PGEV

Women in Desert Storm

2011-04-10T07:16:00.000-07:00

Do you remember While stationed in Saudi Arabia before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, female servicemembers were ordered to wear an abaya, a long black gown and a headscarf. ?

{EXCERPT The top American military officer defended the Department of Defense policy of encouraging female troops to wear headscarves while on duty in Afghanistan, despite criticism the practice makes "second-class warriors." "Those female service members ... do so as a personal choice," For years, some American military women have worn headscarves, similar to traditional Afghan hijabs, when interacting with local civilians. http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/04/headscarves-for-female-soldiers-in-afghanistan-defended/?iref=allsearch

Desert Storm Females are part American Women Veteran Org

2011-03-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

We will never know the exact number of military women who return home from Desert Storm Era deplyment suffering from chronic multisympthoms illness.
That alone put strain marriages. Now divorced and ill it is much harder to work as head of household. Why has the VA and other Veterans Service Organizations
undererestimated the suport services our women veterans would need. We are still
suffering the consequences till very day.

For women in military, divorce is common enemy
By KIMBERLY HEFLING

Two failed marriages were the cost of war for Sgt. Jennifer Schobey.

The breaking point in her first marriage came when her husband deployed to Afghanistan, the last in a long line of separations they had endured as they juggled two military careers. Schobey married another combat veteran, but that union failed under the weight of two cases of post-traumatic stress disorder — his and hers. They are now getting divorced.

Separations. Injuries. Mental-health issues. All are added weights to the normal strains of marriage.

For women in the military, there's a cold reality: Their marriages are more than twice as likely to end in divorce as those of their male comrades — and for enlisted women, the figure is nearly three times higher.

About 220,000 women have served in Afghanistan and Iraq in roles ranging from helicopter pilots to police officers. Last year, 7.8 percent of women in the military got a divorce, compared with 3 percent of military men, according to Pentagon statistics. Among the military's enlisted corps, meaning they aren't commissioned officers, nearly 9 percent of women saw their marriages end, compared with a little more than 3 percent of the men.

Research indicates that military women also get divorced at higher rates than their peers outside the military, but military men divorce at lower rates than their peers, according to a journal article published last year by Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Brookings Institution. Directly comparing divorce rates between the military and civilian sectors is difficult because of the way the numbers are kept.

The percentage of military women getting a divorce has been consistently higher for at least a decade. Like all divorces, the results can be a sense of loss and a financial blow. For military women, a divorce can be a breaking point — even putting them at greater risk of homelessness down the road.

It has an effect, too, on military kids. The military has more single moms than dads, and an estimated 30,000 of them have deployed in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Why military women are more burdened by divorce is unclear, although societal pressure is likely a factor.

"It's a strange situation, where there's a fair amount of equality in terms of their military roles," said David Segal, director of the Center for Research on Military Organization at the University of Maryland. "As the military increasingly treats women the same as it treats men in terms of their work expectations, however, society still expects them to fulfill their family roles. And that's not equally balanced between men and women."

One notion is that although more traditional men join the military, women who are attracted to military life are less conventional — and perhaps less willing to stay in a bad marriage.

About half of all married women in the military are married to a fellow service member, compared with less than 10 percent of military men. Although it can be an advantage to be married to someone who understands military life, balancing two military careers poses challenges.

Former Army Sgt. Daniela Gibson, an Afghan war veteran, knows that. Gibson, 24, spent more than four years apart from her military husband and thousands of dollars on long-distance phone calls as they each did war deployments, training and moves. She said it's tough to not feel insecure about your own marriage as you watch others falling apart around you and see fellow service members cheating on their spouses, which she says is all too frequent during deployments.

"Even just rumors of cheating can really affect you," Gibson said.

Gibson left the military after she got pregnant. She is now raising their 1-year-old in Mannheim, Germany, while her husband continues his military career. Fortunately, she said, they were able to make their marriage work.

"It was really hard. We've gone through a lot of difficult points in the relationship, and sometimes we weren't even sure how it was going to end up. But at the end I think it made us closer because it kind of made us prove to ourselves how much we wanted it," Gibson said. "We weren't about to just give up."

Female service members married to civilians face their own challenges. The rate of divorce of military women is higher for those married to civilians, said Benjamin Karney, a UCLA psychology professor who studied the issue for the Rand Corp. Research has found that husbands of female service members were less likely to be employed than military wives.

"You've got to look at the realities of what military life is like on the family, and it really is kind of set up around a traditional married model of a husband and a wife that runs the house, if you will," said Kimberly Olson, a retired Air Force colonel who leads Grace After Fire, a support organization for female veterans.

When divorce does happen, it only adds to the stress faced by an already stressed-out population.

Staff Sgt. Robin D. Duncan-Chisolm, 47, of Upper Marlboro, Md., was deployed to Iraq last year with the District of Columbia National Guard while she was getting a divorce. She said she worried the entire time that she would lose custody of her teenaged son or lose the house she and her husband had shared.

"I was able to smile … but inside I had a lot of turmoil I needed to have resolved, things I needed to bring closure to," Duncan-Chisolm said.

She credits her friendships and support in the Guard with helping her get through the divorce. She and her son were able to take advantage of support programs offered through the Guard's Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program to help with her transition home.

Former Army Sgt. 1st Class Tashawnya McCullough, 38, said she didn't have that support when she returned from Iraq in 2004 to her post in Germany. Divorced at the time from a service member she says cheated on her, lonely and struggling with her combat experience, she turned to alcohol. It took two months for her to get her girls, then ages 4 and 11, from the United States, where one lived with her ex-husband and the other with friends.

"My home was so quiet it drove me nuts, and I was by myself. It really affected me horribly. I was not doing well," McCullough said. "I was just trying to not feel or think about anything. I had a really hard time with drinking."

McCullough eventually got help for her drinking, remarried and found work in Texas with Grace After Fire helping other female veterans.

Each of the military services today offers a variety of programs focused on strengthening or enriching marriage. The Army, for example, offers a program called Strong Bonds, which provides relationship help to married couples as well as single soldiers. It also offers "resiliency" classes for spouses of both sexes.

Despite these efforts, Christina Roof, national acting legislative director of AMVETS, said there are not enough programs targeting divorce among female service members. She said some husbands just don't feel comfortable being surrounded by wives as part of military family support programs, but they need to be educated about issues their wives may face when they return from war.

"I think that stress of a woman coming home … and the man having no real training of someone sitting down and saying this is what it might be like when your wife gets back — that's just a recipe for disaster," Roof said.

Genevieve Chase, a staff sergeant in the Army Reserves who founded American Women Veterans, said she hears complaints from female service members who say how hard it is for their civilian husbands to understand what they do and feel accepted. "Unfortunately, male military spouses don't get any credit or recognition," she said.

http://www.americanwomenveterans.org/

How does VA help patient with attention disfunction?

2011-02-13T18:34:00.000-08:00

Helping those with Attention Deficit Disorder stay organized

BALTIMORE - One big New Year's Resolution is getting organized. All month long, Good Morning Maryland @ 9, has been showing ways you can get organized.

We understand it is tough enough, but imagine living with Attention Deficit Disorder and organizing can really be challenging.
http://www.getit2gether.com/

Wednesday on Good Morning Maryland @ 9, Rose Zappa-Jehnert from Get it 2gether Organizational Services talked about some ways you can stay organized, especially if you suffer from ADD. She should know, she started her business thanks to helping her daughter who has ADD.

To hear and see some of the suggestions Zappa-Jehnert has for you, click on the video box to the left of this article. We have also provided a link to her website to the left for your information.

http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/lifestyle/helping-those-with-attention-deficit-disorder-stay-organized

I Wanted My Brain Back using VA system

2010-11-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

I Wanted My Brain Back”
What happens when you’re a PhD economist and you suddenly can’t remember things or think straight? One woman’s story of perseverance reveals some of the mysteries of the brain.

By Sherri Dalphonse Published Thursday, March 01, 2007

It was a beautiful June Saturday afternoon. Anne Forrest steered her white Acura onto Memorial Bridge. The Lincoln Memorial rose before her.

Back from a business trip to Panama, Anne had picked up her cat from a colleague at the Environmental Law Institute, a nonprofit where she worked as an economist.

After crossing the bridge, she bore right at the Lincoln Memorial and dropped down toward Rock Creek Parkway. She craned her head to the left, watching for her chance to merge onto the parkway.

As Anne waited, a woman in an SUV hit her from behind. Both drivers got out to inspect the damage—Anne’s car had a dent in the back—and exchange information. A Park Police officer took an accident report. Anne felt shaken but looked fine; she got in her Acura and drove on.

“Who knew?” she says. “But that changed my entire life.”

The next day, June 15, 1997, Anne went to the Texas State Society Father’s Day picnic with Michael Crider, a man she was dating. Both Anne and Michael had grown up in Texas. One of their first dates, a year earlier, had been at this annual event.

Anne spent part of the picnic on the phone, trying to resolve a problem at work, but couldn’t grasp what her boss was saying.

Early Monday morning, she woke up feeling cold, nauseated, and with “the worst headache I have ever had.” At work, Anne would start to dial a phone number but couldn’t get through all the digits. She told colleagues about her accident and her headache. They urged her to see a doctor.

The primary-care physician thought Anne had whiplash. He wanted to see her twice a week to keep her under observation.

Two weeks later, Anne was on I-270, driving to church, when her right foot and right arm went numb.

“That was my wake-up call,” she says.

Neurologist Lewis Eberly diagnosed it as a mild traumatic brain injury.

When Anne’s car was rear-ended, it started a chain reaction in her head. The brain is made up of millions of nerve cells connected by fibers called axons. When Anne’s head was thrust from side to side and front to back, some axons—which carry messages between brain cells—were torn or twisted.

Traumatic brain injury has been called a “silent epidemic.” Each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say, 1.4 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury, or TBI—often in car accidents, falls, or sports mishaps. Experts believe the number of TBIs is higher because the estimate reflects only emergency-room visits, and many patients never go to a hospital.

Three-quarters of cases are concussions or mild brain injuries. “Mild” means the patient was never unconscious or wasn’t unconscious for a long time. The results can be anything but mild.

If brain injury is an “epidemic,” why is it a silent one? “Because many of us have sustained a concussion, and two-thirds of individuals who sustain a concussion are back to normal by three months,” says Gregory O’Shanick, medical director for the Brain Injury Association of America.

But many who sustain a head injury have problems remembering things and concentrating. Accidents can be so minor that neither doctor nor patient makes the connection. Your teenage son is having difficulty at school? Must be inattention, not that hockey injury. You’re 50 and forgetting things? Must be age, not that fall off a bicycle months ago.

http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/benefits/exams/disexm58.htm

Unless a veteran comes to medical facility bloody. Most PCP will not send patient/vet
for neuro exam and assume the damage is done.

Capacity to manage financial affairs
Mental competency, for VA benefits purposes, refers only to the ability of the veteran to manage VA benefit payments in his or her own best interest, and not to any other subject. Mental incompetency, for VA benefits purposes, means that the veteran, because of injury or disease, is not capable of managing benefit payments in his or her best interest. In order to assist raters in making a legal determination as to competency, please address the following:

a.What is the impact of injury or disease on the veteran's ability to manage his or her financial affairs, including consideration of such things as knowing the amount of his or her VA benefit payment, knowing the amounts and types of bills owed monthly, and handling the payment prudently? Does the veteran handle the money and pay the bills himself or herself?

b.Based on your examination, do you believe that the veteran is capable of managing his or her financial affairs? Please provide examples to support your conclusion. If you believe a Social Work Service assessment is needed before you can give your opinion on the veteran's ability to manage his or her financial affairs,

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc096180

Overlap in the symptoms of residual effects of concussion, PTSD, depression, and chronic pain is well recognized and is the rationale for an interdisciplinary approach. The majority of veterans who are screened have been determined not to have BI, yet many have symptoms that are evaluated and treated — according to clinical practice guidelines developed by a panel of experts, including Hoge.2 Mental health services are integrated into these programs, and patient education regarding an expected positive outcome is a cornerstone intervention.

Signs and Symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Gulf War Vets

2010-10-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

•According to the Veteran's Health Administration, no single, clearly identified diagnosis or type of exposure has emerged that explains the various health problems some veterans of the Gulf War experience. Nevertheless, there are signs and symptoms Gulf War veterans should be aware of that are attributed to chronic fatigue syndrome. These symptoms may be intermittent with no identifiable pattern and can be severe.

Psychological Problems
•Gulf War veterans suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome may experience psychological problems. Symptoms can be unpredictable and may be mild to severe. These include depression, irritability, anxiety disorder and sudden panic attacks. Loss of memory and difficulty with concentration may also occur.

Physical Pain
•Chronic fatigue syndrome is characterized by ongoing pain that has no identifiable cause. This can include severe headaches and pain in the abdomen, jaw or chest. Unexplained muscle pain and sore throat are also noted symptoms.

Sleep Disorders
•Sleep problems can be a sign of chronic fatigue syndrome. These may include an inability to sleep regularly accompanied by chills and night sweats. Often, when sleep occurs, it is not refreshing or deep, and the veteran may wake up feeling exhausted.

Other Symptoms
•Nausea, irregular heartbeat, visual disturbances and physical stiffness are also signs of chronic fatigue syndrome. Unexplained flu-like symptoms, such as sore throat, chronic cough and dry mouth, may occur. These symptoms can result in cognitive dysfunction, bronchitis, asthma, substance abuse and sexual issues. Because there is a relationship between participation in the Gulf War and chronic fatigue syndrome, veterans experiencing symptoms should seek medical help.

http://www.ehow.com/list_6331327_signs-syndrome-gulf-war-vets.html
Read more: Signs and Symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Gulf War Vets | eHow.com
http://www.ehow.com/list_6331327_signs-syndrome-gulf-war-vets.html#ixzz13lVelmC8

Gulf War Ills May Be Clue to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

2010-10-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

Tuesday January 30 8:17 PM ET
Gulf War Ills May Be Clue to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

By John Schieszer

SEATTLE (Reuters Health) - Important similarities exist between Gulf
War (news - web sites) illness and
chronic fatigue syndrome, and those similarities may help unlock some
of the mysteries behind these enigmatic
illnesses, experts on the syndrome said at a conference here.

``The symptoms of both are very similar,'' said Dr. Lea Steele, who is
with the Persian Gulf War Veterans
Health Initiative. ``I think they both encompass different disease
pathways, and so some of those disease
pathways may overlap in Gulf War veterans and civilian patients with
chronic fatigue syndrome.''

In an interview with Reuters Health, Steele said that looking into the
differences and similarities between these
two illnesses may lead to new treatments for both conditions.
Furthermore, veterans with Gulf War illness will
probably find they are better accepted and their symptoms better
managed by physicians who are also treating
chronic fatigue syndrome patients.

``The chronic fatigue syndrome doctors are the ones with probably the
most expertise in dealing with the
symptoms,'' explained Steele, who presented her findings at the
American Association for Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome (AACFS) 5th International Conference.

Gulf War illness is defined as an elevated level of symptoms in at
least 3 of 6 defined symptom domains
(fatigue/sleep problems, pain, neuro/cognitive/mood symptoms,
gastrointestinal symptoms, respiratory
symptoms, and skin symptoms), in the absence of other conditions that
could account for those symptoms.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) symptoms bear some similarity to those
associated with Gulf War illness and
earlier research has suggested that some Gulf War veterans actually had
chronic fatigue syndrome and not a
new illness, Steele noted.

``What my study found was that although there is definitely some
symptomatic overlap between the two
conditions, Gulf War veterans are actually distinct from chronic
fatigue syndrome patients. They have some of
the symptoms but Gulf veterans are more likely to report neurologic
symptoms, and they are more likely to
report more gastrointestinal problems and more likely to report skin
and rash conditions,'' Steele said.

She conducted her study among 1,548 veterans of the Persian Gulf War.
Chronic fatigue syndrome was found
in 7% of Persian Gulf veterans. However, the specific pattern of
symptoms reported by veterans who met
criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome differed from that reported by
chronic fatigue syndrome patients in the
general population.

For example, chronic headache, diarrhea, skin rashes and night sweats
were more prominent among Gulf War
veterans meeting CFS criteria than in CFS patients generally.

``Ultimately, this will increase interest in this area,'' said Dr.
Leonard Jason, who is a professor of clinical
psychology at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. ``Groups of
activists are now going to Congress saying we
need to have services for people with Gulf War illness and the Veterans
Administration will do that work. And
clearly then that sets up the foundation for those people who didn't go
to war and are also sick.''

Currently, there are no approved treatments for either of these
conditions and physicians are only able to
provide symptomatic relief. The causes of both illnesses are still
considered a mystery.

CFS is marked by unrelenting exhaustion, muscle pain, cognitive
disorders that patients call ``brain fog,'' and a
myriad of other physical symptoms. It is believed that about 800,000
Americans have CFS, the majority of
them women. Steele says most patients with both of these illnesses are
not receiving proper care.

``It is true. A lot of chronic fatigue syndrome and Gulf War illness
patients have a hard time finding a doctor
who knows how to help them very much,'' Steele said. ``It used to be
that they even had a hard time finding a
doctor who really believed they were really sick and not just having
some kind of mental disorder.''
--

http://personal.lig.bellsouth.net/lig/j/i/jimmoss

or:

http://www.afn.org/~afn64689/

Is Brain Fog treated by VA -gulf war

2010-10-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

I have see a lot articles and studies on gulf war veterans which have noticed Impaired Cognitive Function which many vets called Brain Fog.
I have seen studies saying this Brain Fog is aggravated by poor quality of sleep. (see blow)
I have seen studies which chronic pain aggravates ones brain fog/ Impaired Cognitive Function (see blow)
I have seen studies which say Stress like PTSD as aggravates our brain fog.
(see blow)
I question how many vets with Mild brain injury or concussions are left with Impaired Cognitive Function/Brain Fog ?
I question why Dr. Haley imaging studies has not address these issues of brain function ?
I question why the VA-RAC-GWI has not recommended studies to address this symptom - brain fog, which is in the top 10 of 33 symptom list created by the IOM and Congress ?

Impaired cognitive performance in patients with chronic burnout syndrome
Biological Psychology
Volume 69, Issue 3, July 2005, Pages 271-279
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T4T-4DTKS8H-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=8c3a141c12938f0c318fb6b0afd59cb2
########

Poor Sleep Is Associated With Impaired Cognitive Function in Older Women: Blackwell et al. 61 (4): 405 -- Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences
PubMed Citation
# # #

Chronic pain can alter the brain
The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences
61:405-410 (2006)
© 2006 The Gerontological Society of America
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23017866/
#########

Cognitive Functioning Under Stress:
Evidence from Informal Caregivers of Palliative Patients
J Palliat Med. 2007 June; 10(3): 749–758.
# # # #

A Cause of Depression, Effects of concussions can be long term
Effects of concussions can be long term
also see: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/31/AR2007053101608.html
www.medscape.com/viewarticle/558116
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=247140

unexplained chronic pain in GW vets Illness

2010-09-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

There are thousands of veterans who blog or twitter nearly every day, sometimes multiple times per day, about illness, health, diseases and conditions, chronic pain. mental illness, mental health and more. If you twitter about one of these topics, let's connect and help each other in sharing our resources, retweeting, and making a difference for the causes we believe in.

We represent:
* Patients/vets who have any illness or disease
* Professionals in the health care industry
* Anyone who has a business or organization that serves those with illness or pain
http://illnesstwitters.ning.com/

Will GW Illness VA-programs End ?

2010-08-31T20:30:00.000-07:00

Emails unanswers at an empty terminal;
voicemails unanswered at this phone line;
postal mail letters not be picked up/unanswered at the offices below...
why because this job positions is
vacant/unfilled and unassigned.

The department of veterans affairs will be able to ingnore gulf war veterans comments/complaints becuase this two
offices will be vacant.

[1] GWVI-TF Secretary, OSVA,
Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC
20420, at (202) 461-4814.

Col Jeff Peters DOD, is retired, you will not be able to communicated
with this office.

Their website did not have an email Address ???
http://yourgulfwarvoice.uservoice.com/

[2] Director of of Environmental Health Coordinators & Health Clinicians
VA CENTRAL OFFICE WASHINGTON, DC 20420 (810 Vermont Avenue, NW),
Environmental Agents Service at (202) 461-1013 or (202) 461-1014
or send an email to VHACO13Bsha@va.gov
http://gulfwarcouncil.com/environmental_agents_contact_inf.htm.

Helen Malaskiewicz is retired currently no one is assigned to replace her.
>>
Vacant VA positions will NOT help Disabled Gulf War Veteran's
regulations, health care or benefits.

abandoned, absentminded, bare, barren, bland, blank,
characterless, clear,
deadpan, deserted, devoid,
empty-headed, empty-minded, empty-pated, empty, expressionless,
fatuous, featureless, fishy, forsaken,
godforsaken, hollow,
idle, impassive, inane, inexpressive, insipid,
null, null and void,
oblivious, open, passive,
spare, stark,
tenantless,
unaware, uncomprehending, unengaged, unexpressive, unfilled,
uninhabited, unmanned, unoccupied, unpeopled, unpopulated,
unstaffed, untaken, untenanted, untended, unused, unutilized,
vacuous, void, without content.

I thank the two above former VA employees for their serve to DVA.

Cognective issues suffered by ill GW Vets

2010-08-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

More scientific proof of damage done to gulf war veterans. The question is where are the new tests, new blood tests and diagnostic tests, that will show the damage and lead to the veterans getting compensation and diagnosis and treatment. It has been 20 years! Give the gulf war veterans something we can use now!

What is the meaning of semantic difficulties?
Semantics is the aspect of language function that relates to understanding the meanings of words, phrases and sentences, and using words appropriately when we speak. vets with semantic difficulties have a very hard time understanding the meaning of words and sentences.

Impaired response inhibition in ill Gulf War veterans

Gail D. Tillmana, Timothy A. Greena, Thomas C. Ferreeb, Clifford S. Calleya, Mandy J. Maguirea, Richard Briggsb, John Hart Jr.a, Robert W. Haleyc, Michael A. Krautd
published online 18 August 2010.
Corrected Proof
Abstract
Poor performance on tasks requiring response inhibition has been observed among chronically ill veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Semantic difficulties have also been reported. We collected event-related potential (ERP) and behavioral data from 25 Gulf War veterans who complained of cognitive difficulties and from 23 matched controls, who were deployed but not symptomatic, while they performed a GO–NOGO task that required both a semantic decision and inhibitory processing.

A significantly greater false-alarm rate among the ill veterans was accompanied in the ERP data by significantly reduced amplitude in the NOGO P3, consistent with previous ERP studies of other patient groups that have shown poor inhibitory response performance. This supports the contention that the ill veterans’ deficit lies more in inhibiting than in detecting task-related differences in the stimuli.

a School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Center for BrainHealth, The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, United States

b Department of Radiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States

c Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States

d Department of Radiology, Division of Neuroradiology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States

Corresponding author. Center for BrainHealth, 2200 W. Mockingbird Ln., Dallas, TX 75235, United States. Tel.: +1 214 905 3007; fax: +1 214 905 3026.

PII: S0022-510X(10)00344-8

doi:10.1016/j.jns.2010.07.021

Army's High Suicide Rates Linked to Risky Behavior

2010-07-30T16:42:00.000-07:00

"Denying military service to people with risky backgrounds for example would clearly have a serious effect on recruitment, especially for the army, which traditionally recruits from areas of social disadvantage."

Veterans advocate Kirt Love, a frequent presenter at the Institute of Medicine (IOM), notes that the IOM will "Label these people as genetically inferior rather than physically damaged by outside sources."

Indeed, there is a significant body of neurological research which focuses on the neurobiological changes found in subjects with PTSD such as decreased hippocampal volume, reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex, altered brainwave activity and increased activity in the amygdala. Dr. Brad Johnson of the U.S. Naval Academy states that "Various strands of medical research suggest that the intense bursts of brain activity during traumatic experiences may actually lay down new neural pathways in the brain — the prime culprits when it comes to the recurring symptoms of PTSD and the substantial difficulty finding a genuine cure."

The dictum that pervades the Gulf War/Iraq debate applies to the members of the military with PTSD; we broke it so we have to fix it. If the Federal government breaks a soldier in its use of that soldier to wage war on its behalf, then it is duty bound to pay to fix that soldier. That is the cost of doing business: An aggressive investigation of the neurobiology of PTSD and fully funding the VA demonstrates a genuine support for the troops.

It will certainly cut costs to blame the veteran for the psychological damage experienced in war through locating the source of that damage in morals, sin, and pre-existing pathology. But it is one thing to cut costs by using a cheaper grade of toilet tissue; it is entirely of another magnitude to cut costs by using disposable soldiers.

Blame the Veterans for PTSD and for Environmental Exposures
Remeber that GW vets who have post deployment illness, also have died by Suicide. Twenty year later we still suffer UDI (undiagnosed illness) and MUPS (Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms ).

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2010/July/Armys-Soaring-Suicide-Rates-Linked-to-Risky-Behavior/

http://www.epluribusmedia.org/features/20060206PTSD_pt3.html

Open Government Plan Emphasizes VA’s Commitment to Transparency

2010-07-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

Where is the openness? Where is the transparency?

What happened to (it been months) GWVI-TF recommends that VA Coordinate with DoD to leverage the Deployment Health Working Group (DHWG) as the principal mechanism for VA to receive data on environmental exposures of active duty military personnel । Strategies to improve future DoD/VA data sharing. There is No direct line phone numbers veterans can reach or write.

Paul Sullivan of Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) ( www.veteransforcommonsense.org ) writes:

According to this gem of a press release, VA wants to have their cake and eat it, too.

On the one hand, and this is so cute, VA mentions Facebook and Twitter as part of open government.

On the other hand, VA becomes more clouded by denying our VCS FOIAs seeking information about the VA employees who "impeded" Gulf War scientific research, as reported by VA's OIG last years. We sent our FOIAs to VA last November. VA has not provided any documents. Next week, when we testify before Congress, VCS will blast VA for failing to honor FOIA and, more importantly, for blocking research, treatment, and benefits for our hundreds of thousands of ill Gulf War veterans.

Third Estate Sunday Review: Senate Veterans Affairs Committee

2010-06-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

Third Estate Sunday Review: Senate Veterans Affairs Committee

Message #11804 of 11805 < Prev | Next >

Meeting of the Research Advisory Committee
on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses

June 28-29, 2010
Veterans Administration, 810 Vermont Avenue, Washington, DC

Agenda Monday, June 28, 2010
8:00 – 8:30 Informal gathering, coffee
8:30 – 8:35 Welcome, introductory remarks Mr. Jim Binns, Chairman
Res Adv Cmte Gulf War Illnesses
8:35 – 9:30 Case report: long-term cognitive COL Jonathan Newmark
sequelae of sarin exposure Joint Program Executive Office for
Chemical/Biological Defense
Department of Defense
9:30 – 10:15 Effects of military service on the brain Dr. Michael Weiner
San Francisco VA Medical Center
10:15 – 10:30 Break
10:30 – 11:15 Organophosphate exposure and cognition: Dr. Alvin Terry
Novel mechanisms of neurotoxicity Medical College of Georgia
11:15 – 12:00 Neural Stem cell dysfunction and its Dr. Ashok Shetty
implications on memory and mood in a Durham VA Medical Center
rat model of Gulf-War illness
12:00 – 12:45 Proteomic analysis of cellular response to Dr. Michael Mullan
Biological warfare agents and cognitive Tampa VA Medical Center
function in animal models Dr. Fiona Crawford
Roskamp Institute
12:45 - 1:45 Lunch
1:45 - 2:30 ALS rates in Gulf War veterans Dr. Ronnie Horner
University of Cincinnati
2:30 – 3:15 Magneto-encephalography (MEG) Dr. Apostolos Georgopoulos
patterns in neurological diseases Minneapolis VA Medical Center
3:15 – 3:30 Break
3:30 - 4:30 Committee Discussion: VA Gulf War Mr. Jim Binns, Chairman
Task Force Report Dr. Kimberly Sullivan
Res Adv Cmte Gulf War Illnesses
4:30 – 5:00 Public comment
Meeting of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses

Military shifts on reproductive health

2010-06-21T17:04:00.000-07:00

Comrades --there was a time, when I was processed from the WAC corp to all volunteer service 1974 and this information was not available to me and I want you have to have it। Jagmedic

In November, the Pentagon’s Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee voted to include Plan B, a two-pill emergency contraceptive, and the generic Next Choice on the basic core formulary, a list of drugs all military facilities must stock. The Pentagon accepted the recommendation in February.

The military frames the decision as purely pragmatic, meant to standardize the stock available at hospitals across the globe. The Pentagon had made Plan B available to military women in 1999, when the Food and Drug Administration approved it as a prescription drug, but had not required that all hospitals stock the product.

“This move is ... consistent with the military health system goal to ensure that our beneficiaries have access to the appropriate medications for their health care needs, irrespective of location,” said Cynthia Smith, a Department of Defense spokeswoman.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38641.html#ixzz0rXFrgv26

Gulf War Illness: The Future for Dissatisfied Veterans

2010-06-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

July 27, 2010, 10:00 AM Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/hearing.aspx?NewsID=538
Gulf War Illness: The Future for Dissatisfied Veterans
Room 334 Cannon House Office Building

GW Veterans and supporters:

Well, here we go again. What is promised in the past has little to do with reality.

The full HVAC was supposed to step in on the Gulf War hearing. Now its back to being held by the subcommittee again that had canceled two times before.

Guess what? Same damn line up as before Pro government hearing with certain vets missing from that lineup Why? Because the handful of opportunist in our ranks are trying to help rig the hearing. Same three groups speaking for GW vets, who attend meetings Yet fail to report the GW vets what was presented, in a timely manner. When too much time has pasted for GW vets/supporters outside of Washington, D.C. to submit input or comments.

This will let VA off the hook, make DOD look good, give the IOM charte blanc, and keep the same tired faces at the front doing the same tired mistakes they have made the last 10 years. That goes for the half ass advocates who helped get UT Southwesterns funding that lead to the collapse of the research crowd. More of the same? I warned them in 2005, and no one listened.

The whole thing has gotten so old. Month after month of stalling until VA can finally get its pro-psychiatric program in place. The (VA-GWVI) Task Force that was supposed to help us instead produced a ghastly document that was a step back 14 years. Now that same task force wants to do things same as before until the public comments said it wasn't working. However, after talking with them they took what was 250 pages of public comments and distilled it to 100.

Anecdotal comments? Yes, there were allot of those. But, there were good ones too. That will be published right before the hearing in July as will the GWVIS reports. If its published at all.

What is missing is all that visibility we heard about. The GWVITF works in secret, with no website or way to follow that they do. That happened before when they produced that pro-government document. We are to trust that to set policy when it does so in a really sneaky way. This mirrors the DHWG program and methods for the past 10 years.

None of this is going well. None of this should be trusted. A small handful of people are trying to make policy that the rest of us should have a say in. Yet, as in the past we are in the dark. Some promise on Obama's behalf of the most transparent government in history. This regime is even more secretive than the last.

The hearing in July is yet another farce, and should not be trusted. What is missing from the hearing are those dissatisfied veterans that are a part of this like me. If KL is not requested there, then this it to let the ACGWV -VBA - and others off the hook that KL tangled with much of 2008 and 2009 while on a federal committee. The GWVIS report would not be changing if KL had not called attention to it and it took 4months to even get that on the books with VA and my committee, subcommittee, and so on.

You watch, the people who know me well and a long time have seen my prediction rates. For real change to happen you have to do something different, and we have too many people here who are one trick ponies.

Veterans for Common Sense
National Gulf War Resource Center
Veterans for Modern Warfare
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
Desert Storm Battle Registry

(ACGWV) means VA-Advisory Committe on Gulf War Veterans
(GHWG) Deployment Health Working Group
said Jagmedic

Brain Scans Depict Gulf War Syndrome Damage

2010-06-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

SALT LAKE CITY — Nearly two decades after vets began returning from the Middle East complaining of Gulf War Syndrome, the federal government has yet to formally accept that their vague jumble of symptoms constitutes a legitimate illness. Here, at the Society of Toxicology annual meeting, yesterday, researchers rolled out a host of brain images — various types of magnetic-resonance scans and brain-wave measurements — that they say graphically and unambiguously depict Gulf War Syndrome.
Or syndromes.

Since the early 1990s, some 175,000 U.S. troops have returned from service in the first Gulf War reporting a host of vague complaints, notes Richard Briggs, a physical chemist at UT Southwestern involved in the new imaging. Their symptoms ranged from mental confusion, difficulty concentrating, attacks of sudden vertigo and intense uncontrollable mood swings to extreme fatigue and sometimes numbness — or the opposite, constant body pain.

In healthy vets and those suffering from syndrome one, blood flow to affected regions of the brain diminished, although not comparably; the drop in syndrome-one vets was about five times that in the healthy men. But among individuals suffering from Gulf War syndromes two and three, blood flow inappropriately spiked after administration of the drug.

Other tests probed for faults in the integrity of the circuitry connecting deep gray matter — where the brain performs unconscious calculations and processing — with the layer of white matter that performs conscious reasoning. In vets with syndrome two, the most seriously ill of the groups, a special form of scans showed signs that the insulating sheath covering the “wires” connecting the gray and white-matter regions was seriously impaired.

Concludes Briggs: “This tells us very clearly that in the syndrome twos — unlike either of the other syndromes, or the controls — their wiring is flawed.”

Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial

2010-05-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

Transcending conflicts, service branches and generations, the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial will express America's lasting gratitude to the men and women whose lives were forever changed in service to our country.

National statistics show that there are more than three million living disabled veterans, including thousands who have returned from the current operations and desert storm.

The Disabled Veterans for LIFE Memorial Foundation was created to educate the public on the issues related to disabled veterans. The Foundation needs to first rally the public by recognizing and honoring veterans in a public forum in order to bring public awareness to the needs of our disabled veterans.

http://www.avdlm.org/site/c.gnKFIJNqEqG/b.5307917/k.A616/Quick_Facts.htm

To my brother and sisters in Arms we salute YOU:
Operation DESERT SCORPION
Operation DESERT THUNDER
Operation DESERT SHIELD
Operation Desert Calm / Desert Farewell

Operation DESERT SWORD
Operation DESERT SABRE
Operation VIGILANT WARRIOR
Operation VIGILANT SENTINEL
Operation DESERT STRIKE I and II
Operation DESERT FOX I and II
Operation DESERT SCORPION
Operation Just Cause
Operation Urgent Fury
Operation Desert Focus
Operation Desert Falcon

Operation Desert Spring
Operation Northern and Southern Watch
Operation DESERT SCORPION and IRON HAMMER
Operation Desert Strike
Operation DELIBERATE FORCE

Venus Hammack/Army/NCO/disabled veteran

VA-GW Veteran Illness TaskForce comments

2010-05-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

This was your chance to put in your own suggestions for improvements to Gulf War Veterans Care and Gulf War Illness! at this forum on line at http://yourgulfwarvoice.uservoice.com
I am upset that the VA did this task force report and yet has not mailed out the Gulf War Information newsletter to inform all the veterans of this task force report and a method to really get all gulf war veterans involved by a total mail out to all 700,000 deployed in 1990-91.

They did not even notify the veterans by placement of posters at VA Clinics or Hospitals or at VA regional offices. This is a sorry mechanism to show outreach by relying on a website or an announcement on the Federal Registry. How many veterans knew of this process or have access to a computer or internet?

How many VSOs notified the gulf war veterans they knew? How many special mailings were made by VSOs or announcements on their websites? Or notices at VSO posts or in post newsletters.

How many TV stations gave coverage? How many radio talk shows? How many local newspapers or even major city newspapers covered this request for input to the VA Task Force Report?

Did The VA even try by fully activating their massive Public Affairs ability? How about DOD did they do anything to get the word out?

Another failure by the VA to communicate with gulf war veterans. Another failure to truly outreach to the Gulf War Veterans of 1990-91 who have suffered for 20 years and countless gulf war veterans have died and their families have no way to input to suggestions for improvement!

Countless Veterans from the gulf war 1990-91 have auto immune disorders, ALS, MS, Cancers, undiagnosed illnesses, cardiovascular, renal, lung, bowel, reproductive disorders, endocrine, neurological problems, blood disorders, early alzthemiers symptoms, neurological cognitive disorders and are still awaiting acknowledgement from their own government.

A Desert Storm Battle Buddy

2010-05-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

I have been 20 years, yet I still remember and grateful to my battle buddy. He took great pride in his MOS- military occupation speciality (CHEM CORPS). Mike was a professional NCO. We were the same rank - he watched my back and would not tolerate unprofessional behavior toward me from male servicemen (CENTCOM). There were many occasions I had to travel alone and at night. When ever possible Mike would accompany me. I salute him, said Venus H.

Paula Shnurr is a research professor of psychiatry. She did a study of therapy for female vets with PTSD for the Veterans Administration. Shnurr said: "When you are sexually assaulted by people who are your comrades, PTSD can be worse than in
other circumstances. You feel incompetent and helpless, like children feel when abused by the very people who are supposed to look after them. The people you depend on have attacked you."

Though Professor Benedict believes virtually everybody is being harassed in the military, by no means does this mean every woman is being assaulted. Most are not. There are many male soldiers who are good, dependable people. These are the ones that treat women soldiers like their sisters just as they treat their male comrades as brothers. Soldiers in arms to them means siblings in arms.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/145378/Female_Soldiers_Died_of_Dehydration_Rather_Than_Risk_Sexual_Assault

Florida VA Facilities Care 2010

2010-04-19T16:48:00.000-07:00

All large organization has it good offices and bad ones.
Yet I do not want to leave this life without Say thank you for
the times and places I received good patient/veteran/stakeholder
service.
Key West Out Patient Clinic
Administration Staff who remind of my appointments by paper
and phone calls; Medical staff/ Doctors, Nurse Practioners,
RNs who listen with respect and compassion and give me
directions to keep my body going.

Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center -
to the Administration and Medical staff of the following locations
Podiatry Service, Eye clinic, Derm clinic, Mamogram clinic,
Neuro clinic, Pain Managment, GI clinic, CT/PET service,
Patient Advocate Service, Release of Information Office, Travel Office
and Cashier, ER Admission Desk,
I must remember folks in Volunteers Services too!

You guys and gals have had a smile and patience with this female Vet.
I appreciated your work here.
Venus Hammack

PS
I could not get to these apointments without professional and
courtesy the Administrative staff of Monroe County Veterans Services
(Transportation) and the drivers of the Vans, (remember it over
100 miles from KW clinic to Miami VAMC).
Thanks again
“As we express our gratitude,
we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words,
but to live by them.” -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy quotes

IBS and Gulf War syndrome

2010-04-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

IBS is one of the more prevalent of these multisymptom illnesses. This falls in the category of "no good deed goes unpunished". The silver lining to this dark cloud is that the focus on causes and treatment of these Gulf War symptoms may filter down to a better understanding of IBS itself, something that would be of help to all sufferers.

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies has just announced the publication of a report entitled "Gulf War and Health: Volume 8. Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War". According to the press release, the committee behind the report sought to address the issue of the fact that many of those involved in military service in the Persian Gulf War suffer from ongoing multisymptom illness.

The numbers are staggering: "nearly 700,000 U.S. personnel were deployed to the region and more than 250,000 of them suffer from persistant [sic], unexplained symptoms." Currently, the cause of these ongoing problems is unknown, and the committee theorizes that there may be an interaction between individual genetics and the environment that these vets were exposed to. The report calls for continued efforts to identify, understand, and treat these multisymptom illnesses.

http://ibs.about.com/b/2010/04/12/gulf-war-syndrome-and-ibs.htm

Iraqi Scud barrack Desert Storm

2010-04-09T19:51:00.000-07:00

I was there, and I will never forget, the job of a medic.
Bob and Connie Clark became acquainted with the Army Reserve's
14th Quartermaster Detachment in Hempfield Township when their
daughter, Spc. Beverly Clark, brought them to the unit's open
house and Christmas gatherings.

"(Beverly) loved everyone here, from the staff to their
families, so she was so excited and proud to introduce us to
them. They were like a family to her," said Connie Clark, of
Armagh, Indiana County.

Beverly Clark, 23, died on Feb. 25, 1991, with 18 other men
and women serving in the 14th Quartermaster when an Iraqi Scud
missile slammed into the barracks housing their water
purification unit in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, during the waning
days of Operation Desert Storm.

In all, 28 soldiers were killed and 99 injured from the 14th
Quartermaster and the 477th Provisional Transportation Unit in
the fiery explosion that leveled the quarters. The 14th
Quartermaster sustained the greatest number of casualties of
any coalition unit during the war.

On Sunday, a memorial service marking anniversary of
the attack was attended by roughly 40 family members, friends
and veterans at the unit's headquarters in the village of
Carbon. Over time, the bond has grown each year among
attendees who loved the unit known as "Water Dawgs."

"After the tragedy that happened, I think we all grew closer,
because we all have something in common," said Clark, bearing
a pin with her late daughter's photograph on her coat. "Coming
here on this day means a lot, because this really was a home
away from home for our daughter and the other soldiers, and
kind of like their second family."

During a vigil at the site of a memorial dedicated to the
unit, Beverly Clark's sister, Bobbi, said a short prayer in
the cold, pouring rain. Family members, including some young
children, placed flowers and teddy bears at the base of a
wicker wreath wrapped with a yellow ribbon on which was
written, "We will always remember."

"Thank you that we have this day to remember and spend
together, and for the people that couldn't be here today,
please encourage them and lift them up," said Bobbi Clark 38,
of Greensburg.

After the anniversary, officials decided to hold
full-scale memorials every five years. In other years, those
attending normally choose to remember their fallen loved ones
in silence, said Jack Gordon, chief of information and public
affairs for the Army Reserve's 99th Regional Readiness
Command, based in Moon Township, Allegheny County.

"When you think about 16 years having passed since that day,
children who were babies then are grown ... that's a lot of
years," Gordon said.
Connie Clark expressed gratitude to the 14th Quartermaster for
allowing her and the others to gather there yesterday.
"This is a hard day of the year, and being able to come
together like this helps us to get through it," Clark said.

Hempfield unit's losses remembered - Tribune-Review
By A.J. Panian
TRIBUNE REVIEW
Monday, February 26, 2007

GW Veterans Illness Task Force -rename

2010-04-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

Gulf War Veterans Illnesses Task Force draft report .
http://yourgulfwarvoice.uservoice.com/

ACTION: Notice with request for comments.
Jeff Peters, GWVI-TF Secretary, OSVA,
Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC
20420, at (202) 461-4814.

Gulf War Veterans last VA group 2009

2010-03-31T16:43:00.000-07:00

This Committee this year has been spoke as "the OTHER" by other VA Offices and Committees.
There has been care not to speak of the Recommendations this Committee has made and Why ?

Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans, See activities of the Advisory Committee in providing advice to the Secretary on the full spectrum of health care and benefits issues that confront veterans on health care, compensation, VRE and Loans - (not Medical Research topics)
http://www1.va.gov/gulfwaradvisorycommittee/

final report
http://www1.va.gov/gulfwaradvisorycommittee/docs/AdvisoryCommitteeonGulfWarVeteransFinalReport-September2009.pdf

Gulf War Medical before Psych Brain

2010-03-23T17:01:00.000-07:00

American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine Criteria
Definition of Mild TBI
 Traumatically induced physiologic disruption of
brain function as indicated by at least one of the
following:
 Any period of loss of consciousness
 Any loss of memory for events immediately before or after the
accident
 Any alteration in mental state at the time of the accident
 Focal neurologic deficits that may or may not be transient
 Severity of the injury does not exceed:
 Loss of consciousness of 30 min
 GCS score of 13-15 after 30 min
 Posttraumatic amnesia of 24 hr
+++++++
Postconcussion Symptoms
 Physical
 Headache, dizziness, fatigue, noise/light
intolerance, insomnia
 Cognitive
 Memory complaints, poor concentration
 Emotional
 Depression, anxiety, irritability, lability

++++++++++++++
Mild TBI:
Five Meta-analytic Studies: I
(Binder, Rohling, & Larrabee, 1997; Binder & Rohling,
1996; respectively)
 Found the long-term cognitive impairment
effect size for mild TBI was very small (0.1 -
0.2) and not statistically significant
 In contrast the long-term effect of financial
incentives on cognitive impairment in a mild
TBI population was larger (0.5) and significant

++++++++++++++
PTSD and Cognitive Deficits
 Persian Gulf War veterans
 PTSD was associated with relative
performance deficiencies on tasks of:
 sustained attention
 mental manipulation
 verbal learning
 executive control, and
 performances were characterized by errors
of commission and intrusion
Vasterling et al., Neuropsychology, 1998;12:125-33

+++++++++
Cognitive Sequelae
post concussion

Waitng for Hearing GWI at US House - VA

2010-03-12T08:34:00.000-08:00

No Press release made for ACGWV as of this date. This was the last Committee to obtain comments for vets around America. What were their Recommendations ?
www1.va.gov/gulfwaradvisorycommittee

This DoD office has not web site or direct contact information, yet Senators are waiting for their Comments. Deployment Health Working Group does not appear to be part of our latest transparent government.

The House is waiting for the Comments of the IOM's latest report or is this delaying ? Why are we wating for "peer review" to say no consensus.

Waiting for the Federal Registry to publish the Report of the "Gulf War Veterans Illness Task Force (GWVITF). The chairman is John R. Gingrich, Chief of Staff Office, Vermont Avenue Washington DC. He is a gulf war veteran, yet what will he do now working at VA headquarters ?

GW advocates on health care - disablities and benefits will not be told of hearing date until it too late to get flights to attend this hearing.

The hearing had a title of

"Gulf War Illness: The future for Dissatisfied Veterans'

-this can't be good, so government staffers will do their best to supress the fire and or veterans inputs and participation at this hearing. Which will be in March or April 2010 - TBA

Gulf War Illness or Fibromyalgia

2010-03-10T15:01:00.000-08:00

When I first had fibromyalgia (FM), my doctors and I were very concerned.
I went from being a fit woman who us servicewoman, ate right, exercised regularly, and had a great life with many friends and a close family.
Suddenly I was terribly ill with cribble pain. My primary Care (VA) phyician couldn’t understand what was wrong, nor could several other local specialists.

Finally I was diagnosed at the Dr Daniel Clawu, Georgetown Univ MD. (rheumatologist)
I had no idea that FM could be so debilitating. I have found nothing for the crushing fatigue. FM is very real. Gulf War Veterans illness is Real.
Add Brain fog, brain fog, brain fog and IBS.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/the-voices-of-fibromyalgia/

People who suffer from fibromyalgia experience problems beyond the pain caused by their illness. Their condition is little understood and hard to explain, and often they are disbelieved by doctors. Even friends and loved ones may express skepticism toward the fibromyalgia sufferer, who, burdened with inexplicable pain, may cancel social plans, miss work and recoil from physical affection because it hurts too much.

http://www.fms-help.com

GW illness and GI tract problems

2010-03-08T18:48:00.000-08:00

Many IBS patients experience symptoms in other parts of their bodies that may be associated with their IBS. These symptoms can be digestive, like nausea and heartburn, or totally unrelated to the digestive system, such as headaches and frequent urination. Sadly, these symptoms are often minimized by healthcare professionals and VA doctors.

It is interesting to find those who has filed for undisgnosed illness and desert storm deployed...today write/post about their most serious sympthom.

Yes it appear to the stem from brain changes; yet I had diarrehea after GW for 9 years straight. I now fall into the IBS group.

Follow up at this discussion:
http://ibs.about. com/u/ua/ symptomsofib1/ OtherSymptoms. htm

Gulf War US House hearing 2010

2010-03-08T11:13:00.000-08:00

If the VA home page says the following:

VA and Open Government
Government should be transparent, allow for citizen participation, and encourage collaboration among organizations. And that’s what VA aims to accomplish through the new Open Government Initiative.

Then why is the next hearing on a Gulf War Veteran issue being kept under the radar, will not be publishized until 48 hours before the meeting -- too late for the average statkeholder/veteran or NSO to give input/comments.

Hearings »
Gulf War Illness: The Future for Dissatisfied Veterans
United States House of Representatives.
Committee of Veterans Affairs
Washington, DC 20515 (202) 224-3121

My fellow Comrade please pay attention

SCUD desert storm wounded survive

2010-02-26T15:46:00.000-08:00

I was there and glad to see that the Vast internet and history has not forgetten this event. What has gotten forgotten is the survivors of this event.

DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Feb. 26— In the most devastating Iraqi stroke of the Persian Gulf war, an Iraqi missile demolished a barracks housing more than 100 American troops on Monday night, killing 27 and wounding 98, the American military command in Riyadh said early today.

Greg Siegle, a freelance writer, said he saw "a gigantic explosion" 100 feet off the ground, then another as bits of glowing metal fell to the ground and set fire to the barracks, which is situated in Al Khobar, a city a few miles from Dhahran and its big air base. He said the building caught fire at once. Within an hour, it was a charred skeleton.

Many of the occupants of the barracks, a corrugated-metal warehouse that had been converted into temporary housing for British and American troops, were eating dinner or relaxing when the missile hit. Others were apparently working out or sleeping, and many survivors wandered around, in sweatsuits or gym shorts, stunned, during the rescue efforts.

This morning, under the pitiless glare of portable floodlights, excavating equipment began plowing through the blackened remains of the building. Servicemen joined in the search for the missing, using picks and shovels, as some of the survivors milled about. Many wept.

In a dormitory-turned-morgue, four pairs of boots protruded from under blankets. Sleeping bags and military uniform belts were scattered about on the charred floor.

There was little left of the building but its steel girder frame.
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/26/world/war-in-the-gulf-scud-attack-scud-missile-hits-a-us-barracks-killing-27.html?pagewanted=1

VA's Gulf War Taskforce - Gingrich

2010-02-17T17:41:00.000-08:00

February 17, 2010
Rockefeller, VA secretary meet with local veterans

Lawrence Pierce
Eric Shinseki (center), secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, talks with Justin Wilcox (right), a Marine who served in Iraq, as Sen. Jay Rockefeller looks on at the Charleston Vet Center on Wednesday.

Lawrence Pierce
Shinseki (right) and Rockefeller discuss the VA's Gulf War Illness Task Force after meeting with veterans in Charleston.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- It was just another group therapy session for a handful of veterans at the Charleston Vet Center on Wednesday, except that this meeting had two unusual guests: a cabinet secretary and a U.S. senator.

Eric Shinseki, Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., met with a small group of veterans and listened to those Rockefeller described as members of "a community of pain, and a community of pride."

The meeting is a part of a larger effort by the VA to reach more veterans and provide better, more specific services to the 8 million Americans who have served in the military, Shinseki said. In September, his agency launched the Gulf War Illness Task Force, designed to take a comprehensive look at veterans from that conflict and identify areas where treatment can be improved, he said.

In the upcoming weeks, the task force, chaired by VA Chief of Staff John Gingrich, who is a Gulf War veteran, will submit its final results.

http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/201002170531?page=2&build=cache

VA's Open Government Program

2010-02-17T16:49:00.000-08:00

If the current VA administration is transpartent, they why hasn't
the FINAL report of 2009's Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans
was not published to the public or the (congressional) HOUSE
Committee on Veterans Affairs which has prosmised to hold meeting
since last November. It is still under a cloak of mystery if
anyone beside the chairman of the VA Advisory Committee GW Cragin
is speak ? Where are Veterans Organation Reps or NGWRC and Veterans
of Modern Warfare ?
++
Dear Mr. Chairman

My name is Kirt Love. I am a disabled Gulf War Veteran and long
standing advocate for GW vets healthcare as well as benefits. I
have a small organization that I have run since 1997 that has
participated in countless government events on behalf of GW vets.
The Desert Storm Battle Registry. Then I managed to get a VA
advisory committee together through Congress and later get on
that committee. It concluded in September 2009 and filed its final
report with VA.

In November Kerri Keehn was talking to me to put me on the
stand before your committee to talk about my dissenting vote
on that final report. The problems with that report were orchestrated
by Chairman Charles Cragin who forced his will on the committee
and censored me as much as possible to produce a thin report.
In the end it would endorse the PDICI which is a psychiatric
program in Seattle that is not appropriate for Gulf War care.
Yet, Keeri then preceded to tell me what my testimony would
be and that I was not to antagonize Cragin. Then after that
she dropped me from the testimony list citing that they could
not justify the transportation budget.

In December I called VA asking Col John Peters about the progress of the
Gulf War Illness Task Force. He told me many things to include
that VA would announce service connecting 9 diseases from
the Persian Gulf. That announcement would be in December.
Then just as quick he retracted that remark. They had said there
would be a public disclosure of the report they would send to
the Secretary in January. Then in January VA pulled back on that and
decided to keep the report from the public. No website, or anything
to show the progress or details of this Task Force.

I was the one that drew attention to the large numerical errors in the
GWVIS report in February 2009. My committee didn't support my
pursuit of this fact until May 29th when I got angry that VBA would
make me start over on my request for a answer on this problem.
After that point Cragin put me on a subcommittee to get answers
from VBA which lead to a meeting in June to discuss it. This would
be abbreviated in our final report. VBA's Steerling Stokes assured
me that the reports would be corrected soon. Yet, its now February
2010 and there is nothing on the VBA website to explain any of this
much less any 2009 report. They claim its a coding problem but
they have had 8 months to resolve that.

When my committee got its response letter back on February 12th,
it had been around 120 days to what was supposed to be a 30 day
response to us. The letter wasn't from the Secretary of VA, it was
from the Chief of Staff John Gingrich. It was barely one page and had
no details of any pending programs or ideas. Worse yet, it made
reference to a private meeting between Cragin and himself to discuss
the Task Force conclusions. This gives Cragin a opportunity to
push his program in secret with Gingrich and not even give any
one else the opportunity to know any details. The need for
secrecy here is not called for.

There is also the rumor that the IOM is planning to hand over a
non-disclosure prepress copy of the Gulf War & Health: Health Effects
of Serving in the Gulf War-Update 2009 250 page report to the
subcommittee to re-enforce certain unfavorable VA elements heading
into 2010. Though the IOM itself is saying the report wont be ready
till late March or early April.
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/projectview.aspx?key=PHPH-H-08-04-A

But, what makes this all even more suspicious is that the HVAC
subcommittee is not even posting the pending hearing to the
Congressional website so that others can attend. Now with the
hearing 9 days away this will guarantee a small turn out because
of the transportation expenses to attend at the last minute. Then
on top of that Todd Chambers and Dionne Trahan do not answer
thee phones or return phone calls related to this hearing.
http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/

There are a variety of reasons I should have been asked to testify
at this hearing but I have been censored from it. VA gives the
appearance of gearing up to shut out any unwanted veteran
opinions in favor of pro-government supporters. Transparency
is in effect not been the case with VA, and I fear this is to push
a less than savory program they are trying to slip by rather than
working with outside interest on more beneficial solutions.

Mr. Chairman, this hearing taking place should be fair - but it
doesn't look like it will come off that way. There is more to this but
I need to wrap this up before it gets to long winded. Please look
a little deeper than the surface on this as I don't think your getting
the full story from everyone on this. VA is NOT being transparent
about these GW programs or the route they are taking.

Thank your for your time.
Sincerely
Mr. Love
Director, DSBR
Former member of the VA Advisory
Committee on Gulf War Veterans

Silence from Congress and AV gulf war

2010-02-12T13:19:00.000-08:00

why ACGWV report was filed in September not been publicly released yet.
Why did the House Committee on veterans affairs
http://veterans.house.gov
Allow veterans on this Committee to come forth and speak
at a subcommitte hearing this month ???

Are they afraid to hear what ACGWC recommend ?
Does the House CVA not want to hear what GW vets have to say ?
http://www.gulflink.org

VA didn't post the report with an fanfair or press release.
This is information GW vets should take to there medical appointment,
C&P exams and Congresssional Representives.
http://www.tvhepeoples/TP3/Voices.php/2010/02/05/the=precautionary-principle

This is an official who deined Gulf war exposures
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/01/30so-long-steve-buyers-we-wont-miss-you

Please write your Congress person !

First black female POW sets the record straight

2010-02-03T13:20:00.000-08:00

As a sister Southwest Asia Army vet, I salute Shoshana Johnson
for addresses misconceptions about her captivity in Iraq.
I remind women of Desert Storm to demand the full report of
Dept Veteran Affairs on Advisory Committtee on Gulf War Veterans
to be published at the House (congressional) Committee Veteran Affairs
this month hearing.

Now discharged from the Army, Johnson is back in the news because
of the publication of her book about her experiences.
“I'm Still Standing:
From Captive U.S. Soldier to Free Citizen - My Journey Home”
was published by Simon & Schuster.

Johnson told, she wrote the book to clear up a number of
misconceptions people have about what happened to her.

Johnson had to fight to get the same disability pay as Lynch.
It also took two years before the Army recognized her PTSD,
she writes. But, she says, she remains friends with Lynch and
understands why she got more attention than the other captives.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35196926/ns/today-today_people/

PTSD Vets Win Retirement Deal

2010-02-03T13:14:00.000-08:00

Veterans of the first Gulf War were diagnosed with PTSD
yet very few of those over the years have obtained over
50% rating. Is that because they did not sue for
legislation. I too live with this issue.

PTSD Vets Win Retirement Deal

As the dates indicate, the deal doesn’t include even all PTSD veterans discharged since Sept. 11, 2001. That’s because the lawsuit was brought under the Tucker Act, which has a six-year statute of limitation from the date a complaint is filed against the government, which was in December 2008

Misty said a doctor at Fort Carson finally prescribed proper medication for Michael after some terrible times. Though he is able to work, every day remains a struggle due to memory loss, headaches and nightmares.

“It’s very hard for him, and us, because he has no memory,” said Misty. “Yesterday was our daughter’s birthday. He totally forgot. He doesn’t like to be around people, which makes it really hard with a big family…And he does not sleep because of the nightmares.”

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,209720,00.html

Threats During Desert Storm - gulf war

2010-01-12T18:39:00.000-08:00

Chemical Agent Threat During Desert Storm

A GAO report found that not all units were in full compliance for protective clothing, possibly because of false alarms. It is possible that if chemical agents were released, the less-than-full-compliance may have allowed soldiers to be exposed to agent.

It appears as if the scientific question of whether Gulf War syndrome was caused by exposure to lethal chemical warfare agents or to some other causative agent such as infectious diseases or exposure to depleted uranium, is still open. Nevertheless, it can be said that had the chemical countermeasures been more effective, there would probably be less controversy surrounding the issue of chemical agent exposure.

(It is from the 10% which suffered unexpected post deployment sympthoms seeking care federal practioners Tricare & VA years later)

http://www.noblis.org/MissionAreas/nsi/BackgroundonChemicalWarfare/LethalChemicalAgentCountermeasures/Pages/DesertStorm.aspx

Desert Storm Females feel the same

2009-12-30T20:16:00.000-08:00

The self-proclaimed ‘skeptical, irascible, doubting, iconoclastic pontificator’ uses the second paragraph of her blog to ask, “Did you know that there are almost two million women veterans?”
Females have served in some capacity in all of America’s wars, but nearly 230,000 have served in the Middle East since September 2001, and according to the Department of Defense, at least 120 have died (and more than 600 have been wounded) while doing so.

And while the transition from military life to civilian society is difficult for any soldier, marine or seaman, women returning from war are finding a system both unprepared for their arrival and a populace that doesn’t understand the role women play on the modern battlefield.

“We just want to know that when we come home, America has our back,” Genevieve Chase, a staff sergeant in the Army Reserves, told the Associated Press. “That's the biggest thing. Women are over there. You want to feel like you're coming home to open arms, rather than to a public that doesn't acknowledge you for what you've just done and what you just sacrificed.”

Since the Defense Department bars women from serving in assignments where the primary mission is to engage in direct ground warfare, returning female warriors find themselves fighting the perception they hadn’t experienced ‘real’ combat.

Defense Department edict or not, women – serving in roles such as military police, pilots, convoy gunners and drivers – are often in the midst of battles.

“Oh, you didn't do anything or you were just on base,” was a regular response that Hammack received, even though the Army Reserve sergeant suffers from post-concussive headaches, ringing in her ears, and other health problems related to barack bomb blasts.

But the doubt regarding the extent of her ‘service’ went beyond civilian misconceptions; the Veterans Administration (VA) also downplayed her role in the fighting.

For the VA, the treatment of female service members now falls on a system long geared toward treating an aging male population. In the last budget year, the VA saw 281,000 female veterans, a 12 percent increase from two years earlier. Women currently represent one in 16 veterans in the system, but in 15 years are projected to represent one in seven.

And as was the case with Sergeant Hammack, some female veterans said the VA staff didn't believe them when they said they had been in combat. Other women described being mistaken for daughters or granddaughters of male patients.

“It's not the old guys group anymore,” Ann Brown, Director of the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Martinsburg, WV, told the AP. “It's women and it's younger, and the younger folks, they need more than just medical care. They've got family issues. They need help reintegrating in how to get back into their jobs.”

Statistics show that female service members have much higher rates of divorce and are more likely to be a single parent. When they do seek help at VA medical centers, they are screening positive at a higher rate for military sexual trauma, meaning they indicated experiencing sexual harassment, assault or rape.

Some studies have shown that female veterans are at greater risk for homelessness. The VA estimates that about 10 percent of homeless veterans are women.

The Veterans Administration has said it recognizes it needs to do more to improve care for these veterans, and as part of changes in the works, female coordinators are in place at each medical center to give women an advocate.

“Most of us, because we were women service members, are so used to not complaining and not voicing our issues, because in the military that's considered weak,” Chase told the AP. “Nobody wants to hear the girl whine.”

Venus Hammack

SSG Venus Hammack remembered

2009-12-29T18:57:00.000-08:00

First war in gulf forgotten?

2009-12-16T18:30:00.000-08:00

Remember the first war in Iraq, the one that pried Kuwait free from the grasp of Saddam Hussein in January 1991?
We won in short order, you may recall. Oh, how we cheered and waved flags as the victorious troops came marching home. We called them heroes and said we'd never forget their sacrifice and service.

Then we took down the fading yellow ribbons, packed away memories of Scud missiles and got on with life in the last decade of the 20th Century.

Desert Storm had come and gone.

But not for everyone. Those who knew and loved the 148 Americans killed in combat and the 145 nonbattle deaths and the 467 who were wounded will always carry emotional shrapnel in their hearts.

Charlie Smith is director of the state Division of Veterans Affairs. He's been trying for 12 years to get a memorial built to honor the North Carolinians who served in Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

It's not that no one cares. The government of Kuwait sent a $100,000 check in 1997 to help pay for a state monument. North Carolina provided 20 percent of the troops in Desert Storm and is the only state to receive Kuwaiti funds for a memorial.

There have been gubernatorial commissions, a design chosen and a location picked, but still no memorial.

"We really haven't had a groundswell of support from Persian Gulf vets to do this," Smith said. "Some vets are interested, and some of the families who lost people want it, but overall, there's not much activity. Persian Gulf vets just haven't gotten organized and pushed for this.

"Some people say it was such a little war. But there are no little wars, not when you're in them. It's like 'friendly fire.' There's no such thing."

If it is ever built, it will be a beautiful and fitting tribute to the men and women of Desert Storm.

There are five tall brass columns engraved with images of home, of the war and the people who served in it. The memorial celebrates both their bravery and their sacrifice and does it with sensitivity and solemnity.

You can see the proposed memorial design at www.ncgulfwarmemorial.com.

It is to be installed on the mall between the state Education and Legislative buildings.

That's if it happens at all.

First comes money. Smith says his department needs another $300,000 to build and install the memorial. He hopes to get it from the legislature this session.

Smith said the state appropriated $150,000 toward the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and $450,000 toward the memorial honoring veterans of World War I, World War II and Korea "so the precedent has been set."

If you're a Persian Gulf vet and want to see a distinctive memorial saluting your fallen comrades, now's the time to speak up. If your family had a loved one wounded or killed, let your legislator know you want their sacrifice remembered.

One day an effort will begin to erect another war memorial, this one honoring those fighting today in Iraq and Afghanistan. And when that happens, those who served in Desert Shield and Desert Storm may be in danger of having their service and their victory forgotten by everyone but themselves.

That would be a shame.

Dennis Rogers can be reached at 829-4750 or drogers@newsobserver.com.

Brain Fog and Gulf War illness

2009-12-09T19:07:00.000-08:00

It may be eighteen years after SSG Hammack battlefield expousres. she stil suffers the chronic sympthoms like Brain Fog.
============
The 1991 Persian Gulf War still affects hundreds of thousands of American Veterans from the "toxic soup" that cut some 30 years off many of their life-spans. There has been much discussion of the toxic soup's components that have taken the terrible toll on those exposed. The significant toxic exposures were aluminum and mercury in vaccines, the oil well fires, the nerve gases that hydrolyses to hydrogen fluoride, DEET, PB, high chlorine in drinking water, methanol from "Nutrasweet" soft drinks, and other insecticides.
http://www.ei-resource.org/expert-columns/dr.-jacob-teitelbaums-column/treating-cognitive-dysfunction-(brain-fog)-in-cfs-&-fibromyalgia/

Gulf Veterans Committe said what ?

2009-10-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

http://www1.va.gov/gulfwaradvisorycommittee/

if you don't look you would find out how the VA is treating thier gulf war vets who seek care.
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,"

"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 not been accountable.

Neurological Problems Gulf War Veterans Illness

2009-10-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

Headache
Forgetfulness
Concentration difficulty
Confusion
Disorientation
Learning disability
Disorganization, Indecision
I have seen some vets, whose VA medical staff were empathetic,unaccepting of thier patient's complaints. You can find freecare by taking part in s STUDY.. remember even if you are in the control group, when the investigation ends, they patient can getestablished treatment.
About the GWI study at Georgetown University Hospital, DC
Posted by: "murugan Ravindran" look4murugan@gmail.com muruganravindran

I am a post doctoral fellow working at Georgetown University Hospital, DC and one of the studies we are working on is the Gulf war Illness study and I wanted to check with you all, if any one will be willing to come in andparticipate in our study.
We are looking for Gulf War Illness Veterans and Healthy Veterans, who had been in service during the Gulf war pariod ( Aug 1990 to July 1991).

This will be a study for 6 hrs at Georgetown University Hospital and you would be requested to fill in Questionnaires, routine blood tests, allergy skin tests, muscle strength testing will be performed. If you would like to more details about the study, please feel free to call at 240 491 7667. You can also send an e-mail with questions about the study.
Thanks a lot for your time. Take care.

Dr Murugan K.Ravindran
Post Doctoral fellow
Georgetown University Hospital
3800, Reservoir Road, North West
Washington, DC 20007
work - 202 687 8231
cell - 240 491 7667
cfsresearch@ georgetown. edu

End of VA Advisory Committee on GW Veterans

2009-09-30T21:53:00.000-07:00

I was unable to get thru by phone. the teleconference phone line had static, it did not connect to the Committee meeting 12 minutes late - plus the phone connection disconnected about half and hour before meeting ended. This also occured during 4 of this Committee previous meetings. I know VA Communications- IT office could have and should have done better.

Across from Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters Vermont Avenue, Washington DC
16 and 17 Sept 2009. I was the only, single veteran who came to this meeting, excluding those on Committee staff. Now when will the Gulf War Veteran Taskforce begin ?

VA ends Gulf War illness research contract

2009-08-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

The bottom line is that the V.A. does not want to find out what has happened to these veterans. It gives them "plausible deniability". Dr. Haley is a respected researcher and excellent physician. By pulling the rug out from under him, the V.A. effectively put the brakes on any resolution to this vexing problem.
================
Gulf War vets who suffer from chronic undiagnosed sympthoms, had seeked research which was not weighed by polictics of the day. War is a Racket and we hope big Pham get in the way of seeking treatments for our ilness. That can not happen now. Currently VA research is not looking at neurological exposures. We will continue to die younger than Vietnam vets. Most vets death cerificates fail to document Gulf war Exposure at all.

Comrades please contact the only panel in the government we have left.
75% of all Vet who apply for undiagnosed illness Rating are DENIED.
Silence is not an Option !
http://www.va.gov/gulfwaradvisorycommittee
VA - Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans

-----orginal message--------
VA ends Gulf War illness research contract
By SUZANNE GAMBOA (AP) –
WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs has canceled a $75 million, five-year research contract with a Texas medical center studying illnesses suffered by veterans of the first Gulf War.

The VA says research on the illnesses, however, remains a priority.
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel Akaka, a Democrat from Hawaii, has been pushing to the end the sole-source contract with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Money for the contract was added to a 2005 spending bill by Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas when the GOP had the majority in Congress.

Troops returned from the first Persian Gulf War with chronic illnesses ranging from fatigue to Lou Gehrig's disease. Some have questioned whether soldiers' illnesses resulted from battle stress or exposures to toxic substances

How VA can take you PTSD rating away

2009-08-19T17:00:00.000-07:00

Your fit to fight. You deploy with your unit.
WAR is hell and you experience ulgy events.
Years later the VA diagnosis you with PTSD.
Now in 2009 the VA community sees this Study below and VHA
goes to your medical records and adds other mental health disorders
like listed below. When your claim comes up for reveiw every 10 years or so
you will be told you had other Mental Health disorders before or at the time
you joined the military, there your PTSD will be withdrawn.
This is how the VBA can mistreat our veterans.

Some Conditions Misdiagnosed as Bipolar Disorder
By Amy Norton
Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A study published last year suggested that bipolar disorder may be over diagnosed in people seeking mental health care. Now new findings shed light on which disorders many of these patients actually have.
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, involves dramatic swings in mood -- ranging from debilitating depression to euphoric recklessness.

In the original 2008 study, researchers at Brown University School of Medicine found that of 145 adults who said they had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, 82 (57 percent) turned out not to have the condition when given a comprehensive diagnostic interview.
In this latest study, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, the researchers used similar standardized interviews to find out which disorders those 82 patients might have.
Overall, they found, nearly half had major depression, while borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), generalized anxiety and social phobia were each diagnosed in roughly one-quarter to one-third.

When the researchers then compared the patients with 528 other psychiatric patients who had never been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, they found that those in the former group were nearly four times more likely to have borderline personality disorder.
They were also 70 percent more likely to have major depression and twice as likely to have PTSD.
Some of other diagnoses were less common but still seen at elevated rates among the patients previously diagnosed with bipolar disorder. These included antisocial personality disorder and impulse-control disorder.

Over diagnosis of bipolar disorder is concerning, in part, because it is typically treated with mood-stabilizing drugs that can have side effects -- including effects on the kidneys, liver, and metabolic and immune systems, explained lead researcher Dr. Mark Zimmerman, an associate professor at Brown and director of outpatient psychiatry at Rhode Island Hospital.

In addition, he told Reuters Health in an email, over diagnosis means some patients are likely not getting the appropriate care for the problems they do have.
Bipolar disorder shares certain characteristics with some other psychiatric conditions. Borderline personality disorder, for instance, is marked by unstable mood, impulsive behavior and problems maintaining relationships with other people.

But Zimmerman and his colleagues suspect that some doctors are over diagnosing bipolar disorder because -- unlike certain other causes of mood disturbance -- it does have effective drug therapies.

There are no medications approved specifically for treating borderline personality disorder, for instance, but research suggests that some forms of "talk therapy" are effective.
"We believe that clinicians are inclined to diagnose disorders that they feel more comfortable treating," Zimmerman explained.

"The increased availability of medications that have been approved for the treatment of bipolar disorder might be influencing clinicians who are unsure whether or not a patient has bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder to err on the side of diagnosing the disorder that is medication-responsive," he added.

This "bias," Zimmerman said, is reinforced by drug company marketing, which highlights certain studies that have suggested that bipolar disorder goes unrecognized in many people.

Military-Veteran Retiree lifestyle

2009-05-29T18:57:00.000-07:00

Life changes veteran (servicewoman) after years of military services or

years of unit drills. You get familiar with the chain of command;

the temporary duty assignments, war games.

Life in the field, training cycles. Leaving your home, if it on an active

base/post. This is experience one can not get from a civilian jobs.

Remember at that time you have signed the blank check to complete

your mission to the best of your ability -- even if it should mean
you lose your life.

This is why I am attached to this video.
http://gannett.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/gannett-militarypubs-21772-pub01-live/current/launch.html?maven_playerId=articleplayer&maven_referralObject=1130156209

for female soliders last battle within
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/05/gns_female_soldiers_052209/

Benefits for Retired Gulf War Veterans

2009-04-22T07:39:00.000-07:00

There can be no more excuses for not passing full Concurrent Receipt

of Military Retired Pay!"

What I'm referring to is a law that since 2004 allows military

retirees with 20 or more years of service and a Veterans Affairs

rated disability of 50% or higher to receive their VA Disability

Compensation and their retired pay without any offsetting

deductions. Prior to that 2004 law all military retirees had their

military retired pay reduced by any amount of disability

compensation they received.

What the we has been fighting for is for any disabled

military retiree, regardless of the percentage of disability

awarded should be treated in the same manner as those in

the 50% to 100% disability range.

------------- Please Write to these Offices
http://www.va.gov/gulfwaradvisorycommittee
VA - Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans
Department of Veterans Affairs
Office of Policy and Planning (008A1)
810 Vermont Ave, Washington, DC 20420
202-461-5758 Lelia P. Jackson,
Policy Analyst ,lelia.jackson@va.gov

---------------
Shannon L. Middleton at the Department of Veterans Affairs,
VA - Advisory Committee on Women Veterans(00W),
810 Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20420.
Ms. Middleton may be contacted either by phone at (202) 461-6193,
fax at (202) 273-7092, or e-mail at 00W@mail.va.gov

Benefits Retitred GW Veterans

2009-04-22T07:25:00.000-07:00

There can be no more excuses for not passing full Concurrent Receipt

of Military Retired Pay!"

What I'm referring to is a law that since 2004 allows military

retirees with 20 or more years of service and a Veterans Affairs

rated disability of 50% or higher to receive their VA Disability

Compensation and their retired pay without any offsetting

deductions. Prior to that 2004 law all military retirees had their

military retired pay reduced by any amount of disability

compensation they received.

What the we has been fighting for is for any

disabled military retiree, regardless of the percentage of

disability awarded should be treated in the same manner as those in the 50% to 100% disability range.

------------- Write These offices
http://www.va.gov/gulfwaradvisorycommittee
VA - Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans
Department of Veterans Affairs
Office of Policy and Planning (008A1)
810 Vermont Ave, Washington, DC 20420
202-461-5758 Lelia P. Jackson,
Policy Analyst ,lelia.jackson@va.gov

---------------
VA- Advisory Committe on Women Veterans
Shannon L. Middleton at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Center for
Women Veterans (00W), 810 Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20420.
Ms. Middleton may be contacted either by phone at (202) 461-6193, fax
at (202) 273-7092, or e-mail at 00W@mail.va.gov

2009-03-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

Comrades
Yes, I know it 18 yrs post Desert storm yet unusal sympthoms still occur.
Last, week I awoke felling unwell. I start to walk six blocks to my nearest
Outpatient VA clinicunknown to my ferver spied over 100 degees.

Local town police pulled over to inquire on my health condition.
In my wallet I had driver linence and VA ID card.
The officer drive me to the VA clinic.At that moment there was RN,
PA and MD in the building.They determine my fever was 104 and
heart rate was 120.
They were unable to start an IV for me.
Clinic staff could not place me on oxygen either.

So they called the City Ambulance and deterined I was too unstable
to travel 120 miles to closest VA medical centerand I was transported
to local city medical center,where I was an Inpatient for the next 5 days.
I throat was in spam and I was unable to speak for myself.

This is gulf war veterans illness today.
I have a VA rating of over 50 percent.
I would not be surprised that I sent a bill.

I wish to thank the County VA van personnel
for driving me to the VA Medial Center after my discharge
from the Civilian hospital. The driver was a OIF disabled vet.

The VA medical center gave me a new diagnoses of IOP
increased intraocular pressure (IOP) resulting either from a
malformation or malfunction of the eye’s drainage structures.

Having gulf war ilnesss is not knowing what new diagnoses
you will get eariler than the non-military public.

GET YOU RATING DONE
Time is a precious gift. Get started on your goals and priority tasks.
Don't confuse activity with accomplishment.
Here are some thoughts to inspire you to decrease stress and increase
positive productivity and results..
Write down and review your goals daily..
Take small steps before big steps..
Tackle the toughest task first..
Concentrate on the task at hand (job interview, taxes, homework,
customer calls, building your web site, writing your book,
medical appointment, etc.).

Change your routine to avoid boredom..
De-clutter and create the type of atmosphere and order you work best in..
Ask for assistance and accountability.
Delegate some tasks to others..

Identify your time wasters (TV, phone, sleep, social activities, wrong relationships)..
Know your peak performance energy time zone.
For example, if you know you're not an "evening" person,
don't schedule extra activities and make promises during the times
when you have the least energy.

Write to your local vet groups for assistance one of them
will give you help. don't give up.

Legacy Personnel hindrance for gulf war veterans illnessnes

2009-01-06T19:34:00.000-08:00

The Operation Was a Success, But the Patient Died

These Legacy Personnel are candidates for phase-out, upgrade, or replacement.

They had their chance and were Rewarded for failure.

Mark A. Brown, PhD Director, VA office of Environmental Agents Service

AND

Dr. David Chu, Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness)
Ellen P. Embrey. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Health
Michael E. Kilpatrick, MD, Deputy Director, Force Health Protection and
Readiness Programs ;
Director of Strategic Communications for the Military Health System

These legacy personnel has undermine the effectiveness of the gulf war
health care/benefits by inactivity. See programs which closed.

WE need staff that is Proactive in deed.
We don't need the same old follow the old ways of doing things.
We need innovations!
Gulf war ill vets deserve clarity and fairness in the policies and practices
related Gulf War Health Review.
Abandoning legacy personnel policies now write to
http://www.va.gov/gulfwaradvisorycommittee
--- VA - Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans

New Gulf War Syndrome 2nd time Around

2008-11-15T09:36:00.000-08:00

We 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.

This is what happen during Operation Desert Storm too. The 90-91 had areas in Saudia Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq which had little no oversite of the waste we troops walked thru. 17 years later over 135,000 of returning troups are getting care from the VA for infections, disorders and chronic sympthoms.

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.

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.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/106497/the_new_gulf_war_syndrome/

Remember OIF troops are classified by the VA as Gulf War Veterans too.
Demand response from the VA- Advisory Committee on Gulf Veterans
www.va.gov/gulfwaradvisorycommittee

Advisory Committee On Gulf War Veterans

2008-07-01T22:48:00.000-07:00

Well troops we got it - after years of waiting a
Adviosry Committee to address and listen to the problems
and malfuctions of the dept. of Veteran Affairs dealing with
gulf war illness - health care
gulf war illness - C&P compensations & rating
gulf war illness - care for spouses and children
gulf war illness - rehab programs
gulf war illness - loans
gulf war illness - decease veterans services
gulf war illness - persian/ gulf war regisry
gulf war illness - transportation issues

Can you call Lelia Jackson at (202) 461-5758 (committee contact person) ?
Can you come to Washington DC in September 2008?
Can you send your written letter of complaint ?
by submitting 1-2 page summaries of their comments for inclusion in the official record.
Public comments will be limited to five minutes each.
Members of the public may also submit written statements for the Committee's review to the Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans,
Department of Veterans Affairs,
810 Vermont Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20420.

GrassRoots Gulf War Groups Needed

2008-04-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

POWER OF Grass Root Organizations

Remeber what Margret Mead said:
never dubut forget that a small group of thoughtful
citizens can change the world indeed it is all that
ever has it not what we did that what matter, it
the nature of our beingness, that matters.

Inner & Outer Change
Researcher and futurist Stephan Schwartz discussed
his newest work on how individuals and small groups
can change history by practicing eight laws of social
change. These laws, observed by such groups as the
Quakers, tap into non-local consciousness (the part
of us that exists outside of time & space) and
highlight the interconnectedness & interdependence
of humanity.

Here are the laws that Schwartz has put together:

1) Individuals and groups must share a common purpose
or intent.

2) Individuals and groups may have goals, but must
not be attached to "cherished" outcomes.

3) The goal may not be reached in the lifetime of
the participants.

4) Accept and be OK with the idea that you might
not get credit for the the success of a goal.

5) Each person in the group must have equal status
in spite of any hierarchies.

6) Members must forswear violence by word, thought
and act.

7) People must make their private selves consistent
with their public postures.

8) Members must always act from the "beingness"
of life integrity-- knowing that other persons are
not exploitable resources.

He cited two women (Mairead Corrigan & Betty Williams),
who founded the Peace People of Belfast in 1976 and
went on to win a Nobel Peace as an example of ordinary
people who brought about change in the world.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
Individuals of small groups make a difference.

What have social change the quakers have done-
of the sprit over a group.

women endured sexual harassment Gulf WAR

2008-03-27T18:29:00.000-07:00

As a female who served thru transition from the Womens Army Corp
(vietnam era) into the Army Of One (present)

Sexual Harassment was a slight possibility stateside
and a looming danger in areas of low level conflicts/battle rear
areas.

When ever in an area where there was no 911 service, "the one out of
hundred" - bad boy, would act out to take unwanted contact with
a lone female.

During my career, the sexual Harassment came from those two or
more Ranks my senior. Could the power of their rank cause me
to surrender to his desires ? Once I told a man that I had a
sexually transmitted disease, to avoid contact.

At one time in the gulf, my assignments cause me to travel alone
day and night time to courier legal documents. My commander
understanding the problems of this female traveling alone,
would borrow a off duty (tall strong) appearing soldiers to
escort me. They would sleep in my vehicle and come to my
defense is I use the whistle. These servicemen I am greatful
for their honorable assistance.

During another deployment, outright hired a servicemen to
be my body guard. For I would be able to get a hold of
some item to barter with.

Yet I suffered the disappointment when my XO failed to prosecut
my complaint of a assualt while in the field.
__________________________________________

VA, DUKE STUDY FOCUSES ON WOMEN'S SEXUAL TRAUMA
WHILE ON MILITARY DUTY --
Almost eight in every 10 women in the Persian Gulf War
said they endured sexual harassment.

Women coming back from active military duty have enough
on their emotional plates without dealing with the trauma
of sexual assault.

Story here... http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-821085.cfm

NEW - Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans

2008-03-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

Federal Register: March 6, 2008
[Notices]
The Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans will advise
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on the full spectrum of
health care and benefits issues that confront veterans who
served in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during
the 1990-1991 period of the Gulf War. The Committee will
pay particular attention to issues that are unique to these
veterans.

Waiting to see if Town Hall meetings will be held around
the country. Will they address concerns of Veterans who
now live outside of the United States ?

What is of Critical importance is will the Vets who had
health problems is the past 17 or less years can find
the interest or energy to tell this ABGWV the problems
which they had to deal with ? To demand change.

I know I will be there or at least submit written
"Statement For The Record"
will you ?

Waiting for help to arrive

2008-03-05T15:08:00.000-08:00

The Gulf War Council,
American Veteran Association,
Desert Storm Justice Foundation
National Gulf War Resource Center,
Veterans of Modern Warfare have
muffeled the voices and statements made by
individual veterans. Not in the last year have
we seen these groups coming to the rescue.

Their selfishness does not allow them to be able to work
together on any project or endeavor of substance. When
they do get together, their selfishness lets their egos get
in the way of their goal. Their so-called help organizations
seem to only want to promote their name without making
any real change in their community.

They are content to sit in conferences and conventions in
hotels, and talk about what they will do, while they award
plaques to the best speakers, not to the best doers.

Is there no end to their selfishness?
They steadfastly refuse to see that TOGETHER EACH
ACHIEVES MORE (TEAM).

We have lost Gulf War Referral Clinics;
we have lost Military and Veterans Coordination Board;
we have lost any oversight board/taskforce.

Why have these groups been silent on these loses.
They have not pushed to get vets transported
to two WRIISC clinics on the east coast.

I must remind you the value of a LONE voice
And the value of coming together as an organized unit,
you become dangerous for demand the advance
diagnostics us GW vets deserve.

Brain Injury Mild or Closed in Gulf War Vets

2008-01-16T21:35:00.000-08:00

Venus Hammack has spoke to hundreds of vets who report
after what the individuals thought was a minor head blow, with
dizzness and maybe blacked for 2-3 minutes have suffered
with headaches, confusion difficultly listening and reading.
Now realize they had post concussion syndrome.

The Federal doctors in the past rarely allowed advance neuro
diagnostic testing and blamed the sympthoms on Stress.
Today the testing procedures are more sensitive and now is
not too lated to be tested at VAMC or at a WRIISC clinic.

If you suffer from the above problems see a Neurologist
and file a claim to get VBA Rating. Because the minor
head blow/injury you head years ago will have the adverse
impact as listed in the Article below.

http://www.ivanhoe.com:80/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=17873
Reported January 3, 2008
War Veterans with Brain Injuries Decline Faster With Age
(Ivanhoe Newswire)
Brain-injured Vietnam War vets may have a harder time with
their mental condition as they get older.

A new study finds men who suffered brain injuries during the
conflict have a faster decline in their cognitive functioning as they
age than veterans without brain injuries.

The research shows how much the veterans declined depended on
how intelligent they were before they were injured, their level of
education, the size and location of the injury, and some genetic
markers linked to brain injury and neurodegeneration.

The more intelligent they were and the higher their level of education
before the injury, the less their cognitive functioning worsened.

With today's soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan
and with with brain injuries, study author Dr. Jordan Grafman,
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, says
governments need to keep these findings in mind.

Nearly two-thirds of injured US soldiers sent from Iraq to the
US army medical center have been diagnosed with traumatic
brain injuries, Grafman was quoted as saying. These veterans
would benefit from life-long care by neurologists and specialists
in head injury. Clinicians treating veterans with brain injuries
should evaluate any changes in their neurobehavioural status
carefully so as not to confuse an exacerbated decline in function
with dementia.

Researchers used the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT)
to measure the veteran?s intelligence. It has a range from 0-100.
Results show veterans now in their mid to late 50s had a median
average AFQT score of 54 while veterans without head injuries
had an average score of 74. And there was a faster rate of decline
in the brain injured group.

The authors say their findings could help veterans, their families,
and their doctors with long term planning and potentially doing
things to protect against cognitive decline such as staying physically
fit and intellectually active.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical
Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Brain

Peake Secy VA and Gulf War Investigator

2007-10-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

Will General Lt. Gen. James B. Peake work for veterans Now ??
It appears that he worked closely in the past with
Bernard Rostker, special assistant to the secretary of defense
for Gulf War (OSAGWI). This office in many of its reports said,
it is not likely that ANY exposures were of a level to make
veterans sick. Is this really the Seceratary gulf veterans need ?
I am discouraged by the report below :

Wounded US Soldiers 'Treated Like Dogs,'
Wait Months for Proper Treatment in Appalling Conditions
20-Feb-04 Military

Combat soldiers wounded in Iraq are being subjected to abysmal treatment,
a situation the Bush administration continues to brush off by promising
to do better in the future. Adding insult to injury, Bush appointee Army
Surgeon General Lt. Gen. James B. Peake told the House panel
that he "was not aware" that last fall soldiers were waiting for
medical care at U.S. bases and under substandard living conditions.
One officer summed up the woundeds' care:, "They're being treated like dogs."

Last summer, hundreds of National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers at
Fort Stewart in GA who had served in Iraq waited weeks or months in
"medical hold" to be seen by doctors in hot concrete barracks with no
air-conditioning or running water."

RECENT EVENTS:
The U.S. Army Surgeon General, Lt. General James B. Peake issued a
memorandum dated April 29, 2004 that depleted uranium bioassays will
be administered to all individuals with Level 1 and Level 2 exposures and
that bioassays would be provided upon request for all Level 3 exposures.
(SECDEF 3/30/03: Policy for the Operation Iraqi Freedom
Depleted uranium(DU)Medical Management: http://www.deploymentlink.osd.mil/du_library/pdfs/policy_oif_053003.pdf )

Persian Gulf Registry LOST gulfwar

2007-09-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

Comrades
PL 102-585 was created to monitor Gulf War Veterans
health. This lead to the Persian Gulf Registry.

By 1998 the program was to be expanded under
PL 105-368 to become larger, with a national study
center. To include annual reports to Congress.

Second, the issue of the Persian Gulf Registry in relation
to continuing programs. ( Gulf War Registry )

I'm telling you the issue of access to the Gulf
War Registry, and its decline. That the decline is due
to lack of access by VAMC attrition of its EA coordinators,
(Environmental Agents)
once called Persian Gulf Coordinators. That the program
has been made impotent by a lack of cooperation nation
wide from the VAMC's, which has drastically reduced
enrollment though Gulf War veterans still come into the
VAMC's in ever increasing numbers.

Susan Mathers of VA has refused to look into this, and
the subsequent departments underneath her have made
no efforts even to keep up with statistical information publicly.
Which is every bit as important as the GWVIS data systems.

Except, the Gulf War Registry is the only program in place
right now that is free, reports medical information, and is
even still called "Gulf War". Everything else at VA is under
Environmental Health, and you see how well that program
works. The last three years that program has steadily gone
down the tubes.

We must tell our Veterans Service Groups and your Congressional
Representative to demand funding this program for 2008 and into
the next decade.
#####

Why did we let the MHVCB E N D with out replacement
Committee created ?

The Military Health Veterans Coordinating Board was in
place at that time to write the annual Gulf war Illness reports,
replaced by the Deployment Health Working group in 2002.
Which wrote the 2002 and 2003 GWI reports to Congress.

As I have said for years now VA and DoD Directors don't lie,
just omit the Data!

VA-DoD Disability Reforms

2007-08-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

Comrades
This is NOT going to happen without our action.
Now is a chance is we speak out and report how
our fellow troops being treated.
Since Desert Storm, DoD-Health has promised to
have seamless transition. It has NOT happened.
And I won't unless we can push our NSO/VSO groups
to demand and promote the change.
Venus
Persian Gulf Era Vets of Massachusetts

VA-DoD Disability Reforms
Tom Philpott | July 28, 2007
Commission: Remove DoD From 'Disability Business'

After months of top-level negotiations, the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are only weeks away from testing a plan to streamline and partially merge their separate disability rating processes.

But as first steps are taken toward what a senior Defense official said will be “remarkable changes” to the method of setting disability separations and retirements, a blue ribbon panel has said: Go farther, much farther.

The President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors, in releasing its final report Wednesday, recommended getting “DoD completely out of the disability business” by giving VA sole responsibility for setting disability ratings and awarding compensation. Disabled service members would see the current “confusing, parallel systems of ratings and compensation” replaced by a single, simple and more generous system.

Other commission recommendations call for: a patient-centered recovery plan for each severely-injured member; aggressive prevention and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury; strengthened support services for families of wounded members; faster transfer of patient information between DoD and VA; and shoring up staff at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center until its closing in 2011.

Former senator Robert Dole, a disabled veteran of World War II, and Donna Shalala, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services during the Clinton administration, chaired the nine-member panel. Its recommendation to “completely restructure the disability determination and compensation system” would shrink the military’s role down to determining if members remain fit for duty. Those found to be unfit during a “single, comprehensive, standardized medical examination” administered by DoD would be separated with a lifetime annuity tied to rank and years of service.

VA then would determine disability ratings and level of disability payment which would be paid in addition to their military annuity. This approach, in effect, would secure full “concurrent receipt” of military retirement and VA disability compensation, a goal that disabled retirees have fought for, with only partial success, for decades.

The Dole-Shalala report says VA disability payments should have three components: transition money to help with the expense of returning to civilian life; earning-loss pay to make up for reduced future earnings; quality-of-life pay “to compensate for permanent losses of various kinds.”

Disabled vets would continue to qualify for VA healthcare. But any service member found unfit for duty from combat-related injuries also would be eligible for lifetime TRICARE coverage. Put simply, the commission said, DoD should focus on keeping a fit force and “acknowledge” years of service while the VA should rate and compensate service-connected disabilities.

The day the commission released its report, the Senate passed the Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act with has more modest provisions to streamline the VA and DoD disability process, with special focus on ending rating disparities between services and between DoD and VA.

It would require the services to use VA standards for rating disabilities and to rate every disability impacting fitness for duty, not just a single disqualifying condition as is routine for some service branches. Any disability ratings awarded since 9/11 that resulted in payment of lump sum severance rather than a disability retirement would be reviewed again.

The Senate bill also would require that services use the same statutory presumptions VA uses in determining if a disability is service connected. A service no longer could presume that some conditions are not service-connected if the member hasn’t been in at least eight years. This threshold would be lowered to six months’ active duty, barring compelling evidence that the disabling condition existed before the member entered service.

The Senate also would raise minimum severance payments to a year’s worth of basic pay for disabilities incurred in a combat zone or from combat operations, and to six months’ basic pay for other disabilities. Currently, a young recruit wounded in war can get as little as three months’ basic pay.

Finally, the bill would mandate pilot programs to test the viability of having the VA assess disability levels before members leave service. Anticipating these changes, senior Defense and service leaders have been preparing with VA counterparts to a test a partial merger of their disability setting processes.

William Carr, deputy under secretary of defense for military personnel policy, said that under the pilot program, planned for D.C. area military hospitals, VA alone will conduct a single, comprehensive physical of injured or ailing service members while they are still on active duty. VA then will rate all physical and mental conditions found.

The services will determine what conditions, if any, make the member unfit for duty and award disability severance pay or disability retirement based on all “unfitting” conditions. A combined rating of 30 percent for such conditions will continue to be the service threshold for awarding disability retirement, which comes with lifetime eligibility for TRICARE and other retiree privileges. VA still will set its level of disability and compensation based on all service-connected conditions found.

Carr said these changes to the disability process will make the systems more simple and transparent. The test will begin as a paper exercise in August to find problems and set “protocols,” he said. Before November, the new ratings process could be operating on a test basis in the D.C. area.

This plan won’t get DoD out of the “disability business” entirely, as recommended by Dole-Shalala, Carr said. But DoD soon could be out of the “disability rating” business and using VA to end any unfair disparities.

Special Medical Advisory Group disabled Vet Health

2007-05-09T16:27:00.000-07:00

I know we can not travel to DC, yet it is important that you put your
comments to them, in writing. venus said.

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Special Medical Advisory Group; Notice of Meeting

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) gives notice under Public
Law 92-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that the Special Medical
Advisory Group will meet on May 14, 2007. The meeting will be held in
Room 830 at VA Central Office, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC.
The meeting is open to the public.

The purpose of the Group is to advise the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs and the Under Secretary for Health on the care and treatment of
disabled veterans, and other matters pertinent to the Department's
Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

The agenda for the meeting will include discussion of environment
of care, polytrauma/medical evaluations, an update on information
technology, and women veterans health.

Any member of the public wishing to attend should contact Juanita
Leslie, Office of Administrative Operations (10B2), Veterans Health
Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs at (202) 273-5882. No
time will be set aside at this meeting for receiving oral presentations
from the public. Statements, in written form, may be submitted to
Juanita Leslie before the meeting or within 10 days after the meeting.

Dated: April 10, 2007.

By direction of the Secretary.
E. Philip Riggin,
Committee Management Officer.
[FR Doc. 07-1878 Filed 4-16-07; 8:45 am]

Advisory committee OIF/OEF Families

2007-05-09T16:19:00.000-07:00

This year, the Government asswer to problems to create a committe to
talk about the problem. Oh, there are meetings and minutes are taken
and testimony written and verbal are collected. At the end, the documentation
disappears from the web and the listed office is closed. Making it next to
impossible for the Public find out what was said. Information on other
Advisory Committees have been losted at the National Archives. Delay, Conceal
and Deny is what occurs in the end. With American short attention span it is
forgotten. Jagmedic said.

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Advisory Committee on OIF/OEF Veterans and Families; Notice of
Meeting

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) gives notice under Public
Law 92-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act) that the Advisory Committee
on OIF/OEF Veterans and Families will meet on May 14-16, 2007, at The
Hilton Alexandria Old Town, 1767 King Street, Alexandria, Virginia.

The purpose of the Committee is to advise the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs on the full spectrum of health care, benefits delivery and
related family support issues that confront servicemembers during their
transition from active duty to veteran status and during their post-
service years. The Committee will focus on the concerns of all men and
women with active military service in Operation Iraqi Freedom and/or
Operation Enduring Freedom, but will pay particular attention to
severely disabled veterans and their families.

The agenda for the May 14-16 meeting will include briefings by
senior officials of the Veterans Health Administration, Veterans
Benefits Administration, and National Cemetery Administration on VA
programs and policies that particularly affect OIF/OEF veterans. Other
presentations will focus on the ongoing activities of VA's Office of
Seamless Transition, and deliberations of the Joint (VA-DoD) Executive
Council. The May 16 session will be devoted to Committee discussion of
its general workplan, possible site visits to VA facilities, and future
meeting dates.

The meeting will include time reserved for public comments.
Individuals wishing to make oral statements must pre-register not later
than May 9, 2007 by contacting Tiffany Glover via e-mail
tiffany.glover@ va.gov, and by submitting a 1-2 page summary of their
statements for inclusion in the official record of the meeting. Oral
statements by the public will be limited to five minutes each and will
be received at 3 p.m.-3:30 p.m. on May 15, and at 11 a.m.-12 p.m. on
May 16. The public may also submit written statements for the
Committee's review to the Advisory Committee on OIF/OEF Veterans and
Families (008), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC 20420.
Any member of the public seeking additional information should
contact Ronald Thomas, Esq., Designated Federal Officer, at (202) 273-
5182.

Dated: April 25, 2007.

IOM on Brain Injury on Gulf War Vets

2007-05-09T16:08:00.000-07:00

I bet less than a dozen know that you can write to the IOM.
the problem is that those with this disfuction are unable
to express their cognitive problems in writing at all.
So I ask the friend and family memebers to write for them.

This injury changes the servicemen/women personality
usual for the worst. Add more confusion and disorganization.

----- Original Message -----
From: GULFWARANDHEALTH
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 12:07 PM
Subject: The Committee on Gulf War and Health: Brain Injury in Veterans and
Long-term Health Outcomes

To Whom It May Concern,
The Committee on Gulf War and Health: Brain Injury in Veterans and Long-term
Health Outcomes will be holding an open session during its first meeting on May
8th from 1-4pm in the NAS Building Room 250.

National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Building
2101 Constitution Avenue, NW ,Washington, DC 20418
(202) 334-2000
Thanks and have a lovely day.
Regards,
Gulf War and Health Staff

Gulf War Vets life with Mild Brain Damage

2007-05-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

What if the soldier just passes out for a few minutes or an hour? That often happens when the brain is shaken against the skull, and stops working temporarily.

Detecting 'subtle' damage
Right now, the procedure calls for the soldier to be checked out for a day at most and returned to duty.

“Most of the pressure comes from the soldiers to go back to duty,” Dr. Phillip Cuenca, an Army anesthesiologist who is interested in the issue, told me. “The commander has to meet the mission, so if that soldier can still walk and carry out orders and is physically able, it is certainly reasonable for him or her to return to duty.”

Col. Alan Bruns, a surgical consultant, told me that the military remains concerned about subtle brain damage from explosions. New practice guidelines were recently issued for doctors in the field to recognize tiny neurological changes in the troops.

“We want safety, not only for our soldiers who have experience with IEDs, but for their peers as well,” Bruns said. “It doesn’t help their peers to have a comrade come back who has been sort of dazed by an IED. We want to make sure they’re taken care of properly.”

Cuenca and many others point out that more research is necessary to find ways to detect these subtle neurological signs that can be difficult to differentiate from fatigue, stress or headache that you or I might feel.

Any long-term effects on tens of thousands of veterans of this war will, of course, take years to discover. Many experts, including those at the VA, worry they could be widespread.

© 2007 MSNBC Interactive© 2007 MSNBC Interactive
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17350373/

CARC paint and deployment illness Gulf War

2007-04-03T20:31:00.000-07:00

The report includes important lessons learned from painting operations during the Gulf War. One point is that there are risks to the use of CARC paint - something Prather hopes the environmental exposure report draws attention to.

"We hope the CARC paper does a lot to publicize the fact that while CARC painting is hazardous, it can be done safely if you use the proper equipment," he said.

He also says the risk can be significantly reduced with a little bit of training and the right equipment. For that reason, he feels that people should be prepared in advance for painting operations like the ones tasked to the 325th Maintenance Company.

The component of CARC that's most likely to be harmful is a compound called hexamethylene diisocyanate. If painters inhale high concentrations of it during a spray-painting operation, they could suffer from watery eyes, coughing or shortness of breath. Long-term exposure could lead to respiratory problems. The effects are well known, Prather says.
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/news/na_carc_27jul00.html

Of the 300 people he examined physically, 60 came back "completely different." They could not perform physical tests which they had breezed through before. Many in this group had been part of a work detail repainting vehicles with CARC paint--Chemical Agent Retardant Coating--which if applied to OSHA standards would have painters virtually wearing scuba gear, with outside air sources and completely covered. In the wartime sensibility prevailing in the Gulf, the soldiers painted hundreds of vehicles using only particle masks. As obvious as this problem seemed, Pettyjohn encountered resistance from higher-ups, though now these CARC cases are receiving care from the VA.
http://www.afn.org/~iguana/archives/1997_03/19970302.html

CARC coatings need to be resistant to chemicals that are required to decontaminate military equipment that has been exposed to chemical and/or biological warfare agents. After cleaning with these decontamination chemicals, vehicles treated with CARC can be placed back into service immediately, without stripping and repainting. There have been several generations of CARC coatings. According to published sources, the military specifications for these coatings vary with the type of equipment to be use

Why Vet Claims Are Denied Fail

2007-03-30T19:51:00.000-07:00

There are many reason why.

First - this is the 76th year of existance for Dept of Veteran Affairs.
I thank congress for not shutting down, elimating the department.
It is a good idea, established on good policied.
There are good staff each Office of the VA, (bless the few)

Veterans go places which have poor sanitation and battlefield
contamination and have contact with endemic third world diseases.

Unfortunately it has turned into a huge Bureaucracy which
poorly communicates with individual departments, such as
VA - office of Environmental Agents, Office of Public Affairs
VHA - Office of Research & Development
VBA - Adjuticators of Regional offices

questions a vet should ask him/herself -- Did I ??
1. you have a poorly trained Vet Agent submitting your CLAIM

2. You did not go back to request all your Inpatient and Out patient records
from Civilian, Military and VA facilities

3. You failed to collect Buddy Letters to speak about your illness/disease
has changed you from your normal self. Or document when you illness/disease began.

4. You are not going to VAMC to see primary care or specialist at least four times a year.

5. You did not WRITE your state and federal representive, requesting help.

6. You did not WRITE you local media,

Always write/fax your requests - phone call are forgotten !

You must appoint someone else to help you when your
too sick to speak for yourself on bad days.
Power of Attorney to do a single task help
you communicate with the VA. Anybody you trust.
This can be hand written note - yet must be notorized.

7. You have not been seen at VA appointments without a buddy- this
can be a memeber of your church, distant relative or spouse.

When staff see the other person and appear to get better care
than the single vet alone.

If you want your CLAIM increased it is up to YOU
to demand in writing and follow up montly.
The squeaky wheel get the grease.

Venusval Hammack

Thousands of vets get payments for hemorrhoids, other minor claims

2007-03-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

FIRST
this article make hemorrhoids sound like an Non-important
problem. This problem part of you vascular system.
People have died of blold clot and infections from
hemorrhoids complications. When you have hemorrhoids
problems sitting is a painful, self-conscious and embarrassing.
Can cause you be unemployable, unable to sit at the job.

second
I see this as a way for the VBA system to get rid/elminate
the Non-service Connected rating Catagory.

Last
We put our life on the line during Active Duty service
and this is how our health care compensation is
Singled out in preference for elimation and DENIAL of rating

Thousands of vets get payments for hemorrhoids, other minor claims
editorials and opinion
By LISA HOFFMAN
Wednesday, March 28, 2007

As it braces for a flood of war-disabled veterans, the nation's
disability compensation system for former troops has become a $26
billion behemoth bloated and backlogged in part by overgenerous
benefits for minor maladies barely tied to military service, if at
all.

Case in point: More than 120,000 vets from earlier eras are
collecting lifetime benefits for hemorrhoids, which they are not
required to show resulted from their military duty.

Thousands of more veterans are receiving monthly compensation for
bumps on their faces from shaving or for scars so small they are hard
to see _ and will for the rest of their lives.

In fact, hemorrhoids are the 11th most common disability for which
U.S. vets are compensated, after such conditions as defective
hearing, arthritis, diabetes and hypertension. A conservative
calculation of the cost of the benefits to veterans for hemorrhoids
alone could be $14 million a year or more.

With the first wave of what could be as many as 700,000 veterans of
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan already applying for benefits,
worries grow that they could soon suffer from delays or a funding
crunch because the system has expanded far beyond its initial intent
of compensating veterans for loss of earning power due to service-
related illnesses or injuries.

As a result, some critics estimate that perhaps 775,000 of the 2.6
million veterans on the rolls in 2005 are getting monthly checks for
ailments that don't hurt their ability to work, often are treatable,
are common in the civilian world, and frequently are the result of
the ordinary aging process.

Darryl Kehrer, former staff director for the House Veterans Affairs
subcommittee on benefits, says the combat veterans of the "war on
terror" will be ill-served by a system that some studies have shown
spends $1 billion a year on such claims, which also contribute to the
current 600,000-claim backlog. The average wait now for benefits is
six months, a lag that could balloon to twice that, or more, once
Iraq and Afghanistan vets fully enter the pipeline.

"This does a disservice to veterans who are truly disabled, (and) to
the men and women coming back from combat," who now must get in the
back of the line, Kehrer said.

For the first time in 50 years, these issues and others weighted with
similar emotion are being examined by a blue-ribbon commission
charged by Congress with finding fixes for a system that all agree is
overloaded and under fire.

While veterans service organizations such as the American Legion and
the Disabled American Veterans find plenty to fault in the current
system, they vehemently object to any effort to limit the kinds of
disabilities for which veterans can be compensated, or to require
more stringent proof that a condition is directly connected to time
in uniform.

They serve as vigilant defenders of the parameter that has come to
underpin the disability compensation system: that any disease or
injury that occurred during active military service, or was
aggravated by it, entitles a former GI to lifetime indemnity payments
that the nation owes to those who serve in uniform, in compensation
for their sacrifice. If the price tag is astronomical, so be it.

"Whatever it takes, for anyone with a service-connected condition.
Period," said David Autry, deputy director of communications for the
disabled vets group.

Government audits for more than a decade have criticized the system
as a post-World War II relic predicated on 1945 standards that don't
reflect the change in America's economy from a farming and
manufacturing base to a service one. Vast advances in medical care
and technological progress has led to new devices that improve life
for the disabled and allow them to work.

The Department of Veterans Affairs uses a rating system for
allocating benefits that classifies a vet's condition as between 0
percent and 100 percent disabling. By the most recent count, more
than 700,000 of the 2.6 million veterans receiving compensation were
rated 10 percent disabled _ the lowest level eligible for cash
benefits. At that grade today, the monthly check for a veteran is
$115.

Vets do not have to show that their service caused the impairment or
that their wages are lower than they could have been. And, although
it is not explicit in the disability laws Congress has passed, there
exists an implied intent to compensate vets for losses in their
quality of life. That does not have to be proved.

Instead, the standard is, essentially, that a condition must have
manifested itself during the time the soldier was in uniform _
whether or not the ailment was a direct result of military duty. And,
once approved, the benefit continues _ even for those who are retired
or in well-paying jobs _ until the veteran dies. The only
disqualification comes if the condition occurred as a result of
misconduct.

Among those recently granted a new 10 percent disability was a
veteran who had been wounded in combat in Vietnam, hit by a fragment
from a grenade in October 1966. Nearly 30 years after that injury,
the vet filed for benefits at the Veterans Affairs office in Chicago,
not for the shrapnel wound _ for which he already was being
compensated _ but for his hemorrhoids.

Though his medical exam when he left the service after his Vietnam
tour documented no sign of the hemorrhoids, and he first sought VA
medical care for the affliction in 1993, his hemorrhoids were ruled
to be military service-connected. As such, the vet was eligible to
receive $115 a month for the rest of his life in compensation, the
VA's Board of Veterans' Appeals deemed last May.

The former soldier, whose name was not publicly revealed by the
board, thus joined the ranks of more than 124,000 veterans who are
receiving monthly disability checks for the painful but treatable
condition and will continue to do so for the rest of their lives

Hundreds of thousands of other vets get perpetual benefits for other
relatively minor ailments, including "shaving bumps," a skin malady
known as pseudofolliculitis barbae, that erupts in reaction to
shaving.

Also qualifying for monthly cash in perpetuity are those with small,
superficial scars _ such as ones on the tip of a finger or toe.

For example, a veteran in Albuquerque, N.M., who retired in 1975
after 23 years in uniform, had received benefits since 1996 for a
quarter-inch scar on his left eyebrow stemming from the removal of a
cancerous growth.

The veteran, also unnamed in the veterans' appeal board records,
appealed last June to increase his 10-percent disability to 20
percent, and thus to boost his check to about $225 a month. The board
noted the scar was neither tender nor disfiguring and denied the
claim.

Veterans groups say it is far more common for vets to be denied
legitimate claims than approved for illegitimate ones. The Legion's
benefits expert Steve Smithson and others also contend that the
military is a singular institution that comes with inherent stresses
and strains that, in some cases, may not trigger medical problems for
years. Unlike those in other professions, soldiers do not have the
luxury of quitting a job at will. "Service members are on duty 24-7,"
Smithson said.

And, though some might consider service-connected hemorrhoids to
be "a bizarre sounding thing, you can get hemorrhoids from military
duty," he said.

Former House panel counsel Kehrer contends that hemorrhoids are a
good example of the sorts of afflictions that many vets would suffer
as they aged, whether or not they had served in the military. Experts
say about 3 out of 5 American adults will suffer from the painful
swelling of veins in the rear region at some point in their life,
usually beginning in middle age.

A U.S. Government Accountability Office report in 2003 classified
hemorrhoids as one of an array of conditions that are generally
neither caused nor aggravated by military service. Also included were
osteoarthritis, uterine fibroids, arteriosclerotic heart disease and
hysterectomy.

Another government report, this one by the Congressional Budget
Office the same year, found that about 290,000 veterans had collected
$970 million in benefits due to those illnesses in 2002.

Since then, GAO has recommended that Congress consider eliminating
them from the list of service-connected ailments. Other critics have
suggested doing away entirely with the 10 percent disability
category, for which $1 billion in benefits were paid in 2005.

These issues are on the table in a top-to-bottom examination of the
overtaxed and controversial system. In 2004, Congress created a
select commission to study the criticisms and suggest fixes. The
Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission is slated to release its
report by October 1.

A companion study is under way by the National Academy of Science's
Institute of Medicine to evaluate the medical underpinnings of the
disability system. It is specifically studying the use of the
percentage rating method and researching the medical basis for
determining disability.

Monitoring these efforts closely is the veterans community, which is
poised to vociferously object and mobilize millions of vets to
protest to Congress if efforts begin to limit the disabilities or
veterans covered.

"You start picking and choosing, you get on a really slippery slope,"
the Legion's Smithson said.

Iraq War Anniversary Vigil in FL

2007-03-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

This is where I'll be at this week.
Silence and inactivity is failure and you must come out, Venus Hammack

Iraq War Anniversary Vigil on Monday
Can you make it?
Host: Jacqueline M.—fellow MoveOn member
Where: White Street Pier (in Key West)
When: Monday, Mar 19 2007, 6:00 PM

Yes, I'll come.

So sorry, I can't make it this time.
We're gathering this Monday night in conjunction with 1,000+
vigils across the country to commemorate and reflect on the
fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq. While Congress debates
ending the war and bringing our troops home, let's gather for
what is hopefully our final Iraq war vigil together
R.S.V.P.: Can you attend a vigil this Monday to honor our
troops and help end the war?

Thank-you all so much for signing up to attend the Monday vigil.
I'm really looking forward to meeting/seeing you all. A special
thank-you goes out to Rich Mckay who has volunteered to come and play live
music during the event and to Michael Shields of Java Studios who is
showing the film, I KNOW I AM NOT ALONE....by Michael Franti and Spearhead,
at 8PM - right after the Vigil on the Pier. The film is about his
journey to the war-torn MidEast as a musical ambassador to bring
understanding among the many factions - soldiers, citizens, on all sides. And
lastly to Anne Anthony who will be collecting any letters we wish to write
to our own representative Ileanna Ros- Letinen. Letting her know just
how many people in the keys are against this war, and delivering them to
her aide in Marathon on Tuesday March 20th (I will have extra pens,
paper and envelopes). Please bring your homemade signs if you have them,
candles and matches ( I sure hope this wind dies down....). For those of
you who volunteered to come early and help set up I will be there at
5:30 starting that process. I could also use someone to help clean up
afterwards if anyone else wants to help with that. Again thank-you and see
you on Monday!

Sincerely,
Jacqueline S Morales

16 yrs later Operation Desert Storm Post Deployment

2007-02-26T11:25:00.000-08:00

Comrades

27 Feb 1991 should mean something.
Where is the unique medical care we earned 16 years?
after the Gulf War.

16 years later troops / veterans are still being exposed
to Southwest Asian endemic diseases. Has it improved
in finding and treating illnesses such as Leishmaniasis.

Where are the Specialized Clinicians in the VAMC's ?

The battlefield was an industrial contaminated wasteland;
in the disorder, inappropriate items were spilled along
the streets - us troops had to walk or climb over?

Sure today the VA has staff to review and collect
data of our adverse environmental exposure.
Yet, how many VAMC's have Environmental Medicine
Doctors see patients in a clinic?? How may VAMC's
have a Environmental Medicine Doctor on staff today.

Can find them 16 years later???
(excluding the WRIISC Facilities)

There are 5 major Departments in the VA that impact
the ill gulf war veteran.
[1] VAEA – the Office of Environmental Agents
[2] VHA – the Office of Health Care (doctors, PA and Nurses)
[3] VBA – the Office which regulates, grants benefits to the vet
[4] VAR&D the Office of Research and Development that
participates in clinical studies and trails.
[5] VAPA – the pubic affairs office that create communication documents, training aids, staff and patient guides, kiosk, displays in hospital lobbies.

Why 16 years later -
[1] VA EA – Environmental Agents (department)
This office created Clinical guidelines to educate the doctors and nurses.
In 1996 this booklet was 160 pages long.
Today the booklet is on 50 pages long.
Why is MORE medical information being left out today?
We are made to believe over the years that more medical data
on post deployment illnesses have not been gathered?
A C&P / EA office is supposed to have a copy of the VHA handbook around for both them and the vet.
Walk the 155 VAMC's and see how difficult it to access this information.

Why 16 years later -
[2] VHA - you can find a doctor who specializes in
Environmental Medicine or Endemic Infectious
or Travel Medicine (155 VAMC's) today - maybe 10 doctors.
So today in rare if a vet can be evaluated for these complaints. -
Therefore it is Rare a diagnoses of theses illnesses given.
Jagmedic has quoted on many situations of "Don’t Look, Don’t Find".

Why 16 years later -
[3] VA C&P – adjudicators trained to Rate
(1) GW of gulf war illness;
(2) Undiagnosed multi sympthom; illnesses.
1997 there were 4 Regional Offices which focus on these (claims) today they are gone. Is the Staff being discourage from acknowledge these ISSUES, Jagmedic asks? Of course, the wait for adjudication of a claim will be 2 years long or more.

Why 16 years later -
[4] VA Research –
Studies at VAMC's yet the information is difficult for the patient / veteran to get, to volunteer for participation.
This information is not posted in the Clinics themselves anymore.
Why doesn’t the VA Secretary act on ANY of the VA-RAC's many study recommendations every year?

[5] Why 16 years later,
VA Office of Public Affairs has created NO
Graphic Information in the FRONT lobbies of all VAMC's -
It fails to Enforce posting the VA-RAC-GWI information;
It fails to Enforce posting a list the few GW studies ongoing around America.

Why must a vet ask at least 3 VAMC staff members or go 3 floors up
In the rear of the facility to access the above information.
Hidden – isn’t it?

This is why 16 years later ill Gulf War and other era vets returning from Middle East deployments are disappointed TODAY.

Yes, 27 Feb 1991 is the end of Operations of Desert Storm and yet is the beginning of the fight for our appropriate and unique services from the Department of Veterans Affairs. We earned our benefits, and as combat veterans we shouldn’t have to fight twice for them.

Venus Hammack

Veteran participation in Clinical Trails

2007-02-18T17:16:00.000-08:00

I have used clinical trails as my advantage;
get documentation for my issues/symptoms
of my undiagnosed illnesses.

As of this date I have been part of 3 study/trials.
I took the data from these studies (lab tests, mri, xrays)
Which are unusual procedures (expensive)
done by civilian universities and sometimes-in
partnership with VA or DOD funding to ask some
Medical question. To win my VA C&P and SSDI claim.

Yet while being examined in the STUDY I could
Demonstration how my complaints/ symptoms
adversely impact my life.

It was not easy for me to got to these STUDIES,
often it was far from my home And transportation
fees were not included. So I had to ask VA headquarters
or VSO's or go to local media to get me to the
STUDY once accepted.

There are other issues, which held me back for
a while from seeking this kind of medical help.
There is a book I had to read before and educate
my self, to handle my fears.
See Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical
Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial
Times to the Present 512p. illus. (0-385-50993-0).

Medical Apartheid is the first and only comprehensive
history of medical experimentation on African Americans.
Starting with the earliest encounters between black
Americans and Western medical researchers and the racist
pseudoscience that resulted, it details the ways both
slaves and freedmen were used in hospitals for experiments
conducted without their knowledge—a tradition
that continues today within some black populations.

It reveals how blacks have historically been prey to
grave-robbing as well as unauthorized autopsies and
dissections. Moving into the twentieth century, it
shows how the pseudoscience of eugenics and social
Darwinism was used to justify experimental exploitation
and shoddy medical treatment of blacks, and the
view that they were biologically inferior, oversexed,
and unfit for adult responsibilities.

Shocking new details about the government's notorious
Tuskegee experiment are revealed, as are similar,
less-well-known medical atrocities conducted by the
government, the armed forces, prisons, and private
institutions.

FEAR is false information appearing real.
This is what I conquered... what I did
battle with, I hope this information can give you strength.

Can get feedback others who took part in a STUDY.
Venus Hammack of PGEV

Health Registries Who Knew

2007-01-17T18:55:00.000-08:00

The post deployment clinics of the active services and the VAMCs have registry exams and questionaires. Too many of troops are not aware they exist or know how this data can work in our favor years later. The VAMCs have Environmental Health coordinations ( former known as Agent Orange Coordinators), who are tasked to invite the troop/veteran/patient to complete the required documentation. Trying to find these individuals is difficult, usual because these staffer have many other jobs to handle. Over worked and under loved, it seems to me. Jagmedic said

Ten years and 100,000 participants later: occupational and other factors influencing participation in US Gulf War health registries.

For more than a decade after the Gulf War, there has been concern that wartime exposures have resulted in significant morbidity among Gulf War veterans. After the end of the war, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) initiated health registries to provide systematic clinical evaluations of Gulf War veterans who chose to participate.

By September 1999, there were 32,876 participants in the DoD Comprehensive Clinical Evaluation Program and 70,385 participants in the VA Gulf War Registry Health Examination Program. We identified demographic and military service factors, as well aspotential war-related exposures associated with subsequent registry participation after 10 years of observation.

Veterans potentially exposed to oil well fire smoke, those near Khamisiyah, Reserve and National Guard, Army veterans, and veterans in the theater of operations during intense combat periods were most likely to elect to participate in a registry. These findings support the hypothesis that certain occupational factors and wartime exposures may influence subsequent health care-seeking behavior.
PMID: 12185797 [PubMed - in process]
Department of Defense Center for Deployment Health Research, Naval Health Research Center, PO Box 85122, San Diego, CA 92186-5122, USA.

PTSD and post deployment illness studies

2006-12-17T18:41:00.000-08:00

Data that are in a paper showing that 30% of Gulf veterans fulfilling published case criteria for CFS have comorbid PTSD and this latter group has the most impaired cardiovascular reactivity to stress of any among the group of vets with CFS .
(source Title: Physiological and Psychological Assessments of Persian Gulf VeteransProject: VA-5B )

My question is why does the VA tie all disorders to PTSD in the majority of it studies ? Is this to slant or color the issue ? You can read between the lines.
Jagmedic

PGEV - Persian Gulf Era Veterans

2006-02-25T15:20:00.000-08:00

Im Venusval Hammack, and I live in Essex County Massachuttes.

I was sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy to attend the Senator Donald Riegle hearing in 1994. Because he felt it would impact our claim for exposures with out conflict from the Gulf War.

Over the years I have followed the Department of Veteran Affairs handling of our related health disorders.

As Executive Director of Persian Gulf Era Veterans, I would like to hear from the vets themselves on their current health problems. That and DOD / VA handling of your problems.

This blog will be a weekly summory of my activities in the Washington DC arena as I follow the machine in its exploits of the soldiers health care program.