“IRAQ: An Environmental Cesspool”

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.”

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

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.

"THE WAR CHEST: SKELETONS FROM THE BATTLEFIELD"

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.’

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

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.