The Gulf War Ground Assault: 20 Years Later

This Vet Endures Gov’t Sponsored Abuses. The VA now rates me at 100%”Service-Connected” after they got National attention for sending Homeland Security agents to intimidate me into silence by “arresting” me at gun point on trumped up charges that were dismissed upon my pro se appeal. They terrorized my wife and children. Google: Kenneth Tennant to read the story in American Conservative mag. Apr 2005 article: The Knock On The Door. They have yet to award an Earlier Effective date consistent with my service (1987 is when the DoD injected me with experimental vaccines that caused my conditions) The Iowa delegation has done little to nothing as this is yet “pending.” The SSA is worse. I applied for soc sec disability in 1991. The medical exams determined disability, but the lawyers & judges (ALJ Don Holloway & US Dist Ct., S. IA “Judge” Ron Longstaff) cheated me with their skills at putting objectivity on the back burner. I need Debra Bice, Chief ALJ, ODAR to re-open my case. I sent her a US registered letter, yet she has a cadre of incompetent & dishonest employees tell me that my ONLY option is to “re-apply” despite the fact that this is NOT an option as I haven’t worked since leaving the military in 1989 & have no “work credits.” Where is the oversight ? Accountability ? Iowa delegation ? USDOJ ? – Kenneth Tennant, 3935 Rolling Hills Dr., Bettendorf, Iowa (563) 355-7073

I was with the 2222 Trans, we set up the log bases early on. Later I worked at WSRO issuing the armor out to the units coming in from Europe. I had my Deuce and a half all over the theater the whole time, making daily trips to Dahran and back to KKMC and points west for much of the time. We went in on the 23rd, late at night/early in the morning, behind the 25X(can’t remember the last digit now, sorry) Combat Engineers, also AZ ARNG, when they breached the “wall”, we were carrying some infantry up to the highway north of Hafr al Batin. Yes. Seems like yesterday.

When I went into a VA center in 1994 to seek help for what has turned out to be Gulf War Syndrom, constant pain, headaches, digestive issues, tremors, the guy at the front desk here in Phoenix gave me a rant about “real wars” and tore up my 214. I haven’t even looked or listened to the VA since.

I’ve bounced from job to job to job, been homeless twice and it’s fixing to go there again. They’re never going to admit what they did. There has only been a fraction of 1 percent of the records from that action declassified, Desert Storm is more secret than the Manhattan Project.

I was activated from civilian status with no reserve time owed after 10 years’ service. The Guard company I was assigned to was shot SO FULL of vaccines. On one day we got 19 shots containing 72 different “medicines”. All three of our supply sergeants have died since coming home. I was lucky with my own truck, I just stayed detached to other units whenever I could and stopped taking the nerve gas pills.

Everyone I was there with has GWI to some degree or another. We were right in the middle of the Scuds on KKMC. The guys investigating the debris from the rockets set up their headquarters in our tent, because we were at the geographic center of the debris fields, with two Patriot batteries going off around the clock, along with the M8s keeping us from getting any real sleep. I was there and saw it when they blew Khamisiyah.

But nothing’s wrong with me, it’s all in my head. All old soldiers have these problems. Maybe I need some counseling. Right. Maybe I need my government to stop lying to my children.

What you see from the VA is mostly propganda at it’s finest. Agent Orange Deep Water Navy vets are denied service connection. The Secretary of the VA has went out of his way to ensure that they will never be service connected.

I am Desert Storm Navy sub veteran. I served during Desert Shield/Storm. I have genetic blood enzyme condiditon known as G6PD. This condition reacts badly to both shots (including the anthrax shot) and chemical weapons, as well as chemical spills. I served on the USS Pittsburgh. I am denied service connection by the VA. I would like like to known the reason of how I got sick when I should be healthy I have documentation similar to other vets. The differenc is the laws which John R. Gingrich totes only applies in certain areas. The VA is extremely vocal in denying veterans that got sick in the wrong areas. The VA is extremely focused on rewriting history stating that troops did not get sick before deployment. The VA is extremely determeined to deny research that might focus on any kind of vaccine or chemical weapon exposure from scud etc. The law of presumtion is similar to the what the Agent Orange Vietnam veterans go through. I am experiencing it first hand as Navy veteran from Desert Storm. The soliders creeds does not apply you will be left behind if you served in the Navy in the wrong areas. The soliders creed does not apply if you got sick before deployment. The soliders creed does not apply if you do not meet the new boots on ground ideology. I have medical proof to back up my claims the VA just choses to ignore it. After all the first time around when they told veterans to go away it’s all in your head we would still be there if not for the work of fired researchers who stood up for us. This includes Dr. Haley and other. The VA recently was so bold as to remove Anthrax vaccine injections from the list of possible causes of Gulf War Illness. To hear them talk they would have you belive cases like Sgt Lavester Brown of the Air force who had reaction do not exist. Again the VA is filled with propganda if you as veterans continue to allow it to occur then you are paving the way for again more injustice to fellow military memebers who got sick. Remeber your oath to the Constitution of United States you all swore. Forget the mythical tale of we take veterans. The secretary of the VA has one agenda it is to take care of Soldiers. Discrimination against Navy veterans is very obvious now days, however, what can you do sue the VA for armed forces discrmination? If you think justice is being served with disabled Navy veterans you would be wrong.

Those veterans really deserves recognition. They have risks their lives just to protect others, fight war to reestablish fallen governments and fight to serve their mother country. That huey chopper also deserves recognition. It has been serving war for decades.

We need to talk and get the best possible treatments for our veterans

rather than keep telling my squads story over and over, I created a website:

http://johnwestlakeods.weebly.com/

You know what is making GW vet’s ill, dying early????

DU. Chemical warfare agents. Undocumented and unapproved vaccines and pills. Steadily inhaling smoke from oil well fires. Insect repellent. And those are just the biggies.

That area of operations was the most toxic any military has operated in since WWI.

I am one of those people prone to headaches, migraine and colds. Usually, my first recourse is White Flower Embrocation (embrocation.50webs.com), also called White Flower Oil

for over a week now the we have read about toxic exposures, injuies, and wounds and resulting lingering medical problems associated with operation desert storm and consequently the delayed, denied, and ineffective medical care. as each of you can read those of us who have tried to resolve these problems have been subjected to continuous retaliation. it is time for the nonsense to end. i am calling upon president obama, general shinseki, and colonel gingrich to finally end this nightmare. warriors should not have to fight for medical care that we earned and we should not have to endure retaliation from those WHO SHOULD BE OUR ADVOCATES BUT INSTEAD who want to prevent accountability and thus limit liability for caring for those of us who are ill, injured, or wounded.

Article by Bill Wilson, a member of the Scottish Parliament:

“Tell the truth, but keep one foot in the stirrup”

Recently I had an article in the Scottish Left Review which was also published on a number of websites. It described the horrific situation in Fallujah where women have been advised to avoid becoming pregnant due to the very high risk of gross birth deformities in their children. It is notable that the first signs that something odd was happening (changing birth gender ratios) appeared shortly after the first gulf war. Since then, evidence has been mounting that a significant factor in the very high level of genetic abnormalities is the use of Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons. Generally I open an article on DU with the events in Fallujah not because Fallujah is an isolated case, but because the situation – doctors advising an entire city of women not to become pregnant – is so extreme. However, the use of DU was not limited to Fallujah. In Basra there is a new cancer hospital, necessary due to the substantial rise in childhood cancers, and man’s inhumanity to man extends beyond Iraq. Think of the nations of former Yugoslavia, think Gaza, think Afghanistan. Though does it stop even there? Once in a while dust will arrive in Scotland from North Africa. Once DU particles enter the water, once they become dust, where does the pollution end? Even if the dust never arrives, the effects will. Our servicemen and women are no more immune from breathing in, or drinking, the DU particles than are the civilians in the target zones. Of course the MoD and the DoD (US) continue to deny that DU presents a risk. Yet the Italian government paid some 170 million Euros in compensation to their soldiers, and a coroner’s report in the UK quite specifically identified DU as the cause of death.

However, it is not my intention to discuss the evidence or effects of DU in this short article. Those interested can check my home page (www.billwilsonmsp.com) and use the search function to find all the articles and information on DU, or you can read the article on SLR (online). One could even push the boat out and do both? This article looks specifically at disinformation. When challenging the vested interests of the powerful, it is not unusual to have to deal with disinformation campaigns (think of smoking and climate change, for example). Such campaigns are fairly standard. So that there is no room for doubt, I am not referring to genuine scientific debate, but specifically to disinformation:

1) the use of errors in minor details to cast doubt upon an entire case;

2) the distortion/misrepresentation of facts;

3) the creation of new facts lacking any evidence for such (might also be referred to as lying);

4) character assassination.

It did not take long for me to become aware of a disinformation campaign surrounding DU and its effects. Perhaps the first clear indication I had was from a former US Colonel, who wrote an angry email to me noting that the DU campaign was based on lies, that there were no such things as DU weapons. He insisted that the use of the word weapon was misleading. He insisted that “There is no such thing as a uranium weapon. That is term that they made up to make DU kinetic energy penetrators look like weapons of mass destruction instead of tank killing bullets”. As the argument goes it certainly fits into category 2), I cannot really see any difference between a bullet and a weapon; an attempt at 1), even if a bullet is not a weapon the end result, particulate DU, is the same; certainly 3), DU is also used in ‘bunker busters’ and other munitions used to attack buildings and is not restricted to use against tanks (hence its use in Gaza where the Palestinians have a distinct lack of tanks). In case you think that I am splitting hairs, I should note that this self-same Colonel went on to argue that DU could not have been used at Fallujah because there were “no tank battles in Fallujah”. In effect, he was using the ‘fact’ that DU was only used in anti-tank shells to cast doubt on their use in Fallujah. Thus the point is not one of hair-splitting but rather more significant than that. All this within a matter of hours of my dipping my toe into the DU nightmare!

Dr Doug Rokke is a retired army major. He was appointed by the Pentagon to devise the protocols in handling DU, and how/if it might safely be used. Doug duly provided the Pentagon with the required report and protocols. Doug also had responsibility for the limited clear-up of some sites in Iraq. There is a tragic side to this paragraph: Doug Rokke, an honourable and decent man, is dying, and many of his team are dead or likewise dying. He has no doubt why they are dying; DU does not just affect civilians.

Why the short detour to describe Doug Rokke and his team? Well the disinformation did not stop at modifying or redefining facts. It went on from there. I was reading a blog article on DU and glanced at the responses below. I was immediately confused. A respondent angrily attacked Doug Rokke because he had been supporting the DU lobby in viciously attacking him when the respondent had written on DU. This was bizarre, really bizarre. Doug was actually accused of working with a man who had regularly smeared him. More confusing was that Doug, arch anti-DU campaigner, had suddenly become a DU supporter. What the heck was going on? It was clear the original author of the blog was equally dumfounnart (the Scots word for dumbfounded). There then followed a confused and lengthy exchange between the blog author and the respondent. It moved on to the respondent wondering about Doug’s email address: it looked a little odd, his IP address seemed similar to a notorious DU supporter – even odder. To cut a long story short, the respondent, after a very lengthy exchange, finally concluded with, “I am now watching the real Doug Rokke on YouTube”. Somebody had gone out of their way to make it appear that Doug was working with the pro-DU lobby. A man seriously ill from the effects of DU, who is furious that the Pentagon has ignored his advice and protocols – insult to injury!

The above would certainly fall into my fourth category of disinformation: character assassination. A pretty unpleasant form of character assassination, given the circumstances: to be portrayed as a supporter of DU. But of course it does not stop there. I have received a large number of emails specifically attacking the qualifications and character of various individuals with whom I have corresponded or to whom I have referred in my articles/press releases. Doug Rokke is specifically accused of having lied about his army service, lied about his depleted DU findings, and having very unpleasant connections (apparently somebody he knew had written something which may have used something else which may have come from an organisation with dubious repute – no, seriously!), and finally he is accused of smearing the man who sent me the email smearing Doug Rokke (I assume the latter works on the principle of distracting people from your own thieving by shouting, “Catch the thief!”) I have concentrated on Doug not because he is the only individual about whom I have received unpleasant (and dishonest) allegations, but rather because he seems to have earned the most vitriol.

I became rather tired of all this, so I wrote to the US ambassador asking if the individual who had been putting out many of the smears (I named him in the letter), worked for or had worked for, the US Government. I await the reply with anticipation.

Let me end with some useful (Arabian) advice for Doug and my other correspondents fighting for justice, “Tell the truth, but keep one foot in the stirrup”.

Twenty years ago this country’s best men and women were engaged in combat with the forces of Saddam Hussein after his August 2nd, 1990 invasion of Kuwait. In February 1991, my men and I knew we had what it would take to liberate the people of Kuwait. We had years of training and good leaders in our chain of command, as did many of the other units in the U.S. Army. We were confident in our combat capabilities, yet we had great concern about the prospect of having to face the chemical weaponry that we knew Iraq possessed. For weeks before the ground phase of Operation Desert Storm began, the prevailing winds had been blowing out of Iraq. We prayed that on G-day the winds would turn in our favor and blow back in the direction of Saddam’s forces. This we hoped would minimize the chances that the Iraqi Army would use their massive chemical stockpiles against us.

Due to our superior training, our well-seasoned and courageous leaders, and our overwhelming firepower, the ground phase of Desert Storm lasted less than four days. As the guns fell quiet and Saddam’s remaining forces high-tailed it back to Baghdad, many of our soldiers started to show signs of illness. No one knew what was causing this unusual medical phenomenon. Our higher Headquarters suggested that the illnesses might be the result of the desert heat; but my Battalion Commander knew this was not the case because the temperature was in fact quite mild; less than 90 degrees. For someone like myself; born and raised in Kansas, 90 degrees is a bit on the chilly side. Beyond the suggestions that our troops were ill because of the heat, no one gave much thought to the possibility that the Iraqi chemical ammunition stockpiles that were being destroyed by U.S. forces not far away might be the source of our ills.

Our brave warriors came home from the Persian Gulf War to an unprecedented hero’s welcome; but it wasn’t long before news reports began to document a mysterious illness plaguing many of these American heroes. Men and women who had previously enjoyed robust health and exceptional physical fitness were suddenly victims of unexplained skin rashes, joint pain, debilitating fatigue, and a host of other very odd health-related problems that even the most highly trained medical professionals were unable to diagnose.

As more and more ailing Persian Gulf War Veterans began to come forward and share their stories it became clear that one of the most common factors that nearly everyone could relate to were the significant number of “false” chemical alarms that had activated in theater. Persian Gulf War Veterans from virtually all branches of the military have described how these highly sophisticated devices kept going into alarm mode, to the point that finally USCENTCOM passed the word that our troops were to unmask and disregard the alarms. According to higher headquarters, the NBC alarms were malfunctioning and the alarms were “false”.

In 1993 many of us worked with members of Congress to get the first bill passed to provide compensation to Veterans suffering from Gulf War Illnesses (GWI). Public Law 103-446, enacted in 1994, authorized the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to pay disability compensation to disabled Persian Gulf War Veterans suffering from undiagnosed illnesses. Despite the new law few Veterans saw any relief because of the prevailing attitudes of those in the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). VBA did not and still does not like to grant service connection for GWI. Despite clear direction by Congress and the President, skepticism continues to abound within the VBA. Many of the Veterans Affairs Regional Offices (RO) actually go out of their way to deny GWI claims.

In 1997, we again worked with Congress to amend the law in the hopes it would help our ailing Persian Gulf War Veterans. The changes helped some, but not many. The most recent change came in 2002 when we were successful in adding Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Fibromyalgia (FM), and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) to the list of “undiagnosed illnesses” that were to be considered “presumptive” to service in the Persian Gulf War. Yet to this day thousands of Veterans continue to have their claims denied despite clear and convincing medical opinion that they are indeed suffering.

Today I see many claims denied for reasons such as; “your claim cannot be granted under the undiagnosed illness provision as you have a diagnosis.” For example; if a Veteran is told by their doctor that he or she has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, even though that illness is now clearly defined in the law as an “undiagnosed illness” many VBA Claims Adjudicators ignore the law and deny the Veteran’s claim. In many cases Veterans have had to fight this kind of injustice all the way to the Court of Veterans Appeals (COVA), which typically takes years. COVA cases that have already clarified and corrected these mishandled claims should have served to prevent these same mistakes from repeating with other Veteran’s claims but sadly it continues to occur on a regular basis.

A common error among many VBA Claims Adjudicators is when a Veteran files a claim based upon the “presumptive” provision in the law (e.g. GWI), yet the Claims Adjudicator processes the claim as if the Veteran is requesting direct service-connection for the illness. There is a clear difference between an illness or injury that is directly related to military service versus an illness that is supposed to be treated as “presumptive” under the law. I have assisted quite a few Veterans in reopening their claims because of this common error made by VBA. Some of these cases go back as far as 1998, while others are more recent.

Currently the “presumptive” period for GWI is set to expire on December 31, 2011. In order to be considered “presumptive” for GWI the Veteran must show signs and symptoms of one or more of the conditions listed in the law for a continuous period of six months or more, and be severe enough to warrant a disability rating of ten percent (10%) or greater.

A Persian Gulf War Veteran came to me not long ago asking for help with his claim for CFS which had recently been denied by VBA. The Veteran had not been able to work for the past three years because of his CFS yet had already been approved for Social Security Disability compensation. Nevertheless, the VBA Claims Adjudicator denied the Veteran’s claim. The reason for denial? The Claims Adjudicator stated that the CFS had to have started while the Veteran was still in the service. The Claims Adjudicator clearly failed to follow the law on this Veterans claim. It’s simple; if a Persian Gulf War Veteran has FM, CFS, and/or IBS and it meets the 10% rating level, the law states it is presumed to be related to the Veteran’s service in the Persian Gulf War and that the Veteran is to be awarded service connected for the illness. GWI claims are not hard to do if the VBA would get the Claims Adjudicators to follow the law correctly and to get past their own personal feelings and bias concerning GWI.

I have worked with hundreds of Persian Gulf War Veterans this past year and I have seen many injustices perpetrated on these American patriots. Some of the time the injustices result from a Claims Adjudicator’s personal bias, and other times the denial results from a lack of training on the part of VBA. Sadly, when new Claims Adjudicators come aboard VBA, very often they are trained by more tenured Claims Adjudicators who themselves are uniformed as to the most recent provisions of the law concerning presumptive conditions for Persian Gulf War Veterans.

Persian Gulf War Veterans are tired of fighting! First and foremost we want our health back. Secondly, we want Claims Adjudicators at the VBA to do their jobs right the first time around. We want VBA to assign specific Claims Adjudicators to handle claims involving GWIs so that all of these Veterans are treated fairly and consistently.

Last year Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki made a promise to reopen all of the Gulf War Illness claims that had previously been denied in order to ensure that none of these Veterans are disenfranchised. Then, just one month later the VA’s Chief of Staff, John R. Gingrich told a group of Persian Gulf Veterans that the VA cannot reopen claims on their own accord. Mr. Gingrich clarified that it is the Veteran’s responsibility to request that their claim be reopened, not the VA.

I would like to ask the Secretary why it is that the VA is currently reopening Agent Orange claims on their own initiative, yet they say that they can’t do the same for Gulf War Illness claims? Mr. Secretary; your promise to Persian Gulf War Veterans is now beginning to look like just another in a series of broken promises that VA has made to Persian Gulf War Veterans over the last several years. And how much longer will we have to fight to get VA physicians on staff who are properly trained to recognize the conditions and symptoms that are by law to be considered related to service in the Persian Gulf War?

Instead of VA physicians who dismiss these symptoms as psychosomatic, as happens so often in the Tampa, Florida and Fayetteville, North Carolina VA Medical Centers, let’s get physicians in there who understand what Gulf War Illnesses are, and what Congress has directed them to do for Veterans suffering from these debilitating conditions.

It is exceptionally difficult to grasp the reality that twenty years have passed since Desert Storm. I remember that period very clearly, it really does seem like yesterday. I served with LTC (Then) John R. Gingrich and remember when the photo was taken. I might have even taken it as we (the S3 shop)wrote a book (sic)for the BN and had it published so that each Soldier had a written record of the Bn’s service in the operation to look at someday and remember the service and the sacrifice made by each Soldier and their families.
I am reaching the end of my career now. A span of time that has allowed me to serve as a Vietnam Era Veteran and to contribute as a Veteran in many other periods since. Thank you VA for being there each and every time I asked for help and many other times when I didn’t ask, but you offered knowing I might need it.

Craig Ratcliff
LTC, FA
1974-2011

I was in 3rd LAI. 1st MARDIV. We lost 4 Marines in combat Jan 25th 1991, and 10 more on Jan 29th 1991 in the battle for Khafji. So we had been fighting for a month when the ground war started. We had two task forces, Grizzly, and Tarrowa 12 miles into Kuwait on Feb 22 to clear mines from the breech points. Kind of sad that everyone thinks the war only lasted 100 hours, even sadder when the VA can only remember 100 hours. It made it almost impossible to get a PTSD claim granted.