From: Colonel Dan
Here is a "small" part of a gulf war report from last fall, send a note to your senator and ask them what legislation they are proposing or supporting to correct the things listed in the CONCLUSIONS. The senate members from last fall is at: http://www.senate.gov/~svac/member.htm. The site is not up todate.
Here are a few key members of committee:
Sen. Arlen Specter, Chairman
Charlie Battaglia, Majority Staff Director
James R. Gottlieb, Minority Staff Director
The men and women who have served in our nation’s military deserve better than what ill Gulf War veterans have experienced. They deserve to get answers from the government when they ask legitimate questions about what has happened to them during their deployment. They deserve to have the government promptly and fully investigate if the answer to those questions is not known. They deserve to have access to appropriate medical care in a timely and effective way and they deserve to be confident that their reports of health problems will be treated seriously and without contempt. They deserve to have funding of scientific research awarded in a scientifically sound and impartial way. When applying for service-connected disability compensation, Gulf War veterans deserve to have their claims reviewed and resolved promptly and with a minimum of bureaucratic hurdles for them to clear.
The government failed to meet these reasonable expectations in the past and, as a result, lost credibility with many Gulf War veterans, members of Congress, and the public. The lingering effects of that lost credibility make it much more difficult for the DOD and VA to be seen as fully responsive now to the needs of Gulf War veterans in implementing effective programs. Those agencies now must work even harder to demonstrate their empathy with and responsiveness to Gulf War veterans’ health problems. To ensure that Gulf War veterans in the future receive quality and timely service from the DOD and particularly from VA, the DOD and VA should report back to the appropriate committees of Congress one year after the release of this report to describe the status of their efforts to implement the recommendations made here and to correct any other deficiencies identified in this report.
Some questions Gulf War veterans have about their health may never be answered. Scientific experts likely will debate for years the causes of these veterans’ unexplained illnesses. But the search for answers should not supplant the primary responsibility of the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to ensure that these veterans receive timely and effective health care and appropriate compensation benefits. This is an opportunity to learn the lessons from the Gulf War so that during or after a future conflict the mistakes of the past will not be repeated. America’s Gulf War veterans, who may never know the origin of their illnesses but who nevertheless put themselves in harm’s way when their country called, deserve no less.
The men and women who have served in our nation’s military deserve better than what ill Gulf War veterans have experienced. They deserve to get answers from the government when they ask legitimate questions about what has happened to them during their deployment. They deserve to have the government promptly and fully investigate if the answer to those questions is not known. They deserve to have access to appropriate medical care in a timely and effective way and they deserve to be confident that their reports of health problems will be treated seriously and without contempt. They deserve to have funding of scientific research awarded in a scientifically sound and impartial way. When applying for service-connected disability compensation, Gulf War veterans deserve to have their claims reviewed and resolved promptly and with a minimum of bureaucratic hurdles for them to clear.
The government failed to meet these reasonable expectations in the past and, as a result, lost credibility with many Gulf War veterans, members of Congress, and the public. The lingering effects of that lost credibility make it much more difficult for the DOD and VA to be seen as fully responsive now to the needs of Gulf War veterans in implementing effective programs. Those agencies now must work even harder to demonstrate their empathy with and responsiveness to Gulf War veterans’ health problems. To ensure that Gulf War veterans in the future receive quality and timely service from the DOD and particularly from VA, the DOD and VA should report back to the appropriate committees of Congress one year after the release of this report to describe the status of their efforts to implement the recommendations made here and to correct any other deficiencies identified in this report.
Some questions Gulf War veterans have about their health may never be answered. Scientific experts likely will debate for years the causes of these veterans’ unexplained illnesses. But the search for answers should not supplant the primary responsibility of the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to ensure that these veterans receive timely and effective health care and appropriate compensation benefits. This is an opportunity to learn the lessons from the Gulf War so that during or after a future conflict the mistakes of the past will not be repeated. America’s Gulf War veterans, who may never know the origin of their illnesses but who nevertheless put themselves in harm’s way when their country called, deserve no less.
"Keep on, Keepin' on", Support Veterans & Thanks.......Colonel Dan
See Colonel Dan's web site at: http://hometown.aol.com/dancolonel/VetsIssue.html
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