VA Change Taking the Right Direction – What about Gulf War Veterans?

Department of Veterans Affairs Makes the Right Moves

Department of Veterans Affairs Need to Address Needs of Gulf War Veterans, Questions Remain on Timeliness

In the following AP story about OIF veteran exposure we have to admit this is the right step toward change and a positive approach but why did it take so long?  Whis situation was known about for wel over a year when the first hearing occurred on Capitol Hill.

And then the DOD must have also had known about it from early on while soldiers were in theater and the hearings show that!  The DOD should have done the post deployment physicals as a law that was passed several years ago by efforts of gulf war veterans that stood up for their brothers and sisters or active duty to be sure that lessons had been learned from the Gulf War.  This exposed group should have had that interface by way of physicals on post deployment and DOD should have immediately contact the VA and initiated this action in a more timely means. 

A system needs to be implemented that as soon as an exposure like this occurs that DOD and VA work closely together so that the soldiers are not lost to time and post deployment activities.  The annual physicals should probably be 6 month follow ups at least with this type of known carcinogenic exposure or an open door to these soldiers if any symptoms start to occur so they can be checked rapidly, since Cancers are the biggest risk here and every day counts with a potential Cancer diagnosis. 

The last thought is this is a positive step now what are you, VA, willing to do for gulf war veterans from 90-91 that have not been seen since their registry exams, should not they be brought back in based on when they took the registry exam if they have not already been rated and being seen in the VA?  Should not their be a highlight on the WRIIS and how Gulf War Veterans can get there?  Seems there is a problem in all the VA hospitals with medical providers and a standard SOP to get them access to the WRIIS(War Related Illness Injury Study).

Iraq vets at treatment plant asked to get exam
The Associated Press

Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009 | 1:23 p.m.

Six years after nearly 1,200 U.S. soldiers in Iraq were potentially exposed to a sometimes deadly chemical linked to cancer, the military and Veterans Affairs Department have been tracking them down and asking them to get a medical exam.

The troops were protecting or in the area of workers hired by a subsidiary of the contractor, KBR Inc., based in Houston, to rebuild the Iraqi water treatment plant Qarmat Ali near Basra, Iraq. The chemical was sodium dichromate, and it had contaminated the area.

In June, The Associated Press chronicled the health problems of the soldiers who had served at the site. Sickness with symptoms ranging from chest pain to lung disease and even death among troops who served there have been blamed on exposure at the site.

KBR, which is facing at least five pending related lawsuits, denies wrongdoing. It says its conduct was governed by its contract with the U.S. military, which was to ensure work sites were free from environmental hazards. Once the contamination was found, it says it notified the Army and helped clean up the site.

The military is also asking the soldiers potentially exposed to enroll in a registry that is tracking such health problems, according to a Sept. 29 letter sent by then-Army Secretary Pete Geren to Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., which spells out the efforts to reach the troops.

Among those potentially exposed were about 600 members of the National Guard, primarily from West Virginia, Oregon, South Carolina and Indiana, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki told Dorgan in a separate letter dated Oct. 8. Shinseki said veterans potentially exposed will receive an annual exam, including a chest radiograph every five years.

The letters were released by Dorgan’s office.