soldiers used as guinea pigs

Edgewood Test vets: Edgewood Test vets

2005-11-08T08:58:00.000-05:00

I AM SURPRISED I FOUND THIS SITE Mike

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-05-26T09:33:00.001-04:00

rough week It's been quite a week, my direct deposit started for SSD so no more road trips to deposit the checks, that will help. Joshua graduated kindergarten yesterday, he was so proud of himself, as well as he should be. Michelle brought the kids over so Grandma could spoil them, they went to wal-mart and loaded up on goodies, chocolate, drinks etc, they made little piglets out of themselves. In the middle of this bright afternoon, Sherry called it appears Marvin has got himself busted again for dealing, Sherry thinks he's going to get 5 years this time, me I think they are going to add the habitual felon charge and just throw away the key. Michelle wanted to know if anyone ever calls just to say Hi or is it always problems. I said Bingo, that's why I don't answer the phone. I just let it ring, there is never good news on the other end. They stayed until about midnight, Audrey has an appt this morning at 8am for registration for Kindergarten for next fall. I remember the day she was born it was right after Dori and I got together. It was the first time I met, any of Dori's family, it was at the hospital when Michelle was having Audrey. Dori had bought some of the bacon wrapped filets at wal mart, I haven't had one of them in about 5 years, I forgot how good they were. It is a great feeling not having to worry if we will have money to get the car fixed, or to pay the bills if a check gets lost. I never ever want to live that way again. I did not plan on becoming disabled at 45, this is not a retirement I would wish on anyone, I would give it all back if I could go back to carrying mail and get rid of the heart problems and back pain that constantly bother me. The back pain is like nothing I have ever felt before, there are weeks when I can't get comfortable, I can't sleep from the pain, I can't sit, stand or lay down in any one position for very long.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-05-26T09:33:00.000-04:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-05-22T05:48:00.000-04:00

dealing with the VA Well it has been a wild month. I got a letter from the VA they Service Connected me for 50% from PTSD. They totally ignored the statements from the pyschiatrist that has been treating me for 2 plus years and went with a 10 minute exam by a pyscholigist that needed an MD to co-sign the report. He wasn't even in the room for the exam. The strange world of VA C&P exams. They have me scheduled for a echo cardiogram on 8 June and a C&P exam on 10 June, so after they rule on the heart issue then they will decide if I am 100% schedular or if they are going to award TDIU. I am holding out for 100% schedular P&T. I am on SSD, they know I am not going to get better, why should the VA assume I will. Dori had me added to the checking accounts after we received the back pay from the VA, I was surprised my credit had cleared enough for me to have a bank acct again. I have sent applications for Voc Rehab with the VA, they have a program called Living Services that provides items for quality of life, hobbies etc, I am going to see if I can get a new computer and a digital camera with a printer for pics.. I also sent in applications for the one time vehicle grant for the power chair, and the one time grant for a handicap accessible home. I will see how that turns out, with a 50,000 down payment I think anyone would finance the home. It seems greedy but I have been waiting three years for them to service connect me, we have had to do for so long, I am just trying to get life right now that it's available.

Time is slow

2005-04-14T16:39:00.000-04:00

soldiers used as guinea pigsI got another letter from the VA saying they are still processing my claim for compensation I wonder how long they will drag their feet, oh well they are saving 2500 a month for us, by the time they get done playing games we might be able to pay cash for a house. There is deinately something wrong with a system that allows it's employees to make the customer's suffer for perceived acts aginst the agency. Contacting a politician is an extreme act according to the VA. So they delay the claim for 60 days for each letter. Time goes on and the money piles up.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-03-28T06:02:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs I seemed to have punched some wrong buttons on one of the boards I post on. I still don't think people should expect total disability for a minor irritating problem like a rash. I just said that it was easier to get disabled as mental than it would be to get a total disability for a rash. Some people just need to get over it. Life goes on Mich state won the game against Kentucky last nght in double OT, they both deserved to win, but unfortunately they couldn't. I expect I will hear more of the kid Hayes from Kentucky he was a true sportsman even when he fouled out of the game in the first OT.Even Mich St coach gave him a hug he is a fine player and should go high in the draft.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-03-25T23:07:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs I got the letter in the mail today to Jim StClair the aide for Congressman Wilson, he has sent me 2 e mails asking for the written release and what I want from the VA, he seems determined to make them do right by me, he did not like what he read in the newspaper article at all. It appears he is not about to let them play games like Sen Graham has. It is kind of neat to have a Congressman write me 2 e mails because he is interested in me. I am finally starting to feel better about this claim after all, after the past 3 years I was not sure I was going to live long enough to win.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-03-22T09:16:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs I am having a "Michael Jackson" type day, my back pain is excrutiating and I can't sit still long enough to ride in the car to the hospital today so I called and changed the appt. They were very nice about it. It was an appt within a month which for the VA in itself is an amazing feat. I wonder if my SC has come thru, as I understand all the 100% vets are to be scheduled within a 30 day period for whatever appts they need. Maybe there is hope after all.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-03-20T21:02:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs I am having a bad week end, my mood sux and I know it. I am upset about the VA press release for the WW2 vets exposed to mustard and lewisite. There was no mention of the Cold war test vets, fogotten again. I spent the weekend when I was awake writing letters to the politicians that have been helpful, like strickland from ohio and Bilirakis from Fla, this is just wrong, I will trade my 7 heart attacks for a mustard burn anytime. I firmly believe the government is just wrong in the handling of the cold war test vets. The program itself may have been well intentioned, but it was carried out in a way that that has left a history of distrust, lies and distortions. The treatment of the men abused by these programs speaks volumes to the governments compassion to the veterans that serve it. Some of the men I am in corrspoondence with are concerned about the fact they did not receive awards or medals for hazardous duty, that is the least of the problem, what about medical care and compensation for our families? The programs were supposedly secret what kind of awards did they expect to receive? I know the depression is not good for me, but I don't know how to break it, the meds don't seem to do it. Dori has taken to having Michelle and the kids here very week end, I feel like I can't even leave my room. I have a hard time with the kids yelling. It has migrated to Dori goes to sleep about 6 or 7 am and the kids wake up about 9 or 10 so I get to entertain until 1-3 whenever she wakes up. I work real hard not to lose my temper with the little kids they don't know better, but I still can't comprehend why a 5 year old dumps all the white paper holes out of the paper punch and then look at me stupid when I ask him, who does he think is going to pick them up? It took him almost an hour to get them I was not about to suggest a vacuum cleaner lol let him suffer he did it.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-03-16T07:48:00.000-05:00

C&P results<" Well the mail yesterday brought the letter I have been waiting for, the notice of evauation from the contract doctor on my PTSD, she agreed ,y problems prevent me from holding a job or performing tasks on a regular basis, she gave me a GAF score of 52 which I thought was high compared to the 30's I have been getting for the past 2 years.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-03-13T21:51:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs I personally don't see what Rep Buyer is trying to prove by sticking it to the vets. The amount of money saved on vet treatment would not even equal the amounts of money President Bush is spending on his "Save Social Security" farce. Keeping Air Force one on the move for 60 days and multiple stops for hand picked crowds for the camera's is a complete waste of taxpayer funds. I wish Rep Buyer and the rest of the congressional crowd had to get there care at VA facilities, without preferential treatment, they would be demanding changes and immediately to.

Soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-03-13T11:32:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigsI have been busy this morning I wrote a letter to Senator Kennedy for assistance in dealing with the fact that the VA has done nothing since promising a congressional committee on March 10 1993 that they would find the edgewood test vets and get us needed medical care and or compensation if it was deserved. I also addressed the fact that no one seems to be holding the VA accountable for the fact that they failed to do this. It is time for the VA to be accountable, if we owed the government money for 12 years they would be seizing bank accounts, auctioning off the house, cars etc. Personally my family has been deprived of nearly 200,000 dollars in benefits, college aid under Chapter 35 for my kids, medical insurance under champus. Where is the justice?

Edgewood Test vets

2005-03-13T08:24:00.000-05:00

Edgewood Test vets I seem to have some wires crossed between my two blogs, since they both deal with the same subject matter, it's more of an annoyance than anything else. please feel free to cruise thru the postings at //abusedvets.blogspot.com/ that is where I have been posting since Nov 2004. Maybe one day I will learn how to master this computer language and make things go where I want them to.

The original blog

2005-03-12T23:16:00.000-05:00

Edgewood Test vets I would be remiss if I left out the past 5 months of blog I have created as I have lived thru this frustrating period of life. Here is the link, remember it is five months of thoughts and research. Many links to data that pertains to chemcial weapons tests from all over the world. http://abusedvets.blogspot.com/ that is the original edgewood blog. My education of this subject has advanced greatly in the past 5 months.

Edgewood Test vets

2005-03-12T12:15:00.000-05:00

Edgewood Test vets--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/05/03/12/100bus_philpott001.cfm
Published: Saturday, March 12, 2005

House's new VA chairman tightens purse strings

Inclusion of all veterans threatens health care system, Indiana congressman says

By Tom Philpott

U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., chairman of House Veterans Affairs Committee, says the medical and rehabilitation needs of a new generation of war veterans leave him more certain than ever that Congress erred in 1996 when it opened VA health care to any veteran willing to pay modest fees.

"While some veterans organizations like to create a theme, that 'a veteran is a veteran and there is no difference,' I disagree," Buyer said.

A decade ago in the wake of a Persian Gulf War, which saw relatively few U.S. casualties, the Department of Veterans Affairs went back to worrying about an aging patient population and underused VA clinics and hospitals, Buyer said. Those concerns, along with wishful thinking about the VA billing private-sector insurance plans for the cost of care, led Congress to open VA facilities to veterans who were neither poor nor disabled.

Time has shown that to be a mistake, Buyer said. Today, the VA has $3 billion in uncollected debt for health care rendered that insurance companies have not paid.

"And we find ourselves now in protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the war on terror all over the world. So, the sense from 1996 that we could open up the VA to protect the bricks and mortar because of a declining population of veterans," Buyer said, is replaced by "the reality that we have more veterans now that have to come into the system."

Buyer's comments came days after his committee voted to impose an enrollment fee of $230 to $500 a year on 2.4 million veterans in priority categories 7 and 8, those who are not poor and have no service-connected disability.

In January, Republican leaders removed Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., as committee chairman for being too close to veterans groups, too supportive of expanding benefits and too dismissive of Bush administration plans to slow VA spending and impose fees on low-priority veterans.

His replacement, Buyer, 46, is a blunt-spoken attorney who was deployed in first Gulf War as an Army Reserve lawyer. With oversight responsibility now for the second largest department in government, Buyer said he has three short-term priorities:

* Refocus VA health care on its traditional core constituency of service-disabled, indigent and special-needs veterans.

* Develop a "seamless transition" process for veterans moving from active duty to VA care. So far, more than 10,000 have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and as many as 100,000 could have post-traumatic stress, Buyer said. "The VA needs to prepare to receive them."

* Improve VA rehabilitation and vocational training to ensure that even the most severely injured veterans return to rewarding lives.

"For a lot of years," Buyers said, "it was, 'Here's your check. Good luck in your life. And if you find it in a bottle, we'll try to get you in a program.' I want the system to be far more personal."

Buyer also said he expects a new bipartisan Veterans Disability Benefits Commission, which will hold its first meeting soon, to review whether Congress went too far in allowing concurrent receipt of military retirement and VA disability payments. Buyer said that as chairman of the House subcommittee on military personnel a few years ago, he "found $25 million" to lift the concurrent receipt ban only for 100-percent, combat-disabled retirees.

Buyer also expects the commission to consider whether to change the way disability ratings are set or to tighten the definition of service-connected injuries or ailments.

"There is something bothersome in the system where you can have a soldier blow out his knee from a roadside bomb and end up with a disability (benefit) that's the same as a guy who blew out his knee sliding into home plate at church league softball on Sunday," said Buyer. "Is that the type of disability system that is just and fair?"

Buyer said he wouldn't want to assure current veterans with disability ratings that they will be excluded from commission recommendations. "Everything should be on the table," he said.

An idea Buyer wants considered is offering lump-sum payments to veterans with disabilities rated 20 percent or less as settlement of all future compensation claims.

"Part of the problem is there's gamesmanship in the system whereby veterans consistently over their lifetimes keep reapplying for their ratings, trying to get bumped up higher and higher," Buyer said.

Veterans organizations that claim all veterans have earned the right to VA health care, and use what Buyer sees as inflammatory rhetoric to attack proposals they dislike, are abandoning values such as duty and sacrifice, he said.

To comment, write Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120-1111, e-mail milupdate@aol.com or go to

This is the real reason Rep Chris Smith was fired as the head of Veteran Affairs, he wasn't a team player like Rep Buyer appears to be.Rep Buyers apparently has forgotten what team he worked with in combat, the service person, I don't remember seeing many memebers of Congress with weapons in their hands during GW1 or any other war for that matter.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-03-11T19:30:00.000-05:00

another Edgewood survivor heard from I was awoken at 3:00 pm by the phone ringing, it was a man named Eric Muth, it turns out he was also one of the tests participants at Edgewood, he was there a lot earlier than I was. He was there in 1958, I was 3 then, we talked about the fact he was there twice for 30 days each time. He has been approved for 50% service connection for PTSD resulting from the tests. He also has heart problems that they will not connect him for. So out of 3 vets that were at Edgewood I know of, Me, Rick and now Eric, we all have heart problems, is this a significant fact or are we just prone to heart problems with ot without our Edgewood Experience. But in my experience if you get 3 49 to 65 year old men together I doubt if they all have heart problems.Is there a link between Edgewood and heart problems, you have to remember we were all prescreened before selection to Edgewood for use in the tests, mentally and physically, we were the healthiest young men America had. I enjoyed the conversation and we both related experiences and research, he taught me and I taught him, a shared effort. I would like to get a web boardv going where we could possibly get in contact with more survivor's.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-03-11T02:19:00.000-05:00

progress I hope When I logged on tonite I had a few replies to the newspaper articles here they are Dear Mr. Bailey,

Thank you for your e-mail to Governor Sanford regarding your claim with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

In order for us to check into your case we need to know your C-number and/or your social security number.

Again, thank you for writing, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Robert C. Weaver, Jr.
Director

Dear Mr. Bailey,

I received the following e-mail from Alta Milling, President of the S.C State Council of Vietnam Veterans of America.

"In Sunday's paper, the Impact section, the articles addressed the VA and the veterans who continue to fight for promised benefits. One article was about a vet named Mike Bailey of Springdale. I would like to get in touch with him. In my other "job" as editor of the Watch on the Rhine, I received something
in the mail from a member of the Society of the Third Infantry Division that deals with the same thing Mike Bailey has been fighting. If I read the man's letter correctly, he has gotten his claim approved. He lives in Connecticut. I believe the two men may have been in Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland, at the
same time."

She would like to communicate with you. Please advise.

Sincerley,

TerryLynn Cooper
Administrative Coordinator

Dear Mr. Bailey,

Knight Ridder did not withdraw the series. It appeared inadvertently on the Web a couple of days before the official publication date.

The series officially published on Sunday, March 6, on 28 Knight Ridder Web sites around the country. You can view it here on krwashington.com ...
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/veterans/

Rest assured we aren't in anyone's back pocket. We're proud of our reporting and hope you find it useful.

Thanks for your interest!

Jim Van Nostrand
Senior Editor, National News
Knight Ridder Digital

It is nice to see that people do respond when they see a wrong being done. I am curious to see who the person is that is trying to contact me that was stationed at Edgewood during the same time period I was there. Given the fact there are only approx 4000 men still alive that were used there between 1955-1975. If my memory serves me right there were about 20 men there during the 3 months I was there. Ten of us were from Ft Lewis, 9th ID.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-03-10T03:56:00.000-05:00

messed up policies We went to Dorn yesterday to get a copy of the C&P exam, and was informed they had to get permission from the civilian Doctor that performed the exam before they could mail me a copy. I had a few choice comments about my opinion of that policy. On the way out of the hospital Dori and I had a few choice words about the claims process, she yelled at me about my negative attitude and if I felt that bad about it, why was I persuing it? She was tired of hearing me complain about it, and she was just trying to keep my spirits up, but she was tired of it. She is the one that benefits the most from me getting this claim approved, she gets medical insurance, she gets a check from the government after I die. I was flabbergasted when she made a comment about buying a truck was a waste of money to move the power chair around, the cost of gas and insurance was to much since I don't leave the house that often. I thought I was providing her with a decent life, she doesn't need to work, I am trying to arrange it so she will be financially set if I die before she does. All these benefits were earned before I ever met her. She gets the benefits of them, despite the fact they were earned by stuff I have done for the past 35 years, I would think she would be grateful, not resentful.

early morning musings: March 2005

2005-03-09T07:02:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs: March 2005 I woke as usual, sometime in the middle of the night, I think it was about 3am, so life is normal for me. Sleep is a fleeting thing in my life, if it's not the nightmares, it's the back pain, or the ringing in my ears, it's amazing how loud it gets when you want to sleep. Mount St Helen's is clammoring for attention again, spewing forth a large column of ash. I had the opportunity to be there in Washington for the first live show, I use to have a jar of the ash from Yakima, when you shook it, it floated around the jar for days. Ex number 2 kept it in the fallout of the divorce. It's amazing how many of my life's souvenoirs I have lost that way. I am curious to see what today brings in the way of the VA, after the call last night from the Senator's office, I just have the feeling today is the day I hear something. I just want to make sure Kevin and Dori are taken care of when I die. I spent my entire life working for the government, 10 years in the Army, 4 years in the National Guard, and almost 17 years at the Post Office before I walked away due to the stress.The Army was the one's who used me as a guinea pig for chemical weapons and drugs, they are the ones who lied about the long term effects. They said there wouldn't be any, that's why we didn't need to be followed by medical personnel after participating in the test program. Then they promised a congressional committee in 1993 to find the test vets and the VA failed to do that, their inaction has cost my family a lot of money, lost medical care for the past 5 years. How do they make that right? Even an apology now is to late, just send the dead presidents they owe will be a start.

senator's office calls

2005-03-08T20:39:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs I was shocked the phone rang ay 5:45 pm, and it was Scott from Senator Graham's office, saying he dad seen the article in the State and did I still want the Senator's help since they now had conflicting e mails from me asking for help and then one saying I don't want your help. I guess I need to let Dori handle dealing with contacting people. I have a tendency to mess things up.We discussed the fact that the VA rep had told us back on Jan 6th that if we wrote any more letters to politicians they would pull the file for 60 days at a time, and Scott assured me that, it wouldn't happen anymore. So we are back to waiting and hoping.

The dreaded C&P exam

2005-03-03T03:25:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs Tuesday at 10 am, we arrived at Dorn on time and we found the right place about 5 minutes early. The Doctor came out, when she called my name I asked her about Dori coming in with me, she goes No just you, I then said my wife goes to all my appointments with me as I tend to forget things, she then sighed and goes I really need just you. So I wasn't willing to walk out so, I went in. She started pulling the rubber bands off all the file folders that made up my C File, she let go and some of them flew at me, I just reacted at something flying at me and I fell out of the chair. She got embarrassed and apologized. she started out asking me about the stressors, the things it has changed in my life, I told her I use to snow ski and snowmobile but now I can't stand seeing snow so I have lost that part of my life, we talked about the fact I was never in a war zone, I told her the training was as bad, the deaths from vehicle accidents, the guy losing his head between 2 tracks on Super Bowl Sunday at Fort Irwin in 1982. The 4 guys that died in the jump the 82nd did, that same spring, when about 200 guys were injured when they jumped into the bad cross winds. The stress of going into Panmunjom with axe handles knowing the North Koreans had machine guns to get that brief case back, the Hoffman device incidents, etc. When I found out about the Nazi's working at Edgewood Arsenal and the fact that the Army hid it from the enlisted soldiers that volunteered to be human test subjects. She asked me about close friends, I told her I didn't have any, just Dori and she put up with me, and she was the best thing to happen to me. She asked me about marriages I told her Dori was the 5th, she goes you were married 5 times, yes, I have problems getting along with people, my kids don't even come see me, now that they are grown. So then she asked me how did I handle money, I told her I gave it all to Dori, and we always had food and the bills were always paid, so I didn't have any complaints. She said something about the doctor said I had a few problems, I said yes, I had dementia from a stroke I had in 92, and I took a lot of meds, she asked my about pysch meds, I told her they had tried me on paxil, effexor, and some others but they hadn't worked, so now I was in Buspar, ariprizaole, 100mg oblong yellow pill (sertraline) zoloft, and klonopin. I told her they were all listed in my file because I couldn't remember all the names of all the pills I took. She said that was all, and thanks for coming all in all it took about 20 minutes, I had thought it would have taken longer, how can you diagnose anyone in a 20 minute meeting? I hope she is just rubber stamping Dr Pathiraja's dignosis, total and permanent disability. I expect that I will hear more from the VA after the newspaper article is printed on Sunday, the paper called today and they are sending a photographer out here tomorrow for pics for the article. I am supposed to be one of a few people they are going to talk about. The reporter spent almost 3 hours here on Monday reading my records, he spent more time reading the evidence than the DAV rep has in the past 6 months, the reporter could only shake his head when he left, he did make the comment "you deserve your disability just for what they did to you at Edgewood, let alone anything else" he was like this is worse than an X File episode, Dori and I both busted out laughing, he's like what did I say, we told him about Dr Pathiraja saying the same thing the first time we saw him.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-02-25T11:12:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs I have not posted anything in awhile mostly out of frustration, you feel like you are fighting a stacked system. Now it turns out, you know that old story about when it rains it floods, for months I tried to get someone to pay attention to the story about Edgewood, and the Nazi's, the tests, the deaths and the damage. The VA finally sent a letter to schedule my C&P exam for March 1st, 3 years after all this started. Also the local newspaper reporter sent me a e mail about my e mail to him about Edgewood and the VA, he wants to do a story about how the VA treats veterans, I am worried now, that if I cooperate with him, the VA may try to get even thru messing with my claim processing. I think telling the truth about a messed up system is more important than just my financial well being, we have got by for the past 2 years on the SSD check we can get by for a couple of more. Many more veterans will benefit by learning to go ahead and file the claim, then start writing for supporting evidence, the important thing is to lock in the earliest date for benefits, they have months to get get copies of hospital reports, court martials, letters from people that knew them in service, that were present when an incident took place. Evidence can always be submitted, at appeal levers, during processing of the claim, at the BVA hearing. I have learned that it is best to get copies of the evidence yourself do not rely on the service organizations to do it, or the VARO, if you want your claim approved you work it, waiting for others to do things for you will get you nothing. Most SO's are over worked, have to many demands on their time, do not know evrything about all the programs, tests, jobs, toxic exposures, physical demands of the various jobs of all the services. Learn how to research the stuff that relates to your case, get documented evidence, studies from legitimate research agencies and programs. UFO and conspiracy sites are NOT recommended for use, they can do more to harm your claim than anything. Learn to make copies of everything, make your own file system for your copies, once you get a copy, never give it away, either make them a copy or have them do it and return yours, get stamp dated copies of stuff you turn into the VARO, a good SO will get you a copy immdieatly. If you write a letter to your congressman or senator for help it is going to delay your claim as they pull your file out of the processing channel and send it to the "congressional reply" office where they have 60 days to answer the person you wrote, I call this the time out office, it only takes 10 dyas to reply to a letter to the White House, because the White house has a 10 day reply deadline, but that file will stay in the "congressional office" for the entire 60 day period. It does have it's advantages though, after 2 years what do you have to lose, they aren't exactly moving your file anyway. With the SO's you have to watch what they do also, I had one that sat on a Notice of Disagreement for 6 months, I gave him the letter from the VARO in July, at Xmas, I stopped by his office to find out the status of it, and it had never been sent in, it sat in his office file for 6 months, I revoked his Power of Attorney (POA) immediately and filed my own paperwork after that, my wife and I handled the claim by ourselves for the next year. We filed for the PTSD, skin problems, foot fungus, back injury, problems from an LSD overdose that was snuck into a drink unknown to me while I was on duty in the Army in 1974, residuals of a stroke that happened within a year of my discharge. Dealing with the VA is going to cause you to become exasperated, mad, feel inadequate about yourself. They will attempt to blame your problems on your childhood, your parents abused you etc. You can be your own worse enemy when dealing with them, getting mad and blowing up is not recommended, they do call sedcdurity guards and have you removed from the premises, you will be lucky if you are not locked up. They can make it so you have to be escorted on VA property if you have a history of causing outbursts and VA employees say they feel threatened by your presence. I have received excellent care at one VA hospital, and at the other I would not recommend them to treat your dog. They are to concerned about the cost of medications, treatment, you see more vets with canes, instead of walkers, and there are a very small % of patients with power chairs in comparison to other VA hospitals, are they more carefully screening patients for power chair qualifications, or are they denying patients that need them because of the cost? Yet every ten feet of the hospital walls are covered in signed and numbered paintings, I realize the funds come from different accounts, but to me that says alot about their priorities.

Letter from a Senator February 2005

2005-02-03T19:44:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs: February 2005 I got a letter from Senator Graham's office today where he forwarded me a copy of the VARO's letter to him. They told him that after the "hearing" on the 6th of Jan, the Augusta VA had sent some new evidence and I had supplied some evidence that was being reviewed by the hearing officer, and he had not made a decision on my heart issue from 2 years ago, and I had another appeal pending from Jan 3, 2005 that they were waiting to hear from me on and that I had 60 days to respond from then. They also told him that if I needed any help in appealing it, they would show me how to do it and how if I needed anything, they were there to help me. Stay away I have my own vaseline and it has no glass in it thank you very much. After 2 1/2 years now they want to help me what a joke, they still won't address the chemical tests at Edgewood Arsenal in 1974, they act like it is a paper work and evidence problem, the problem is they won't admit the problem or acknowledge the evidence they have. Nothing amazes me anymore, the boldness of the VA employees to lie in a letter to a United States Senator, the signature on it was the VA regional office Director but I know he is just taking some employees word about my file, I am sure he hasn't bothered himself to read it. I would have never imagined anyone having the courage to lie to a US Senator in all my time in government service, 27 years of it. Duty, Honor and Country obviously has no meaning to civilian employees of the VA. I had always been under the impression that VA employees were all ex military, I hope I am wrong and this is a civilian that lied to the Senator, I would really hate to think it was an ex military person that did it. They have known about my linking it to Edgewood Arsenal since the claim started this is no surprise that I think I was exposed to something in the chemical or drug substances that caused my problems. Thier failing to even address the issue makes me question the WHY even more. I was almost killed in Alaska there is alternatives to link my PTSD to other than the tests, why deny my benefits for so long, what is the purpose behind it? What really happened at Edgewood Arsenal that they don't want to acknowledge? Does it have something to do with the germans? What kind of drugs or chemicals were they messing with? Or is it the Kamisayah link they are trying to avoid? I can't begin to fathom why take the risks to the trouble lying to a Senator can cause, government agencies are accountable to Congress, to give me written proof about it, is beyond comprehension to me. I can only imagine that my claim is about to be approved without any more problems. Just give me the P&T and I will go quietly to the lake, the less I have to do with the government after this, the better off I will be. I thought walking away from the Post Office 5 years ago was going to stop my problems with the government lol boy did I learn.

State of the Union

2005-02-02T23:39:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs I was amazed how fast the speech went tonite, he went from subject to subject quickly, when he dealt with SS he quoted a lot of old Democrats like Moynihan , Roosevelt , he stated that all americans deserved the same Savings accounts FERS that federal employees have, what he didn't mention was the fact that federal employees pay both SS and FERS, there is no offset for it until you try and collect SS.Then you lose for paying into both of them, where's the fairness in that? I do have to give him credit for arranging to have the Iraqi lady there to hug the mother of the dead soldier, it brought tears to the eyes, a woman who got to vote for the first time in her life after Saddam had her father killed, there with a womans whose son had died to give her that freedom. He talked about Tort reform, better training for defense lawyers for death penalty trials, DNA testing for prosecution, Pell grants increased, lawsuits from asbestos, that we wouldn't force our type of government on anyone who didn't want it, he welcomed the Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan and the palestinians to our free world, he talked about Iran and their terror support, their nuclear weapons, how we would stand with Iranians that want freedom. I heard nothing positive, to me it was just more republican rhetoric on how to do away with the social support that has been built over the past 70 years, to take care of the aged and disabled. He never addressed how he would take care of the disabled in his change of SS, does he expect our children to take care of us, that was how it was done 100 years ago. SS was created to stop that from being necessary, why can't the rich, or well paid contribute more than they do, there are costs to living in a country that has social programs, they should be thankful they are able to live in a country like this, they could be living in a place like China. Without the rest of us, living in America and the system we have they wouldn't be able to make the money they do make, pay what your neighbors pay. I do agree there needs to be tax reform, a national sales tax perhaps, do away with the IRS and tax accountants, tax lawyers, they will find other work.

Ground Hog Day

2005-02-02T18:39:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs Today is a good day for the state of the union, maybe it will be like the Bill Murray movie Ground Hog Day over and over again. Today my son turns into a teenager, where has the time gone. My desert storm baby is a teenager. I am feeling old, I turn 50 this year, I guess I am getting old. Tomorrow night is the 30th anniversary show of the Fonze Happy Days. I was not happy to see that the President is making the cutoff 55 for the new SS program, I am only 49 and on SSD already how will it affect me and my family? No one is mentioning how the revamping of SS will affect the disability program. If you are pushing part of it into private accounts how will that affect SSD payments, what happens when you actually do retire, I won't have any earnings under the new program but I am under the age limit, this raises more questions than it answers, but I can feel the need for a bigger jar of vaseline coming. SSD is not going to make me and my wife rich but we are able to eat and keep a roof over the head, and we pray nothing happens to the car. We are lucky in the fact that we are only months away from getting the VA mess straightened out and we should start receiving a check for disability from them, then we will be able to afford to live a normal life, a decent truck, buy a home, back to the middle class, instead of borderline poor. The past 5 years has been a learning experience, I walked away from a job paying me 70,000 a year in overtime, because of the stress to a job paying 15,000 a year, we got a payraise when I became eligible for SSD because of what I have paid over the years into SS from the Army and the Post Office, so now we have at least a decent income, and when the VA disability becomes a reality we go to about 45,000 a year tax free, you can have a nice life on that kind of income, but it's only because I lived the life I did over the past 30 years. The volunteering to be a human test subject in an immoral program, being almost killed in Alaska 30 years ago, dealing with the mental stress of it and the damage it has put on my cardiovascular system. I feel we have earned every nickel the govt sends us or will send us, I would rather be healthy and still be able to go to the post office and work the OT, I use to take home about 1500 every 2 weeks, I gave my family a decent life then, nice neighborhood, nice cars, trips to disneyworld, cruises, and the past 4 years has been rough compared on how I use to live. So getting the VA will a return to the lifestyle I have had since I was a child, upper middle class, able to go to a restaurant when we wanted to, not having to think about what the expense would do to the bank balance. Dori will have medical coverage thru Champus for the first time since we have been together, I have been getting treated at the VA because we are poor according to the national average, but she needs medical care too, that we haven't been able to afford. We will be able to buy a truck to haul my power chair around, it was nice of the VA to give it to me last year, but without transportation to haul it around so I can use it, it's about worthless.

VA/s attempt to punish me

2005-02-01T12:52:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs I called the 800 number this morning to find out the status of my appeal, it seems as if it has been "sent" to the congressional office for 60 days "time out" while they reply and it is not due to be back to the appeal team until the 4th of March, so they sent it there the day of our "meeting". I bet they think they have taught me a lesson, what did I have to lose they had ignored me being used as guinea pig at Edgewood for the chemical and drug tests in 1974 and refused to address it. I feel for Dori I know she thought this was the end of their games and we would be getting a check soon, I wonder if she's going to be mad at me for writing the letters or at them for the game they are playing. I am really disappointed I thought they were ready to quit and finally just pay me for the abuse I suffered 30 years ago, nope they just want to play more games and punish me for having the audacity to complain to the President and a Senator, about the way they were ignoring my claim of being used in the immoral tests done at Edgewood between 1955 thru 1975. The only thing they have taught me is that the current system they have for handling veterans complaints is wrong and they need a system like social security has where a lawyer can be involved at the first appeal level, not having to wait 10 years while the VA waits for you to die. I would be in favor of a system that paid a lawyer 25% or a max of say 5000 for the claim. Just more games.

election day in Iraq

2005-01-30T16:47:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs The first election in Iraq seems to be a success, which is a great cause for the american servicemen to celebrate. Their dedication and their sacrifices have made this day possible, as similar as the french did for us about 230 years ago. Which most americans tend to forget, the french aided us with funds and troops when all other countries were ignoring us, as we were a british rebellion problem. It was inspirational in a way to watch them celebrate as they voted. It makes the 1400 sacrificed men and women a little more palatable, it seems as their ultimate sacrifice is worth the price they paid. America will have thousands of veterans with PTSD after this war of insurgency, you don't know who the enemy is, you spend a year ducking IED's mortar attacks, random snipings. Seeing friends blown up, lose a limb, seeing all the civilians injured and killed in these senseless random acts of violence. The price that has yet to be paid hasn't even been calculated yet, years of psychiatric care, medications, disablility payments, lives that have been or will be destroyed by the memories of this war. I had some dreams last night that brought back memories that I had either forgotten or surpressed I am not sure, I dreamt about my Dad coming out of the bathroom with his arm out like Frankenstein and choking me, and when I pushed him and he hit his head and he cut his ear and started bleeding real bad, I was 16 at the time and remember feeling like I had caused his injuries by pushing him, I didn;t understand what a stroke was back then. I didn't believe the doctors when they said me making him bleed like that probably saved his life, by causing his blood pressure to lower. I could not understand his acting like Frankenstein and trying to choke me, I never have been able to comprehend why he did that, that morning, I never understood why he chose to die while I was alone with him a year later. I have lived with that for 33 years and I still don't understand it. I imagine that is what caused me to ignore my problems when I had my stroke at 36, I wasn't capable of handling the reality of it, so I wanted to pretend it didn't happen. It still causes me problems, it makes me wonder if I will have another one, sometime in the future, since I have already have one does that mean I am likely to have another or was I just lucky to have not been killed or totally disabled by it at 36. My doctors have intertwined all my health issues together, my PTSD , my heart issues, it's kind of like asking which came first the chicken or the egg? The things that happened to cause my PTSD happened in 1974 and 1975, so I have lived with the stress caused by that since I was 18, and then the heart and stroke problems started when I was 36 and I was in and out of counseling for years while I was having heart attacks and the triple by pass, the post office tried firing me for threatening a supervisor in 1998, I finally quit in frustration in May 2000.

no golf on saturday

2005-01-29T16:29:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs Well the local channel decided to play a basketball game instead of the Bob Hope Classic, like I want to watch a basketball game, I want my golffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff. Oh Well now that I have that out of my system, it's a icy cold day here and the car has icicles on it. They left the kids here over night, lucky me, Audrey came and woke me up wanting to know if she could get in bed with me and grandma, so I shared the fun and woke grandma up and asked her, wasn't that nice of me to share the experience? I did let her take a nap this afternoon and I stayed up with the kidlets and I didn't even choke any of them, I think the roads are to icy and we will get to have the kids agauin tonight, razzle frazzle, I am glad they are grand kids if I had kids again, someone would be in trouble, I don't think there's enough pills to make me like little kids that much that I want them around 24/7. I shaved a few days ago and I noticed something, I sure favor my Dad in the pics of him when he was in his 50's, I would like to think that was a compliment, but all I can remember is he looked old, but hey I was a little kid back then, I imagine I look old to audrey and Joshua to. But I don't seem that old, if it wasn't for the fact that I was disabled I would hardly notice it, it's mostly physical, because my brain doesn't feel old, what makes me feel old is when they come out with the 40th anniversary of something, or the 25th anniversary of Dallas, thats the stuff that makes me feel old. I have been dealing with the heart attacks and strokes so long now, I feel like I have been disabled for so long already, I have refused to really accept how bad the stroke affected me in 92, but I have been made to face it in the past few weeks, there are places in my memory I can't figure out, things I just can't handle dealing with as it's to confusing and causes my brain to shut down from the stress, I have blown off so much stuff in the past 13 years because of it, and the money it has cost me. Missed paperwork for claims for workmans comp, VA claims, insurance claims for car accidents, you name it, tax paper work, doctors claims for insurance. My spelling is atrocious and my handwriting is even worse. If I don't watch my spelling and go back thru and try to catch the mistakes, some of my letters are almost unreadable. I was 36 when I had the stroke and I tried to ignore it, and I did probably for to long, people don't have Strokes at 36, the TIA's I could accept that was just mini strokes and even when Dr McClure found the actual scar from the hemmorage in 1995 I just kind of blew it off, I still was able to do my job, I just fell a lot, and had trouble remembering things, but I still went to work, I couldn't handle admitting I was that hurt by the stroke, probably because what it did to my Dad and the bad memories I had about that. It's the only thing I can figure out now, it's probably why I avoided doctors and wanting to deal with it. I just remember it made me mad when that Dr Loring said I was mental. It made me happy when Dr McClure found the scar tissue. I remember that much of it.

my life at night

2005-01-26T03:24:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs I woke tonite at 9pm after falling asleep about 5, so much for a good nights sleep. Then my beloved computer did it's I ain't going to work act for 5 hours, I finally got it back up at 230am. This piece of junk is being replaced with "you got a dell dude!!!!!!!!!! as soon as that VA backpay check shows up, we have talked about it and we are getting twins, then we can route them on cable and there won't be any wait your turn anymore. I have owned HP's since the 2nd computer I ever bought the first one was a Packard Bell 8 megs of ram 1.8 gig hard drive and that was brand new odd the shelf, so you can tell I have been playing with computers for awhile, gawd I hated windows 3.1 when I worked for AOL I use to get some people that would call up and want to know why their computer couldn't take 6.0 then of course they hemmed and hawed until you got it out of them they were using windows 3.1 they shouldn't be using any AOL program over 4.0 at the most if that. We have a collection of disks around here AOL 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 and all of them since, Harry Potter versions, etc all the wierd disks we can collect. People ask me what they are good for, they make great coasters. Can you tell my mind drifts off into really wierd thoughts at 3 am. I spent the time while the puter was being lazy writing a letter in long hand, yes I remember how, to the President to lay out how DoD is playing the game with IOM and the chem vets to hide the facts from the Kamisayah vets and how DoD was attempting to keep it hid until he was out of office, and I hated to think that he or Rumsfeld knew anything about it. I hoped it was underlings thinking they were protecting the DoD but the truth was men had died and men were dying without benefits they deserved, and DoD shouldn't be playing games with IOM health studies to hide statistics. Lets see what happens when that letter hits the White house. I made it plain that it was not about the VA but DOD's actions. Tomorow is pay day so I imagine we will drive to augusta after the mail man shows up to make the deposit, I'll take my pills and a book in case Dori wants to spend the night at Pats, I know she needs her time with her friends, I keep her trapped in the house since I hate to leave it. I have tried telling her she is free to go yard saling, flea markets etc, but I can't handle all the walking anymore so I don't want to, maybe when we get the truck and I can get the scooter out I will want to get out more, maybe not I still don't like crowds. I was not planning on becoming totally disabled 2 years after I met her, we both worked together, we even quit our jobs together, then my legs swelled and the rest is history, luckily I had paid into SS my whole life and had good jobs so my disability check was actually a pay raise for us, we get more from my SSD check than we both got working full time at Sitel, there's not many people that can say they got a pay raise by retiring. If my VA gets approved that really will be a pay raise. That will be more than I made working full time at the Post Office, I didn't take home that much money from any jobs I ever had, I made the money but they took it in taxes lol, the 74,000 looked great before taxes but after SS, state, fed taxes, retirement acct I ended up with about 40,000. But between SSD and VA I expect to see about 50,000 tax free, we can learn to live on that, we'll try real hard anyway. Like I said earlier I feel for Dori I never expected to be disabled 2 years after I met her, total disability at 46 was not something I even imagined, yes I was having medical problems, but the surgery had always fixed it before, so it threw me for a loop when they said no more surgery, meds only. Dori was complaining about the house being a drugstore today, well I wish it wasn't, I have 35 active prescriptions, some of it I don't like, for example the bran for the drinks to keep me regular, I could start my own store with all of it, some other pills they send that I refuse to take, I tried telling the doc I didn't want them, we didn't like the effects, but he insists, so she is mad about them being here. There are times I wish I would have that last good heart attack and wouldn't have to mess with it anymore, but i am just getting to the point where the VA has agreed to start paying me for the PTSD, so I want to stick around and buy the house at the lake, the pontoon boat and spend the governments money for the next 10 years or so, I should get some enjoyment out of it. I have it worked out now that if I don't die until after Dori turns 60 she will be financially set for the rest of her life between SS and DIC. If she has a house that is paid off and that is tax free she should live well off 2500 a month in income, which what SS and DIC should give her after she's 60. She should be in better shape than her Dad left her mom, and that is saying a lot. I want her taken care of she takes great care of me, I know I am not the easiest person to live with, but I get frustrated by being disabled, it's a bad feeling to know that you can't even carry the trash out to the can. You can't carry bags of groceries in from the car, forget a sex life what was that? Because of the drugs I take getting a drivers license if out of the question, my shrink flipped when I mentioned one to him. I would like to be able to travel when we have the money and Dori has trouble with long drives, and I don't like the idea of flying so traveling appears to be out of the question.

chucky 3 sticks

2005-01-24T10:10:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs My favorite golfer has a few nicknames I am sure he doesn't care for, I think this is one of them, but I used to deliver his mail when he was 12- college and I always called his Dad Doc, and him Charles, I never heard anyone call him anything but Charles, now it makes me wonder if his wife calls him Charles or not? Anyway, I don't know who was more flabbergasted by the shot on 18 at Torrey Pines South Course yesterday him, or the rest of the world. Odds makers would give you millions of one odds on that shot, it will probably never be repeated in our lifetime, approximately 430 pm west coast time Chucky 3 sticks hit what he thought was the perfect 3rd shot to the pin on 18, it was so perfect it hit the flag on the edge of the cup and instead of falling in the hole for an eagle it bounced so far backwards it plopped in the lake. Chucky took his hat off wiped his brow, he didn't know if he should laugh or cry, he was 2 strokes back if it had gone in he would have been tied for the lead, now he was dropping and the best he could hope for was a double bogey at best, at least thats what most reasonable people would imagine, even those pesky odds makers again, drop hit near the hole and make the short putt for the double, nope not Charles, he plops another shot onto the green well past the flag no mistakes this time, the spin on the ball pulls it rapidly back towards the lake, the ball looked like it wanted to go swimming, it was like a fish headed for water, thank god for long grass, the ball hung up just inches for the lake now Charles is looking at maybe a triple bogey, he was just thankful it didn't go the rest of the way into the lake, he stands over it and just wants to lay it up short of the pin so he can putt it and go sign the card and get off the course, it felt that bad at that point, you could see it in his face, he hit's the ball and it rolls right on into the hole giving him his double afterall, a great big cheshire cat grin broke out, he bowed to the crowd retrieved the ball and pronptly chuncked it into the pond, where it really wanted to go anyway. The commentator at the 18th asked him what did he have against putting like normal people? He had the grace to laugh, the interviewers after he signed the card and went to the hosts desk, they all expressed their amazement at the shot, the one man said if the ball had stayed in instead of bouncing out, it would be one of the most memorable shots ever made, Charles looked at him and said do you think I am going to forget that shot anytime I am on 18 again? I have a feeling this clip will be played for many years when Charles plays the south course at Torrey Pines. Now that golf season has returned that is my other passion besides chemical warfare agents and the misinformation our government puts out about it. I love golf and watching a young man especially that I have watched as a child grow into one of the finest golfer's in the world. Charles Howell III will be playing and winning golf tournaments long after I am gone, but I plan on spending every week end that he plays watching him on his journey thru life. Being disabled as I am, I can live vicariously thru him, and imagine being the places he is, I don't envy his life, as a soldier I have seen the world, not the same hotels and scenic places but I am well traveled, and for his sake they aren't shooting at him anywhere he goes. Even I didn't like the places where they were shooting stuff at "hey you catch" those places bothered me to. We all have places in life I grew up wanting to be a soldier, and Charles grew up wanting to be a golfer, I can imagine the times his dad probably grumbled at paying David Ledbetters fees for lessons, or the plane tickets etc, ever for a Doctor a hobby like golf gets expensive, especially when you have some of the finest coaches in the world teaching you the game. He applied himself, and he has more than earned back whatever Dad spent on the lessons I would imagine by now, and he is only 25, he is rated right now as the 56th highest on the lifetime earnings chart. So between Charles Howell III and my obsession on chemical warfare agents keeps my life occupied, my wife always knows where I am so that makes life peaceful at home. Happiness at home isn't that what we all want?

the storm from hell

2005-01-22T15:00:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs The blizzard of Jan 05 appears to be the worst storm seen in years, GW got lucky it didn't get started yesterday, sure would have ruined his day. Flights are already delayed 2 hours in the north at Chicago, Phillie some places are already closed and it's only going to get worse. All those republican partiers could end up stuck in DC due to flights being cancelled, that might get expensive quick, I am not a brain, but the speech made the other day sure appeared to be a gauntlet thrown down, either your a free country or your depressing your citizens and we will support them in overthrowing all dictators, that is what it sounded like to me, come on we have been dealing with the likes of the Saudi royal family for oil, Tyrants from Africa as we wanted their mineral deposits of uranium, the drug lords of Panama and other South American Countries. Who are we kidding, if they have it and our country wants it, we do business with them.We can't afford to pay our own bills how can we support all these countries that want freedom, our no cost war in Iraq is breaking the bank, it was going to be paid with oil dollars when the war plan was first announced, that was quickly forgotten, at the cost of 4 billion a month, sometimes even more. It's nice to have a grand plan, but it would be nicer if you could actually pay for it. The piggy bank is only so large, As long as the piggy bank can afford my little checks every month, I won't complain, but god help them if they ever turn off my coins clinking into the wife's trusty little lock box. I earned the money thru body damage, diminished earning capacity, pain, a shortened life span, there is no way I will sit back quietly if they mess with the checks.I paid into SS and earned my SSD check from my insurance payments, and the VA was earned by them using me as a guinea pig for sarin and mustard agents, and leaving me with a severely damaged body. I have no shame in asking, demanding compensation for what happened to me.

George Bush's Big Day, the one daddy couldn't even do

2005-01-20T08:46:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs January 20th 2005, the coming of a new republican empire or the doom of the republican empire. If Iraq and Iran can not be controlled it will put the democrats back into power in the next election, 4 years of war is bad, 8 years of an unwinnable war is not acceptable to anyone, not even the Army and Marines, being shot or killed really sux, and it has hard effects on recruiting replacements. I am not a democrat or a republican and I usually tend to side with the republicans on more issues than the democrats, but I tend to support "honest" politicians, like McCain, Kinghthorse, Sunnunu, Richardson of New Mexico politicicians that do the right thing rather than the party line earn my respect. Sometimes the party line is right and sometimes it is wrong.I have a feeling that he aircraft carrier JFK will be kept in Jacksonville because of Jeb and politics more than for any other reason, if the Navy wants to save money they better look someplace other than Fla to do it. If Jeb chooses not to run for President in 2008 I think it will be more from the fact that George has been President for the past 8 years, Jeb is young enough that he can make a run 4 years later or even 8 years from now. The hurricanes and the tsunami relief trip madee him a famous face on his own, without George to prop him up. Then there is always the charasmatic 28 year old lawyer George P Bush, the son of Jeb who appears to have the credentials and the training ahead of him to get into high level politics, he could easily become the governor of Florida after his father, the Attorney General of Florida, basically what ever his uncle George can find him a high placed government position to place hiim to learn and get the exposure he needs for the future. Yes as much as they hate the word "Dynasty" the term will be one of how people will speak of the Bush Family for the rest of History. A Senator, 2 presidents, congressmen, state governors of Texas and Florida and that is just in the past 60 years, what does the future hold?

the rice confirmation hearings

2005-01-18T19:10:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs They were a love fest until Sen Boxer got ahold of her, and used her own statements against her, she showed how she said Saddam had nukes or was within a year of having them, then she claimed no one from the administration had ever claimed that Saddam was within a year of having nukes, then Sen Boxer pointed out that it was no less than President Bush 3 months prior that declared Saddam would have a nuke within 12 months. Dr Rice then got mad at Sen Boxer and told her to quit impugnning her record and her integrity, Sen Boxer told her it was her own words that were doing that, not Sen Boxer. Then Sen Kerry got her about the fact that the US was not containing the loose nuclear material in the world, and that the 13 year program left to many holes for terrorists to get their hands on it, he proposed a 3 year timetable, and pointed out that the current administration has collected less nuclear material in the past 3 years since 9/11 than in the 2 years before 9/11. Dr Rice got mad when Sen Kerry pointed out if President Musharaff of Pakistan was killed the terrorists would have their hands on Pakisatans nukes immediately, she mentioned that she was not comfortable talking about this subject in open court, why the terrorists already know about it, who is she afraid of learning about it, us the american public?

wandering thoughts

2005-01-17T23:08:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs I have been reading the different viewpoints on the talk about the social security "crisis" that supposedly exists today. They just now figured out what about the people that become disabled before they reach full retirement age. How would they fund the 2 systems, they have only thought about regular retirement. I for one am glad now that I became disabled before this foolish system became reworked, I would hate to think what my disability check would look like. Hopefully my VA disability will be approved under the old system and become grandfathered in, before they adjust it and claim it is double dipping and the disabled are getting to rich from being hurt while working for the government. My 2 retirement checks together will not even come close to what a congressmen gets for his hard toils in Washington. I am disgusted in a way by the million dollar payouts for the family members of the 911 victims, it is a shame they died, but like most americans they had life insurance, then there were all the fund raisers, that raised hundreds of million dollars, and then the congress got in the act and paid each of the families between 1 - 4 million dollars based on some whacky formula's. Yes it was sad those people died, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but what about the veterans that are being killed everyday for being where they belong in Iraq and Afghanistan, there families get an immediate 12,000 within 48 hours to help with immediate problems and then depending on how much insurance the soldier chose the spouse gets from 100,000 to 250,000 to keep her file going until she gets back on her feet, not to be ugly but most young spouses are going to get remarried after a few years, and no amount of money is going to make up for the loss of their spouse, but military families deserve a million as much as a victim of a terrorist attack. I remember when I went in the Army the insurance policy was 10,000, man that was a long time ago, by the time GW1 came along we could take 100,000, heck I had half a million between the post office and private policies for the pizza place I owned. That was different lifetime ago, now I am just hoping to get the 20,000 I can get thru the VA so Dori will be able to afford to bury me, I do intend on paying for the funerals on the preplanned policy before I die so there will be no decisions for Dori or the children to make, I think funeral home take advantage of the grief and milk families for money by saying stuff like you don't want your relatives embarassed do you? Excuse me I'm dead what the hell do I care if I'm dead? Most of my relatives didn't like me when I was alive why go out of the way to impress them when I'm dead. There are better uses for money. I am a veteran there will be a flag over my coffin, a floral spray for the casket is a total waste of 400 dollars and I don't want anyone wasting that kind of bucks on flowes, bring a rose and throw it on top of the casket after they fold the flag. I know the flag goes to Dori, but I hope it is given to Kevin when Dori passes or when she is ready to pass it on to him. Maybe he doesn't want it, but I served that flag proudly during 2 wars, I loved my country, I am not very proud of some of the things they have done, kind of like my children, but I still love them, none the less.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-01-17T12:54:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs Today is the official MLK day, so no mail, and lot's of clips, of his speech's. I see where the EU wants to make all symbols of the third reich illegal, see what Harry started. What amazed me a opinion on AOL had america split 50/50 on the ban, excuse me are we educating our children? I can understand a few 10-20 percent might support keeping the symbols, but half, I blame that on a failure of education. Nazism and it's symbols need to be buried and forgotten, only to live on in newsreels and history books.Even the German people were against a film maker that made a movie humanizing Adolph Hitler in 2004, they lived his evil and they forbid the ownership of Third Reich materials. You don;t see them building statutes or monuments to him or his style of government. Indonesia wants us out of there by March, heck I would dump the food and water we have on the beach and leave now for all that caring by their government. Let them get help where they can.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-01-15T15:49:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs As this is the 15th of January it reminds me of many things in my life, today is the day they are burying Cowboy, I will miss him, it is also Martin Luther King's Birthday, Jefferson Davis's and Charlie Old's, god I use to have fun with him about that, how her shared his birthday with 2 great americans. He hated me for it, but hey you got to find your fun where you can. I usually could care less about the "royals" but I think Harry went to far wearing the Nazi uniform to a costume party, someone described it as a uniform of Rommel's warriors, the good germans, excuse me I don't think there are any good Nazi's. To me Nazi's represented one of the worlds worst regimes this world has ever known. I think Harry has the same problem as the rest of the world's youth, they are not being taught the history of the Nazi's and the Holocaust, the schools are failing to teach the mistakes of the past, so the children of the future won't have the knowledge of the evil already betrayed upon the earth, they can't see how wrong what President Putin is doing in Russia right now. He is returning Russia to the day's of Lenin and Stalin, he will appoint Governors, no more elections. But since the youth aren't being taught the worlds history they don't see the folly of it. Without the knowledge of the past our youth of the future are destined to repeat the same mistakes.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2005-01-14T14:29:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs I have been trying to keep from reflecting on the government's attitude towards my health issues and compensation problems. I learned last night my best friend from the Post Office I worked at had passed away on the 12th at the VA hospital in Augusta. Cowboy was a positive influence on my life, when I was dealing with some of the troubling issues of my life, he was my friend, he never passed jusdgement he was just there to talk it out. There was no right and wrong, or pointing fingers just conversation, what more could anyone want from a friend? He had just recently gone out on a medical retirement due to stress from the Post Office, it is amazing how many of the Augusta mail men have left early due to stress. All the supervisors have retired early from medical problems, most of the carriers I worked with have left since I did in 2000. I don't recognize half of the faces driving the trucks in Augusta any longer. I still believe the stress from the post office and the stress from the VA over my claim has caused me undue damage to my cardiovascular system. If it wasn't for the pills the VA gives me for stress, I imagine my blood pressure would blow more than a few gaskets. That is one thing I can't complain about the VA my medical care has been excellent, the doctors I have are among the finest I could ask for, of course I have gone through a few of them, refused to be treated by a couple and have gone to the patients rep to get doctors changed because of personality conflicts. But for such a large organization they have to be given good marks for the health care they do provide. I know there are people that would disagree with me, but this is my opinion, not thiers. I hope this thing with the VA gets settled soon, I would like to get my daughter into college under the Chapter 35 benefits. Sherry has an opportunity to still do something with her life, an I firmly believe an education is an important part of it.

soldiers used as guinea pigs: December 2004

2005-01-09T04:09:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs: December 2004 It has taken me a few days to digest what happened at the "hearing" at the VARO office on 6 January 2005 at 830 am, it was not really a hearing, it was turned into an informal meeting between the DAV SO, the RO, my wife and myself, they were not interested in any of the evidence I had substantiating my injuries and illnesses to chemical warfare agents, instead it turned into a tag team effort to apprise me of the consequences of my letter writing campaign to the White House, the Pentagon, congressmen and Senators, and that if I continued in this that for every letter I wrote that it would take the VARO's office approximately 60 days to respond to each letter, thus delaying the processing of my claim. It was inferred that if I suspended the appeal on my heart issue of Dec 2002, and let it become secondary to the PTSD claim of Dec 2003 that, the PTSD claim would be rated 100% P&T due to the attempted murder in Alaska, and with a doctors letter verifying that my PTSD had aggravated or caused my cardiac conditions then they would be granted as a secondary condition to the PTSD in exchange for dropping all other claims. In unsaid language if I quit trying to connect my problems to exposure to chemical warfare agents at Edgewood Arsenal in 1974 while participating in the secret tests of antidotes for the agents Sarin and Mustard among other numerous substances, the government would label me as a mental case, with heart conditions caused by the mental problems. I saw the handwriting on the wall and signed the agreement, better to be a nut getting a 100% disability than to be fighting the VA and the DoD for the next 10 years to obtain benefits I and my family are entitled to. The average life expectancy for people with congestive heart failure and COPD is estimated at 10 years, I was diagnosed with Congestive heart failure 7 years ago and COPD 4 years ago, I did not want to spend the rest of my life fighting with the government.

My family deserves the benefits of the 100% P&T benefits afford them, with them come medical care thru ChampusVA, Chapter 35 benefits for my kids to go to college, life insurance so they can bury me, financial security after I am gone. This "meeting" confirmed my belief that the protected sweetheart deal the service organisations have with the VA thru congressional approval, need to be redone and lawyers should be allowed to represent veterans at all steps in the process of obtaining veterans their benefits. It appeared as the DAV representative was more interested in advancing the VA's agenda, rather than protecting my rights. After the RO left the room, and I was left in tears, I asked the RO how, that since the first hearings in 1975 by the Church Committee, the 1993 hearings, the 1994 senate hearings the 1998 hearings and the May and Oct 2004 hearings, with all the history and the facts known about the secret chemical warfare agent testing, the nuclear tests, and the biological tests that had been occuring since 1942 thru 1975, had the DAV, the American Legion and all the other service organizations turned their backs on all the veterans that had been harmed by these tests and were never compensated let alone medically treated for physical problems that the VA and DoD had denied for decades. He just shrugged his shoulders, he had no answer.

My physical life has been severely affected by the tests, I first had medical problems at the age of 36, the stroke and TIA's, then in 94 at the age of 38 my first of seven heart attacks, in 1997 the triple by pass that had failed by 2002. In 1998 my cardioligist recommended retirement, I couldn't afford it with 3 children at the age of 42, so I continued working until my legs swelled in June 2002 and I couldn't wear shows any longer, then I accepted the inevitable. I filed for SSD and was approved in 5 months. Then I started the claim process for VA benefits, at that point I did not know if it was the multiple vaccinations I received for Desert Storm, 7 in one day, when I was in the army back in the 70's they use to give you 1or 2 shots a week than more, then the rest, but the 1st Gulf War sped up the timetable I guess, I remeber asking the medic if it was safe to take all of them at once, he shrugged his shoulders and replied "I don't know, I'm just doing what I'm told", I was surprised to see armed guards on the door and you couldn't leave until a major or above signed off that you had received all of your required shots. I have been issued a 4 wheel walker and a power chair by the VA, I use the walker since I can't afford a truck to haul around the power chair due to financial circumstances, and I don't want to get into that chair until I absolutely have to, I have the feeling once I get in it, I might not be able to get out. So that is for another day. I did get some good news yesterday my triglycerides are down to the 300 range they use to be almost 600 and the bad cholesterol is down to 53 which the cardioligist said is an excellent number. I might live longer than the VA plans on. She also said when I felt like it at a later date they wanted to put those new medicated stents in my open heart arteries to ensure they stay open, I told her I wanted to wait until it became a necessity. I would hate to tear an artery and not be able to have them fix it.

soldiers used as guinea pigs: December 2004

2005-01-01T13:39:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs: December 2004 Today is the first day of 2005, it is 5 days now until the hearing at the local VARO, I feel I have adequate evidence to link my heart problems to either, the chemical and drug exposures at Edgewood Arsenal in 1974, or to the stroke I had within 12 months of being discharged from Desert Storm. I have to many illnesses and to many possible causations, it is to hard to tear them apart the whole mess in intermingled over the past 31 years. The only factor they have in common the causes were created by or agitated by my military service, The attempted murder and robbery in Alaska, the LSD overdose at Ft Lewis in 1974, the human test program from June to August 74, the multiple vaccinations for GW1, the stroke damage within 12 months of discharge, the 5 presumptive diseases for the test program, the link between cardiac problems and sarin and mustard agents exposure at Edgewood. I learned that mustard agents stay in wood and concrete and remain active for up to 30 years, they get into porous materials, and contaminate for as long as 30 years, being on the obstacle course with the wood and concrete from the WW2 experiments in 1974 means at the very least we were exposed to the residue there. The old building where the chamber tests were done, must reek of it after all those years of use. Hopefully after being able to present my case to a living person, common sense will take over and my claim will be properly handled after the last 2 years. I think the newspaper article from David Zeman will help tremendously.

soldiers used as guinea pigs: December 2004

2004-12-28T09:39:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs: December 2004As I think about the events of the past few years, I have more questions than answers, if the DoD and the IOM went to the expense of contacting 6720 veterans, why did they not question there pulmonary, cardiac and gastrointestinal systems? Research from SIPRI directky linked chemical warfare agents to those problems. The veterans contacted in 1985 and in 2000 for the studies were the soldiers than the United States had exposed to these agents. I am not a doctor but the fact that 40% of them men used in the tests were already deceased and of the 4022 still alive, that 54% of them were reporting very poor or totally disabling health, I think I would want to know what was causing this, as a researcher I feel Doctor William Page's methods and his inquisitiveness to be flawed. His waste of the DoD's expense for the study was wasted in that it left more questions, appears to have been misguided, for a study to be called a Long Term Health Effects, how do you not study 3 of the main body areas? Is it that they knew that the answers were already and the study was designed to keep known medical problems from the Kamisayah veterans? In the 1985 study of the veterans of Edgewood it reported that 395 men were deceased, 15 of them from disease, 8 of them by heart disease, I would think at the least that would have raised questions in the mind of the researchers, but when given the opportunity in 2000 to follow up on this, they chose not to. Why? Why have claims from the soldiers used in the tests at Edgewood and other places been denied and mishandled by the VA since 1993, when an agreement was made with a congressional committee that they would locate and track down the veterans used in these tests from 1942 thru 1975 when the Army shut down the human test program due to irregularities. Instead of maintaining a seperate list of the test veterans as congress was promised, the VA systematically stopped keeping any statistics of veterans that filed claims dealing with nuclear, biological or radiological exposures, why? In 1993 the VA and DoD were aware of the potential claims by the 100,000 veterans that had been exposed to chemical warfare agents at the Kamisayah explosion during the first gulf war. If cardiac, pulmonary or gastrointestinal problems were linked to the exposure the potential liability could easily surpass 50 billion a year, far more than the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. I think the real bottom line here is the potential liability to the federal government, and in a time when the government is running at a deficit, the only place to obtain 50 billion a year would have to be from the defense budget, and that fiefdom will fight tooth and nail to prevent the loss of that kind of money, regardless of whom is harmed.

soldiers used as guinea pigs: December 2004

2004-12-27T22:21:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs: December 2004Here are the rest of the sites I have found over time there are many dealing with Chemical Warfare agents and the long term harm they cause

http://projects.sipri.se/cbw/research/ssf-cwc-fs-eif.html

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/dec2004/port-d11.shtml

http://www.ceip.org/files/publications/Harigelreport.asp?p

http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1018.5/MR1018.5.pdf/MR1018.5.ch1.pdf

http://www.nnn.se/vietnam/health.pdf

http://www.bordeninstitute.army.mil/cwbw/Ch8.pdf

http://www.fpif.org/briefs/vol1/chem_body.html

http://www.asanltr.com/newsletter/02-1/articles/021d.htm

http://www.leaonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S15327876MP1402_5;jsessionid=jaIPVNgaD7h-?cookieSet=1

http://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/1995/pdf/6705x0841.pdf

http://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/1995/pdf/6705x0841.pdf

http://www.nap.edu/books/030904832X/html/131.html

http://www.nap.edu/books/030904832X/html/21.html

http://ccrweb.ccr.uct.ac.za/archive/two/10_3/biological.html

http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/tracer-bullets/chemicalbiotb.html

http://www.nbc-med.org/SiteContent/HomePage/WhatsNew/MedAspects/Ch-3electrv699.pdf

http://www.csis.org/burke/hd/reports/Buffy012902.pdf

http://www.wws.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/byteserv.prl/~ota/disk1/1993/9346/934604.PDF

http://www.bordeninstitute.army.mil/cwbw/Ch12.pdf

http://www.opcw.org/docs/csp9/c9dec03.pdf

http://www.wws.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/byteserv.prl/~ota/disk1/1993/9346/934604.PDF

http://www.opcw.org/docs/csp9/c9dec03.pdf

http://www.cepis.ops-oms.org/tutorial1/fulltex/armas/bioweapons/bioweapons.pdf

The above web sites are mostly from US Government sponsored research or from internationally known organizations and their research is accepted world wide.

soldiers used as guinea pigs: December 2004

2004-12-27T21:24:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs: December 2004 posted December 03, 2004 14:53
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thats nice that they gave you the blood pressure machine the batteries need changing about every 6 months, but what medication did they put you on to control your blood pressure? Atenelol maybe? if they did, was the side affects explained to you? If not be prepared to get sexually frustrated a few months after taking atenelol things don't work right anymore. The govt is moving quickly too cover themselves on Kamisayah go to the IOM website National Academies of Science Military section and read a report released in March 2003 written by a Dr William Page the title of it is "The Long term Health Effects of Anti-Chloresternase Agents" ie sarin and other chemicals I received the report as I am one of the original 6720 soldiers used as a guinea pig at Edgewood from 1955-1975, the report states the only known problems are a sleeping disorder and a high rate of brain tumors. To me the report raises more questions than it answers of the orginal 6720 enlisted soldiers used there 1/3 are already dead (2698) of the remaining 4022 54% of them report very poor or disabling health but they don't explain why or what created these unusually high numbers, Social Security says 3 out of 10 men will become disabled by age 65, not 3 out of 10 dead and half disabled, The first report done oon us was in 1985 it showed that 15 men had died of disease 8 of them from heart disease so of course the 2003 report did not even address heart or vascular problems, Dr Page has hung up on me when I called him, I have written every member of the Armed service committee both of the Congress and the Senate, Senator Kennedy is the only one that has even helped me when the IOM Dr Page refused to give me copies oof my surveys Sen Kennedy called someone at the IOM and I had a Fed ex package 2 days later with a letter telling me that the IOM is not a govt agency and are not beholden too FOIA requests. The VA will not even address Edgewoood Arsenal in my claims for heart disease or PTSD, I have written many papers the CS Monitor has a writer that is investigating Edgewood on her own she may get a story publlished and maybe not. I expect this will be like Agent Orange since it involves so many vets they will hide it for years hoping that many of us will die without ever being paid benefits.I was at Edgewood in 1974 for 3 months and I am firmly convinced that experience has led me to being disabled at 45, the CIA destroyed many of the files on Edgewood that was shown in the Rockefeller Commission in 1975. DAIG report 98 in 1975, I was in Korea in 75/76 and of course stars and stripes never carried these stories so I didn't learn about Edgewood even being closed down or the Rockefeller Commission until Oct 2002 when I became disabled. I am not normally a conspiracy theorist but the amount of money involved in 100,000 exposed vets at Kamisayah and even if half have heart problems and it's connected it would bankrupt the VA, Congress could not pay 50,000 100% compensation. We will be fought tooth and nail to prevent it is my belief.

soldiers used as guinea pigs: December 2004

2004-12-27T21:18:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs: December 2004 The following are some of the links to the research I have been doing on this subject for the past 2 years it might help your search for the truth"
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp49.html

http://projects.sipri.se/cbw/research/ssf-cwc-fs-eif.html

http://universitypress.info/USABiologicalTerror.pdf this one is a little over the top but there are many truths in here if you overlook the rants, many facts spoken

http://nucnews.net/nucnews/2000nn/0002nn/000227nn.htm

http://www.heart7.net/paperclip.html

http://www.talkaboutgovernment.com/group/alt.politics.org.covert/messages/4458.html

http://theamericanmilitaryveteran.blog-city.com/

http://www.iwar.org.uk/news-archive/gao/dod-cb-defense/d04410.pdf

http://www.webcom.com/~pinknoiz/coldwar/vettest.html

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:JuGKvVOpBtYJ:www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt%3FGAO/NSIAD-93-89+veterans+soldiers+chemical+tests+Senator+Rockefeller+1993&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:JuGKvVOpBtYJ:www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt%3FGAO/NSIAD-93-89+veterans+soldiers+chemical+tests+Senator+Rockefeller+1993&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

http://www1.va.gov/vhi/docs/CBR_www.pdf

http://www.freep.com/backindex/2004/11/13/homepage.htm

The research has been difficult, as I have learned what a few men did, thinking they were doing the work of a nation, they were playing with bad science and many men and families were harmed by it.

soldiers used as guinea pigs: December 2004

2004-12-27T13:38:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs: December 2004I find myself sleeping 2-2 1/2 hours at a time, I can't remember the last time I slept more than 3 hours without taking a sleeping pill. I wake up feeling like there is someone in the house, so of course I have to check the windows and doors. I feel like there are people moving around me at times, out of the corner of my eye it seems like I see movement. My doc says it's called hypervigilance, me I call it a pain in the neck. The pictures of the Tsunami hitting the islands are awesome, nature at it's worst. The sad part is that the deaths were preventable, right after they felt the earthquake they should have been heading for high ground, a phone call from Samutra the right phone number so the NOAA people could have called the asian civil defense people, you would think in the days of the UN some sort of emergency contacts would be in place, this is not the 1850's anymore. This should make everyone feel vulnerable, Tsunami, asteroids, comets, there are many natural weapons out there poised to strike at anytime, let alone the weapons that man has made. It is leap year so instead of 365 days this year we have 366 days. My wife's birthday is the last day of the year, so lucky me I will never forget it. If I do I deserve what ever happens lol. I am hoping this year coming will bring a resolve to many of my stressful issues and I can move on with life, and spend my time fishing and sharing my knowledge about chemical weapons issues and veterans issues with whomever wants to hear it.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2004-12-26T23:42:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2004-12-26T23:37:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigsHere it is a day after christmas and it has been an extremely emotional month. After learning that the VA and DoD have been denying secret tests and any long term health effects I learned that the VA had promised a congressional committe in March 1993 that they did not know ehere the test veterans were but they would find us, no! They went back to the VA drank some coffee and found new jobs in the civilian sector. When questioned by David Zeman of the Detroit Free Press they had no comment on why they didn't keep their promise to Congress. But what has not been addressed is the fact that the VA has continued to deny claims of test veterans, in my case they just don't address the part of the claim that involve questions of the chemical and drug exposures at Edgewood Arsenal. I have been writing Secretary Principi since Nov 21 2002 about the fact that I didn't know if my health problems were a result of the shots for GW1 or as a result of my participation in the tests of Edgewood Arsenal. That some of the information was still classified and I could not find out what chemicals or drugs I had been exposed to, I was told that one of the tests involved a mustard agent it was done on a obstacle course, there were 4 of us in the test and 2 controllers wearing full self contained body siuts, we were in regular gas masks, I remeber throwing up as some of the gas seeped into my mask, being hosed down, and my uniform being stripped off and being washed again then given a dry uniform to change in to. I remember the new lab sealed rooms nurses drawing blood every hour on the hour, a oxygen mask on my face as I pedaled a stationary bike, hallucinating, being stuck in the milky way, trying to find my way out of the alphabet, men whose bodies were snakes but their heads were normal. I have been told I was crazy, I spent to much time watching the X Files, when in reality it is the pentagon and the VA attempting to make it appear as if I am crazy, that the test never happened, I do know that Nixon quit office while I was there, as I went to D.C the day he quit from Edgewood. I remember standing in the post swimming pool and it being so hot, that I was sweating while in the pool. I remember the finance sergeant at Fort Lewis not wanting to pay us the travel pay when we returned from Edgewood, there were 10 of us, and we each received approx 4,000 dollars for travel and expenses and TDY pay, almost a years salary for us. We had to get the I.G. to make them pay us, the travel was complete. He acted like it was coming out of his pocket.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2004-12-26T23:36:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs

Chapter 20

I know this is unsual but I am finishing the book before it starts, the end is the best part. This is being written on Chrismas Eve 2004, so this story has been in the making for a very long time. WW2 ended fifty nine years ago. So for me to be the victim of Nazi's is a strange claim, but as you have heard truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. In November someone brought to my attention an article written by Michael Fumento, a member of the Hudson Institute, that had written another disparaging article about Gulf War veterans in the paper named the Union Leader, I sent the paper a reply to the letter for the "Letters to the Editor" column, I mentioned that I ad been used as a guinea pig at Edgewood Arsenal and I had served in the Gulf War, so I did not know if there was really a Gulf War Syndrome or if the effects of the tests at Edgewood Arsenal had caused my health problems.

He replied that I was either mis-informed or a liar, and it was more than likely that I had never served in the military, he called me a "wannabe". Of course that lit my fires and I started investigating, then an article appeared in the Detroit Free Press written by David Zeman about the soldiers that had been used in secret World War Two experiments and how the Veterans Administration had frustrated them in every turn to collect the benefits that they and their widows were entitled to.

Thay clicked my brain, if they were entitled to benefits, so was I. My claims for benefits had been steadily denied by the Veterans Affairs for the past two years, the only thing the denials had in common was the fact that in all of them they totally ignored my claim as it being caused by the secret chemical and drug tests done on me at Edgewood Arsenal in 1974. They just kept claiming there was no link in my service medical records and my current health problems.

I dug out a book a friend had obtained for me earlier this year, published in October 2003 by the VA Health Initiative titled: The health effects of Chemical, Biological and Radiological Weapons. In this book were twelve known medical conditions caused by participation, asthma, respiratory cancer, lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, chronic laryngitis, COPD, emphysema, sexual dysfunction, emphysema and luekemia, not caused by exposure , but rather the deception and lies told by the Department of Defense and the VA, they agreed PTSD was associated by participating in the tests.

The books answers to known medical problems of chemical warfare agents, to me answers the question of if "Gulf War Syndrome" is real or not, it is but the symptoms are of known problems with chemical warfare agents.

I tried contacting the VA and DoD about what I had learned, I was ignored. No one bothered to reply to my inquiries. I contacted news agencies, CNN, FOX, NBC, CBS and ABC. None of them ever replied to me in over a week of me sending them the information I had learned. I was beginning to realize that either they thought I was a lunatic, or as part of National Security they are prevented from going with a story of this nature.

I contacted J.B. Stone of the SHAD organization and shared with him what I have learned. I think he was as flabbergasted by it all, as I was.

I have written or spoke to representatives of the follwing Senators, Kennedy, Demint, L. Graham, J. Rockefeller, McCain, and Clinton. Congressman Smith of New Jersey as the head of the Veterans Affair Committee. Being as it is Christmas time, I imagine all are out of town until after the holidays.

I did not know this injustice and deception was occuring until the past two weeks. I have lived the life of a secret test veteran for thirty years, a few more weeks are not going to make that much of a difference. I have been dealing with severe medical problems for the past ten years, doctors have just looked at me and shook their heads, saying this should not be happening to a person of your age.

I know now, today, that if my doctors had been informed ten years ago, what I had possibly been exposed to, they might have treated me accordingly. Since that knowledge was not available, my health has gotten to a severe point, and I was totally disabled by the Social Security Administration as of June 2002. Even though I had been working for years disabled, just to stubborn and cheap to retire.

I have found the copy of the report from the committee chaired by Senator John D Rockefeller IV in February 1993, where they identified the subjects of secret testing done between 1942 and 1975. When the Army willingly closed the human test program when Congress started investigating their procedures.

The tests have been called similar to the death camp tests done by the Nazi's. Can you imagine how I felt to learn that in reality, there were eight Nazi doctors and scientists working at Edgewood Arsenal. conducting experiments on american soldiers after 1947. The OSS and the CIA had brought them thru Canada and placed them through out the United States working at various military installations.

I was not even born when World War Two ended, I grew up watching the Rat Patrol on television. I knew as a child that Nazi's were a bad thing. I wish you could feel the pain that I am now, knwoing that my government condoned the Nazi's using me as one of their guinea pigs. I know the arguments will be made, that if we didn't use them the Russians would have. What if they had been executed like the other Nazi war criminals and did not work for us or the Russians, to me that would have been a more approriate solution.

I have learned that the program was shut down in 1975, and given the fact that I was eighteen at the time I was used in the tests, I am one of the youngest men alive that was abused by Nazi's. They might have been taking a paycheck from the United States, but they were still Nazi's, just working for a new government. America should be appalled that in the name of National Security that this was allowed to happen. The fact that the VA and the DoD continue to deny the veterans abused by these men benefits that they deserve should be a larger national disgrace.

I was dismayed to learn that approximately 600 men were used in a LSD experiment in 1980, but they at least are receiving follow up care and treatment. I just wish that all human testing was stopped, men with power are abusing it, and the oversights appear not to work properly. The cover up seems to be of the prime importance.

/a>

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2004-12-26T23:35:00.001-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs<

The Life Of A Test Veteran

I was 18 when I was asked to serve
I was told it was of importance to national security
assignment to Baltimore, secret army base
Easy work, lot's of free time
the price of being young and stupid
I ran to the call of the bugle

We traveled in pairs from Fort Lewis
ten of us in all, excited by the thrill of it all
we found a new lab, huge old barracks; four hour work days
four day work weeks
I ran to the bugle

The work was not exciting,
it took place in open fields,
sealed rooms in the lab,
oxygen masks while riding a stationary bhke
I ran to the bugle

The President quit, some of us went to D.C to watch the party
people hanging from statues in Lafayette Plaza smoking dope,
mounted police, sitting back watching the thousands,
standing in the crowd, while Nixon flew off
his two handed wave as thousands saluted him with
a finger
I ran to the bugle

Summer ended and we all returned to
Fort Lewis, a lot richer for
the travel pay and the TDY extra's
it was a year's extra pay
if we knew the real price
we would have gladly given it back
I ran to the bugle

Thirty years later,
seven heart attacks and a stroke
the body of a 70 year old
at the age of 47 and I had more
questions than answers.
The answers I got, the story of the
VA and DoD cover-up
The known problems from chemical
exposures since 1993, I know now I should
not have ran to the bugle,
I should have ran from the bugle.

A victim of secret army chemical test
/a>

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2004-12-26T23:35:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigsI have been addressing the fact that my participation in the secret tests at Edgewood Arsenal had contributed to my health problems for the past 2 years in letters to you and in my claims thru the VARO in Columbia SC. They have refused to acknowledge in the denials any mention of Edgewood or the tests. I have just learned of the agreement the VA made to the congressional committee back in March 1993. I was appallled and shocked, if my doctors had this information 12 years ago, they might have treated my problems differently. I have been suffering from many of the conditions from 1992 and 1993, the combination would have put me at 100% back in 93, so my family has been depriived of the financial benefits they were entitled to, medical coverage, Chapter 35 benefits etc. I have 5 of the presumptive conditions PTSD, COPD, Sexual dysfunction, skin abnormalities and emphysema. My brain has atrophied like a geriatric patient, I was 45 when I learned this, I am aging prematurely. I also have a book titled " Delayed Toxic Effects of Chemical Warfare Agents" written by the Stockholm Peace Research Institute in 1975. It plainly states that gastrointestinal and cardiac problems are directly linked to exposure to chemical warfare agents. The study was of Wermacht personnel conducted after WW2. It was sent to me by the IOM so I assume they accept is a realitistic research, why else pass it on to me.Given the fact that none of my denial letters address my Level A classification in the secret tests and the last IOM study that states all Level A's were used in 2 or more experiments. It must have been an extreme oversight on the part of the personnel handling my claim, and they did not know what they were doing, since I and my family have been deprived of benefits we were obviuosly entitled to, I am sure that the VA will correct this as quickly as humanely possible. I realize it is the holiday season. But I am sure this will be handled experditiously after the holidays. The VA spokesman said in the Free Press that they should have a handle on it within 30 days, and that was at the end on November, since my claim is scheduled for a hearing on 6 Jan 05, this should he taken care of quickly

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2004-12-26T23:34:00.001-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs
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soldiers used as guinea pigs

2004-12-26T23:34:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs

Subj: [soldiers used as guinea pigs] 12/26/2004 11:25:03 PM
Date: 12/26/04 11:25:20 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: testvet@aol.com (Mike)
To: testvet@aol.com

Date: 12/23/04 10:41:47 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: TESTVET
To: zeman@freepress.com

This is an open Letter to the President of the United States, Congress and the American people. There is nothing greater than the american service member, it does not matter if they are male or female, it doesn't matter if they served in any of the branches of military. They either chose to wear the uniform or the local neighborhood draft board decided they needed to wear the uniform of the Us. What these citizens deserve is the opportunity to have the Veterans administartion to properly and compentently handle all of their claims for service connected injuries. The veterans do not deserve to have a government agency that is deliberately throwing up block walls to obtain benefits, if you have proof, they just do not address the documents in their denial letters, my denials from the VA have been consistent for the past two years, none of them mention the fact, that during 1974 I was used as a human test subject for chemical warfare agents, drugs, and biological weapons, in other words I was a "guinea pig" at Edgewood Arsenal, it is one of the largest hazardous areas in the US, at the top of the list for clean up under the super-fund. They are still finding hazardous chemicals buried there since WW1. Many men and women have died without ever having there claims approved by a fair system. The VA claims the procedure is non-advesarial, it isn't they just deny everything or ignore the evidence that proves your case. That's not adversarial, to me that is criminal,. I have written Sec Rumsfeld, Sec Principi for the past two years, with no help from either of them, I even wrote the White House asking for help, they sent the letter to the VA, the ever going merry go round. Please it is time to stop the merry go round, the american veteran deserves better.

soldiers used as guinea pigs

2004-12-26T23:32:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigsSubj: new follow up of Edgewood vets exposed to anti-cholinesterase
Date: 12/4/04 11:25:59 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: TESTVET
To: iomwww@nas.edu

I see where the main focus is on neurological type problems, but there is one aspect no one has looked at in the last study that I am concerned about, in the first study done in 1985 it showed that of the 15 men that had died from disease, 8 of them were from heart disease, every vet from Edgewood that I have had contact with have some sort of heart condition, High Blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke etc, since this is a long term health effect and the study that was done in 2003 by Dr Page showed that 1/3 of the original vets were already deceased (2698) and of the remaining 4022, 54% reported very poor or disabling health problems, but yet the study did not explain what was creating these statistics, just that there was a problem with a sleep disorder and a higher rate of brain tumors. I personally feel if you are going to do another study that heart and vascular problems should also be looked at, it would be what 2 or 3 additional questions and we would have a definitive answer. We all volunteered to be test subjects, but if there is a connection to heart disease from being at Edgewood then we deserve to know this. I myself had a stroke at 37, 7 heart attacks, a triple bypass that all the bypasses have failed and at 45 I was totally disabled. When I asked Dr Page 2 years ago about why they didn;t look at it then especially given the high number from the 85 study, he replied "they weren't looking at that" or words to that effect, yet the title of the study was "The Long Term Health Effects of Exposure to Sarin and other anti-chloresternase Agents" I would think heart and vascular problems would be considered a health effect. Please help us find out if something in that program may have caused us to have heart'/vascular problems or accelerated our aging process, they have told me my brain has shrunk in size similar to a 70 year old. I was healthy before Edgewood as you all know we were prescreened mentally and physically before being accepted for TDY for experimentation, I was chosen as a level A participant for use in pyschochemical tests, I have copies of the file created at Edgewood my number was 6778. Please if you are going to spend money to contact all these soldiers/veterans again add the extra questions and find out please.

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soldiers used as guinea pigs

2004-12-26T23:31:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigsSubj: I apologize for bothering you
Date: 12/24/04 8:31:04 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: TESTVET
To: zeman@freepress.com

I don't know if you can understand what a blow this has been to me, to find out that my government not only denied my family the benefits that they deserved. But that the Department of Defense and the VA and the IOM have been doing this in cohorts, for the past 60 years, and are still doing it, 12 years after promising to fix it. Sec Principi has made misleading statements at the least, the pentagon has a program of disinformation in regards to the secret tests, whenyou call the SHAD office and talk with Beron Hayes, he makes misleading statements, 1-800-497-6261, this has not been an accidental mistake, but rather a determined effort to deny compensation. That is the part that is the most disgusting. That there are well intentioned people that think they are doing the nation a greater good by saving the money for other purposes. They have unintentially changed peoples lives, my kids could have gone to school on Chapter 35 benefits, the wife and son would have medical insurance, I would have received medical care earleir and I might not have had 7 heart attacks, and a triple by pass, but now we will never know, because they did not keep their promises to Congress. How much have they shortened my life? What compensation is fair under these circumstances. I wish I could get a lawyer and hold them liable, but that is not the system available to fight the VA and DoD. The only place to get justice now is in the court of public opinion. I wish now I had been wounded in action, at least that would have been honorable, me I have been wounded by our own doctors and scientists, in a program with no glory, just a lot of heartache, no medals and it seems no compensation. Mike

contacting the "establishment"

2004-11-27T21:26:00.000-05:00

I spent month writing to members of the house and senate members of the Armed Services Committies, the Veterans Affair Committies. Senator Kennedy did help me receive from the IOM a copy of my records after the Doctor in charge of the Study in 2003 The Long Term Health Effects of Anti-Chloersternase Agents, told me they were beholden to FOIA requests as they were not a government agency, everything they do is funded by a government agency, DOD, the VA, the armed services etc, the only other response I received was from Frtiz Hollings who said he was retiring as a US Senator and I needed to contact someone else. My feelings is the government today or yesterday does not want to have to admit they actually had in any way shape or form complicity in the abuse of american service members. This drive to get the government to acknowledge the fact that this program even existed and men were physiccally and mentally hurt by it and are due compensation for this, to some may seem an obsession, some people actually think I am making this story up, it has been documented by many people, Linda Hunt, Operation Paperclip, they Church Commission and the Rockefeller Commission in 1975. But to this date the VA will not accept the fact that you were there, may have contributed to your current health situation, they want you to prove what substance caused it, many of the substances were classified and we were never told what they were putting in our bodies, they had a brand new lab, where they could send in aerosol form substances that you had no idea they were even doing it. You would go to work early in the morning and the next thing you knew it was 4 or 5 pm and you don't know where the day went. I remember days where they took blood samples as many as nine times a day, yet to this day the Army says all I participated in was a radio test listenening to sounds, I have talked on the internet with a man who was there at the same time I was and he remembers we were exposed to high doses of scopalimine on one day. Given the fact that the CIA and the Army has admitted to document destruction due to reducing the overwhelming data that was present, they just burnt it, so some of the documentation can never be found. This however well intentioned has made it impossible for veterans to obtain benefits for exposures to drugs and chemicals that have left them disabled.

the struggle continues

2004-11-26T14:25:00.000-05:00

I took yesterday off and enjoyed my holiday dinner at my mother in laws house with cousins and family, this morning my wife talked with Dr Bash to figure out what she needed to do to help with the processing of the claim for the heart disease and how she takes care of me and is more of a nurse than a wife. Her and the good doctor talked for about a half hour, he explained to her that due to the extent of the care I require and that since she will probably need assistance in the near future to help care for me, that it should put me in a special category for additional compensation from the VA for extra aid and attendance, he felt that getting me service connected for my heart disease would not be a problem since he noticed a high blood pressure on an out processing physical from Desert Storm and the fact that I suufered the TIA's and the stroke within 12 months of discharge from GW1. Next week when we go to the bank in Augusta we need to go to St Joe's and to Dr McClure's office to get the copies and reports of the MRI's done in 1994, to show the damage from 1992. Yes I feel my family deserves the compensation and the benefits from the government, I have spent my entire adult life less 2 years working for the government either in the Army, National Guard and the US Postal Service 26 years in all.

The work continues

2004-11-22T10:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I spoke with the reporter that is researching Edgewood, she is trying to compile as much veterans data as she can, I pointed out that the DAV wrote a 9 page article about the test victims in 1991 and that they may be a good place to start, as far as finding other veterans that are in the same boat as I am. I do not believe I am the only veteran that is questioning my participation in the test program as being a contributor to the early onset of my extreme health problems. I contacted the DAV in Washinton DC this morning and they gave me the name of their Public Relations man, David Autrey, I have asked him to return my call and left a brief message about the reason why on his voice mail. I know the WW2 veterans have gotten the shaft from the Army and the VA, the prgram at Edgewood lasted for a 20 year period from 1955 thru 1975 before the Army shut it down, when the Rockefeller Commission got into the act and investigated it and the CIA participation in MK-Ultra, the LSD tests, Sarin and BZ some of the more well known substances experimented with, but there were hundreds if not thousands of unknown compounds used there that were created by the different pharmacuetical companies. I have read in the newspapers where they have uncovered barrels of chemicals that were buried in the ground, then they built the post housing area over the chemical dump, in 2002 they were digging up some of the barrels, that were rusted and leaking. I have also seen where a housing area in the Washington DC area that was used by the chemical corp of the military before the establishment of Edgewood Arsenal, has been uncovered and toxic chemicals are in the ground in this really nice home area. I understand the first President Bush lived in this area when he was a Congressman from Texas. I firmly believe there are more unknown dump sites that have been forgotten about and will be discovered in the future. What will happen when all the barrels of Nazi chemicals that were dumped in the North Sea after WW2 corrode to the point the chemicals affect the fishery?

Welcome to my world

2004-11-21T13:35:00.000-05:00

My name is Mike and I am an Army veteran who volunteered for service in October 1973, I went to Fort Ord for basic and Fort Polk for Infantry AIT and was assigned to Fort Lewis and the 9th Infantry Division. In April 1974 a team from Edgewood Arsenal came to post , recruiting volunteers for the human test program, a Temporary duty assignment (TDY) of 90 days, we were told we would have 4 day work weeks no extra duties like KP or guard nor any other kind of details. It sounded great to a lot of us. Many men from the 9th Division volunteered and we were given mental screening exams, they went through our personnel files, and our medical records, they selected ten of us for duty there, we were notified at the beginning of June we were to report on the 28th of June to Edgewoood, We were authorized Privately owned automobiles for the trip, so we had nine days for the cross country trip. Upon arrival at the test center we had learned they had just built a brand new lab, and we again were tested and they assigned us to one of 4 groups A, B, C and D, my paperwork shows I was a level A and it states that I was approved for use in psyhco-chemical tests. They issued us cards that stated we were not drug addicts and that if we were stopped by the police that they should call the phone numbers on the card for clarification of our status, in other words the Army would get us out of trouble. Most of us had so many needle marks from blood tests and other assorted needle marks we looked like junkies for the 3 months that we were there.Some days they would draw blood as many as nine times a day. There was one good thing that came out of the trip, I was in Washington DC the day that President Nixon quit office and I got to see him leave the White house for the last time. In 1975 I was reassigned to the DMZ in Korea so I was not aware of the congressional investigation into the activities at Edgewood Arsenal by the Army and the CIA and I did not know that the Army voluntarily shut the program down. I left the Army in September 1982 as a Staff Sergeant and returned to civilian life and went to work for the Post Office, I joined the National Guard in 1988 and was activated for the 1st Gulf War in Nov 1990, they sent the 48th Brigade to NTC until the day the war ended and we were certified combat ready by the Army. We had been given all the predeployment shots since they had planned to send us. In Feb thru April 1992 I suffered a series of TIA's (mini-strokes) and sonewhere in that period I had a stroke that left scar tissue in my occipital/parietal lobe, but my misfortune was seeing a doctor that did not order an MRI, she did a cat scan and did not see anything wrong, she told me to go see a shrink, I was 37, 155 pounds, I did not fit the mold for a stroke victim. In 1994 another nueroligist ordered an MRI and found the damage. Thwo months after that I had my first heart attack at 39, and then I suffered heart attacks on the average of every 3 months for the next 2 years. At the age of 41 I had a triple by pass, and in June 2002 my legs had swollen to the point I could not wear shoes, the doctor ordered a new heart cath and found that 2 of my by passes had closed off and were not repairable I was found totally disabled by the Social Security Administration and started receiving SSD so I had become disabled at the age of 46. I was shocked.

soldiers used as guinea pigs: November 2004

2004-11-21T11:33:00.000-05:00

soldiers used as guinea pigs: November 2004 In October 2002 I started researching why I had became disabled at such a young age, I had received a research request in 2000 from a firm in Silver Springs Maryland about my health, so I called the Department of Defense and asked who was conducting the study, they suggested it was the VA, trying to figure out what medical needs the veterans would have in the future. I contacted Edgewood Arsenal to see if they were doing the research and to ask for any records they might have of any tests that I might have participated in, I was told that some of the tests were still classified and if I had been used in those tests, that they couldn't be revealed, but they did send me copies of all my files, they had one paper that said I had participated in a radio test where I had listened to sounds. Since the stroke my memories are few and far between about things and I accept that, but knowing that I had been there for 3 months it is hard to believe all I did was one test listening to a radio for a few days. Especially being classified for use in psycho chemical tests, in my experience in the Army if they could they would. Finally in March 2003 I received in the mail from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Medical Follow Uo Agency (MUFA) a report authored by a Doctor William Page stating that it was done to see what effects the veterans of the chemical exposures at Kamisayah could expect since many of the veterans used at Edgewood had been exposed to Sarin, BZ etc. The study concluded that there was a high rate of sleep disturbances and of brain tumors. What the study did not explain was why of the 6720 enlisted soldiers used as guinea pigs, 1/3 of them were already deceased (2698) and of the remaining 4022, that 54% of them reported very poor or disabling health and what was causing it. A study done in 1985 by the IOM showed that by 1985, 395 of the veterans were deceased, suicides, car accidents, murders etc, it did show that 15 had died from disease, 8 of those were from heart disease, so I asked Dr Page why had the 2003 Study had not looked at heart or vascular problems, he replied"we weren't looking at that" the report is titled "The Long term health effects of Anti-Chlorseternase Agents", when I asked him about the high death rate and disablilty rates, he hung up on me. I had e mailed him requesting a copy of the studies from 1985 and 2000 that I had supplied them he ignored me. I contacted Senator Edward Kennedy and told him how Dr Page was ignoring A FOIA request, within 48 hours I had the 2 reports. With a note saying the IOM was not a government agency and they were not required by FOIA requests, they are totally funded by either the government or government agencies. I filed a claim for service connection for heart problems and the residuals of the stroke, the VA has denied both claims, I have them on appeal. On Novemember 12th is was brought to my attention that the Detroit Free Press was running a series on a unit that had been abused at Edgewood in WW2 and that in 1994 they had been promised that the Army and the VA would contact the veterans involved in those tests and if they were entitled too compensation for health problems, COPD, scars to arms. legs and other body parts etc that it would be immediately taken care of, needless to say it was lip service, none of the veterans have been compensated, many have passed away without ever getting the benefits they or their families were entitled to. I have been contacted by the Christian Science Monitor in research for an article about the veterans of Edgewood. I believe that the government should compensate all the veterans that had been used in the nuclear, biological and chemical tests, we do not have the right to sue them due to the Feres Doctrine, but just from what is right, the government should take care of the personnel that were hurt or have long term repurcussions from the tests they were involved in, not cover it up, and say it wasn't us. You have thousands of disabled and very poor health veterans that either volunteered or were lied to used in experiments that damaged them. Whose responsibility should we be, our families have suffered mentally and financially because of this. My spouse has been turned into a full time care taker, it is impossible for her to hold a job due to my health.