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C141 Charleston Unit Gulf War Veteran Pilot Makes it Happen
WE at Veterans Today are excited that we helped open the door to get this story moving that then went to VA Watchdog and then to Channel 13 in Indiana. We hope that all of the Charleston unit members that are affected get help now! We also hope the widows have their claims handled in an expedited manner through the VA. The Charleston unit has a hero in LT COL Avery for his units’ members at Charleston AFB.
Veteran gets benefits restored after WTHR report
Posted: Mar 18, 2010 3:40 PM MDT
Updated: Mar 18, 2010 3:52 PM MDT
Lt. Col. Steve Avery Sandra Chapman/13 Investigates
Indianapolis – A local Gulf War pilot is getting his just due as a result of a 13 Investigates report.
In November our investigation found the V.A. denying veterans their benefits, and their credit for war time service.
Now it appears the government is making amends and taking steps to stop vets from getting lost in the system.
Lt. Col. Steve Avery’s weak knees can barely support the weight of the find: hundreds of pages of medical records that the US Department of Veterans Affairs criss-crossed the country to dig up.
For two years they sat in government files as the former Gulf War pilot failed to convince the V.A. that he flew covert missions in and out of Kuwait, and suffered exposures to depleted uranium and insecticides.
Now, months after a 13 Investigates report prompted the V.A. to review Avery’s case and its own internal policies, there is good news for him and veterans to come.
“They’ve given me 100-percent disability, my wife and children have certain benefits,” Avery told 13 Investigates.
For starters, Avery’s compensation is increasing to more than four times the monthly amount he received in 2007. The smaller amount was based on a 60-percent disability rating. But now the government says the retired Lt. Colonel is no longer able to work.
“I’m not complaining or anything, but when you go over there and go on these missions, you’re not given credit for anything,” said Avery. “You need help and thanks to [Sandra Chapman] and Channel 13 and several other people here I really appreciate your helping us out,” he added.
The Defense Finance Center at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Lawrence and in Cleveland are among the agencies that helped. Payroll specialists used his earnings and check vouchers to confirm his Desert Storm flights.
In the government’s award letter, the V.A. says, “All reasonable doubt is resolved in [Avery's] favor …that [he] served on active duty while flying missions to Southwest Asia during the Gulf War.” But the agency denies a connection between his Desert Storm service and his bad health.
Initially the V.A. refused to even consider Gulf War benefits for him or his squadron.
The 707th out of Charleston, South Carolina, wasn’t officially activated, and there was no way for the V.A. to confirm Avery’s participation in covert missions. Old Air Force records were tossed out.
After 13 Investigates exposed the gap, Rep. Steve Buyer, Indiana’s ranking Republican on the Veterans Affairs Committee, called for a top level investigation, in a letter to V.A. Secretary Eric Shinseki.
“This is drawn attention nationwide at the Air Force Reserve and the Pentagon,” said Avery, who has gotten the support of veterans across the country.
Within weeks, V.A. Centers all across the nation received new directives, alerting workers to new policies and a new operations unit at McDill Air Force Base in Tampa. The unit will help confirm war time duty for all veterans, whether they were officially activated or only used for temporary covert missions.
“At least the people in the future they’ll have it documented so if something happens, they won’t have to flounder around and wait and beg for 3 or 4 years to get their situation taken care of,” said Avery
The V.A. still denies Avery and his squadron were exposed to toxic chemicals. While many of his comrades are too sick to go to war with the V.A., Avery vows to make a stand, no matter how weak, his knees.
It could take as many as two years before Lt. Col Avery’s appeal regarding toxic exposures is resolved.
Officials from Veterans Affairs say according to the law, veterans must provide evidence they suffered exposure traveling to or from a war zone or in the line of duty.
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=22236
Posted by Denise Nichols on Mar 18 2010, With 0 Reads, Filed under Vet News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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IT started with an email….and this old flight nurse could not let it go!!! Had to do something for my fellow Aeromedical Evacs!
I took the chance and did a short article quickly. I am glad I did…I think LT COL Lavery is a hero because he kept track of his unit members since the war. How many do you know that did that?
AIRCREW MEMBERS
The Impact of Gulf War Exposures/Illnesses/Deaths at Charleston AFB for AIRCREW MEMBERS
July 20, 2009 by Denise Nichols · 11 Comments
by Denise Nichols, Staff Writer
A disturbing and shocking listing of names hit my desk from a connection with the Charleston 141 unit of C-141 crewmembers that flew during Desert Storm. This was a unit of 160 aircrew members, AF Reserve, these units were some of the healthiest in the force at that time that had annual flight physicals and pilots that also flew with major airline companies.
This list I received of names confirms at least 23 deaths since Operation Desert Storm(15 cancers, 1 stroke, 1 Blood disorder unspecified, 2 suicides, I house fire, 1 questionable death, 2 unknown causes) and at least 22 more suffering 20 with cancers and 2 with renal disease. I am astonished that the DOD and/or CDC or anyone has not mobilized a full team of epidemiologists to do a full investigation. I am equally astonished that US Representatives and US Senators that have been notified have done nothing.
I believe that the CDC should be contacted immediately to find out all of the facts without delay. I also believe that this warrants full House and Senate VA Committee Joint Hearings and Senate and House Transportation Committee hearings. These were gulf war veteran pilots they flew on mandays in support of Operation Desert Storm and they have struggled and their families that lost their loved ones have not been compensated by the VA.
My concern has been there all along for our flight crews since I am a flight nurse and knew many of our pilots throughout the system in the reserves. I was also concerned because of the symptoms ie neuro cognitive disorders ie memory, visual changes due to exposures and having monitored this for years 19 now! I have watched every story of airline mishaps civilian and military through the 19 years and my questions and concerns have not been addressed! I even spent time taking information to Senate and House Transportation Committees to have them exam the problems and hold hearings, they never did!
Also I noted the crashes of military airplanes that crashed carrying Presidential support equipment years back I believe if memory serves me in Wyoming during the Clinton time period? I also noted a USMC helicopter “Squadron One” taxi incident at Andrews AFB running a plane or helicopter into something while taxing is somewhat unusual especially with highly qualified pilots, I took news reports of that incident to the staffer for Former US Representative “B1″ Bob Dornan, the military would not confirm or deny that the pilot was a gulf war veteran. I have brought this up at the CDC conference on Gulf War illness in 1999. Much less a couple of airplane crashes ie civilian commercial airlines in the 1990’s and air rescue helicopter crashes.
So many connecting points ignored that impacts not just military but civilians too!
So much that could be connected if there was true investigative journalism still existing in our news today but I guess they don’t want to dig and think.
In honor of the C-141 Crew members of Charleston Air Force Base and their devotion to their duty I now publish the list as known at the current time of Deaths. Data on illnesses by name will not be published but statistics on this units illnesses as known is listed at the end. Unfortunately I do not have dates of deaths but thankful to one of the officers of this unit that has stayed atuned to the health of his troops and fellow pilots this is what we have. It is a shame that more units deployed during Desert Storm have not monitored the health of their unit members.
WE encourage Desert Storm veterans to set up SPECIFIC UNIT FACEBOOK PAGES on their unit they served with during 1990-91 and reconnect and get health surveys done. What we have always been missing is unit specific research by location in theater or nondeployed. The need is still there and we at Veterans Today will help you get the word out!
One Marine(from NY) did this back in the Government Reform and Oversight hearings in the 90’s and Former Congressman Shays had him testify to the results. It took him awhile but I believe he located at least 98% of his people by reconnecting with the people that got involved in Family support type efforts during the war that had kept lists of family members, phone numbers, and locations. He reconnected and did a survey of his members and the symptoms and health problems they were having and testified to the results.
This should have been set up when we served and tracked at every unit but it was not done but it is never too late and may definitely help investigators and researchers. It may trigger a closer look at Gulf War Illnesses by our elected officials in DC and encourage the VA to do the same! The Gulf War I Veterans from 1990-91 will not be forgotten!
WE also ask DOD to make changes now to track the health of their current troops better, a lesson we thought they had learned from Gulf War 1. The obligation starts while we are in service and should never end! It does not just rest with Medical service personnel or those at the top but at unit level! Units should have logs and computerized systems to track their indivduals so that later as troops transition to VA that they can also be reporting back to their own specific unit to compile the data. It is an officer’s duty the health and welfare of their unit members. It goes up and down the chain of command!
I will say that a congrats go out to the Charleston unit individual and his concerned NCOIC’s that provided the information and has been tracking the problem through the years and sharing the information in the form of a newsletter informal to the past and current members of Charleston Aircrew alumni.
The names of those deaths , crew position, and cause of death that I was provided are:
1. SMSGT George Culp Loadmaster AS 300 Brain Tumor
2. MSGT Robert Sheffield Loadmaster AS707 Brain Tumor
3. MSGT Craig Morris Loadmaster AS707 Colon Cancer
4. SMSGT Barron Foster Loadmaster AS707 Brain Tumor Eye/
Brain
5. TSGT Charlie Radford Loadmaster AS707 Tumor
6. SSGT Phillipe Manore Loadmaster 16 AS 707 Cancer
7. MSGT Herb Loveless Flight Engineer AS 707 Cancer(chest)
8. MSGT Ed Goble AS 315 Colon Cancer
9. MSGT Rick Meyer AS 707 Flight Engineer*
10. MSGT William Hawthorne AS 315 Flight Engineer*
11. COL Archibald Martin Flight Surgeon AW 701 Cancer
12. TSGT Candice Taylor Engineer AS 707 Blood Disease
13. SMSGT Warren Thompson Loadmaster AS 707 Cancer
14. COL Bruce Dobbs Pilot Cancer
15. LTCOL Trigg Wood Pilot Brain Tumor
16. MSGT Elmore Jackson Load Master Cancer
17. LTCOL Jeff Bland Pilot Questionable Death*
18. LTCOL Glenn Butler Pilot Cancer
19. Major Tom Legodais Pilot Stroke
20. Col James Miller Combat Sgdn/CC Unknown*
21. SMSGT Dallas Sims 8 MAS/51 AP Sqnd Unknown*
22. JoAnn Russell 315th Current OPS EYE and Liver Cancer
23 MSGT Buck Owens Flight Engineer Home Fire *
The ones listed as ill : 20 are cancers, 1 bilateral renal failure, , 1 kidney disease(unspecified)
Comments
11 Responses to “The Impact of Gulf War Exposures/Illnesses/Deaths at Charleston AFB for AIRCREW MEMBERS”
GET A Clue WHO THE ENEMY “IS” says:
July 20, 2009 at 8:52 pm
THERE WILL BE AN INVESTIGATIONINTO THOSE WHO SUPPLIED THE INFO. , DOD AND THE CHAIN OF COMMAND WILL DEAL WITH THEM. ~~~THIS IS HOW IT WORKS~~~~
Reply
Gerald L. Churchill, MSGT Retired says:
July 21, 2009 at 11:55 am
Flight Engineer 701 MAS currently have Prostate Cancer and Glacoma in Right Eye. At 67 I was diagnosed with the Prostate Cancer. I expected it at my age. I am 74 and still going strong!
Reply
JW Cheney, CMS, Retired says:
July 22, 2009 at 7:45 am
I have Follicular Lymphoma. It is in stage 4. When men and women volunteer to serve their country in the military, you would think the DOD and Congress would want to do all they can to get to the bottom of any suspicious illnesses that maybe related to that service. Wrong! The gulf war illnesses will be treated just like agent orange during Viet-Nam. Stall until they die.
Reply
Dan says:
July 23, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Maybe this is why I can’t seem to find anyone from my former unit?
Reply
Gary says:
July 24, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Flt. Nurses LTC Barbara Werth and COL Barbara Martin were excluded and need to be on list.
Reply
Arizo – retired 26yrs USAF/USAFR says:
July 25, 2009 at 1:01 pm
When will stop all those responsible and held accoutable in making all Veterans lab rats for R&D. Is this we Vets are to them.
Reply
tim rogge says:
July 26, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Is there any one from charley company 19 th engineers fort knox
Reply
STP says:
November 5, 2009 at 8:00 pm
The list left off MSgt Harvey Merritt, C141B Loadmaster, 701 AS, Chas. AFB, SC, Died of Cancer
Reply
Captain Hugs AKA Ben Dover says:
November 26, 2009 at 2:27 am
This was my unit. The best guys i ever flew with. The best flight nurses that I ever served with…It is the depleted Urianium..The plane had it, counter balances….The desert was full of it..ammo…
It is ther if you know where to look….
Reply
WTHR report prompts review of Veterans Affairs policy
Sandra Chapman/13 Investigates
http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=11593819
Indianapolis – A 13 Investigates report is sparking a national policy review over benefits for reservists who go to war, but aren’t officially activated.
For years, a local pilot says his squadron has been unable to prove they are sick and dying from war illnesses. More importantly, some can’t find records to show they even served.
Congressman Steve Buyer, the ranking Republican on the Veterans Affairs Committee, called for a top-level review. Two weeks later, the VA responded.
Covert operations during Desert Storm are a must for crew safety and mission success.
But long after volunteers from the 707th Airlift Squadron returned home, a veil of secrecy and gaps of information at the VA are keeping some sick and dying reservists from medical benefits they desperately need.
“They came down with brain tumors, brain cancer, leukemia and ALS,” said Lt. Col Steve Avery of Indianapolis, explaining what happened to him and nearly 50 of his crew members.
13 Investigates found it’s up to the reservists to prove they were exposed to spent tank shells, uranium dust and unusually high amounts of insecticides in order to get medical benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
After weeks of inquiries, the VA is responding, saying the agency is not privy to records for covert or classified missions.
“We would not generally be aware of the existence of those documents,” VA Deputy Director Tom Pamperin told 13 Investigates by phone. He says benefit determinations are based in part on what’s in the file.
“Is there anything in the veteran’s record that would suggest that this thing they’re saying is credible?” Pamperin added.
Lt. Col Steve Avery was recognized in a newsletter put out by the 315th Airlift Unit in October 1991. His crew was cited as one of the first reserve units from Charleston, sent to Desert Storm.
But the VA confirms it has no record of service for Avery in 1990 or 1991. His squadron wasn’t officially activated.
The VA says the Air Force Reserve destroyed the service records, leaving the sick reservists caught in the crossfire.
“If you were on active duty, like the other two squadrons, if anything happened you can go back and show those records, whereas our squadron did not have anything to substantiate that,” said Avery.
The VA and Department of Defense are now creating a special Operations Command with McDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida to help close the gap. The new unit will be able to confirm veterans’ service, with data on classified or covert missions, without breaching confidentiality requirements. The official start of the program is expected in coming days.
“We can go to them and ask them if the veteran’s service included duty assignments and others that would make their current claim credible,” said Pamperin.
It won’t help Avery though, a 33-year veteran who suffers from ALS like symptoms, and other ailments.
“These people were in the war zone with every one else. Our reserves are fighting our wars. So to say that they didn’t have “active duty” orders or they’re not covered is just…it’s ungrateful to our veterans,” said Avery’s wife Mary Ann, who is frustrated by the complex system now in place.
Avery isn’t the only one from his squadron claiming Gulf War illnesses. The Air Force isn’t keeping track, so he created a roster showing the names of more than 50 squadron members who are sick or dying from similar illnesses.
Chief Master Sgt. Wade Cheney served as a chief Loadmaster in the 707th during Desert Storm. He’s battling stage 4 lymphoma, and paying for his treatment with no VA benefits.
He told 13 Investigates, “In the meantime, we are all just dying. Delay of time is on their side. Just like Agent Orange.”
It’s not just Gulf War vets from the 707th having difficulty getting benefits.
Pesticide exposure
Cynthia Daugherty, a former C141 mechanic, was activated with a communications unit. Two years after her return, a Gulf War Care Team diagnosed her with a number or war related illnesses. She had records, but it still took two years of haggling to get full disability.
The VA concluded she was adversely exposed to burning oil fields, but not pesticides.
That was the determination despite post-war reports revealing widespread pesticide and insecticide use in housing and staging areas.
13 Investigates obtained federal EPA records showing contradictory directions given to all flight crews that read:
“Harmful if swallowed or absorbed through the skin. Avoid breathing vapors,” but spray “..when passengers and crew are onboard and all doors, hatches, and ventilation openings are closed.”
By the time the EPA demanded a label change, the war was over.
“If they flew C-141′s or military airlift transport planes during Desert Storm, they really need to be concerned about this,” said Avery, recalling what happened on board the aircraft. “As the pilot you could be up in the cockpit and look in the back of the airplane and you couldn’t see the passengers because there was so much bug spray,” he and others told 13 Investigates.
The VA is now reviewing Avery’s flight records showing dozens of logged pilot hours before, during and after Desert Storm. They know when he flew, but not where.
Since 2001 Avery has raised post-war medical concerns. In performance reports, Avery’s former bosses including Retired General Gerald Black rated him “a true patriot…A top notch staffer (who) coordinated a comprehensive investigation with federal..authorities into possible Desert Storm-related…ailments affecting…his squadron.”
Eight years later, he’s still fighting.
Two weeks after 13 Investigates first uncovered the problem, the VA and its Indianapolis Regional office have turned up new records for Avery including travel vouchers from the Defense Finance Accounting Service in Lawrence.
The agency hopes to make a new round of benefit determinations for him within the next 30 days.
Unfortunately, other sick squadron members from the 707th will have to pursue a similar paper chase to prove their service
Sick Desert Storm vets denied benefits
Sandra Chapman/13 Investigates
http://www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=11487219
Indianapolis – Their contributions have gone unrecognized, despite top secret missions and battle time service. Now, sick and dying, these men and women are being refused Veterans Affairs benefits because of a military technicality.
Prepping for the “sandbox,” Air Force Reservists ready a C141 transport plane for a mission to the Persian Gulf. They are responsible for transporting precious cargo into war zones, both troops and their loaded equipment.
In January 1991, they helped drop 500,000 US troops into the desert to take Iraqi forces by storm.
Lt. Colonel Steve Avery of Indianapolis was one of their pilots.
“My crew was one of the first in Desert Storm. We flew a special elite group in and air dropped them during the beginning of the war,” Avery explained.
He and fellow crew members from the 707th Air Squadron out of Charleston, South Carolina, also shuttled out scud missiles, spent nuclear tank shells covered in uranium dust, and who knows what else?
They were trusted with critical roles under the 315th Air Lift Wing, even though their reserve unit was not technically “activated.”
Chief Master Sgt. Bob Strobel was the personnel superintendent at the time.
“These people flew into the sandbox. They were carrying all kinds of things. Probably a lot of the things they did were classified, and they cannot even by law talk about some of their missions,” Stobel told 13 Investigates outside of the Charleston Air Base.
They were dying to serve. Literally.
Surviving crew members now say their bodies are ravaged from exposure to deadly toxins. Worse yet, the VA is refusing to cover the cost of their care. Despite honors, the government won’t even acknowledge their service.
“They don’t want to give me any credit for being in the war zone, and they don’t want anything to be related to an injury or exposure during war because they would have to pay me more money,” Avery alleged.
“We have a volunteer military that is not being taken care of on a timely basis,” added his wife, Mary Ann.
Colonel Avery’s ALS-like symptoms began three years ago. The disabled combat vet considers himself lucky. He’s still alive, despite mounting post-war casualties.
Of the 160 members of his unit, almost a third are dead or terminally ill. He’s created a medical registry to keep track of his squadron and a neighboring medical unit.
“Twenty-five people in my squadron are now passed away and 25 are terminally ill or stabilized. They came down with brain tumors, brain cancer, leukemia and ALS,” said Avery referring to the medical registry he has compiled.
In September 2008, the VA said it would cover ALS, or Lou Gerig’s disease for any veteran with 90-days or more continuous active service.
A national study found the risk of the disease two times higher for Gulf War vets.
The government also agreed to cover different forms of cancer for these troops. But not for Avery’s squadron, who served with little documentation.
“It took them a year to find my records,” the 63 year old told 13 Investigates. “It’s been a pretty ugly exercise trying to substantiate everything,” he said, with the help of the Pentagon.
13 Investigates took the issue to Indiana Congressman Steve Buyer, the top ranking Republican on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.
“Wow,” said Buyer after 13 Investigates described the complaint. The 4th District Congressman said it was the first he had heard of it, even though Avery and his wife say they called his offices in Monticello and Washington.
“I just want to let you know, I’m not going to challenge what somebody has told you. But generally, I have been the advocate for a lot of different groups with Gulf War Veterans in particular because they were exposed to many different environmental factors in that war,” Buyer said.
Buyer wrote a letter to Eric Shinseki, Veterans Affairs secretary, asking him to look into the matter.
Dangerous insecticide?
That exposure to chemicals includes a potent insecticide. High concentrations of the roach spray with D-phenothrin were specially packaged for the Department of Defense.
13 Investigates obtained a can similar to the one the United States Agriculture Department required Desert Storm vets to use to keep cargo pest-free. Manufacturers warned the ingredients were “hazardous to humans.”
“Once we took off they used to spray the whole plane down with 4 or 5 cans of bug spray. As the pilot you could be up in the cockpit and look in the back of the airplane and you couldn’t see the passengers because there was so much bug spray,” recalled Avery.
13 Investigates has uncovered, federal documents showing the crews were carelessly exposed during that ritual.
The label says, “Harmful if swallowed or absorbed through the skin. Avoid breathing vapors,” yet the directions called for “Spraying…when passengers and crew are onboard and all doors, hatches, and ventilation openings are closed.”
By the time the EPA discovered the flaw and demanded new labeling, it was well after the war.
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