www.delawareonline.com Choosing career or health

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Choosing career or health

Service members who refuse shots often demoted or discharged; Wilmington man in

Uzbekistan may face prison; others have left military

By LEE WILLIAMS and HIRAN RATNAYAKE

The News Journal

10/17/2004

Pvt. Leal , a Wilmington native on an 18-month tour with the land

National Guard in Uzbekistan, could face prison for refusing the series of

anthrax vaccinations his superiors ordered him to take.

" The shot may protect me from anthrax, but there is nothing to protect me from

the shot, " he said.

Troops have long been skeptical about the safety of the military's anthrax

vaccine program. Originally, seven soldiers in ' unit refused the series

of six shots. is now the only holdout, and he believes his superiors

plan to make an example of him.

" They can't allow a soldier to violate this basic principle. So a lot of people

are watching, " said the 32-year-old father of three.

As sees it, he must decide between his health and his career. Under the

military's mandatory vaccination program, it's a dilemma that has been faced by

many soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines - people like , former Maj.

Ruth Rymal and former Air Force Sgt. Barbara Welsh-Rosenblum. It has tested

their faith in a government with a record of withholding the truth about the

dangers of Agent Orange and radiation exposure experiments on unwitting troops.

Of those who have refused the vaccinations, some have left the service. Others

have been demoted, sent to military prison or received dishonorable discharges.

The News Journal reported last week that a former Dover Air Force Base

commander, retired Lt. Col. Felix Grieder, concluded after years of

investigation that his troops were the subjects of illegal experiments at the

base. The troops received anthrax vaccine that may have contained squalene. Some

experts say even trace amounts of squalene can suppress the immune system,

causing arthritis, neurological problems, memory loss, miscarriages and

incapacitating migraine headaches. The military has tested squalene on humans in

Thailand and other foreign countries to boost the effect of some vaccines.

Military officials strongly deny conducting illegal experiments and deny a link

between the anthrax vaccine and health problems. They say troops must take the

vaccine to keep the military strong in the event of a biological attack.

But even the military acknowledges the stress many personnel feel about being

ordered to take the anthrax vaccinations in the present climate of uncertainty.

" Unsubstantiated rumors flowing around about the anthrax vaccine have always had

a negative impact, " said Lt. Col. Smolinsky, spokesman for the secretary

of the Air Force.

Dr. Owen Lugar, a Wilmington-based psychologist in practice for more than 35

years, said the military's management of the crisis can cause serious morale

problems and unnecessary stress.

" Imagine a person being disillusioned in something that they believed in so

strongly, that they would give their life in pursuit of that dream, " Lugar said.

" They now have to come to grips with their belief in their organization. From

disillusionment, they can slide into dysfunction. "

In a letter sent Thursday to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld calling for an

investigation into the anthrax vaccination program, Delaware's congressional

delegation noted " a great deal of unnecessary confusion and anxiety has been

caused by the handling of this issue. " The military has said it is preparing a

response.

In addition to the Defense Department, the delegation also called for an

investigation by the Government Accountability Office, formerly known as the

General Accounting Office, and the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.

Lugar and others have said they should go further. The military should suspend

the vaccination program until the safety issues are thoroughly investigated,

they said. Lugar's son is an Army major who has received the full series of

shots.

Senators Joe Biden and Tom Carper and Rep. Mike Castle would not comment on

calls to suspend the program.

A bill introduced in Congress last month would give military personnel the

option to refuse the anthrax vaccine if they believe the health risk outweighs

the benefits of the immunization.

continues to work as a carpenter for his unit, pending his next

vaccination order. But the stress and uncertainty of his dilemma are taking a

severe toll. He knows he can end it all by simply agreeing to take the vaccine.

" Some days, all I can do is pray, " he said.

Soldier of the month

Leal enlisted in the land National Guard in 2003 to put food on the

table for his wife and three daughters after a job at a high school fell

through.

His mother says he's always been a hard worker. Growing up, he often worked

three jobs.

was a year shy of completing an art degree when he joined the service.

He was trained as a carpenter by the Army, and assigned to an engineer unit that

was mobilized for a tour in Uzbekistan.

His life changed forever during pre-mobilization training at Fort Dix, N.J.,

when a sergeant talked to him about being re-baptized in Jesus' name.

At Fort Dix, in addition to his spiritual awakening, received three

anthrax shots.

His unit left the States on May 9 and traveled for two days before arriving in

the former Soviet Republic. Standing orders prevent service personnel from

revealing the location of their unit or its mission.

By all accounts, he excelled at his tasks, twice being selected as soldier of

the month, 's records show.

" He has always been exemplary in every way, " said Louis Huff, a close family

friend.

His off-duty hours were spent in Bible study, which was aided by his mother,

White.

was troubled by rumors he heard about the anthrax shots, so he started

to research the vaccine. He was struck by what he discovered.

" It's not safe, " he said. " There's really no truth in it. Anybody with a clear

mind who looks at the reports by other government agencies is going to find

alarming information about the anthrax vaccine. "

understands the dangers of getting anthrax better than most. His

great-great-grandfather died of anthrax spores he received from a tainted cow

hide while working at a tannery in Wilmington in 1919.

In July, informed his platoon sergeant he had decided to refuse the

next shot, which he was scheduled to receive in August. After the military

informed the soldiers that they would face disciplinary action if they continued

to refuse, six others who had been resisting agreed to take the vaccine.

held out.

At a field-grade disciplinary hearing in August, his attorney told him to take

the shot. fired the military lawyer and defended himself before the

hearing officer, a lieutenant-colonel. All could offer were character

witnesses.

The hearing officer demoted from Specialist E-4 to Private E-1, fined

him $596 and warned him if he refuses the shots again in January, he will be

court-martialed for disobeying a lawful order during time of war. He did not

have to tell the possible consequences.

The newly demoted private sent appeals for help to President Bush and several

land lawmakers. To date, he says, he has not received a response.

His family supports a suspension of the vaccination program.

" It needs to stop, " his mother said. " They should let him continue in his

career. He shouldn't be threatened or coerced any more. "

" They need to halt the program, " said Calvin White, his grandfather. " Too many

people are being damaged and crippled up. "

Career pilot quits

Another soldier, Ruth Rymal, 39, has been around the military since junior ROTC

in high school. She attended New Mexico Military Institute and was commissioned

a lieutenant in the signal corps. After striving for years, she was admitted to

flight school at Fort Rucker, Okla., in 1992.

She left the Army in 1996 and joined the Florida National Guard in 2001 because

she missed flying. This year she gave it all up rather than submit to the shots

when her unit was mobilized for duty in Iraq.

A close friend suffered extensive health problems after taking the vaccine.

Rymal did not want to risk her own health, so she researched the vaccine and

decided to refuse the shots.

After her refusal in January, the Blackhawk helicopter pilot was not allowed to

go with her unit and instead was sent to Fort Benning, Ga., a place with fewer

women than most posts and home of the Army's infantry training center, Airborne

and Ranger schools.

" I thought those guys would stick my head on a pike outside the front gate, " she

said.

Rymal marked time at Fort Benning in a replacement center, while her future was

decided by others.

In May, she was formally charged with disobeying a direct order to take the

vaccine and offered a chance to resign. She was assigned a military lawyer. Her

attorney told her she could be convicted of a federal felony. That was when she

gave up.

" He didn't know whether I'd lose the right to vote, " she said. " That was it.

That's what swayed me. "

In a plea bargain, Rymal was allowed to quietly resign her commission, " for the

good of the Army. "

" That's what really burns me, " she said. " I wanted to stay in and deploy with my

unit for the good of the Army. "

Rymal believes the most serious health effects of the vaccine are still not

known.

" I think the continuation of this program is going to come back and be a bigger

news story 25 years from now, " she said.

A terrible loss

Barbara Welsh-Rosenblum, 44, followed orders and took her shots. Now, after 20

years in the Air Force, she believes she paid a terrible price.

A former Air Force sergeant stationed at Dover Air Force Base, Welsh-Rosenblum

had only six months left in 1999 before retirement when she was ordered to start

taking the vaccine - a series of six shots that can take 18 months to complete.

When she received the order, she and her husband were trying to conceive their

second baby.

Their first child was a textbook delivery. She was in labor for only two hours,

never needed pain medication, and was the envy of other mothers on the base.

She explained to her first sergeant that she and her husband were trying to

conceive a second child, and she did not want to take the vaccine.

" He told me, 'You will take it and tell me when you're done, and I want to see

your shot record,' " Welsh-Rosenblum recalled. " I just wanted to have another

baby, retire and stay home. They didn't seem to care. "

She was told if she refused she would be booted out of the Air Force. She

struggled with the most difficult decision of her life.

" I had nineteen-and-a-half years of service. I couldn't give up my retirement, "

she said. " I took the shot even though I knew I'd never complete the series

before I retired. "

Welsh-Rosenblum received her first vaccination in November 1998, after a blood

test showed she was not pregnant, according to her military records.

A second blood test cleared her for the second shot, and she was scheduled for a

third vaccination two weeks later. This shot was halted after a blood test

revealed she was pregnant. The military does not require pregnant women to

receive the anthrax vaccine.

Her baby died on April 9, 1999, after nearly five months of pregnancy.

" I went to the doctor and he couldn't find a heartbeat, " she said. " I actually

delivered her like a normal pregnancy. I held her. "

Over the next several years, Welsh-Rosenblum lost four more children, all within

the first three or four months of pregnancy.

Although neither pediatricians nor genetic specialists would tie the

miscarriages to the vaccine, for Welsh-Rosenblum, that connection is a brute

fact.

" Why did my baby die? " she said. " The Air Force never gave me any good reasons.

I believe the anthrax vaccine caused my babies' deaths. "

She and her husband, a Wilmington police officer, had a healthy child recently.

She said the successful delivery occurred because the vaccine is out of her

system.

Welsh-Rosenblum wants the program suspended.

" I hope I can prevent one woman from going through what I did. "

Contact investigative reporter Lee at 324-2362 or

lwilliams@.... Contact Hiran Ratnayake at 324-2547 or

hratnayake@....