SISTER SOLDIER: A CHAPLAIN'S TOUR WITH CANCER ~ BY R. B. STUART

“WELCOME HOME:” Newly Wed Iraq War Vet Battles Cancer Pleads for Bone Marrow

2011-01-23T13:42:00.012-05:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq

By R. B. STUART
Post XXIII

In October 2010 I was contacted by a reporter for War News Radio out of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania (an award-winning production that fills the gaps in the media's coverage of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan). The student assigned a piece about depleted Uranium [DU] in Iraq and it's effect on Iraqi's and American troops, queried me as well as other specialists for an interview. Except, after three months it still hasn’t aired. Why, the reporter informed, ‘the production of the DU piece has been delayed. Reason being, is the difficulty of finding sources that want to talk about the issue….’

So much for American free speech…. Even though we’re two years away from The Bush Administration---The Patriot Act backlash and censorship erected by the former president post 9/11, continues to intercept freedom of speech reporting. In essence, the discredit of appearing unpatriotic has lacerated the psyche of the top U.S. publications of today. While the U.K. and International Press openly reports on; the U.S. military’s usage of DU in the War in Iraq, cancer amongst Iraqi civilians and military from other nations, (from inhalation and ingestion of DU dust)---our own press fearfully sidesteps.

The International Press’ daring of the U.S. military or DoD’s retribution, has allowed them to responsibly question the carcinogens of DU, and acknowledge the radiation (particulate matter)/cancer studies that have persistently surfaced since 2003. Meanwhile, the DoD buries their head in the yellow sand---as more and more U.S. soldiers are diagnosed with rare, aggressive cancers post-Iraq. The mainstream media’s incessant underreporting of the dire issue---cripples their pursuit of truth. (cancer statistics remain classified and is evident in the December 2010 Army Times article cited at the bottom).

Army Specialist Austin Monk [pictured throughout] never imagined he wouldn’t be able to complete his 12-month tour in Iraq. The Dallas, Texas native joined the Army in October 2007 at the age of 18. “My sentiments about the Army early on and now, are a sense of pride and honor in what I do and how I live on a daily basis. I love how children look up to me as a role model, especially my nephew, Damien,” the 21 year-old said December 2010 from Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. “I love the Army and pray that I will someday return to full Active Duty.”

In 2007, his affection for the Dallas Cowboys, video games, and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese followed him to Ft. Leonard, Missouri for three months of Basic Training. That December, while on holiday leave Spc. Monk took a Greyhound Bus to NYC. He noticed a gorgeous brunette with high cheekbones standing in line at Philadelphia station. They snuck glances at one another unaware they would be on the same bus. “He looked so cute in his uniform. I hoped we were traveling to the same place,” recalled Laura Rose who was heading to the city to visit friends.

When Spc. Monk took his seat he observed the hazel-eyed beauty step on. “I actually moved my bags,” he remembered. She sat down next to him and struck up a conversation by asking if he wanted to use her blanket. “It was already hot on the bus and she offered me this flimsy blanket. You know the ones they give you at the airport if you apply for a credit card. I looked at her like she was crazy, and we began talking.”

“It was as if we’d known each other forever---like this “one” would change our life,” Laura reminisced. “And when we approached the city we exchanged numbers, except he claimed he didn’t know his and I thought how lame, he’s trying to pull a fast one. So I gave him mine and we went our separate ways.”

In January 2008 after completing basic training, Spc. Monk spent another two months in advanced training at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. After three months telephoning one another Laura went to see him graduate March 2008. “It was only the second time I’d ever seen him. And that weekend we said “I love you” to each other and he proposed.” Shortly after, Spc. Monk received orders for his first Call of Duty to Korea for a one-year tour.

Eight months later, November 2008, Spc. Monk used his two-week leave to visit his 21 year-old fiancé in Philadelphia. “It was wonderful,” she exclaimed. “We spent time together and grew more as a couple.” [the couple above]

He returned to Korea, then four months later when his deployment ended the Army Spc. came home to Ft. Bragg with the 3/319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment. And within four days the young couple wed March 2009.

“After we were married, I moved to Ft. Bragg while he was at JRTC in Louisiana,” his wife informed. “Those four months together before he re-deployed were rough, we didn’t know how to be married and often fought.”

The 20 year-old Army Field Artillery Surveyor was healthy and vibrant. “My husband hadn’t been sick once in the time I’ve known him. He was physically active and in great shape,” she stated.

By late summer, Spc. Monk received new orders to re-deploy August 2009 from Pope Air Force Base, N.C. to Al Asad, Iraq. He trained for two weeks at Camp Taqaddum learning to drive ambush vehicles before settling into camp Al Asad Air Base (both camps are listed burn pit sites with S.C. law firm, Motley Rice, who are defending a class action suit of over 500 cancer stricken soldiers).

“There was a burn pit at Al Asad, but as far as I know, I had minimal exposure,” the unaware soldier mentioned. Then about a month into the deployment he complained of headaches and all over body pain. “Every time I spoke to him he was either too tired or working, so we just chalked it up to stress,” his wife Laura Monk explained.

On October 24, 2009, Spc. Monk posted a myspace message: “Had a 104.5 temperature and other stuff hurt. Come to find out, I’m not that sick, may have just caught a bug. I’m taking medication to keep my temp down and have a check up with the doctor tomorrow. I’m fine so there is no reason for you to worry. I love you lots and miss you bunches.”

“Once he developed aches and pains throughout his body they didn’t stop. The headaches turned into migraines that couldn’t be controlled. He had fevers, chills and sweats,” Laura recounted.

His Lactate Dehydrogenase [LDH] enzymes were elevated can signal a tissue break down in the body; a result of cancer, liver disease, or other infections. “He was treated with Tylenol, and when his temperature decreased, he was released with a decongestant and Motrin,” she added. “But the frequencies of his headaches, the abdominal pain, as well as the Upper Respitory Infection [URI] remained.”

The medics in theatre thought it could be Tuberculosis or Mono, but instead passed it off as the young soldiers wisdom teeth and sent him to the dentist on November 6th. Except after the appointment the symptoms persisted, the URI worsened and he developed insomnia. In two weeks; headaches, shortness of breath, loss of physical activity, diarrhea, constipation, rash, nose bleeds, fever, poor appetite, weight loss and stomach pain riddle his once healthy body.

The soldier reported a 5-10 pound weight drop, and increasing abdominal pain was affecting his breathing. By November 10th he was admitted to the ER in theatre with anemia, thrombocytopenia (low platelets) and fever. With his LDH elevated to 4,011, Spc. Monk was scheduled for medEvac to Germany.

On Veteran’s Day November 11th after a battery of tests, the doctors in Landstuhl were concerned it was Leukemia, and transferred him to a civilian hospital in Germany to confirm which type. At Homburg University Hospital [HUH] three doctors concurred the 20 year-old soldier had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia [ALL], and treatment was urgent.

“I was angry, surprised and in disbelief,” Spc. Monk grieved. “I had a fear of the future, and of the unknown.” His HUH roommate was another American soldier with ALL also stationed in Iraq at Basra.

Concerned, his wife called Landstuhl hospital. “They told me he was transferred to Homburg and gave me the number. I remember pacing the living room on hold when a nurse came to the phone and said, ‘I'm sorry, your husband has Leukemia.’” Laura confessed, “My stomach dropped. I felt like I was going to throw up. I remember collapsing to the floor and curling up into a ball in the middle of the hallway. I was scared. I felt at that very moment my world was about to end.” Adding, “My first reaction was denial. But I was more angry at myself for being mad at him for missing my birthday.”

His wife displeased at the way it was handled, and rightly so, was frantic wondering how he was coping alone in a hospital in another country. “It was unimaginable to know he was given a cancer diagnosis without anyone by his side. When we spoke by phone the floodgates opened and we cried together. I tried to console him that everything would be okay, and I’d be there soon. But my main concern was keeping him calm.”

Laura Monk commends the Army for transporting her to his bedside within four days. “I hadn’t seen him in three months. When I arrived he was sweaty, unkempt and hairy---but he was alive and hugging me. We were very emotional. Hearing him cry was the saddest weeping I’d ever encountered.”

The Monk’s unable to surmise what factor played a role in his diagnosis with a sudden, aggressive cancer. Laura reasoned, “We could ponder and cry until we figure it out, but we can’t change it, all we can do it is move forward. We may never know the answers.”

Although the language barrier was difficult, the liaisons made certain her daily hospital commute was effortless. She met several families at the Fisher House, and realized that her husband was alive, and had all his limbs, so why be distraught. “These families could be here to say goodbye to their service member and I’m crying over cancer?”

Part of his chemotherapy treatment was in stages spanning over two years; Induction, Consolidation and Maintenance. While Spc. Monk was undergoing two rounds of induction chemotherapy and one round of cranial radiation, they took long walks together and talked about their past and future. Grieving about what could have been if just one thing had been different. “We have become more appreciative of one another, expressing it every day. With the help of a social worker, we've learned how to communicate without yelling and fighting,” Laura admitted.

They decorated his room for Christmas making a wrapping paper chain that counted down the days---which changed frequently. After two and a half months in Germany and completing induction therapy, they flew by military aircraft C-17 and C-130 to Walter Reed Army Medical Center [WRAMC] in D.C. “The journey in Germany taught us that life is short and being there with the ones you love make it worthwhile. We are both appreciative for the treatment at Homburg---they saved him,” Laura said gratefully.

In February 2010, Spc. Monk received another round of chemotherapy at WRAMC but the young couples secondary concern was future children. “You anticipate your soldier going to war and pray they return safely. But you certainly don't expect them to come home mid-tour on a C-130 because they have cancer,” Laura confided. They applaud the WRAMC medical team and social worker, Stacee Springer for helping them receive a grant from the Walter Reed Society, and having the ability to freeze sperm at the Fairfax Cryobank in VA. “If I lose him, I will never be a mother to anyone-else's children,” she insisted.

Soon after, Spc. Monk requested he be transferred to North Carolina, Chapel Hill’s Cancer Hospital [UNC] so they could finally be home. WRAMC accommodated him and UNC began eight rounds of consolidation chemotherapy, putting his Leukemia into remission before proceeding with a bone marrow transplant [BMT]. In November 2010, the final month of consolidation they prepared a trip to Texas to visit his mother for Thanksgiving, instead they ended up in the ER. Spc. Monk was experiencing pain in his left arm where his port was. After an ultrasound they located a blood clot in his limb. They admitted him intercepting the holiday with his mother.

Within days his doctor approved the trip, but while enroute the familiar symptoms he experienced in Germany a year before---resurfaced. When they returned from Texas he was admitted for two final rounds of chemo, but when his doctor and nurse stepped into the room, they weren’t their jovial selves. They reported the discouraging news that the Leukemia relapsed, and his BMT would be suspended. At the end of December his LDH doubled since Iraq to 8,000.

It was imperative the cancer be in remission before they move forward with a BMT, but that meant a new round of induction therapy, and locating a donor. His odds would decrease each time if a remission wasn’t successful. The January 6th 2011 bone marrow biopsy confirmed he is not in remission. His doctors ordered another round of a different drug anticipating to will force the Leukemia into remission and assist with the leg pain that developed.

Spc. Monk’s dreams are simple, and still in tact; be cancer-free, go to college, start a family, take a honeymoon, and possibly go downrange again, as he feels robbed of his Iraq deployment. Heartsick to discover his only brother in the Navy, was a fifty-percent match for the BMT, now, while awaiting remission and hopes of a transplant, he sleeps when he can, cherishes being with his family, especially their 13-week old Saint Bernard, Nanna. “I wish I could go back to the way things were pre-deployment….with the attitude I have now,” the courageous 22 year-old soldier disclosed. “Once I stopped making girls fit into my life, I found the perfect one.”

“Like the marriage vows…besides loving him, I’m happy to be caring for him,” shared the newlywed. But she’s troubled by the inability of some friends to accept the cancer and be supportive---aware that half of the diagnosis is the immense support system. “A majority of our friends have fallen away, but the ones that stuck by, we are immensely indebted to. ” She mourned, “It stings because while he was sick, all he wanted was to be with them in Iraq. They called a handful of times, but ultimately, were not the friends we thought they were.” Disheartened with his unit, with the exception of presenting him with the Army’s Accommodation Medal----haven’t contacted him.

The Warrior Transition Brigade at Ft. Bragg have been outstanding in their care and advocacy during Spc. Monk’s cancer treatments. medicine grabber, family updater Monk. There is no doubt in my mind you met Austin the time you did and were married the time you did to help him through this. I truly believe you're his angel. God won't forget about the things you two have been through and you both will be rewarded.And the support and comfort they found early on in Landstuhl with the Chaplain and Soldiers Angels was instrumental. “They’ve all been part of this journey and without their help and guidance, we would have been lost,” Laura admits. Their family, despite living in Philadelphia, California, South Carolina and Texas have visited, with assistance of Operation First Response, and Operation Hero Miles. “It shows that no matter where you are in the world, your family is never too far away.”

In the interim, one 10/10 marrow match donor was located ….but after a January 13th bone marrow biopsy it confirmed his health has improved, but without a full remission he‘ll remain on a chemotherapy pediatric protocol for the next four weeks, then another BMT will be performed.During his arduous 14 month battle….hope for remission, and their bond, remain steadfast. Laura Monk quotes Gary Allen, “No, life ain't always beautiful, but I know I'll be fine. Hey, life ain't always beautiful….but it’s a beautiful ride.”

Kaitlyn Murphy, a friend wrote, “Love is hard, long, and feels like an endless fight but you can't stop fighting. They’ll always be in my prayers. There is no doubt she met Austin at the right time to help him through this. I truly believe she’s his angel. God won’t forget the things they have been through and will be rewarded. One day they'll enjoy just being Mr. and Mrs. Monk.”

Lastly, Laura Monk stresses, “If you’re in the UNC area you could try to donate platelets, or if you sign up at the Bone Marrow Registry and are called to donate, you could save someone’s life. Even if you’re not his match, you maybe for someone else…..”

Bone Marrow Guidelines
Visit marrow.org and register. Please fill out a questionnaire to determine if you meet the requirements. A FAQ’s tab answers concerns you may have.

Evidence of carcinogens in Iraq follows:

"Iraq, Kuwait Dust May Carry Dangerous Elements"
---Army Times
Dec. 8, 2010

Heavy Metals

Dale Griffin and Cpt. Mark Lyles analyzed dust samples taken in Iraq and Kuwait in 2004 and found a wide range of heavy metals at rates in excess of World Health Organization maximum safe exposure guidelines:

• Arsenic at 10 parts per million: poisonous and can cause long-term health effects or death.

• Chromium at 52 parts per million: linked to lung cancer and respiratory ailments.

• Lead at 138 parts per million: can lead to headaches, nausea, muscle weakness and fatigue.

• Nickel at 562 parts per million: can lead to lung cancer, respiratory issues, birth defects and heart disorders.

• Cobalt at 10 parts per million: can lead to asthma and pneumonia.

• Strontium at 2,700 parts per million: linked to cancer.

• Tin at 8 parts per million: can cause depression, liver damage, immune system and chromosomal disorders, a shortage of red blood cells, and brain damage that can lead to anger, sleeping disorders, forgetfulness and headaches.

• Vanadium at 49 parts per million: can cause lung and eye irritation, damage to the nervous system, behavioral changes and nervousness.

• Zinc at 206 parts per million: can cause anemia and nervous system disorders.

• Manganese at 352 parts per million: linked to metabolic issues, arkinson’s disease and bronchitis.

• Barium at 463 parts per million: can cause breathing problems, heart palpitations, muscle weakness, heart and liver damage.

• Aluminum at 7,521 parts per million. Aluminum was of particular concern to Lyles and Griffin because the metal has recently been linked to “multiple sclerosis and other neurological diseases.”

© COPYRIGHT December 2010, R. B. STUART. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction of this Blog in any form.

“Honoring Our Nations Veteran’s: As Cancer Stricken Soldiers Go Ignored”

2010-11-15T18:07:00.015-05:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq

By R. B. STUART

Post XXII

In the Vietnam war the U. S. Military sprayed the herbicide created by Dow Chemical, Agent Orange (also Purple, Green, Pink, White and Blue) for the improvement of road and waterway visibility and clearing camp perimeters of weeds. The military authorized its use assuring the deployed soldiers it was harmless. But reports circulated in 1964 of increased miscarriages, stillbirths and birth defects among exposed Vietnamese women and animals. In essence performing genocide on the East Asian population. By sabotaging the reproduction system of the would-be mothers---of future Red Soldiers. With 36 forms of Cancer associated to the “approved” chemical, and a 30-year incubation period---it would continue to do the U. S. Military’s handy work long after the end of the war.

Our use of carcinogenic chemicals and a cozyness with Big Pharma seems to fester during war time, as a more potent cocktail with severe adverse reactions is introduced with each war. In 1990 soldiers deployed for the Persian Gulf - Desert Storm war under Bush Senior's regime, the soldiers witnessed piles of dead animals in the desert. They were stacked into decomposing mounds five months prior to the troops arrival.

The animals weren't considered a direct threat since the soldiers weren't camped directly beside them. But the potential for breeding grounds of diseases remained. To contain the existing problem military personnel thoroughly sprayed the decaying animals with the insecticides; methyl carbamate and “Baygon” (a propxur produced by Bayer, the aspirin makers), “Sevin” (a carbaryl produced by Aventis, a French company and smallpox vaccine maker that donated close to $2 million to the Bush camp in 2000), and “Lannate” (a methomyl produced by the chemical making machine DuPont). All are listed as poisons. Our military has already chosen to die for their country---but does that include by the hand of Big Pharma too?

From their deployment, over the past twenty years Gulf War Veterans have faced an endless battle with the VA for their array of chronic health issues. Only to be pacified with an all-inclusive watered-down diagnosis of Gulf War Illness, and mediocre benefits for their exposure.

Our current Operation Iraqi Freedom [OIF] Veterans have since 2003, encountered a gamut of toxins in theatre; from the carcinogenic smoke of Burn Pits that includes feces from port-a-potty’s, to radiological exposure from inhalation or ingestion of depleted Uranium dust from spent munitions, both of which has infiltrated their camp environment, as well as the Iraqi civilians, via air, soil and water.

Without the DoD willingly coming forward with their cancer diagnoses amongst deployed soldiers, and refuting cancer as a war wound----medical doctors at the VA and other medical institutions are meeting challenges they’ve never seen before. As a percentage of soldiers are being diagnosed with rare, aggressive cancers post-deployment 4 – 36 months---that don’t fit the criteria of the illness.

Wyoming native, Cody Feeback [pictured above] joined the United States Marine Corps in 2002 at 18. The teen whose penchant for hunting, fishing, camping and spending time with his friends and family---would take second place to the Military service in which he became a devotee. “I loved the Marine Corps the friendships are like none other…it is a wonderful bond you experience with your fellow Marines,” explained SGT. Feeback whose home base from 2002 to 2005 was Camp Lejeune, N.C.

In February 2003 the 19 year-old deployed from Camp Lejeune in good health for his first tour in Kuwait, Iraq. He spent the next five months in northern Kuwait at Camp Coyote where as a Combat Engineer was in charge of Convoy Security. Like most soldiers, SGT. Feeback experienced vomiting and diarrhea in theatre, but like most soldiers deployed since 2003, was told it was normal. “I didn’t want my family to worry any more than they already were,” so SGT. Feeback never mentioned it. [on a night convoy below]

In the DoD’s own December 20, 2001 Field Manual, “Treatment of Nuclear and Radiological Causalities.” Chapter Three, page 13 outlines the radiological exposure dosages from 0 – 5 cGy being nominal and acceptable for military personnel during peacetime. But during war, if the dosages are from 75 – 300 cGy, onset in 6 hours the symptoms are headache and nausea at the low end of cGy, vomiting for the high range of cGy with an onset of 2 – 3 hours. The low range of duration is 12 hours upward to 3 – 4 days.

When diarrhea is included to the aforementioned symptoms, the cGy dosage ranges from 300 – 530. The onset of diarrhea within 2 – 6 hours with a duration of 2 – 3 weeks. There is a minimal 24-hour window after exposure to Uranium to order a urine or fecal bioassay. If ordered, those results are kept confidentially in the soldiers RER records [Radiation Exposure Records].

On Chapter Five, section I, Low Level Radiation, 5-2, B, Exposure Guidance page 5 – 1 and 5 – 2, “The risks associated with radiation exposure within the range of 5 – 75 cGy are confined primarily to the risk of increased incidence of malignant diseases, including solid tumors and leukemia.” So from their own admission, the U. S. Military is fully aware of radiation exposure of deployed troops resulting in a Cancer diagnoses, but maintain ignorance when a soldier is actually diagnosed post deployment.

SGT. Feeback’s tour ended July 2003 and returned to Camp Lejeune. He reconnected with his parents and three siblings, then in 2005 he transferred to Camp Pendleton, California. By that September he received orders to re-deploy. His second tour sent him to Fallujah, Iraq where over the next seven months he made a home at Camp Fallujah. Unaware that local doctors were recording high-rates of abnormal birth defects in Fallujah civilians.

Study Finds Iraq Littered with High Levels of Nuclear and Dioxin Contamination The Guardian UK
--Jan. 22, 2010

• Greater rates of cancer and birth defects near
sites
• Depleted uranium among poisons revealed in report

More than 40 sites across Iraq are contaminated with high levels or radiation and dioxins, with three decades of war and neglect having left environmental ruin in large parts of the country, an official Iraqi study has found.

Areas in and near Iraq's largest towns and cities, including Najaf, Basra and Falluja, account for around 25% of the contaminated sites, which appear to coincide with communities that have seen increased rates of cancer and birth defects over the past five years. The joint study by the environment, health and science ministries found that scrap metal yards in and around Baghdad and Basra contain high levels of ionizing radiation, which is thought to be a legacy of depleted uranium used in munitions during the first Gulf war and since the 2003 invasion.

So when SGT. Feeback’s tour ended in March 2006 he returned to Camp Pendleton where he awaited the completion of his stint in the USMC. And by September 21, 2006 SGT. Feeback was honorably discharged. The only thing the 23 year-old had on his mind was living a comfortable and fun life with his family, so he moved back home to Wyoming. The next two years he worked as an equipment operator until a position opened at the local VA, in their warehouse shipping and receiving. Within a month he met Roxan, and 16 months later, in March 2010 they were engaged, and prepared for a September wedding.

Then without warning in July 2010 he developed Flu-like symptoms that sent him to the Sheridan VA Medical Center. “I complained of abdominal and lower back pain, the Doctor assumed it was appendicitis and ordered a urinalysis and CT scan,” the 27 year-old informed. “But when the Doctor read the CT scan they saw a mass on the right kidney.”

Immediately they medEvac him to the Denver VA for a biopsy. “The Doctors were certain after the biopsy it was Wilms Tumor, but were perplexed since it is a pediatric kidney cancer usually found in three to six year-old children.” The following day when the urine results came back he was diagnosed with Stage III.

“At first my response was disbelief and fear for my family,” he admitted. “I don’t have any idea if I was exposed to burn pits or had depleted Uranium exposure. Even so, I don’t blame anybody for this sickness…I just don’t like putting my family through all this stress.”

Within a month his right kidney was removed. “I underwent eleven rounds of radiation and am currently going through 24 weeks of chemotherapy,” SGT. Feeback informed. “I’ve had good care at the VA, and have had a lot of support with visitors and phone calls.” [Marine Feeback below]

On September 4, 2010, while undergoing treatments, SGT. Feeback married Roxan, and after serving 4 years and 8 months in the USMC he conveyed, “I was very proud to serve my country and I would do it again.”

The dedication a majority of soldiers have for the military is palpable. And no matter what they were exposed to during deployments, the selfless, courageous men and women serve with honor and devotion never blaming….even at their own peril. And if the U. S. Military subjugates the evidence of cancer stricken soldiers in attempts to hide the environmental genocide in Iraq….then its higher ranking officials will find themselves marred in the history books, as a disloyal superpower that thoughtlessly devoured its own.

In June 2010, Doug Rokke, Ph.D. retired, U.S. Army Major commented on the predicament Operation Iraqi Freedom [OIF] Veterans and civilians of war torn countries are subjected to. “We’ve ignored what we have done to the residents of the nations. We [the U.S. Military] has invaded without justification and then trashed their country. I have come to the realization that based on history we in the military bought the notion ‘to protect,’ but who are we protecting, and from whom?”

“We in the military are simply the extension of power and greed, reality not myth. And the abandonment of our Veteran’s is because of the casualty numbers, that we ourselves are responsible.”

“I am constantly bombarded by telephone, E-mail, knocks at my door, and stopped wherever I go. Every day more Veterans or their families seek help, and suffice to say it’s becoming worse---while we continue to set-up more of the same,” concluded the disabled Veteran Doug Rokke.

UN Health Agency, Iraq Studying Birth Defects

AFP Agence France-Presse
--Oct. 5, 2010

GENEVA (AFP) – The UN Health Agency, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Iraqi authorities are carrying out a survey of birth defects in Iraq following media reports of abnormal patterns in Fallujah, a WHO spokeswoman said.

“An investigation has begun in six governorates (administrative region) of Iraq into these reports of congenital defects,” WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told journalists.

The BBC reported in March 2010 that large and growing numbers of birth defects were observed by doctors in Fallujah, a former insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad that was at the heart of some of the fiercest fighting with US forces.

Chaib said the scientific “pilot assessment” by “the Iraqi government with the help of the... WHO” began in July and would take about 18 months to complete.

The study covers Sulemaniah, Diyala, Baghdad, Dhi-Qar, Basra and Anbar province, which includes Fallujah.

It will lay out “the magnitude, distribution and trends of Congenital Birth Defects” in Iraq and establish a basis for comparison with today as well as between different parts of the country, according to the UN health agency.

Reports of health abnormalities among civilians in Iraq or soldiers who served there have sparked claims of links with special weaponry allegedly used during successive wars, including armour-busting depleted Uranium shells.

UN First Committee Sends Clear Message to Depleted Uranium Users Over Transparency

International Coalition To Ban Uranium Weapons, U.K.
--Oct. 29, 2010

The United Nations First Committee has voted, by an overwhelming margin, for state users of depleted Uranium weapons to release data on where the weapons have been used to governments of states affected by their use.

136 states voted in favor of a resolution calling on state users of depleted Uranium weapons to release quantitative and geographical data to the governments of affected states. The resolution will now go forward to the United Nations General Assembly for a second vote at the end of November 2010.

Although UN resolutions are non-binding, they are a useful means of focusing attention on key issues. In this case the ongoing failure of the US to release data on its use of depleted Uranium in Iraq and concerns over the use of the weapons in other conflicts, such as the interventions in Somalia in the mid-1990s.

The resolution was opposed by only four states - the US, UK, France and Israel. These four also voted against previous resolutions accepting that DU has the potential to damage human health (2007) and calling for more research in
affected states (2008).

CNN Audit: Military Using Potentially Harmful Methods of Burning Trash

By Adam Levine, CNN
--Oct. 15, 2010
Military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to use waste methods that expose troops to potentially toxic emissions without fully understanding the effects, according to a new government audit obtained by CNN.

Between September 2009 and October 2010, investigators from the Government Accountability Office visited four bases in Iraq and reviewed planning documents on waste disposal for bases in Afghanistan. None of the Iraq bases visited were in compliance with military regulations. All four burned plastic--which generates harmful emissions--despite regulations against doing so.
The emissions have been the source of controversy as troops have complained about a host of problems, from cancerous tumors to respiratory issues, blaming exposure to burn pits. Military officials have denied any consequential effects on most troops.
Prior to an initial outcry about the pits more two years ago, the largest base in Iraq -- Balad Air Base -- was burning everything from hazardous and medical waste to plastics, using jet fuel as accelerant, according to military documents. The smoke poured over the living quarters and the base hospital, exposing thousands of troops to the emissions.
The U.S. military generates about 10 pounds of non-hazardous waste per service member each day and "may consist of plastic, Styrofoam, and food from dining facilities; discarded electronics; shipping materials such as wooden pallets and plastic wrap; appliances; and other items such as mattresses, clothing, tires, metal containers, and furniture," the report says.
According to the report, there were 221 burn pits in Afghanistan by August and more are anticipated. Only 21 remained in Iraq and, like the troop levels there, the numbers are expected to decrease. The burn pits are operated by either the military or contractors.
While the pits have been in use since the beginning of each war, regulations and guidance were only issued in 2009 -- eight years into the Afghanistan conflict and six years after the start of the war in Iraq.
The military's attitude about the impact of the burn pits has shifted. When complaints initially arose in 2008 military officials denied there was any hazard to troops. Last year the Pentagon changed that position, declaring long-term effects for troops who had pre-existing conditions was foreseeable.
A GAO analysis of the data from the samples collected found matter named on the CENTCOM list of potentially harmful substances. Investigators found that the samples which exceeded the levels considered safe if exposed for a year mostly contained fine particles. Fine particles can embed in the lung tissue, and of particular concern is when there is prolonged exposure.
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin, who has been vocal in his concern about troops' exposure to burn pits, urged the Pentagon to restrict the use of the pits in Afghanistan. “I am deeply troubled to learn that the Defense Department has not taken simple steps, such as segregating plastics, to ensure that our troops are not exposed to harmful emissions,” Feingold said in a statement.
The acting commander of Central Command, Lt. Gen. John Allen, wrote a letter to Feingold in July saying the military is trying to eliminate the use of burn pits at bases that are active for 90 days or more and occupied by 100 personnel or more. In Iraq, Allen anticipates there will be no burn pits by December of this year. Afghanistan is more challenging, but the military is in the process of procuring “almost 200 incinerators,” he said in the letter, obtained by CNN.

Radiation, DU & Burn Pits--Iraq’s Cancer: “America’s Gift That Keeps Giving”

2010-07-10T18:33:00.005-04:00

IMAGE above: Japanese campaigners investigate a DU contaminated tank graveyard in Iraq, 2002. Credit: Naomi Toyoda

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Post XXI

Memorial Day makes us remember that no matter how many wars, generations and decades go by---we as a human race never seem to learn. The exploitation of our military is a cruel punishment our enemies don't even deserve. What “we” do to our own with radioactive weapons, and the catastrophe of environmental carcinogens left behind---makes water boarding look like shooting a beer keg at a water park.

Most heart wrenching is the disservice by the DoD for those brave and healthy men and women who join the ranks of service to protect us. To be careless with their courageous souls is incomprehensible, but that’s exactly what the U. S. does generation after generation. As they string the Veteran’s together with empty medals from Korea, to Vietnam, to the Gulf War and now Iraq and Afghanistan. Their Purple Hearts, missing limbs, PTSD and aggressive rare cancers are less about the casualties of war, and more about the severity of illnesses that emerge with each generation of deployed military.

The DoD drapes their denial with the American flag---while hiding beneath their crooked smile---vats of mustard gas, Agent Orange and depleted Uranium masked in red, white and blue lies. It is unpatriotic to question their motives, but it is also inhumane to willingly contaminate and kill your own. As this new chapter of Iraq war crimes lends itself to the horrors of science fiction….it is another black mark upon our future.

After seven years, the VA Director of Compensation and Pension Service, Bradley G. Mayes sent a training letter on April 26, 2010 to all VA Regional Offices, “Environmental Hazards in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Military Installations.” Informing regional employees on specific environmental hazard incidents that present health risks to service members and Veterans. And provide guidance on handling claims for disabilities potentially resulting from exposure to environmental hazards while on active duty. As well as “fact sheets” for VA examiners when conducting Compensation and Pension (C&P) examinations associated with such exposure.

Mayes outlined; Service members can be exposed to environmental hazards in the course of their military duties, which may result in adverse health effects. Numerous environmental hazards in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other military installations that could potentially present health risks to service members and Veterans have been identified. The hazards discussed in this training letter are as follows: (1) Large burn pits throughout Iraq, Afghanistan, and Djibouti on the Horn of Africa; (2) ”particulate matter” in Iraq and Afghanistan; (3) a large sulfur fire at Mishraq State Sulfur Mine near Mosul, Iraq; (4) hexavalent chromium exposure at the Qarmat Ali Water Treatment Plant in Basrah, Iraq; (5) contaminated drinking water at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina; and (6) pollutants from a waste incinerator near the Naval Air Facility (NAF) at Atsugi, Japan. And stressed, “It is imperative that regional office personnel are aware of these environmental health hazards and are well-trained to handle disability claims from Veterans based on exposure to them.”

In May 2006 the VA sent the letter below to, 25-year-old Army Specialist Travis Bromfield admitting to his exposure while deployed in Iraq. By September 2005 seven months into his year tour, he was diagnosed with a terminal, stage IV Poorly Differentiated Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of unknown primary, of the liver, bones, lungs, kidneys, brain and spine. Spc. Bromfield was given a two-month life expectancy, this particular cancer only occurs in patients age 55 or older. He died February 20, 2007. For him and his family, the information about the hazardous environment in Iraq was withheld, and he was unable to protect himself while deployed. But how many more have to die needlessly while the U. S. war machine burns through the Middle East?

Two international workshops/conferences on Depleted Uranium were held earlier this month at the United Nations by the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons . ICBUW’s focus has been to inform and advise policy makers and governments on the threat to human health and the environment of uranium weapons. ICBUW was formed in 2003 in Berlaar, Belgium and is based in Manchester UK.

They campaign for a ban on the use of uranium in all conventional weapons and weapon systems and for monitoring, health care, compensation and environmental remediation for communities affected by their use.

ICBUW represents more than 120 NGOs worldwide and seeks to do for uranium weapons what the International Coalition to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munition Coalition did for those types of weapons, in essence to develop a uranium weapons treaty that would prohibit the use of uranium in all conventional, i.e. non-nuclear, weapons. research projects.

An ICBUW spokesperson said: “We warmly welcomed the interest in uranium weapons shown by activists from the US and elsewhere in the world during the recent civil society NPT UN conference. Global opinion is rapidly turning against uranium weapons - something clearly seen by the UN resolutions on the issue, where 141 states accepted that uranium weapons have the potential to harm human and environmental health. In 2008, UN member states called for more research on the issue yet the US's refusal to release the firing coordinates from 1991 and 2003 is hampering this work and leading to unnecessary civilian exposures. ICBUW calls on the US government to urgently release this data to the UN and NGOs.”

Their world map of DU User Nations shows in red confirmed, grey suspected use.

The map above reflects the murky world of arms industry exports and the proliferation of DU weapons around the world.

An overview of ICBUW’s impressive timeline in the last two years highlights
the progress of their campaign:

March 2010
UK MPs accuse US military of human rights atrocity over use of toxic munitions in Fallujah.
Irish depleted uranium ban bill receives warm reception.

February 2010
Costa Rica bans production of depleted uranium weapons in their free trade zones.

January 2010
US set to discontinue depleted uranium in medium calibre ammunition.

November 2009
Netherlands Parliament approves motion for a moratorium on depleted uranium weapons.
Kiwi MP submits Members Bill calling for depleted uranium ban.
University of Vermont divests from cluster munition and depleted uranium manufacturers.

September 2009
Latin America Parliament calls for a moratorium on uranium weapons.
British jury rules that DU was likely cause of dead Gulf Veteran's colon cancer.

July 2009
The Belgian parliament votes unanimously to ban depleted uranium weapon investments.
German Bundeswehr manual challenges US and UK denials over depleted uranium in Afghanistan.

June 2009
UK Uranium Weapons Network launched as Belgium becomes first country to ban
depleted uranium weapons.

May 2009
The First International Cancer Conference held in Basrah, Iraq due to the alarming increase of cancer reports.
DU exhibition opens at Berlin's Anti-War Museum .

April 2009
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs agrees to fund ICBUW research projects.
Belgian Senate approves prohibition on financing of depleted uranium weapons.

March 2009
Costa Rica to ban depleted uranium weapons.

February 2009
UK Co-operative Bank ceases all investment in DU weapon manufacturers.

January 2009
Italy approves a 30 Million Euro for DU Compensation Package for Veterans’.

December 2008
UN General Assembly passes its second DU resolution.

November 2008
Nordic Network Against Uranium Weapons established in Oslo.

September 2008
UN Secretary General publishes report on DU weapons.

February 2008
Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs acknowledges need for uranium weapons treaty.
European Parliament establishes a DU Working Group.
UK politicians and NGOs condemn renewed DU test firing.

And on the home front in the U.S., the Washington, D.C.-based law firm, Burke PLLC which pursued claims for Abu Ghraib torture victims and Iraqi civilians killed by Blackwater guards, has joined forces with the Charleston, S.C. law firm, Motley Rice, the firm responsible for bringing down the tabacco industry in 1997. They are teaming up against Iraq environmental violators, Halliburton and Kellog, Brown & Root [former Vice President, Dick Cheney’s companies] on behalf of about 500 injured veterans and their survivors. The firm estimates that over 100,000 soldiers have been exposed to, and injured by the smoke and the toxins while deployed in Iraq since 2003.

In late 2008 Burke PLLC became aware that cancer cases amoungst soldiers began to surface. Although, I began reporting on cancer stricken soldiers in 2006 ….it has taken that long for injured parties ignored by the DoD and VA, to step forward, while the mainstream media lags behind barely covering the topic of cancer in the military post Iraq----which 95 percent of the American public is unaware of.

Lead council in Multi District Litigations, Susan Burke and sister, attorney Elizabeth Burke, filed 43 different lawsuits, all statewide legal actions in 2009. “When you look at the number of troops deployed to Iraq, the majority have been exposed to burn pits and contaminated water,” Susan Burke said.

It is only a matter of time before the contractors placed in Iraq, responsible for willingly exposing our troops to carcinogens, are placed before the firing squad of outraged American’s. Till then, it’s buisness as usual for our troops in Iraq; DU with their morning coffee, doughnuts and Burn Pits…a breakfast of champions for our future Veterans.’ So don’t be fooled this Memorial Day when you see the flags flying half mass in Washington, nor the fraudulent salute from our Former Administration, Bush and Cheney. As they are the two responsible for creating the war, and for sacrificing our men and women for their own diety; no longer a golden cow, but a pig made of green tresury paper with red, white and blue threads, dripping in brown sludge: their money hog [god] drentched in oil. Burn baby burn…..

“IRAQ: An Environmental Cesspool”

2010-04-10T16:04:00.013-04:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART

Post XX

While the war in Iraq winds down, the cases of soldiers being diagnosed with rare, aggressive forms of cancer post deployment heats up. Not only do soldiers have to contend with side stepping roadside bombs during their tour, but radiological dust from depleted Uranium, and suffocating plumes of Burn Pit smoke so rich with carcinogens---it makes smoking a carton of unfiltered Camel cigarettes seem like a breath of fresh air.

The Army Times reported on March 17, 2009, “VA to Monitor Burn-Pit Exposure Data” that Veterans Affairs Secretary, Eric Shinseki wrote to Congress days prior that That The Veterans Affairs Department is gathering data to monitor potential health problems among troops who say they were made ill by exposure to smoke from open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Adding, a growing number of service members say they were exposed to everything from burning petroleum products to plastics and batteries. At every base in Iraq and Afghanistan burn pits are used to dispose of waste, including feces. Burn pit tests in war zones have shown that the fires release dioxins, benzene and volatile organic compounds, including substances known to cause cancer. While soldiers reporting more serious adverse health effects believe they are linked to those exposures.

Shinseki said the exposure data from burning trash and waste is already part of a large, ongoing population-based study comparing the health of 30,000 veterans deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, with the health of 30,000 non-deployed.

That study evaluates; “self-reported exposures (including burning trash and feces), symptoms, chronic health conditions, functional status, pregnancy outcomes and health care utilization,” Shinseki wrote.

He also said it is “essential” for the VA to educate its health care providers about toxic exposures and possible long-term health effects related to the burn pits. So far, about 200 veterans have contacted Disabled American Veterans to say they are sick, and that they think the burn pits caused their ailments. Of those, about 30 have developed lymphoma and leukemia. Other reported conditions include asthma, bronchitis, sleep apnea, chronic coughs, allergy-like symptoms and heart problems.

Defense officials say that health effects as a result of exposure to burn pit smoke are likely to be “temporary” and should “clear-up” once troops return home. Shinseki concurred, “Most toxic materials from burn pits may be eliminated from the bodies of exposed veterans in a matter of days or weeks.”

If burn pit smoke is so harmless, then I invite VA Secretary Shinseki and DoD officials to take their kids to Talil, Iraq this summer instead of Disney World….and let them run amok building sand castles. If they expect other parents to give their blessings to deployed children who are exposed to this “easily assimilated toxic smoke”----then they shouldn’t have any reservations.

Army SGT. Amanda Older from San Antonio Texas [pictured throughout] deployed with the 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade [BfSB] out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina September 2007 for Baghdad, Iraq. “My Camp Rustamiyah was located within walking distance of a factory which regularly burned feces. My suspicions are that’s where they dumped the port-a-john’s we used. The stench was so vile twice a day---you did not even want to walk outside,” remembered the 23 year-old who was in perfect health prior to deployment.

Although, environmental toxins weren’t what the former JROTC drill team member had in mind when she joined the military around Mothers Day of 2005 at the age of 18. Initially I joined for a challenge, and for something to do. I wanted to see if I could handle the physical training, and when I graduated I felt a sense of pride,” SGT. Older shared. “It’s not that I was patriotic, or had love of country---that developed after joining.”

While undergoing two months of Basic Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina she lived in the barracks and cooked only using microwaves. It was then she decided when her term was up that she’d attend Culinary School and become a chef. “There wasn’t any particular cuisine in mind, just be skilled enough to be a professional chef.” Besides a career---a bright future with marriage and children were undoubtedly on the young beauty’s horizon.

SGT. Older, a Human Intelligence Collector specialized in interrogations on detainees. “I had to be verbally aggressive---water boarding was strictly prohibited,” she informed. The former league bowler was healthy through her entire 15-month deployment, which came to an end December 2008. And by March she started to experience 30 pounds of weight gain, a deterioration of her muscles, high blood pressure, acne, “moon-face,” and facial hair. “I went from being able to do 93 sit-ups in two minutes to not even one sit-up without assistance,” she heartbreakingly recalled. “Although initially, I didn’t see a doctor until about six months after my return due to the stigma of going to the medics,” she confessed. Explaining, “There’s a lot of soldiers using the Troop Medical Center [TMC] to get out of doing something physical like PT, marches, rifle training or cleaning the HMMVW [HumVee].”

“By June 2009 I had seen at least a half dozen Physician Assistant’s at Ft. Bragg, but never the same one. It was never my Primary Care Provider. I don’t think I ever even met my Primary Care Provider,” she recollected. “The doctors at Ft. Bragg insisted my blood pressure was high and I was gaining weight due to stress and possibly developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Actually, my uncle Dr. Steven Older informally diagnosed me with Cushing’s Disease.”

“The Ft. Bragg doctors recommended I see a nutritionist, as they believed if I lost weight my blood pressure would go down. Then once I transferred to the Presidio of Monterey in Monterey, California I was fortunate enough to have an Internist who immediately recognized something bigger was occurring. He didn’t make any assumptions, he just ran tests until he figured it out. And that to have such high blood pressure at such a young age, was probably not just my bad genes.”

Then on September 11, 2009 everything changed when he informed her of the diagnosis, Stage III Adrenal Cortical Carcinoma—Cancer of the adrenal gland. According to The Transational Genomics Research Institute, it’s a rare, non-gender specific cancer that affects only 1 in every 1.7 million.

“My initial reaction was disbelief…shock---then fear,” SGT. Older confided. “It took me a couple of days before I was able to grasp the concept of “cancer.” Then I was pained. My heart hurt. I felt like I was letting my family down by getting sick, and I felt like less of a soldier for having to be at the doctor’s so much. Prior to diagnosis (at the Presidio TMC while the doctors were still trying to troubleshoot the illness), my chain of command couldn’t understand why I wasn’t “trying harder” during Physical Training. I was seen as weak and was stereotyped as “one of those soldiers.” ”

And within four days after diagnosis the courageous soldier underwent surgery, an adrenalectomy to remove the 9 cm. tumor on her left adrenal gland and began an oral chemotherapy treatment. Soon after SGT. Older was transferred to a Warrior Transition Unit [WTU] at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. “Most soldiers there are burn victims or awaiting prosthetics, so I was looked at as if nothing was wrong. My supervisor was very understanding and did all he could to get me transferred to Florida as quickly as possible.” And by the end of 2009 she was finally moved to the Community Based WTU in Florida.

Within three months after the diagnosis a CT Scan was ordered, only to discover the cancer had spread to a stage IV, including her lungs, liver, and abdominal lymph nodes. Immediately, an IV form of chemo was administered. SGT. Older has completed three of six rounds of chemo, and faces her 4th round the beginning of this month. When finished she’ll revert to the oral chemotherapy for the next two years.

“SGT. Amanda Older is a true solider,” her father Wayne and step-mother Faye said lovingly. “She went from fighting the enemy to fighting a cancer that may be a direct result of that combat. She is still a true solider battling this disease with everything she has. She has a great spirit and great attitude, and with this kind of challenge that is the kind of ammunition she needs, And if she runs out, she has her family and friends who will give everything they have. We love her and are very proud of her.”

Not only does she have a combined family of six siblings lovingly rallying around her, she is also receiving much needed emotional support from the military. “Since moving here the new chain of command has been very supportive. My First Sergeant and Case Manager drove down to Miami to visit me during my first treatment, and is currently working to get TRICARE [insurance] to finance a wig for me. My Platoon Sergeant has made it clear that no matter what I need they are only a phone call away.”

With health care failing on so many levels, none more so than medical treatment for the military and Veteran’s, SGT. Older commends the doctors and RN’s at the University of Miami Sylvester Cancer Center. “The care I have received since moving to Florida has been phenomenal. The doctors are top notch. Everyone is passionate about what they do and actually take the time to get to know their patients.”

No matter what the circumstances, SGT. Older remains a soldier at heart---ever faithful to her military service, but still questions “what” caused the rare, aggressive cancer. “I wonder every single day why this has happened to me. I know God has a reason for everything but I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what the reason is. I suppose in “His time” I will figure it out. But I believe a number of things contributed to my condition. I was exposed to many burn pits; burning feces, plastics, metals, trash, and even animals. And while out on missions even explosions, as well as a series of anthrax vaccines before and during deployment.”

“As fast as my cancer is spreading, I wonder every day whether or not I’ll live to see my younger brother get married,” she bravely admits. “I’m still scared and embarrassed of my bald head. It brings me to tears every morning looking at it in the mirror. I don’t even let my family see me without wearing a wig or scarf. I have a very hard time accepting the fact that I actually have cancer. Some days I wish it had been an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) or bullet that had wounded me instead of this disease…at least then I could see and feel the damage. The only way I know the cancer is there is by the nausea and lack of energy I have from treatments.”

After her first term in the Army, a mere but combustionable 4.8 years, SGT. Older’s unwavering dedication to military service has not waned. “My wish is to survive this…I have so much I still want to accomplish. I want to visit Rome, buy a house, have a child, go to Culinary Arts school…but more than anything I want to return to active duty—though, not in that particular order. Being a soldier is all I know, and everything I love, and I want that life back,” she grieved. “I feel like so much has been ripped out from under me by this disease. I hope to figure out what caused this and then spread the word to prevent it.”

Her mother Karen mourned, “I have watched my daughter go through so much in the past eight months. I saw Amanda in May 2009 for her birthday and I knew then something was terribly wrong with her health. How the doctors at Ft. Bragg could not see this is beyond me. If someone would have taken the time to run some basic tests, maybe just maybe, the cancer would have been caught before it reached stage IV.”

“I find it appalling that the military will not acknowledge cancer as a war related injury, when a completely healthy soldier developed it while in Iraq,” her mother said angrily. “However, because cancer cannot be seen from the outside, people just assume there are no injuries. Adrenal Cortical Carcinoma is an extremely rare and aggressive cancer. And I believe in my heart that the cancer is a by-product of when my daughter was exposed to depleted Uranium in Iraq.”

“To use our soldiers as guinea pigs physically makes me sick,” her enraged mother stated. “This is not what my daughter signed up for and I will not allow her to suffer in vain. I will continue to write State senators, newspapers, etc until someone takes notice.”

“Our American Soldiers need a voice. They deserve to be heard and recognized for their sacrifices,” she begged. “I am so proud of each and every one of them. I pray that God will not let their pain and suffering be in vain.”

“Depleted Uranium: From Sea To Shining Sea” Cancer Kills US Soldiers & Iraqi Civilians

2010-01-31T18:27:00.013-05:00

Sister Solder: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Post IXX

As early as 2007, four years after the war in Iraq, the medical journal, Lancet Oncology observed a trend, that several cancer registries were being locked out of Veteran’s Administration [VA] data beginning late 2004 [a year after the war in Iraq]. For decades the VA had voluntarily shared its data, allowing access to cancer patients. A Centers for Disease Control spokesman said as a result, "Potentially, 40 000 to 70 000 cases were missed nationally each year." Since several of the cancer registries national estimate of cases are askew, the spike in cancer rates of soldiers being diagnosed with cancer post 2003 deployment---remains unreported.

I have tracked nearly 40 soldiers since 2006 who have been diagnosed with rare, aggressive forms of cancer post their tour, half, have already died. The DoD and VA are less then forthright about this pattern---even as they approach the seventh anniversary of the war this March.

The environmental culprit, depleted Uranium and most recently the carcinogenic smoke from burn pits [the military’s resolve of disposing their sanitation in landfills---is burning the refuse, no matter what the content, in acre size dirt pits].

The United Nations Environment Programme has been conducting measurements of DU sites in Kosovo since 2000, later including Serbia, Bosnia, Kuwait and Iraq [the latter to be found with 42 contaminated sites]. Their “Depleted Uranium Awareness” pamphlet admits there’s a DU concern----but down-plays the cancer risks. DU is unable to penetrate the skin, but once there is inhalation or ingestion of the radiological DU dust, its toxicity has the ability to radiate the lungs and gut [multiplying in the cells].

Their projected time frame after exposure is 10 – 20 years before symptoms appear. But that is far from the truth. As soldiers lay ravaged in VA hospitals across the U. S. ----or their family’s, kneeling at the foot of a needless grave, know all too well. Privy to the VA data since 2003, the DoD is familiar with their diagnosis of an uncontrollable wildfire of rare cancer, appearing 4 to 36 months after exposure.

It is abhorrent that the DoD and mainstream media has stood shoulder to shoulder with locked arms blocking this information from the masses---military and civilian---in fear of soldiers deflecting. Especially when protective masks, gear and literature is readily available but intentionally withheld. But is death the only option? The young widow of Army Command Sergeant Major [CSM] James W. Hubbard Jr. [pictured throughout], with the 139th Medical Group Unit in Independence, Missouri, shares his story below.

The strapping Georgia native was drafted in 1972, a mere 20 years of age the autumn he enlisted. He was happy to leave Georgia, knowing the military would create opportunity that he wouldn’t have if he stayed. It instilled a sort of pride in him. It afforded him the ability to travel the world, he toured Egypt twice and lived in Germany for three years. He eventually returned to school where he earned his BA in Criminal Justice.

By 1980 the dedicated Army soldier decided eight years of Active Duty was enough and transferred into the Army Reserves. Year after year of superior military service he edged his way up in ranks to Command Sergeant Major, a rank that was the highlight of his career, and a proud accomplishment. But with such honors comes much commitment and before long he received orders to deploy to Iraq.

Fit for duty, the extremely active CSM Hubbard was in excellent health, never even needing an aspirin, and in preparation trained at Ft. Riley, Kansas. As the war in Iraq commenced February 2003, he deployed from the 450th Movement Control Battalion out of Kansas with Operation Iraqi Freedom.

His battalion landed in Iraq and forged ahead to their base camp at Talil Air Force Base [it’s been reported that Talil has one of the largest burn pits, 50-acres in size]. From there he spent the next 13 months traveling throughout Iraq, visiting his soldiers a few days at a time, at the many camps they called home. His health remained good, adrenalin keeping any possible issues at bay.

His tour ended March 2004, the arduous, year long stint was finally behind him. And like every soldier returning home he underwent routine blood work. Except his results were unusual and he was directed to a civilian doctor, who referred him to a blood specialist for follow-up testing and blood monitoring. He returned to the civilian job he’d been at since 2000, as a Sergeant at the Department of Correction in Kansas. And within a year met Katie, his young and beautiful future wife. Life was great. “According to my husband, they just monitored his blood without further testing and sent him home,” his wife Katie Hubbard recalled. “During the summer/fall of 2005 he began complaining that he couldn’t run like he was accustomed to. He would tire more easily and his workouts weren’t the same. He also started gaining weight.”

Over the next two years they planned their wedding. As a sports lover he watched the Atlanta Falcon’s and the University of Georgia Bulldogs play as much as he could. And with his wife to be shared his passion for war and Sci-fi movies, a collection of WWII figures, and introduced her to the soul of romance through the silky sounds of Motown music.

Unexpectedly, in early 2007, CSM Hubbard received orders to deploy to Kosovo for a year. The blissful couple decided to wed that Spring and within three months he shipped out to Kosovo. “Before Kosovo, he became winded easier, tired more often but otherwise was in good health. His weight gain became more pronounced while deployed from 2007- 2008. And fatigue was progressively worse,” his wife remembered. “When James came home from Kosovo, within a month he went to the Topeka VA Hospital in Kansas to begin the post deployment medical evaluation.” [This is a vital part of a soldiers medical history. The results, as well as their RER numbers [radiation exposure records] validating the radiation exposure from their tour, is permanently logged in their records, and data base. The RER data isn’t easily accessible to the soldier---but is to the VA and DoD.]

CSM Hubbard’s initial routine blood work turned into a flurry of do-overs in a five day period, at which point they finally disclosed that ‘his blood levels were critically low, and may need to be admitted for further testing.’ Urging him to schedule an appointment with the hematology department. Within two days he sat before Dr. Chester Stone, a hematologist, who informed him that ‘his levels were low, but not critical.’ “He thought that James either had a parasite or Leukemia, but didn't think it was acute. Inferring that if it was Leukemia, it wasn’t the “bad kind.” So he scheduled a bone marrow biopsy the following week, and ordered another CBC count,” Katie said.

The biopsy was botched the first time, so they re-drilled to retrieve the piece of bone marrow they weren’t able to initially. The doctors decided to include a series of genetic testing with the sample. Leaving the Hubbard’s anxiously awaiting the results for three weeks.

By mid November 2008 they met with the doctor. Expecting Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia if it was cancer, but hoping for a parasite or something easily treated. “We arrived and the doctor said, ‘It's Leukemia.’ Adding, ‘It’s a rare form and we can't be certain if it's Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia or Bi-Linagal Acute Myelogenous Leukemia.’ I was stunned. It was a blow to hear,” Katie admitted. “They believed James' Leukemia was from his service in Iraq.”

Dr. Stone urged them to move forth with testing and enter into a Transplant Center as CSM Hubbard needed a bone marrow transplant within a year. He saw three doctors before it was confirmed as Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia [ALL], with 85 percent Leukemia Blasts in his bone marrow. In January 2009 his chemotherapy port, a Hickman Catheter was placed. The Chemo started February at MD Anderson Cancer Treatment Center. “The Kansas City VA was to do his treatment, but the doctors there were not only horrific, but unknowledgeable and disrespectful,” Katie recounted.

CSM Hubbard’s Commander was very supportive inviting the Hubbard’s to stay with he and his wife during one of the cycles, continuing to visit him in the hospital. “Both his Colonel and Brigadier General are doctors in the civilian world,” she informed. “His Brigadier General kept in close communication with him out of concern. His Colonel stated there was no explanation for the type of cancer James had for his age. And was puzzled as to where he could have gotten it. Adding that, ‘It’s normally a young adults or children’s cancer.’ ”

Mrs. Hubbard confided, both she and her husband believed the cancer was from his exposure to the bounty of chemicals and depleted Uranium while deployed to Iraq. “In 2003, his unit entered immediately after the Iraqi’s left the area. With the blown up tanks and utter destruction who knows what toxins they were subjected to.” Revealing, “There was at least one other person from his unit that had Leukemia post deployment.”

Still with all the obstacles and challenges they faced in this tragic unexpected circumstance, CSM Hubbard remained optimistic about the future, often talking about his plans post treatment. “His main goal was to enjoy our new house and get back in shape.” So he decided to retire as Group CSM, forfeiting the opportunity to advance to Brigade Command Sergeant Major, a role he held twice during the interim between Iraq and Kosovo tours.

She noted his chemo treatment during the odd cycles affected his PTSD. “He was extremely moody and short tempered. The even cycles made him more tired and took a day or two longer to gather his strength back.” In all, “James was beating the cancer and was in clinical remission after round two. The first few cycles at MD Anderson went good and he was treated well,” she reported. “But the doctor was aggressive and wanted to get the last remaining residual blasts (0.65%) out. She wanted the counts to be 0.00%. He was to undergo another bone marrow biopsy prior to cycle five. That one would have told us if a bone marrow transplant was necessary.”

It had been six months since his diagnosis. With hope in their heart after round four the Hubbard’s left the hospital for a much needed break. They left Houston and drove back home to Leavenworth, Kansas. CSM Hubbard’s body, tired and beaten from three months of aggressive treatments and chemicals---almost knocking the life out of him---just wanted to go home with his dedicated wife and recoup.

Within two days their hope had vanished as CSM Hubbard had developed explosive bouts of frequent diarrhea. Katie Hubbard had been advised by his doctors before leaving the hospital to administer the over-the-counter remedy, “Imodium.” “After I cleaned him up he was sitting up on the bed. I walked away and when I looked back I saw that he fell over onto his side. I went back to the bed and laid beside him, and as I started asking him how he felt I noticed his eyes were as big as half dollars,” she exclaimed.

“I knew something was wrong so I called 911 and he was taken to the ER in Leavenworth, Kansas. They wouldn’t allow me to ride with him, so I jumped into my vehicle and followed them to the hospital,” she said with frustration. “I stood by as they carried him from the ambulance, wheeling him to the ER. James squeezed my hand when I told him I loved him, and not to leave me. I assured him I was there for him,” she wept. “Then the EMS insisted I register him and barred me from his side while they performed CPR. Before long, the doctors returned, only to callously announce his death.”

“James ultimately died from a reaction to the antibiotic, “Vantin.” During his last cycle of chemo his doctors didn’t listen when I explained his symptoms, they instructed me to treat it with “Imodium.” Their unwillingness to listen ultimately caused his death,” she said angrily. “He was just completing the therapy in round four and we were waiting to start round five when he died,” she mourned.

Without medical explanation, she assumed his potassium levels may have dropped dangerously low from the severe diarrhea, “But we’ll never know because St. John’s Hospital ER didn’t order the blood work,” she cried.

His Colonel later said to Mrs. Hubbard, ‘You don’t cover-up the symptoms by treating them with Imodium.’ Online she read, ‘moderate to severe diarrhea’ is one of the side effects of an ‘adverse reaction’ to the antibiotic.

On May 21, 2009, at the age of 57, after 36 years, 6 months, and 27 days in the military, CSM James W. Hubbard Jr’s, father and brother beckoned him from the gates of heaven, calling the courageous, dedicated soldier home. There was no chance for final wishes, as he died suddenly and unexpectedly---alone.

His two sons from an earlier marriage, a grandson, five sisters, and mother had not been given the chance to clutch his hand, and squeeze away the fear of the unknown, nor rest their eyes on their beloved’s face one last time. The mistaken prognosis of a 90-95 percent chance of survival had evaporated---into the ethers along with his spirit. Suffering no longer---his hopes and dreams of what could have been lay buried at Leavenworth National Cemetery.

The evidence---another witness who’s suffered the toxic environmental secrets of the U. S. military in Iraq---is lost. All because of the DoD’s failure to provide the troops with preventative measures to fight the invisible enemy known as radiation. Without caution, we enrage over an unborn fetus at an abortion clinic, but when it comes to our soldiers---without conscience---we fall deaf and blind. Heavenly Father help us for killing our own---while cloaked in patriotism, we have become, the Weapon of Mass Destruction.

CSM Hubbard's VA letter admitting the cancer was related to his tour in Iraq.

The Guardian UK
January 22, 2010
“Study Finds Iraq Littered with High Levels of Nuclear and Dioxin Contamination”

• Greater rates of cancer and birth defects near sites
• Depleted uranium among poisons revealed in report

More than 40 sites across Iraq are contaminated with high levels or radiation and dioxins, with three decades of war and neglect having left environmental ruin in large parts of the country, an official Iraqi study has found.Areas in and near Iraq's largest towns and cities, including Najaf, Basra and Falluja, account for around 25% of the contaminated sites, which appear to coincide with communities that have seen increased rates of cancer and birth defects over the past five years.

The joint study by the environment, health and science ministries found that scrap metal yards in and around Baghdad and Basra contain high levels of ionizing radiation, which is thought to be a legacy of depleted uranium used in munitions during the first Gulf war and since the 2003 invasion.

“URANIUM IN IRAQ: THE POISONOUS LEGACY OF THE IRAQ WARS”
By Abdul-Haq Al-Ani & Joanne Baker
June 2009, Vandeplas Publishing
The book outlines environmental problems and legal implications of the contamination of Iraq due to the use of depleted Uranium in military weapons used during the Gulf Wars. The military use of uranium has the potential to be a serious contributing factor to the illnesses besetting the Iraqi population. The authors address the concerns surrounding the changing health patterns in Iraq since 1991 and, in particular, the increase in cancers and genetic birth defects amongst children.

“Abandoning America’s Soldiers: The Decay of The US Military”

2009-11-15T17:40:00.019-05:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Post XVIII

In September when CNN reported on Marines being diagnosed with male breast cancer at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, the Marine Corp skirted the issue, taking the stance of it not being a “war wound.” Even though water contaminated with toxic chemicals [benzene and the dry-cleaning solvent perchloroethylene, a carcinogen] may have caused their illnesses, the Marine Corps says no link has been found between the contamination and their diseases. Without that link, the men are denied treatment by Veterans Affairs, which says it can't treat them for a condition that isn’t proved to be “service-related.”

Even if those wounds, are illnesses like cancer borne from wartime service, the military is just as stanch. As they prefer not to admit to any wrong doings in fear of lawsuits --- as in this case of Marines.

In 2007, Congress ordered the Marine Corps to notify an estimated 500,000. About 1,600 Marines were diagnosed with breast cancer between 1960s and 1980s from the water--seeking $34 billion in compensation and VA benefits.

A stricken ex-drill instructor says, “Nobody in this world has been more disillusioned…. I feel like I've been betrayed.”

Regardless of the era, how many soldiers, or what the carcinogen---the military refutes any active duty soldier’s claim of exposure to toxins in wartime. This DoD stance is one of disbelief for our soldiers….none more so than those being diagnosed with rare cancers from their tours in Iraq. How is it that you willfully give your life to fight for causes you may not believe in, out of dedication to the country in which you’ve promised to serve. Only to have the American flag pulled out from under you.

Their pride of duty, tarnished by the Commander in Chief, and the General they so faithfully followed on the battlefield. To be deserted in a war zone is one thing….but when you’re deserted by the leaders of your country after you’ve sacrificed your soul and psyche to defend them….
then the uniform in which you’ve donned, the medals and bars that rest upon your chest create a heaviness of abandon that sinks within your heart.

In 1970 at 17, Gregory Leon Wilson enlisted in the Army. From 1970-1975 at Ft. Bragg, NC he remembered using the same chemical used in Agent Orange for weed control. The young Florida native hadn’t foreseen service becoming his lifeblood spanning nearly 40 years, nor the harm chemical exposure would bring. His sentiments of the American Government after four decades in the military, is one of shame, disgrace and dishonor. Now at 56 years old he asks, “Why does our Nation allow such abandonment of our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines?”

Although it wasn’t always that way, the erosion of his respect began in 2005 while undergoing medical treatment at Ft. Hood.

Army Staff Sergeant Gregory Wilson [pictured above] was honored to begin his military career with the 82nd Airborne at Ft. Campbell Kentucky. Doing a job he loved and believed in, he was stationed around the world; in Honduras with a Task Force, in Germany Tour Retro-Europe, in Bosnia with the RAOC, and Camp Darby Italy. Stateside, his assignments took him to Ft. Bragg, then onto Ft. Bliss, Ft. Irwin California, and later the Texas Army National Guard.

In February 1991 SSG. Wilson was called to Iraq during Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Desert Fix. He was assigned a Special Forces Unit to search for WMD’s. Prior to deployment, he and other soldiers at Ft. Bragg were ordered to take the tablet, “pyridostigmine bromide” [without FDA approval or disclosing to the soldiers its usage] or face Court Marshall. [PB is used to prevent death in the event a nerve agent is used in chemical warfare]

Additionally, their fatigues were treated with the bug repellant, “permethrin.” The coating so resilient, it remained on their uniforms up to six months or 50 washings. When wearing the flight vest, SSG. Wilson could detect the fumes from the chemical as it wafted into his nostrils. “Immediately I developed an irritation, and shortness of breath.”

So in Dec 2004 it wasn’t unexpected that SSG. Wilson, an Armor Crewman/Driver be deployed to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Besides neck and back pain from spine issues, he experienced numbness in three toes, and three fingers. Even still, he departed Ft. Hood, Texas in remarkably good health, heading for the sand box of Kuwait. [below parachuting]

During his first four months in Iraq, under the protection of the Tallil Air Force Base, SSG. Wilson weathered the sand storms and spray of bullets. While the battalion protected him from enemy fire---they couldn’t protect him from what was multiplying in his cells. He developed pain throughout his arms and neck and his health began to decline. By April 19, 2005 he was diagnosed with an enlarged thyroid. A doctor in theatre accidentally discovered it during an examination for the numbness in his extremities.

“I did not know that I had it. I saw six doctors before they found out my thyroid was the size of a small apple.” He was medEvac out of Iraq to Ft. Hood via Germany where it was removed.

A year later he discovered a small knot in his back. A Doctor at Ft. Hood diagnosed him with a benign Lymphoma. By the beginning of August 2006 after his med boards his tour ended, but the nightmare of inadequate care and an insufficient diagnosis began. Then three years later, June 2009, while at the VA in Albuquerque, NM, “I was having an X-ray of my spine and the technicians inadvertently discovered a mass of tumors in my lungs. There weren’t any symptoms so I didn’t realize it,” he remarked.

By July 2009, two rare cancerous tumors in a network of spider webs were growing in his neck / collarbone region connecting to other webbed tumors. The two alone were removed but no other treatment was given. Ironically, the growths were in the exact location as the bug repellent on the collar of his fatigues. The doctors said the route of the cancer was through his lungs, therefore most likely the carcinogen entered his system through his air passages.

SSG. Wilson has undergone two surgeries and four rounds of chemo with two pending.
“Treatments have been bad. Neither Ft. Hood or Amarillo, VA have treated me for my back issues or PTSD,” he recounted. The culprit for his cancer he reflected, “Besides having six Anthrax vaccines during my career, and exposed to PB. I have had prominent exposure to depleted Uranium from both Gulf wars, in 1991 and 2004. Coupled with the burn pits on every military base in Iraq. Ours at Tallil AFB was 50 acres or larger. Unexplained packages or IED’s [Improvised Explosive Devices] found roadside were detonated and burned in the pit. We breathed the smoke everyday. Depending on the wind and how much they burned would determine the heaviness and blackness of the air.”

For a Commander to abandon a soldier in action is unfathomable. But when a soldier is intentionally exposed to environmental toxins in theatre without his knowledge, producing long-term consequences to their health---and done so willfully---is premeditated. While the hazardous effects begin to sprout throughout the body, the proof of the deceit is unconscionable. To refute care and abandon the soldier when he is physically broken, and no longer of use, deemed---non-deployable---is no less than an act of a deserter, a traitor…a harrowing realization for the soldier and his family.

Although the military forsakened him, SSG. Wilson has had his wife of 14 years by his side, Brigitte, and their two children, a boy and girl. The health of his children, ages 16 and 13, weigh heavy on his mind. “They were born post my earlier tours in Iraq. So I worry about their health because of my past exposures,” he mourned.

His lung cancer is outside of the lungs, in soft tissue located throughout his body. Still after four months----he is without a proper diagnosis or stage. Although the four rounds of chemo have shrunk the tumors tremendously…his prognosis is “treatable but not curable.”

The uncertainty has propelled him into an emotional and mental Tsunami. “This illness explains some of the symptoms I complained about in December 2004. And it fills me with anger and rage,” he admitted. “Some of the pain in the areas of cancer are nodules within nodules webbed together.” [below, receiving Chemo at the VA]

Each day a soldier walks this land alone with a withering, broken body---he’s silently seeking the American public to do their duty, defend him, by stepping up in protest shouting, “no more.” Shaking a fist of injustice, and crying for the soldiers lives they’ve unknowingly lost from wounds not honored by the business of war, is when this betrayal ends for our brave men and women of war. For now, the personal stories of cancer continue.

“Since I was retired in August 2006, although not “medically retired,” the Military does not have anything to do with the cancer. But I feel that Ft. Hood knew that it was there. The Amarillo VA is treating the cancer, but I wonder why it wasn’t discovered during all of the X-rays performed. And two weeks before the Albuquerque VA X-rays, Social Security ordered the same for my spine and didn’t locate the cancer either.”

The inadequacy of the VA and majority of military doctors in theatre that fail to diagnose or misdiagnose is at the crux of the soldiers diagnosed with rare, advanced cancers. Since my beginning this long-term research in 2006, thus far 50 percent of the OIF soldiers have died. The soldiers family’s step forward with their beloved’s stories, out of frustration and disbelief that their medical treatment went awry. The families; the soldiers’ mother, father, wife, sister or brother are the keepers of these military secrets.

Shamefully, the Veteran’s medical system is set up to go awry. As the doctors callously perform hatchet jobs on the military men and women who return from war physically broken, psychologically maimed, and are sliced and diced until their spirit has been castrated. And their will to fight the VA system has been so convoluted with red tape, lost files, misdiagnosis, canceled appointments and lack of care, they become too powerless to buck the system they willfully defended, and their illusions with the military they so loved---begins to fade. Sadly, those meant to be honored----begin to disintegrate and die.

“Currently, my medical treatment is incomplete, there’s been no evaluation. Since I am not officially medically retired [pending], being held in this grey area unpaid for over three years. I feel that I have been betrayed.” He continues, “We are promised to be taken care of, but they didn’t tell us that first we have to prove what we have contracted. The consensus from the soldiers around here is as long as we lay down and die they’re happy.”

For over 30 years in varied units with numerous Military Specialties as Active Duty, National Guard and Reserves. “The VA system has begun telling us that these injuries are either “hereditary,” “it’s all in your mind,” “you are faking it” or “there is nothing wrong with you,” he concedes. “It is appalling that we need to defend ourselves in front of a host of case managers and a medical board for injuries sustained in the line of duty. It eventually takes its toll.”

The wind howls through the holes of betrayal ingrained in their honor, as the devotion and sacrifice is left behind on the tear stained desert sand of Iraq. They’re consumed by the unwelcome invader conceived in battle---and given birth to in the United States: Cancer. The foreign body causing illness and torment reeks havoc on their life. Thoughts of aloneness and confusion are only magnified by the hollow abandon of the military in which they serve. As the battle to live, and the battle to prove illness---has just begun. They’ll be cast aside as the “only one” while their medical records lay at the bottom of a dumpster awaiting incineration, in an attempt to destroy the truth, but can’t---as it is buried within.

SSG. Wilson’s disability is borne of a distinguished 36 year Military career. He has petitioned his local Congressman, Senator, the Department of the Army, but the Veteran’s Administration continues to offer him no relief. He is left without benefits, no income, no retirement, in need of medical support that he is not eligible for. “The regional level is denying the cancer so the information that’s needed is not moving up to the top as it should.” SSG. Wilson whose only sibling has died, says, “The hard part was to tell my mother after already losing her baby girl….that she may be losing her only son.”

“We, who have chosen to serve this country, know that risk comes with the job, and when asked, most will endure the risk gladly. But you promised to take care of us when needed, and now that we need you, you have turned your backs to us,” he argues. “We have been asked: are you thinking of suicide. Our answer is that we don’t have to---the VA is doing a better job.”

“I am old enough to remember when our Viet Nam heroes came home. And seeing them spat upon. I grew up with those guys. I watched some of them drink or drug themselves to death. I knew or heard of others. I remember how they felt about the way they were treated; the lack of respect, the lack of appreciation, and the total lack of understanding for what they suffered and endured in defense of our Country. Many moved on. Others couldn't hold on long enough to get the help they desperately needed. Some gave up waiting. Others still wait.”

SSG. Wilson concludes, “We can’t repeat the past. Our Veterans deserve better than this. I sometimes envy those who have died in combat because they died not knowing we won’t be taken care of….our nation deserves better. But currently, the only good Veteran….is a dead one.”

Copyright September 2009, R. B. Stuart, All Rights Reserved. No reproduction of this blog in any form.

“General Petraeous Joins Troops Diagnosed with Cancer”

2009-10-21T14:49:00.022-04:00

Sister Soldier
Cancer Update
By R. B. STUART

In 2003 General Petraeous [above image courtesy Reuters] led the troops into the massive battle of “Shock & Awe” on Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 101st Airborne was the first to pave the way in what would become a six-year war. My sister, Army Chaplain Captain Fran E. Stuart deployed with the 101st that cold day in March of 2003, as did her battalion mate, Army SGT. Charles Lewis---both with the 526 Forward Support Battalion.

During their year deployment into Baghdad then Mosul, they, as well as the other 247 soldiers in the 526 FSB, withstood the storm of munitions, pulsating heat, and swirls of sand kicked up by the unforgiving Gods of this sacred and holy land.

Their life wouldn’t be the same after that one year deployment. As my sister [above] would find herself being medEvac to Walter Reed in March 2006 with a rare stage IV Germ Cell cancer, Dysgerminoma. The volleyball-sized tumor in her abdomen attempting to consume her body, would eventually take 50 pounds, her creative organs; ovaries, and faith in God.

After 35 rounds of chemo and three surgeries she leaves WRAMC next month celebrating three years of remission for a new life retired from the Army. Reconciling with her body and her maker---but may never forgive her once beloved military for knowingly exposing her to carcinogens while in Iraq; through depleted Uranium dust, burn pit smoke, and contaminated food and water. The latter dished up everyday by Cheney’s company, the military contractor in charge of the soldiers sustenance, Kellogg, Brown & Root.

SGT.Charles Lewis [above] would be diagnosed with Semanoma testicular cancer in 2005. He too has recovered, but is unable to give his wife the children she longs for. As they battle infertility and the consequences of several tours. Another soldier, from the FSB 526 was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer shortly after her tour ended. But how many more are there in the 526 [below in Iraq] alone that we don’t know about?

Since 2006 I’ve brought these tragic yet personal stories to the forefront hoping for some resolution. Without effort, I've tracked 35 soldiers thus far who have been diagnosed with rare cancers during their deployment or post deployment at Operation Purple Heart----in which 18 of the soldiers have already died. Cancer does not discriminate....afflicted soldiers span all ranks, ages, and military divisions. The common denominator: they served in Iraq from 2003 till 2008.

Adding to the roster of soldiers with cancer post Iraq is their Commanding General David Petraeous, who was diagnosed with prostrate cancer in February 2009. He underwent radiation treatment at WRAMC and was successful. But for many other soldiers, ignored by the media and DoD---are not on the side of this four leaf clover.

Al Jazeera News
“Iraqi Cancer Figures Soar”
October 13, 2009

--Doctors in Iraq are recording a sharp rise in the number of cancer victims south of Baghdad. Sufferers in the province of Babil have risen almost tenfold in just three years, Dr. Sharif Al-Alwachi, Director of Babil Cancer Centre stated.

In 2008, the number of cases increased sevenfold to 7,000 diagnoses. This year, there have so far been more than 9,000 new cases, and the number is rising.Mosab Jasim reports that Iraqi researchers believe radiation is responsible for the increase in cancer and birth defects in the country, but he says the US and British militaries have sent mixed signals about the effects of depleted uranium.

However, Christopher Busby, a British scientist and activist who has carried out research into the risks of radioactive pollution, said there is proof of a definitive link between cancer and depleted uranium.

"I made this link to a coroner's inquest in the West Midlands into the death of a Gulf War One veteran ... and a coroner's jury accepted my evidence," he told Al Jazeera. "It's been found by a coroner's court that cancer was caused by an exposure to depleted uranium.

"In the last ten years, research has emerged that has made it quite clear that uranium is one of the most dangerous substances known to man, certainly in the form that it takes when used in these wars."

The 8th Anniversary: “Cancer Findings in 9/11 Rescue Workers & Soldiers in Iraq”

2009-09-17T20:25:00.022-04:00

[WTC image curtosy S. Shields, 2001]

The Huffington Post
New York Page
Published September 7, 2009
By R. B. STUART

From Hell’s Kitchen on the morn of September 11th 2001, I watched the horrifying slow motion terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on television. An hour later, when the numbness and denial faded, an urgency to volunteer swelled within. Needing to care for the city the way she comforted me over the years, I found myself entering the sandwiched 11th Avenue bus to Lincoln Center, where the American Red Cross [ARC] held court in the auditorium of a local school.

I would go the city’s rescue in any way possible and aid the two limbs that had been taken without warning. The Mother of all cities, was herself, crumbling down to the marrow below her streets. The solid bedrock which sprouted two of her tallest beauties, were savagely destroyed---taking with them the many children of her city.

With the outpouring of volunteers, from New York and beyond, it was a month before the ARC called. They assigned a group of us for a week at a location blocks away from the WTC. We were immediately instructed that if anyone donated homemade sandwiches, brownies, or cookies---they must be destroyed because of contamination from the air---so only pre-packaged store bought foods were accepted. Although Mayor Guiliani and former N. J. Governor Christie Todd Whitman, EPA Director under President Bush, assured New Yorkers repeatedly that “the air and water was safe and didn’t pose a health hazard.” But a contradiction was evident, that the exposure of food to the thickened, chalky white air---was toxic. Wary New Yorkers knew something was amiss---but it wouldn’t surface until years later.

On that September day, former 101st Airborne Army soldier John Feal [pictured above], a supervisor for a Long Island demolition company was asked by the owner to supervise the clean-up at Ground Zero’s site seven. The former military specialist didn’t flinch and went to the battle zone in lower Manhattan. His fateful course would change after a mere six days into the massive clean-up, when an 8,000 pound slab of steel fell atop his left foot----crushing it on impact. Feal spent the next 11 weeks in the hospital where his limb would develop a bout of gangrene----and claim half his foot.

The then 34 year-old spent the next few years observing the mistreatment of his colleagues, peers and New York’s bravest, the FDNY and NYPD, who had worked for the city at Ground Zero in an eight month clean-up effort. He witnessed their abrupt illnesses, and since 2004 a steady climb of rescue workers being diagnosed with cancer.

In 2005, with his anger over the treatment of 9/11 workers in tact, John Feal founded the non-for-profit FealGood Foundation. His love and compassion fuels the foundation to help those less fortunate. Since its inception, with $200,000 in aid, he’s helped over 600 families. The FealGood Foundation advocates for all 9/11 responders with workmen’s comp., pensions, social security disability, the crime victims of New York, and most importantly Bill HR 847 they hope is enacted soon.

“Seventy percent have some sort of 9/11 illness,” Feal stated from his office in L.I. “A lot of these men and women are paying for their heroic actions eight years ago. Over 800 have since died from a variety of illnesses, and probably thousands have been diagnosed with cancer.”

FDNY, John McNamara [above, before and after diagnosis] was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer resulting in the removal of his entire colon. In August 2009 the 44 year-old lost his life to cancer, as his wife lost the love of her life, and young son lost the only father he’d ever known. “The cancers that have surfaced have been blood cancers, kidney, lung, thyroid, testicular and brain cancer,” Feal recounted. Greg Quibell [pictured below], a NY State Corrections Officer was one of those to die from a blood cancer, the most aggressive, AML Leukemia in August 2008.

If you were a uniformed rescue worker, you were fortunate to have a pension and health care. But those non-uniformed workers who became sick and lost their jobs, are losing their homes and going bankrupt reported Feal. “September 11th was unprecedented, none of the doctors have ever seen these illnesses,” he exclaimed. “The full effect won’t be felt for another 10 to 20 years.”

“The truth be told, Whitman without an environmental background---lied. She said that the air and water was safe because the White House told her to---but it wasn’t true. She bears no responsibility---but God will judge her,” he fumed.

“There has been no Federal legislation passed to ensure the welfare and healthcare of the men and women who risked their life without prejudice eight years ago, “ Feal argued. “To quote Abraham Lincoln, ‘Any nation that does not honor its hero’s --- will not long endure.’ ”

One of those forgotten hero’s, FDNY Corona, Queens Ladder 289, Kenny Specht spent weeks at the WTC in 2001. By that December he developed respitory ailments, in 2005 severe gastrointestinal problems followed. “In 2006 I experienced a burning pain in my chest that radiated downward. Upon going to the ER, the doctor said my gallbladder was four times the size it should be, describing it “as rotten.” They removed it immediately,” he informed.

Then on a fateful day in May 2007, Specht of Ladder 133 was injured in a fire and taken to L. I. Jewish Hospital. Still in his gear, covered in black smoke and drenched in water, they took a CT Scan of his neck. The doctors found two nodules in the thyroid area, one the size of a nickel, the other a dime. He was referred to an endocrinologist, who commented that Specht didn’t fit the criteria for thyroid cancer….and sent him home with the neck pain.

The next day while at work he was reading an article in the “NY Post” about thyroid cancer. His breath became shallow as he read the symptoms---as they were his. Specht urged the specialist for immediate testing. After a needle aspiration the results were neither positive or negative. Baffled, the doctor sent him to another specialist. And after three opinions---the 37 year-old was diagnosed with a stage I thyroid cancer on one tumor and stage II on the other. “I bawled like a girl,” he admitted. “My body felt like I was 57.” With surgery they were both removed.

Specht whose family isn’t predisposed to cancer, nor has he ever picked up a cigarette, did some research online. He discovered that radiation exposure came up as one of the causes for his cancer. “I was a guinea pig,” he confided. “I strongly believe that my cancer diagnosis is a direct result to my six weeks of work at the WTC.”

“Now I’m 40 and in the last three years I’ve been a medical mess. And the 17th firefighter to be diagnosed with thyroid cancer post September 11th. With a work force of 11,000 we don’t fit the criteria of the national average,” he concluded.

The minute those buildings collapsed it turned from a building fire to a hazardous materials incident he reported. “The equipment we were given to wear was for fire fighting only. Our gear is not rated for haz-mat incidents. The city and the FDNY owed us the proper equipment to mitigate those hazardous conditions,” Specht exclaimed.

Now retired, Specht advises those who worked rescue or clean-up at Ground Zero, to inform your doctor that you were involved in the WTC, and were exposed to a variety of chemicals. “Ask him to look outside the box, taking into consideration your exposure to toxic agents.”

Since 2002 when The NYC Fire Department World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program was established, The firefighters grievance of Dr. David Prezant who is in charge of the annual testing, is that they have not released official statistics of their research. “The reports of 2002 and 2006, the only two to be released, were obscure and nearly identical. To me it’s suspicious,” Specht conceded. “Why when a NY fire fighter is diagnosed with cancer does the burden of proof fall on the ill members shoulders?” he questioned. “Shouldn’t the results of what is now an eight year study by the FDNY and the WTC monitoring program, have the proof that the cancer is a result of the WTC? Why have they never released a report?”

His frustration is a fraction of what the selfless caretakers of the WTC tend with on a daily basis---his following comment is a poignant summarization. “By September 12th we’ll be forgotten for another year.”

[WTC image of Bear & S. Shields, curtosy S. Shields 2001]
Dr. Doug Rokke, Ph.D, retired, U.S. Army Major, served as the U.S. Army Depleted Uranium Project director 1994 - 1995. His military career has spanned four decades including combat duty during the Vietnam and Gulf War I wars. Dr. Rokke, a disabled and retired Army Reserve Medical Service Corps officer who specialized in Nuclear Medicine; and Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Warfare Operations [NBC]. As a member of the 3rd U.S. Army Medical Command taught Hazardous Materials, Emergency Medicine, DU, Intelligence; Medical Operations; and Emergency Field Medicine as a former enlisted combat medic.

Dr. Rokke says the culprit for cancer diagnosis of 9/11 workers is, “A combination of toxic compounds from combustion and explosions and uranium ballast.” He explained, “Depleted Uranium [DU] is used as ballast in commercial aircraft. And they [the airlines] are privy to that information.”

Since 2006, a portion of Soldiers deployed to Iraq are also being diagnosed with rare cancers 2 to 24 months post deployment. Their exposure to carcinogens in the air, water and soil stem from Burn Pits and DU dust. Unprotected like the 9/11 workers, they are unknowingly inhaling and ingesting the toxins. Although the battlefield has residue from munitions, Dr. Rokke states there is “very little difference.” “The soldiers from Operation Dessert Storm [ODS], Operation Iraqi Freedom [OIF] and Operation Enduring Freedom [OEF] exposures include uranium, and explosion / combustion byproducts; contaminated by explosives or radioactive wastes [DU].”

The exposure is the same; through inhalation, ingestion, wound contamination and absorption. Dr. Rokke informs, “Not much exposure is needed----just a few hundred micrograms.” Adding that there are “too many factors to specify” when determining the length of time after exposure to diagnosis. “But on our original ODS DU team, including the OIF and OEF exposures, the confirmed cancers have occurred within several months.”

There is medical testing that can be preformed if you’ve been exposed---but there is a time limit. “Too many years have elapsed. DoD orders for DU exposure is to test within 24 hours or so---not months or years,” Dr. Rokke advises. As the original author and instructor for the [NBC and WMD] Emergency Response Course for the new Police and Fire Department Emergency Services Unit developed at Ft. McClelland, Alabama in 1995 - 1996. “They were taught about risk exposures. But it was the responsibility of NYC officials to provide them with the essential and required equipment in 2001 [OSHA /NIOSH Level A PE Protection]. There was an air of John Wayne / Rambo mentality apparent,” Dr. Rokke observed.

Underlining the NYPD, NYFD, NIOSH, CDC, EPA, OHA, DOD, VA were all informed of those precautions. “The North American Emergency Response Guidebook, DOT, and Coast Guard Crisis Manual are suppose to be on every fire truck or with a dispatcher. There is no excuse for not taking these precautions.”

While we mourn the 8th year of the traumatic WTC event, that day has never ended for the Rescue Workers---as it’s still claiming their lives. In Dr. Rokke’s professional opinion he suggests independent tests of the air, and surfaces at the WTC. “All structures both inside and out within at least a 20 miles radius should be tested.” He concludes, “The medical problems mirror those of Gulf War I Veterans.”

Authors Note: As a recognized national and international expert and educator, Dr. Rokke developed congressionally mandated education and training materials and wrote U.S. Army Regulation 700-48, the U.S. Army PAM 700-48, and the U.S. Army's common task for DU incidents. Dr. Rokke serves or has served as an advisor for the Centers of Disease Control; Department of Defense; National Academy of Sciences; Institute of Medicine; Department of Transportation; Federal Aviation Administration; Department of Veterans Affairs; British Royal Society; British House of Lords and House of Commons; United Nations; President William J. Clinton’s Oversight Board; and local, state, and federal law enforcement, fire, and medical agencies.

“The Harley to Heaven:” Soldier Dies From Cancer Before Tour Ends

2009-08-17T19:23:00.015-04:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Post XVII

As a young boy, from first to sixth grade, Travis Bromfield [pictured throughout] rode to school on the back of his father’s motorcycle. Wedged between his Dads back and the sissy bar---the wind caressed his innocent cheeks---and his taste for the road was born. He developed a passion for not only motorcycles but cars too learning mechanics throughout high school. After graduating he decided to continue his education and become a certified mechanic, setting his sights on the United Technical Institute in Arizona. Except the tuition at the high ranking school was out of reach for his humble family.

His step-mother Esther Bromfield commented, “Even though I did not give birth to my son Travis I helped give him life. My husband had custody of Travis when we married. Travis was six years old, a very happy, loving child. As a mother raising five children they are all very special. They make you proud that you have steered them in the right direction.”

So in 1999, the Anaheim, California native hoped the GI Bill would give him the funds after a three-year enlistment, to attend. So the 18 year-old Bromfield followed in his grandfather’s footsteps and joined the Army. The middle child of five was the only son of Terry Bromfields’s to step out of his civilian life, leaving his other three brothers and sister marveling at his courage. His grandfather, SGT. 1st Class, Leo Carroll, a 73 year-old WWII and Korean Veteran with a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, in admiration, watched his grandson honor his country the way he did from 1944 –1966 ---and don a camouflage uniform.

His step-mother gushed, “Travis grew up to be such a handsome, respectable man. When he decided to join the Army I was so very proud of him. He was proud of himself as he should be for his accomplishments.”

Young Bromfield made his home at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin Army base in California where he became a Military Mechanic, and served with the 10th Mountain Division and later the 11th Armored Calvary Division Regiment, after he opted to reenlist another term and forfeit his dream of UTI in Arizona. Without foresight the war in Iraq was looming just a year ahead in 2003. Then by February 2005 nearing 24, the strapping six-foot-four 250-pounder in excellent health prepared for a one-year deployment to Kuwait, then onto Baghdad, Iraq. Before leaving he told his father, “Dad when I return (from Iraq) I'm going to buy a Harley Davidson motorcycle." Terry replied, “Go ahead son you deserve it.”

Skirting the bitter sand-laced winds and suffocating heat, the E-4 Specialist made a home at Camp Taji. The unpredictable nature of California fires, tremors, mudslides, throbbing heat and winds---wouldn’t be enough to prepare him for the unforgiving landscape of Baghdad.

Two months into his tour bumps erupted on top of his head which he assumed were bug bites. He later informed his parents of the pain he was experiencing with his shoulder---certain he strained it. The discomfort gravitated to his lower back, at which time he developed a cough that the medics diagnosed as a respitory infection.

By September 2005, after seven-months in Iraq, his two-week leave couldn’t come fast enough, and SPC. Travis Bromfield departed Camp Liberty for a respite on the Pacific coast of California. His family’s loving hearts and arms open wide welcoming, the undoubtedly changed, soldier home. But it was his Dad that insisted he see doctors at the Long Beach, California Veterans Hospital. His grandfather sat idle as he witnessed his grandson undergo a battery a tests, and after inspection of the bites atop his head, the 25 year-old soldier would discover that they were cancer tumors all along. And the shoulder pain he experienced in Iraq were tumors, the lower back pain; tumors in his lower spine, and his respitory infection---misdiagnosed---was a large tumor in the center of his chest obstructing his breathing.

Those initial days home would be more life changing than the tour in Iraq itself, as a trio of VA Doctors diagnosed SPC. Bromfield on September 15, 2005 with a terminal, stage IV Poorly Differentiated Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of unknown primary, of the liver, bones, lungs, kidneys, brain and spine. With a two-month expectancy, this particular cancer only occurs in patients age 55 or older. So it was unpredictably rare that a 25 year-old be diagnosed with it.

Although the dire prognosis didn’t deter SPC. Bromfield as he remained unfettered and extremely strong throughout his ordeal. “Travis never felt pity for himself. He was determined to beat the cancer and prove his Doctors wrong,” his father Terry Bromfield remembered. “I thought from the beginning that Travis must have been exposed to something in Iraq. I just couldn’t comprehend how our son left here healthy and returned full of cancer. I questioned the Doctors about his possible exposure, but the replies I got were, ‘It’s too early to tell.” Or ‘The cancer wouldn’t have shown up this fast even if he was exposed to something,’ said another. While one commented, ‘Your son has so much cancer in him it’s the same as someone who smoked cigarettes for 40 years,’ ” his father recollected. “Convinced, we stood by our son without thinking about it again.”

His step-mother Esther added, “After we started putting things together I remembered a staff nurse making a comment that the soldiers were coming back from this war worse than the soldiers from Vietnam.”

After his diagnosis several of SPC. Bromfield’s Army Sergeants and Officers came to visit him. His father reported that his sons Army Commanders were extremely upset with the medical staff in Iraq for not diagnosing him in the field sooner.

SPC. Bromfield unable to complete his tour in Iraq---went to battle for his own life, as his health was under siege by an internal enemy; cancer. It had found a breeding ground of organs in which to multiply, and it would take an insurgency of chemotherapy to eradicate its occupation. Promising to extend his life expectancy to one year.

Beyond surgery, he endured chemo treatments of three different drugs administered intravenously for nearly seven hours a day. Additionally a pill form of chemo was administered for 10 days, followed by self-injections for bone marrow for another five days. “This was one cycle of treatment,” his father exclaimed. “Travis underwent this every three weeks for a total of four cycles.” Following that, he took two drugs intravenously once a week for 26 weeks. “After 20 weeks of the second round of treatment the tumors on his head ate through to his skull and cancer tumors exploded in his brain,” he recounted in horror. The Doctors removed him from the chemo and ordered radiation for 20 days and then back onto chemo. “Although Travis’ cancer was pretty well advanced when diagnosed---it was one year before the cancer took over his body.”

Seventeen months from when his battle first began, The Long Beach Veterans Hospital used their assault of Chemo, radiation, and palliative care (pain management)…then finally hospice care, before all that remained was fulfilling the final wishes of SPC. Bromfield.

A portion of his requests were granted; that monies be donated to cancer research, and to have his family by his side at the end (as they were, except for one). His grandfather, who silently paved the way for his beloved and courageous grandson, had passed away five months earlier. Enabling him to wait with a flock of angels at the gates of Heaven for his grandson.

Then on February 20, 2007 at 105 pounds, the young 25 year-old hero melted into a golden blanket of bravery and love in which his grandfather was holding. They both walked arm and arm into where the selfless alone are permitted….the courageous, heroic protectors of our wars…the soldiers---into an Eden bathed in peace. For SPC. Travis Bromfield’s journey had ended, and finally, he along with his grandfather---were going home.

The medical review board discharged SPC. Bromfield from the Army before the review was over. Claiming they couldn’t reach him. His case manager at the VA hospital was able to have the specialist re-enlisted until review was complete at which time he was medically retired. After nearly seven years of service with his last unit, The 11th Armored Calvary, his wish for full military honors were granted and he was buried at the National Cemetery of Riverside, California, where he remains close to his parents and four siblings. In remembrance for his service, seven medals hang framed on the wall, including The Iraq Campaign medal, The Army Accommodation medal, The Army Achievement medal, The Global War on Terrorism medal and National Defense medal.

“To be diagnosed with terminal cancer days after he came home for leave was devastating for our family, but we were all there for him from day one until the Lord took him into his hands. To watch my son go through this cancer and not complain made him a hero in my eyes,” his mother choked back tears. “Through all his treatments, set backs and disappointments Travis stayed positive.”

Since he didn’t have the chance to buy his Harley Davidson, his father said,. “After he had passed away and all his affairs were settled. I was sitting in our garage thinking of Travis and thought I want to do something for him. So I had an idea to buy a Harley Davidson and make it a memorial to him.” Painting the entire bike with portraits of his son, a montage of years from his happy, but brief life. His parents ride it to all charity events including, “Rides for Cancer” and rides that help injured soldiers. “The interest and comments we receive are great---as we are able to share with others our discoveries after Travis’ death. It prompts people to ask questions about what happened, in which we gladly oblige,” informed Terry Bromfield. He purchased a 1999 Ultra Classic---of the same year his son joined the military.

“After much research we’re convinced Travis was exposed to depleted Uranium. We don’t believe the troops are being trained properly, let alone told what they are dealing with. Especially the mechanics that handle the DU contaminated vehicles that have been damaged (by roadside bombs),” his father admitted.

“We would visit my son at the Long Beach VA almost everyday, Even while he lay flat in bed all day for 5 months unable to sit up, we spent as much time as possible, even if we sat and watched him sleep. It never entered my mind that my own government poisoned my son,” his mother said in disbelief. “But I know now from all the research both my husband and I have done, along with other parents we have spoken to, that is, exactly what happened. The media won’t touch this for fear of our government. There’s an old saying, ‘everything comes out in the wash’ and I think the washing machine has started.”

“I just can’t believe that our government is treating our soldiers as if they are expendable,” his father reeled. “It’s one thing to lose a child in war by acts of war but to be actually poisoning our soldiers with exposure to depleted Uranium and burn pits that the government has been told by their experts not to is another. Maybe if this happens to one of our top official’s child (and God forbid), then maybe they will do something about it, and believe the parents who have lost a child this way.”

He added, “We parents need to join forces about this travesty to our soldiers. I tell as many people as possible and most respond with, ‘I have never heard about this and why hasn’t it been in the news?’ I tell them the government does not want the public to know. As one high ranking military officer put it, ‘this is the modern day Agent Orange.’"

"Are we as a country going to wait as many years as Vietnam Vets did before our government acknowledges this? I hope not.” Stressing, “It really hurts that our son went to war for this country, willfully gave his life, and our government won’t even acknowledge Travis as a “casualty of war.” Travis was proud to be a soldier and proud to serve his country. And we as a family are extremely proud of him.”

“It is very difficult to know that Travis will never be coming home,” Terry Bromfield mourned. “Tears still fill my eyes when I think of our son and all he had to go through. It was extremely difficult to watch our son deteriorate day after day and there wasn’t a damn thing we could do. We felt completely helpless. His Mom and I continue to visit his grave each week even though it’s been nearly three years since he passed away, it does not get any easier. But going to his grave is the closest we feel to Travis now. It somewhat brings us comfort to be with him there. Our whole week revolves around going to the cemetery on the weekend. This is our life now. We must remain strong for our child in this battle with the government.”

“Our government needs to STOP looking at these brave casualty of war soldiers as a small percentage for the “greater good.” My son Travis along with the thousands of other soldiers beginning with Desert Storm who have come down with and died from cancers from their exposure to DU in my eyes, died directly connected to the war and should be recognized as such,” Esther Bromfield argued.

“DU is harming not only our American loved one’s but the people in Iraq too,” she fumed. “This will be another Vietnam. Our government knows what’s going on, as they did then. And I’ll be dammed if it takes 20 years for the government to take responsibility for this. They downplay the use of DU but they know very well what it’s doing.”

“At Travis’ gravesite, we sit sometimes in silence, sometimes in tears but always with our memories which no one can take from us. Travis loved this country and was very patriotic---he served his country bravely. Our country needs to stop this. We need to join forces and let people know what’s happening to our sons, daughters, fathers, uncles, aunts, mothers, and sisters,” his step-mother grieved.

“Everyday there is something that reminds me of my son---he is with me at all times. I miss his smile, his laughter, his touch, his scent. I want my son back and I know that won’t happen,” she wept. “But I don’t want another parent to go through what we did.”

Copyright August 2009, R. B. STUART, All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction of this Blog in any form.

"MARINE MAROONED BY U.S. MILITARY"

2009-07-16T14:57:00.009-04:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Post XVI

As a child, Marine Staff Sergeant Ryan J. Oyster [pictured throughout] emulated his father, a Marine. Even though his biological father was in the background of his life---the adventurous youngster who had a penchant for uniforms---had his sights on the military. An outdoorsman, he was an Eagle Scout, played baseball, soccer, football, wrestled and ran cross country. Then in 1998 when he was old enough to make his own life’s choices, at 18 the Virginia native set out on a journey that would claim his body---and eventually his life.

He became a Marine and found a home stationed at the U. S. Marine Corps base, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Married to his childhood sweetheart, Rachel, who without reservations proudly became a military wife and mother to their four children.

SSG. Ryan Oyster was the epitome of perfect health, a go-getter and full of life---he wanted it all and that’s how he lived, his mother Evelyn Oyster reminisced.

But five years later all that would change. In February 2003, SSG. Oyster would deploy to a place where his father never served---the battlefields of Iraq. During the initial assault he was just turning 23, his mother Evelyn Oyster recalled. “On his birthday

March 21st his battalion was pushing against the hot desert sands of Iraq. Ryan said as he drove the tool truck nicknamed the “tool bitch,” that when hearing the gun blasts, felt his birthday come in with a bang.”

SSG. Oyster was a trained “Amtrak Mechanic,” responsible for repairing the military’s 27-ton land and sea, Amphibious Assault Vehicles. In Iraq they transported hoards of courageous young men from sea to land, and also shuttled the wounded and ravaged to safety.

For four months SSG. Oyster brushed the salty sweat from his brow and trudged across the baked lands of Kuwait, Baghdad, Felusa and Kirkut. With his bravery in tact---the wind swept sand speckled his saliva and scratched at his eyes. While clusters of invisible particles from unknown origin made a home in his chest and lungs---he maintained his composure---complaining briefly about a stomach virus that most of his fellow Marines encountered.

The end of his tour finally came in June 2003, alas he was homebound to Camp Quantico in Virginia, and his adoring wife with three cackling children. Life was good as he was adjusting to a normal routine. But then 16 months later, October 2004, SSG. Oyster experienced a shortness of breath and then eventually leg swelling which brought him to Bethesda Naval Hospital who diagnosed him with one functioning lung and kidney disease. They assumed it was an old, undiagnosed pneumonia caused by the kidney disease. Only later discovering it was a pulmonary embolism caused by the kidney disease and not pneumonia which never existed. In an attempt to stave off the kidney disease and wrestle it into remission, SSG. Oyster was given a treatment of chemotherapy alternated by steroids.

Two years later they found he had a blood clotting disorder and had several major clots around his heart. SSG. Oyster saw several doctors at Bethesda Naval. “But, they would not further diagnose and biopsy his lymph nodes. They were in denial,” reported his wife Rachel Oyster. “So we went to our local hospital, Winchester Medical Center [Virginia] and they performed the original biopsy and sent the lymph node to the University of Virginia [UVA] who made the diagnosis. In May 2007 they [UVA] discovered he had Cancer. A form of Cancer they’d never seen before, nor what it was.”

Because the military minimalized SSG. Oyster’s condition the Oyster’s chose to have his medical care provided by UVA and Winchester Medical Center, which were both closer in proximity. “Bethesda Naval told us specifically that they did not believe Ryan had cancer and would not perform the biopsy. Only after Ryan received his diagnosis from the civilian hospital did they believe it, and try to convince us to transfer to Bethesda Naval for his cancer treatments,” Rachel Oyster commented.

Since the rare Germ Cell Cancer was of an “Unknown Primary Source” it was treated as stage IV. The day after the Oyster’s were informed it was stage IV he began chemotherapy. Unknowingly, by alternating each month with high doses of steroids it resulted in the tumors growing more rapidly. “During that time…because of the build-up of fluid in his chest cavity and lungs, the doctors ordered a round of radiation to help shrink the tumors in his chest. They [the tumors] were blocking his lymphatic fluid,” Rachel Oyster recounted. “Except, after only one round of chemotherapy Ryan’s body went into shock. He coded and was put on a ventilator for five weeks.”

During the four years of ongoing health issues SSG. Oyster was always very positive, “He always thought it could be worse. But once he was diagnosed with cancer he was very scared and didn’t know what to do or how to feel. That broke his spirit,” Rachel Oyster admitted.

The day after Memorial Day 2007 SSG. Oyster became so weak it sent him to the oncologists office. Without pause, they admitted him. “For the first time since Ryan had been ill he asked me to stay the night,” Rachel Oyster remembered. “Then later that night he went into cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. The nurses and doctors were able to revive him and he was put on a ventilator.”

His prognosis was bleak. With the lack of oxygen, his body was in septic shock, he was diagnosed with a MERSA infection in the good lobe of his lung, with a deadly form of pneumonia in both lungs.

His five-week stay in the CCU was smattered with complications and an emotional roller coaster for his wife and family. “Several times his heart stopped and he would be able to restart it himself within 20 seconds---they remedied it by inserting a temporary pacemaker. He received daily blood transfusions and blood plasma for the first four weeks. While simultaneously undergoing radiation to help shrink the tumors in his chest which caused fluid to build around his lungs,” recalled Rachel Oyster.

On June 28th they were able to remove the ventilator….his first word was FOOD. He was released home on July 6, 2007 with an uncertain prognosis. SSG. Oyster unable to walk by himself, needed assistance. For the administering of daily antibiotics he still had a PIC line in his arm, which was also used to feed him intravenously. Rachel Oyster stated, “I refused home health care and did it all myself. Ryan fought his way through an incredible illness to be able to come home before he died.”

In his final days....

SSG. Ryan Oyster dutifully gave the military six and a half years of his life then willfully handed it over to Cancer. On July 21, 2007 at the age of 27, he peacefully died at home in his sleep---10 weeks after his diagnosis----with those that he loved around him. SSG. Oyster’s only concern was that his wife of nine and a half years and their four children be taken care of if he passed. “I thank God for him being able to come home and see his children before he left this world,” Rachel Oyster mourned. As the eldest, he leaves behind five siblings and both his parents. He is buried at a cemetery near his home…close enough for them to visit often…sharing with him their endless love and devotion, and a spray of pink roses---he and his wife’s favorite. As father, husband, son and brother, his spirit has woven itself through their hearts.

In hindsight Rachel Oyster said they were led to believe it was just ‘one of those things.’ “But right after Ryan passed I started reading all these stories about sick soldiers and some of their stories were exactly like his. I certain, as well as his doctors, both civilian and military, that Ryan endured exposure to depleted Uranium. Because when he was in Iraq he was responsible for handling the destruction of vehicles if they could not be repaired.” She concludes, “I believe Ryan’s body was sensitive to the depleted Uranium dust that was in the air and that’s how and why he became sick. The DU first attacked his respitory system, lungs, kidneys and progressed to Cancer.”

When she approached his former doctor at Winchester Medical Center with her DU findings---he obliged her by reviewing it. So disturbed by what he learned, Dr. Nicholas Gemma provided Rachel Oyster with a statement for the VA verifying that his Cancer was DU related. Even though it’s after the fact…it is a victory for her. Now to make the military admit her late husbands Cancer was a war wound will be her next challenge.

In happier times as a boy....when life was innocent & his future was bright

His mother reflects, “The number 21 is bittersweet for us. It was a number significant to his life; he was born on the 21st, married December 21st, and died July 21st. I believe God gives us signs that he has our loved ones. If I didn’t have God---I wouldn’t have been able to get through his death. He did a lot and accomplished much in his brief 27 years. He loved life, and had very strong faith…people like him just don’t die.” Candidly adding, “I am very sad for my loss….you never accept it---you just learn to live with it.”

----AP National Writer, Sharon Cohen
June 27, 2009
“Did Toxic Chemical in Iraq Cause GIs' Illnesses?”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090627/ap_on_re_us/us_toxic_legacy_of_war

EXCERPT: This isn't the first claim that toxins have harmed soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan; there have been allegations involving lead, depleted Uranium and sarin gas. It's the same chemical linked to poisonings in California in a case made famous in the movie "Erin Brockovich." Hexavalent chromium — a toxic component of sodium dichromate — can cause severe liver and kidney damage and studies have linked it to leukemia as well as bone, stomach, brain and other cancers, according to an expert who provided a deposition for the civilian workers.

The chemical "is one of the most potent carcinogens know to man" and it can "enter every cell of the body and potentially produce widespread injury to every major organ in the body," said Max Costa, chairman of New York University's Department of Environmental Medicine.

KBR, however, says studies show only that industrial workers exposed to the chemical for more than two years have an increased risk of cancer — and in this case, soldiers were at the plant just days or months.

The company also notes air quality studies concluded the Indiana Guard soldiers were not exposed to high levels of hexavalent chromium. But Costa says those tests were done when the wind was not blowing.

Both soldiers and former workers say there were days when strong gusts kicked up ripped-open bags of the chemical, creating a yellow-orange haze that coated everything from their hair to their boots.

"I was spitting blood and I was not the only one doing that," recalls Danny Langford, who worked for the KBR subsidiary. "The wind was blowing 30, 40 miles an hour. You could just hardly see where you were going. I pulled my shirt over my nose and there would be blood on it. I also saw the soldiers. They had blood splotches on their masks."

---CNN, Adam Levine
June 25, 2009
“House Votes to Limit Use of Burn Pits on Bases”
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/25/house-votes-to-limit-use-of-burn-pits-on-bases/

"LEUKEMIA: THE NEW ARMY CAMOUFLAGE"

2009-05-15T13:53:00.015-04:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Part XV

While the country is ravaged by a crippling economy it is a lightweight problem compared to what’s happening to a portion of American families---military families. They are experiencing something more severe than financial loss---emotional devastation----as their loved ones; son’s, father’s, husband’s and brother’s---are coming home from their tour in Iraq---laden with cancer. Their flag draped coffins don’t trail through Andrew’s Air Force Base for a final salute. Their coffins and urns are discreetly transported to the family’s resting place, six months, one or two years after they return home---with no media fanfare.

They are the families of the courageous soldiers who upon coming home in one piece, thought that PTSD would be their only battle. But for many it’s just the beginning, as there can be up to a two year incubation period for the cancer to emerge. It is the after effects from their exposure to carcinogens in Iraq---from burn pits to depleted Uranium. And the soldiers, so unknowingly toxic, begin to experience symptoms of a disease that will rapidly take their life. Mangling them whole. As was the case with a young Army Specialist, Andrew Ray Rounds from Oregon. [the photo above was pre Army---the last summer as a civilan]

The day before Halloween 2002, Andy Rounds just nearing 18 years old began boot camp. It was a family tradition to join the military, as his father and grandfather had both served. The self-professed spiritual warrior trained as “14 Juliet” air support for incoming aircraft by identifying them on radar. His home base in Hawaii, the Army’s Scholfield Barracks.

An outdoorsman, he was the epitome of health, finding enjoyment in jogging, swimming, skateboarding, camping and hiking. The military newspaper, Stars and Stripes highlighted him early on for his outstanding physical endurance on his initial PT test. So there was no surprise in January 2004 SPC. Rounds was selected to deploy to Iraq. On his first convoy from Kuwait to Kirkuk he rode atop the last humvee manning a 50 caliber gun. During the eight hour desert journey he drove through hazardous burn pit smoke, ten times more toxic than the sulpher and carbon dioxide plumes found at coal plants in the U. S. accused of producing Acid Rain. SPC. Rounds exposure to Iraq’s environmental toxins had begun.

He settled into the Forward Operating Base camp in Kirkuk, Iraq. His duties were Tower Guard checking-in locals working on the base, while escorting transfer workers around the base. He also escorted his crew to the laundry facility and stood guard over them. But everything changed a few months into his tour, after he’d been involved in an explosion at the camps ammunition dump--a depleted Uranium graveyard. Unknowingly, the radioactive smoke and dust amplified his exposure. “He and another soldier were heading towards the chow area when the ammo dump exploded,” his mother Lisa Rounds recounted. “They were so close that running to shelter wasn't an option. The explosions sent shrapnel flying all around them for about 15-20 minutes. They laid frozen in a low area until it was safe to move.”

This episode brought a change to the young soldier, as he began feeling very depressed and started giving away many of his possessions. His mother said she thought it was strange, “And it made me uneasy. Although the depression was understandable at the time, mortars were often lobbed into his base. One hit the barracks next door, but luckily that camps soldier was on guard duty, and the mortar didn't explode.”

Like some teens predicting their own deaths, SPC. Rounds always had a feeling that he was going to die at 17. “Andy had a premonition that he wouldn’t live too long. But when he lived past that age it was like hooray!” his mother remembered.

After 14 months in Iraq his tour ended October 2005 and SPC. Rounds headed back to Scholfied Barracks in Hawaii. Besides complaining of his feet hurting, and his inability to jog or work-out as frequently, he was in good health. Within a year his term ended and he separated from the Army. By October 2006 he was enroute back to Oregon where the 20 year-old rented an apartment and worked for a local business delivering furniture.

But within months SPC. Rounds developed a persistent stuffy nose and a portion of his vision became blurred. “He just felt bad. Intuitively he knew something was very wrong inside,” Lisa Rounds recalled.

So SPC. Rounds went to the local Lebanon, Oregon hospital where a doctor diagnosed him with a sinus infection and prescribed medication. “He did not improve after a week or so and returned to the doctor complaining of coughing up and vomiting blood and his vision problems,” Lisa Rounds said. This doctor was more concerned then the first and sent SPC. Rounds for a CT-scan of his sinus and chest areas. Another doctor followed-up after the scan but didn’t seem worried and adhered to the initial diagnosis of a sinus infection, telling SPC. Rounds, ‘Yep, you’re full of snot.’ And ordered him a stronger medication.

Two days later Lisa Rounds just happened to stop by her sons apartment to check in on him. Except she found him sprawled out on his bedroom floor semi-conscious. “I called 911 and he was taken to the local hospital,” she said. “If I had arrived a half hour later he would have been dead.”

The ER doctors thought it might be spinal meningitis and quarantined him, but his CDC came back negative. The blood panel showed his white blood cell count elevated to over 400,000 [10,000 – 70,000 being normal]. “Andy had continual seizures, and piticea where red dots blanketed the skin on his legs and stomach. It was a symptom that his blood capillaries were bleeding-out. His unconsciousness was due to bleeds in the brain,” his mother explained. “And if they didn’t figure out the cause immediately he was going to die.”

The Rounds’ remained confident in the doctors as they had no reason to doubt their diagnosis. “We couldn’t comprehend it at the time that his symptoms were life threatening,” she admitted.

The local doctors at Lebanon, at least a half dozen, were baffled by the multiple symptoms after his collapse. It was difficult for them to stabilize SPC. Rounds so they consulted with doctors at Oregon Health and Science University Cancer Institute [OHSU] in Portland and decided to medEvac him there.

Finally on January 23, 2007 the Rounds’ family was informed that their young son had Acute Myeloid Leukemia [AML]. “We were told it was so aggressive that nothing was working and he was not going to survive,” his mother mourned. “It was the reason for the bleed-outs---the leukemia was changing the structure of his blood. Unknowingly, when Andy complained months earlier that his feet hurt, it was the AML, it started to settle in the bones of his feet.”

Once SPC. Rounds was properly diagnosed he immediately went into surgery for a craniectomy. In order to relieve the pressure from the bleeds in his brain, they needed to remove part of his skull. After surgery they induced a coma to try to control his breathing. Lisa Rounds said, “Then similar to dialysis, they cleaned his blood of the leukemia cells and prepared him for chemo treatment.” SPC. Rounds remained in a coma for three weeks until he started fighting the breathing machine.

His new doctor at OHSU Dr. Tibor Kovacsovics callously remarked his first impression of the Rounds’ case, ‘I’ll prepare the chemo, but I’m not going to treat a vegetable.’ The Rounds’ were horrified at the insensitivity. But then Dr. Kovacsovics valiantly took on the case and did all he could to help their son survive.

SPC. Rounds received a port in his chest for easy access of the nearly ten doses of chemo, sometimes two together. And three tracheotomies. He slowly came out of the coma. His mother observed, “Beyond the physical damage, we knew Andy was still “in there.” It took months for him to come out of the confusion from the brain injury, he had to re-learn how to talk and walk. It was such a difficult time…he had short term memory loss and partial right side paralysis.”

Everyday SPC. Rounds confidently worked at his rehabilitation, and surprising many, quickly re-learned how to talk and walk. “It was uplifting that he was so resilient. He was an amazing miracle,” Lisa Rounds said with astonishment. “The doctors said they thought his brain injury was too severe to survive, let alone be intelligent, still have memories and retain the same personality as before. But we had faith and believed our son would beat this thing.”

After about six months of treatment and rehabilitation at OHSU, SPC. Rounds was finally able to go home with his parents. “He took everything so well, and knew the seriousness of it. Andy kept thanking us for taking care of him. He persevered for his Mom and Pops,” she said lovingly. SPC. Rounds felt disappointed of what he was putting his parents through. “He was not happy that it was happening to him, but he was also accepting of the possibility that this was reality and he would probably die. He tried so hard though. He has always had faith that there is existence after life, so he wasn't afraid, but he knew how very sad this would make us feel,” Lisa Rounds shared.

Because SPC. Rounds was feeling so down about his situation he didn't socialize much nor did he share any of his Army buddies' names with his family. “It was strange that way, Andy always had a bazillion friends, he was special in that he made everyone he spoke to feel like they mattered and had interesting stories to tell,” she remarked of her son.

SPC. Rounds would rally for a short time and then the AML would take over again. Then in mid September 2007 after a joyous 30 day stay with his family, he returned to the hospital in Corvallis, Oregon where he received care for the next six weeks from Dr. Steven Neville. Unfortunately it would be the final weeks of his life. Surrounded by his family, the young soldier, almost 23 years old would take his last breath, and on October 20th, 2007 his spirit would relinquish his body and sail off into the ethers. The spiritual warrior found peace in his new after world, one without pain or suffering, and made up of love and kindness.

“He touched so many people's lives, it still amazes me. He was a gift to us and we're so happy we got to be Andy's parents,” his mother confided. Because of the brain injury they really couldn’t speak to their son about his final wishes. But had discussed it in the past and SPC. Rounds expressed his desire to be cremated and buried at the local cemetery. “Some of his ashes were spread at is favorite camp site near our home,” Lisa Rounds informed. He left behind a sister, April that will turn 29this year.

The Rounds’ are convinced their son was exposed to toxins in Iraq and DU during the ammo dump explosion at his base in Kirkuk March 2004. When the Rounds’ voiced their concerns to the Portland VA Assistance Offices, they were ‘very nice’ but the main governmental VA department was unresponsive to their son's condition. “We were shocked by the brick wall we hit at the VA. Because with this particular cancer, it takes 1 – 2 years for it to manifest, which coincides with his term in Iraq,” Lisa Rounds said with astonishment. “They tried everything they could to get help for Andy, but because it was an illness and not an injury, there was no assistance for him. So the Oregon State Health Plan stepped in when the VA wouldn’t because they felt Andy was a worthy cause. So we’re very grateful to them for taking care of our son.”

Not only would the VA not take responsibility for this soldiers rare cancer diagnosis and 14 month tour in Iraq, suffice to say neither would the doctors at OHSU. They stand by their medical claims that there weren’t any connections between his acute leukemia and military service. [below, happier times.... with his parents]

From January to October 2007, the Rounds’ “fought this battle.” “It was a gift we had him for those 10 months---it was like a long goodbye,” she solemnly ended.

April 17, 2009 ICBUW ---Associate Professor, Scientist,
Kadhim Almuqdadi: Iraqi MD and Environmental Researcher in Sweden Initiates International Petition.

Because of the radioactive contamination which resulted from the use of uranium munitions in the second (1991) and third (2003) Gulf wars in Iraq. We call on the Governments of the countries who joined the United States in those wars where depleted uranium ammunitions were used, to share the responsibility of the health and environmental disaster of Iraq today.
[ http://www.petitiononline.com/IrqNoDU/petition.html ]

The Memorandum to the United Nations and the Governments of the Countries of the World states:

The environmental pollution which occurred after the war, especially the radioactive, has already caused hundreds of thousands of cancer deaths and injuries, and congenital deformities, stillbirths, infertility, and many untreatable ailments. Knowing that no dose of radiation, however low, is safe and harmless, we remind you that no borders, no matter how well-controlled, can prevent the transfer of the radioactive contaminants displaced by the wind to the neighboring countries. Those contaminants have already traveled by tens of kilometers away from the contaminated sites.

The environmental problems and health consequences have exacerbated after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the country still lacks the potential of immediate and effective required treatment. These factors, among others, have made Iraq unable to tackle alone the thorny and urgent problem of cleaning its environment from the polluted and contaminated remains, or successfully treat the tens of thousands of victim patients, and put an end to the diseases caused by the pollution.

The environmental dangers that remain have caused damage to health of the Iraqi
people and the peoples of the neighboring countries. We encourage President
Obama for an immediate commencement of a campaign to clean up the radioactive
waste of depleted Uranium ammunition from American weapons left in Iraq. And
also ask the President to please consider vacating the stock of such ammunitions
of the US forces stationed in Iraq in order to avoid such disasters in the
future.

"RESIDUE FROM IRAQ BURN PITS: SOLDIERS WITH CANCER"

2009-04-13T11:52:00.037-04:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Part XIIII

After the inauguration, Oprah visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center. My breathing became shallow as I watched the February episode. I sat motionless while waiting for her to finally visit the Oncology Wards of soldiers stricken with cancer post Iraq. As the hour edged forward, her emotional journey into the lives of those courageous, newly amputated soldiers spilled before her. With honor and grace she highlighted their bravery, their psychological slavery to PTSD. But she never ventured up to the Wards on the 6th and 7th floor, where soldiers lay ravaged by cancer--- their fight unknown to the public and ignored by the media.

In 2007 Larry King paid tribute to the WRAMC Fisher House by visiting soldiers in disrepair. But failed to visit the Fisher House in Forest Glen, Md. that housed soldiers, and their families, undergoing chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. Their bold attempts to cut and obliterate the cancer that found a home in their bodies while on tour in Iraq.

It was during my time there in 2006 for my sister, that I interviewed 34 yr. old Army SSG. Frank Valentin at WRAMC. He deployed to the Port of Kuwait City on the Iraq boarder, and spent his two-year tour at a camp surrounded by the noxious fumes from two oil refineries, a cement factory, a chlorine factory and a sulfuric acid factory. When their eyes began to burn, the skin on their face felt hot, became red, and mucous dripped from their nose---they knew then, they were in a cesspool of toxic chemicals.

He was misdiagnosed in theatre seven times with hemorrhoids. Upon his eighth visit to the Medic he was finally diagnosed with Colon Cancer by a Reservist Oncologist.

When meeting him, the brave and angry soldier commented as he sat with a colostomy bag pressed against his body, gripped in his hand a letter from his doctors of incurable Colon/Lung cancer. “This war is cancer and the bad thing is people like us don’t get benefits. The amputees qualify for the TSGLI Injury Benefits for up to $100,000 to start a new life. But because cancer is a disease and not a war wound, we don’t qualify.” Adding, “No one even knows we’re on the Oncology Ward. The press, celebrities and politicians go to the 3rd floor when they want publicity shots with the amputee soldiers. But what about the 7th floor, ward 71, with soldiers that are coming back with cancer?” he asked. “No one cares because you can’t see our injury.”

After a valiant fight, SSG. Valentin died at home in January 2009 at the age of 38. Below is the story of another invisible soldier, SGT. Christopher J. Sachs. [pictured above & throughout]

In the Spring of 2001, Christopher Sachs made a decision at the age of 29 to join the military. After eight months in the Delayed Entry Program, he started the New Year off as official Army personnel. The Washington, D.C. native would be assinged his first tour of duty to Wiesbaden, Germany. The new soldier couldn’t fathom that within two years of his four year term---he would go to war in Iraq.

SGT. Sachs, with a six-foot-four 300 pound frame was the epitome of strong, healthy stock. He had minor knee problems, but otherwise was in great shape. Being an MD Ambulance E1 his tours took him to Turkey and Africa, but his skills as Medic and Ambulance driver were most valued in Iraq. And so on January 9, 2004 he deployed from Germany to Takrit, Iraq and FOB-Speicher. SGT. Sachs camped in some of the most toxic environments throughout the country; Balad, Mosul, Samarra, Beiji and Hadithah Dam.

The latter was an area SGT. Sachs wrote about, “It looked like Death Valley---just desert, rocks and heat. In the town there were many oil pipelines and valve stations, other areas were completely swamped in oil. Lagoons of oil along side the road. There was garbage, oil, smoke billowing everywhere, depleted Uranium in the water and soil.”

During his tour in Iraq he had written or called his family complaining of ailments, from depression and a suspicious bacterial infection that spread itself through his battalion, to having acute reactions to the heat and sand. But more revealing was the newsletter, “Fear & Loathing In Iraq” that he wrote as a way to vent, and include others at home into his experience. He shared insight into his life as a soldier in Iraq, and his internal journey from what he witnessed as a man, and as a human being, in a land he found drenched in beautiful sunsets, and whose people he discovered were hard working and joyous. A collection of his letters has been posted at the following site [ http://www.forchrissake.org/ ].

**********

An excerpt from June 6th 2004 SGT. Sachs writes about his guard duty at the Ammo Holding Area (AHA). They were taking turns in 24-hour shifts guarding two shipping containers filled with “boom-booms.” “…Our battalion has not provided electricity, beds, heat or A/C, no radio, nothing. And the AHA is located about 100 yards from the perimeter of the small town where most of the rockets and mortars come from. We’re all screaming about this trying to make it more comfortable and safe. The soldiers will be in the middle of nowhere, alone, with no communication and no comforts.”
[below with the pole over his shoulder, SGT. Sachs holding two other soldiers off the ground. It was taken inside a burn pit that wasn’t on fire at the time, the sky clear.]

SGT. Sachs stressed, ‘support the troops, not the war.’ “When it comes to this country and this war, the newspapers and TV tell you what you want to hear. Don’t believe what you see on CNN, the soldiers are not proud, we are pissed. We thank everyone for their support, and we need all of it, but don’t think for a minute, that the majority are proud to be here. We are not. This is not Afghanistan; this war was not an eye for an eye noble event.”

His impressions on Iraq and its people shows an understanding and awareness lost on Washington and the Bush administration. On July 4th 2004 SGT. Sachs writes about himself, and his beliefs. “These too, are good people, the Iraqi people are a strong people and always will be. They have been through so much. Saddam will not be the last bad guy in Iraq, but the people are not bad, they are just poor, and ignorant and trapped in a culture with warring factions of religious zealots. ….They want us out of here and want to rebuild the country themselves. With us here there is no work for them. We are causing their unemployment and frustration and I feel bad for them. Our very act of helping them is making them suffer.”

A philosophical letter from his Uncle Jon impacted the young soldier. Explaining that he’s in the midst of a historical time for our nation, and for the world. And that he is a part of this generations Vietnam. SGT. Sachs reflects, “I see the sights, the smells, hear the noise and feel the effects. Bad or good, for the war or against---it is a character building experience to say the least and it changes who you are.”

“I think of two things, the past and the future. Being here is very cathartic, it makes you think of your life and all the bad decisions you made. If hindsight is 20/20, then this place is the Mecca. All you think about is family, friends, experiences good or bad, past loves and why the relationships didn’t work, what you will do better next time. How when you meet someone you will be the best boyfriend ever. When you get married be the best husband you can be and treat your wife well. You will be a better person and suck the marrow of life.”

“I have searched for meaning in life here. I think the war will have changed me for the better. I will be like a flower that blooms when the sun finally gets through. I am just waiting for my time to emerge from this cocoon. It will happen when I am safe and out of the military.”

SGT. Sachs trained as a scientist, faced a spiritual quandary when it came to science and religion. He ended his 4th of July post by admitting, “I want to live forever. Science is always looking for the answer, but religious people already have it. I want to go on after I die so badly, but I know it will not happen, and that scares me. And nothing makes you think of the debate between religion and science more than being a scientist in war.”

**********

When his tour ended Christmas eve 2004, SGT. Sachs made a home for himself where he grew up in Buffalo, N.Y. With less than a year left in the Army, his wrestless heart and longing for love drew him to the web and Yahoo Personals. Within weeks online he met Robyn Learn, a local schoolteacher and single mother with a 3 year old son from her first marriage. Romance struck them in cyberspace that February 2005, and their instant online connection parlayed itself into a telephone chemistry. She remembered they spoke for four hours. “That’s how much we had in common. I can still feel the butterflies.”

One of the things that was mutual was their love for author, Nicholas Sparks. “I had confided in him that I read all of his books except his latest at the time which was, “Three Weeks With My Brother.” Less than a week later I received the book in the mail with a special note from him. From that point on, I knew he was a keeper,” she said with affection.

SGT. Sachs remembered all the promises he made to himself in the deserts of Iraq and proposed. They went about planning a formal wedding for October 11th 2008 and booking an incredibly romantic 10 day honeymoon in Paris, Venice and Rome. Then by early September 2008 SGT. Sachs became extremely fatigued, developed mouth sores, had a shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting. He thought he had an infection from dental work or perhaps food poisoning. But just as she and SGT. Sachs were finalizing details with the florist and the cake decorator, when no longer able to withstand the physical ailments---went to the Buffalo V.A. Hospital Emergency Room.

The ER Doctor performed a routine blood test and it showed an elevated white blood cell count and a decreased platelet count. When the ER doctor and nurse came into his room---they closed the door behind them. Their expression looked very different Robyn Sachs recalled, “We had no idea anything life threatening was occurring during the two weeks he was sick. When the doctor gave Chris his thoughts of what the diagnosis was--- we looked at each other in complete shock. Next thing I know I’m being pulled into another room by the ER nurse who’s telling me how serious this is and to start making calls. Although we were both in disbelief, we weren’t worried. Both of us come from Science backgrounds and we believed in the power of medicine and current research on cancer treatments.”

The ER doctor consulted with a Hematologist from Roswell Park Cancer Institute, and on September 20th 2008 SGT. Sachs was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). “Once we found out that AML is caused by exposure to benzene’s, DU and other ionizing radiation components, there was no doubt in our minds that it must have been his time in Iraq,” Robyn Sachs said.

Because of AML’s aggressive nature, the treatment would be aggressive. SGT. Sachs opted to take part in a [highly controversial] Phase I Study [Arsenic trioxide, high-dose cytarabine and idarubicin induction therapy in previously untreated de novo and secondary adult AML patients -60 years old]. Which consisted of an initial dose of arsenic and a six day course of chemotherapy twice a day. It is extremly difficult for a cancer patient to handle chemo once a day, nevermind twice, and the courageous SGT. Sachs underwent 12 rounds of chemo in less than one week.

The doctors urged the young couple to move up there wedding date since SGT. Sachs needed to stay hospitalized after the chemo. So two days after his diagnosis they were married at the Chapel at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Because of the circumstances almost every vendor hired for their October wedding, less than three weeks away, was kind enough to refund them. “By that time I had already received our favors (engraved chocolates), which I gave to the entire ICU staff for their hard work and dedication to Chris.” Because SGT. Sachs was suffering from a bilateral pulmonary embolism, he was forced into a coma to help control his breathing. [pictured below SGT. Sachs in his hospital bed in an induced coma]

On November 2, 2008, six weeks after his diagnosis, SGT. Christopher Sachs died in ICU at Roswell Park Cancer Institute at the age of 36. Both his parents and four siblings survive him, as does his 6 year-old step son, and a distrught wife.

“Chris wanted the most aggressive treatments available, although he did confide to me that if he became “brain dead” that was it,” Robyn Sachs mourned. “None of us ever believed he would die from this. We didn’t have an opportunity to really discuss his condition. Luckily, in 2005 we took a long road trip and discussed our wishes for when we passed. Chris wanted to be cremated and have his ashes planted into a tree.” [As the family is in mourning they haven’t decided where that tree will be.]

Since SGT. Sachs diagnosis was three years post Iraq, the U. S. military refused to consider the possibility there was a relation to his tour, and an exposure to carginogens [burn pits or water] and or radiation [DU]. But it is evident in DoD manuals that the exposure levels of depleted Uranium / radiation while in theatre, can have an incubation period ranging from two months to several years. Below the Japanese Press addressess the Italian Governments decision to provide their soldiers with a DU compensation package post their tour.

--ICBUW: On Feb. 7, 2009 the Japanese press, Kyodo Press, reported on the Italian Ministry of Defense’s decision to approve a Veterans’ Depleted Uranium Compensation Package on Dec. 18, 2008.

The Italian Cabinet convinced the government of a link between ill health and DU exposure. The number of Italian veterans suffering from serious diseases like cancer entitled to this compensation is 1,703, in which 77 have already died. The areas where these veterans were deployed include Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Italian government is trying to make standards for compensation to the veterans and the bereaved by March 2009, when payments will commence.

The commission also stated, “That the burden of proof should be inverted. Concluding proof of service for personnel that were deployed to areas where DU had been used was sufficient evidence to support compensation when they later became ill, or when heavy metal nano-particles were found in their bodies.”

This important government decision will be of great aid to the families of Italian soldiers who have died, and to military personnel diagnosed with leukemia and who are suing the state administration.

The young widow, Mrs. Robyn Sachs wept on the March 12th anniversary of what would have been her beloved’s 37th birthday, “Our story is a legacy and one that I will cherish forever. I never thought it would end so tragically….I thought we’d share a lifetime together. Although it has been months since he passed away….the reality that my sweetie is never coming home finally hit me, and it’s beyond painful. I can’t begin to tell you how much I miss him in so many different ways. I can tell you what I miss the most….I miss my best friend.”

She wept, “Chris always made life easier for me, and now he’s made death easier for me. Because now I know he’ll be there waiting for me.”

Authors Note: Jan. 2009, the VA released new statistical health data on diseases amongst Operation Iraqi Freedom & Operation Enduring Freedom Veterans [OIF & OEF soldiers]. The catagories of diseases, the numbers of military affected and the percentage of cases throughout the 4 branches of military are listed below.

VHA Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards:
(Cumulative data since 2002. A majority of the cases of diseases have doubled from 9/07 – 9/08.)

Infectious and Parasitic Diseases 49,272 12.3 %
Malignant Neoplasms 3,988 1.0 %
Benign Neoplasms 17,274 4.3 %
Diseases of Endocrine/Nutritional/ Metabolic Systems 93,028 23.2 %
Diseases of Blood and Blood Forming Organs 9,677 2.4 %
Diseases of Nervous System/ Sense Organs 146,611 36.6 %
Diseases of Circulatory System 68,295 17.1 %
Disease of Respiratory System 83,771 20.9 %
Disease of Digestive System 129,656 32.4 %
Diseases of Genitourinary System 44,812 11.2 %
Diseases of Skin 67,384 16.8 %
Diseases of Musculoskeletal/Connective System 197,078 49.2 %
Symptoms, Signs and Ill Defined Conditions 167,959 42.0 %
Injury/Poisonings 92,023 23.0 %

Army Times--- July 30, 2008
“Warning of Carcinogen in Soldiers Drinking Water”
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/ap_chemicalwarning_073008/

JASPER, Ind. — Last year the Indiana National Guard notified nearly 600 soldiers who served in Iraq that they may have drunk water tainted with a carcinogen at an Iraqi treatment plant. During a U.S. Senate hearing in June 2008, senators learned that sodium dichromate — a cancer-causing chemical that can also cause breathing problems — was used as a corrosion inhibitor in the soldiers drinking water at the Qarmat Ali water plant near Basra, Iraq.

A fact sheet provided by the Guard states that exposure to sodium dichromate can cause; sores in the nose, sores on the skin that tend not to heal. Other symptoms include skin irritation, tearing and eye irritation, runny or bleeding nose as well as sneezing, coughing, wheezing and pain in the chest when breathing. Fever, nausea, vomiting and upset stomach are other symptoms. Long-term exposure to the chemical can cause lung cancer.

Army Times--- July 16, 2008
“Report: 8,763 Vets Died Awaiting Benefits”
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/military_concurrent_receipt_071508/

Copyright March 1, 2009 R. B. STUART, All Rights Reserved. No reproduction of this blog in any form.

"LEUKEMIA: A SOLDIERS SOUVENIR FROM THE BURN PITS OF IRAQ"

2009-02-19T14:03:00.015-05:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Part XIII

In 2003 Army SSG. Steven G. Ochs [pictured above] deployed from the Scholfield Barracks in Hawaii to Iraq. At the time, the 27 year-old Long Beach California native departed the States in excellent health. The Avenger Section Sergeant was an MOS - 14 Sierra, Paratrooper and would be utilizing his sharpened skills in the sand box of Iraq--- maneuvering through Baghdad with precision. Over the next 12 to 15 months SSG. Ochs would find uncertainty amongst the forest of tents in Camps Liberty and Loyalty.

The latter was apropos for this dedicated soldier who gravitated to the Armed Forces in 1994 at the mere age of 18. His life---his love was the military, so being called to fight in the War of Iraq was a selfless duty he accepted willingly. But he hadn’t anticipated that his tours, three in total from 2003 to 2007, two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, would eventually take his life. The ultimate sacrifice for a soldier, for his country….is….death.

During those four years in 12 – 15 month intervals, SSG. Ochs escaped roadside bombs, incoming missile attacks and friendly fire, but when corresponding with his family he complained of ailments; from colds, major fatigue, headaches, sinus problems and a sore throat. As a result of continual explosions he experienced some hearing loss, and during his tour in Afghanistan contracted TB from his exposure to the masses of dead Iraqi [soldiers] bodies.

Although SSG. Ochs [pictures above] seemed impenetrable, he could not sidestep the invisible weapon that would course through his bloodstream five months after his third tour ended. In September 2007 while stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, at the age of 31, SSG. Ochs was diagnosed with a rare Cancer, Acute Myeloid Leukemia [AML]. His family said he remained positive throughout the entire time. “He didn’t accept defeat---he knew that he would survive,” said his sister Stacy Pennington. The culprit for her brothers Cancer she believes is from the exposure of chemicals while deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. “From the emissions of the burn pits and the depleted Uranium,” Pennington added.

The US Air Force document below describes burn pits as, ‘the smoke hazards of burning plastics, Styrofoam, paper, wood, rubber, non-medical waste, some metals, some chemicals such as paints & solvents etc.’ Listing 21 possible contaminates associated with the burning was evident in [USAF] air samples. The toxic aromatic cocktail they were/are inhaling include; the highly carcinogenic sulfuric acid, formaldehyde, arsenic and benzene.

In December 2006, Lieutenant Colonel, Darrin L. Curtis a Bioenvironmental Engineering Flight Commander for the Air Force circulated a Department of The Air Force warning memorandum [on Burn Pit Health Hazards] from Balad Air Base in Iraq. Stating, ‘The burn pit at Balad AKA Anaconda has been identified as a health concern for several years in numerous after action reports.’ During the Environmental Health Site Assessments conducted January – April 2006 by the US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventative Medicine, ‘open burning of solid waste was identified as the number two most common environmental health finding.’ Balad’s burn pit was quoted as being, “The worst environmental site I have personally visited, and that includes 10 years working Clean-up for the Army and DLA.”

In items three and four, LT. COL. Curtis continues, ‘It is amazing that the burn pit has been able to operate without restrictions over the past few years without significant engineering controls being put in place.’ He outlines, ‘This interim fix should not be years, but more in the order of months.’ Adding in section five, ‘In my professional opinion, there is an acute health hazard for individuals.’ Continuing, ‘I base this assessment on the data I have reviewed and on-site smoke plume assessments.’ He ends by stressing, “I am writing this memo to translate what I see is an operational health risk to those that have been, are now, and will be, deployed to Balad.’

Concurring on the memo is Chief of Aeromedical Services, LT. COL. James R. Elliott. ‘In my professional opinion the known carcinogens and respiratory sensitizers released into the atmosphere by the burn pit, present both an acute and a chronic health hazard to our troops and our local population.’ Pennington informs that her brother SSG. Ochs was there ‘quite a bit’ and he mentions the Anaconda ‘throughout his journals.’

Upon SSG. Ochs third tour ending in April 2007, within weeks he began feeling extremely tired with severe colds that seemed to erupt immediately. The symptoms lasted through to June so he went to Womack Medical Facility at Fort Bragg where they performed blood tests that came back normal. At the end of June still not feeling well he went back WMF. They ran another series of blood tests this time it showed an elevation in his white blood cell count, [more than double of normal range], and his red blood cell count tripled. The Doctors sent him home with Ibuprofen.

Although SSG. Ochs showed early signs of Leukemia at the end of June 2007, it was not diagnosed until September 2007. When Gout developed on his ankles and large lumps (like pimples) tarred his head and neck, compounded by a fever and severe flu like symptoms, it brought him to the Western Wake Hospital ER in Cary, NC. They discovered that the “pimples” were actually Leukemia crystals. “We are devastated,” Pennington grieved. “Three months passed us by...the first three crucial months of his Leukemia. If we knew early on it might have made all the difference---but we will never know.” [pictured below in hospital]

In September 2007 after the Doctors at Wake diagnosed him with Leukemia they transferred him to Duke University Hospital where a team of doctors officially diagnosed him in October 2007 with AML. It came on ‘fast and furious.’ He turned 32 that November. And would spend the next nine months there undergoing treatments.

Pennington stated, “The land over there [Iraq/Afghanistan] is infested with a combination of depleted Uranium, emissions from the burn pits and the burning of oil.” She remembered conversations with her brother, “He would not give many details but would say, ‘Sis, I have been exposed to a lot of chemicals in the Middle East. You just have no idea.’ ” To validate his claims SSG. Ochs gave his father Klaus Ochs munitions containing depleted Uranium. [pictured below]

The Ochs family says several in his unit confirmed they worked continuously in and around burn pits. “Our country needs to look at the medical care our men and women are receiving when they return from their tours in the Middle East,” Pennington argues. “The military has been actively treating the mental side-effects from war, but not treating the physical. Procedures need to be enacted to screen and monitor the physical affects of dangerous chemical emissions they are exposed to in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

When the Ochs’ questioned the doctors at Duke University, their thoughts were that his Leukemia was due to chemical exposure in Iraq. But, they added, as Doctors could not prove it and would not go on record, while emphasizing that his chemical exposure was the cause for the Cancer.

SSG. Ochs underwent four rounds of Chemotherapy at Duke---his wife, Melissa Rae Ochs and the family by his side, military visits from Captains and a Chaplain brought comfort to the young soldier and new father of a baby girl, Annelise Rae. But it wasn’t enough to save him. On July 11, 2008 the day before he died, his younger brother, Chief Brian Smith spoke with him. He recalled asking, “Steve do you have any regrets?” His brother replied, “No.” He inquired again, “Do you feel everything is okay with Annelise? [his 3 year-old daughter].” SSG. Ochs said, “As long as she is okay then I am at peace.”

Pennington admitted, “The doctors gave us no indication that death was near. They said things did not ‘look good’ if the final round of Chemo didn't work. So Steve knew yet felt, he had more time to make his final wishes known.”

After 14 years in the military, at the age of 32, Army SSG. Steven G. Ochs passed away in front of his sister and mother, Joanne Ochs on July 12, 2008, minutes after being transferred to ICU at Duke University. His clandestine four year military mission in Iraq/Afghanistan left behind not only a family, but journals and 75 pounds of medical records from his care at Duke, as well as sorrow, loss, confusion and dedication from his family to have his unfortunate story told.

As his family continues to battle the military for his Army medical records, a battle that many Veteran’s and their family’s have faced for decades well before the Vietnam war. Lost or destroyed medical records has been a military tactic used against soldiers that may try to validate their combat related illness. Since the DoD will not acknowledge or pay for ‘war wounds,’ they simply destroy the evidence in the soldiers medical records, so there is no legal recourse for the soldiers or family’s to prove their military health history.

And with undisclosed Cancer cases rising in the military with this war, the DoD stands firm that Cancer is ‘not a war wound.’ Therefore the DoD will not be held financially responsible for these soldiers, so it’s easier to loose or destroy records. Many stricken soldiers [including CPT. CH. Fran E. Stuart who has been waiting over two years at WRAMC] feel the lengthily wait of a year or more to state their claims in front of the Military Medical Review Boards for benefits and retirement---is simply another military stalling ploy of more red [white and blue] tape. The soldiers share the sentiment that the DoD would rather have them die waiting---than appear before the med boards.

The Ochs’ mission: to bring this issue to light and educate the public on what is happening with our troops as they return from serving their country. They hope through the work of Kerry Baker, Advocacy Director for Disabled American Veterans [DAV], journalists and other advocates who have taken on this important task exposing depleted Uranium and burn pits to the American public---that congress will act. And in doing so aiding thousands of military personnel serving the country.

SSG. Steven Ochs, a brother, a husband, a father and son is part of the rapidly growing category of unspoken casualties from the Iraq war. “My brother was a strong man who was proud of his military career. We have a problem with chemical exposure in Iraq, the combination of the burn pits and the depleted Uranium is sending our military personnel home with a ticking time bomb. In the United States we have rules and regulations on how we conduct the business of destroying our waste materials. We need to uphold those laws while we are occupying foreign countries,” stressed Pennington.

“Please know that we are proud and grateful to all of our military,” Pennington emphasized. “My youngest brother Brian still serves this country [an Aviation Bownsain Mate Handle Chief] and will continue to for his entire career. This situation has not changed his commitment to this country. My family just wants this country to acknowledge the problem and act on behalf of all who serve. They deserve no less.”

“We cannot bring my brother back,” Pennington mourned. “He would have been first to sacrifice himself for the greater good, especially to save other's who serve this country. To quote a soldier that served under him and who spoke at his funeral: ‘[In Iraq] Steve would lead as point man every time to ensure that all his troops would come home alive.’” If only the U. S. Military took as much care with its troops….

Authors Note: As we lose some of our most highly esteemed investigative journalists to Cancer. Is there a possibility embedded Journo’s or those there reporting on the war have been exposed through inhalation and/or ingestion as much as the soldiers? How many have been stricken with Cancer after being embedded with troops in Iraq/Afghanistan from 2003 – 2008? ABC’s Peter Jennings in 2005 from Lung Cancer - CBS’s Ed Bradley in 2006 from Leukemia - ABC’s Leroy Sievers in 2008 from Colon Cancer. Sievers was embedded with Ted Kopple in 2003 with the Third Infantry Division during the invasion of Iraq.

Copyright 2009, R. B. STUART all rights reserved. No reproduction of this blog in any form.

THE DISPOSABLE MILITARY: "The Tumor of The Unknown Soldier"

2009-01-15T18:19:00.034-05:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Part XII

Recently, the Chaplains at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in DC who houses 800 ill and recovering soldiers at a time, has begun weekly tributes at their mass formations for soldiers who have died at WRAMC. Honoring the fallen soldiers---they read their BIO and cause of death. In the last three weeks they have saluted three soldiers who have died at WRAMC from Cancer. No one questions this. Not Congress, not our elected officials, not the brigade of medical staff who care for these soldiers returning from the war torn country of Iraq.

Some soldiers feel the DoD would rather these soldiers die silently of Cancer---then pay costly medical treatment for soldiers deemed non-deployable. To acknowledge this as a war wound---the military must also assume financial responsibility for these ill soldiers. And why shouldn’t they. They were good enough to send to battle when they were healthy. But now that a percentage are returning with Stage II, III and IV Cancers---and some dying. It’s more cost effective for the military to turn a blind eye long enough for them to die. Their Cancers unrecognized as a casualty of war.

They own you once you become part of the military. And it’s their prerogative to treat these courageous men and women as guinea pigs---exposing them to depleted Uranium and contaminants at wartime. Maybe so, but not to inform the soldiers of the toxic environment in which they live, bleed and fight. Is callous, inhumane, and against the credo of a warrior. And then to abandon them in their darkest hour because their wound is Cancer and not shrapnel---is soulless. This is the new plight for the 21st century’s unknown soldier….

In January 2005, 33 year-old Army Specialist Gregory Anton left for Iraq in perfect health. His horrors wouldn’t begin until his tour ended. [pictured throughout] SPC Anton’s journey began at Camp Shelby, Mississippi with 20 other soldiers in his Unit. When the 14 year National Guard active duty E-4 soldier walked onto the bus in the still hours of that January morn. His Army Combat Uniform would take him to the desert of Kuwait.

The route transported them to an aircraft awaiting their arrival at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi. Like contraband being delivered in the dark of the night, the bus drove onto the tarmac and the bleary eyed soldiers transferred their weapons and bags for a trip to the battle zones of the Middle East.

With an eight-hour layover in the Dallas Fort Worth airport, the soldiers milled around the USO lounge---the Army uniform masked the fear painting their faces of what lay ahead. It was there that SPC Anton met a Staff Sergeant from Manhattan. He was returning to Iraq after two weeks R&R. SPC Anton recalled, “He told me of how he had lost his Commanding Officer days before he left for home. A sniper killed him. He said after having only been in the country for seven months, 24 of his own died from several roadside bomb encounters.” The uncertainty of the soldiers lives are reduced to a shell game played by the hands of God.

With their courage in tact, the 21 soldiers boarded another plane for nearly a ten hour flight to Budapest, Hungary where they refueled and changed flight crews. The final leg of their journey would be the sandbox of Kuwait.

Arriving Kuwait International airport in the early evening they shuttled to Camp Doha. After a grueling trip the bus ride was quiet. From Camp Doha the soldiers went on to Camp Buehring, where they were instructed to close the curtains on the bus for safety. “We had a police escort all the way. The police blocked exit and entrance ramps on the interstate. No civilian vehicles were allowed anywhere near our buses,” SPC Anton remembered.

Their 49-hour transition into the battle zone finally ended in a late night arrival to Camp Buehring. “As we flew in to Buehring you couldn’t see anything. It was complete darkness---no lights of any kind. We unloaded the helicopter and proceeded to our bunks. It seemed they were not ready for us. We stacked 30 people into a 20 man tent.” SPC Anton described the first hours of the soldiers banding together. “As we sat talking about our mission the look on the younger soldier’s faces were grim. It seemed it had just “hit home” to where they were.”

The father of four recollected the days seemed to run together. “Up early, eat chow, a full day of missions, and then back to the Forward Observing Base. On one occasion I was listening to music with my headphones when I heard a loud screaming noise, then an explosion. It was the high pitched whistling of rocket fire coming in from the East. After that night it continued. Day after day we took mortar after mortar and rocket after rocket---encountering numerous roadside bombs as well.”

Six months later, in June 2005, SPC Anton was heading home for two weeks leave. Excited to see his family, and be able to relax, eat real food, drink Cokes, and wear civilian clothes. He shared, “I saw my Mom while I was home. She said she wasn’t feeling well. I told her all would be okay. She did not want me to go to Iraq and was worried something would happen. I tried my best to bring comfort to her concerns.”

He returned to Iraq two weeks later and upon arrival was moved to a different Platoon. “We were outside the wire every day---encountering mission after mission.” After being back in Theater for nine days, SPC Anton received a Red Cross message. His mother was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. They gave her five days to live. He left two days later. Boarding a helicopter, to a plane, he made the flight home once again. Except when he arrived to Washington, D.C. his flight was canceled.

“I was distraught because I needed to get home. I had to see my Mom one more time. I called home and told them of my delay, my trying to get home was intercepted. I caught a flight the next morning. This was day five of five. I was nervous and scared. How would I react when I saw my mother?” he reflected.

SPC Anton landed in Memphis where a family member met him. First taking him home for a shower and change. “As we pulled into the driveway there was an eerie silence. Then the words I never wanted to hear, ‘Your mother passed early this morning.’ I was devastated. I was one day late. If only my flight had not been canceled I could’ve seen her one more time.”

Two weeks later back in Iraq, SPC Anton was not in a good place physically and emotionally. “I was depressed. Returning to a war zone after burying my mother.” Then around August 2005 SPC. Anton started feeling ill. “I had pains in my abdomen. Every day I had an upset stomach, becoming dehydrated once a week. My Commander told me I was just saying this because of my situation with my mother, accusing me of faking it.”

One day while outside doing sit-ups, he noticed a slight bulged on the bottom right side of his stomach. “I went to sick call again. Although the pain was still there, the doctor told me it was a pulled muscle from working out and dismissed me. After eating I urgently needed to go to the latrine. It got to the point where I would eat only small amounts of food maybe once or twice a day. This continued up until we left Iraq.”

By January 2006 SPC Anton returned to the U. S. and decided to stay at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Mississippi to train soldiers who were going overseas. “It was a great opportunity for me to give them insight to a place they were headed and I just left.

Eight months after his initial medical complaint, at the end of April 2006 SPC Anton went back to the doctor. The pain and sickness intensified. “I saw the doctor and she told me it was either my gall bladder or my appendix. She gave me medicine and told me to go home and if it worsened to return the next day. That night I became nauseous. As I kneeled over the toilet vomiting, I saw blood. The next morning I returned to the doctor. Explaining what happened she sent me to the Emergency Room to meet a surgeon. He reiterated what the other doctor said, ‘It is your gall bladder or your appendix. You are 34 years-old so you are too young for Cancer. We are going to do some tests and see which one it is.’”

As he woke from the anesthesia, the doctor walked in the room with his head hanging. “When he looked at me I knew right then…still looking at the floor he uttered these words, ‘We found you have Colon Cancer. We have to do surgery tomorrow.’ First I said and expletive. But never thought I was going to die---I wasn’t fazed by the diagnosis. Having spent everyday for a year fighting for my life in Iraq---I wasn’t bothered by what he said.”

The next morning his doctor entered the room attempting to explain the procedure SPC Anton would undergo, but he stopped him. “I didn’t want to know. I wasn’t scared but I didn’t want to hear it. I told him, pretend as if we were going on a trip---you’ll drive and I’ll sleep the entire way. I do not care how we get there…just get there.”

After the surgery SPC Anton woke in a room laden with doctors. Standing around in white coats, some pressed up against the wall discussing his well being. His surgeon cleared the room to talk to him. “He explained that the mass they removed was a Stage 3 and not even one year old. Adding, if I’d waited another month, I would have been dead.” SPC Anton recuperated in the hospital for two weeks and then was released back to Camp Shelby, where he stayed in a hotel room for three more weeks before discharged for home.

In July 2006 he returned to Horn Lake, Mississippi to receive 26 rounds of chemotherapy treatment under his Tri-Care insurance. “It was 26 weeks of pure hell. During that time I had received my medical records from Iraq. I combed through them looking at all the times I went to sick call. What I found in them angered me. On the very first visit to the medic August 2005 when my stomach was hurting, the doctor had noted discretely on the side of the chart, ‘Palpable Mass lower right quadrant. EVAC TO BALAD FOR SURGERY IMMEDIATELY.’ They never disclosed this fatal information to a soul. They found the Cancer while I was in Iraq and intentionally withheld it from me,” he exclaimed.

SPC Anton has been in remission for one year. Post Iraq, this 36 year-old soldier walks with a cane and uses a handicap placard. He’s been diagnosed with Stage III Colon Cancer, PTSD, Dumping Syndrome, Chronic Bronchitis, Internal Derangement (both knees), Carpal Tunnel (both arms), Sleep Apnea, Memory Loss and Traumatic Brain Injury. He hasn’t received any assistance from his Unit, neither comfort or support, even while in the hospital at Camp Shelby. He has repeatedly requested help with filing claims, the Medical Review Board process and separating from the Military---but his pleas for help go unanswered, as his voice of Cancer is ignored and silenced.

He notes, “You don’t hear about the vast number of soldiers returning home with Cancer. You hear about the one who was killed or kidnapped. We do not receive the help we need to go on with our lives. You do not see us receiving medals, awards and promotions. Congress turns a blind eye and says, ‘The soldiers are not getting Cancer because of being in Iraq.’ I say we’re intentionally being overlooked. We were ALL given a clean bill of health before we went, so why are we sick now?” The military’s denial of Cancer only compounds the soldier’s feelings of abandon.

He continues, “Breathing in the daily burning of our Battalions garbage, feces and any other waste disposed of at the camp. Encountering regularly at our Forward Observing Base were the blown up and mangled vehicles sitting in the motor pool. The vacant buildings we spent countless nights in while on patrol. The houses we entered while looking for terrorists. The sleeping on the desert floor for a week while guarding a stretch of highway. The contaminated water they brought in for our showers resulted in having the showers closed down for a week. The dust and all the environmental toxins we’d breathe in when the sand storms rolled in.”

The sacrifice, the toil and dedication these soldiers commit for their country is repaid by a military system that would rather silently dispose of them through sheer neglect---discounting the quiet suffering these brave sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers, undergo battling Cancer. While rejected by their Battalion brothers, and a system they’ve given their life for---only to be left alone suffocating in the political dust.

SPC Anton concludes, “Where are our Purple Hearts? Where is our financial aid for mounting bills while laid-up hooked to chemo treatments? Where are our brothers in arms when we need them? Congress needs to stop denying and admit there’s a problem. WE were given a clean bill of health before we left…and now we’re sick, and some dying from this. What about us and our families? They respond, ‘Sorry, this is Non-Combat related so you don’t qualify for insurance money.’ Congress can you hear me? Why won’t you help me?” Another military man cast from the battlefield pleads for his life….begs to be heard. This is the voice of Cancer---from an invisible Soldier---of the great US of A.

Copyright August 14, 2008, R. B. STUART. All Rights Reserved. No reproduction of this blog in any form.

KILLING US SLOVENLY: "DEPLETED URANIUM WHO USES IT & WHY"

2007-11-13T19:54:00.004-05:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Part XI

UN Depleted Uranium Resolution in Landslide Vote
11/2/07
http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/en/a/144.html

The UN First Committee passed, by an overwhelming majority, a resolution highlighting concerns over the military use of uranium.

Vote on Use of Depleted Uranium in Armaments:
For: 122 countries (including Japan)
Against: 6 countries (US, UK, France, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Israel)
Abstentions: 35 countries

The draft resolution on the effects of the use of armaments and ammunition containing depleted uranium was approved by a recorded vote of 122 in favor to 6 against, with 35 abstentions, as follows:
In favor: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Samoa, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Against: Czech Republic, France, Israel, Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States.

Abstain: Albania, Andorra, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine.

“EFFECTS OF THE USE OF ARMAMENTS AND AMMUNITION CONTAINING DEPLETED URANIUM”

http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/

--ICBUW Coordinator Doug Weir--

The International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons is a global coalition of 91 members in 25 countries. It campaigns for a ban on the use, transport, manufacture, sale and export of all conventional weapon systems containing uranium. It also seeks compensation for communities affected by the use of Uranium weapons and the environmental remediation of such sites. For more information on the campaign read below or view the link for thier site.

What is Depleted Uranium and how is it used in Weapons?Depleted Uranium (DU) is nuclear waste. Uranium naturally occurs as three different isotopes U234, U235 and U238. Isotopes are atoms of the same element that have different numbers of neutrons but the same number of protons. This means that they behave in the same way chemically, but different isotopes release different amounts and types of radiation.

The radioactive properties of DU, which is chiefly uranium 238, differ from those of uranium 235. Unlike U238, U235 is fissionable. This means that it is so unstable that firing neutrons at it can produce a self-sustaining series of nuclear reactions, releasing huge amounts of energy. This is the basis of nuclear weapons and nuclear power. However, before U235 is used, it needs to be concentrated as it only makes up a small proportion of naturally occurring uranium, around 0.7%. U238 makes up more than 99% of natural uranium and is less radioactive. After natural uranium has had most of the U235 removed from it, it is called ‘depleted uranium’ i.e. uranium depleted in the isotope U235. Each kilo of reactor ready enriched uranium produced leaves you with 7kg of DU.

Depleted Uranium itself is a chemically toxic and radioactive compound, which is used in armour piercing munitions because of it's very high density. It is 1.7 times denser than lead, giving DU weapons increased range and penetrative power. They belong to a class of weapons called kinetic energy penetrators. The part of the weapon that is made of DU is called a penetrator: this is a long dart weighing more than four kilograms in the largest examples: it is neither a tip nor a coating. The penetrator is usually an alloy of DU and a small amount of another metal such as titanium and molybdenum. These give it extra strength and resistance to corrosion.

Who owns DU Weapons and who has used them?
At least 18 countries are thought to have weapon systems with DU in their arsenals. These include: UK, US, France, Russia, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, Pakistan, Oman, Thailand, China, India and Taiwan. Many of them were sold DU ammunition by the US while others, including France, Russia, Pakistan and India are thought to have developed it independently.

Governments have often initially denied using DU because of public health concerns. Estimates of DU munitions expended run to 280 tonnes in the Gulf War of 1991 by US and UK forces; and 14 tonnes in the Balkans in the latter half of the 1990s by NATO. There was further large-scale use in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 but there is little data on this.

It is suspected that the US also used DU in Afghanistan in 2001, although both the US and UK governments have denied using it there. Leaked US transport documents suggest that US forces in Afghanistan had DU weapons, and the continued use of A10 ‘Tankbuster’ aircraft in the country indicates that DU continues to be used.

What are the Health Hazards of Uranium Weapons?
There are three chief hazards associated with DU: its chemical toxicity, radioactivity and the effects of fine metal particles, or fumes, on the body. Both of these hazardous properties are exacerbated by the fact that DU is pyrophoric. A pyrophoric material is one that oxidizes rapidly and can burst into flame at low temperatures in the proximity of oxygen. As the projectile hits a hard target, the DU burns at temperatures of between 3000°C and 6000° C. As it oxidizes, it turns into a fine dust, which can be blown for long distances from the place of the impact; this dust can then be inhaled by soldiers and civilians alike.

We do not as yet understand the full impact that fine particles of DU oxide may have on the human body. We do not have an accurate internal dose assessment; we have little information on the precise distribution and dynamics of internalised particles, and we are still lacking a complete understanding of the mechanisms by which damage to cells and organs occurs. Despite this, there is mounting scientific evidence from both animal, and in vitro studies that suggest deleterious effects on human health from inhaled DU particles.

Animal and cellular studies have shown clear evidence of the carcinogenic (transforming healthy cells into cancerous ones), neurotoxic and immuno-toxic effects of DU (the immune system defends the body from Infections and even some types of cancerous cells); as well as its ability to damage the reproductive system and foetus (which may cause birth defects). Some data also suggests that uranium can directly damage the DNA and enzyme proteins in living cells. Many scientific and medical papers on the chemical and radiological toxicities of uranium have been published.

Assessing the precise mechanisms by which DU may damage the human body Is made more difficult because both Its chemical toxicity and radioactivity can cause similar effects, such as the generation of free radicals within the body.

--International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons
Email: info@bandepleteduranium.org
Web: www.bandepleteduranium.org

"TUCSON STAFF REPORTER TAKES N.Y. FREELANCERS WORK WITHOUT CREDIT"

2007-10-01T00:11:00.001-04:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
BY R. B. STUART
Part X

The year and a half of research, interviews and material posted on this blog about some soldiers returning from Iraq with rare forms of cancer, linked to the inhalation and ingestion of Depleted Uranium while in theatre. Was researched and used by Arizona Daily Star reporter, Carla McClain for her own gains, without crediting the sources; me, my work, my sources or this blog for her feature that ran two weeks after my NY Sun feature.

She exploited the relationships I cultivated with the soldiers while I was at Walter Reed caring for my sister, a Chaplain Captain who was herself diagnosed with a rare stage IV cancer post Iraq. What this reporter did was manipulative and unforgivable, nevermind unethical.

As a freelancer I have faced a media blackout on the subject of cancer amongst soldiers post Iraq, and have posted it here. I will do all I can to protect my work, and in doing so, a few warriors in journalism aligned themselves with me to make a wrong right. They have aided me in my fight for justice. Below is the Media Watch column in which the battle of attribution appeared. ---RBS

TUCSONWEEKLY

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=100292

PUBLISHED ON SEPTEMBER 13, 2007:
Media Watch
'Star,' 'New York Sun' Engage in War of Attribution
By JOHN SCHUSTER

A simple phrase--"as reported in The New York Sun"--might have saved weeks of headaches for the Arizona Daily Star.

Star management and the desk editor of The New York Sun engaged in a series of e-mail disagreements as a result of an investigative piece penned by Star reporter Carla McClain, "Cancer in Iraq Vets Raises Possibility of Toxic Exposure," that ran on Sunday, Aug. 26.

The point of contention: The Sun ran a story on the same theme on Aug. 6. "Veterans' Rare Cancers Raise Fears of Toxic Battlefields" [posted in its entirety below]. The reporter, freelance journalist R. B. Stuart, operates two blog Web sites (sistersoldier.blogspot.com and operationpurpleheart.blogspot.com) that have tackled the connection between depleted uranium and cancer cases among Iraq war veterans. The Stuart story included an interview with Dixie Lauderdale, a Tucson widow whose husband died of cancer, and a Florida man, Frank Valentin, an Iraq veteran with cancer. Those two interview sources were also featured in the McClain story that went to print 20 days after The Sun feature, largely tackled by the Star because of the Tucson connection.

It is important to note that McClain personally interviewed Lauderdale and Valentin. The issue at hand, and the area of contention, is not McClain's work, but the failure to attribute The New York Sun as a source in the investigative process.

The Star stands behind McClain's actions, and The Sun and Stuart remain irked at what they view as a condescending attitude on the part of the Star.

"One of my concerns was that the material would be lifted from me, and I'd never receive credit," said Stuart.

But how much credit does Stuart, or The Sun, merit? It's clear that Stuart's work was instrumental in the Star's discovery of the story, but McClain did all of the reporting herself. Is that the same as a news organization reading a story from, say, The Associated Press, or a competing newspaper, and then tracking down the information? Is it the same as what numerous electronic-media outlets do, rehashing much of what was first reported in the local papers, and perhaps eventually tracking down the subjects themselves?

But the investigative nature of McClain's story, and Stuart's assertion that she was told she would be credited during her conversation with McClain, make this an interesting case. So much so that Andy Schotz, the chairman of the ethics committee at the Society of Professional Journalists, at the very least believes there's reason for concern--and that Stuart may have a reason to feel slighted.

"I recently went through an interesting exercise as part of a seminar," said Schotz via e-mail. "We were given a hypothetical case of being beaten by our competing newspaper on breaking news their reporter witnessed, but no other media saw. The AP picked up the story, rewrote it (citing the newspaper that first reported it) and put it on the wire."

So, now what? How should the paper that was scooped attribute the story? To the AP? The competition? Or does the paper skip both and replicate the story itself, giving no other credit?

"If it were breaking news--something that you found out first, but will be common knowledge, easily learned once you report it--the competition likely would follow up the next day with its own story. That's pretty straightforward. If it goes through what I call 'The AP Filter,' and a competitor picks it up on the same news cycle, I think, out of fairness and decency, you need to credit the news organization that broke the news.

"I would put investigative work such as R. B. Stuart's in a different category. The Star's editor disputed my label of 'investigative,' arguing that there have been many stories about depleted uranium. That might be so, but I did a quick search and didn't see much written about returning soldiers whose cancer might have been connected to DU, with their stories. Even if there have been, Stuart did a good job in finding new stories, because of her sister's involvement. Maybe 'enterprise' is a better label? My point is that it wasn't a quick, easy daily story that the Star followed up on.

"By including Stuart in the research for the story--it was her work, her blog, her sources--it seems fair, and better yet, decent, to give her credit. That is not the same thing as telling a source whether he or she will be in a story.

"In this case, Stuart said she was told she would be credited. Why break that promise? Why make that promise? Or is Stuart mistaken? R.B.'s participation in the Star's research seemed to be implicitly based on getting credit."

An e-mail from Lauderdale to Stuart suggests there may be validity to that claim.

"I just talked with Carla and thanked her for the article," the e-mail from Lauderdale to Stuart said. "Sorry to tell you that when I asked her about not mentioning you by name and your interview that that was due to physical restraints, that she didn't have enough room to include all she wanted. I cannot tell you how sorry I am she didn't mention you, your research, your article. I pray that you will get the credit you deserve, hopefully another article telling the origin of the news stories."

Here is the Star's response, in full and via e-mail, from executive editor Bobbie Jo Buel:

"Carla McClain's reporting is ethical. This is the background:

"A reader who saw R. B. Stuart's story told Carla McClain about it because it included Tucsonan James Lauderdale. The issue of whether depleted uranium is causing cancer and other illnesses in Iraq war veterans has been widely reported since at least 2004. We've published wire stories and one other local story on the controversy ourselves. It was also an issue with vets of the Persian Gulf War in the 1990s.

"What was new to us in Stuart's story was Lauderdale's death. We didn't know a Tucson soldier and his family had been affected by this issue. McClain contacted the widow, Dixie Lauderdale, and set up an interview. In preparation, McClain read multiple news stories about depleted uranium, including Stuart's. She eventually interviewed Stuart and others.

"When it came time to write, McClain realized that she had too much material to write a story of reasonable length. She kept the three local sources--Mrs. Lauderdale, U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva and UA Cancer Center doctor Harinder Garewal. She kept Floridian Frank Valentin because he is an Iraq vet who has cancer. She dropped Stuart because Stuart's personal connection was through her sister, a vet from New Hampshire who also has cancer. If McClain had included Stuart in her story, she certainly would have said that Stuart is both the sister of a cancer victim and a reporter who's written about depleted uranium.

"It isn't journalistic practice to tell sources what will or won't appear in a story before it's published. In hindsight, given Stuart's very personal connection to this story, we might have made an exception and let her know that we weren't going to use her interview. We appreciate the time she took to talk with us."

Shortly after the Star story ran, Stuart engaged in an e-mail campaign, hoping to get the ear of anyone who would listen. She got the support of Sun desk editor M. George Stevenson, who sent a series of e-mails to, among others, Star managing editor Teri Hayt. Hayt's responses were similar to Buel's official statement, but it was what Stevenson viewed as the condescending tone of the e-mails that caught Stevenson by surprise.

"Having spent my entire career at major New York-area dailies (New York Newsday, the N.Y. Daily News and, now, the Sun), I've encountered a person or two over the years who didn't believe a story existed until they found out about it," said Stevenson via e-mail. "But the e-mail I got from Ms. Hayt at the Star is the first time anyone has tried to convince me that a story that--denotatively--began because their reporter said they had read my reporter's article was the result of wholly independent enterprise.

"Such spinning is not only dishonest, it's insulting, both to my intelligence and R.B.'s hard work and long-term efforts to bring this story to a wider audience.

"And what is the point? All the Star's stonewalling has done is create ill will and bad publicity--it's a page from the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Handbook of Public Relations. As I said to Nicholas Wapshott, the Sun's national and international editor, in describing the situation to him, if I wasn't angry before I started dealing directly with the Star, I certainly was afterward."

Said Schotz with the SPJ, "I'm not sure it's written anywhere that you must give credit in that situation, but I'd say it's the much better choice. Think about having a unique enterprise story, and its significance, and think about the ownership you would have if you had produced that level and depth of work.

"The strangest part, to me, is how simple the solution is--mentioning R. B. Stuart, since the Star took the information about Lauderdale from her. All it would have taken is something like, 'as reported by R. B. Stuart in The New York Sun on Aug. 6.'"

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Tools/PrintFriendly?url=%2Fgbase%2FCurrents%2FContent%3Foid%3D100292

Tucson Weekly Print Friendly: http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=100292

THE NEW YORK SUN: "VETERANS' RARE CANCERS RAISE FEARS OF TOXIC BATTLEFIELDS"

2007-08-06T17:25:00.001-04:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Part IX

August 6, 2007 Edition > Section: National
Special to the Sun
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/59915

DISCLAIMER: [On August 26, 2007 The Arizona Daily Star featured, "Cancer in Iraq Vets Raises Possibility of Toxic Exposure" by an unethical reporter, Carla McClain, who lifted the sources and material from the feature below. She admitted to reading the NY Sun feature where she lifted the sources, and also spent two hours researching this blog, as well as an hour on the record interview with me. In a manipulative manner she gathered what she needed, only to blatantly disregard my cumulative work on this topic. And willfully misrepresented her intentions to cite The NY Sun feature, as well as me, the author. I feel she represented herself dishonestly in her reporting, as she unethically pretended to her editors, as well as to all the readers that she was the sole creator. Without my NY Sun story and sources---she would NOT of had a story.

In my research I have always credited the researchers and writers who have been laboring over this topic since the first Gulf War in 1991. I am glad to have the attention back on DU, just not in the manner this article was written.This isn’t the first reporter to have ill regard for a freelance writer who provided them with much needed material for such an ignored and horrific world wide subject. In 2006, writer Lonnie Story willingly furnished Florida reporter Audrey Parente [7/06: Daytona Beach Herald] with all of his DU research and material for “The Dustin Brim” story, only to have her win an SPJ award for it and never mention his name once. Not in the article, not in the acceptance. This may have been acceptable to him...but not to me. Maybe if both McClain and Parente win Pulitzers for these stories–they can toast with a cocktail of polonium - 210. I bet they get that quote right. –RBS]

In the wake of an Iraqi official last month blaming America's use of depleted uranium munitions in its 2003 "Shock and Awe" campaign for a surge in cancer there, the Defense Department is facing an October deadline for providing a comprehensive report to Congress on the health effects of such weapons.

The report is required by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, which President Bush signed into law last year.

The request for the study is an outgrowth of claims by Iraq war veterans that exposure to depleted uranium and other toxic substances there has negatively affected their health and that, therefore, their illnesses should be recognized as war-related and the treatment covered by the Veterans Administration.

Currently, the State Department's Web site says fears about adverse health effects of depleted uranium, or DU, are "unwarranted," and it lists worries about DU under a section called "identifying misinformation."

The site says the American military uses the material in ammunition "to take advantage of its unsurpassed ability to penetrate armored vehicles," and it cites four separate studies — by NATO, the Rand Corporation, the European Commission, and the World Health Organization — that found no evidence of adverse health effects from depleted uranium.

Even so, worries persist. According to Rep. Jim McDermott, a Democrat of Washington who pushed for the report from the Pentagon, "There are countless stories of mysterious illnesses, higher rates of serious illnesses, and even birth defects. We do not know what role, if any, DU plays in the medical tragedies in Iraq, but we must find out."

Modern wars have produced a number of specific medical complaints, ranging from "Gulf War Syndrome" — a group of immune disorders and cancers whose connection to service in the 1991 Persian Gulf conflict is being studied — to the long-term effects of a defoliant, Agent Orange, for which some Vietnam veterans obtained a settlement in 1984.

While their causes can't be pinpointed definitively, some soldiers who have avoided being killed or wounded in the current Iraq conflict are returning to America to find they have debilitating illnesses or cancers that they suspect are related to battlefield conditions, whether it is the depleted uranium used in projectiles, the remains of Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons, or the smoke from burning oil wells.

An Army chaplain, Captain Fran Stuart of the 101st Airborne was based in Mosul, Iraq, where "Shock and Awe" bombings occurred, for a year beginning in March 2003. In March 2006, the 40-year-old chaplain — who is this reporter's sister — was diagnosed with a rare condition only seen in teenage girls: Stage IV dysgerminoma, an ovarian germ cell cancer. She was flown from Germany to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where doctors removed a volleyball-sized tumor from her abdomen and she faced daily battles with the side effects of an aggressive chemotherapy regimen — 35 rounds to date.

"My body isn't mine anymore. I can feel the other tumors inside of me. I look like a monster," Captain Stuart said last May as patches of her strawberry blond hair fell out.

A Bronze Star-winning Vietnam Veteran and reservist, Army Sergeant First Class James Lauderdale Jr. of Tuscon, Ariz., was activated to serve in Iraq in January 2005 and was deployed to Camps Doha and Arijhan in Kuwait, where oil refineries released clouds of brown smoke from their stacks.

"I knew what the pollutants in the air meant, and what I would be exposed to — as well as the brown water I bathed and washed my clothes in," he told a reporter.

In March 2005, Lauderdale developed a sore throat and began having difficulty sleeping on his right side because his jaw hurt. After seeing two medics, one prescribed a root canal, but rather than alleviating the pain, it only worsened, he said.

At the end of the month, Lauderdale saw a dentist in Kuwait City, who lifted his tongue and found a lesion. Biopsy results came back as Stage II squamous cell cancer of the mouth floor and tongue.

On April 1, 2005, Lauderdale was sent to Walter Reed, where a doctor said, "The sergeant is in a unique group. We don't know what would stimulate him to have this type of cancer since he isn't a smoker." Another doctor added, "I saw a 21-year-old here who just came back from Iraq with the same type of cancer."

When his family asked if the cause could have been something Lauderdale was exposed to in Kuwait — the air pollutants, contaminated brown water, or depleted uranium, for which he was never tested — the doctors said they couldn't be certain of the cause, family members said.

By June 2006, the cancer had spread to his neck and jaw, lungs, ribs, and spinal column, and Lauderdale had undergone five surgeries, including a tongue reconstruction, right and left radical neck resections and a tracheotomy, two rounds of chemo, and 39 rounds of radiation.

Within a month, "hundreds and thousands of lesions appeared, canvassing the entire part of his upper body," his wife of 34 years, Dixie Lauderdale, said. The doctors were dumbfounded by how aggressive his cancer was, she added.

After a valiant fight, Lauderdale, 59, died at Walter Reed on July 14, 2006. His final wish was to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

In April 2005, Army Sergeant Charles Lewis (pictured above), who saw combat in Iraq with the 101st Airborne, was diagnosed with Stage II testicular cancer.

"There was no family history. We asked the doctors if being in Iraq had anything to do with it, but most weren't sure," he said. "We had been told to contact the VA to see if there were any other soldiers returning with cancer, but they would not give us any information.

"Four different people we know and who have been in combat with me have either had tumors removed or have been tested for cancer," Sergeant Lewis continued. "So we have often questioned if Iraq or vaccinations could have played a part in this cancer."

Army Sergeant First Class Charles Frenzel has served in the military for more than 30 years; during the last four years, he has been stationed at Forts Jackson and Lee in America and at Camp Caldwell in Iraq. While he was on assignment in Iraq in October 2005, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and evacuated to Walter Reed, where an 8.5-by-4.5-inch nonmalignant meningioma was removed.

Asked what he thought had caused his tumor, Sergeant Frenzel offered several possibilities. "I think Saddam had a lot more advanced chemical programs than what was originally suspected," he said. "I was exposed to daily oil smog. Iraq burns straight nonprocessed crude oil, and the smog was horrific. The water was contaminated, and we were bathing and washing our clothes in it."

In June 2006, while undergoing a chemo treatment on Ward 65 at Walter Reed, Captain Stuart met Army Staff Sergeant Frank Valentin of the Transportation Battalion, a 34-year-old Brooklyn native who had been based at Camp Spearhead in the port of Kuwait City on the Iraq-Kuwait border for two years.

Situated amid two oil refineries, a cement factory, a chlorine factory, and a sulfuric acid factory, Sergeant Valentin and other soldiers who assisted at the camp knew immediately that their bouts of burning eyes, hot, red facial skin, and unrelentingly runny noses were caused by a cesspool of noxious fumes, he said.

The soldiers tried complaining, Sergeant Valentin said, "but nobody wanted to hear it — we just stayed quiet. They just wanted us to do our job."

Sergeant Valentin was diagnosed with hemorrhoids eight times and sent back to work, but when the pain and discomfort did not abate, he instinctively knew something was wrong, he said. Finally, a reservist who was an oncologist diagnosed Sergeant Valentin with colon cancer.

The reservist oncologist told him that there were six other soldiers with newly found cancers in his unit, Sergeant Valentin said. The sergeant said he personally knew of two that had been diagnosed with cancer: one with leukemia and one with Hodgkin's lymphoma. And a third had had a nonmalignant brain tumor.

"Between the chemicals in the air overseas, the shots they give you, and not eating well or sleeping more than four hours a day … your body just isn't strong enough to fight anything off.
"Right now, it's cancer, cancer, cancer. A lot of these kids, 21 years old, are coming back with cancer. How did they get it? How did it happen to me when I was healthy?" he asked.

In 2005, Sergeant Valentin underwent surgery at Walter Reed. It was during that surgery that the doctors discovered the cancer had advanced. He woke to find himself with a colostomy bag and prognosis of incurable colon and lung cancer.

In contrast to soldiers who have lost limbs to explosive devices in Iraq, who qualify for Traumatic Servicemembers Group Life Insurance injury benefits of up to $100,000, "people like us don't get benefits," Sergeant Valentin said.

"Because cancer is a disease and not a war wound, we don't qualify. No one even knows we're on the oncology ward. The press, celebrities, and politicians go to the third floor when they want publicity shots with the amputee soldiers. But what about the seventh floor, Ward 71, with soldiers that are coming back with cancer?" he asked.

On July 23, Iraq's environment minister blamed "at least 350 sites in Iraq being contaminated during bombing" with depleted uranium weapons for about 140,000 cases of cancer there and for between 7,000 and 8,000 new cases each year.

A U.N. Environment Program report states that depleted uranium poses little threat if spent munitions are cleared from the ground. However, no major clean-up or public awareness campaigns have been reported in Iraq, the report added.

August 6, 2007 Edition > Section: National > Printer-Friendly Version:
http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=59915&v=4714346811

Veterans' Rare Cancers Raise Fears of Toxic Battlefields
By R. B. STUART In the wake of an Iraqi official last month blaming America's use of depleted uranium munitions in its 2003 "Shock and Awe" campaign for a surge in cancer there, the Defense Department is facing an October deadline for providing a comprehensive report...

"A WEB OF WHITE LIES"

2007-07-16T01:26:00.005-04:00

By R. B. STUART

The State officials are slowly beginning to take the toxic effects of depleted Uranium on our military men and woman serious. As they are no longer waiting for Washington and the DoD to admit there’s a severe health concern amoungst soldiers exposed to DU while on tour. A dozen States thus far have stepped up to do what’s right in acknowledging the ill effects of DU inhalation or ingestion. As the White House is in their own fantasy land about this War in Iraq, they continue to bank on the American people sitting lethargically on the couch watching some blonde get railroaded by the system, whether Paris Hilton or Anna Nicole….their concerns are right here. Not a million miles away in Iraq.

And so we sift through the 5th year of war in the sandbox, while soldiers are slipping through our hands, ending up on the steps of the VA in a wasteland of paperwork---confused, helpless wounded and abused. They deployed as courageous soldiers crisply donning the American flag, only to return wrinkled and invisible, or draped in a red, white and blue cloth. The soldiers soaked with toxins, ravaged with cancer, exploded heads, legs or arms with shredded psyches and raped of their innocent heart.

Below are some writers and publications that have been there from the beginning weaving the web of facts and truth about the war, and are making a difference. ### RBS

____________________________________________________

Approved May 10, 2007 - The Committee of New Hampsiire State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs concurrent resolution urges the Department of Veterans Affairs and the adjutant general to provide health screening for depleted Uranium exposure for certain NH members and Veterans of the Armed Forces and National Guard and their dependents. To read further. See below.

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

A Resolution urging that New Hampshire members and Veterans of the Armed Forces and National Guard and their dependents receive health screening for depleted Uranium exposure

Whereas, the World Health Organization has released several reports and scientific studies concerning the health risks from exposure to depleted Uranium; and whereas, the chemical and radiological toxicity of depleted Uranium has been a reported cause of kidney dysfunction, damage to lung cells that increases the possibility of lung cancer, neurological disorders, liver infection, and high miscarriage rates among military personnel who have returned from a designated combat zone where depleted uranium munitions have been used; and

Whereas, these munitions and armor have been used extensively in the 1991 Gulf War and during the 3 years since the 2003 invasion of Iraq; and

Whereas, the significant environmental impact from military use and disposal of depleted Uranium munitions has been found in contaminated ground surfaces, which over time will lead to food and ground water contamination; and

Whereas, Connecticut and Louisiana have recently passed legislation, and many other states are considering legislation, to give all returning veterans the right to a best practices health screening test for exposure to depleted Uranium; and

Whereas, reliable reports indicate widespread military non-compliance with regulations, orders, and directives, including Medical Management of Unusual Depleted Uranium Casualties, dated October 14, 1993; Medical Management of Army Personnel Exposed to depleted Uranium, dated April 20, 2004; and section 2-5 of Army Regulations 700-48, requiring prompt medical care for all exposed individuals; and

Whereas, there is a public health need to ensure the safe storage, disposal, and clean-up of munitions and other products containing depleted uranium; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the New Hampshire legislature urges the Department of Veterans Affairs to assist any member of the armed forces or veteran of the armed services who has been exposed to depleted Uranium munitions or equipment, and the dependants of any such member or veteran, to obtain a best practices health screening test for exposure to depleted Uranium that uses methods capable of detecting low levels of depleted Uranium; and That the NH legislature urges the adjutant general to:

(1) Assist any member of the New Hampshire National Guard who has handled, used, or stored depleted Uranium munitions or equipment and any member who returns or has returned to this State after service in an area designated by the President of the United States, and any such member’s dependents, to obtain a best practices health screening test for exposure to depleted Uranium that uses methods capable of detecting low levels of depleted Uranium; and

(2) Ensure that quality health treatment is available for all members or veterans of the New Hampshire National Guard and their dependents who may have been exposed to depleted Uranium; and That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the United States Secretary of Defense, the adjutant general, the commissioner of the department of health and human services, and the members of the New Hampshire congressional delegation.
______________________________________________________

The VA handled 774,000 claims last year but received 806,382. The number of veterans receiving disability benefits has climbed from about 2.3 million in 2000 to 2.7 million in 2006.
_______________________________________________________

April 2007: Tribune Media Services - THWARTED WARRIOR
Robert C. Koehler ---

According to Veterans Administration figures from last August, 205,000 GIs who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, a third of the total, have sought medical care, for such problems as malignant tumors (1,584), endocrinal and metabolic diseases (36,409), nervous system diseases (61,524), digestive system diseases (63,002), musculoskeletal diseases (87,590), and mental disorders (73,157), among many other conditions. One of the largest categories is “ill defined,” a.k.a. mystery conditions (67,743). In comparison, a relatively small number (35,765) have sought VA care for injuries. _________________________________________________

Depleted Uranium Death Toll Tops 11,000Nationwide Media Blackout Keeps U.S. Public Ignorant About This Important Story
James P. Tucker Jr.---

The death toll from the highly toxic weapons component known as depletedUranium (DU) has reached 11,000 soldiers and the growing scandal may be the reason behind Anthony Principi's departure as secretary of the VeteransAffairs Department. This view was expressed by Arthur Bernklau, executive director of Veterans for Constitutional Law in New York, writing in Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter.

"The real reason for Mr. Principi's departure was really never given," Bernklau said. "However, a special report published by eminent scientist Leuren Moret naming depleted uranium as the definitive cause of 'Gulf War Syndrome' has fed a growing scandal about the continued use of uraniummunitions by the U.S. military."

”The "malady [from DU] that thousands of our military have suffered and died from has finally been identified as the cause of this sickness, eliminating the guessing. . . . The terrible truth is now being revealed," Bernklau said.

Of the 580,400 soldiers who served in Gulf War I, 11,000 are now dead, he said. By the year 2000, there were 325,000 on permanent medical disability. More than a decade later, more than half (56 percent) who served in Gulf War I have permanent medical problems. The disability rate for veterans of the world wars of the last century was 5 percent, rising to 10 percent in Vietnam.

"The VA secretary was aware of this fact as far back as 2000," Bernklau said. "He and the Bush administration have been hiding these facts, but now, thanks to Moret's report, it is far too big to hide or to cover up."Terry Johnson, public affairs specialist at the VA, recently reported that veterans of both Persian Gulf wars now on disability total 518,739, Bernklau said.

"The long-term effect of DU is a virtual death sentence," Bernklau said. "Marion Fulk, a nuclear chemist, who retired from the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab, and was also involved in the Manhattan Project, interprets the new and rapid malignancies in the soldiers [from the second war] as 'spectacular'--and a matter of concern.' "
_____________________________________________

April 14, 2007: Canada Lets Iraqi Doctor Speak – They Offer Forum for Lecturer Barred from the U.S.
Jonathan Woodward ---

A highly regarded Iraqi epidemiologist who wants to tell Americans about an alarming rise in cancer levels among Iraqi children will come to Canada instead because he couldn't get a visa to the United States. Unable to travel to the University of Washington, Riyadh Lafta – best known for a controversial study that estimated Iraq's body count inthe U.S.-led war in Iraq at more than half a million -- will arrive at Simon Fraser University in B.C. this month to give a lecture and meet with research associates.

"The University of Washington wanted him, but the U.S. denied his entry," said his colleague at SFU, Tim Takaro. "They need to be able to collaborate, even if his results are unpopular with the Americans. Now he's at SFU, and the best they're going to get is a video feed."Once in Canada, Dr. Lafta will present estimates that paint a damning portrait of the war's ravages on children: that birth defects are on the rise since the war began, and that the number of children dying from cancers such as leukemia has risen tenfold.

Dr. Lafta had tried for six months to get a visa into Seattle to speak in Washington, and was ignored a half-dozen times, Dr. Takaro said.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services couldn't be reached for comment. But a spokesman for Seattle Democratic Congressman Jim McDermott said he couldn't understand the decision. "Jim's certainly more than a little unhappy about it. We don't know whether this was a snafu or more than that," Mike DeCesare said. "Certainly with the doctor not able to be on the campus, and engage directly with people, you've got to believe that's a net loss for everybody."

Dr. Lafta was born in Baghdad in 1960, was trained as a physician at Baghdad University College and then worked for 14 years for the Ministry of Health under Saddam Hussein. He became the head of the communicable disease department and then the primary-care department of Diyala province in northern Iraq.

Dr. Lafta, who is still in Iraq, couldn't be reached by e-mail yesterday. But Dr. Takaro shared a message from his personal communication. "The main point is that people outside Iraq do not realize the real disaster we are suffering," Dr. Lafta writes. "Onlythe Iraqi people know that, simply because the foreigners are listening to the news while we are living the events on the ground."
_______________________________________________

Februray 23, 2005: Heads Roll at Veterans Administration Mushrooming Depleted Uranium (DU) Scandal Blamed
Bob Nichols ---

Considering the tons of depleted Uranium used by the U.S., the Iraq war can truly be called a nuclear war. Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter charged Monday that the reason Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi stepped down earlier this month was the growing scandal surrounding the use of uranium munitions in the Iraq War.

Writing in Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter No. 169, Arthur N. Bernklau, executive director of Veterans for Constitutional Law in New York, stated, "The real reason for Mr. Principi's departure was really never given, however a special report published by eminent scientist Leuren Moret naming depleted Uranium as the definitive cause of the 'Gulf War Syndrome' has fed a growing scandal about the continued use of uranium munitions by the US Military."

Bernklau continued, "This malady (from uranium munitions), that thousands of our military have suffered and died from, has finally been identified as the cause of this sickness, eliminating the guessing. The terrible truth is now being revealed."He added, "Out of the 580,400 soldiers who served in GW1 (the first Gulf War), of them, 11,000 are now dead! By the year 2000, there were 325,000 on Permanent Medical Disability. This astounding number of 'Disabled Vets' means that a decade later, 56% of those soldiers who served have some form of permanent medical problems!" The disability rate for the wars of the last century was 5 percent; it was higher, 10 percent, in Vietnam.

"The VA Secretary (Principi) was aware of this fact as far back as 2000," wrote Bernklau. "He, and the Bush administration have been hiding these facts, but now, thanks to Moret's report, (it) ... is far too big to hide or to cover up!"

Terry Jamison, Public Affairs Specialist, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs, at the VA Central Office, recently reported that 'Gulf Era Veterans' now on medical disability, since 1991, number 518,739 Veterans," said Berklau.

“The long-term effects have revealed that DU (uranium oxide) is a virtual death sentence," stated Berklau. "Marion Fulk, a nuclear physical chemist, who retired from the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab, and was also involved with the Manhattan Project, interprets the new and rapid malignancies in the soldiers (from the 2003 Iraq War) as 'spectacular’ and a matter of concern!'"When asked if the main purpose of using DU was for ‘destroying things and killing people,’ Fulk was more specific: "I would say it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people!"

Principi could not be reached for comment prior to deadline.
__________________________________________________

April 2, 2007: Delaware State News - 1.5 Million Soldiers Vaccinated Since 1998 Anthrax Shot Returns to Base
Kate House-Layton ---

Dover Air Force Base is again vaccinating its members for anthrax.The military-wide mandatory immunization program started March 19 2007 at Dover after a three-year hiatus due to federal questions about the vaccine’s effectiveness. All “uniformed personnel, emergency-essential and equivalent civilian employees” who are assigned for at least 15 consecutive days to the Middle East, East Africa and Central Asia or U.S. Forces in Korea are required to take the shot, U.S. Department of Defense spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said.

Those assigned to “special units with biowarfare, or bioterrorism, related missions and other specially designated units,” also are required to take the shots, Ms. Smith said.The latest round of shots troubles retired Dover Air Force Base Lt. Col. Jay Lacklen. The Dover resident, who was in charge of the 326th Airlift Squadron in 1999, hasn’t forgotten the health problems he and fellow airmen at the Dover base suffered when the shots were given in the late 1990s or how 55 out of the 120 reserve pilots he supervised left his unit at the Dover base to avoid the shots.“I don’t know how many will leave to avoid the shot this time,” he said.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced its plan in October to bring back the shot program military wide. In February, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs approved service implementation plans, the military’s Anthrax Vaccination Information Program Web site said. The vaccine is given in a six-shot series over an 18-month period. The first three shots are administered within two weeks of each other, then two more after a couple of months and a yearly booster.

Dover Air Force Base spokeswoman Lt. Christine Sukach said the base could not say how many vaccines have been given locally since the program returned because it is a readiness indicator for airmen deployed in high threat areas. The DOD, however, has vaccinated more than 1.5 million people worldwide with more than 5.7 million vaccine doses since 1998, she said.DOD’s vaccination program started in 1998. The shots stopped in 2004 after several service members filed a suit in the U.S. District Court of Washington and a federal judge placed an injunction against the anthrax vaccination program. The judge ruled that the FDA made mistakes in its decision about the vaccine’s effectiveness against anthrax inhalation. The FDA then declared it safe for inhalation anthrax in 2005. The Pentagon has repeatedly said the vaccine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration and it was proven safe and effective.

The vaccine itself doesn’t concern Lt. Col. Lacklen. His biggest concern is whether the latest round of shots contain squalene, an agent that he said was added to the vaccine to boost its effectiveness in the ’90s. Studies, he said, point to squalene as the source of various autoimmune disorders, which includes muscle and joint pain, heart and breathing problems among other things.The squalene, he said, was in five of the first 50 lot numbers in 1999. The military, he said, refuses to test for it. He also said the product insert that accompanies every vaccine package lists a string of autoimmune disorders that occur coincidentally with the shots. The military does not talk about the product insert, he said.

Ms. Smith said it is a myth that the military added squalene to the anthrax vaccine. “Food and Drug Administration scientists found trace quantities of squalene in anthrax, diphtheria and tetanus vaccines — less than the natural level of squalene in the human bloodstream. The FDA notes that these minute quantities could have come from processing during FDA tests. Squalene is present in the oil in fingerprints.”Lt. Col. Lacklen disagrees with this explanation. “Is it still contaminated?” he asked. “Are they testing to see if its still contaminated?”

The AVIP Web site also said the squalene present in anthrax vaccine probably comes from the bacteria used to make the vaccine.Lt. Col. Lacklen said according to a Tulane University study, there is no squalene in anthrax bacteria. DOD also has said anthrax is still used as a bioweapon against U.S. soldiers which makes the vaccine necessary.Lt. Col. Lacklen disagrees. “There’s been no anthrax threat evident overseas,” Lt. Col. Lacklen said. “The issue is (the military is) conducting a surreptitious experiment on the troops by using the illegal additive that boosts the effect of the vaccine. They can’t explain how the booster got in there in 1999 and they can’t explain if it is still in there now. And that is the cause for concern.”“They can’t answer the questions. Yet even though they can’t answer the questions they’re still going to order their people to take the shot and I find that unconscionable.”

"THE WAR CHEST: SKELETONS FROM THE BATTLEFIELD"

2007-05-14T22:52:00.001-04:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq

By R. B. STUART

Part VIII

In 2004, Army Sergeant First Class, Charles Frenzel was deployed to Iraq to do what all soldiers do, fight for their country. Except he’s returned from his tour of duty and he’s still fighting….for his health, his DOE civilian job has been abolished, his full retirement pay has been whittled away, and it’s nearly wiped him out financially. And all because he served his country….

When Frenzel was deployed to Iraq in September 2004 he was stationed at Camp Caldwell in Kirkush. Where the blue skies were replaced with endless clouds of black smoke from a nearby brick factory (pictured above). The factory’s 150 - foot tall smoke stacks billowed a hazardous environmental cocktail of smoke laced with crude oil. That not only the soldiers were drinking in….but the Iraqi women, children and dogs. “It looked like middle of the night when it was mid day. Black smoke billowed over the landscape,” Frenzel recalled. “We know with strong indication there was a chemical laboratory there. My suspicion is the brick factory was their version of a social employment program where the unemployed would be sent to make bricks. Because we [the soldiers] encountered a large number of women, young and old, with 6 – 7 year-old children tagging along at the brick factory, helping their mothers with donkeys and carts.” Frenzel observed.

By July 2005 10 months into his tour, Frenzel began experiencing memory loss and sinus problems. The vision in his right eye regressed and he became partially blind, compounded by the loss of control of motor nerves and his balance off kilter. “When I sat down to eat I could no longer use a knife and fork. Just trying to balance the food on a fork and bring it to my mouth was impossible,” Frenzel remembered. “It was a labor to write something down as I had lost the ability in my right hand to write. So, I taught myself how to write with my left hand.”

Because his equilibrium was off, Frenzel fell into a 7-foot concrete ditch at Camp Caldwell. “Thereafter I began dragging my right foot. I felt something loose at the sole of my foot. The arch support had fallen from dragging it and I had developed a callous on the bottom of my foot,” Frenzel explained. Pre-deployment, before Frenzel was activated he underwent his routine bi-annual physicals with the DOE contractor, [over 100 complete physicals in 27 years] and was deemed fit-for-duty. The doctor remarked that the 59 year-old Texan was ‘in excellent shape and had the health of a 45 year-old.’

With the urging of his battalion mates to see the camp doctor about his right leg, it was October before he finally went to “Charlie Med.” Upon examination the Medic performed a vision test in which he failed. It flagged the doctor of a more serious and underlining health concern and within weeks his orders came and Frenzel was medEvac out. Because they didn’t have the facilities in theatre to order a CT Scan, Frenzel was sent to the Army hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. Where a CT Scan would uncover in the right rear section of his brain a monstrous sheet size tumor (8.5 cm x 4.5 cm) pressing on the left lobe of his brain. By spreading itself into Frenzel’s brain cavity it effected his memory and limited his ability to eat or walk. Four days later he was medEvac to Washington, D.C. to undergo surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center [WRAMC].

At the end of October 2005, with his wife of 15 years, Mickie and children by his side, Frenzel was admitted for surgery. The tumor, a non-malignant Meningioma was removed. When the surgery ended, the complications and infections began, as did the lost documents and communication breakdowns with Med Hold, compounded by an emerging Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]. Frenzel feared without his wife by his side ‘WRAMC would have discharged him to the streets of D. C.’

Around mid December, after two months of constant oversights and unfair treatment to this new OIF [Operation Iraqi Freedom] Vet, Frenzel was ordered home for convalescent leave. With metal implants in his scull, Christmas approaching, appointments scheduled with neurology for follow-ups and an MRI booked the week before and after Christmas…it was impossible for him and his family to leave WRAMC for Texas. And the expense of doing so would have fallen on his shoulders. So Frenzel waited until the follow-ups were complete and asked for his 30-day leave---in which he was denied. They reached out to their Congressman Thornberry (Rep. – TX) and explained the situation. The Congressman was able to break though some of the military red tape and get the soldier home for 30 days.

The first of February they returned to WRAMC to resume Frenzel’s medical treatments and rehabilitation post surgery. They stayed in Maryland till April 2005 at WRAMC Fisher House at the Forrest Glen base. Which allowed them to stay close by while he healed without worry of exorbitant hotel expenses. Frenzel added, “When the medical aspect was all said and done, I could not de-mobilize from Walter Reed. I had to be sent to Ft. Jackson, S.C. I should have really been sent to Camp Shelby, M.S. as that was where the unit I was assigned to mobilize from. When my unit returned from Iraq they were de-mobilized through Camp Shelby, and were immediately screened for health problems from their tour. Since I was not de-mobilized with them, there may have been other toxicities I was exposed to that went undetected upon my admission to WRAMC. Possibly resulting in further health complications down the road.” Because of this, Frenzel’s claim with the VA has been detained and is having difficulty claiming disability.

Overall, Frenzel praised the state-of-the-art medical care he received at WRAMC saying, ‘it is the best in the world.’ Even though he thought he was leaving the military behind and stepping back into the life that waited for him. He discovered six months after returning home to Texas, that the muck had clung to his boots trailing into his “welcome home.” Still under immense stress, he was fired from his civilian job of 27 years as an armed Security Police Officer [SPO] for a DOE contractor BWXT. Their reason being; a federal regulation states that: ‘one cannot be a Government Police Officer if they have metal implants, therefore he is disqualified.’ Frenzel acquired the metal plates in his head from the surgery, which was a direct result of his time in Iraq, as was his long-term exposure to unknown chemicals. An obvious war wound he and the other soldiers are facing as Veteran’s, and unacknowledged by the DoD.

There have been other soldiers returning to their civilian jobs at the DOE site where Frenzel was employed. They were assisted in finding equal paying positions, or have been transferred to desk jobs. But because Frenzel was due to retire in 2006, they gave him an ultimatum; accept a position that paid $40,000 less per year or be fired. In fear the contractor BWXT would forfeit his retirement, in 2005 Frenzel took it early.

“I don’t brude over it…but it is an outrage. A good portion of us [OIF Vet’s] have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD], and to diagnose me, all the VA is concerned with is if I’ve seen someone killed and if so when. I think it’s caused by the anxiety, the consequence of being a part of the whole war experience. You say a silent prayer when someone is hurt in combat and you go on. It produces enormous stress,” Frenzel concedes.

Frenzel’s union contract guaranteed him six months short-term disability and two years long term disability, both of which were denied. And the 1,500 hours of sick leave he accumulated during his 27-year position---has vanished. His wife Mickie has returned to work doing what she had done in what was once the family business, and is appalled by the type of treatment they have encountered by the DOE government contractor, BWXT. She exclaimed, “This is what they think of returning Vets!”

In late March of 2007 Frenzel’s old family doctor noticed he was coughing a lot and had a runny nose. He sent him for chest X-rays and discovered spots on his lungs. A small brain tumor has recently appeared on his MRI. And there is also a hole where the tumor pressed against the brain. He hopes it’s scar tissue, a natural residue at the post surgical site. “It’s obvious the toxins were already there, but WRAMC didn’t look for them. So the emphazema wasn’t detected until I came back to Texas. And WRAMC told me verbally to have scans every 3 – 6 months, but failed to scribe those instructions in my chart, so the VA never followed-up,” Frenzel grieved. His right foot still bothers him so he now wears a cushion in his shoe so as not to drag himself with a cane. His head injuries have healed and he no longer oozes blood and pus on the pillow at night. He’s also showing a slight sign of hypertension. The VA still hasn’t addressed the titanium plates in his head with their compensation claims.

Since he’s been home, Frenzel has been receiving his health care from his Tri-Care Prime Insurance. Because of his years of military service he is eligible for the private coverage [BWXT insurance coverage would be over $1,000 per month]. But feels the whole military medical system and VA medical system is over burdened. “Because the American people aren’t aware of what it takes to care for these soldiers returning from Iraq and what we’ve been exposed to. In Iraq they told us that the ground we were standing on was contaminated. So the health problems some of the soldiers are coming back with is stupefying, because you don’t know if they have emphazema, cancer, parasites or are MRSA positive. A lot of these diseases are very difficult to detect and the VA doesn’t want to pay for the tests because the American people don’t want to commit to the money necessary,” Frenzel stated.

He continued, “The American public will come up to you and shake your hand and say thank you. But they are unaware of what the soldiers coming home and their families are going through---they’re completely out of touch to what real life is for us. They expect someone to do the fighting for them. One lady said to me, ‘You signed the enlistment, you knew what could happen.’ America is the original land of scams---they look around for a fool to go to the fights. That’s what they’re expecting, someone who is stupid enough to go and fight for them.”

Frenzel like most soldiers was stunned upon returning to the states. He thought he’d find everything the same---but it all changed. “I anticipated returning to my family and going back to my old job. After over 25 years there, I have a lot of dear friends. They were the ones who set me up with a neurologist when I returned from WRAMC. America is a dear place to me. If they determine America isn’t a good place to be---then they need to go half way around the world and see what life could be. I am very proud of what we are as Americans. By and large people do not know what Iraqi people think of us because we bewilder them. We turn their world completely upside down,” Frenzel mourned.

Frenzel concluded, “We pulled the Iraqi’s out from under the heels of a despot. It will take a long time for them to experience liberty. But as they see with American’s---the sky’s the limit.”

After serving in Iraq, this new Vet felt disposable. At a time when a soldier supposed to be receiving care while integrating back into civilian life, OIF Vet’s appear to be abandoned, similar to the Vet’s before them of the Vietnam War. The lack of support from the country they fought for. The abandon from the military they laid down their life for…only to have both turn on their heels. Makes the American flag that’s embossed on their shoulder seem empty. As each star and every stripe seems to evaporate when a soldier comes home. Returning as a Vet to a life that’s no longer the same. In a body that no longer looks the same. With a mind that no longer thinks the same. And a heart that no longer feels the same. Damaged by the spoils of war. Abandoned by the yellow ribbons that once comforted. And neglected by the uniform that once wrapped their soul.

Our liberty hangs on a flagpole blowing in the wind, while the invisible Veteran’s are rewarded with monuments erected in their honor, by a military that’s chosen to ignore them. These are the skeletons that will follow them long after they have left the battlefield. For it is a shameful secret draped in camouflage at the expense of courageous soldiers. Whose memory will hang at half-mast blowing in the wind. And it is them that has made this…..‘the land of the free.’

Evidence of the VA debacle reported by the AP below:

"VA Bonus Winners Sat on Review Boards"

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,135877,00.html?ESRC=eb.nl
Associated Press: Hope Yen - May 15, 2007

WASHINGTON - Nearly two dozen officials who received hefty performance bonuses last year at the Veterans Affairs Department also sat on the boards charged with recommending the payments. Documents obtained by The Associated Press raise questions of conflicts of interest or appearances of conflicts in connection with the bonuses, some of which went to senior officials involved in crafting a budget that came up $1.3 billion short and jeopardized veterans' health care.

The documents show that 21 of 32 officials who were members of VA performance review boards received more than half a million dollars in payments themselves. Among them: nearly a dozen senior officials who devised the flawed 2005 budget. Also rewarded was the deputy undersecretary for benefits, who manages a system with severe backlogs of veterans waiting for disability benefits. Take Action: Tell your public officials how you feel about this issue.

Deputy undersecretaries who sit on the review boards, which are appointed by VA Secretary Jim Nicholson, also had input on bonus recommendations involving themselves, fellow members and spouses that made questionable performance claims and neglected agency problems.

The VA, which has defended the bonuses as necessary to retain hardworking senior employees, says board members do not participate in bonus decisions that involve themselves or fellow board members. In those cases, recommendations are made by agency heads in consultation with deputy undersecretaries, who usually serve as supervisors to their fellow board members, the agency says.

But government watchdogs were harshly critical, saying the process does little to instill public confidence in the fairness of awards. "This is a scandal in the making," said Paul C. Light, professor of public service at New York University who specializes in government reform. He said the VA bonuses pointed to possible "featherbedding" and other favoritism. Light said given the current problems in veterans care, the department would be best served if Nicholson restricted most performance bonuses for at least a year except in cases of clear improvement.

"This is not the time for largesse for the Department of Veterans Affairs," Light said. "They must not make a link between retention and employees, but employees and performance as an incentive to solve these very serious problems."

Following reports this month by the AP of the $3.8 million in bonuses, groups such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America have called on Nicholson to explain why officials involved in budget foul-ups would be rewarded. Annual bonuses to senior VA officials last year averaged more than $16,000, the highest average in government.

Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y., has introduced legislation that would freeze 2007 VA bonuses for "senior politically appointed officers" "It is simply unacceptable that veterans are waiting longer and longer for benefits they desperately need while senior staff members in charge of bad policy are rewarded so-called performance bonuses," Hall said.

The legislation, originally scheduled for a vote Tuesday, was expected to be considered along with other veterans health care bills later this month, a spokeswoman for Hall said.
However, 2006 bonus proposals obtained by the AP show that senior officials who received top payments of $33,000 were sometimes credited for achievements that were questionable, if not inaccurate. Also, no mention was made of agency-wide problems.
For example:
- Rita Reed, deputy assistant secretary for budget: "Demonstrated the ability to design and implement strategies that maximize employee potential and foster high ethical standards in meeting the organization's mission and goals." While touting her role in launching programs to "leverage the VA's buying power" as well as collecting $5.1 million in erroneous payments, the proposal does not mention Reed's lead role in crafting the VA's flawed 2005 budget. Months prior to her bonus award, GAO investigators determined the VA had used misleading accounting to justify health cuts, claiming false savings in part by double-counting savings from volume purchasing in government contracts from year to year.
- William Feeley, deputy undersecretary for health for operations and management: "Made numerous contributions to veterans and the Veterans Health Administration in his role as deputy undersecretary." It said he also led systemwide improvements that resulted in a 2.2 percent decrease in wait times for primary care. Feeley received a top bonus and is credited for yearlong achievements even though he did not take the job until February 2006, nearly halfway into the fiscal year. Previously, he was a VA regional director who played a role in the flawed 2005 budget. Regarding veterans' wait times to see doctors, a 2005 report from the VA inspector general found that VA schedulers routinely put the wrong requested appointment dates into the system, which made reported wait times appear shorter than they really were. The IG has said problems lingered in 2006 despite VA promises.
- Ronald Aument, deputy undersecretary for benefits: "His knowledge of VBA programs and operations and his breadth of experiences across VA have contributed greatly to VBA's progress in improving services to veterans." Aument helps manage a disability claims system that has backlogs of 400,000 to 600,000 veterans. The waits average 177 days, two months short of the VA's strategic goal of 125 days to process claims. Nicholson has called the delays unacceptable.

WASHIGTON POST: "PRIEST SMEARES WALTER REED HIMSELF"

2007-03-10T22:06:00.001-05:00

Sister Soldier:
A Chronicle of Life After
Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Part VII

Over the last few weeks mainstream media has latched onto the Washington Post Walter Reed housing story like a Rotteweiler with a ham bone. As someone who’s been at the WRAMC landmark for a year, periodically caring for my sister/Army Captain Chaplain Stuart who returned from Iraq with Cancer. Even though there is NO excuse for these kinds of conditions at a military installation….building #18 is outside of the 100 acre WRAMC Georgia Ave. compound. And it is apparent Washington Post staffer, Dana Priest has not been allowed behind the black iron gates that house a majority of the 800 soldiers at the Med. Hold Unit. If she had, she and the Washington Post would know it is an isolated incident. And that the manicured WRAMC grounds and buildings are quite lovely, with plush lawns, greenery and flowers, water fountains and Gazebo’s.

The military housing within the compound: The Mologne House [bld. #20] a hotel that hosts 200 double rooms for $70 per night [reimbursed by the monthly $2,000 military housing allowance soldiers receive]. It provides solace for amputee soldiers who are either receiving therapy or awaiting prosthetics to soldiers stricken with Cancer---a home away from home. It has a dining room with a 52 inch television, restaurant, bar, free washers & dryers on every floor, packages delivered to your door, free DVD rentals, complimentary gym/health club access, an area to BBQ, weekly social events, free goods donated daily to the soldiers from local organizations, companies or schools who are trying to do their part in helping the soldiers mend after their traumatic exploitations of war.

The Fisher Houses #2 and #3, along with the guest houses….are no way “deplorable.” Fisher House #3 caters to soldiers with head injuries. Recently remodeled, the kitchen is one you’d find in “Home & Garden.” With counter tops and an island laden with black & white speckled granite, stainless steel appliances and the floors throughout, gleaming hard wood. Down the hill from #2 and #3 is a new track that windes around the woods. A spray of weeping willows hang over as you tread along the cushioned tar, made especially for amputee soldiers with prosthetics. All the while looming over you at the rotary is a stone monument honoring Walter Reed himself in a bronze bust.

They’re well kept buildings, routinely maintained down to replacing mattresses, lamps, DVD players, showerheads, telephones and bathtub liners. And when you request a maintenance man, they’ll usually appear within minutes to hours, eager to fulfill the needs of the soldier. As well as the dependable housekeeping staff, who have gone far beyond their cleaning duties to make sure the soldier is cared for. This attentive treatment can also be found within the hotel and Fisher House management. They make sure the soldier feels comfortable when the situation itself may be bringing them discomfort. And as they experience the pains of being a new Veteran, in the face of uncertainty, their well-being remains a priority for the management, as no request is either too small or too large for them to accommodate.

Even the original Fisher House #1 in Forrest Glenn, Md. 20 minutes from the D.C. compound, is as clean and welcoming as can be, and actually downright homey. It only costs $10 per night and is available for short or long term stays for military families who’s military members are undergoing Cancer treatments at Walter Reed.

Last March, me and my family stayed at this house on the old Water Reed base for two weeks (until a room became available at The Mologne House). And from someone who has actually stayed at both, and not simply interviewed others who have, I would say this grand stone English style home is elegant. It was the first of the Fisher Houses to be built and this 10 double room facility has daily housekeepers, a community washer and dryer, a fully stocked kitchen, dining room, living room, computer nook with Internet and military access to their AKO site [Army Knowledge Online], along with telephones. All included in the $10 per night fee. Sans rats, mold and roaches.

Did I mention that free calling cards are given to you upon check-in at all of the WRAMC housing. Also, the Fisher House Foundation offers you free long-term car rentals from their Yellow Ribbon fund. And if you take one of the free shuttle buses from Fisher House #1 to Walter Reed and visit the Med. FAC Office [Medical Family Assistance Center] on the 2nd floor. The staff there will accommodate your every need, down to free frequent flyer tickets for family members and taxi vouchers to the airport.

The facilities I’ve mentioned above ALL meet those standards…not the sub standard conditions, outside the WRAMC compound at building #18. I must defend the rest of the WRAMC military housing facilities, since what Priest describes simply is not true clear across the board.

Although, I will agree on the other issues, there is a disorganization amongst Med. Hold [Medical Hold] case workers when it comes to caring for the soldiers in a business sense: phone calls go unanswered, housing allowance is late to commence, mail and paper work are lost, unfair treatment of ill or wounded soldiers by the PEB [Physical Evaluation Board] and MEB [Medical Evaluation Board] boards, when compensating them with percentages for Temporary Medical Retirement, Medical Retirement, or Medical Discharge. And some Med Hold staff are downright rude and argumentative towards the sick or the convalescent soldiers, who are merely there in transition while undergoing treatments. Those are factors, but I’ve always managed to help my sister resolve them the old fashion way….go to their superiors, which I’ve done numerous times to rectify Army red tape.

Alas….the more severe concerns at stake with this war is still undergoing a media blackout; while on tour in Iraq and Afghanistan, soldiers are being exposed to depleted Uranium [AKA enriched Uranium]. And unbeknownst to the public, selectively ignored by the DoD and mainstream media—some soldiers are returning with rare stage IV Cancers….now that’s newsbreaking. But it appears, a NY freelance writer isn't allowed to break it, the Washington Post editors, Craig Stolz and Curt Fields [E-mails 9-29-06], feel that exclusive story holds too much “controversy” for a non-staffer. I guess “deplorable living conditions” wasn’t controversial enough for them….

Copyright, 2007 R. B. STUART. All rights reserved. No reproduction of this blog in any form.

"A DU MINEFIELD KNOWN AS IRAQ"

2007-02-10T18:20:00.004-05:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Part VI

Since the war in Iraq began soldiers effected by Depleted Uranium toxicity have undergone a media blackout. While the U. S. Media and DoD jointly turn a blind eye to the truth about what soldiers are being exposed to in Iraq, and the longer the public is ignorant to the goings on....then the DoD can continue bleeding the war chest, and the caskets will continue to be draped in an invisible cloth.

Shamefully, the U. S. mainstream media has held the dirty hands of the Washington power players who are making a bundle off the manufacturing of DU at the expense of our military men and women. Our soldiers will continue to be seen as disposable by those that govern, until mainstream media shakes the dust off the democracy, and freedom of truth---that they conveniently tucked away long ago. We must fight for our lives....for no one is looking out for us anymore.

### RBS

Below, a recent CNN Depleted Uranium media breakthrough for soldiers, following that is a new DU Bill and a copy of the 2007 Draft Bill now in congress.

CNN - AMERICAN MORNING Show Transcripts on Depleted Uranium Effecting the Troops in Iraq - February 5th & 6th 2007

CNN VIDEO LINKS of show:
[Part 1 - Feb. 5] http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_freevideo/~3/86824503/index.html
[Part 2 - Feb. 6] (not available in cnn.com) http://smartvideochannel.com/search.aspx?q=depleted+uranium&v=search&t=video

PART ONE:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0702/05/ltm.02.html Read below

Here's one highly effective and also very highly controversial weapon in the U.S. military arsenal. It's called depleted uranium or DU and some veterans are now suing the Army over what they say are health risks from their exposure to DU. Greg Hunter joins us this morning. He's got a special AMERICAN MORNING investigation.

Good morning, Greg. GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Depleted uranium, the issue is exactly what U.S. soldiers may or may not know about its potential health impact. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTER (voice-over): It's the U.S. military's most potent anti-tank weapon. Depleted uranium or DU, on impact, it burns through armor like a hot knife through butter, creating a plume of radioactive dust. Specialist Gerard Matthew cleaned up vehicles hit by DU during his five months in Iraq in 2003. He says breathing in depleted uranium dust made him sick.

GERARD MATTHEW, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: I came back with chronic migraines, swelling in my face and vision problems. HUNTER: Matthew also says his 2 1/2-year-old daughter's birth defect is a direct result of his DU exposure. He and seven other vets are suing the army over depleted uranium. The U.S. army insists its own testing of Iraq veterans shows no direct link between DU and illness or birth defects in humans.

COL. MARK MELANSON, WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER: The radioactivity from depleted uranium is localized within the site of impact and it's not posed a significant immediate health hazard.

HUNTER: The World Health Organization and the Institute of Medicine seem to agree. They found no direct evidence linking DU to birth defects or cancer in humans, but a Pentagon sponsored study by the armed forces radio biology institute showed the combined effect of DU's heavy metal and its radioactivity can damage DNA and may cause genetic defects and tumors in animals and human stem cells. The military has warned about the potential dangers of breathing in DU contaminated dust, like in this instructional video produced for the U.S. military in 1995.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Heavy metal poisoning may occur, which can cause damage to internal organs and tissue.

HUNTER: That same video talks about radioactive particles that could be trapped in the lungs and possible water and soil contamination. The army's leading expert on DU hazard awareness training concedes these are all possibilities, but U.S. troops going over to Iraq never saw this tape.

MELANSON: There were lots of errors and conflicting messages in that training video, so it was not finalized and distributed to the troops.

HUNTER: Instead, the army's official training video, used since 2000, describes DU contamination this way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These emissions are well below U.S. safety standards and do not pose a hazard to soldiers working with or around DU munitions.

HUNTER: The new video does tell soldiers to wear gloves and masks, especially inside DU-damaged vehicles or within 50 meters of fires that may involve DU. The problem is some soldiers like Gerard Matthew, say they never saw it. Dr. Asaf Durakovic studied the effects of DU on veterans of the first Gulf war for the U.S. military. He was alarmed by his findings. Now a private researcher, he also tested recent Gulf war vets, including Gerard Matthew whom Durakovic says has dangerously high levels of DU in his body.

DR. ASAF DURAKOVIC, URANIUM MEDICAL RESEARCH CTR: Inhalation of uranium dust is harmful.

HUNTER: Even in small amounts?

DURAKOVIC: Even in the amount of one atom.

HUNTER: Durakovic says those small atoms emit radiation for the rest of a soldier's life. Can't that hurt a soldier in the long run?

DR. MICHAEL KIRKPATRICK, DOD HEALTH AFFAIRS: It would come then to the dose, the total dose in their body and those particles are very, very small.

HUNTER: Matthew's wife wishes her husband had known more about the potential dangers of DU.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He wasn't told it's out there. He exposed my daughter to this, but it's not his fault. He was just trying to help the country.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HUNTER: Defense Department officials say the U.S. military used 320 tons of depleted uranium during the first Gulf war, but they were unable to tell us how much DU they have used in the current Gulf war, despite our repeated request for that information Published reports suggest the military has used between 1,100 and 2,200 tons. That's up to six times the amount of DU in Iraqi freedom than in the first Gulf war.

S. O'BRIEN: So they're testing all these soldiers to see if they're emitting radioactivity?

HUNTER: The government is. The Pentagon is, but there are some states out there passing laws to test their own National Guard troops because they say the test the government is using is not sensitive enough. We'll find out about that tomorrow in part two.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, part two, Greg Hunter, thank you. Miles

PART TWO:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0702/06/ltm.02.html Read below

O'BRIEN: Well, now to our AMERICAN MORNING special investigation on the fallout, if you will, from the use of depleted uranium in the war zone. It can cut through a foot of enemy armor and leave behind radioactive dust that some say is making vets sick. AMERICAN MORNING's Greg Hunter joining us now with part two of the series. Good morning, Greg.

GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.Depleted uranium, the controversial weapon and the radioactive dust it creates are at the center of a debate that just won't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HUNTER (voice-over): Samala (ph), Iraq, spring 2003, Iraq, site of a fierce coalition offensive. Soldiers operating, sleeping, eating in areas that were hit by depleted uranium, or D.U. For some soldiers it marked the beginning of another type of battle. These five National Guard veterans claim they got sick from serving there.

RAYMOND RAMOS, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: I just got to the point where I could not physically stand sometimes. The headaches were unbearable. I would get dizzy spells.

HUNTER: They report similar ailments: painful urination, headaches and joint pain. They say Army doctors blame their: They report similar ailments symptoms on posttraumatic stress. We showed them a tape the Army made in 1995, a tape the Army never distributed. It warned of potential D.U. hazards. The Army's expert on D.U. training concedes some information contained on the tape is true. For instance, inhaling radioactive particles can be harmful. Video here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7863767976205447371

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alpha is the least penetrating but is the most hazardous if it does get into the body.

HUNTER (on camera): So you're saying in part this is correct, but too much information?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really doesn't provide any useful information to the soldier.

HUNTER (voice-over): These vets say they were never warned about D.U. They're suing the Army for what they say is knowingly exposing them to D.U. dust and failing to properly treat them.

ANTHONY YONNONE, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: They didn't furnish us with any of that information.

HUNTER (on camera): At all?

YONNONE: At all.

HUNTER: Does it make you angry?

YONNONE: Absolutely.

HUNTER: Why?

YONNONE: Because here we are sick. We don't know why. The Army don't know why, and they're just calling us liars.

HUNTER (voice-over): The veterans' claims against the government may be barred by a statute that protects the military from lawsuits by soldiers. But a judge is permitting the soldiers' claims of malpractice to go forward.

DR. ASAF DURAKOVIC, URANIUM MEDICAL RESEARCH CENTER: I personally call it not so depleted uranium.

HUNTER: In the 1990s Dr. Asaf Durakovic studied D.U. health effects for the U.S. military. Now a private researcher, Durakovic says his own test of these veterans showed abnormally high levels of D.U. in their urine and that those levels pose a serious health threat.

DURAKOVIC: There is genetic change in chromosoma of the regions (ph) in the people who have been found positive with depleted uranium.

HUNTER: The military's overall health expert says tests on thousands of veterans from both Iraq wars have produced very few positive D.U. tests.

DR. MICHAEL KIRKPATRICK, DEFENSE DEPARTMENT HEALTH AFFAIRS: We are not seeing it in 74 individuals who are most heavily exposed, and that, I think, is really the golden standard if you take a look at people who had heavy exposure, internalization, some still having the depleted uranium in their bodies, still excreting very high levels in their urine, and their health appears at this point to be normal.

HUNTER: Some scientists and politicians claim the Army's testing is not sophisticated enough. Connecticut state representative Pat Dillon helped pass legislation allowing her state to do its own testing of National Guardsmen.

PAT DILLON, CONNECTICUT STATE REPRESENTATIVE: It's a heavy metal. It gets absorbed into your bones. So I don't think that the test that they're using is sensitive enough to find whether or not you've been contaminated.

HUNTER: The Army tells CNN its policy is to get every soldier training in depleted uranium and hazard protection. It also has an updated instructional video, produced in 2000. We asked why these soldiers say not only did they not see the video, but they knew nothing about D.U. before going to Iraq.

COL. MARK MELANSON, WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER: I'm not able to give you any statistics on who received training and who didn't receive training. I can just talk about the training that was provided and what the policy is.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HUNTER: Dr. Durakovic says one thing is for sure: a large part of Iraq is contaminated, particularly in the south where heavy tank battle took place. He calls it, quote, "a radiological sewer." The Army adamantly denies that.

O'BRIEN: When you go back and look at another war and another toxic agent, in that case Agent Orange in Vietnam. Veterans there had similar claims. Were sick because we were in contact with this Agent Orange. Ultimately, did they get claims from the military, and is that likely what's going to happen here?

HUNTER: Some did, but it took decades. And let me tell you, Agent Orange is tame compared to radiological dust that you can breathe into your lungs, stays in your body forever, has a half life of 4.5 billion years. This stuff stays around forever. So it is -- it is quite a controversy.

O'BRIEN: Keep us posted, Greg. Greg Hunter, thank you very much. In just a little while, Sanjay Gupta will join us, and he'll explain a little bit more about the medical implications of contact to this depleted uranium -- Alina.

Sanjay, good morning. So first things first, what are the symptoms of D.U. poisoning?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's sort of short-term symptoms and longer-term symptoms, and, you know, this is a difficult thing. The jury is still out among many researchers in terms of what's causing when and at what time. But if you look at some of the early things, you can get things like nausea and vomiting as your G.I. tract sort of reacts to the depleted uranium. Also, kidney problems potentially and skin lesions. There have been some case reports that it could possibly cause irritability and behavioral changes, as well, but that's not really nailed down. Longer term, it can get a little bit more complicated. You might develop things like an immune system damage. So you could actually suppress your white blood cells, those sort of -- those fighting cells of infection. Lung cancer potentially as well, although, again, it's somewhat controversial studies. And potentially birth defects in the offspring of people who were exposed to depleted uranium, as well. Alina, I should say -- I think as Greg pointed out as well, the depleted uranium and its potential link to Gulf War syndrome is one of the most controversial things probably that exists in medicine. A lot of people sort of focused on it. Probably not enough studies as of yet, still.

CHO: All right. So what about treatment? Is there any treatment for this?

GUPTA: Well, not really. I mean, first of all, it's very hard to know, for example, if someone has actually been exposed. You can test it in the blood. You can actually get some blood tests that will tell if you have higher levels of the particular isotope associated with depleted uranium, but for the most part you've got to let the thing sort of run out its course. It can cause damage to cells, and if those cells actually turn into tumor cells, for example, you obviously have to treat the cancer or remove the tumor, but it's hard to treat symptoms of depleted uranium poisoning overall.

CHO: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, live for us in Atlanta. Sanjay, thank you.

GUPTA: Thank you.

###

DU BILL

110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 207

To provide for identification of members of the Armed Forces exposed during military service to depleted uranium , to provide for health testing of such members, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 4, 2007

Mr. SERRANO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
A BILL

To provide for identification of members of the Armed Forces exposed during military service to depleted uranium , to provide for health testing of such members, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Depleted Uranium Screening and Testing Act'.

SEC. 2. DEPLETED URANIUM RISK NOTIFICATION FOR DEPLOYING FORCES.
(a) Notification- The Secretary of Defense shall establish procedures to require, as part of the procedures for preparing members of the Armed Forces for deployment to a theater of operations, that such members be notified of--
(1) any known or likely use of depleted uranium in that theater of operations (whether by forces of the United States and its allies or by any opposing forces); and
(2) any health risks associated with exposure to depleted uranium .
(b) Training- The Secretary shall provide for training deploying members of the Armed Forces on the safe handling of depleted uranium contamination before such members are deployed to a theater in which depleted uranium is used.

SEC. 3. DEPLETED URANIUM SCREENING AND TESTING.
(a) Identification and Testing Required- The Secretary of Defense shall carry out a program to identify individuals who, during active service in the Armed Forces, are or have been exposed to depleted uranium and to provide those individuals with bioassay testing and notification of the results of such testing.
(b) Depleted Uranium -Exposed Personnel Identification Methods-

(1) PROCEDURES FOR IDENTIFICATION OF EXPOSED MEMBERS- The Secretary of each military department shall establish procedures to identify members of the Armed Forces under the Secretary's jurisdiction who are, or may have been, exposed to depleted uranium . For such purpose, the Secretary shall identify units and members under paragraph (2) and shall accept self-identification reports by members under paragraph (3).

(2) IDENTIFICATION OF UNITS AND PERSONNEL- The Secretary of each military department shall identify units, and personnel assigned to units, that have been, or could have been, exposed to depleted uranium , based upon information about known exposure events (as determined under subsection (c)).

(3) SELF REPORTING- The Secretary of each military department shall accept a report by an individual, or a primary care provider for an individual, that the individual, while a member of the Armed Forces under the Secretary's jurisdiction, was, or may have been, exposed to depleted uranium based upon service on active duty (or training duty or funeral honors duty) in a theater of operations where depleted uranium was used, including travel through such an area. The Secretary shall prescribe procedures for receiving such reports. Such a self-identification report submitted to the Secretary under this paragraph shall be treated by the Secretary as identification of the individual for purposes of this subsection.

(4) TREATMENT OF INDIVIDUALS NO LONGER ON ACTIVE DUTY- In carrying out this subsection, the Secretary of each military department shall ensure that individuals no longer on active duty (including members of the reserve components who have been released from active duty, members who have been retired, and members who have been separated from service) are treated, for identification purposes, in the same manner as individuals remaining on active duty.

(c) Exposure Events-

(1) TYPES OF EVENTS- The Secretary of Defense shall identify depleted uranium exposure events for purposes of this section. The exposure events identified shall include the following:

(A) DIRECT EXPOSURES- An event in which an individual--
(i) is struck by depleted uranium munitions or depleted uranium armor fragments;
(ii) enters, or is present within 50 meters of, a vehicle or structure with possible depleted uranium residues; or
(iii) breathes smoke from fires involving depleted uranium materials.

(B) EQUIPMENT HANDLING EXPOSURES- An event in which an individual may inhale depleted uranium compound particulates as a result of the handling of equipment or wreckage that has been, or could have been, contaminated with depleted uranium .

(C) OTHER EXPOSURES- Other significant or incidental exposure events identified by the Secretary, including the performance of activities in the area of depleted uranium damaged vehicles or structures or the traveling through or residing in any such area.

(2) LIMITED RETROACTIVITY- In addition to exposure events described in paragraph (1) occurring on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, such events during the period between January 1, 2003, and the date of the enactment of this Act may be considered for purposes of this section, if reported during the 60-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.

(d) Health-Care Services Required-

(1) BIOASSAY PROCEDURE- Any individual identified under subsection (b) shall be provided a health screening test by the Secretary of Defense. Such test shall be carried out using a bioassay procedure developed by the Secretary of Defense in consultation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The same bioassay procedure shall be used for all individuals identified under subsection (b) and for all types of exposure or possible exposure identified under subsection (c).

(2) TIME FOR TEST-

(A) EXPOSURES AFTER ENACTMENT- In the case of an exposure event described in subsection (c) that occurs on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, the bioassay under paragraph (1) shall be administered not later than 180 days after the date of the event, except that in the case of an individual with an exposure event described in subsection (c)(3), the bioassay under paragraph (1) shall be administered not later than 30 days after the end of the individual's deployment in the theater of operations, but such individual may be provided the bioassay earlier upon the individual's request.

(B) EXPOSURES BEFORE ENACTMENT- In the case of an exposure event described in subsection (c) that occurs before the date of the enactment of this Act, the bioassay under paragraph (1) shall be administered not later than 180 days after the date of the reporting of the event under subsection (c)(2).

(3) FURNISHING OF RESULTS- The Secretary of Defense shall provide the results of any bioassay procedure under this subsection to the individual tested, and the primary care manager or primary care provider of that individual, not later than 30 days after the Secretary receives those results.

(e) Personnel Tracking- The Secretary of each military department shall establish procedures for collecting, tracking, and maintaining information on the health status of individuals tested under subsection (d) for the purpose of assessing any long-term health consequences of exposure to depleted uranium .

(f) Independent Review of Bioassay Types and Contamination Thresholds- The Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shall conduct an independent review of bioassay types and contamination thresholds for purposes of the testing under subsection (d).

(g) Treatment- Based on the results of the bioassay tests, the Secretary of the military department concerned shall provide appropriate treatment for any illness of an individual resulting from a depleted uranium contamination or exposure.

SEC. 4. COMPTROLLER GENERAL SURVEY AND REPORT ON RADIOISOTOPE IDENTIFICATION EQUIPMENT USED BY DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.

(a) Survey- The Comptroller General shall conduct a survey of radioisotope identification equipment used by the Department of Defense in order to assess the capability of Department of Defense facilities to identify concentrations of different radioisotopes in naturally occurring levels of uranium .

(b) Report- The Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a report on the results of the survey under subsection (a) not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
H.R.207 Title: To provide for identification of members of the Armed Forces exposed during military service to depleted uranium, to provide for health testing of such members, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Rep Serrano, Jose E. [NY-16] (introduced 1/4/2007) Cosponsors (11) Latest Major Action: 2/1/2007 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

COSPONSORS (11), ALPHABETICAL
Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14] - 1/23/2007
Rep Crowley, Joseph [NY-7] - 1/23/2007
Rep Engel, Eliot L. [NY-17] - 1/30/2007
Rep Farr, Sam [CA-17] - 1/23/2007
Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7] - 1/30/2007
Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. [NY-22] - 1/30/2007
Rep Lewis, John [GA-5] - 1/24/2007
Rep Markey, Edward J. [MA-7] - 1/30/2007
Rep McCarthy, Carolyn [NY-4] - 1/24/2007
Rep McDermott, Jim [WA-7] - 1/23/2007
Rep Wexler, Robert [FL-19] - 1/31/2007

###

DRAFT BILL NOW IN CONGRESS

110th U.S. Congress (2007-2008) H.R. 393:
Draft Reinstate bill HR 393 IH 110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 393

To require all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform national service, either as a member of the uniformed services or in civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, to authorize the induction of persons in the uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements of the uniformed services, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make permanent the favorable treatment afforded combat pay under the earned income tax credit, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 10, 2007, Mr. RANGEL introduced this bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

"FIT FOR DUTY" - Proceed With Caution

2007-01-10T02:48:00.001-05:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Part V

Over the course of eight months, my sister, Army Captain Chaplain Fran E. Stuart 41, who was diagnosed post Iraq with a rare stage IV Dysgerminoma cancer, was as of November 2006 clinically diagnosed in remission. Her long, dark journey of 35 rounds of chemo and two major surgeries, the first removing a Volleyball size tumor from her abdomen, the second an exploratory surgery to see if the hazardous chemical cocktail melted the remaining three tumors away. She forfeited her creative organs in lieu of a future cancer free. The loss of her strawberry blonde hair, the disappearance of fifty pounds---the young woman was replaced by an older sunken frame with aching bones, memory loss, flaky thin skin and clotting blood.

The cancer had brought a roulette of abandonment and fears. The chemo compounding it by bringing an imbalance to her mind by stripping away not only the cancer cells, but every living cell and organism that made up who she was as a woman, a chaplain and a soldier. Her once strong body had turned vulnerable and volatile erupting with vomiting, thrush, mouth sores, blood infections, and neuropathy. Excess saliva enabled her to swallow thus the thick foam produced dehydration. Her body in constant repair from the debilitating five day attack of chemo every three weeks, resulted in her need for uninterrupted sleep. Turning her desire for bed rest into a daily 23 ½ hour protest of exhaustion.

While she was unable to predict the outcome of the added cycles of chemo and surgical procedures--not knowing if the overzealous interventions by her team of oncology doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center [WRAMC] would work--left her in a continual state of limbo between life and death. The doubt and confusion overcame her in August as she lay chained to an eight hour treatment, an I. V. line linked to the port in her chest. She found her voice as she wept a barrage of smothered thoughts, “I don’t want to die. I don’t want cancer. I’m angry, I think the military gave me this cancer [because of the DoD’s use of the Anthrax vaccine and depleted Uranium while she was deployed in Iraq for 12 months in 2003 – 2004]. I’m mad I joined the Army. How do I know if the chemo will work? The doctor said it is [the tumors]inoperable---will I go through all this only to be told I need another three cycles of chemo [15 rounds]? How do I know if in October after the CT Scan that my doctor won’t say, ‘Oh, two percent of the tumors are left. We'll need to do more.’ Is it really possible to have a cure?”

The loss of who she was brought with it a fear of the future and an abandonment of hope. I watched my baby sister revert to an infant, at the same time intertwine with the fragility and sadness of an old woman. Through the carving away of self through surgeries, unable to recognize herself anymore and finding more in common with a monster---produced a betrayal of her body as it had relinquished her life force to cancer. The violation by another’s hands inside of your sacred body, splitting your armor apart and dissecting deep into your soul…..as they attempt to remold what God himself created, and in the process lifting the veil of boundaries of the sacred self, marred by the spoils of war.

I hear the echoes of her silent cries and inner torment as the cancer spreads itself through the entire family, changing the core of who we are as we try to balance between life and death, health and sickness, love and loss. The anger penetrates her dreams and dissolves her thirst for life as it becomes too arduous to live…and death is just a slip away. The darkness of the womb is calling her home---at the same time her heart is beating stronger towards the light, towards the love cradling her back to health. The strings of her memories, the melody of her songs awaken the eye of hope, and courage is born. The goodwill and faith of others pull her back into life as she turns a corner onto a different path, the wheel no longer in her hands she proceeds with caution and edges herself out of the tunnel of fear, towards the rebirth of the woman she has become.

The sun returns to nourish her sprouting red locks and sparks the wisdom beaming from her eyes. As she sheds the infant; the innocence no longer paints her face, and she shrugs off the spine of an old woman as she walks into the future---holding the hand---of hope. The death sentence is lifted, the word remission propels her back into life as she is once again, Fit for Duty.

But others, her military family, the Operation Iraqi Freedom women, boys and men who may face the same battles as depleted Uranium penetrates their armor and cloaks their once healthy body. As unknown soldiers they’ll rest in beds at WRAMC and across this land in VA hospitals; some will live to tell their story, some will die with honor, some will disintegrate back into the DU dust that claimed them. In the face of democracy their suffering will remain ignored in the eyes of their Commanders, and the ghosts of this war, will be imprisoned for yet another century.

On January 10, 2007 the BBC News, Rome reported, Depleted Uranium Killing Italian Troops: "Italian soldiers are still dying following exposure to depleted Uranium in the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo. Troops who served during the wars in the late 1990's believe they have contracted cancer and other serious illnesses from extended exposure to the munitions. The U. S. admits it fired around 400,000 DU rounds during those conflicts. A pressure group says thus far, 50 veterans have died and another 200 are seriously ill." The BBC also includes in this report that many of the soldiers offspring have contracted cancer, have died or are ill. Both the U. S. and Britian acknowledge the dust of DU can be dangerous if inhaled, but continue to deny there is a long term hazard. [to read the full story click on the BBC link to the right]

"WALTER REED: HOME OF WARRIOR CARE"

2006-11-10T00:45:00.002-05:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Part IV

Walter Reed may boast home of warrior care; but when up against pollutants and toxins that some soldiers in the Kuwait region are exposed to--it's nearly impossible to contain the wildfire of cancer from spreading within.

Not only do US soldiers have depleted Uranium [DU] inhalation and ingestion to battle....but soldiers stationed at camps on the Kuwait/Iraq boarder are engulfed by pollutants spewing from neighboring oil refineries. Smoke stacks and contaminated brown water are the pleasures of military life for these soldiers in theatre, as they find home pitched under a tent in the desert, with brown clouds circling over head. In turn the airborne invaders find a warm, cozy nest in their bodies.... traveling deep down into their lungs, their bloodstream....and eventually their cells. Contaminating their once healthy being....with foreign invaders waiting to be born as Cancer.

Army Sergeant First Class, James H. Lauderdale Jr. (pictured) knew the hazards of war all too well, a Vietnam Veteran who earned a Bronze Star for serving in Vietnam 1968 - 1970. In 1972 with the mind of a man marred by war, Lauderdale at 25 still with a boys heart, set out to recapture his dreams of love, marriage and children by marrying a Michigan native, Dixie Powell a 25 year old RN from Tucson. They would plant roots in Arizona where Lauderdale worked as a mining engineer, spending his days in an office instructing miners where to dig. This professional couple would start a family in the Arizona desert where they raised two children, Jacob and Jayme.

Being a true patriot and loyal to his country he continued to support the military by joining the Army National Guard in 1984. He was fit and trim and was routinely followed for any side effects of Agent Orange. Even though Lauderdale was due to retire in January 2005 from the National Guard after a 21 year commitment, his life took a different turn. As the war in Iraq shifted into 3rd gear, the battle moved into year two and in October 2004 at the age of 58 he was activated. As they called him to active duty, he found himself marching back into war and beginning a three-month intensive training at Ft. Dix, NJ.

With visions of Vietnam burnt into his psyche, buried spirits still fresh in his mind---and war demons still popping up at their own will, like balloons too big for your hand to hold down, no matter how hard you try, they resurface. Still omni present, are the names of his brothers etched on the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Wall in DC…their silent cries echoing through the tears of bystanders, finally bringing their suffering home.

Lauderdale, reincarnating back into that 22 year old boy marching off to war…only now with a Bronze Star on his chest, his wife and children carried by his side on photo’s neatly folded in his pocket. He straddles two lives as he steps into the war torn world of the Unknown Soldier…too easily forgotten by the powers that be. But never far from the hearts and minds of those he leaves behind.

In January 2005 SFC Lauderdale pitched his tent at Camp Doha in Kuwait for two months then moved to Camp Arijhan [Kuwait]. Within a month he would write his wife Dixie of the oil refineries continuously burning oil, releasing clouds of brown smoke from their stacks. He knew what the pollutants meant to the air he was breathing, and what you would be exposed to. He wrote her of the brown water he washed his clothes in and bathed with. At the beginning of March he told her about his sore throat. He began having difficulties sleeping on his right side because his jaw was hurting him. Within two weeks he decided to see a medic, who would prescribe him antibiotics which had no effect on the situation. He returned to the same doctor who decided it was a tooth and suggested he see a dentist for a root canal, but that didn’t relieve the pain either. By the end of March 2005 SFC Lauderdale was already ill. The medics suggested he see a dentist outside of theatre and in Kuwait City. It was then that the dentist lifted up his tongue and found a lesion, they immediately performed a biopsy and the pathology results came back as stage II Squamous Cell cancer of the mouth floor and tongue. Lauderdale and his wife were flabbergasted that the first doctor never looked under his tongue when he initially complained of a sore throat.

SFC Lauderdale was medEvac from Kuwait to a hospital in Germany, then April 1st onto Walter Reed Army Medical Center [WRAMC] in DC. While at WRAMC a doctor said, ‘Lauderdale is in a unique group. We don’t know what would stimulate him to have that type of cancer.’ Since he wasn’t a smoker, didn’t chew tobacco and never drank, which is common in ninety-five percent of these types of cases. Another doctor added, he’d seen a young 21 year-old soldier at WRAMC who just came back from Iraq with the same type of cancer.

Dixie Lauderdale a charge nurse for nearly 23 years at The American Red Cross Blood Program, was later relieved from her position due to the medical leave she took to be with her husband in DC said, “Before Jim was activated, during the entire summer of 2004 he had a lot of dental work at the VA in Tucson, Arizona. He had no symptoms and no one observed lesions in his mouth. He was healthy and fit all his life. This came up suddenly and just devastated his body quickly.”

She added, “Jim did mention the terrible pollutants coming from the smoke stacks, and the brown water he washed his clothes in while in theatre. I read about depleted Uranium and talked with him about it but he never said anything about being exposed to it and I don't think they tested him for it. We asked the doctor’s if Agent Orange could be the cause and they said there was no way to tell. We asked if he had been exposed to something in Kuwait and again they couldn't say. They did comment frequently on how aggressive his cancer was.”

Lauderdale was at WRAMC from April to July 2005, where he underwent two surgeries. The first in April 2005 for the lesion in his throat and on his tongue, the second in May 2005 to get “clear margins” without any cancer cells.

His WRAMC Ear, Nose and Throat doctor (ENT), confident they got all the cancer, prepared him to return home with the stipulation that in order for Lauderdale to transfer to Arizona the Community Based Health Care Organization [CBHCO], (which assists in getting the soldier home where they will continue their medical care), would need to arrange the referral to a Head/Neck Cancer specialist in Tucson as his WRAMC doctor specified.

Unfortunately, the CBHCO didn’t adhere to the doctor’s stipulation and arranged Lauderdale’s medical care with an ENT doctor. Lauderdale noticed a lump and went to see the ENT at the VA and he said, ‘It’s scar tissue, there’s nothing to worry about.’ At the end of October the Lauderdale’s contacted the ENT at WRAMC and he ordered a PET Scan and biopsy in Arizona which returned positive as a malignant lesion. Within seven weeks the cancer returned more aggressively than before spreading to his neck and jaw. The Lauderdale’s requested to be sent back to WRAMC and within a week Lauderdale was scheduled for his third surgery at WRAMC.

At the beginning of November 2005 they performed the third surgery for the lesions on his neck; a right radical neck resection. Lauderdale was recovering pretty well when the doctors told him they couldn’t get it all and he would need to undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatments. The side effects of the combination was intolerable for Lauderdale, so they tried three different types of chemo to find one that suited him.

Nearly a month later, the night of his 59th birthday, Lauderdale suffered a massive heart attack and went into cardiac arrest while in the ER. That night they performed a fourth surgery and placed three cardiac stents. Two weeks later his ENT doctor scoped his throat area only to find the cancer to be quite aggressive and scheduled a fifth surgery. The ENT wanted to do the surgery immediately but his cardiac doctor refused for he had not fully recovered from his cardiac surgery. The best recovery time he could permit before another major operation was a minimum of 30 days recovery.

So in January 2006, three days after New Years, a fifth surgery, a left and right neck partial radical resection was performed as was a tracheotomy, another skin graft and a forearm free flap removing the skin, muscle, artery and vein to reconstruct a tongue, and a skin graft on his thigh to re-cover his arm. The grueling 17 hour surgery left a twelve-inch scar trailing down his right side and wrapping around his double-sided sunken neck.

Lauderdale remained at WRAMC till the end of January when they decided a sixth surgery to insert a feeding tube into his stomach in preparation for commencement of chemo and radiation. On January 29, 2006 before the chemo had begun, overnight four cutaneous lesions appeared on his right exterior jaw line. The doctors said to Dixie, ‘The cancer is growing outside of his skin, this is not good. I’ve only seen this in one percent of these cases. We can’t let him recover from his surgery, he has to begin the chemo and radiation immediately.’

The chemo started as did numerous complications. Even still, with another complication rising at the end of March….Lauderdale still believed he would be healed, even though the chemo was wretched, he never gave up. The doctors realized they couldn’t combine it with the radiation and discontinued it. Lauderdale possessed unbelievable strength and courage, he persevered with hope and faith he would recover….after all he had a devoted wife and two adoring children, one would be wed in eight months. He already survived Vietnam; surely he’d make it through this.

Lauderdale valiantly ended his 39 rounds of radiation treatments. The doctors wanted to see what progress they made so they ordered a CT Scan. Much to their bewilderment it showed that the cancer had spread to his lungs, ribs, and spinal column. Another skin lesion appeared on the right side of his neck at the edge of the radiation field. That told the doctors that his cancer was systemic, throughout his system. They advised Dixie to seek hospice care, get their personal things in order and go home and get Jim retired.

By then, Lauderdales' frequent way of communicating was writing on a whiteboard, as he had done before when he had a trach. “When the doctor told him he had six months to live, I don’t think he believed it. He still asked for more treatment,” Dixie choked. “He tried to get stronger and the doctor said, ‘Well you could try more chemo and die from a heart attack, or you could die from the cancer…it’s your choice,’ ” she wept.

The third and final round of chemo in June resulted in another complication. They had been staying at WRAMC Fisher House for military families undergoing medical care when he was re-admitted back to WRAMC. “The weekends were the worst,” Dixie mourned. “Over 4th of July weekend skin lesions multiplied canvassing his neck, back and chest.” Adding, “There were hundreds, thousands of lesions circling the upper part of his entire body.” Dixie asked the doctors, “What could it be to make this so aggressive?” The doctors said, ‘They’d never seen it so aggressive and were as dumbfounded as she.’

For the next 10 days Lauderdale was confused and obviously uncomfortable and he began pulling his I.V.’s out and getting out of bed. “His neck and throat was so swollen, I pleaded with his doctors to make him more comfortable,” Dixie said. So they increased his pain medicine, “It was the first time I had seen him laying still, resting. So I went back to the Fisher House.”

“The next morning I returned to the hospital at the usual time 5:00 am, only to see his room door closed,” she explained. In silence, her throat frozen with emotion, her voice cracked as she continued, “I knew when I saw the door closed something had happened and the nurses asked if I had gotten a phone call, and I did not. They said he passed away at 4:55 am, five minutes before I arrived.” A high pitch of tears pushed forth her last sentence, “So I guess he was comfortable….he slipped away in peace, remaining in the same position I left him in the night before.”

Later, another patient a Lt. Col., approached her and said, “Jim said he knew where he was going, and he’d be okay, but please pray for Dixie.” His message would suck her further into a vortex of pain and sorrow, as she would never rest her eyes on her beloved husbands face again.

A Casualty Affairs Officer from WRAMC, SGT. H., was assigned to the Lauderdale family to prepare them for the stages of losing a military loved one. He advised the family to expect over the following days ‘a lot of people knocking at your door, from the head of the hospital, to organizations offering assistance of all types, the press, CNN, and a slew of reporters to get Jim’s story.’ The Lauderdale’s waited…one Major visited them that afternoon to send his condolences, but that was it. There was no knock, no telephone call or even letter….from anyone else, including the hospital commander.

Feeling distraught and abandoned, she packed up her family and left for home. She said, “They [the aforementioned] don’t talk to the sick soldiers…nobody wanted to hear our story. Maybe when a wounded soldier dies---but not a sick soldier, the sick soldiers don’t exist, I firmly believe that. Just because they have gotten sick and were not injured, they were still over there [in Iraq] and served their country. But it’s not the same in the military’s eyes or in the publics. If you weren’t injured over there but you became sick instead, it doesn’t seem to count in the game of war.” How many more will have to suffer?

James H. Lauderdale, Jr., 59, died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on July 14, 2006. He and his wife Dixie were married over 34 years and they have a son, Jacob, age 28 and one daughter, Jayme age 26, who without her father to walk her down the isle, was married on November 11th, Veteran’s Day.

As his last wish, SFC James H. Lauderdale Jr. was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on July 21, 2006.…..and this was his story.

Copyright 2006, R. B. Stuart, all rights reserved. No reproduction of this blog in any form.

"THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION IS CANCER"

2006-10-10T21:04:00.001-04:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Part III

With each movement on the battlefields of Iraq, a soldier steps in a new direction, their lives forever changed by wounds borne out of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM.

The military men and women may return as different creatures, although facing their lives in the very same way: as Veteran's. These new veteran's are bringing with them a host of challenging physical and psychological wounds, the most apparent are missing limbs. And nearly one out of five OIF vet's have mental illness/ PTSD [April 2005, Long Term Cost of War by Chaplain David Scharff], who points out, 'PTSD is a normal response to an abnormal situation.' And at any given time there are 800 soldiers in Med Hold at Walter Reed Army Medical Center [WRAMC] in D.C. where most soldiers are medEvac.

But it is those soldiers, men and women, of every race, and spanning each age bracket and rank are carrying home an invisible disease, an airborne toxin acquired in theatre: Cancer. The weapons of mass destruction are our own munitions loaded with depleted Uranium [DU]. Once the DU dust is inhaled or ingested it penetrates the entire body, absorbed by each cell where it will live and continue to emit radiation throughout the soldiers life....unaware he/she has been exposed....until they succumb to cancer.

When in theatre there are military regulations to follow to prevent such happenings, first being, a mask, protective clothing and information of the dangers of radiation inhalation or ingestion. As we've seen preempting the war, with September 11th, amongst FDNY and Emergency Medical Workers, their being ill informed of the hazards is now marked with illness and death. If the soldiers were forewarned of the radiological dangers of DU with the war in Iraq...would they have been less likely to go? The DoD appears only concerned with embedded DU fragments, or soldiers that have ingested DU dust at the range of 50 meters or less at the time of munition penetration. And the longer they highlight those particulars---in the wake of their selective ignorance, more will return with cancer.

In March 2005, the DoD Analysis Division of Army Statistics [U. S. Military Casualties Operation Iraqi Freedom] reported 17,184 Army Medical Evacuations from theater (March 2003 to Feb. 2005). In that time frame 2,278 soldiers were Wounded in Action - 5,098 Non-Battle wounds and 9,808 medEvac for Disease. Although, some soldiers are not returning at all as suicide rates for soldiers deployed to OIF were higher than recent Army historical rates (15.6 suicides per 100,000 soldiers per year, occurring between Jan. - Oct. 2003, July being the highest month compared to the average annual rate of 11.9 per 100,000 over the eight year period of 1995-2002), states the Dec. 2003 Review of Soldier Suicides Chartered by the U. S. Army Surgeon General.

Since March 2006 I reported encounters with other soldiers diagnosed with cancer at WRAMC. The most recent, Transportation Battalion Staff Sergeant Frank Valentin, a 34 year-old Brooklyn native who was based for two years at the port of Kuwait City on the Iraq/ Kuwait boarder in Camp Spearhead. The camp is situated in the middle of two oil refineries, a cement factory, a chlorine factory and a sulfuric acid factory. He and other soldiers who assisted in the movement control of equipment knew immediately when their eyes began to burn, the skin on their face felt hot and mucus dripped from their nose, that they were in a cesspool of toxic chemicals and noxious fumes. Valentin said the soldiers tried complaining , "But nobody wanted to hear it---we just stayed quiet. They just wanted us to do our job."

Within eight months Valentin knew something was wrong when he started to experience discomfort in his anal area and went to the Medics. Valentin stated, "They (the military) think soldiers are faking it because they don't want to work and want to get out of being in Iraq." Without doing proper testing he was diagnosed with hemorrhoids and sent back to work, but the pain and discomfort continued, as did his doctors visits. But Valentin instinctively knew something was wrong. Finally after seeing a dozen doctors, all diagnosing him with hemorrhoids, did the last doctor a Reservist Oncologist order an x-ray, only to find it was colon cancer. The reservist told Valentin their were six other soldiers that were diagnosed with cancer, Valentin himself knew of three others that had been diagnosed, one with leukemia, one with Hodgkins Lymphoma and another with a non-malignant brain tumor.

"Between the chemicals in the air overseas, the shots they (the military) give you and not eating well or sleeping more than four hours a day you're body just isn't strong enough to fight anything off. Right now it's cancer, cancer, cancer. A lot of these kids at 21 years-old are coming back with cancer. How did they get it? How did it happen to me when I was healthy," he questioned.

In 2005 Valentin was medEvac from Iraq to WRAMC where he underwent surgery. It was during that surgery that the doctors discovered the cancer had advanced. They cut his rectum, burnt the tumors off of his liver and found 17 nodules on both lungs where it had spread . He woke to find himself with a colostomy bag and prognosis of incurable colon/lung cancer.

Valentin exclaimed, "This war is cancer and the bad thing is people like us don't get benefits. The amputees qualify for the TSGLI Injury Benefits for up to $100,000 to start a new life. But because cancer is a disease and not a war wound, we don't apply." Adding, "No one even knows we're on the oncology ward. The press, celebrities and politicians go to the 3rd floor when they want publicity shots with the amputee soldiers. But what about the 7th floor-ward 71, with soldiers that are coming back with cancer?"

Effective December 2005, the Traumatic Service Members Group Life Insurance program (TSGLI), began providing financial aid to OIF or OAF soldiers returning from the war with loss of limbs, sight, hearing, burns, brain injury etc. The soldier, or family must file a claim with TSGLI and depending on the severity of the wound an insurance settlement in the amount of $25,000 to $100,000 is awarded to assist the soldier and his family through difficult financial hardships while rehabilitating. Currently, $70,000 is the average pay out.

After fourteen months of treatments and 39 rounds of chemo, it was deemed ineffective and Valentin was given 2 - 5 years life expectancy. The residual effects of the chemo canvassed his face with a spray of red bumps, and raised black ones tarred his back. A medal of honor lies under his shirt next to his colostomy bag, in the form of a 16-inch scar racing down the center rib cages to his pelvis. And yet, this young father of three's only concern is where his kids would start school in the fall. The happiness he finds when his little boy calls him on his cell phone is shown across his face. Somehow through the love and connection to his son, he's suspended in time, and if only for a few seconds, it seems everything else vanishes and he's in a perfect world of; a dad just talking to his son. He is empowered by hope and propelled forward by the love for his family. While other soldiers find him an inspiration, as he continues with more chemo and surgery.

A collage hangs on the wall of the 6th floor Oncology Ward 65, proudly amongst the staff photo's is the former President Clinton beaming for the camera. When asked how often he'd visited the soldiers stricken with cancer, the armature photographer replied, "Oh, he's been up here several times. That was taken in January 2006." For which I asked, "So then he knows soldiers are returning from Iraq with cancer?" She retorted, "Oh yes, he knows." If he knows why don't the American people?

Representitive Jim McDermott (Dem - Washington) knows the answer to that question all too well. As his office has been fielding phone calls from families across the United States since the war started. Families want to know why and how their loved ones who have served in Iraq are now gravely ill with different stages of cancer, and some have already died. They want answers. And so does he. But after repeated attempts of requesting the statistics from the DoD of how many soldiers are returning from Iraq/Afghanistan with caner, the DoD responds with, 'There are no statistics.' McDermott believes there are and the DoD is unwilling to share them.

There is a good reason for the DoD to not admit to statistics, because if they do then they would have to acknowledge that cancer is a service connected illness (war wound), and pay out a lifetime of benefits covering cancer treatments. And when active duty soldiers are stricken with cancer while in theatre or two years post deployment, they wouldn't be allowed to medically discharge soldiers because of the debilitating disease, instead they would have to grant them medical retirement with full benefits. So their decision to withhold statistics is a cost-effective one.

The Department of Veterans Affairs 2006 edition of Federal Benefits for Veterans and Dependents already lists DU in chapter 1 under VA Medical Programs in their Veteran's Health Registry. Certain individuals can participate in a VA health registry and receive free medical examinations, including laboratory and other diagnostic tests deemed necessary by an examining clinician. In the depleted Uranium registry; the VA maintains two registries for veterans possibly exposed to DU. The first is for veterans who served in the Gulf War, including Operation Iraqi Freedom. The second is for veterans who served elsewhere, including Bosnia and Afghanistan. The statistics are there, just not available to the soldiers or the public.

For the DoD, the long term consequences of DU are two fold: to admit the claims that inhaled or ingested DU causes cancer and is a war wound could cripple the DoD Pension & Health fiscally, thus they would lose profits and lawsuits would ensue. Secondly, the intentional use of nuclear waste to create munitions when elsewhere in the world enriching Uranium is banned. To knowingly expose soldiers, civilians and other countries to DU would constitute as a crime against humanity. And as a result we will have killed off our own military as we come full circle in our own self-induced Hiroshima.

Captain Chaplain Fran E. Stuart stricken with a rare stage IV dysgerminoma cancer, 24 months post deployment commented, "In ten years we'll have to worry that there won't be enough soldiers to fight (if there is a future war). Because the North Korean army will out number us and maybe they'll come and take us over, the way we did Iraq."

It's not the medical military staff that's responsible for this oversight with DU exposure. The Walter Reed Army Medical Center brigade of doctors, nurses, aids and staff are phenomenal and caring individuals at the crux of this conflict between soldiers and the DoD. Its carelessness and exploitation of the health of our military men and women rest on the shoulders of the war machine itself.

We will have learned nothing as a Nation if the voices of these vet's are silenced until they're old and grey or have simply faded away. Only to become more white markers in Arlington Cemetery, or another Wall of Names, their voices to be heard calling out from the grave. We'll erect another monument for them in liew of exposing the truth amidst the war and more unspoken casualties will surface far too late.

Copyright 2006, R. B. STUART All rights reserved. No reproduction of this blog in any form.

"CANCER IN THE MILITARY"

2006-09-10T21:07:00.001-04:00

Sister Soldier: A Chronicle of Life After Iraq
By R. B. STUART
Part II

A new kind of battle wound is emerging from the war in Iraq: Cancer. Since the Gulf War and most recently the War in Iraq, US soldiers are being diagnosed with tumors; malignant and benign. They have been diagnosed with cancer's ranging from Dysgerminoma 'the Germ cancer,' to Testicular cancer, Lung cancer, Colon cancer, Ovarian cancer, Breast cancer and "Eighty percent of the soldiers who have retured with cancer, have blood cancer: Leukemia," stated an undisclosed source in June at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.

Walter Reed is receiving medical evacuations daily. The culprit, stricken soldiers say is a combination of factors: the Anthrax vaccine, enriched Uranium AKA depleted Uranium (leftover radioactive nuclear waste which our armor penetrating missiles and munitions are composed of and the same material the US is now barring Iran from using, only cloaked in the media as enriched Uranium; the process it goes through in order to make it depleted Uranium). The radioactive drenched soil in Iraq from past battles was reported in 2003 by journalist Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, with a Geiger counter registering radiation in Baghdad 1,900 times higher than normal...... imagine now three years later. In March 2006, it was discovered that the water soldiers were bathing, washing their clothes and ingesting was contaminated

The company responsible for this recent violation against our military men and women assigned to filter the water in Iraq is a Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown and Root, an engineering firm with former ties to Vice President Dick Cheney. They were contracted to cook for the soldiers and purify the water early on when the war first began. Army Captain Chaplain Fran E. Stuart of the 101st Airborne based for one year in Mosul, Iraq said, 'she ate the food they prepared for the soldiers daily.' Unbeknownst, to her and many others, the water and food she was ingesting was carrying contaminants, bacteria and viruses. Coupled with the airborne toxic dust from the munitions penetrating their food: depleted Uranium.

In May 2005 Wil Granger, the Theatre Water Quality Manager for Kellogg, Brown and Root in Iraq stated in his report, "This event should be considered a near miss as the consequences of these actions could have been very severe resulting in mass sickness or death." This current Cheney scandal has yet to reach the White House and the Bush Administration, as it appears the weapons of mass destruction are our own. As we are maiming and killing our own military men and women for this fight for oil disguised as democracy---it's a far cry from America the Beautiful. As the contaminated water and food, depleted Uranium and unapproved Anthrax vaccine is swept under the Oriental carpets of the White House, a few soldiers are finally stepping up to say this is enough.

Captain Stuart recalls, 'feeling extremely ill the first week in Mosul with a high fever, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea lasting well over two weeks.' Unknowingly, she along with 75 percent of her camp was exhibiting symptoms of radiation poisoning. The battalion medic advised, 'It's going around...drink more fluids.' Military regulations require dosimeters to be given in theatre when radiation exposure is suspected. It consists of a simple urinalysis within 24 hours of exposure which informs the soldier and medical staff of the amount of absorption (cGy), through inhalation or ingestion, and what procedures to follow. This RER information (Radiation Exposure Records) is logged in the soldiers personnell files and determines whether or not he/she is deployable. And informs the soldier of the possible adverse health risks from radiation exposure. The military's maximum ALORE (acceptable level of occupational radiation exposure) is 75 cGy---well beyond the maximum 5 cGy's of radiation the average civilian is exposed to within the environment. The symptom's Stuart and others were exhibiting put them in the category of 150 - 300 cGy's of total body absorption. These high levels of radiation are evident from the inhalation and ingestion of DU with the added health consequences of Cancer. And once DU has entered the body through the lungs or esophagus it then infiltrates the cells throughout the body where it continues to emit radiation.

This crime against humanity began in 2000 with an increase of cancer in Iraqi civilian's and military from DU in the first Gulf War (1991). (It was reported in September 2004 in IRIN [United Nations Office for The Communication of Humanitarian Affairs] Dr. Thikra Najim, a specialist in GYN has seen an increase in tumors & leukemia. And November 2004 IRIN, Dr. Janan Ghalib Hassan, Mother & Child Hospital in Basra, has tracked DU and expects 2008 to be devastation in Iraq.) And it has within the last two years begun to erupt within our own military men and women as Iraq now overflows with DU.....so do they, as the US Military has become the dumping ground for our governments nuclear waste. How patriotic.....

In March 2006, the 40 year old Captain Stuart was diagnosed with a rare and agressive stage IV Dysgerminoma cancer after serving one year in Iraq. She faces her own battles daily on an aggressive chemo regimen. "My body isn't mine anymore. I can feel the tumors inside of me. I look like a monster," she mourned with patches of her strawberry blond hair falling out and a 12 inch scar down her belly.

Army Sergeant First Class, Charles Frenzel, with over thirty years in the military has been stationed in the last four years at Ft. Jackson, Ft. Lee (US) and Camp Caldwell, Iraq. He was on assignment in Iraq when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in October 2005. He was medEvac to Walter Reed Army Medical Center where a 8.5 by 4.5 inch non-malignant Meningioma was removed only six months after her was deployed to Iraq. SFC Frenzel said he believed the cause of the tumor to be, "I think Sadam had a lot more advanced chemical programs than what was originally suspected. I was exposed to daily oil smog. Iraq burns straight non-processed, crude oil, and the smog was horrific. The water was contaminated, and the contractor (KBR) the US had hired to clean the soldier's water is suspected of not having done their jobs. We were bathing in contaminated water and having our clothes washed in the same," he informed.

When asked how wide spread he thought it was. "I have no idea. I was stationed in only the one area and did not see much of the rest of Iraq. I feel that there are many soldier's returning with cancer/tumors. This is based on the amount of soldier's that I ran into at Walter Reed with those illnesses," SFC Frenzel stated. SFC Frenzel has received his care from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and has considered it, "only the best of medical care."

Army Sergeant, Charles E. Lewis of the 101st Airborne Division for eight years has been stationed over the last four years in Camp Humphreys, South Korea; Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Mosul, Iraq; Kuwait; Baghdad, Iraq where he is today. SGT Lewis was diagnosed with stage II Testicular cancer (Semanoma) in April 2005. In January he had his yearly physical and in March a sperm count was done. Because of the low sperm count he had an appointment for Urology. It was in April during the initial consultation with urology that the doctor discovered that 85 percent of SGT Lewis' right testicle was a tumor. After CT scans were examined there was also a mass discovered in his sperm tract. When asked what he believed the cause to be. "We're unsure. There was no family history. We asked the doctors if being in Iraq had anything to do with it, but most weren't sure," he said. How wide spread does he think it is? "We had been told before to contact the VA to see, but they would not give us any information. Four different people we know and who have been in combat with me have either had tumors removed or have been tested for cancer. But we have often questioned if Iraq or vaccinations could have played a part in this cancer," SGT Lewis commented.

Initially, SGT. Lewis was to be non-deployable for the next two years due to periodic screening, then three weeks before deployment they declared him fit for duty. SGT Lewis had his first round of testing done in November but it should have been October. With SGT Lewis currently in Iraq, the care it seems is scattered. He supposed to be getting blood work and CT scans done every three months, but it's closer to four.

Army Captain Tonya Fagan (retired) was stationed in 2003 with Stuart in Baghdad and Mosul, Iraq for six months. A year and a half ago her pap test came back abnormal and she was diagnosed with stage II Cervical cancer. She underwent three months of radiation and is clear of the cancer, but by no means does she feel she's in good health.

The fear of most soldiers with a disease or illness is the military's decision to either pay you your benefits or reap the rewards for themselves. Since cancer isn't considered a "war wound," and it should be when obvious carcinogens are present. Some, even after being vested 20 years in the military are being medically discharged and deemed unfit for duty as opposed to medical retirement. The former means you're not eligible to collect your full medical benefits whereas if the board decides the latter, you are set for life.....although you are also faced with a lifetime of possible reoccurrances.

Footnotes:
The military's use of depleted Uranium since the first Gulf War in 1991 was 286 metric tons. And in Kosovo/Serbia in 1999, 9.5 metric tons and thus far Iraq in 2003, over 320 metric tons which have a half life of 4.5 billion years, and total disintegration estimated after 25 billion years. Depleted Uranium on the ground will eventually sink into the soil penetrating the ground water and if ingested causing long term side effects including Gulf War Syndrome, birth defects, lung cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, and kidney damage for American soldiers and Iraqi civilians.

A defense contractor Alliant Techsystems in Edina, Minnesota America's largest maker of ammunition, half of which it sells to the Pentagon has annual revenues of $2.2 billion. The war has been good to companies that manufacture DU weapons. Alliant's production of DU shells set a fifteen-year record, and CEO Paul David Miller took home $16.8 million in bonuses and stock options. Defense giant General Dynamics, meanwhile, watched sales in its combat-systems group, which provides DU shells for the Army, nearly double since 2000. There's a reason that DU shells are so profitable: The raw material is all-but free. Eager to dispose of 1 billion pounds of depleted uranium accumulating in federal installations since the Manhattan Project, Washington sells the waste to munitions makers for pennies on the dollar.

Captain Fran E. Stuart added there was a court ordered injunction in 2004 against forced use of the Anthrax vaccine allowing soldiers to refuse it. But as of last year Dec. 19, 2005 (CIDRAP News) in a two year legal battle over the US military's anthrax vaccination program, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has reaffirmed its earlier finding that the Anthrax vaccine used by the military is safe and effective for preventing all forms of anthrax so the DoD is seeking to reinstate it.

Since 1998 more than 1.3 million people have received the Anthrax vaccine, called Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed (AVA), in the DoD program. But the vaccine has been dogged by concerns about alleged side effects. Hundreds of service members have refused the shots, and some have been punished or forced out of the military. The Deployment Health Support for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in Virginia states between March 1998 and February 2001, more than two million doses of the Anthrax vaccine has been administered to more than 500,000 service members. We have yet to uncover these long term health effects.

PREFACE

2006-08-27T22:10:00.000-04:00

The Unspoken Casualties of the War in Iraq is a real life account of soldiers that are returning from Iraq with cancer. This is about life after Iraq with an Army Captain Chaplain and her sister, a writer. This chronological report of cancer in the military, follows Sister Soldier as she battles cancer; a casualty many soldiers are returning from Iraq with unbeknownst to the public and unacknowledged by the military. With soldiers being exposed to a combination of the Anthrax vaccine, depleted Uranium and contaminated water, they face a more deadly and rapidly moving carcinogen that develops to stage IV cancers within 8 - 24 months. Sister Soldier puts a face on cancer in the military post Operation Iraqi Freedom, as Vietnam veteran's did twenty years later with agent orange and Desert Storm veteran's did fifteen years later with The Gulf War Syndrome. If this is also your story, please click on the link at right for OPERATION PURPLE HEART to contact me.
### --RBS