Guest guest Posted May 9, 1999 Report Share Posted May 9, 1999 [This message contained attachments] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 10, 1999 Report Share Posted May 10, 1999 Thank you Jeff, An excellent idea, to recommend Reader's Digest, to carry a reprint of the Vanity Fair article. I, for one, am contacting them immediately, to reinforce your contact to them. Main stream media has avoided the GWS and anthrax vaccination issues like the plague. We must keep pushing for public recognition of the issues and the consequenses of DOD's indiscriminate use of experimental vaccines on military personnel. I might add that we all need to continue to contact our congress members and senators, as well. Thanks again for the excellent idea. Sincerely, Rick Hope...........rgs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 10, 1999 Report Share Posted May 10, 1999 In a message dated 5/9/99 8:30:24 PM Pacific Daylight Time, theswans@... writes: << Dear Lori, > We have a GWS Out Reach team coming to Ft too. They are having > a Town Hall meeting open to the Public the 13th at Moon Thearter. Mr. > Bernard Rostker, Special Assistance to GWS, will be speaking, along with > this Maj Arbru. > In light of whats been happeing, I gather that they are trying to down > play any misinformation that The Internet is providing. I would love to > see this brought to the media's attention. I have contacted the local > Vietnam Vets org here to get the information out. Please add this to your > list. I believe this visit is in response to a phone conversation I > initiated about 1 to 2 moths ago with his office., Rostker's office. > I have been playing with an idea for a while to start an Organization > to help us out. Any ideas? Please let me know. I am good talking with people > if that's any help. > Happy Mothers' Day Dear. Thank you for the info dear. > > Always, > Bob >> Take it from the rest of us Townhall meetings are a scam,,, they are in town to convert the you to their side, monitor what you say and steal vital health information from your medical records.... Trust us they are not your freinds, I was nearly wiped out in San Anton two weeks ago..... I will send you news articles from other meetings with Roskters low life bunch..... Mike ********************************************************************** Gulf War illness focus of meeting Steve Clements Times Record News LAWTON, Okla. - Military medical authorities know the figures: More than 100,00 Gulf War veterans have been tested for diseases and other medical problems. Of that number about 20,000 suffer from unexplained illnesses that seem to grow worse with each passing day. A few of those 20,00 people attended a town hall meeting on Gulf War illness at Fort Sill Thursday night. The Gathering, whichdrew about 100 people, is the first of several such meetings planned for military installations. The retired and active duty personnel who complained of symptoms such as memory loss, fatigue and even tumors put a human face on numbers thrown out by physicians and brass who met with them at Fort Sill. And the face, more often than not, was confronted with anger. My husband came home ill and now I'm ill, " said the very first speaker who confronted Bernard Rostker, special assistant to the deputy secretary of defense for Gulf War Illnesses. " When I meet military doctors and told them my husband was in thegulf, they said, So? What has that got to do with anything? " " It's got a lot to do with it, " she continued, her voice rising. " But they didn't want to hear that. I'm just a nut. It's all in my head. They just wanted to ignore it. Why? " The problem, said Rostker's assistant, Navy physician Kilpatrick, is that many doctors don't know anything about the unexplain syptoms and caues of Gulf War illnesses. " It's not in the medical textbooks, " Kilpatrick said. " Not even military doctors are comfortable treating it. " But Kilpatrick promised to put the word out, at least to military physicians: Quit ignoring diseases that might be linked to Gulf War service. Other speakers complained about a lack of assistance and sympathy from military and Veteran's Administration. Hood, who now in Wichita Falls and seeks treatment at Sheppard Air Force Base, said that's just the last stop on a failed diagnostic tour that took him all over the nation. Hood wondered when the medical merry-go-round would stop, and when the military will explain why he bled from the ears and what caused the possible tumor inside him. A black man, he said his affliction is even changing his color. " I need some help. And I need it now, " Hood said. One man cried as he described his symptoms and asked why he can't find help. Another, a man in a wheelchair, said he can't afford to drive to another city for treatment. Help isn't coming quickly, Rostker said. Although the military has sunk more than $115 million into research, he admitted that doctors still know next to nothing about the subject. There are no real answers to Gulf War illnesses, " he said. " I wish I could tell you differently, but you honestly can't. We're trying to reconstruct what happened in the Gulf. We're changing our equipment, our policies and procedures.But it will take time to answer all these questions. We need time, and we need patience. These answers are hard to come by. " 6A Friday, April 24, 1998 City/Region *************************************************************************** Veterans told gulf illness still a mystery By El Paso Times Army veteran Kusserow remembers the scene as if it were yesterday. His medical supplies unit had to get an anthrax shot while serving in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The serum was taken out of bottles labeled: " Experimental. Not for human consumption. " " We joked that our babies would have horns and hoofs, " he said. Today the West Side resident suffers from many of the symptoms commonly reported by Persian Gulf war veterans: short-term memory loss, joint pain and fatigue. Thursday he was among the 150 people who sat through a gulf war illness town hall meeting at Fort Bliss' Soldier Hall. Kusserow appreciated the opportunity to express his concerns. The meeting ended the three-day visit by members of the Office of the Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Gulf War Illness. The goal was to inform active-duty military, veterans and their families of what has been learned about the illness, what medical services are available to them, and what technological and tactical advancements have been made so it doesn't happen again. " We've ruled out some things, but we've found no true reasons for the undiagnosed illnesses, " Bernard Rostker, under secretary of the Army, said at the meeting. Rostker was joined on the panel by Navy Capt. Kilpatrick, office director of medical issues, and R. Shapiro, chief of staff of the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Center in El Paso. They listened to audience questions, comments and stories for more than 90 minutes. Officials had promised that the Department of Defense was ready to do what it must to answer the needs of people stricken by gulf war illnesses. Rostker told the audience that the government has spent more than $150 million to research the problem. " We've been on this a while and will press forward, " he said. About 3,000 people are on the gulf war illness registries maintained by Beaumont Army Medical Center and the El Paso Veterans Affairs Health Care Center. About 10,000 military personnel from the El Paso region were deployed to the gulf war in 1991. Nationwide, about 700,000 served in the conflict and about 108,000 are on the gulf war registries due to health complaints or concerns. About 160,000 military personnel who served in Desert Storm are still on active duty. How many more need to be registered and examined is unknown, said Everett Ray Perdue, special assistant to the director of the VA health center. He hoped that the three-day visit by the Washington experts shined a light on the problem and would get other gulf war veterans to register. " (Medical) research continues, " he said. " There's evidence something more can be done. " One skeptic in the audience said that he's still not convinced there is such a thing as gulf war illness. Dr. Wehrle, a retired Army doctor who now is in private practice, said he's examined more than 100 soldiers at Fort , Ky., who claimed to have the illness. He considered their problems as common medical maladies elevated by post-traumatic stress syndrome. Before the meeting, Rostker said there would always be skeptics and those who think there's more to the story that the government isn't releasing. " The fact is we're here. The fact is we want to share everything. There is no cover-up, " he said. He admitted that communication and initial military reports were faulty but that his office continues the investigation, which includes talking to gulf war veterans at such meetings. Investigators are most suspicious of the detonation of an Iraqi ammunition dump near the southern part of the country. About 100,000 U.S. soldiers may have been exposed to low-level release of chemicals during a three-day period. Several theories have been offered for gulf war illness, including exposures to pesticides, chemical warfare agents, biological warfare agents, vaccines, pyridostigmine bromide tablets, infectious diseases, depleted uranium, smoke from oil well fires, petroleum products, and stress. Rostker assured active-duty Fort Bliss soldiers that there was no standing chemical or biological problem in the Middle East where they are deployed. Post units have been on a steady rotation to the Middle East since the gulf war. " The biggest health hazard there is blowing sand, " he said. The special gulf war illness office was set up two years ago. Office members have made monthly stops at military installations since last April. It's next stop is in February in Fort Polk, La. The group plans additional monthly stops at military installations through September. (Printed in El Paso Times Jan. 22, 1999) ****************************************************************************** ***** Town hall frustrates gulf war veterans By El Paso Times Villalobos left a gulf war illness town hall meeting at Fort Bliss in tears from physical pain and fear of the unknown. He was among the 150 active-duty military, veterans and families who attended the Thursday night meeting in Soldier Hall hoping for answers. Many left as frustrated as when they came. Villalobos was a sergeant with the 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment during the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The unit moved from El Paso to Colorado after the war. " I feel pain in my joints, " the tearful Northeast resident said. " I know a lot of guys in (the hall) and they're getting worse. My whole unit is dying. " His complaints were echoed by several audience members who are experiencing health problems. A contingent from the Washington-based Office of the Special assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Gulf War Illness offered what new information they had about the mysterious problem answered what questions they could about services and took notes that they hoped would eventually complete the puzzle that so far has baffled scientists, physicians and researchers. " We've taken a great many steps designed to protect our soldiers based on lessons we've learned from the gulf war, " said Bernard Rostker, under secretary of the Army and the special assistant to defense for gulf war illness. The meeting ended what Rostker considered a successful and informative three-day El Paso visit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 10, 2004 Report Share Posted August 10, 2004 I'm against inviting the media to a support group function, picnic or Bash without EVERYBODY's consent. I may have an opportunity to pitch the band to a Northwest Afternoon slot. They are interested in people who have GREAT personal interest stories to tell. Not just " I lost weight with a gastric band " but more of a " it totally changed my whole life " story, husband and wives who got banded together and went on a dream vacation, banded pregnancies, changed your job. IF (and that's a big IF) this were to happen I think the rest of us should turn up in the audience. They would be looking for dramatic results. You can email me your story privately Jahroni @ seanet. Com (Remove spaces) and I will collate them and send them to the powers that be. They are just considering it -- not promising to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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