Tag: gulf war veterans

There are hidden wounds soldiers have always experienced upon returning home from every war- this documentary will shed Light and Healing on these many issues through the Voices of Veterans and their Families.

I recently was invited by a good friend who lives in the Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts to participate in a panel discussion about PTSD and TBI .

I must confess right upfront that this posting is a little self promotion. Well, kind of. Three months ago, a dear friend of mine that I have known for over 25-years contacted me with an urgent request concerning his son who had recently returned from Afghanistan.

After founding and then running a shelter for homeless veterans for a number of years, I began to see patterns of pathology among the clients.

One in four veterans from the gulf war are affected minimally. That number is old and current data shows that number has continued to climb to over 1 in 3 at least have submitted claims from the Gulf War 1990-91.

DLI teams with HireVeterans.com for third year running , aggressively seeking Military Veteran Drivers.

Health problems associated with military service during Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn and related VA benefits

Every day I deal with fellow veterans of the gulf war 90-91 and it is so difficult. It is difficult because each of us that stood up early in the 90's after coming home ill, knew we had to do what we do, not just for ourselves but because we truly believed in caring for our fellow veteran.

The Representatives in DC offices need to be told to give priority to Gulf War Illnesses Research on the DOD Appropriations Bill now before them on the floor of the House for Congressional Direct Medical Research for Gulf War Illness Research Program and find these veterans help in the form of true diagnostic work and treatment.

Veterans are finding new skills and new methods to information share. Gulf war veterans and Gulf War era veterans are developing projects to collect and share information via Facebook. The project http://polldaddy.com/s/770F1DBB56742059 is one example. Veterans are asking for assistnace to get the word out to their fellow veterans.

Will the House of Representatives, Defense Appropriations Committee remember the veterans of the gulf war on Tuesday vote and honor those that have died from gulf war illnesses? Obits of these veterans from 20 yrs ago for just the time since Memorial Day are highlighted

The effort to get a Force Multiplier for Gulf War Veterans is gaining strength through Community Building on Facebook.

VT has encouraged gulf war veterans to set up face book pages for their gulf war 90-91 Desert Storm by service branch/and specific units......gulfwar/desertstorm/specific unit.

TAP program eases the burden for military personnel transitioning to civilian life

We may face the possibility of having to address post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in those who return from war. Even for those who...

Vitamin D insufficiency has been associated with a variety of clinical disorders and chronic diseases, including impaired balance, decreased muscle strength, mood and cognitive dysfunction, autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis and diabetes (types 1 and 2), and certain forms of cancer," the authors write as background information in the article.

Cell biologists pondering the death of neurons - brain cells - said that by eliminating one ingredient from the cellular machinery, they prolonged the life of neurons stressed by a pesticide chemical. The finding identifies a potential therapeutic target to slow changes that lead to neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases

The VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network, which includes all of North Carolina and parts of Virginia and West Virginia, is the only VA network in the nation using the “blitz” method to clear its backlog. The network is behind on about 4,000 to 5,000 requests, LaPuz said. “Salisbury by itself is caught up, and now we’re trying to help out our sister facilities,” he said. “In three weeks — one week a month for the next three months — we expect to complete about 1,500 exams.” The goal is to complete these exams within 30 days from the date Starting this week, W.G. (Bill) Hefner VA Medical Center in Salisbury is taking on a growing backlog of compensation and pension (C&P) exams during what staff term a “blitz” of three one-week sessions. The hospital, along with eight others in the VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network, is dedicating up to 80 percent of its primary care appointment schedule to the exams March 7-11, April 11-15 and May 9-13.

We want to continue to honor our Gulf War Veterans and recognize their early deaths, it has only been 20 years since the Gulf War/Operation Desert Storm. WE are concerned that they are dying too early and still call for national registries of diagnosed illness deaths and the undiagnosed illnesses. This data could prove helpful to health care providers, medical researchers, and the veterans and their families in being proactive in their health concerns.

It is 20 years since the Gulf War 1990-91, Operation Desert Storm(US), and our British Coalition Forces that are suffering with Gulf War Illness/es stood tall in London and welcomed the other coalition members that served and are also part of the unfolding health crisis of Post Gulf War Service. This crisis involved the largest ever number of veterans that have been affected by their service in the most Hazardous Toxic Soup of Environmental Exposures in any war.

GULF WAR VETERANS 90-91 reuniting by using facebook does your unit from the gulf war 90-91 have a FB page? And is there a GW90-91/desert storm/State Page to gather in your states!

VA RAC GWI MEETING FEB 28-MAR 1 in DC AGENDA AND DISCUSSION

Again the ill Gulf War Veterans are the ones doing the outreach and getting the word out, it is a shame they don't even provide grants for outreach work nor rooms for veterans to use when attending VA RAC GWI meetings. Nor do they encourage interaction and sharing of important health care providers and research being done at annual type meeting for Gulf War Researchers both Civilian and VA. Much less having Civilian and VA Providers also involved fully in caring for Gulf War Veterans. There is a need for these type meetings and meetings should be open to veterans. These meetings also need videoconferencing live and archived and available openly on the internet!

Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a rateable condition by the VA that falls under gulf war illness. The gulf war veterans also have a researcher at VA Minneapolis, Dr Ron Bach studying Hypercoagulation in Gulf War Illness. So the following news article on medical research today on Blood clots and Inflammatory Bowel diseases/disorders needs to be circulated to the Gulf War Veterans and to the health care providers and researchers that are concerned about our gulf war veterans 1990-91. The take home highlights of the article are in Bold and underlined to draw your attention to what is the most important items in the research.

As we look at twenty years since the Gulf War 1990-91/Operation Desert Storm the writer has to wonder have we made headway? The writer wants the President, the VA, the DOD, the legislators both US Senators and Representatives to hear from the veterans that counted on our government to do the right thing morally and ethically. If we had really been tuned into the history of the veterans of World War 1, Atomic Veterans, and Agent Orange Veterans we would not have been so deceived. Maybe the All Volunteer Force would not have been reality. Maybe a draft would still be in affect. But the troops felt it a DUTY, A Sacred Duty to serve their country. They were well educated and trained. Many were college graduates, almost all had completed high school and had a beginning on college level education, in total a different profile than the Vietnam Veterans. Many had families with military traditions and service.

The aim to tie the story of environmental hazards to all that have been concerned from the patient sufferers be it civilian or military, to the lead Senator that exposed the Plight of the Gulf War Veterans in 1994(Senator Reigle), to the doctors that cared to try to answer the needs despite government interference, to the researchers that are finally now being funded thanks to the Gulf War Veterans efforts, and to the government agencies that were to have our backs but that have interfered and delayed help to those that need it the most. This not a story about whiners, this is the investigative report that covers the science and the research that has taken over 20 years to finally have an awakening that millions are truly sufferring.

It has been 20 years and many gulf war veterans have died. Hundreds of thousands, close to 1/2 of all gulf war veterans have made claims to the VA and they wait years for help to continue to be able to even live above the poverty level. The war in Iraq is over and it is time for full transparency in this government and it will not happen without action by every veteran that ever served, their family members, their friends, and civilians that say they support the troops. Time to prove it!

Depleted Uranium use since Operation Desert Storm is not just a health issue for Gulf War Veterans in the US but all coalition forces and endemic populations that are left to deal with the affects for billions of years. This is an international issue that has seen the UN and WHO involved.

How long does it take to get a decision to help a veteran that is alive, how many times back through the system to get the correct decision, and then how long does a surviving widow have to plead the case to fulfill the promises made to veterans by this government! So I call now for sustained action by all veterans, their family members, their friends, and the citizens of this country...Show it through twitter activity every day!

Parkinson's Disease has been an issue of concern for Vietnam Veterans but the concern on pesticide (organophosphates) exposure and Gulf War Veterans should be tracked closely for rate of occurrence in the next generation of veterans. Developments in this research also highlights the need to examine mitrochrondial damage in the Gulf war veterans.

Depleted Uranium focus on the hill yet again. Below is the only bill right now on the hill in DC that has been introduced. Our job now is to communicate with our elected representatives in DC to ask them to get on board and join as cosponsors!

For years I have tracked those that were nondeployed and talked to hundreds of these veterans. As I also communicate with civilian groups with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and Chronic Fatigue/ME I wonder if the civilian sufferers have looked as closely as possibly as they should have at vaccines and environmental triggers. There are huge numbers of civilians suffering and they have their own groups and Advisory Committee. Dr Klimas is one of the researchers that has taken a lead role for civilians and the gulf war veterans at the University of Miami and the Miami VA. She is a researcher that is pushing ahead and all of us need to keep an eye on her research in both fields.

Encourage all the Veterans to get on facebook and form unit pages NOW. Use the Social Medium! List OIF/specific unit/location. Start now to reform your units virtually, do health surveys, use your military organization skills ie admin, family support, intel officer, communications, Claims help, referral network, and etc. Find all your unit members now. Put up surveys that can be done and compiled to take forward to the hill and to the media. It is time you all come together because the WAR AFTER THE WAR is more brutal that you can imagine!

So much is going on behind the scenes and time to update all American Citizens and especially the Gulf War/Desert Storm Veterans. It has been 20 years and there are battle lines on the isue of Gulf War illness not just in the US but with each coalition force that were part of the Coalition that went to Saudi/Iraq 1990-91. But with the US government being the main Log Jam to getting information out.

What is needed now is an urgency in medical care and clear cut solutions to the VA claims for the total group of gulf war veterans. Not endless investigations that go now where to addressing the critical need for action to get their claims through and at the same time a true need for the best medical diagnosis and care and treatment. Which includes using the best cutting edge medical work now. The effort at UTSW Medical Center in Dallas was stopped at a critical junction. Efforts to get the truth on how many cancers and what types that the gulf war veterans are enduring and dying from NOW is needed for the medical care providers and the veterans. The same can be said for how many have died or experienced cardiac infarctions, cardiac surgery, stroke data, DVT data, pulmonary embolism, renal problems, GI diagnostic data, Liver diagnostic data, respiratory system data, and the rest of all the diagnostic illnesses is needed now!

Gulf War Veterans Came Home Ill But NO One Knew Why...... The American people, thinking it was such a fast war, there would be...

Most recent published pilot research project on Gulf War Illness by combined research between University of Miami, Miami VA and University of Alberta in Canada is showing a complex disorder involving the nervous, endocrine and immune regulation systems points stronger to an auto immune component to Gulf War Illness. This was a small pilot study to test their hypothesis which involved 9 Gulf War Veteran and 11 control subjects, but it does appear to confirm their connection. It also boost the gulf war veterans that this is indeed REAL. Autoimmune disorders can involve the total of body systems and the list of autoimmune disorders are quite numerous.

The results are out from the DOD Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program on Gulf War Illness for the 2010 funded studies. These are the list of those studies that have passed the two panel review process. Details will come as they progress to actually getting the funding and getting set up to proceed. Sometimes that can take several months or more. Our congratulations to the researchers and their institutions for their applications to receive funding consideration. The list of researchers and institutions :

Gulf War Veterans 1990-91/ Desert Storm Veterans that are suffering from gulf war illness are searching for answers and only through their own continual push to find answers has there been a response at all from their government. Through their efforts a law was passed to get the Veterans Affairs Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illness which meets February 28- March 1 in Washington DC. Their efforts have led to the push for research into biomarkers, the best diagnostic tools, and possible treatment modalities for their illnesses. Dr Bach at the Minneapolis Va has been busy examining their blood for clues and has found some clues and has found so far they have a low level chronic coagulation activation problem. Dr Martin Pall in Washington State is working on oxidative stress as a problem in chronic fatigue, gulf war illness and other undiagnosed illnesses. Dr Bach's research continues and publication of his findings are eagerly awaited. The VA RAC GWI has also reviewed the chronic inflammatory nature of these illnesses at their last meeting in Boston.

Organophosphate (OP) nerve agents such as sarin, soman, tabun, and O-ethyl S-[2-(diisopropylamino) ethyl] methylphosphonothioate (VX) do not react solely with acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Evidence suggests that cholinergic-independent pathways over a wide range are also targeted, including serine proteases. These proteases comprise nearly one-third of all known proteases and play major roles in synaptic plasticity, learning, memory, neuroprotection, wound healing, cell signaling, inflammation, blood coagulation, and protein processing.

On the 28Th February 2011 at 10am, many veterans and supporters will be marching from the Union Jack Club, Sandell Street, Waterloo to Old Palace Yard, Westminster. This is to highlight the injustice suffered thus far by the Veterans of the 1990/1991 Gulf War. We believe the successive Governments since the end of the war until this anniversary (exactly 20 years to the day) have engaged with the Ministry Of Defence in denial and word play to negate proper testing, treatment and compensation for thousands who are blatantly ill, many with identical and similar conditions to each other and US Veterans of the same conflict. We need access to independently run chromosome tests; bone marrow depleted uranium tests; mercury testing; organo-phosphate testing and immune deficiency testing.

What does Gulf War Veterans and Super Bowl Have in Common? Twenty years ago our military active duty and reservists placed on active duty and many reserve units working on mandays/active duty time for reserve manning stateside, in route flying missions, overseas in Europe and other middle east countries, and at home bases were all doing their sworn duty for the United States Military. They remember where they were and the Super Bowl in 1991, the question is does the American Public at large remember them? We remember the scud alarms going off on that day vividly. When they came home they were reporting in ill but America did not hear much and if they did it was just because they happenned to hear something on the news on television occassionally or occassionally saw something in the newspaper. America was busy and may have missed one of the largest stories of the need for veterans in its modern history.