FACEBOOK
TWITTER
Desert Storm Veterans the Way Forward: The War After THE WAR
I have been asking for joint hearings of Senate And House VA Committee on Gulf War Illness but no one is helping and the Senate is in push back mode.
They are saying that they only do that for the MAJOR VSO’s when they come to DC to present Legislative Agendas.
I say 19 years of dealing with gulf war illness has been disjointed and needs to be reviewed in a coordinated way for Action. Hearings started in November 1993 and 1994. Senator Reigle and Rockfeller were the leads at that time and anyone who has not read their reports by now should be horsewhipped! Then we had huge push with Representative Shays with the Government Reform and Oversight Committee. Sadly, the R party put him in chains and pulled him up short. Again his reports on his hearings and his investigation on the Anthrax vaccination should be read by all.
WE periodically have had hearings from the House VA Committee but it nevers ends up with action. The Senate VA Committee has also done the same thing. When the Gulf War Veterans that are ill make the wheel squeak they relent and give us a hearing. But Full and complete coordinated investigation and action seems to have faltered.
If we truly are going to finally deal with this issue and get to the truth. WE need joint hearings and we need the Preventative Medicine Team to be brought forward with ALL PROTECTION AGAINST RETALIATION!
We must start with what happened in theater the truth and nothing put the truth and the facts.
Not like when the Generals testified and the lost logs were brought up like the dog ate the homework!
WE must have TRUTH, Accountability, and Action!
Destruction or hiding of Government Records that dealt with what we were exposed to that has affected our health must be dealt with it is a crime! Thousands of gulf war veterans claims have been denied and the veterans are sufferring.
WE must deal openly and completely. And then we see it through until all the answers are there and help is given to the veterans of the Gulf War 90-91.
WE must deal with the total picture including vaccines and depleted uranium and destroying facilities in Iraq during 90-91! And we should not let the foxes that guard the hen houses rule!
May 19th marked the first of three potential hearings from the House VA Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation focused on the problem of Gulf War Illness Research. The second and third have yet to be scheduled. WE ask that these schedules are published in advance, in enough time that Veterans that want to be in DC to witness these hearings be able to get cheap airline tickets, which is normally 21 days prior for best pricing.
And secondly that any written testimony submitted for the official record is included. There were at least three submissions made prior to the May 19th hearing by fax, electronically, and in hand prior to the committee hearing that were purposefully left out of the hearing records. WE questioned this as soon as we were made aware on May 21st by email and phone calls with no answers by phone until last week when we were lied to over the phone that they did not have the submissions until 12 days later which is a lie. WE ask that they contact the printer and try to have them inserted and to also notify the Chairman of that subcommittee of the problem but as yet no feedback from that request.
Our veterans deserve the answers! And our medical professionals must also know the truth in order to help us.
DSNurse
Related Posts:
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=7263
Posted by Denise Nichols on Jun 11 2009, With 0 Reads, Filed under Gulf War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
COMMENTS
To post, we ask that you login using Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail in the box below.Don't have a social network account? Register and Login direct with VT and post.
Before you post, read our Comment Policy - Feedback
Truth and justice always seem to find their way into the light. Its not always as quick as we’d like it to be, but when it does happen with respect to Gulf War Illnesses and the substandard way that Gulf War Veterans as a whole have been treated, the light of day will shine brightly to expose those who were the obstructionists, just as a glowing light will shine on those who finally were able to push this dirty laundry out into the light of day for all the world to see. Veterans are one of the most powerful voting blocks in the United States. And we know how to organize better than any force on the planet. It’s sad that we have to fight our own legislators, but fight we will. Just as we have prevailed on the battlefield, we will prevail on the steps of the Capitol of the United States. Sick Gulf War Veterans will receive the benefits they have earned. That’s just the way it’s going to be. Dave Winnett, Captain, USMC (Ret.).
Gen. Eric Shinseki (D)
VA Secretary
Political Appointee
This is a CHALLENGE for the VA Secretary, when are you going to get the Gulf War Veterans what is due them for the issues and problems that the Gulf War veterans have been told that it is in your HEAD… We are having so many problems but no issues have been resolved. It taked the Regional VA here in Texas about 2 years to get an individual to get their first submission. And there are some that just get completely DENY Like Matt Letterman below. I was living across the road from the Oil Well Fires for 3 1/2 months with the 1st Infantry Division Main so tell me what is the real criteria you must be DEAD FIRST?
I have a friend named Matt Letterman and he is being treated like he has the plague from the VA and they refuse to help him and I even called his congresswoman last week and I was told from her office head Judy and she told me not him again. I would just like to know one thing from the VA Secretary himself in writing or verbally that he is taking this to heart since the LTG Thomas Rhame is not since he told me that 3/4 of the Infantry Division is sick and that was in 2001 imagine what its like not. But during the War he was always pushing to take care of your troops, I guess by being quiet they bought him with his 3rd Star and retirement. Who ever determined the Criteria for the test needs to throw all of his information in the trash and should look at the Service Members that were there on the Ground and in or ahead of the front lined.
I was told that I had to leave with the Early Retirement with 15 years since I was sick since 6 weeks after returning from the War. I went to Chaplain (CPT) Oscar Stone from Talihina Oklahoma and he got me an appointment from 5th General Hospital in Stuttgart Germany. The Shrink there was no help for me at all. I now take 63 pills a day so when is the Veterans Administration going to help the Veterans? I have a book published to help Gulf War Veterans called “A Soldier’s Dying Heart” and a Patriot Guard Rider when my health lets me participate. Some people still think that our Good Old Government is helping the Veterans but allot have lost their families and everything….
Lastly, I too have been fighting the Veterans administration starting at 0% for a few years then 30% then 50% then 70% then 90% and now 90% but 100% unemployable and all of these took more than 13 years. And still have an appeal at the VA in Washington DC they told me it would take about 2 to 6 months. You walk into the VA in Dallas and a majority of employees there think that we are there for them and they are not there for us and at 4PM daily its like mass exodus and they are heading for the DOOR. Who cares who is left only a chosen few and I can name names too..
HELP THE VETS MR SECRETARY, that is your Challenge. Can you fix the system that is currently BROKEN or at least get rid of the Good Ole Boy Network and put people in place that can fix the system. Sir, I can help you fix that system that is the start of YOUR SOLUTION. If I had to move to DC and work for you that would show me how and what needs to be fixed…
If you get nothing from this please make sure that you tell your troops to make a copy of all military records since when you get out they fall off of the face of the earth. And if you need someone to talk to with questions please email me harely2001sport@aol.com.
Randy L. Stamm
SFC, USA (ret)
Author
“A Soldier’s Dying Heart”
http://www.authorhouse.com
214-830-0902 cell
“Patriot Guard Rider” supporting soldiers and their families
“Minute Man” border watch too!!!
“Sergeant Audie Murphy Member”
“Sergeant Morales Inductee”
Randy L. Stamm
SFC, USA (ret)
Author
“A Soldier’s Dying Heart”
http://www.authorhouse.com
“Patriot Guard Rider” supporting soldiers and their families
“Minuteman” border watch too!!!