Army told units to destroy Gulf War troops records

Army told units to destroy Gulf War troops records
February 12, 2011 posted by Chaplain Kathie
Gulf War veterans came home ill but no one knew why. The American people, thinking it was such a fast war, there would be hardly no new casualties to worry about or take care of. Hard to believe it has been 20 years but even harder to believe is that these veterans are still trying to have their claims approved for what their service did to them.
Impossible to believe is that the Army ordered units to destroy their records. Now we know how bad it has been for these veterans to have their claims approved and why it has been impossible, but we also now know that the DOD has admitted what they were exposed to.
The Defense Department did send a letter telling the same soldier that he and others in his unit were in an area where exposure to nerve agents saran and cycolosarin was possible, but they should not worry about any side effects.
“So we all got exposed to nerve agent as well, and according to the military, that is never going to affect us,” he said. “They just wanted to advise us that we’ve been exposed.”
Rep. C.W. Young, R-Fla., says he did not know of the Army’s letter until now. His office asking the Defense Department to look into the matter.
Here is a good place to start to understand what this is all about.
PBS Gulf War Syndrome
So they did their duty as yellow ribbons and support the troops were covering almost every business and flags were waving from most homes. Hey, they won and that was all we needed to know. It was over so fast that the images of bodies on the side of the road were replaced by Iraqis surrendering to US forces because they knew they would be treated better than Saddam would have treated them. After all, they lost.
Yet when our own POW’s filed a law suit against Saddam, the Bush Administration blocked it.

House Allows Gulf War POWs to Sue Iraq Over Torture
This is how it started
RETURNED PRISONERS OF WAR
FROM GULF WAR I –1991
NAME SERVICE DATE OF CAPTURE CARRIED AS RELEASE DATE
Acree, Clifford M. USMC Jan.18, 1991 POW 03/05/91
Andrews, William USAF — MIA 03/05/91
Berryman, Michael C. USMC — MIA 03/05/91
Cornum, Rhonda USA — * 03/05/91
Dunlap, Troy USA — * 03/05/91
Eberly, David W. USAF Jan. 17, 1991 POW 03/05/91
Fox, Jeffrey USAF Feb. 19, 1991 POW 03/05/91
Griffith, Thomas E. Jr. USAF Jan. 17, 1991 POW 03/04/91
Hunter, Guy L. Jr. USMC Jan. 18, 1991 POW 03/05/91
Lockett, David USA Jan. 20, 1991 MIA 03/04/91
Roberts, Harry M. USAF Jan. – 1991 POW 03/05/91
Rathbun-Nealy, Melissa USA Jan. 30, 1991 MIA 03/04/91
Slade, Lawrence R. USN Jan. 21, 19915,3 POW 03/04/91
Small, Joseph USMC Feb. 25, 1991 MIA 03/05/91
Sanborn, Russell A.C. USMC Feb. 09, 1991 MIA 03/05/91
Stamaris, Daniel USA — * 03/05/91
Storr, Richard Dale USAF — MIA 03/05/91
Sweet, Robert J. USAF Feb. – , 1991 MIA 03/05/91
Tice, Jeffrey Scott USAF Jan. -, 1991 POW 03/05/91
Wetzel, Robert USN Jan. 17, 1991 MIA 03/04/91
Zaun, Jeffrey Norton USN Jan. 17, 1991 POW 03/04/91

Archive for Tuesday, February 15, 2005
White House Turns Tables on Former American POWs
By David G. Savage
February 15, 2005 in print edition A-1
The latest chapter in the legal history of torture is being written by American pilots who were beaten and abused by Iraqis during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. And it has taken a strange twist.
The Bush administration is fighting the former prisoners of war in court, trying to prevent them from collecting nearly $1 billion from Iraq that a federal judge awarded them as compensation for their torture at the hands of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
The rationale: Today’s Iraqis are good guys, and they need the money.

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Navy Vet gets claims letter addressed to another veteran

Navy vet worries Bay Pines 'typo' confuses him with another veteran

By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Monday, February 7, 2011
ST. PETERSBURG — Navy veteran Thomas Calahan never claimed he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

And a doctor has never diagnosed him with PTSD, either.

After all, Calahan did not experienced the crucible of combat.

So it was with some surprise that Calahan, 60, recently opened a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs and read that the VA wanted to discuss a medical claim he had filed.

It wanted to discuss his PTSD.

Then Calahan noticed the name atop the letter. It wasn't his.

In what Calahan said may be an odd breach of patient privacy, the St. Petersburg man thinks the VA mistakenly sent him information on another veteran's PTSD.

And he wonders if that man, in turn, got medical information about Calahan.

VA officials say that did not happen and patient privacy was not violated.

The letter was intended for Calahan, even if he does not have PTSD, the VA says.

"That doesn't make sense to me," Calahan said. "Why can't they keep this stuff straight?"

Critics have hammered the VA over breaches of patient privacy through the years, from boxes of records found on street curbs to stolen computers with data on millions of veterans.

Veterans file a million medical claims a year nationally.

"In the rush to process a huge backlog of claims, VA does make mistakes in claim decisions and other areas of veterans' claims," said Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, an advocacy group.

His group has urged the VA to hire more employees to handle the high volume of claims.
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Navy vet worries

Ronell Bradley, Wounded Iraq Veteran, Gets New Home

Ronell Bradley, Wounded Iraq Veteran, Gets New Home
Written by
Nate Stewart
Columbia, SC (WLTX) - Ronell Bradley lost his legs in Iraq. Now hundreds of volunteers are working to build a new home that will meet his needs.

On Peninsula Drive in Northeast Columbia Friday, it looked more like an episode of "Extreme Home Makeover" than a construction site. From professional contractors to your average Joe volunteer, cars lined the street to build a home for Bradley, who in 2005 was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

"It actually pierced the vehicle, blew off both legs and kept going out the other side," said Bradley.

Bradley and his wife soon after applied for help with Homes for Troops, a non-profit that builds specially adapted homes for wounded veterans free of charge.
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Wounded Iraq Veteran Gets New Home

Clergy no longer deaf, dumb and blind to veterans

Clergy no longer deaf, dumb and blind to veterans
February 12, 2011 posted by Chaplain Kathie

Living in Florida, knowing this state has over a million veterans and at least one church on every major street, I thought getting the clergy involved in helping veterans would be easy. I was totally wrong. A couple of years ago, I visited over 20 churches in the Orlando area. I was armed with over 20 years of information from research and living with it. I knew how churches work along with what their mission is supposed to be because I worked for a church as administrator of Christian Education. Each year for Memorial Day and Veterans Day, there are special services honoring the men and women serving this nation. Weekly prayers are offered up for all the troops. This is why I was so stunned and disheartened discovering only one out of the twenty churches responded after my visit. The pastor happened to be a veteran and a chaplain. He agreed more had to be done to help veterans in our own community. He couldn’t get involved here because he was transferring to another state. It was almost as if they have been deaf to the cries for help from their own communities.

Tracking PTSD across the country there will be a report of churches getting involved, which means they are paying attention refusing to remain uninformed. These churches are no longer denying how trauma, especially combat trauma, eats away at the soul from the simple fact PTSD is an attack against the emotional part of the brain. God is always involved in trauma. People survive it then wonder if God saved them or put them in the middle of it to suffer. Soldiers always seem to wonder where God was when this happened or that happened because they saw the worst that one human can do to another. Children used as shields, bombs blowing up women and children along with old men and the friend here one minute, killed the next one. After this they wonder how God could allow all of this to happen. Where was he? Then they question the existence of God Himself.

Most people do not have a nurtured relationship with God. They get their cues from their parents first and then whatever church their family attends. Too many have never gone to church, so their knowledge of God begins pure and simple as it develops from life. Others are subjected to sermons on how much God will punish them if they do something wrong instead of how much God loved them and they could be forgiven because of Christ paying the debt. It is easy for them to have their limited faith pulled away from them leaving them to believe they are not only totally alone but condemned to suffer.

I have no tolerance when it comes to military proselytizing. To hear a Chaplain has told a grieving soldier he is going to hell because he is not a member of the right denomination should have all of us understand how much harm is being done while they are on active duty. It leaves them with nowhere to turn topped off with being shoved away from the spiritual help they wanted.
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Clergy no longer deaf, dumb and blind to veterans

Iraq Veteran with PTSD finds understanding from police officers

We can talk all we want about readjustment but until the general public takes an interest in helping them, it won't happen. In this case, this veteran found police officers and a stranger treating him with care after he had a bad reaction to the rest of the crowd at the bar.

Thanks to cops for understanding
Bryan Blevins
Posted: 02/11/2011 01:23:57 AM MST

I am a 22-year Army veteran of both National Guard and active duty who has served in Germany, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar and Kuwait. I am now disabled. I suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and I tore my knee while on a mission in Iraq. I often feel regret over the loss of my comrades in arms.

On the night of Friday, Sept. 17, 2010, I went out to a local club to try and fit back in with society. I felt as if my military experience was being scoffed at so I just wanted to be left alone. Unfortunately, I was trying to be alone in a crowd and no one else realized what was going on. I was trying to control my emotions, but that didn't happen. I ended up becoming irrational and started hitting the wall outside. At this point Sgt. Monfils, Farmington Police Department, was making his rounds when he saw me being ignorant. I would like to recognize (and) thank him and his fellow officers for their professionalism, coolness, patience and understanding in dealing with me.

Another person I would like to acknowledge and thank is Joe, a patron of the club. He learned that I was a veteran and wanted to thank me for my service. He then unfortunately became the unintended victim of my aggressive words. Joe went out of his way to console me. He stayed by my side, worked with the police and watched out for me making sure I would not hurt myself or others. I appreciate Joe for being there. After all he didn't know me, except as a community member...another patron at the bar. Yet, he took it upon himself to get involved and see it to the end.
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Thanks to cops for understanding

VA gives $7.5 million to the U.S. Olympic Committee?

Good idea? Maybe but when you consider how many charities are already doing sports programs, this does not make much sense. How many times have you read on this blog about programs doing exactly the same thing the Olympic Committee wants to do? For these charities, $7.5 million would go a long way since they already have established programs.

Sports Programs for Disabled Veterans Expanding


VA Awards $7.5 Million to U.S. Olympic Committee for Therapeutic Competitive Events




WASHINGTON - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is awarding two
grants totaling $7.5 million to the U.S. Olympic Committee to enhance
recreation and sporting activities for disabled Veterans and disabled
members of the Armed Forces.

"Many of our Veterans have experienced traumatic injuries while at the
peak of their physical conditioning," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Eric K. Shinseki. "Our partnership with the U.S. Olympic Committee will
aid in their recovery by allowing them to engage in therapeutic sporting
events and competition right in their own communities."

Additionally, Christopher J. Nowak has been selected to be the director
of the VA Paralympics Program Office.

Under terms of the grant agreements, funding will be provided to the
Olympic Committee's member organizations, Paralympic sports clubs and
Veteran and military organizations nationwide to implement
community-based, physical activity programs for disabled Veterans and
disabled members of the Armed Forces. Disabled Veterans can locate
adaptive sporting events in their communities by visiting the U.S.
Paralympics Web site: www.usparalympics.org.

Public Law 110-389 authorized VA to award grants to the U.S. Olympic
Committee to plan, manage and implement an adaptive sports program.

"This support from Veterans Affairs will have far reaching impact in
communities around the country," said Charlie Huebner, chief of U.S.
Paralympics. "We know that sports and physical activity can have a
transformative effect on those with a physical disability."

"These funds will help our community partners to expand and provide
greater access to sports programs for injured Veterans, disabled members
of the Armed Forces and all living in their local area with a physical
disability," Huebner added.

Since 1999, Nowak has served as a prosthetics manager for VA
Healthcare Veterans Integrated Service Network 4, which includes
Pennsylvania, Delaware and parts of West Virginia, New Jersey and New
York. A 17-year veteran of VA, he directs a $92-million budget and all
prosthetics operations for 10 VA medical centers.

Nowak joined the Marine Corps 1983. His military career ended in 1987,
when the then-infantry squad leader lost his right leg to friendly fire
during a routine training exercise. He is a champion of sports
rehabilitation for wounded soldiers and Veterans. He has developed and
co-chaired "First Swing" and "Next Step" golf clinics for amputee
Veterans and is a former member of the USA Amputee Hockey Team.

Mubarak leaves office will US news report other things now?

While we may be happy for the people of Egypt on this day they earned a future of true democracy, the US media has been forgetting about news right here in this country.

Egypt unrest: Mubarak has resigned, VP says

Soldiers watch impassively as protesters flow into Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday morning.
February 11th, 2011
11:01 AM ET



The latest developments, as confirmed by CNN, on the uprising in Egypt. Demonstrators have taken to the streets of Egypt's major cities for two weeks to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. Check out our full coverage and the latest tweets from CNN correspondents on the ground.

[Update 6:01 p.m. in Cairo, 11:01 a.m. ET] President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down from the presidency of Egypt, Vice President Omar Suleiman said.
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Mubarak has resigned,

Cable news stations have focused on all of this while ignoring everything happening here. Stories like the VA hospital being built in Lake Nona Florida being surrounded by federal agents, arrests of illegal aliens and steel made in China instead of US steel being used, was not an issue important enough for then to cover. Now maybe they will have some time to report on what is happening here or at least change their claim of being national news into international news.

Admiral Mike Mullen talks about homeless veterans

Conversations at the Capitol
Top military officer discusses wide range of issues at Chambersburg theater

By KATE S. ALEXANDER
kate.alexander@herald-mail.com
9:41 p.m. EST, February 10, 2011


If not for family, Retired U.S. Army Spc. Gabriel Fauntleroy would be homeless, he said.

Last year Fauntleroy, who lives in Fayetteville, was medically retired from the U.S. Army after he broke his back while serving in Afghanistan in 2006.

Fauntleroy twirled a cane in his left hand as he told of his meager, barely $1,200 monthly retirement subsidy and how a beleaguered bureaucratic process has kept him waiting for disability from Veterans Affairs (VA).

Forced to make frequent trips between Chambersburg, Pa. and the Martinsburg, W.Va. VA Hospital for therapy and treatment of his injury, he said he has to rely on his family's charity just to survive.

"Honestly, right now, without my in-laws, we'd be homeless," he said. "With $1,200 a month to live on, a wife and two kids, I mean, there is just no way I could do it."

Fauntleroy was one of the many faces that filled the Capitol Theatre Thursday to listen to Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Like many people, Fauntleroy was hoping for some answers from Mullen.

"I was hoping to get some kind of clarification, some kind of answer on why it is taking so long to get my VA percentages finalized," he said. "It's been four months."

In his opening address to the nearly packed house, Mullen spoke of the problem of homeless veterans.

"When these wars started in 2003, as a Vietnam vet, one of the things I worried about the most was generating another generation of homeless vets," Mullen said. "While I live in a very nice set of quarters in Washington (D.C.), not a stone's throw away from me I can see my peers from Vietnam who are still sleeping on the street. We can't do that again in our country."

Fauntleroy's father-in-law, Retired Marine Col. George Germann, asked Mullen what the military is doing to address the bureaucracy that has continually pushed veterans like his son-in-law onto the edge of homelessness.
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Conversations at the Capitol

The Battle to Heal: Combating PTSD

The Battle to Heal: Combating PTSD
By Megan Strader
KWCH 12 Eyewitness News
8:49 p.m. CST, February 10, 2011

(WICHITA, Kan.) -
As father and son, Zach and Dennis Matthews share a lot of similarities. From their striking resemblance, to many of the choices they made in their lives.

"Every generation my family has served, so it was a lot to do with pride," explains Dennis.

Zach adds, "After high school it just seemed like the right thing to do so I signed up and went in."

Both entered the military, both were sent to war, both came back changed men.

"You can react to it getting angry, you can react to it with just a feeling of complete hopelessness," Zach tells Eyewitness News.

His dad adds, "most of us came home and alcohol and drugs were a real good friend of ours."

"I had a complete breakdown and my buddy's that I served with ended up helping me and getting me the help that I needed," said Zach.

"I was fortunate that I had a very close friend that took me up to the Topeka V.A. and opened the door and dropped me off. I still had a bottle of vodka in my hand, that's how bad I was," said Dennis.

Both were diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Dennis, years after he returned from Vietnam. Zach, just a year before being deployed to Iraq for a second time.

"I didn't know how it would effect me - if it would make it worse if it would make it better. I didn't know exactly what was going to happen."

Research shows that nearly 30% of all combat veterans will suffer from PTSD - a figure that's been pretty steady throughout most of our country's major wars.
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The Battle to Heal Combating PTSD

Troops near burn pits to get masks, respirators

Troops near burn pits to get masks, respirators
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 10, 2011 16:51:02 EST
Under pressure from Congress, the Defense Department is moving toward short-term and long-term protections against the risks posed by open-air burn pits that have been used to dispose of garbage in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Protective equipment such as respirators and gas masks are expected to be made available to deployed troops near the burn pits, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen pledged in a letter to two U.S. senators dated Monday. He said a policy on how to promote the use of protective equipment should be ready within 60 days.

For the long term, the U.S. Central Command is buying and installing about 200 solid-waste incinerators that will be used in Afghanistan, Mullen said in the letter to Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

The pits have been used to burn a wide variety of potentially toxic products, including industrial and medical waste, paint thinner and other solvents, batteries and plastic. Schumer and Nelson wrote to the Defense Department in early January after the death of Army Sgt. William McKenna, who had a rare form of lymphoma that the Veterans Affairs Department determined was connected to his exposure to burn pit fumes in Iraq.
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Troops near burn pits to get masks, respirators