Pass to your Marine friends
More vets report cancer
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer Published Friday, July 3, 2009
http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/article1015699.ece
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Scientists studying drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune were startled when 11 men with breast cancer and ties to the North Carolina base were identified over the last two years.
Six more have been found in one week.
Five additional men with breast cancer and a sixth who had a double mastectomy after doctors found precancerous tumors contacted the St. Petersburg Times last week after reading a story about the 11 men with the rare disease.
"This male breast cancer cluster is a smoking gun," breast cancer survivor Mike Partain said on Friday. "You just can't ignore it. You don't need science to tell you something is wrong. It's common sense. It begs to be studied."
Partain, 41, of Tallahassee, was born at the Marine Corps base and diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. He has worked for two years to find other men with breast cancer who lived at Camp Lejeune.
He found the first nine men before the Times profiled his search in a story on June 28, a story that noted the newspaper had found another man not on Partain's list.
In the days after that story, other male breast cancer survivors called or e-mailed the Times.
Scientists studying what some call the worst public-drinking water contamination in the nation's history said the numbers are unsettling.
"My gut tells me this is unusual and needs to be looked into," said Richard Clapp, a Boston University epidemiologist who has studied Camp Lejeune water. "I'm sure there are still more out there in other states."
Camp Lejeune's drinking water was contaminated for 30 years ending in 1987 with high levels of industrial degreasers called trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE). Clapp said both have been linked to other suspicious male breast cancer clusters elsewhere.
The chemicals were dumped there by the Marine Corps and a private dry-cleaning business, according to investigators.
Congress, which has dubbed ill Marines "poisoned patriots," ordered the Marines last year to notify those who might have been exposed. Some estimates put the number at up to 1 million people.
Many Marines, however, are still unaware.
One who didn't have a clue about the contamination is South Florida resident Jim Morris.
Morris said he was astonished when he was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 at the age of 54. His family had no history of breast cancer. He didn't realize men could get the disease.
Few do.
Male breast cancer is exceedingly rare. Just 1,900 men are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year compared with nearly 200,000 women, the American Cancer Society says.
A man has a 1-in-1,000 lifetime chance of getting the disease.
Men who get it are often over 70, though it is rare even in older males. Of the 17 men identified by Partain and the Times, just three are over 70 — the youngest was Partain at 39 — and many have no family history of breast cancer, male or female, according to interviews.
Morris said his sister lives in Pasco County and saw the Times article about Partain. She immediately called her brother.
"It was almost a relief to find out my cancer actually came from somewhere," said Morris, who has worked as a surveyor. "I'm not just some idiot who got breast cancer for no reason. I never expected to find out. It was going to be one of those lifetime puzzles you never figure out."
Scientists, however, are careful to say that it is extremely difficult to prove a link between pollution and a disease. The Marine Corps declined to comment for this story.
Two federal studies are expected to be completed in coming years that will look at the incidence of all disease among those who lived at Camp Lejeune. The stakes are enormous, with potentially billions of dollars in health claims by more than 1,500 people who say the water made them ill.
University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center epidemiologist Devra Davis also is preparing a case report on the breast cancer cluster.
Partain is among those who believe Camp Lejeune's water may have caused a variety of cancers and other ailments. A growing community of Camp Lejeune veterans, including many who say they are ill, have connected on the Web, many at a popular Internet site called tftptf.com.
More than 10,000 Floridians with Lejeune ties have signed up for a health survey, the most from any state except North Carolina.
Joe Moser, 69, of Riverview was diagnosed with breast and thyroid cancer in February 2008. He was stationed at Camp Lejeune from 1957 to 1960. He said he didn't know about water problems at the base and was stunned to read about the breast cancer link.
"This is too weird," Moser said. "All these men with breast cancer? Come on. There's got to be a lot more of us out there. God, so many of the guys I served with were from Trenton or Philadelphia, all over the place. Who knows if they're sick, too."
William R. Levesque can be reached at levesque@sptimes.com or (813) 269-5306.
fast facts
Were you at Camp Lejeune?
If you or a family member lived at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and have been diagnosed with male breast cancer, the St. Petersburg Times is interested in talking to you. Please call reporter William R. Levesque at (813) 269-5306 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 5306.
Anyone who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune in 1987 or before can register with the Marine Corps for a health survey. To register or to get more information, visit https://clnr.hqi.usmc.mil/clwater/ or call (877) 261-9782.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
More vets report cancer
Marine Spouse Battles Navy Over Contamination at Naval Base in Japan
Salem-News.com (Jul-04-2009 16:05)
Marine Spouse Battles Navy Over Contamination at Naval Base in Japan
Robert O'Dowd Salem-News.com
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july042009/atsugi_naf_ro_7-4-09.php
Shelly Parulis, wife of a retired Marine Master Sergeant, is engaged in a running battle with the Navy over dioxin and other toxins at NAF Atsugi, Japan.
(ATSUGI, Japan) - No one assigned to Naval Air Facility (NAF) Atsugi, the home of Carrier Air Wing 5, would have suspected that duty in Japan could exposed them to toxic chemicals, including deadly dioxin, the carcinogen infamously associated with Agent Orange.
Pollutants at NAF Atsugi
In fact, prior to the closure of Atsugi’s privately owned Envirotech (formerly Shinkampo) incinerators in 2001, that is exactly what happened to military, dependents, and civilian workers stationed at NAF Atsugi during the period 1985 to 2001. Your browser may not support display of this image.
NAF Atsugi is located on Honshu, the main island of Japan. The base, about 20 miles from Tokyo, was originally built in 1938 by the Japanese Imperial Navy as Emperor Hirohito's Naval Air Base to address the threat posed by foreseen American bombing raids of the Japanese mainland.
Shelly Parulis, a spouse of a retired Marine Master Sergeant who was stationed at Atsugi from 1995 to 1998, and her family suffered the results of toxic exposure and leads the effort to obtain compensation and health benefits for Atsugi veterans, dependents ad civilian workers.
The Navy has funded a number of engineering and technical reviews on NAF Atsugi. Four air quality studies conducted from 1989 to 1997 found chemicals in the incinerator complex’s smoke and ash known or suspected by the EPA “to cause cancer and/or upper respiratory injury and disease.” (See: srp.usmc.googlepages.com/USDOJPetitionSummaryofPreviousAmbien.pdf)
Despite the risks of serious disease, the Navy continued to assign personnel and their families to NAF Atsugi while the privately owned incinerator complex spewed its smoke and ash over the base from 1985 until 2001.
Incinerators running at NAF Atsugi
The immune systems of children are especially vulnerable to toxins. There’s no evidence that limiting assignments to military only was under consideration by the Navy once the data on increased risk of cancer and upper respiratory injury and disease was known.
After making contact with hundreds of other Atsugi veterans and dependents, Parulis learned that many of them were seriously ill with diseases linked to toxic exposure.
There is currently no Navy initiative to fund compensation and/or health benefits for any Atsugi veterans and dependents. Funding for this would have to be appropriated by Congress.
In 2001, the United States Justice Department sued Envirotech, the private owner of the incinerators, in a Yokohoma court, but before any judgment was made, the Japanese bought out the company and the closed the facility by year end.
At the end of the day, the polluter walked away with $40 million while the Japanese government “saved face” by closing the complex.
After nearly a decade, the Navy finally decided to study the environmental health effects of exposure. The findings of the Navy Marine Corps Public Health Center epidemiological study are expected to be released shortly.
The objective of the epidemiological study is to determine if the incidence of diseases associated with exposure to emissions from the Atsugi incinerators was significantly different for residents of NAF Atsugi from 1985 to 2001 when compared to a similar population at Naval Base Yokosuka over the same time period.
Justice Department Lawsuit
The U.S. Department of Justice initiated a lawsuit against the private owner and operator of the of the Atsugi’s incinerators in March 2000.
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A Justice Department press release of March 27, 2000, stated that a civil lawsuit had been filed in Yokohama, Japan, against the owner and operator of a waste disposal incinerator adjacent to the Atsugi U.S. Naval Air Facility outside Tokyo.
“The suit alleges that toxic emissions from the incinerator complex, owned by Enviro-Tech (formerly Shinkampo), threaten the health and safety of the more than 8,000 American and Japanese civilian and military personnel living and working at the base. It further alleges that the incinerator spews high levels of dioxin, a suspected carcinogen, as well as numerous other toxic substances.”
“The suit charges that Enviro-Tech's operation interferes with the U.S. government's rights of property use and possession. It seeks immediate suspension of the company's incinerator operations in order to stop the toxic pollution.”
“The U.S. complaint cites considerable scientific and technical evidence of the existence of high levels of dioxin and other toxic substances found at the Atsugi base. A joint monitoring study, conducted last year under Japanese and U.S. government auspices, revealed dioxin levels as high as 90 times the current Japanese ambient air standard and pointed to Enviro-Tech's operation as the source. Such dioxin levels are reported to be the highest ambient air dioxin levels ever recorded in Japan.”
The Justice Department lawsuit was still ongoing when the Japanese government announced their decision to purchase the Atsugi incinerator for about $40 million in April 2001. The Japanese government then proceeded to dismantle and eventually closed the complex at the end of 2001.
Video shows base resident’s viewpoint of the Jinkanpo/Shinkampo incinerator at NAF Atsugi, Japan
For the Navy, the Japanese government, and Envirotech, this is a story with a happy ending. For those injured by the toxics, it’s a whole different matter.
All the evidence supports that Envirotech and its predecessor operated an incinerator complex not in compliance with sound environmental laws for years, thousands were exposed to toxic chemicals, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in a Yokohoma court to stop the toxic pollution, the Japanese government purchased the company for $40 million, and then closed the incinerator complex the same year. Every one is happy except for those unfortunate individuals exposed to the toxins, now seriously ill, out of work, and without health care.
The questions raised by Shelly Parulis relate not to only to the legal but to the moral obligation on the part of the Navy to provide compensation and health care for Navy veterans, dependents and civilian workers injured by the toxins at NAF Atsugi.
How could toxic fumes and smoke from incinerators smoke stacks impact an entire military base? At NAF Atsugi, the geography and the relative location of the base and the incinerators couldn’t have been worse.
A February 2001 news story in The Japan Times reported that: “Atsugi base sits on a plateau about 16 meters above the incinerators. The smokestacks rise a scant 23 meters. This means the stacks stand only 7 meters above the base's ground level. On both days I visited, smoke was blowing toward the base, and a "downwash" effect was causing the smoke to billow across playing fields into base housing and schools.”
As it turns out, the relative location of the incinerator complex and the base was an open invitation to toxic exposure.
Shelly Parulis
In 2007, Shelly Parulis, wife of a retired Marine Master Sergeant, set-up a web site at www.atsugi-incinerator-group.com after learning that her husband was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Parulis believes that upwards of 70,000 people were exposed to the toxic chemicals at Atsugi.
Parulis points to a quote by Captain Frank Sweigart, Commander, NAF Atsugi, in the base newspaper on October 2, 1997 as an example of the Navy’s PR campaign to dismiss any possibility of exposure to toxic chemicals, Captain Frank Sweigart, Commander, NAF Atsugi, stated in the base newspaper: “Unfortunately we don’t have anything in writing that says Jinkanpo is a serious health risk! All we have is a 94-95 study that shows the waste by products do not meet U.S Environmental Protection Agency standards. It would not be justifiable grounds for transfer”.
“Neither myself, nor family had any indication that we were at risk because we trusted the Navy and we trusted the word of our commanding officer. We never thought our country, in which my husband faithfully served, would cut orders and assign military families, especially our children, to a place that they would be put in harms way and be exposed to deadly chemicals. As a military wife, I can attest that at times I knew my husband may have been put in harms ways for the greater good of our beloved country, however, I would have never imagined or believed that that the Navy would knowingly put innocent children in harms way or the commanding officer of the base in which we resided would put our children at risk and mislead or tell untruths to military personnel and their families. The general consensus on the base was that the Navy would not put families at risks and that the SIC issue was more of a political issue because the local residents’ complaints of the noise issues that surrounded NAF Atsugi, Japan.”
Parulis claim stated that: “As a result of the Navy’s negligence, failure to warn, failure to disclose actual facts regarding levels of contamination, failure to advise of latency health effects and failure to protect military personnel and their dependents, including my family and I from NAF Atsugi toxic chemicals exposure, as documented by the Navy, my family and I have suffered an array of health problems to include kidney cancer, migraines, rectal bleeding, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, Supraventricular Tachycardia, spindle cell tumors, hair loss, skin disorders and other health issues and we are currently under medical evaluation for Thyroid Nodules, and other illnesses confirmed by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), to occur from toxic chemical exposure.”
Federal Military Claims Act
The Military Claims Act (MCA) allows non-active duty personnel to file a compensation claim for injuries outside of the United States and its territories.
Parulis Federal MCA claim was denied by the government. On January 12, 2009, the Air Force Legal Operations Agency provided the rational for denial of Parulis’ claim for injuries at Atsugi:
* The Military Claims Act requires that the government be liable to the same extent as a private individual under similar circumstances and under the general principles of American tort law, the Navy cannot be responsible for the actions of a private Japanese corporation.
* The statue of limitations for timely filing of the claim was two years from the date of the incident and the claim was not received until almost a decade after the Parulis family left Atsugi. The lawsuit in 2000 and the purchase and closure of the facility in 2001 should have provided notice of the problems associated with the facility. The claim for injuries was not filed until 2008.
* The discretionary function defense protects the United States for decisions that are not required or mandated by law, but rather involve some element of judgment. This means that the United States Navy cannot be liable for its actions in this instance.
* The Feres doctrine prevents service members from receiving compensation for personal injuries related to their service and bars derivative family member claims which are based upon the same injury to the member.
Parulis now looks to “Congress to investigate and provide health care, and compensation to those exposed just like they did they did for Agent Orange and 911 victims. Because this didn't happen in the United States, but in Japan, I have had a hard time getting a representative to champion this issue.”
While Jinkampo incinerators are now closed, no action has been taken by the Navy to notify those who served on the base and now suffer the health effects of exposure. Parulis noted that “dependents and Japanese and American civilian workers are now seriously ill, can’t work and many are without health care.”
According to Parulis, “While we faithfully served our country, military dependents, were exposed to high levels of Dioxin, Heavy Metals, PCBs, VOC and more toxic chemicals that exceeded Maximum Contaminant Levels. The Navy knew they were putting families at risk by stationing them at NAF Atsugi, Japan. Military personnel and dependents deserve the truth and medical care.”
As early as 1989 the Navy knew the toxic plume was a danger to residents on the base since York Research Consultants, a Navy contractor, recommended, “when the plumes come over the base keep all personnel indoors and send as many people off base as possible. Keep all pregnant women off of the base.”
Parulis said she had to fight to get the Navy to approve full health screenings for her husband, their two children and herself. She wants others who have lived at Atsugi to be aware of the potential link to health problems from exposure to contaminants at Atsugi.
Parulis has received hundreds of emails from former sailors and Marines on the health problems experienced by their families after duty at Atsugi. These serious illnesses include kidney disease, cancer, neurological problems, and intestinal problems, miscarriages and birth defects.
Normally, you expect the Navy to take the lead in contacting former residents of Atsugi to make them aware of the health effects of exposure to the contaminants on the base. However, this has not been the case. Parulis said she personally contacted approximately 350 former Atsugi residents. Out of the 350, 57 have cancer; several have died, including children.
In an email to me, Parulis included a list of other former NAF Atsugi dependents seriously ill. These included:
* At least two children have died of AML Leukemia after spending a tour of duty NAF Atsugi.
* A son was born with birth defects, his mother was pregnant while at Atsugi. He now has varicocele of the testes and is sub-fertile.
* Six former residents have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
* Three residents were diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. One was a young man, age 31.
* Three children have died of brain cancer.
Parulis now looks to “Congress to investigate and provide health care, and compensation to those exposed just like they did they did for Agent Orange and 911 victims. Because this didn't happen in the United States, but in Japan, I have had a hard time getting a representative to champion this issue.”
Shelly Parulis can be contacted on email at: atsugi_incinerator@yahoo.com.
Bob O’Dowd is a former U.S. Marine with thirty years of experience on the east coast as an auditor, accountant, and financial manager with the Federal government. Half of that time was spent with the Defense Logistics Agency in Philadelphia. Originally from Pennsylvania, he enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 19, served in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Marine Aircraft Wings in 52 months of active duty in the 1960s. A graduate of Temple University, Bob has been married to Grace for 31 years. He is the father of two adult children and the grandfather of two boys. Bob has a blog site on former MCAS El Toro at mwsg37.com. This subject is where Bob intersected with Salem-News.com. Bob served in the exact same Marine Aviation Squadron that Salem-News founder Tim King served in, twenty years earlier. With their combined on-site knowledge and research ability, Bob and Tim and a handful of other ex-Marines, have put the contamination of MCAS El Toro on the map. The base is highly contaminated with TCE, trichloroethelyne. You can email Bob O’Dowd, Salem-News.com Environmental and Military Reporter, at this address: consults03@comcast.net
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The military itself has some of the most toxic real estate in the US and does everything it can to avoid liability, Camp Lejuene, Edgewood Arsenal, Fort Lewis, Camp Pendleton, there is some levels of toxic chemicals in the ground water of many bases due to the old chemicals they used in dry cleaning, solvents, fuels, etc.
I know Edgewood Arsenal has 77 toxic substances listed in their EPA Super Fund report from 1988, in 1978 the EPA forced the Army to cap the water wells on EA and in the town of Edgewood and pipe clean water in from the White Mountains. In the meantime the VA denies any medical problems caused by exposure. Under the Feres Act we can't sue and the VA just denies veterans benefits based on the fact we can't prove exposure, excuse me we were there and the chemicals were in the drinking water, how could we avoid them?
Monday, July 6, 2009
More female veterans are winding up homeless
More female veterans are winding up homeless
VA resources strained; many are single parents
By Bryan Bender, Boston Globe Staff | July 6, 2009
WASHINGTON - The number of female service members who have become homeless after leaving the military has jumped dramatically in recent years, according to new government estimates, presenting the Veterans Administration with a challenge as it struggles to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.
As more women serve in combat zones, the share of female veterans who end up homeless, while still relatively small at an estimated 6,500, has nearly doubled over the last decade, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
For younger veterans, it is even more pronounced: One out of every 10 homeless vets under the age of 45 is now a woman, the statistics show.
And unlike their male counterparts, many have the added burden of being single parents.
“Some of the first homeless vets that walked into our office were single moms,’’ said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “When people think of homeless vets, they don’t think of a Hispanic mother and her kids. The new generation of veterans is made up of far more women.’’
Overall, female veterans are now between two and four times more likely to end up homeless than their civilian counterparts, according to the VA, most as a result of the same factors that contribute to homelessness among male veterans: mental trauma related to their military service and difficulty transitioning into the civilian economy.
But while veterans’ services have been successfully reaching out to male veterans through shelters and intervention programs, women are more likely to fall through the cracks.
“While the overall numbers [of homeless vets] have been going down, the number of women veterans who are homeless is going up,’’ Peter Dougherty, director of homeless veterans programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, said in a telephone interview.
The trend has alarmed top lawmakers and veterans groups, who fear that the federal government - which is already straining to care for new veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injuries, and other physical ailments - is ill-prepared to deal with the special needs of female veterans who find themselves on the street.
Many of them are like Angela Peacock, a former Army sergeant who was diagnosed with PTSD when she returned from Iraq in 2004 and became addicted to pain-killers.
Later evicted from her apartment in Texas, she spent more than two years “couch-hopping’’ between friends and family before moving in as a squatter in an empty house in St. Louis.
“They could kick me out anytime they want,’’ Peacock said in an interview. “I have been clean for two and a half years and am working on getting my life back, but it doesn’t happen overnight.’’
According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, a nonpartisan advocacy group in Washington, about 23 percent of the homeless population in the United States are veterans. Nearly half are from the Vietnam era and three-fourths experience some type of alcohol, drug, or mental heath problem.
Most of the homeless vets, who are estimated by the Veteran’s Administration to number at least 130,000 on any given night nationwide, are men older than 50.
With a new generation of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan leaving the armed forces, however, the demographics are swiftly changing. And with more women serving on active duty - a full 15 percent of the military is now female - the share of female homeless veterans has grown from about 3 percent a decade ago to 5 percent, according to the VA.
Among younger veterans, meanwhile, the share of women is nearly double, making up 9 percent of homeless veterans under the age of 45.
“There are twice as many under 45 than above,’’ said Dougherty, who is also the executive director of the Interagency Council on Homelessness, which coordinates the federal government’s efforts to combat homelessness.
In recent days, senior members of Congress have called for an expansion of some of the VA’s programs to ensure they are properly suited to meeting the needs of the growing female population.
“Women veterans and veterans with children often have different needs and require specialized services,’’ Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat of Washington and a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a statement.
Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island and a former Army officer, also believes more women-focused veterans services are needed.
“We need to adapt services for our veterans to reflect this shift and provide more gender-specific resources, such as housing and counseling to prevent female veterans from becoming homeless,’’ Reed said.
For example, Rieckhoff, who served in Iraq before founding the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans group, said female veterans often face unique homelessness risk factors, including sexual assault while in the military and diminished earning potential in civilian life.
But he also believes that the culture of the VA is mostly geared toward meeting the needs of men.
“They are having a tough time evolving to meet the demands of women, who are at a higher risk for homelessness to begin with,’’ Rieckhoff said.
The Obama administration has taken some steps toward combating homelessness among all veterans, including allocating $75 million to public housing authorities in the 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Guam to provide permanent housing and dedicated case managers for an estimated 10,000 veterans.
“For a woman veteran in particular, this is a way for them to have a place to live and not have to ditch the child while they take care of other needs that they have,’’ said Dougherty.
But Murray, Reed, and others say far more needs to be done, especially for homeless veterans with children.
They have sponsored legislation that calls for $50 million in extra funding over the next five years to allow the Veterans Affairs and Labor departments to make special grants to homeless veterans with children, including for transitional housing.
The legislation would also allow the Labor Department to fund facilities that provide job training and child care for female veterans.
Bryan Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.
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I feel any veteran with children should be at the head of the line for emergency housing male or female or an entire family, sometimes they have no where else to turn, they have no family to help them out, and this is when government does need to step up and help, should veterans always get a hand out from the govt NO that is not what I am saying but they should get a hand UP and a chance to get their life back together.
VA Secretary Announces Opening Alabama National Cemetery
WASHINGTON (July 6, 2009) - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
officially opened its 129th national cemetery June 25 with the first
burials at Alabama National Cemetery in Montevallo.
"With the opening of this new national shrine, many thousands of Alabama
Veterans and their families will have a no-cost burial option nearby, in
a setting that is worthy of their service," said Secretary of Veterans
Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "Providing lasting tributes to their sacrifice
is one of VA's most honorable missions, one we are proud to fulfill."
The new 479-acre national cemetery in the Birmingham area will serve
Veterans' needs for at least the next 50 years. The cemetery is located
on State Highway 119, 15 miles south of Birmingham, just north of the
town of Montevallo and west of Interstate Highway 65.
In October 2008, VA awarded a construction contract for $3.7 million to
BSI Contracting Inc., a service-disabled, Veteran-owned small business
in Birmingham, to develop a small burial area. That 12.7-acre section,
with 1,095 casket gravesites and nearly 1,000 in-ground cremation sites,
will provide approximately two years of burials, enabling VA to begin
providing services while the remainder of the cemetery's larger first
phase of development is completed.
When complete, the first phase will consist of approximately 45
developed acres with more than 6,000 additional gravesites and 2,700
columbarium niches, as well as facilities needed to operate and to
provide burials for approximately 10 years. The new cemetery will
include an administration and public information center complex,
including an electronic gravesite locator and public restrooms, a
maintenance building, an entrance area, a flag assembly area, a memorial
walkway and two committal shelters for funeral services. Other
infrastructure elements include roadways, landscaping, utilities and
irrigation.
The new cemetery serves approximately 200,000 veterans in the region and
will be the third national cemetery in Alabama. The state's other
national cemeteries are in Seale and Mobile.
Veterans with a discharge issued under conditions other than
dishonorable, their spouses and eligible dependent children can be
buried in a VA national cemetery. Other burial benefits available for
all eligible veterans, regardless whether they are buried in a national
cemetery or a private cemetery, include a burial flag, a Presidential
Memorial Certificate and a government headstone or marker. Families of
eligible decedents may also order a memorial headstone or marker when
remains are not available for interment.
In the midst of the largest expansion since the Civil War, VA operates
130 national cemeteries in 39 states and Puerto Rico and 33 soldiers'
lots and monument sites. More than three million Americans, including
veterans of every war and conflict, are buried in VA's national
cemeteries on nearly 18,000 acres of land.
Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from national cemetery
offices, from the Internet at http://www.cem.va.gov or by calling VA
regional offices toll-free at (800) 827-1000.
For information on the Alabama National Cemetery, call the cemetery
office at (205) 665-9039. To make burial arrangements at the time of
need, call the national cemetery scheduling office at (800) 535-1117.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Billy Mays: attention to the warning signs of heart disease for military veterans and civilians
Earlier today, Hillsborough County (Tampa, FL) Medical Examiner Dr. Vern Adams, completed a press briefing on the preliminary findings of Billy May’s autopsy results.
They are as follows:
“The autopsy done this morning reveals no evidence of head trauma or drug abuse; There had been speculation that Mays might have been injured during a hard landing at Tampa International Airport Saturday but that was ruled out as well as pulmonary embolism (blood clot/lungs)."
What was found:
Hardening of the arteries and heart weight of >500 grams indicative of hypertensive heart disease and left ventricular enlargement.
Although Mr. Mays was prescrbed two different pain medications for hip pain (he was scheduled to have hip replacement surgery today), they were not considered a factor in his death although routine toxicology reports were ordered. Cause of death is being withheld until all the reports and studies are in.
Heart Disease Discussion:
What is Heart Disease?
An enlarged heart may be caused by a thickening of the heart muscle because of increased workload. (This increased workload can be due to heart valve disease or high blood pressure, for example.) This is called hypertrophy (hi-PER'tro-fe), which refers to enlargement of an organ or tissue due to an increase in cell size.
Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is the medical term for enlargement of the left ventricle. (The left ventricle is the heart's main pumping chamber.)
In some people, an enlarged heart causes no signs or symptoms. Others may have these enlarged heart symptoms:
Breathing difficulties
Shortness of breath
Dizziness
Abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia)
Swelling (edema)
Cough
Heart Disease in Military Veterans
From the department of Veteran’s Affairs: HealthierUS Veterans
“Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and is a major cause of disability. Almost 700,000 people die of heart disease in the U.S. each year. Heart disease is a term that includes several types of heart conditions.Coronary heart disease (CHD) is also called coronary artery disease (CAD), is the most common type of heart disease. CHD develops when one or more of the coronary arteries (arteries that supply blood to the heart muscles itself) becomes narrow. This results from a buildup of cholesterol. This buildup decreases the blood flow to the heart muscle.”
There is a close associate between PTSD and Heart Disease. This has been demonstrated over years of studies on Vietnam era veterans and now on veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In the July/August 2008 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, A Prospective Study of PTSD and Early-Age Heart Disease Mortality Among Vietnam Veterans reports that having PTSD "significantly raises the risk of premature death from heart disease...[being] roughly twice as likely to die from heart disease during follow up as veterans without PTSD."
The study was based on data collected in 1985 and 1986 from a sample of 4,328 men who served in the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1971 found a direct correlation between PTSD, heart disease and cardiac death. The study sample included 2,409 individuals who were sent to Vietnam; all study participants completed a telephone questionnaire, and a random subsample was given extensive physical examinations at baseline. The researchers also controlled for family history of heart disease, smoking, obesity, and diabetes. By the completion of follow-up in 2000, 52 of the veterans in the total sample had died of a heart attack, chronic ischemic heart disease, atherosclerotic disease, hypertensive heart disease, or heart failure.
An unrelated study, based on the 2001 National Survey of Veterans and published in the September Military Medicine, found that veterans under age 60 who served in Vietnam had worse self-reported health and higher rates of stroke than those who served elsewhere during that time. Vietnam veterans older than 60 had poor self-rated health and a higher risk for cancer than their peers.
Other Resources Relevant To Military, Veterans and the Civilian Population.
Excellent pdf 2 page patient information sheet on Heart Disease from the Journal of the American Medical Association. (w/translation link for Spanish version).
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4517 Enlarged Heart
Videos:
Heart Disease: http://www.heartlibrary.com/heart-library-heart-failure.aspx from Heartlibrary.com [Accessed 29 June 2009]
Heart Anatomy: http://www.heartlibrary.com/heart-library-heart-anatomy.aspx?flashmov=heart-anatomy&currPage=HD
See also: Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/enlarged-heart/DS01129
Billy Mays: attention to the warning signs of heart disease for military veterans and civilians
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
VA bureaucrats of the West Los Angeles Medical Center infamously ordered a surveillance van
http://www.veteranstoday.com/article7691.html
Pictures at above web site
By Robert L. Rosebrock, Staff Writer
June 28, 2009 is a day that will live in both infamy and honor in the lives of America's Military Veterans and We the People.
On that day, the sleazy VA bureaucrats of the West Los Angeles Medical Center infamously ordered a surveillance van to park within 100 feet from the front gate where The Veterans Revolution hold their peaceful Sunday Rallies to “Save Our Veterans Land,” and to monitor their every move.
Amateurish and Phony
The government's silver Ford van with blackened windows and no license plates was as conspicuous as a drag queen in a football team huddle. Moreover, the government's amateurish attempt to disguise their despicable spy machine as a gardener's truck with a shovel, rake and hoe at its side was as insulting as a Veteran having to shake hands with a corrupt politician.
Professional and Bold
Nonetheless, when Walter Martin and Luis Rivera, who are both Post Commanders of the Military Order of Purple Hearts, showed up for the 67th consecutive Sunday Rally, they were informed that we were being monitored by the nearby surveillance van.
Without hesitation, Commander Martin, said: “Luis, get in your car ... we're going in there.” And go in there they did.
Luis drove his red Dodge Magnum station wagon onto the Veterans' Grand Lawn alongside the surveillance van and both Commanders boldly got out and walked around the van and took photos.
Suddenly, a sloppily dressed “gardener” jumped out of the van and ordered them to stop photographing. The “gardener” had obviously called for backup support inside his spy machine because within seconds, several federal VA police cars and an unmarked car sped aggressively across the Veterans' Grand Lawn with their red and blue lights flashing while sweeping in on the “crime” scene.
Military ID Not Good Enough
Commander Martin, a 22-year Army Special Forces Veteran, showed his retirement card for identification and the VA Gestapo police didn't want to accept it as valid ID, even though he was standing on Veterans hallowed ground and both Commanders were wearing their Purple Heart caps and shirts.
For nearly an hour, the VA's thug police detained and questioned the Commanders and photographed Luis's car, while their fellow henchmen were on the phone talking to their “superiors.”
Curiously, the “gardener” and his spy machine conveniently disappeared from it's own crime scene never to be seen again.
Soon after, the VA Gestapo police released Commanders Martin and Rivera from their wrongful detainment and they returned to cheers and applauding at our 67th consecutive Sunday Rally.
A Day of Infamy
June 28, 2009, will forever be a day of infamy for America's Veterans as this was a day that our own U.S. government attempted to spy on 60, 70 and 80-year old World War II, Korean and Vietnam Veterans who were peacefully demonstrating in defense of their own sacred land.
June 28, 2009 will forever be a day of infamy for America's Veterans because this was a day that sleazy VA bureaucrats ordered either an FBI or Homeland Security surveillance van to monitor innocent and elderly Veterans who peacefully demonstrate every Sunday against those who have perpetrated the pillaging and plundering of their sacred land.
A Day of Honor
June 28, 2009 will forever be a day of Honor for America's Veterans as this is the day that two Purple Heart Veterans stood up and challenged the U.S. government's illegal spying on their fellow Veterans.
June 28, 2009 will forever be a day of Honor for America's Veterans because this is the day that two Purple Heart Veterans backed down a phony “gardener” who was spying on fellow Veterans and forced the spy master to pick up his phony shovel and get the hell off of Veterans sacred property.
America's Military Veterans and We the People owe an enormous debt of respect and gratitude to Army Veteran Walter Martin and Marine Veteran Luis Rivera, both disabled, for serving not only their Country with Duty and Honor, but their fellow Veterans as well.
Join The Veterans Revolution
If the Founders of this great nation saw what was going on against the defenders of America's freedom and independence by the public servants of the very government they established, they would start another American Revolution.
It's time for America's citizenry to stand up and defend those who have always defended them by joining the Veterans Revolution and start demanding the immediate removal of these traitorous tyrants from the public payroll.
Every American citizen is urged to turn their American Flags upside down and to start wearing their American Flag lapel pin upside down because Veterans lives and property are in extreme danger.
God Bless America and The Veterans Revolution.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Effects of Agent Orange carry on
Effects of Agent Orange carry on
Published online on Saturday, Jun. 27, 2009
By Jim Doyle
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The article "War stress increases heart risk as vets age" [Jan. 2], I found interesting in the sense that Vietnam veterans and Gulf War veterans were omitted from the study. But if these two groups of veterans had been part of the study, the U.S. government would have had to admit that it has exposed these veterans to Agent Orange and other biological agents they shouldn't have been exposed to.
So far, the dishonorable U.S. government still has yet to compensate the Vietnam veterans for their exposure to Agent Orange, and the same goes for the Gulf War veterans.
In April 2005, former "World News Tonight" anchor Bob Woodruff said, "All American veterans of Vietnam have been compensated for their exposure to Agent Orange." Not true at all, and we all know how karma kicked his butt for that lie. ABC has yet to make a retraction and apology to Vietnam veterans for that misstatement.
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On June 2, the Ford Foundation released the results of a lengthy study on the effects of Agent Orange/Dioxin, and confirmed what Vietnam veterans have known for years: This stuff will kill you, or worse, pass to your children and grandchildren and cause a range of disabilities and diseases that will profoundly affect their lives.
Every good parent does their best to assure a better life for their children, irrespective of time and place. Many Vietnam veterans, however, have unintentionally left a disturbing legacy -- birth defects or damaged genes that carry the potential risk of birth defects in succeeding generations.
This troubling inheritance is directly linked to the harm caused as a result of our exposure to Dioxin, an unintended by product of the combination of 2-4-5-T and 2,4,D that created the herbicide more commonly known as Agent Orange.
Over a period of nearly 10 years, about 21 million gallons of Agent Orange was sprayed over more than 10 million acres in Vietnam. The VA presumes that veterans who served in Vietnam were exposed to Agent Orange. It was in the air and in the water. Dioxin was one of the more prevalent culprits at Times Beach and Love Canal.
Agent Orange was composed primarily of two commonly used commercial weed killers, the combination of which creates the chemical 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), known to be toxic in humans. One of these ingredients (2,4,5,T was banned by the World Health Organization in 1970. TCDD accumulates in human fatty tissue, where it is neither readily metabolized nor excreted.
Over time, the toxin accumulates and the effects can remain. In April 1970, the federal government found evidence that TCDD had caused birth defects in laboratory mice, but it was still used in Vietnam for nearly eight more months.
Children and grandchildren of Vietnam veterans suffer from a wide spectrum of conditions including Achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism to Williams Syndrome, a rare disorder caused by "erasure" of about 26 genes from a specific chromosome that can cause mental retardation, a distinctive facial appearance and cardiovascular problems for starters.
Cleft lip and palate, congenital heart disease, fused digits, hip dysplasia, neural tube defects and undescended testicles -- the list goes on.
Who drafted these kids?
Physical, mental and emotional disabilities in our children, and now a growing number of anecdotal reports of these same birth defects turning up in our grandchildren haunt Vietnam veteran parents.
These are the result of wounds that will never be acknowledged by a Purple Heart medal, wounding yet another generation.
When will the casualties of the Vietnam War end? After 30 years of research, the evidence is firmly on the side of Vietnam veterans, both male and female. Despite this evidentiary flood, Mom and Dad are still running the gauntlet of rules, regulations, administrative decisions, legal opinions, forms, physical examinations, evaluations and plain old indifference in an attempt to get treatment and compensation, not only for themselves but for their children.
Again it must be asked, who drafted these kids?
After more than 30 years, isn't it long past time for this issue to be settled?
The Ford Foundation report calls for improved diagnosis and treatment, and continued study of the environmental and health effects of Agent Orange. It also appeals for expanded care, not only for veterans but for their children suffering next-generation effects from their parents' toxic exposures.
In the face of the growing scientific evidence and the conclusions of the foundation study report the government still refuses to fully acknowledge the friendly fire toll of Agent Orange, now visited upon another generation.
Vietnam veteran moms and dads must focus on what will be there for their children after the flag on their casket has been presented.
The reality is that there are hundreds of thousands of Vietnam veterans who endure daily struggles with diseases and conditions that are a direct result of their exposure to Agent Orange and other toxic chemicals used in Vietnam. There is little, if any, serious dispute of that fact. Millions of Vietnamese also suffer the same illnesses and die the same agonized death, and their children too.
Just as Traumatic Brain Injury has become the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so to has the long-festering wound of Agent Orange become the signature wound for Vietnam veterans.
Before his death in January 2000, Valley native Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., commander of U.S. naval forces in Vietnam and later Chief of Naval Operations, fought to force those in power to take responsibility for their actions and admit that Agent Orange killed more than vegetation.
Zumwalt ordered the spraying of Agent Orange in the Mekong Delta and it ultimately lead to the cancer that killed his Navy lieutenant son, Elmo Zumwalt III at 42. Grandson Elmo IV was born in 1977 with a severe learning disability.
For Admiral Zumwalt, it was simple.
When Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, a World War II veteran whose son served in Vietnam and died from cancer, recuses himself from Agent Orange cases, there is a reason.
Vietnam veterans are not asking for a handout, they are just asking for some truth. Oh, and a return on the investment they made in freedom four decades ago. There can be no recession in that account.
