[Peace-discuss] Call to action

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

Please see www.traprockpeace.org  and help now. We are running out of time. 
War means death, injuries, and illnesses no games just death, injuries, and 
illnesses. As to all of the other programs we may want to focus on and 
resolve if war happens they will not be any $$ anyway.  During the last few 
weeks as I crisscrossed this country speaking to stop this damn war it was 
obvious too many individuals as shown in the News Gazette poll think this 
will be a cakewalk. Gulf War I casualties prove otherwise. 

Gulf War I casualties are the model and we must prevent this again. 

doug rokke
Vietnam War and Gulf War vet. 

VA Data Confirms Massive Delayed Gulf War I Casualties

By Denise Nichols

The National Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans Coalition announces its analysis 
of the latest Department of Veterans Affairs Release of Data entitled "May 
2002 Gulf War Veterans Information System" in this point paper presentation. 
(The actual DVA report can be accessed by clicking on the hyperlink here.) 
The data released is startling in the numbers of Gulf War casualties twelve 
years after Operation Desert Storm. The analysis leads to a call for urgent 
action as our troops again are deploying to the Persian Gulf Region.

This is a perilous time for our nation and lessons learned as a consequence 
of the 1990-91 conflict have not been utilized to optimize combat readiness 
and medical care.  

Critical Points revealed by the data presented in the report are highlighted 
below.

1. As demonstrated in the summary table in the Executive Summary, when you 
look at the "conflict" column, which means service during Operation Desert 
Shield and Operation Desert Storm, 82 percent of the troops that participated 
in the Gulf War are eligible for VA benefits:

* 36 percent of eligible veterans have already filed claims, which is an 
astronomical number in comparison to claims filed after earlier wars. (This 
in fact is our reported casualty rate from the Gulf War).

* 11 percent of the veterans that have applied for care have been denied.  

* And of 6 percent who submitted claims for undiagnosed illnesses, 73 percent 
have been denied help in direct contradiction of the law President Bush 
signed into affect on 27 December 2001 (which the VA has failed to write 
regulations to enact that law eight months later).

2. In the same summary chart, there is another interesting development. When 
you look at the "Gulf War era" veteran that did not serve in theater of war, 
a full 57 percent are now eligible for veteran status, of which 28 percent of 
those eligible have applied for VA help, and 82 percent of those that have 
applied have received VA claims approval (era) vs. 76 percent (war veterans). 
One must ask why this is occurring.  Are the "era" veterans showing a higher 
rate due to any number of factors to include the utilization of anthrax 
vaccine causing illness-related casualties from active service?  Is there a 
potential for other causes from secondary vector sources?   Is there a 
discrimination between actual war veterans and those that did not serve in a 
war zone? Is there a lack of accountability for caring for our Gulf War 
veterans, and if so why?


3. During the war there were 467 wounded in action, 148 battle deaths, and 
145 non-battle deaths. That means we had a 0 .1 percent casualty rate in the 
war as compared to a confirmed postwar casualty rate of 27.7 percent.  

* means 1/10 percent  .1 or 0.1%

Consequently during any future wars, government leaders must consider not 
only the wartime casualties, but all casualties that manifest for years 
afterwards. This means we must reconsider if we truly won round one of the 
Gulf Conflict in 1991. Although the numbers of service-connected deaths 
included in the May 2002 data is considered "raw data" we must be concerned. 
The public should know that these figures are most likely incomplete and 
would probably be low in comparison to reality. The deaths reported in the VA 
study do not include deaths of those Gulf War veterans who died after leaving 
the service and who did not apply for VA medical care.  

We call on the leaders of this country to utilize death data from all sources 
to determine the true death rate.

Nevertheless, in one of the charts in Section 5 of this report, the death 
rate for conflict veterans is now at 1 percent. This has occurred in less 
than 12 years. The death rate for era veterans is 0.7 percent. The death rate 
for deployed was 9.15 percent. The death rate for all who served in theater 
is 0.5 percent. This data is deeply concerning because it is an incomplete 
count and occurred in a healthy population (physically fit cohort 
population). Our soldiers are healthier than the general population or they 
would not have been or still be deployed for combat duty.  

We call for comparisons to be made with the death rate of the normal 
population of the same age group nationally.

Our nation as we approach another round in the Gulf War must know what all 
the costs of war will be, not only for the direct time of conflict but for 
the years following the war.

4. Looking at data provided for the Saudi base at Al Jubayl reveals the 
following data:  

* A 1.6 percent death rate for Al Jubayl veterans that have sought VA help.  

* Casualty rate for Al Jubayl veterans is 33 percent.   

* 18 percent of those that have requested VA assistance have been denied 
assistance.  

* 18 percent that are service-connected are not receiving compensation or 
pensions.  

* 18 percent have been told they are not service-connected.   

* 54 percent of the claims were for undiagnosed illnesses.   

* 70 percent of the claims for undiagnosed illness have been denied.

These figures look at one specific area of the war zone that had known Scud 
[missile] attacks with verified exposures. These figures show that the law 
signed by President Bush on 27 December 2001 has not been implemented a full 
eight months after the law was enacted.

* 49.8% percent of the Al Jubayl veterans that applied for VA medical care 
are not receiving any help.  

Calculation:   (SC 10% no compensation or pension, SC 0% no compensation or 
pension, NSC no pension, NSC UDX Illness-no pension) divided by those that 
filed claims 
 
And 18 percent of the veterans are being denied a rightful service connection 
for undiagnosed illnesses.  In addition,
25% are NSC with no pension.  If you combine both of these would amount to 
42%.

This in a known contaminated location of the war zone and with confirmed scud 
exposures.  Many of these veterans were the Seabees that have been in Dr 
Robert Hailey's study in Dallas, Texas.  This is totally and completely 
unacceptable for these veterans to be denied assistance from the VA. And thus 
why we are calling for the Service connection decision be reevaluated 
immediately in these veteran.  The VA should have all cases at AL Jubayl 
re-rated and service connected immediately.  These veterans need help and 
financial assistance without furth delay, after all it has been 11 years 
since they returned as WAR Heroes!

* Over half of their claims are for undiagnosed illnesses and 70 percent of 
those filing for undiagnosed illness have been denied in direct disregard of 
the law signed by President Bush.  

America needs to care for Round One casualties of the Gulf War before we 
begin Round Two.

5.   The Data on Compensation and pension clearly shows we have a 36 percent 
reported after-the-fact casualty rate(ranging from 36% conflict, 28%theater, 
33% deployed, 28% era, 18% total).

 VA has confirmed a 27 percent casualty rate.  (ranging from 27% conflict, 22 
% theater ,26%  deployed,  23% era  , 24% total) 

WE believe this shows a mixed exposure to a number of different factors, that 
can not truly give us a single silver bullet-cause!  It is a combined and 
mixed exposure pattern.




Details: 

* 11 percent of Gulf War veterans have been denied assistance after 
requesting assistance. (Range 13.8% for Conflict and 8.37% being theater)

* 11 percent of the veterans have been denied service connection, with the 
highest denial of service connection  being conflict veterans(13%) and lowest 
percentage (8%) being theater.

* 27 percent of those casualties were service-connected but are not receiving 
any financial assistance from the VA or DoD.  

Again, this data clearly shows an alarming casualty rate 11 years after Round 
One in the Gulf. And again, we have not cared for the casualties fully. At 
the time of the Gulf War in 1990-91, the VA stated emphatically that it was 
ready to provide care for the Gulf War veterans, but this data does not prove 
that point.

6. The data provided in Section 5 of the VA Report concerning Gulf War 
veterans shows data on undiagnosed illnesses statistics. In analysis, it 
shows:

A. Undiagnosed illness   

Claimed in war - 2 percent

Served in theater - 0.3 percent

All Deployed - 1.4 percent

This shows that many Gulf War vets have not utilized the undiagnosed illness 
category which could mean either that their illnesses are being diagnosed or 
that the service officers and the veterans are unfamiliar with the 
utilization of this method of applying for a claim.  It is interesting that 
no data have been provided on era veterans that are experiencing undiagnosed 
illnesses.

B.  Denial Rate

* 73 percent of those that served in actual war have been denied;   

* 84 percent of those who served in theater have been denied, and 

* 74 percent denied for all deployed.   

This data again show the lack of implementing the newest law for Gulf War 
veterans a full eight months after it was signed into law.

 

C. For those who served in the war, 1.9 percent were granted service 
connection for undiagnosed illnesses, but receive no compensation or pension.

D. 73 percent have been rated non-service-connected, 29 percent 
service-connected that applied, and 48 percent who are service-connected or 
non-service-connected receive no compensation or pension.

E. For those who served in theater, 15 percent were service-connected, and 84 
percent were non-service-connected. Fifty-one percent who were 
service-connected or non-service-connected receive no compensation or pension.

F. For all those deployed, 25 percent were service-connected and 74 percent 
non-service-connected. Forty-eight percent of those deployed who were 
service-connected or non-service connected receive no compensation or pension.

Discussion Comments:

This data shows the need to call on the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony 
Principi to immediately implement regulations to meet his lawful duty 
concerning public law. It also calls on the need for training of Veteran 
Service Officers to be aware of the undiagnosed illnesses [provision] and the 
means of addressing that component in their claims submissions.   

This data also calls for the review of why veterans are not receiving 
compensation when they have been rated, and this should be included in future 
reports.  

There also appears to be a need to address and review the issue of service 
connection. Service connection is very important to veterans. How do they 
really know if it is service connected or not? The criteria for this decision 
factor needs to be reviewed and critiqued!

It is critically important to realize this data provided is from April 2002, 
a full five months ago.

Additional comments on the data include the lack of data on cancer rates, the 
lack of recommendations on deficiencies noted by the VA to show a proactive 
spirit in helping veterans, the timeliness of the report shows a three-month 
delay in release of this data a direct breaking of the laws that have been in 
place for several years. When will we have the most up-to-date figures? Where 
is the data for the August report?

An important factor to be considered in reviewing all the data provided is 
that this is incomplete data, many veterans are still ill and unreported. 
This is directly due to the lack of assistance and outreach to meet their 
needs when they are ill and need assistance. 

 

An astonishing factor hidden in the data in the VA's report is that those who 
were deployed after the war into theater are ill also! They have received 
anthrax vaccine and oral polio vaccine, they have been exposed to the theater 
of operations that was contaminated by chemicals and depleted uranium.  The 
press and the nation wonders why are the Arabs, Moslems mad and attacking the 
United States? Well, has anyone figured it out, they are ill from exposures 
from the war! Think about the parallel with Agent Orange exposure and the 
Vietnamese - we all know the birth defects and cancer rates that the 
Vietnamese had to live with after Vietnam. There is a battle going on now to 
get the U.S. government to help the Vietnamese in relationship to Agent 
Orange. The data also shows that era veterans are ill but at a lower level. 
Fifty-seven percent of the era veterans are now eligible to apply for VA care 
and out of that a whooping 28 percent have filed claims. How does this 
compare with era veterans of the Vietnam War, and if it is disproportional 
then why? Era veterans have also been vaccinated and experienced secondary 
exposure from returning equipment and personnel. ERA veterans may have served 
in the Gulf area during the [1980-88] Iran-Iraq War or the lead-up to the 
Gulf War and they may also be the veterans that were serving in Israel which 
was hit by Scuds during the war (that group does not fit into the definition 
of being in the Gulf theater.)

Civilians - meaning service personnel wives and children - have reported in 
ill but no data has been provided on that! These service personnel sent home 
items from the Gulf and then returned, themselves and more equipment after 
the war.

Members of the same units, who did not go to the war but dealt with returning 
equipment from the Gulf have reported ill.

Civilians at the port sites that work with the equipment returning from the 
Gulf have reported in ill. Their families have also experienced health 
problems.

Remember, diseases and exposures travel by vectors and a vector can be 
equipment or personnel.  

Remember also that the report just covers the U.S. casualties that have 
reported into the VA and DoD and not those that have utilized civilian 
sources. Remember also the data does not include coalition nations' soldiers 
health data.

Gulf War veteran groups have tried for over 12 years to get the DoD, VA, 
Congress and several administrations to admit their lack of accountability 
and to apply lessons learned to improve the medical care of injured and ill 
combat veterans.  

The civilian public is no better prepared because of this lack of utilizing 
lessons learned by the military. Doctors and researchers that have seen the 
reality of Gulf War Illness have desperately tried to help but have been 
ignored and attacked professionally. A handful of these doctors and 
researchers try desperately to get the message out in any way possible but 
they are prevented from actually helping the nation.  

 

The control exerted by the government in money (research fund control) and 
control of universities, hospitals, and medical associations is truly a 
spider's web to prevent the knowledge from being distributed.  The VA 
Department of Defense do not educate their physicians on Gulf War Illness, 
nor participate in true research (because the contributing factors have been 
denied by the DoD), nor provide true treatment options. They exert control to 
keep the Gulf War veterans trapped and dying. So, how can the civilian 
medical world even grasp this area of medicine when the government exerts 
overwhelming control?  This data needs to also be correlated with known gas 
mask and MOPP suit deficiencies documented by the GAO in order to assess 
whether our troops are adequately prepared and protected for Round Two in the 
Gulf.

Homeland Security needs to pay attention to the lessons learned by the Gulf 

War Veterans.  If we continue to fail to provide medical care for previous 
combat casualties, how can we expect any of our nation's sons or daughters to 
willfully participate in combat in the future? As we watch yet another group 
of warriors prepare once more for war in the Persian Gulf, we know that 
existing force protection, medical care, and reporting accountability 
deficiencies have not been resolved.  

Urgent Recommendations:

We call for immediate joint hearings involving both the Senate and the House 
to resolve the urgent needs of Gulf War I veterans. Hearings need to also 
determine the combat readiness of our current force and the allocation and 
use of medical resources to meet anticipated future needs. We owe this as a 
nation to those combat veterans who have and will defend our cherished 
freedoms. 

We call for Secretary of Veterans Affairs Principi to immediately implement 
the Public Law signed by President Bush on 27 December 2001.  

We call on Secretary Principi to address the comments on the missing data 
regarding cancers and diagnosed illnesses in Gulf War veterans and to 
demonstrate a proactive stance in finally meeting the needs of Gulf War 
veterans from Round one. 

We call on Secretary Principii to make public what improvements have been 
made in the past 12 years, to prove that the VA is truly ready for Round Two 
in the Persian Gulf.  

We call for Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld to preserve any data 
collected in the past 12 years since the 1990-91 Gulf War. We call for 
Secretary Rumsfeld to report on what really happened in Round one of the Gulf 
War.  

WE request for the Secretary of the VA to immediately review the ratings and 
service connection determinations for the veterans who served at Al Jubayl.



WE call for an immediate review and release of Data on
Undiagnosed illness in All Deployed and ERA Veterans.

We call for an immediate review of service members families reporting 
undiagnosed illnesses.

We call for the Public Health Service to evaluate Civilians that have been 
reporting undiagnosed illnesses after being in contact with 
Equipment/personnel from the gulf War.

We call for the Inspector General to take IMMEDIATE Action to Insure 
Implementation of the Public Law Signed by President Bush on 27 December 2001.

WE call for Immediate Training of ALL DOD and VA physicians in regards to 
Hazardous Materials Exposures  by qualified physicians and researchers 
including DR Hailey.

We call on Secretary Rumsfeld to report on how the armed services will treat 
the next round of casualties from the Persian Gulf.

Nichols, a Gulf War veteran and retired U.S. Air Force Reserve major, is Vice 
Chairman of the National Vietnam Veteran and Gulf War Veterans Coalition. She 
can be reached at DSNurse at aol.com

Statistical notes:
**post war confirmed casualty rate (no of claims granted divided by estimated 
veterans)(Calculation not including raw data on deaths) =27.7%