"Town Hall" for 1991 Gulf War Veterans Coming to Seattle
Veterans of Modern Warfare, Inc.
December 31, 2008
"Town Hall" for 1991 Gulf War Veterans Coming to Seattle
For the first time, a 14-member independent panel advocating for veterans of the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War is coming to the West Coast, slated to hold two days of hearings in Seattle in January.
The Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans, created by Veterans Affairs Secretary James B. Peake last May, will be here Jan. 14 and 15 at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System medical center, that big complex up in Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood.
The committee, expected to finish its work within 18 months since its creation, held its first public meeting last June in Washington, D.C. Ultimately, it will recommend programs and policies to help Gulf War veterans.
And advocates for those veterans say that this is the long-overdue chance, at least regionally, for that war's long-suffering and long-neglected veterans to turn out and speak up.
Veterans are allotted five minutes to speak, so need to be direct, but they also can submit lengthier letters to the panel. Gulf War veterans advocates urge them to do both.
"This committee is looking at the human cost and actual experience of the veterans," Julie Mock of Woodinville, president of the national Veterans of Modern Warfare Inc. non-profit for veterans who have served from 1991 to present, said Wednesday.
A Gulf War veteran with service-connected multiple sclerosis, Mock, is among those slated to testify not only about her own experience with the illness. It will be the first time that multiple sclerosis is addressed by the committee. Mock, a mom, said she also will bring up another rarely heard issue regarding problems among the children of Gulf War veterans.
"The committee wants to know what the veterans think solutions might be and what could make their situations better," she said. Veterans who want to participate also can contact her. Other topics include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, which, along with brain cancer, exists disproportionately among those veterans.
In the nearly two decades since the war, a large number of Gulf War veterans have complained of chronic multi-symptom illnesses that were not being service-connected.
A different committee, the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War illness, focused upon medical reseach into those problems. In November, more that 17 years after the 100-day 1991 Persian Gulf War, the committee released a final report that concluded Gulf War illness was a real disorder. The report blamed a toxic stew of chemical and biological hazards to which those veterans were exposed, singling out as potent factors a pesticide and a vaccination troops were given to protect against potential nerve gas agents.
The Gulf War veteran's plight has been compared to the long post-war battle waged by Vietnam veterans for recognition of the effects of Agent Orange, a defoliant used in Vietnam, upon themselves but also upon their children.
In fact, the VMW and Vietnam Veterans of America in November filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against the VA in an attempt to speed up delays in processing veterans claims.
The committee members coming to Seattle in mid-January bring a variety of perspectives and experiences, and include a Gold Star wife, Gulf War veterans, veterans service organization representatives and medical experts. The committee is chaired by Charles Cragin, of Raymond, Maine., a retired Navy captain.
Cragin, who is now a senior counselor for Maine Street Solutions, LLC, is also a former acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, and chairman of the VA's board of veterans appeals.
One panel members is Kirt Love, of Texas, a Gulf War veteran who became seriously ill with multiple symptoms a few years after his service there. Love, who directs the Desert Storm Battle Registry and has often been at odds with the VA over Gulf War issues, stressed the need for veterans to take advantage of the chance to be heard in Seattle.
"Seattle has been one of the hotspots for years; we've seen, at a variety of Gulf War functions, that people from the Seattle VA are constantly present," Love said. "From my standpoint, I would like to see a roomful of veterans," Love said.
To learn more, see: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1502
Mock said interested veterans also can contact her or the vmw at jmock@vmwusa.org or http://www.vmwusa.org/.
December 31, 2008
"Town Hall" for 1991 Gulf War Veterans Coming to Seattle
For the first time, a 14-member independent panel advocating for veterans of the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War is coming to the West Coast, slated to hold two days of hearings in Seattle in January.
The Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans, created by Veterans Affairs Secretary James B. Peake last May, will be here Jan. 14 and 15 at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System medical center, that big complex up in Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood.
The committee, expected to finish its work within 18 months since its creation, held its first public meeting last June in Washington, D.C. Ultimately, it will recommend programs and policies to help Gulf War veterans.
And advocates for those veterans say that this is the long-overdue chance, at least regionally, for that war's long-suffering and long-neglected veterans to turn out and speak up.
Veterans are allotted five minutes to speak, so need to be direct, but they also can submit lengthier letters to the panel. Gulf War veterans advocates urge them to do both.
"This committee is looking at the human cost and actual experience of the veterans," Julie Mock of Woodinville, president of the national Veterans of Modern Warfare Inc. non-profit for veterans who have served from 1991 to present, said Wednesday.
A Gulf War veteran with service-connected multiple sclerosis, Mock, is among those slated to testify not only about her own experience with the illness. It will be the first time that multiple sclerosis is addressed by the committee. Mock, a mom, said she also will bring up another rarely heard issue regarding problems among the children of Gulf War veterans.
"The committee wants to know what the veterans think solutions might be and what could make their situations better," she said. Veterans who want to participate also can contact her. Other topics include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, which, along with brain cancer, exists disproportionately among those veterans.
In the nearly two decades since the war, a large number of Gulf War veterans have complained of chronic multi-symptom illnesses that were not being service-connected.
A different committee, the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War illness, focused upon medical reseach into those problems. In November, more that 17 years after the 100-day 1991 Persian Gulf War, the committee released a final report that concluded Gulf War illness was a real disorder. The report blamed a toxic stew of chemical and biological hazards to which those veterans were exposed, singling out as potent factors a pesticide and a vaccination troops were given to protect against potential nerve gas agents.
The Gulf War veteran's plight has been compared to the long post-war battle waged by Vietnam veterans for recognition of the effects of Agent Orange, a defoliant used in Vietnam, upon themselves but also upon their children.
In fact, the VMW and Vietnam Veterans of America in November filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against the VA in an attempt to speed up delays in processing veterans claims.
The committee members coming to Seattle in mid-January bring a variety of perspectives and experiences, and include a Gold Star wife, Gulf War veterans, veterans service organization representatives and medical experts. The committee is chaired by Charles Cragin, of Raymond, Maine., a retired Navy captain.
Cragin, who is now a senior counselor for Maine Street Solutions, LLC, is also a former acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, and chairman of the VA's board of veterans appeals.
One panel members is Kirt Love, of Texas, a Gulf War veteran who became seriously ill with multiple symptoms a few years after his service there. Love, who directs the Desert Storm Battle Registry and has often been at odds with the VA over Gulf War issues, stressed the need for veterans to take advantage of the chance to be heard in Seattle.
"Seattle has been one of the hotspots for years; we've seen, at a variety of Gulf War functions, that people from the Seattle VA are constantly present," Love said. "From my standpoint, I would like to see a roomful of veterans," Love said.
To learn more, see: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1502
Mock said interested veterans also can contact her or the vmw at jmock@vmwusa.org or http://www.vmwusa.org/.
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