Army Admits Gulf War Medical Records Destroyed

Evidence? What evidence?
While I did not serve in the military, I am grateful for those who have and it seems to me that none of these folks should have any obstacles. I got all worked up after having 2 friends that served in Desert Storm, BOTH who have chronic multi-symptom illnesses, and tell stories of civilian toxicity over there.
I'd like to hear from some military folks on this.
Do you think the destruction of these records was an accident? "No room to ship the papers?!"

Operation Desert Storm pushed Iraqi troops out of Kuwait but kept Saddam Hussein in power and lasted from Aug. 2, 1990, to the cease-fire April 11, 1991. In the conflict, 383 service members died; as of last year, 467 were reported injured. About 2.225 million troops served in the war, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Not just the after-action reports have been destroyed or are missing. According to some files, when some veterans come to the Veterans Administration to get help for service-related disabilities, records show they served, but medical records are missing.

That means when the vets make claims, they are turned down.

Another Gulf War vet who also didn't want to be identified said what disturbs him most is the lack of recourse.

This veteran served 20 years in the Army. The Veterans Administration has documentation that he served in the 82nd Airborne division as an Army ranger and made 125 parachute jumps. All of his claims, including hearing loss, ankle and back injury, have been denied because efforts to obtain his service medical records were unsuccessful.

The Department of Defense did send a letter telling the same soldier that he and others in his unit were in an area where exposure to nerve agents sarin and cycolosarin was possible, but they should not worry about any side effects.

"So we all got exposed to nerve agent as well, and according to the military, that is never going to affect us," he said. "They just wanted to advise us that we've been exposed."

Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young, R-Fla., says he did not know of the Army's letter until now. His office asking the Defense Department to look into the matter.

Source
www.publichealth.va.gov...
More info:
www.ccnr.org...
www.veteranstoday.com...

peace,
spec

unfortunately, not a military person, but a medical one, so i might not fit your bill on responders.

but, you're right on that the complete destruction of medical papers is never an accident. there's always ways to store important information like this. as far as toxicity it really depends how much "exposure" you get. sarin is extreeeeemely toxic, so the exposure was probably very, very minimum, if at all, which can (afaik) cause neurological damage if the exposure is non-lethal. wondering if these people are going to get neurological treatments of some sort? they were probably willing to cut their losses on it and say "if anything happens to them it's minimal and damage-controllable."

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


Didn't the USA attend the Biological Weapons Convention in '72 and agree not to use them?

My concern is also, what the hell is the military doing using these types of weapons when they agreed not to multiple times in the past?

Karma is no fun USA.

Some info back a couple of years in this related thread...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

It's not a surprise to see that the records have been lost

Gulf War vet here (Desert Shield and Desert Storm). We fought battles
in the Gulf only to come back home and have to fight battles of red tape.
I have been trying to prove my disabilities for 2 years now because they
can't seem to locate all of my records. I even got a letter stating that my
medical records were in a building that burnt down in the 1970's! (I wasn't
even in the military then). Yes I do believe that some forms of neuro -chemical
\toxins were used or destroyed very close to our unit (U.N. monitoring (Czech I think)
units chemical warning equipment went off but not ours)).

All I keep getting from the VA is that they are working on gathering the records
(2 years now) meanwhile i am unemployed, can't pay child support and would
be homeless if it wasn't for my loving parents and family. People tell us "Thank you
for your service" however thank you doesn't pay the bills,feed, house or clothe my
children. You are welcome U.S. Government.

Can I guess what room in the Pentagon they were stored in?

There is absolutely no excuse for this. My family members have had a few medical issues since returning.

They are extremely tough and proud people. They aren't the complainer type...

I am not surprised. It is commonly thought that both the US and Israel use depleted uranium in their bullets, white phosphorus and chemical weapons in their mid-east endeavors and there have been several videos posted on YT to document such a fact.

The reality is it is a business. Any like any business maneuvers to protect itself, when a light is shined on its not so humble actions, they do damage control. This is an indication that such an act has occurred.

My medical records from my wounds in Vietnam vanished, but there was one page remaining in my file showing the extent of my wounds and my having been wounded in action was documented in my service record book.

The full record would have been helpful, but what there was, plus the scars were enough to get treatment and compensation.

These men need representation, which is free from any service organization and the law now allows attorneys to represent veterans for more than the $10 that was mandated by law after the Civil War and remained in effect at least until the 1980s.

Collateral information can be critical in these cases and can override the lack of documentation, especially when the loss of records is acknowledged.

In my case, it took 26 years to get the proper rating. Don't give up hope. Don't stop fighting and the most important thing is to stay faithful to the treatment once it is established.

reply to post by RustyShakleford92

My concern is also, what the hell is the military doing using these types of weapons when they agreed not to multiple times in the past?

I don't know how accurate this is, but it was my understanding that they wanted to utilize the waste or excess gathered up over the years? I have also heard because these type of shells penetrate armor?
It is friggin' insulting to expose everyone to this crap, then give a denial type runaround to those involved.

@ JacKatMtn - Thanks for the link and comment Jack
@ Mr.D - Sorry to hear of your troubles man, and it seems this is not an isolated "mistake," with regard to record keeping. I hope you find some relief.
@ WhyamIhere - Same room I'm thinking of...
@alyshablue - Agreed, business certainly plays a part in all of this, gotta keep those margins good, especially with such a frail budget?!
@GradyPhilpott - 26 years, well good thing you are still alive! So who does represent these guys?

Thank you everyone for commenting!

spec

Originally posted by alyoshablue
I am not surprised. It is commonly thought that both the US and Israel use depleted uranium in their bullets, white phosphorus and chemical weapons in their mid-east endeavors and there have been several videos posted on YT to document such a fact.

DU in a rifle round? No way. DU was used in anti tank rounds for armor and the A-10. No real reason for some 11Bang to use them in his musket. WP was used in theater, chemical weapons (like gas, etc) were not.

Originally posted by speculativeoptimist

@GradyPhilpott - 26 years

, well good thing you are still alive! So who does represent these guys?

Any service organization, such as the VFW, the American Legion, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, AmVets, Vietnam Veterans of America, and a number of others.

You do not have to be a member to receive representation from these organizations.

Certainly no accident IMO.

My father's records were "lost". They couldn't even find record of his service. That took years to resolve.

I am sick and utterly disgusted by how our own government treats those who have served. My grandfather served in WW2 and getting any decent doctor or aid from the VA Hospital was like asking for a million dollars. More people need to be aware of these situatons and stand behind our service men and women to resolve them.

"Accidents, losses, misplaced papers" are a load of BS to save money and government arses. They don't want to pay (then or now) or be held accountable for their actions that aided in these sicknesses.

So NO. No accident. Our government doesn't make unnecessary mistakes...

S&F

reply to post by GradyPhilpott


Thanks, and I do understand that, I guess I was referring more to legal assistance. Do they use civilian attorneys or military attorneys? And if military, I would imagine there has been some debacles along the way in the courts , and this incident of destroying records really sounds unfortunate and unjust for those seeking relief, answers and closure(if there can be).

spec

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe

Since writing this thread I have talked with several people about the subject and a few of them had stories like yours, "lost records." I do think records are/have been lost in systems, particularly older ones and ones that got transfered from paper to hardrive, as technology became more prominent and connected/shared.
But, I am suspicious too because I feel that there would be a concerted effort to prevent these case from going to trial, not just for liability, but criminal acts as well.

Thanks for the comments K4Eew,
spec