radi, an accomplished Iraqi artist and author of the “Baghdad Diaries” wrote: “Everyone seems to be dying of cancer. Every day one hears about another acquaintance or friend of a friend dying. How many more die in hospitals that one does not know? Apparently, over thirty percent of Iraqis have cancer, and there are lots of kids with leukemia.”

Here’s an outsider’s reaction to the state of Iraqis’ health as a consequence of the 18 years of US-Iraq conflicts. “When I visited Auschwitz I was horrified. And when I visited Iraq, I thought to myself, ‘What will we tell the children in fifty years when they ask what we did when the people in Iraq were dying?'” asked Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, according to Citations de personnes eminente.

Last November, the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses (RAC) created glimmering hope for some war veterans. The committee’s voluminous findings were among the first to pierce some alleged mysteries of chemical hazards causing Gulf War illnesses. But the report, like most all federally funded others, was targeted only to help sick US war veterans and their immediate families.

Dr. Lea Steele, the RAC’s scientific director, said, “We are familiar with the types of information concerning health problems in Iraqi civilians after the Gulf War, and since the current Iraq War, some of which is referenced in the report. There are also reports of health problems among Kuwaitis after the Gulf War. Although not specifically addressed by the RAC, the health consequences of these wars on local civilians are a serious concern. We were disappointed to find that there have been no assessments of which of the many different environmental exposures and other wartime hardships may have caused and/or contributed to the difficult health situation in Iraq.”

Nick Shapiro, a spokesman for President Barrack Obama, said the impacts of Gulf War illnesses are a significant concern. But Shapiro deferred observations on all reporting questions to the VA. Shapiro did not comment on the past failures of federal authorities to assist foreign civilians sickened or killed by wartime illnesses.

Government statistics say 13,194 Gulf War, US military service veterans have died since the January 1991 to February 1991 conflict. Those same figures reveal the average age of service members going to the war was between 30 and 32 years old. Eighteen years later, or today, their average age would be 48 and over. That era and younger is normally too early for death to strike. And, now, one in every four of the 696,842 Gulf War service members is still ill, some terminally, said the VA.

Since contemporaneous US Army air, water or soil tests conducted throughout active battle zones were largely inconclusive, it is difficult to say exactly who was exposed to a given hazard at any particular point in time. But, later, in 2003, preliminary tests by the Uranium Medical Research Center showed that (their collected Iraqi) air, soil and water samples contained “hundreds to thousands of times” the normal levels of radiation (left by depleted uranium munition explosions), according to Countercurrents.org.

“One of the Dirtiest Environmental Conflicts in History”

Clearly, substantial corroboration exists proving that hundreds of thousands of service members were exposed to smoke from the overwhelming oil well fires and constant wind-blown dust, containing multiple hazardous chemicals like nerve gas and radiation from exploding munitions. Gulf War I has been called one of the dirtiest environmental conflicts in history. Adding more risk to those dangers, there is no doubt service members were forced to take risky US drugs and vaccines supposedly aimed at protecting combatants from some of the predictable wartime contaminants.

The indicators of sickening or life-threatening exposures could be and have been reproduced. A multitude of eyewitnesses observed the daily smoke and dust, darkening the air. Many of the 100,000 in the vicinity knew or eventually discovered they were exposed to wartime nerve or mustard gases when the US military blew up Iraqi chemical bunkers in March 1991 near Khamisiyah, Iraq, or when wartime gas alarms sounded. (Yet, servicemen learned much later that their US gas masks and other protective equipment were proven to be inadequate.) And, finally, and undoubtedly, most service members inoculated or ordered to take anti-nerve agent pills and vaccines are themselves eyewitnesses to their adverse reactions to those forced controversial drug regimens. Unfortunately, many US military inoculation records have since mysteriously disappeared, eliminating corroborating evidence.

Despite overwhelming indicators of wartime hazards, “The Presidential Advisory Committee’s (1997) final report concluded that many of the health concerns of Gulf War veterans may never be fully resolved because of a lack of data,” as cited in GAO/NSIAD-97-136. The very same GAO report said: “according to the Department of Defense officials we interviewed, the Persian Gulf War medical records are widely recognized as incomplete and inaccurate in documenting all medical events for service members while deployed to the Persian Gulf.” The report continued: “In researching the Persian Gulf War illnesses, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the (PAC) reported that inaccurate information on the location of service members in the theater presented problems in identifying exposures to various health threats.”

In November, the RAC’s 14-member panel of doctors, veterans and their advocates, like legions of others including the PAC, brushed aside some of the war’s health threats with inconclusive findings. They did call for further inquiry, just like those countless others have since the early 1990s.

Almost immediately, the VA sent the committee’s work on to be evaluated by still another well-known health organization, The Institute of Medicine (IOM). Yet, the IOM has consistently depreciated connections between veterans’ sicknesses and most all of those same deadly wartime hazards. Indeed, the IOM is heavily criticized for inconclusive scientific findings in the RAC report itself.

IOM Did Not Link War’s Hazardous Exposures to Vets’ Illnesses

On January 23, two months after VA Secretary Dr. James B. Peake called for the evaluation, IOM President Dr. Harvey Fineberg answered it. Fineberg said the IOM agrees with the RAC that Gulf War veterans have “multi-symptom illnesses” at higher rates than those veterans not sent to the war. But, he explained, the IOM never linked the constantly sick veterans to specific exposures. That was in part, he said, because of the lack of scientific reliability of such conclusions, particularly the weakness of self-reported veterans’ symptoms and exposures.

The Pentagon, unlike the RAC and many sick veterans and dozens of their advocates, apparently believes in the IOM’s integrity. “There is no question that symptoms in 1990-91 Gulf War veterans are real and are deserving of care and treatment,” said Michael E. Kilpatrick, director of Military Health Systems Strategic Communications. “All studies have shown that Gulf War veterans report nearly twice the rate of all symptoms compared to Service members who did not deploy. However, based on many research studies, IOM concluded that there are no unique symptoms or unique pattern of symptoms in Gulf War veterans.”

However, five years ago, Vanity Fair’s David Rose quoted Kilpatrick as saying that Gulf War veterans are no less healthy than soldiers who were stationed elsewhere. Kilpatrick, said Rose, dismissed a penetrating 2004 GAO Gulf War probe. The GAO then concluded that studies used by federal officials to show Gulf War veterans were no sicker than the veterans of other wars “may not be reliable” and had “inherent limitations.” That GAO report was “just the opinion of a group of individuals,” Kilpatrick told Rose.

Research Advisory Committee Hedges Some of Its Conclusions

Despite what it suggested is the uncertainty of health impacts of some of the other hazardous exposures, the RAC concluded that the most likely causes of thousands of Gulf War Syndrome illnesses were pesticides and the pills supplied the troops to allegedly protect them from warfare nerve gases. Low levels of those gases were fired by Iraqis. Others were released when the US blew up Iraqi chemical warfare storage at the Khamisiyah storage bunkers after the war, despite advance US intelligence of the dangers lurking there. The RAC additionally found that it could not rule out an association between Gulf War illnesses and soldiers’ exposures to those low-level nerve agents, extended exposure to smoke from oil well fires, receipt of large numbers of vaccines and combinations of neurotoxic exposures.

The committee urged more scientific studies for the health impacts of the controversial anthrax vaccine and dangerous depleted munitions dust. Nevertheless, its members discounted some obvious scientific and other evidence, which pointed to the vaccine’s and the dust’s potential to make many of those exposed to them seriously ill. To the detriment of some service members, the report focused almost entirely on hazards causing Gulf War Syndrome and not other battle-time hazards leading to other individual illnesses unrelated to the syndrome.

Days after the RAC’s report was received by the VA, its officials turned the results over to the IOM. Incidentally, Dr. Lynn Goldman of Chevy Chase, Maryland, vice chair of the IOM’s Gulf War and Health Study, was a member of the RAC.

Asked about its own critique of the IOM, Steve R. Smithson, a spokesman for the RAC, said: “The referral of the report to IOM, in light of the evidence that VA has effectively compromised and manipulated previous IOM Gulf War reports, is a transparent effort to continue to delay and deny the need to deal with this important veterans’ health problem … It should … have the previous IOM exposure reports redone, as recommended in the RAC report.” He continued, “The VA inaccurately stated in its referral statement that the law requires referring Gulf War research to the IOM. In fact, the law in question only requires that the IOM prepare specific reports as to whether toxic substances to which troops were exposed can cause health problems….”

Stencel replied, “The Institute of Medicine follows a study process that has been used over many years by all the branches of the National Academy of Sciences. It yields hundreds of reports that are considered authoritative, reliable assessments of matters of science and technology … Study reports’ findings and recommendations must be supported by and grounded in scientific evidence.”

The VA’s spokesman, Benson, said, “Caring for all veterans, including veterans who served in combat during the 1991 Gulf War, is VA’s highest priority. With this in mind, VA requested that the IOM, as part of the current congressionally mandated Gulf War veteran health review, take a look at the new RAC report.”

However, the VA called for the IOM’s opinion on the RAC report despite saying: the IOM’s series of reports have been “skewed and limited by a restrictive approach to the scientific tasks mandated by Congress, an approach directed by VA in commissioning the reports.” In fact, the IOM had by then already concluded that evidence was insufficient to link depleted uranium munitions dust with Gulf War illnesses. And, it also found the anthrax vaccine not to be a factor in Gulf War illnesses. On the other hand, the RAC’s report said more evidence is needed to prove that depleted uranium and the anthrax vaccine were factors in Gulf War illnesses.

Anthrax Vaccine and Depleted Uranium Dust Controversies

So, after closing on a nearly two decades of research and investigation, it appears to some veterans and their advocates that sick veterans may be back to where they started when looking for help in the early 1990s. And, yet, many of them believe evidence is overwhelming that both depleted uranium dust and the old anthrax vaccine created many of the Gulf War illnesses now suffered by veterans.

In the era of the 1991 Iraq war, the vaccine was manufactured by Michigan Biologic Products, a state-owned facility, regularly criticized for serious shortcomings during health and other inspections. On the one hand, the RAC’s research rejected proof of a link between anthrax vaccinations of Gulf War veterans and their multiple illnesses. But, on the other, Dr. Meryl Nass, who has studied the vaccine extensively, said that the committee’s own report cited conflicting data from nine studies of the vaccine. All nine studies found a relationship between receiving anthrax vaccine and developing symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome, she said. “In eight of the nine studies, the relationship was statistically significant,” Dr. Nass explained.

And, before the war, a Congressional investigation recommended against using the vaccine. During 1989 US Senate hearings about the military’s readiness to combat biological warfare, then Assistant Secretary of Defense Robert B. Barker stated, “current vaccines, particularly the anthrax vaccine, do not readily lend themselves to use in mass troop immunization.” He cited a higher-than-desirable rate of adverse reactions to the drug. An, he added, the vaccine “in some cases, (lacks) strong enough (effectiveness) against infection by the aerosol route of exposure.” That is exactly the exposure for which the Pentagon then used it two years later for some 150,000 service members headed for the Gulf War. And yet, many question the need for the vaccine in light of the fact that the spores it supposedly protects service members from have never been used successfully by terrorists or enemies of the United States, or any country, for that matter. As far as the vaccine’s health dangers are concerned, the RAC inquiry itself said, “The IOM report concluded that rates of acute adverse reactions to [the anthrax inoculations] appeared comparable to other vaccines … however, recently published studies indicate that [the anthrax vaccine] is associated with extremely high rates of acute, local reactions, higher than is typical of other vaccines.”

Dr. Steele said, “We respect Dr. Nass and have reviewed her writings and comments over the years, including comments she has provided at RAC meetings. Our review of the evidence did indicate that the anthrax vaccine is associated with a high rate of acute, local reactions … But … there was limited evidence concerning long-term health effects of the vaccine, and little evidence supporting an association specifically with Gulf War illness.”

“The fact that the vaccine in current use is associated with a high rate of short-term reactions, especially at the injection site, does not tell us about its potential to cause chronic illness like that affecting Gulf War veterans,” said the doctor. “We actually did identify eight different studies in which an association between anthrax vaccine and chronic symptoms was assessed in five different groups of Gulf War veterans. As with most other Gulf War exposures, many of these studies appeared to show a significant association between symptoms and receipt of the anthrax vaccine, as Dr. Nass mentioned in her comments. However, the link between symptoms and anthrax vaccine was consistently weaker than for most other exposures.”

As for depleted uranium, the RAC concluded it was not a long-term health threat. “Overall, these [numerous scientific and governmental] reviews have consistently found that available evidence indicates that DU exposures, at levels experienced by the majority of Gulf War veterans, are not expected to produce long-term health effects, specifically in relation to excess cancer rates and chronic renal disease,” said the report.

But, Dr. Steele insisted nonetheless: “It is important, again, to be clear that the Committee’s report did not address the question of whether or not DU poses a health threat of any kind. We found, rather, that the available evidence, of different types, does not support DU as a cause of Gulf War illness.” She explained that more epidemiologic research is needed to link DU exposure with any other types of health problems in Gulf War veterans.

Depleted uranium dust blew widely over Iraq and Kuwait during both wars in Iraq from the myriad of US Army and British munition firings aimed at destroying tanks and other armored vehicles. The deadly dust hangs around for millions of years, and is incredibly expensive to clean up and dispose of. So, no one can know when the wind will blow the dust into the lungs, a drinking water supply or soil growing crops for animals and humans.

The US military first began plans to use depleted uranium munitions in the 1970s. They were manufactured as a cheap munition, profit-lucrative to producers, from radioactive waste products generated in the nuclear industry. Once fired, they destroy their targets with incredible fiery heat, creating a chemical, radiated dust, which can blow in the wind for many miles. If unknowing persons inhale, drink or ingest the dust, it stays in their bodies for many years. That creates the danger of cancers, kidney disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, Lou Gehrig’s, Parkinson’s, Hodgkin’s diseases, and a number of other sicknesses, some scientific researchers say. When depleted uranium munitions are test fired in the US or Britain, the strict rules controlling cleanup are seldom followed.

“Veterans and civilians in these wars WERE exposed to DU, and this inhaled DU represents a seriously enhanced risk of damaged immune systems and fatal cancers.” Rosalie Bertell, PhD, GNSH, told Abolition 2000, a Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons.

Although denying Bertell’s and many others’ assessments that depleted uranium dust is a severe health hazard, the IOM last year concluded: “Military personnel have been exposed to depleted uranium as a result of friendly-fire incidents, cleanup and salvage operations, and proximity to burning depleted-uranium-containing tanks and ammunition. During the Gulf War, an estimated 134-164 people experienced ‘level I’ exposure (the highest of three exposure categories as classified by the US Department of Defense) through wounds caused by depleted-uranium fragments, inhalation of airborne depleted-uranium particles, ingestion of depleted-uranium residues, or wound contamination by depleted-uranium residues. Hundreds or thousands more may have been exposed to lower exposure through inhalation of dust containing depleted-uranium particles and residue or ingestion from hand-to-mouth contact or contamination of clothing.”

Neither the IOM nor the VA Research Advisory Committee reports detailed the potential of strong or even weak winds carrying DU dust for many miles and thus exposing more humans, animals, plants and soil to its radiation hazards. “The US Department of Defense has acknowledged that 320 tons of DU munitions were expended, whereas the nuclear research foundation LAKA, of Holland, estimates that the total amount of DU used in Iraq and Kuwait exceeded 800 tons,” said Damacio A. Lopez, the executive director of the International DU Study Team. “The International Committee of Radiological Protection estimates that enough DU was used to cause 500,000 potential deaths, if it were inhaled.”

Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, has called for further Congressional investigations, to pierce the US Department of Veterans Affairs’ “questionable” relationship with the Institute of Medicine and both of their failures to properly investigate Gulf War illnesses. Sullivan said he wants “Congress to investigate the handful of top VA officials who blocked the scientific literature review into Gulf War illnesses … including both human and animal studies, to determine whether toxic exposures can cause health effects among our veterans deployed to Southwest Asia during 1990 and 1991. VA employees appear to have conspired with IOM staff to cook the books and eliminate consideration of critical animal research. Since most research on toxic substances is conducted in animals for ethical reasons, the result has been that the IOM committees have found no connections, and health-care and benefits for veterans remains very minimal.”

Stencel said the IOM would not comment on Sullivan’s statement. But VA spokesman Jim Benson said, “Overall, these congressionally-mandated IOM committee reports have found a broad spectrum of possible health effects associated with a range of potential Gulf War hazards, most of which have been well established in the existing occupational health literature. Their reports have not identified any new or unique illnesses among veterans of the 1991 Gulf War.”

“These independent analyses of Gulf War veteran health issues,” said Benson, “have been useful as an independent and scientifically highly credible evaluation of the nature and the causes of Gulf War veterans’ health problems. [They] have been the basis for the [VA] Secretary’s decision to establish presumptions of service connection for nine infectious diseases associated with service in the Gulf War region. That decision will be implemented through forthcoming rule-making procedures.”

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Toxic Chemicals Blamed for Gulf War Illness

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
Monday, November 17, 2008; 12:00 AM

MONDAY, Nov. 17 (HealthDay News) — Gulf War illness, dismissed by some as a psychosomatic disorder, is a very real illness that affects at least 25 percent of the 700,000 U.S. veterans who took part in the 1991 Gulf War.

Its likely cause was exposure to toxic chemicals that included pesticides that were often overused during the war, as well as a drug given to U.S. troops to protect them from nerve gas, a frequent weapon of choice of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

And no effective treatments have been devised for the disorder.

Those are three key conclusions of a Congressionally mandated landmark report released Monday by a federal panel of scientific experts and veterans.

“It is very clear that Gulf War illness is a real condition that was not caused by combat stress or other psychological factors,” said Lea Steele, scientific director of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses, which issued the report, and an associate professor at Kansas State University.

“This is something we need to take seriously,” Steele said. “These folks were injured in wartime service, much as people who were shot with bullets or hit with bombs.”

The committee presented the 450-page report to Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake.

Gulf War illness is frequently described as a collection of symptoms that includes memory and concentration problems, chronic headaches, fatigue and widespread pain. Other symptoms can include persistent digestive problems, respiratory symptoms and skin rashes.

The panel also said Gulf War veterans have much higher rates of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) than other veterans, and soldiers who were downwind from large-scale munitions demolitions in 1991 have died from brain cancer at twice the rate of other Gulf War veterans.

In reaching its conclusions, the panel reviewed evidence about a wide range of possible environmental exposures that could cause Gulf War illness. That review included hundreds of studies of Gulf War veterans, research in other groups of populations, animal studies of toxic exposures, and government investigations about events and exposures during the Gulf War, which began after Hussein invaded Kuwait.

Speculation about the causes of Gulf War illness has included exposure to depleted uranium munitions, vaccines, nerve agents and oil well fires.

The new report says the illness was caused by soldiers’ exposure to certain chemicals, Steele said.

“When you put all the evidence together there are two chemicals that jump out as the main causes,” she said. One is a drug called pyridostigmine bromide, which is a cholinesterase inhibitor that was given to the troops to protect them against nerve gas.

“It turns out that people who took those pills have a higher rate of Gulf War illness,” Steele said. “And people who took more pills have even higher rates of Gulf War illness.”

In addition, soldiers were exposed to pesticides that were also cholinesterase inhibitors, Steele said. “The strongest evidence points to pyridostigmine bromide and pesticides as causal factors,” she said. “This type of illness has not been seen after other wars.”

While pyridostigmine bromide is still in use, its use is more limited than it was in the first Gulf War. It’s currently being used against one type of nerve agent, but is not being given out on a widespread basis, Steele said.

“The Gulf War was the only time a lot of people used this drug,” she said.

Steele added that the U.S. military has also cut back on its use of pesticides since the 1991 war.

There are other factors that, while not likely causes of Gulf War illness, can’t be ruled out, Steele said. These include exposure to nerve agents, exposure to smoke from oil well fires, and vaccines given to the troops. The panel ruled out depleted uranium and anthrax vaccine as causes.

The panel also found government research and funding into Gulf War illness wanting. “There has not been sufficient attention given to Gulf War illness. It’s a real problem,” Steele said.

“In recent years, both the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs have reported a lot of studies that weren’t Gulf War illness as Gulf War research,” Steele added. “Some of the money was misused.”

The panel noted that overall federal funding for Gulf War research has declined substantially in recent years; the group urged lawmakers to devote $60 million annually to such programs.

When veterans with Gulf War illness go to Veterans Administration hospitals for treatment, their problems often aren’t taken seriously, Steele said. “VA docs often know nothing about it and aren’t able to help them. Sometimes they treat them as if they are head cases or malingering,” she said.

James Binns is chairman of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses.

“We have no treatments that work,” said Binns, a Vietnam veteran and former Pentagon official. “I would like to see the new administration take this more seriously. When you look at all the studies, it’s as clear as the nose on your face that this [Gulf War illness] is real.”

It took 20 years to admit that Agent Orange, a defoliant used in the Vietnam war, caused illness, Binns said. “It’s now coming up to 17 years on Gulf War illness,” he said. “Troop exposures [to these chemicals] were a serious but honest mistake. Covering it up rather than trying to help them has been unconscionable.”

More information

Learn more about Gulf War illness from the University of Chicago Medical Center.

SOURCES: Lea Steele, Ph.D., associate professor, Kansas State University, Manhattan, and scientific director, Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses; James Binns, chairman, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses

© 2008 Scout News LLC. All rights reserved.

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WRITTEN TESTIMONY OF Dr. Garth L. Nicolson

COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM

Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans’ Affairs and International Relations

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 24th 2002

 

Dr. Garth Nicolson is currently the President, Chief Scientific Officer and Research Professor at the Institute for Molecular Medicine in Huntington Beach, California. He was formally the David Bruton Jr. Chair in Cancer Research, Professor and Chairman at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and Professor of Internal Medicine and Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He was also Adjunct Professor of Comparative Medicine at Texas A & M University. Among the most cited scientists in the world, having published over 520 medical and scientific papers, edited 14 books, served on the Editorial Boards of 20 medical and scientific journals, including the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and currently serving as Editor of two (Clinical & Experimental Metastasis and the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry), Professor Nicolson has held numerous peer-reviewed research grants. He is a recipient of the Burroughs Wellcome Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Stephen Paget Award of the Metastasis Research Society and the U. S. National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator Award.

It is now over a decade since the Persian Gulf War, but over 100,000 U. S. veterans still suffer from various illnesses attributed to their service [1-4]. Although some Gulf War Illnesses (GWI) patients have unique signs and symptoms [5], most do not have some new syndrome (Gulf War Syndrome) [6]. These illnesses are more properly called GWI, and we believe that they are due to accumulated toxic insults that cause chronic illnesses with relatively nonspecific signs and symptoms [1-4,7].

Over the last few years researchers have published much higher prevalence rates of GWI in deployed than in non-deployed forces [8-10]. Case control studies of Gulf War veterans showed higher symptom prevalence in deployed than in non-deployed personnel from the same units [9,10]. For certain signs and symptoms, this difference was dramatic (for example, the rate of diarrhea in the deployed group was over 13-times greater than in the non-deployed group [9]). Steele [10] showed that in three studies, Gulf War-deployed forces had excess rates of GWI symptom patterns, indicating beyond a doubt that GWI is a major problem that needs to be adequately addressed.

Ten Years Later — Obtaining an Adequate Diagnosis of GWI

For years the Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans’ affairs (DVA) promoted the notion that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was a major factor in GWI [11]. Most researchers doubt that stress is a major cause of GWI [1-5,7], and it certainly does not explain how some immediate family members presented after the war with the same signs and symptoms [2,3,12]. Even psychiatrists who have studied GWI do not believe that GWI is explainable as PTSD [13]. Researchers find that GWI cases differ from PTSD, depression, somatoform disorder and malingering [7,14]. Although most GWI patients do not appear to have PTSD, they are often paced in this diagnosis category by DoD and DVA physicians. GWI can be diagnosed within ICD-10-coded diagnosis categories, such as fatiguing illness (G93.3), but they often receive a diagnosis of ‘unknown illness.’ This, unfortunately, results in their receiving reduced disability assessments and benefits and essentially little or no effective treatments. It’s not that they are any less sick than their compatriots with ICD-10 diagnoses, they just don’t fit within the military’s or DVA’s diagnosis systems. In addition, many active-duty members of the Armed Forces are hesitant to admit that they have GWI, because they feel strongly that it will hurt their careers or result in their being medically discharged. They have good reason to fear this, because many officers that we have assisted eventually retired or resigned their commissions because of imposed limits to their careers [15].

Psychiatrists often decide in the absence of contrary laboratory findings that GWI is a somatoform disorder caused by stress, instead of organic or medical problems that can be treated with medicines or treatments not used for PTSD or other somatoform disorders. The evidence that psychiatrists have offered as proof that stress or PTSD is the source of most GWI is the assumption that most veterans must have suffered from stress by virtue of the stressful environment in which they found themselves during the Gulf War [15]. However, most veterans do not feel that stress-related diagnoses are an accurate portrayal of their illnesses. Testimony to the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight questions the notion that stress is the major cause of GWI [16], and the General Accounting Office (GAO) has concluded that while stress can induce some physical illness, it is not established as the major cause of GWI [17]. Stress can exacerbate chronic illnesses and suppress immune systems, but most military personnel that we interviewed indicated that the Gulf War was not a particularly stressful war, and they strongly disagreed that stress was the origin of their illnesses [18]. However, in the absence of physical or laboratory tests that can identify possible origins of GWI, many DoD and VA physicians accept that stress is the cause. It has been argued that the arthralgias, fatigue, memory loss, rashes and diarrhea found in GWI patients are nonspecific and often lack a physical cause [19], but this conclusion may simply be the result of inadequate workup and lack of availability of routine tests that could define the underlying organic etiologies for these conditions [7].

It has also been claimed that there are no unique illnesses associated with deployment to the Gulf War–similar clusters of illness (albeit at lower rates) can be found in non-Gulf War veterans deployed to Bosnia [8]. Such epidemiological analyses have been criticized on the basis of self-reporting and self-selection [19], and the veterans under study may not be representative [8]. These criticisms notwithstanding, it remains important to characterize signs and symptoms and identify exposures, if possible, of Gulf War veterans in order to find effective treatments for specific subsets of GWI patients. We have been trying for years to get the DoD to acknowledge that different exposures can result in quite different illnesses, even though signs and symptoms profiles may overlap.

How Does GWI Differ from Other Chronic Fatiguing Illnesses?

GWI patients can have 20-40 or more chronic signs and symptoms, including chronic fatigue, headaches, memory loss, muscle pain, nausea, gastrointestinal problems, joint pain, lymph node pain, memory loss, increased chemical sensitivities, among others [1-5]. Often included in this complex clinical picture are increased sensitivities to various environmental agents and enhanced allergic responses. Civilian patients with similar signs and symptoms are usually diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) or Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome (MCS) [2,3,7]. Although clear-cut laboratory tests on GWI, CFS and FMS are not yet available, some tests that have been used in recent years for GWI are not consistent with a psychiatric origin for GWI [20-25].

Chronic Illnesses and Chemical Exposures

It has been documented that chemical and biological exposures occurred during the Gulf War, and many civilian patients may have been exposed to chemical and biological substances that could be the underlying causes of their illnesses [1-3,7]. The variable incubation times, ranging from months to years after presumed exposure, the cyclic nature of the relapsing fevers and other signs and symptoms, and the types of signs and symptoms of GWI are consistent with diseases caused by combinations of biological and/or chemical or radiological agents (Figure 1) [1,7].

Gulf War veterans were exposed to a variety of chemicals, including insecticides, such as the insect repellent N, N-dimethyl-m-toluamide, the insecticide permethrin and other organophosphates, fumes and smoke from burning oil wells, the anti-nerve agent pyridostigmine bromide, solvents used to clean equipment and a variety of other chemicals [1,2,7]. This also includes in some cases, possible exposures to low levels of Chemical Warfare (CW) agents. Some CW exposure may have occurred because of destruction of CW stores in factories and storage bunkers during and after the war as well as possible offensive use of CW agents [27]. Although some former DoD physicians feel that there was no credible evidence for CW exposure [19], many veterans have been notified by the DoD of possible CW exposures.

Figure 1. Hypothesis on how multiple toxic exposures, including multiple vaccines (2), chemical (3), radiological and biological (4) exposures, may have resulted in GWI in predisposed, susceptible individuals (1) [modified from Nicolson et al.(7)].

Exposures to mixtures of toxic chemicals can result in chronic illnesses, even if the exposures were at low-levels [20,21,28,29]. Such exposures can cause a wide variety of signs and symptoms, including chronic neurotoxicity and immune supression. Combinations of pyridostigmine bromide, N,N-dimethyl-m-toluamide and permethrin produce neurotoxicity, diarrhea, salivation, shortness of breath, locomotor dysfunctions, tremors, and other impairments in healthy adult hens [28]. Although low levels of individual organophosphate chemicals may not cause signs and symptoms in exposed, non-deployed civilian workers [30], this does not negate a causal role of multiple chemical exposures in causing chronic illnesses such as GWI. Organophosphate-Induced Delayed Neurotoxicity (OPIDN) [31] is an example of chronic illness that may be caused by multiple, low level chemical exposures (Figure 1). Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome (MCS) has also been proposed to result from multiple low level chemical exposures [32]. These syndromes can present with many of the signs and symptoms found in GWI patients, and many GWI cases may eventually be explained by complex chemical exposures.

In chemically exposed GWI patients, memory loss, headaches, cognitive problems, severe depression, loss of concentration, vision and balance problems and chemical sensitivities, among others, typify the types of signs and symptoms characteristic of organophosphate exposures. Arguments have been advanced by former military physicians that such exposures do not explain GWI, or that they may only be useful for a small subset of GWI patients [19]. These arguments for the most part are based on the effects of single agent exposures, not the multiple, complex exposures that were encountered by Gulf War veterans [33]. The onset of signs and symptoms of GWI for most patients was between six months and two years or more after the end of the war. Such slow onset of clinical signs and symptoms in chemically exposed individuals is not unusual for OPIDN [34]. Since low-level exposure to organophosphates was common in U.S. veterans, the appearance of delayed, chronic signs and symptoms similar to OPIDN could have been caused by multiple low-level exposures to pesticides, nerve agents, anti-nerve agents and/or other organophosphates, especially in certain subsets of GWI patients.

Radiological Exposures and GWI

Depleted uranium (DU) was used extensively in the Gulf War, and it remains an important battlefield contaminant. When a DU penetrator hits an armored target, it ignites, and between 10% and 70% of the shell aerosolizes, forming uranium oxide particles [35]. The particles that form are usually small (less than 5 µm in diameter) and due to their high density settle quickly onto vehicles, bunkers and the surrounding sand, where they can be easily inhaled, ingested or re-aerosolized. Following contamination, DU can be found in the lungs and regional lymph nodes, kidney and bone. Additionally, the Armed Forces Radiological Research Institute (AFRRI) found DU in blood, liver, spleen and brain of rats injected with DU pellets [36]. Studies on DU carriage should be initiated as soon as possible to determine the prevalence of contamination, and extent of body stores of uranium and other radioactive heavy metals. Procedures have been developed for analysis of DU metal fragments [37] and DU in urine [38]. However, urine testing does not detect uranium in all body sites [36]. So far, analysis of DU-contaminated Gulf War veterans has not shown them to have severe signs and symptoms of GWI [38], but few Gulf War veterans have been studied for DU contamination.

Other Environmental Exposures and GWI

In addition to chemical exposures, soldiers were exposed to burning oil well fires and ruptured petroleum pipelines as well as fine, blowing sand. The small size of sand particles (much less than 0.1 mm) and the relatively constant winds in the region probably resulted in some sand inhalation. The presence of small sand particles deep in the lungs can produce a pulmonary inflammatory disorder that can progress to pneumonitis or Al-Eskan Disease [39]. Al-Eskan disease, characterized by reactive airways, usually presents as a pneumonitis that can eventually progress to pulmonary fibrosis, and possibly immunosuppression followed by opportunistic infections. Although it is doubtful that many GWI patients have Al-Eskan Disease, the presence of silica-induced immune suppression in some soldiers could have contributed to persisting opportunistic infections in these patients.

Biological Exposures and GWI

System-wide or systemic chemical insults and/or chronic infections that can penetrate various tissues and organs, including the Central and Peripheral Nervous Systems, are important in GWI [1-5,7]. When such infections occur, they can cause the complex signs and symptoms seen in CFS, FMS and GWI, including immune dysfunction. Changes in environmental responses as well as increased titers to various endogenous viruses that are commonly expressed in these patients have been seen in CFS, FMS and GWI. Few infections can produce the complex chronic signs and symptoms found in these patients; however, the types of infection caused by Mycoplasma and Brucella species that have been found in GWI patients, can cause complex problems found in GWI [reviews: 23,40,41]. These microorganisms are now considered important emerging pathogens in causing chronic diseases as well as being important cofactors in some illnesses, including AIDS and other immune dysfunctional conditions [23,40,41].

Evidence for infectious agents has been found in GWI patients’ urine [4] and blood [12,26,42-44]. We [12,26,42,43] and others [44] have found that most of the signs and symptoms in a large subset of GWI patients can be explained by chronic pathogenic bacterial infections, such as Mycoplasma and Brucella infections. In studies of over 1,500 U. S. and British veterans with GWI, approximately 40-50% of GWI patients have PCR evidence of such infections, compared to 6-9% in the non-deployed, healthy population [review: 23]. This has been confirmed in a large study of 1,600 veterans at over 30 DVA and DoD medical centers (VA Cooperative Clinical Study Program #475, S. Donta and C. Engel, statements at the NIH Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Coordinating Board, 2/00). Historically, mycoplasmal infections were thought to produce relatively mild diseases limited to particular tissues or organs, such as urinary tract or respiratory system [23,40,41]. However, the mycoplasmas detected in GWI patients with molecular techniques are highly virulent, colonize a wide variety of organs and tissues, and are difficult to treat [23,45,46]. The mycoplasma most commonly detected in GWI, Mycoplasma fermentans (found in >80% of those GWI patients positive for any mycoplasma), is found intracellularly. It is unlikely that this type of infection will result in a strong antibody response, which may explain the DoD’s lack of serologic evidence for these types of intracellular infections [47].

When civilian patients with CSF or FMS were similarly examined for systemic mycoplasmal infections 50-60% of these patients were positive, indicating another link between these disorders and GWI [23]. In contrast to GWI, however, several species of mycoplasmas other than M. fermentans were found in higher percentages of CSF/ME and FMS patients and most had multiple infections [48,49].
GWI can Spread to Immediate Family Members

During the last year we have documented the spread of GWI infections to immediate family members [12]. According to one U. S. Senate study [50], GWI has spread to family members, and it is likely that it has also spread in the workplace [18]. Although the official position of the DoD/DVA is that family members have not contracted GWI, these studies [12,50] indicate that at least a subset of GWI patients have a transmittable illness. Laboratory tests revealed that GWI family members have the same chronic infections [12] that have been found in ~40% of the ill veterans [42-44]. We examined military families (149 patients; 42 veterans, 40 spouses, 32 other relatives and 35 children) with at least one family complaint of illness) selected from a group of 110 veterans with GWI who tested positive (~41% overall) for mycoplasmal infections. Consistent with previous results, over 80% of GWI patients who were positive for blood mycoplasmal infections had only one Mycoplasma species, M. fermentans. In healthy control subjects the incidence of mycoplasmal infection was 7%, several mycoplasma species were found, and none were found to have multiple mycoplasmal species (P 0.001). In 107 family members of GWI patients with a positive test for mycoplasma, there were 57 patients (53%) that had essentially the same signs and symptoms as the veterans and were diagnosed with CFS or FMS. Most of these patients also had mycoplasmal infections compared to non-symptomatic family members (P 0.001). The most common species found in CFS patients in the same families as GWI patients was M. fermentans, the same infection found in the GWI patients. The most likely conclusion is that certain subsets of GWI can transmit their illness and airborne infections to immediate family members [12].

As chronic illnesses like GWI (and in some cases CFS and FMS) progress, there are a number of accompanying clinical problems, particularly autoimmune signs/symptoms, such as those seen in Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lew Gehrig’s Disease, see below), Lupus, Graves’ Disease, Arthritis and other complex autoimmune diseases. Mycoplasmal infections can penetrate into nerve cells, synovial cells and other cell types [40,41]. The autoimmune signs and symptoms can be caused when intracellular pathogens, such as mycoplasmas, escape from cellular compartments and stimulate the host’s immune system. Microorganisms like mycoplasmas can incorporate into their own structures pieces of host cell membranes that contain important host membrane antigens that can trigger autoimmune responses or their surface antigens may be similar to normal cell surface antigens. Thus patients with such infections may have unusual autoimmune signs and symptoms

Involvement of Infections in Gulf War Veterans with ALS

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is an adult-onset, idiopathic, progressive degenerative disease affecting both central and peripheral motor neurons. Patients with ALS show gradual progressive weakness and paralysis of muscles due to destruction of upper motor neurons in the motor cortex and lower motor neurons in the brain stem and spinal cord, ultimately resulting in death, usually by respiratory failure [51]. Gulf War veterans show at least twice the expected incidence of ALS.

We have recently investigated the presence of systemic mycoplasmal infections in the blood of Gulf War veterans and civilians with ALS [52]. Almost all ALS patients (~83%, including 100% of Gulf War veterans with ALS) showed evidence of Mycoplasma species in blood samples. All Gulf War veterans with ALS were positive for M. fermentans, except one that was positive for M. genitalium. In contrast, the 22/28 civilians with detectable mycoplasmal infections had M. fermentans (59%) as well as other Mycoplasama species in their blood, and two of the civilian ALS patients had multiple mycoplasma species. Of the few control patients that were positive, only two patients (2.8%) were positive for M. fermentans (P 0.001). The results support the suggestion that infectious agents may play a role in the pathogenesis and/or progression of ALS, or alternatively ALS patients are extremely susceptible to systemic mycoplasmal infections [52]. In the GWI patients mycoplasmal infections may have increased their susceptibility to ALS, which may explain the recent VA studies showing that there is an increased risk of ALS in Gulf War veterans.

Successful Treatment of GWI Mycoplasmal Infections

We have found that mycoplasmal infections in GWI, CFS, FMS and RA can be successfully treated with multiple courses of specific antibiotics, such as doxycycline, ciprofloxacin, azithromycin, clarithromycin or minocycline [45,46,53-55], along with other nutritional recommendations. Multiple treatment cycles are required, and patients relapse often after the first few cycles, but subsequent relapses are milder and most patients eventually recover [42,43]. GWI patients who recovered from their illness after several (3-7) 6-week cycles of antibiotic therapy were retested for mycoplasmal infection and were found to have reverted to a mycoplasma-negative phenotype [42,43]. The therapy takes a long time because of the microorganisms involved are slow-growing and are localized deep inside cells in tissues, where it is more difficult to achieve proper antibiotic therapeutic concentrations. Although anti-inflammatory drugs can alleviate some of the signs and symptoms of GWI, they quickly return after discontinuing drug use. If the effect was due to an anti-inflammatory action of the antibiotics, then the antibiotics would have to be continuously applied and they would be expected to eliminate only some of the signs and symptoms of GWI. In addition, not all antibiotics, even those that have anti-inflammatory effects, appear to work. Only the types of antibiotics that are known to be effective against mycoplasmas are effective; most have no effect at all, and some antibiotics make the condition worse. Thus the antibiotic therapy does not appear to be a placebo effect, because only a few types of antibiotics are effective and some, like penicillin, make the condition worse. We also believe that this type of infection is immune-suppressing and can lead to other opportunistic infections by viruses and other microorganisms or increases in endogenous virus titers. We have also found Brucella infections in GWI patients but we have not examined enough patients to establish a prevalence rate among veterans with GWI.

The true percentage of mycoplasma-positive GWI patients overall is likely to be somewhat lower than found in our studies (41-45%) [12,42,43] and those published by others (~50%) [44]. This is reasonable, since GWI patients that have come to us for assistance are probably more advanced patients (with more progressed disease) than the average patient. Our diagnostic results have been confirmed in a large study DVA/DoD study (~40% positive for mycoplasmal infections, VA Cooperative Clinical Study Program #475). This DVA study is a controlled clinical trial that will test the usefulness of antibiotic treatment of mycoplasma-positive GWI patients. This clinical trial is based completely on our research and publications on the diagnosis and treatment of chronic infections in GWI patients [42,43,53-55]. This clinical trial is complete but the treatment results have not yet been analyzed. There is a major concern that the DoD/DVA will not be forthcoming about this trial.

Vaccines Given During Deployment and GWI

A possible source for immune disturbances and chronic infections found in GWI patients is the multiple vaccines that were administered close together around the time of deployment to the Gulf War. Unwin et al. [8] and Cherry et al. [56] found a strong association between GWI and the multiple vaccines that were administered to British Gulf War veterans. Unwin et al. [8] and Goss Gilroy [57] also noted an association specifically with anthrax vaccine and GWI symptoms in British and Canadian veterans. Steele [10] found a three-fold increased incidence of GWI in nondeployed veterans from Kansas who had been vaccinated in preparation for deployment, compared to non-deployed, non-vaccinated veterans. Finally, Mahan et al. [58] found a two-fold increased incidence of GWI symptoms in U.S. veterans who recalled they had received anthrax vaccinations at the time of the Gulf War, versus those who thought they had not. These studies associate GWI with the multiple vaccines given during deployment, and they may explain the high prevalence rates of chronic infections in GWI patients [59,60].

GWI signs and symptoms have developed in Armed Forces personnel who recently received the anthrax vaccine. On some military bases this has resulted in chronic illnesses in as many as 7-10% of personnel receiving the vaccine [60]. The chronic signs and symptoms associated with anthrax vaccination are similar, if not identical, to those found in GWI patients, suggesting that at least some of the chronic illnesses suffered by veterans of the Gulf War were caused by military vaccines [59,60]. Undetectable microorganism contaminants in vaccines could have resulted in illness, and may have been more likely to do so in those with compromised immune systems. This could include individuals with DU or chemical exposures, or personnel who received multiple vaccines in a short period of time. Since contamination with mycoplasmas has been found in commercial vaccines [61], the vaccines used in the Gulf War should be considered as a possible source of the chronic infections found in GWI. Some of these vaccines, such as the filtered, cold-stored anthrax vaccine are prime suspects in GWI, because they could be easily contaminated with mycoplasmal infections and other microorganisms [62].

Inadequate Responses of the DoD and DVA to GWI

In general, the response of the DoD and DVA to the GWI problem has been inadequate, and it continues to be inadequate. The response started with denial that there were illnesses associated with service in the Gulf War; it has continued with denial that what we (biological exposures) and others (chemical exposures) have found in GWI patients are important in the diagnosis and treatment of GWI, and it continues today with the denial that military vaccines could be a major source of GWI. For example, in response to our publications and formal lectures at the DoD (1994 and 1996) and DVA (1995), the DoD stated in letters to various members of Congress and to the press that M. fermentans infections are commonly found, not dangerous and not even a human pathogen, and our results have not been duplicated by other laboratories. These statements were completely false. The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences taught its medical students for years that this type of infection is very dangerous and can progress to system-wide organ failure and death [63]. In addition, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) has been publishing for years that this type of infection can result in death in nonhuman primates [64] and in man [65]. The AFIP has also suggested treating patients with this type of infection with doxycycline [66], which is one of the antibiotics that we have recommended [53-55]. Interestingly, DoD pathologist Dr. Shih-Ching Lo holds the U. S. Patent on M. fermentans (“Pathogenic Mycoplasma”[67]), and this may be the real reason that in their original response to our work on M. fermentans infections in GWI, the DoD/DVA issued guidelines stating that GWI patients should not be treated with antibiotics like doxycycline, even though in a significant number of patients it had been shown to be beneficial. The DoD and DVA have also stated that we have not cooperated with them or the CDC in studying this problem. This is also not true. We have done everything possible to cooperate with the DoD, DVA and CDC on this problem, and we even published a letter in the Washington Post on 25 January 1997 indicating that we have done everything possible to cooperate with government agencies on GWI issues, including inviting DoD and DVA scientists and physicians to the Institute for Molecular Medicine to learn our diagnostic procedures on 23 December 1996 at a meeting convened at Walter Reed AMC. We have been and are fully prepared to share our data and procedures with government scientists and physicians. The DVA has responded with the establishment of VA Cooperative Clinical Study Program #475, but many Gulf War Referral Centers at VA Medical Centers continue to be hostile to non-psychiatric treatment of GWI. The DoD and DVA continue to deny that family members of Gulf War veterans could contract the illness or that there could be an infectious basis to GWI.

DoD/DVA Scorecard on GWI from Previous Testimony

In my previous testimony to the U. S. Congress in 1998 [15,18], some suggestions were made to correct for the apparent lack of appropriate response to GWI and the chronic infections found in GWI patients. It seems appropriate to go back and revisit these suggestions to see if any of these were taken seriously or corrected independently (Updates in italics).

1. We must stop the denial that immediate family members do not have GWI or illnesses from the Gulf War. Denial that this has occurred has only angered veterans and their families and created a serious public health problem, including spread of the illness to the civilian population and contamination of our blood supply. This item has still not been taken seriously by the DoD. The DVA has initiated a study to see if veterans’ family members have increased illnesses; however, they have decided to group GWI patients together independent of the possible origins of their illness. Since veterans who have their illness primarily due to chemical or environmental exposures that are not transmittable will be grouped with veterans who have transmittable chronic infections, it is unlikely that studying family members of both groups together will yield significant data. Whether intentional or not, this DVA study has apparently been designed to fail. Potential problems with the nation’s blood and organ tissue supply due to contamination by chronic infections in GWI and CFS patients are considered significant [68,69], but no U.S. government agency has apparently taken this seriously.

2. The ICD-9-coded diagnosis system used by the DoD and DVA to determine illness diagnosis must be overhauled. The categories in this system have not kept pace with new medical discoveries in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic illnesses. This has resulted in large numbers of patients from the Gulf War with ‘undiagnosed’ illnesses who cannot obtain treatment or benefits for their medical conditions. The DoD and DVA should be using the ICD-10 diagnosis system where a category exists for chronic fatiguing illnesses. Apparently little progress in this area has been made by the DoD or DVA.

3. Denying claims and benefits by assigning partial disabilities due to PTSD should not be continued in patients that have organic (medical) causes for their illnesses. For example, patients with chronic infections that can take up to or over a year to successfully treat should be allowed benefits. The DVA has recently shown some flexibility in this area. For example, Gulf War veterans with ALS will receive disability without having to prove that their disease was deployment-related. Similarly, GWI patients with M. fermentans infections (and also their symptomatic family members with the same infection) should receive disabilities. Thus far there has been no attempt to extend disability to GWI-associated infectious diseases. Instead of waiting for years or decades for the research to catch up to the problem, the DoD and DVA should simply accept that many of the chronic illnesses found in Gulf War veterans are deployment related and deserving of treatment and compensation.

4. Research efforts must be increased in the area of chronic illnesses. Unfortunately, federal funding for such illnesses is often re-budgeted or funds removed. For example, Dr. William Reeves of the CDC in Atlanta sought protection under the ‘Federal Whistle Blower’s Act’ after he exposed misappropriation of funds allocated for CFS at the CDC. It is estimated that over 3% of the adult U.S. population suffers from chronic fatiguing illnesses similar to GWI, yet there are few federal dollars available for research on the diagnosis and treatment of these chronic illnesses, even though each year Congress allocates such funds. There has been some progress at NIH on this issue, but in general little has changed. The DoD and DVA have spent most of the hundreds of millions of dollars allocated for GWI research on psychiatric research. Most of these funds have been spent on studies that have had negligible effect on veterans’ health.

5. Past and present senior DoD and DVA administrative personnel must be held accountable for the utter mismanagement of the entire GWI problem. This has been especially apparent in the continuing denial that chronic infections could play a role in GWI and the denial that immediate family members could have contracted their illnesses from veterans with GWI. This has resulted in sick spouses and children being turned away from DoD and DVA facilities without diagnoses or treatments. The responsibility for these civilians must ultimately be borne by the DoD and DVA. I believe that it is now accountability time. The files must be opened so the American public has a better idea as to how many veterans and civilians have died from illness associated with service in the Gulf War and how many have become sick because of an inadequate response to this health crisis. Unfortunately, little or no progress has been made on these items for the last decade or more, and the situation has not changed significantly since my last testimony in 1998.

References and Notes

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Under penalty of perjury, I swear that the statements above are true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information and belief.

Garth L. Nicolson, PhD
President, Chief Scientific Officer and Research Professor
The Institute for Molecular Medicine and Professor of Integrative Medicine

The Institute for Molecular Medicine (Website: www.immed.org)
15162 Triton Lane
Huntington Beach, CA 92649
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The New Gulf War Syndrome

US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are being exposed to toxic chemicals that pose serious health risks

What does a war injury look like? In the case of Iraq, we tend to picture veterans bravely getting on with their lives with the help of steel legs or computerized limbs. Trauma injuries are certainly the most visible of health problems – the ones that grab our attention. A campaign ad for congressman Tom Udall featured an Iraq war veteran who had survived a shot to his head. Speaking through the computer that now substitutes for his voice, Sergeant Erik Schei extols the top-notch care that saved his life.

As politicians argue about healthcare for veterans, it is generally people like Sgt Schei that they have in mind, men and women torn apart by a bullet or bomb. And of course, these Iraq war veterans must receive the best care available for such complex and catastrophic injuries.

Unfortunately, the dangers of modern war extend far beyond weapons. As Iraqis know only too well, areas of Iraq today are among the most polluted on the planet – so toxic that merely to live, eat and sleep (never mind to fight) in these zones is to risk death. Thousands of soldiers coming home from the war may have been exposed to chemicals that are known to cause cancers and neurological problems. What’s most tragic is that the veterans themselves do not always realize that they are in danger from chemical poisoning. Right now, there is no clear way for Iraq war veterans to find out what they’ve been exposed to and where to get help.

In October, the Military Times reported on the open-air pits on US bases in Iraq, where troops incinerate tons of waste. Because of such pits, tens of thousands of soldiers may be breathing air contaminated with burning Freon, jet fuel and other carcinogens. According to reports, soldiers are coughing up blood or the black goop that has been nicknamed “plume crud“.

In other cases, soldiers may have been exposed to poisons spread during efforts to restore Iraq’s infrastructure. In 2003, for instance, members of the Indiana national guard were put in charge of protecting a water-treatment plant. They were told not to worry about the bright orange dust lying in piles around the plant, swirling in the air and gathering in the folds of their uniforms. In fact, Indiana soldiers spent weeks or months in a wasteland contaminated with sodium dichromate. The chemical, made famous after its role as the villain in the movie Erin Brockovich, is used to peel corrosion off of water pipes. It is a carcinogen that attacks the lungs and sinuses.

Today, a decade and a half after the first Gulf war, we know that such exposure may lead to widespread suffering. In 1991, veterans began to exhibit fatigue, fevers, rashes, joint pain, intestinal problems, memory loss, mood swings and even cancers, a cluster of symptoms and conditions referred to now as Gulf war syndrome (or illness). For years, the US department of defense maintained that stress caused the veterans’ symptoms. Veterans groups blamed war-related toxins. This year, the National Academy of Sciences published an extensive review of years of scientific study of Gulf war illness that concluded a cause and effect relationship existed between the widespread illnesses among veterans and exposure to powerful neurotoxins. Complementing the US studies is an emerging body of epidemiological data linking increased incidence of Iraqi cancer, birth defects, infant mortality and multi-system diseases to toxic exposure.

Strangely enough, though, there has been almost no discussion of whether today’s soldiers – those fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan – have also been injured by wartime poisons. We don’t have a word yet for the constellation of cancers, psychological ills and systemic diseases that may be caused by toxins in today’s wars.

In order to care for our veterans, we must do more than offer state-of-the-art hospitals and high-tech prosthetics. Veterans will need information about what poisons they have breathed or touched or drunk and when.

What would such an effort look like? First the military would need to disclose all known incidents of toxic exposure. Then it would have to reach out to veterans and give them information about how to receive care for conditions that arise from this exposure.

This summer, senator Evan Bayh made a first stab at such a system. Bayh pushed the national guard to track down hundreds of those Indiana soldiers who may have breathed orange dust back in 2003. Most of the soldiers are now civilians scattered across the US, unaware that they are at high risk for lung cancer and other respiratory diseases. Some of them may already be struggling with illness. The national guard is making an effort to search for these veterans and provide them with a phone number to call in order to seek medical help.

That’s a good first step. But what about all the other veterans who believe that they have returned home from the war healthy? Without knowing it, they may be carrying a small bomb inside them. And they have a right to know.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2008

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