Political Bloviation

I got out of the Army in 1987, so I missed the Gulf War entirely. I have some old friends from back in the day at 56th Field Artillery Brigade in Germany and from the Field Artillery Training Center at Ft, SIll, OK where I was on staff for a few years. I was glad to hear that they might actually be able to get a disability claim acted on, now that there’s a report backing them up. They served, they got sick because of it and they deserve proper treatment. This has been put off for 17 years. It’s about time, but definitely too late for some.

Toxins sicken 25 percent of Gulf War vets, report says - St. Petersburg Times
At least one in four U.S. veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War suffers from a multisymptom illness caused by exposure to toxic chemicals during the conflict, a congressionally mandated report being released today found.

For much of the past 17 years, government officials have maintained that these veterans — more than 175,000 out of about 697,000 deployed — are merely suffering the effects of wartime stress, even as more have come forward recently with severe ailments.

“The extensive body of scientific research now available consistently indicates that ‘Gulf War illness’ is real, that it is the result of neurotoxic exposures during Gulf War deployment, and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved with time,” said the report by a panel of scientists and veterans.

Gulf War illness is typically characterized by a combination of memory and concentration problems, persistent headaches, unexplained fatigue and widespread pain. It may also include chronic digestive problems, respiratory symptoms and skin rashes.

Two things the military provided to troops in large quantities to protect them — pesticides and pyridostigmine bromide, aimed at thwarting the effects of nerve gas — are the most likely culprits, the panel found.

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