GULF WAR VETERANS FAMILIES LIFE IMPACTED BY GULF WAR ILLNESS

GULF WAR VETERANS FAMILIES LIFE IN FOCUS

Gulf War Family members start speaking out.  In the last 9 years we have lost attention to Gulf War Illness.  Several family members are starting to speak out more of their concerns.  Sadly the OIF and OEF deaths and injuries cast a bright light and those that served in 90-91 have been forgotten.

The lives of these veterans of 1990-91 have continued to deteriorate.  Their famiies have suffered.  Their family members and children struggle to hang on!  In the last several months I met by internet and then by phone yet another widow of a gulf war 1990-91 veteran. 

I encouraged her to speak up and she is!  Hopefully soon I will have her personal story to post.  Her husband Craig Griffin died too soon!  And yes this is what the old Gulf War Veteran Flight Nurse with the MSN in Cardiovascular Nursing and coauthor of a peer reviewed paper on Hypercoagulation and Gulf War Illness November 2000 has been trying to get attention paid to for the last 19 years! 

The symptom of nose bleeds, uncontrollable menstrual cycles leading to female soldiers aeromedically evacuated from theater in 1991 and later to early hysterectomies, blood in stools, unusual hard cramps in the calves of the leg, cardiac palpitations, early and repeated cardiac surgeries, Heart Attacks, and many other symptoms that people ignored!  This gulf war illness just isnt stress, or in our brains, it involves so much more. 

When some of us saw David Bloom the reporter covering the opening invasion of Iraq in 2003 in his Bloommobile we were deeply worried about the exposures be it the vaccines, the dirty sand, the depleted uranium, the chemicals impregnated in our uniforms (permethrin), to pesticides and nerve agents (organophosphates!), and potential use of pyridostigmine bromide(P tabs- to be used ONLY with SOMAN Threat).  David Bloom died from a blood clot!  His wife leads the way now as a spokesperson on Deep Vein Thrombus. 

Holly is yet another spouse that is just beginning to speak out!  Holly is going to try to make it back to DC for the VA RAC GWI NOV 2-3 and for the House VA committee -Oversight and Investigations SC hearing on November 4.  Read and remember her Gulf War Veteran 1990-91 husband http://craiggriffin.memory-of.com/About.aspx 

"Craig Alan Griffin was a true patriot. His legacy will truly live on forever, for there was no such man as him. He loved his country so much so that he gave 27 years of his life to it. He was a brilliant man. To becaome a Green Beret medic is one of the hardest MOS’s in the military. He achieved that and even ended up teaching other soldiers this job. He was the epitome of selflessness and compassion. But that is only the tip of the iceberg of what he achieved in his lifetime. He held a bacholor’s degree, a master’s degree, and was working on his MBA at the time of his death.

In the first Gulf War, he helped save the animals at the Kuwaiti Zoo that were left to starve by giving them food and medical attention. This is also where he contracted Gulf War Syndrome. An ammo dump that he was ordered to guard blew up and he was showered with radio active material. He was also subjected to many other things that made him and his men sick. Craig is the fourth man out of that unit to die early. Many of the others are still sick with various ailments. But Craig was never one to complain. Throughout the 90’s and 00’s, Craig was a hard worker, a mentor, and a soldier. He was very proud to call himself a Green Beret. And he was the essence of what every soldier should be. I was proud to call myself his wife. No better man have I ever met.

I have been extended an invitation to speak at the 2009 Survivor Summit in Washington D.C. I am humbled and honored to speak on Craig’s behalf and hope to help others move through the loss of a military spouse. I hope it will be a great healing for me and for others like me. I also hope to bring up Gulf war illness issues. Craig would want that. I think I need that. The more soldiers that die from this incidious syndrome the more people need to speak out. That is my mission."

A story was done on the trip that Holly made it follows, two other widows spoke up that had lost their husbands to Cancer.  In addition Holly just told me by phone there is another gulf war veteran in her area that she met a family member of just this past week.  His case is similar to her husbands with Atrial Fibrillation, blood disorders, and blood pressure problems. 

"Some widows lost their husbands to ailments acquired from the Gulf War and wanted to know what the Pentagon and Congress was doing to improve pre- and post-deployment screenings. Parents wanted to know why they weren’t considered part of the Army family; that they also need to be informed and connected. Other survivors in the group simply were unhappy with the overall care they received from the Army. "

Casey Pledges Continued Effort to Enhance Survivor Support
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 8, 2009 – Providing better care for survivors of fallen servicemembers is a concern near and dear to the hearts of lawmakers and military leaders, but maybe to none more so than the Army chief of staff.

A collection of memorabilia from survivors who have lost loved ones in the line of duty lines the wall at the Army’s 2009 Survivor Summit in Crystal City, Va., Oct. 7, 2009. The summit is part of the Army’s Survivor Outreach Services, which is an effort to improve the Army’s institutional and personal interaction with survivors of fallen soldiers. U.S. Army photo by D. Myles Cullen 
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.
 
Addressing more than 100 parents, spouses and children of fallen soldiers at the 2009 Survivor Summit here yesterday, Gen. George W. Casey Jr. said he knows firsthand the emotional challenges they face. Just before earning his Army commission in 1970, Casey’s father, Army Maj. Gen. George Casey Sr., was killed in combat.

“I have a lot of interest in this, as I’m a survivor myself,” he said. “I lost my dad in Vietnam when I was 21.”

Many improvements in survivor care have been made throughout the past 40 years. But when he became Army chief of staff a little more than two years ago, he wanted to continue that progress.

“I looked around at what the Army was doing after five years of war for survivors, and we were still just doing casualty assistance,” the general said. “I thought about what my mother and sisters went through — we have to do better.”

One of his priorities was to develop a survivor program that offers stronger support for families. Survivor care needed to do more than notify the families, assist with funeral arrangements and help understand entitlements — the Army needed to go beyond just casualty assistance, he said.

Army Survivor Outreach Services, also known as S.O.S, was formed in April 2008. Casey selected a special panel of survivors, and after months of discussion, the new program came to life. Outreach coordinators soon will be working at every Army post, giving survivors another source for support in their communities.

The summit here, which started Oct. 7 and ends tomorrow, is intended to further enhance the program through various work groups. During a question-and-answer session with Casey, a number of concerns were brought to his attention.

Some widows lost their husbands to ailments acquired from the Gulf War and wanted to know what the Pentagon and Congress was doing to improve pre- and post-deployment screenings. Parents wanted to know why they weren’t considered part of the Army family; that they also need to be informed and connected. Other survivors in the group simply were unhappy with the overall care they received from the Army.

“There’s clearly and rightly a lot of pain in this room, and hopefully what you’ll leave here feeling is that we are going to work very hard to take your concerns on to change the way our country deals with survivors,” Casey told the group. “It’s not going to happen overnight, and it’s not going to be just [the Army that improves].

“The stories I’m hearing today are hugely moving, and it just reinforces the whole reason we started this program,” he continued. “The more I listen to you, the more it reconfirms what I believe: that we need fundamental change to the way we deal with our survivors.”

Casey urged the group to continue sharing their issues and improve on the program’s concept. Their input and ideas will have an impact even outside of the Army, he said.

“I think this thing is going to be bigger than I originally thought it was going to be,” he said. “It’s not just for the Army. I think we’re going to have to use this as a forum to really change how we’re doing business for survivors throughout the country.”