Exposure to hexavalent chromium exposure weighs on veteran

6 years after Iraq, hexavalent chromium exposure weighs on veteran
By Julie Sullivan, The Oregonian
December 28, 2009, 7:25PM

ROCKAWAY -- The Naylor living room is all playroom, cleared to toddle, cuddle and roll. But when Dad's home, the children often head to the back bedroom to play quietly with Mom.

Six years after Guy Naylor returned from Iraq, he can't stand the clamor of his own family. The soft-spoken dialysis technician shouted at other drivers so often, his family moved to Rockaway to escape Portland traffic. The medic who ran every day has gained 80 pounds. Joint pain wakes him. He coughs so much, his patients constantly ask if he has a cold. He swallows nine different medications a day. Up from none.

"He doesn't seem like a 40-year-old man," says his wife, Toniann. "He seems 60."

Naylor is being treated for post-traumatic stress and exposure to hexavalent chromium, an industrial chemical and well-known carcinogen that soldiers unwittingly faced while guarding war contractors. He's one of 278 Oregon Army National Guard soldiers who were notified of possible exposure while serving at or near the Qarmat Ali water-treatment plant in 2003. Fleeing Iraqi troops loyal to Saddam Hussein had dumped the orange industrial chemical across the property.


6 years after Iraq, hexavalent chromium exposure weighs on veteran

Mother, Baby 'Die' in Labor but Are Revived

Mother, Baby 'Die' in Labor but Are Revived

DENVER (Dec. 29) - Mike Hermanstorfer was clutching his pregnant wife's hand when her life slipped away in a Colorado hospital on Christmas Eve, and then he cradled his newborn son's limp body seconds after a medical team delivered the baby by cesarean section.

Minutes later he saw his son come to life in his arms under the feverish attention of doctors, and soon he learned his wife had inexplicably come back to life.

"My legs went out from underneath me," Hermanstorfer said Tuesday. "I had everything in the world taken from me, and in an hour and a half I had everything given to me."
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Mother Baby Die in Labor but Are Revived

National Guardsmen pay to have Iraqi baby see

Guardsmen foot eye surgery bill for Iraqi child

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Dec 30, 2009 9:49:40 EST

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A wrong turn directed West Virginia soldiers to helping an Iraqi baby see for the first time.

Army National Guardsman Jason Hickman was part of a convoy five months ago that accidentally ended up in the village where Noor Hassam Oudah was visiting her uncle.

Although the infant’s congenital cataracts could be corrected, her family in Baghdad couldn’t afford to have the surgery performed.

Hickman asked for donations from fellow soldiers and friends and family back home to West Virginia. After raising $5,000, Noor had surgery Nov. 15, three days before her first birthday.

Hickman said he doesn’t believe in coincidence or destiny. He believes God puts people in certain places at certain times and all one has to do is watch for the signs.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_guard_iraq_surgery_123009/

Soldiers Driven to Desperation Deaths

Military Suicides: Soldiers Driven to Desperation Deaths
Dr. Phil Leveque Salem-News.com
They are the highest in history.

Is there really any difference as to how they died?

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - I am appalled beyond repugnance to even read my own title. It seems that the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force all have the same problem but the Infantry really gets it in the rear echelon.

They won’t accept one into the service with ANY vestige of MENTAL DISORDER. Then they drive him crazy enough to kill himself, then they call it ADJUSTMENT DISORDER and a pre-service condition and it is all the suicide soldier or Marine's weakness.

I have posted many articles about Infantry craziness on Salem-News.com. One more will just further indicate my disgust.

For the past 4 years the Army has had at least 100 suicides per year, probably many more, with about ¼ in Iraq (less total troops). This is much higher than civilians of the same age group. Are you surprised?!? You shouldn’t be!!
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Soldiers Driven to Desperation Deaths

Father of two, Army veteran shot to death in Jackson murder-suicide

Father of two, Army veteran shot to death in Jackson murder-suicide
By Robert Wang
CantonRep.com staff writer
CANTON — Derrick Busto left two small children when he was shot to death Sunday morning in Jackson Township by the ex-husband of the woman he was dating.

His younger child, a son, is 2. His other child is an 8-year-old daughter, Harmony, who still doesn’t comprehend that her father is gone, said the girl’s mother, Kelly Henson, who’s also Busto’s ex-wife.

“I don’t think she understands right now. She hasn’t said much about it,” Henson, of Canton, said Tuesday. “She keeps asking if her daddy is OK.”

She said Busto was a good father who last summer helped coach their daughter’s softball team.
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Army veteran shot to death in Jackson murder suicide