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Airborne Toxins: The Direct Cause of Gulf War Illnesses
by David McNease
It is staggering the type and amount of different illnesses Gulf War Veterans have but the VA will not recognize or grant disability because no direct link can be established. US forces were exposed to a variety of airborne toxins from the war. No direct link can be established because there is no evidence and no exact documentation can be produced to support VA claims.
In 1983 when I joined the Army I was a very healthy young man. During my entry physical into the Army my complete medical history was a couple of broken fingers. After the 1st Gulf War in 1990-1991, I literally had dozens of problems that were not present before the war. On 12 August 2004, when I received my VA response to my claim the VA told me that asthma, chronic migraine headaches, Gulf War Illness, multiple chemical sensitivities, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic pain syndrome were not related to my military service. All conditions were noted and referenced both in my retirement physical and fully documented in my medical records. Today, I am still baffled by the fact that I came into the service without any of these illnesses yet I have them today.
Many Gulf War veterans became ill and have multiple physical problems because of the pollutants in the air. Many Gulf War veterans have died because of their illnesses. Exposure to the air during Operations Desert Storm was toxic. The prevailing winds during most of January, February and March 1991 were from the north to the south. Which meant that all the smoke, soot, and chemicals from the bombs that were dropped drifted back over US forces and were both breathed in through the lungs or were ingested while eating. Literally, most coughed up black oil soaked soot, it came out of the nose, eyes, ears, and even leached through the skin. After sleeping it was easy to scrap off the oily, black soot that had accumulated on clothing.
This picture was taken several days into Operation Desert Storm. The sky was dark from all the toxins in the air.
There are several different pollutants that went into the air that US combatants breathed. It was common knowledge that Iraq had chemical weapons. Iraq used them during the Iran Iraq war. The large stockpiles of munitions were probably targeted and burned by allied aircraft. The areas throughout Iraq that were targeted had residual fires and secondary explosions that burned for days. Those fumes drifted south right on US forces. It is highly likely that a variety chemical agents went airborne because of allied bombing. Also, the actual munitions that the allied forces used burned and went airborne. I had the only M-8 chemical agent alarm at my unit location. My M-8 alarm went off at least twice. The warnings were dismissed because we could not get an accurate reading. I am convinced trace chemicals were in the air. Walking around it was easy to see the oily soot and chemicals as they collected on our equipment and darkened everything. The tents and equipment was so badly contaminated that they were burned or buried because we could not return to the US with the contaminated equipment.
Adding to the mixture of pollutants were the oil well fires. It is my hypothesis that Saddam Hussian piled chemicals around the oil heads before he had them set fire. When the oil head burned it sent the agents into the air. Much of the agents were burned but it was a perfect way to weaponize the chemicals without leaving a trace behind. The agents went into the air along with all the soot from the oil well fires.
Ground forces that actually went into Iraq and Kuwait used a variety of weapons on the Iraqi forces. Some of the depleted uranium that was used in the tank rounds had to go airborne from the fires. Artillery, missiles and other munitions that were fired and used in combat had airborne materials that added to the toxic air. When the ground forces found stockpiles of munitions they were burned in place. Adding to the mix we burned raw fecal matter in cutoff 55 gal drums. The stench often burned so slowly they lingered around us when eating chow.
It is easy to surmise that the air was toxic. Combat veterans of the Gulf War complain of different illnesses and injures because they are real. Skin and eye irritation, respiratory problems, kidney trouble, liver problems, nervous system difficulties, cardiovascular system problems, reproductive system illnesses or significant miscarriage, gastrointestinal tract illnesses, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, joint pain (fibromyalgia), sleep troubles and memory problems are all from exposure to toxic chemicals.
Enough with the different studies. It is time to treat every Gulf War veteran as though they were exposed multiple airborne toxins. We went to war when asked. We followed those whom were our leaders. We had faith that those whom were responsible for our well being would ensure we were given medical treatment for our illnesses and injures that were sustained during combat.
As always I look forward to any comments here on Veterans Today or e-mail me at dmcnease09@gmail.com.
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Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=236070
Posted by Veterans Today on Jan 15 2013, With 0 Reads, Filed under Editor, Gulf War Illness (GWI), Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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Hi Charlotte NC Bill,
I not sure how to reply. I think you are talking about needing a war and I was talking about airborne toxins causing combat veterans to get sick. The bottom line whether the war was needed or not veteran became and are very ill. They need access to health care. I am e-mail by veterans every day that are without health care and the causes were clearly from combat.
But tell me Dave: what if the war party threw a war and nobody showed up?
“No direct link can be established because there is no evidence …”
I wonder why firemen wear masks. From now on they should be told to avoid masks because they cause limitations on the view. This would also rescue the budget because masks are expensive. Firemen should be happy to enjoy the pure unfiltered fresh air while working outside in a burning house
They play on your patriotism….they made us believe that every generation “needed” to have their war….to make them tougher..teach them how to sacrifice….From King Agammemnon telling Achilles ” this war will make history….don’t you want to be part of that history?” and right down to this very day these people paint their adventures in romantic hues…but it’s all lies. Some people never really sacrifice…indeed they profit and others give everything they have in the sand of some Pacific Island or some artificial-nation/UK-US puppet sand box called Kuwait…When will it end?
I joined the “USMC in ’84….David, I wish you had left the svc in ’87 or ’88….When Skull and Bones illuminati porch-monkey Bush got into the WH we should have known bad times were ahead in every way….Lesson: We shouldn’t have encouraged Pres Hussein to take advantage of the upheaval in Iran to grab territory and shoreline ..and then, of course, we and our NATO allies supplied him for 8 yrs….Then we could have, shoould have looked the other way when our ally took back what had once been part of Iraq..( Amb Glasbie played her part by giving our ally the green light )..Kuwait, created by the UK, was slant drilling into Iraqi oilfields….then the lies…The niece of the Kuwaiti ambassador put on a fine performance about babies thrown fm incubators….
Excellent memory and re-cap of Gulf 1.
April Gillespie, inviting Saddam into Kuwait, saying the U.S. would stay out of it, yes diagonal drilling into IRAQ from Kuwait, the nurse and the baby’s being thrown from incubators, just before U.N. Vote. All a show for a war, but many, many died, so it was no show, there were huge consequences. How about those re-treating lines of tanks and troops that got annihilated. All sad, all around, produced and directed by Bush 1, and totally deceptive, costly, for the benefit of U.S. Oil, Israel, warmongers, etc., and UN-necessary. And we suffered also, deeply, and on many levels.
Yup…Killing the enemy when he’s attempting to retreat back into his recognized territory, under those circumstances was cruel, unnecessary and unChristian…and probably a war crime…but I’d have to ask a lawyer or Duff to be sure..
Allesandro, her name is April Glaspie, not Gillespie. She was used, to give the green light to Saddam. When media started asking her questions, that was obvious. I watched her twisting in the wind on TV. Then someone gave the word to the media to back off, and they did, even though they all knew there was a massive story there. Then she was quietly shuffled off somewhere, and not a peep from the major media about that. Saddam even put the transcript of their discussion in the New York Times. All to no avail.
As expressed on the “Treasures of the” Library of Congress’ webpage, in a section entitled “Memory” (ironically), the correct title for that campaign was “The Persian Gulf War”. ****http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm175.html
I don’t know where “The Gulf” is. Maybe it’s next to “the Ocean” or “the Lake”?
Not just at, “The Persian Gulf War”.
Air borne toxins are everywhere, they encompass the earth at this very moment, all the fake clouds with the toxins happily supplied by the U.S.A.F aka. “The Ranch Hands”.
Busy like bees trying to weaken and thin the pack.
With key people going ill and dieing mysteriously, creating a void and a window for intervention, of “Dis-ease among the mass. Look for many more unexplained occurrences.
Hi Greenrecovery,
Airborne toxins are everywhere around the earth. Were you in combat? Are you a veteran? Do you have disabilities? I try to write about what I have experienced and be an advocate for veterans health issues. I do so without any hope of financial gain. If I can connect with one other veteran whom is disabled and having health issues I feel grateful.
Dave
I was reserves, British Columbia Dragoons and then Coast Guard Canada, No combat, my only disability is my government.
I run a N.P.O ….. greenrecovery.org….. assist combat Veterans returning. Six years.
I have more than enough information about Vets and their exposures to every aspect of the “wars”.
What would you like to know ?
Dave Member the cough candies “halls” they were testing those on P.P.C.L.I in Canada in the late sixties. Only because they had alcohol in them and could not release to the public until tested. Soldiers have for a long, long time been used as guinea pigs for everything from cough candies, to gases capable of instantaneous death. However you are not the only effected by this how about the people who still live in those places that were hammered with this shit. And as we can all see in the sky is the main culprit of the disbursement of all the toxins of which you speak. This is a global deal man. We are all in the soup now. And unless the heart of these operations is stopped all mankind will suffer greatly at the hands of the U.S.A.F aka “Ranch Hands”. Just take a look out you window right now and tell me if there are natural clouds there or are they all nice and uniformed, like in a “formation”.
Dave I can not offer advise however I can offer these words, they come from gut instinct.
I wrote and published this poem a few years back.
Soldiers Retreat
by E. Paul Newell
The title of this poem is Soldiers Retreat I have written it for all Soldiers past, present, and future
Yea though I Travel to the Solitude of my Being
I am a Soldier.
I have soldiered diligently.
I have soldiered honorably.
Though I have traveled the inroads of war and the back alleys of unknown battles, diligently and honorably, I am not with out flaw or fail. Should you cast subjection upon me, should you also dwell in a round house made of stone?
A soldier’s life is but a life of trust. Trust in the structure of command. It is for this trust that a soldier will obey a command. This trust that supports the belief in superior knowledge. This trust supports the belief that superior knowledge is necessarily educated for maximum favorable results. Under trial and tribulation will a soldier maintain security to their last living breath: will a soldier stand by on their watch. All is pending and based on this living breathing trust. In the end for some, this trust will only lead to certain death and the most tragic events witnessed or executed. For others this trust will lead to a shattered soul that will long for healing the way parched sand is puckered to kiss the preceding rain.
If ever there has been a need to heal the soul it is now.
Now that the trust has been breached the seal of worthiness is gone. (“The Worthiness of My Trust”)
Where shall I go now?
Where shall I seal my trust now?
My duties fulfilled, my tours complete.
What have you for this battle weary Soldier and broken Soul now?
I see not a sturdy post to lean upon nor an inviting seat to sit upon.
For I have been shattered to my core.
My energies depleted.
I seek refuge from my storm.
Does the earth become my bride, if I should be striped of all, but pride?
No I am free to walk anywhere.
I am free to speak my mind. Therefore I shall travel the road of solitude to the center of my own being.
It is there within my being that I will seek the new and real trust.
Trust in myself and trust in the being of my solitude. For the trust that I have given others is the trust that I shall now afford myself.
I shall seek within to find the structured faith that is the seal of worthiness
. It is deliverance that I need. Yet patience that I will have to accept.
Walking the path of solitude is the most honorable way to meet yourself in the truest of spirit. It is at the center of solitude where I will find safe passage.
And from the center that I shall be protected on all fronts.
And it is there at that center that I shall conduct all measures and matters pertaining to the well being of my existence.
I must make this journey for the sake of my sanity.
Also for those whom I love I must seek the ability to afford them the same dignity with which I left them.
This is not an easy road I seek but a necessary path of healing rite.
For it is a peculiarity of man that he can better endure almost any other condition than that of solitude.
I am a prisoner of wars byproduct.
Do not forget me. I shall not wane:, steadfast is how I shall remain. I will wait – wait on the edge for a closer glance at freedom.
Nurtured Solitude is a key component on the road of recovery.
As expressed on the Library of Congress’ webpage, in a section entitled “Memory” (ironically), the correct title for that campaign was “The Persian Gulf War”. ****http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trm175.html
I don’t know where “The Gulf” is. Maybe it’s next to “the Ocean” or “the Lake”?
Hi The Rahnameh,
I am sorry for the confusion about the Persian Gulf War. Were you there?
Dave, your work is appreciated. I hope that my nitpicking will earn you a few extra reads
No, I did not. Unfortunately (and I write this with sincerity in my heart), I grew up in an affluent town where not a military recruiter (or even mention of military in my future) was mentioned. In fact, it wasn’t until I went to law school and lived in a “poorer” city that I was first approached my an military recruiter. This experience makes me indignant beyond words.
I think there is a lot of veracity in what you write. Have you looked into holistic (supplemental) methods of healing the damage caused? My immediate thought is the fungus kingdom. Check out this Ted.com lecture at your convenience: ***http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html
Dave,
I suffer from something that I call fibromyalgia-lite. Not quite full-blown fibromyalgia. I have found some improvement recently by using Cordyceps Sinensis ( an Asian adaptogen ), as well as hemp oil, Vitamin D3 and curcumin ( not turmeric ), and a supplement called Protandim, that can be read about on pubmed.gov. It is my belief that I acquired this debility by breathing the toxic chemtrail laden air here in Amerika.
Peace.