The VA has issued the statement below
regarding their handling of the recent
news report that a "committee" had
made findings in favor of the Gulf
War Veterans.

In the AP, the "committee" was never
named or identified, but in the VA
statement, they have been identified
as VA's own "research advisory committee".

Of course, this is the same internal
workings that the Fort McClellan Veterans
had approached the VA to access for
a Presumptive finding for our patient
group, and we were given a thank
you for sharing rejection letter
by nut case Patrick Dunne.

But the handoff doesn't end here for
the GWV.

After all of that, and the VA's own
committtee finds on behalf of the
Gulf War Veterans, now the Administration
has taken that report and handed it off
to a new study at the Institute of
Medicine, apparently for delay purposes.

Tell me does anybody really understand
what the hell is going on here ??

The Gulf War Veterans are already
receiving payment and recognition
on their disability claims. Getting
"presumptive" statusing after that
is almost a waste of time. Presumptive
statusing only helps those who are
pursuing claims for a common list
of conditions. If the VA is not making
any issue of those claims, then
what exactly are the Gulf War
Veterans chasing exactly ??

This whole thing is turning into a
process on top of a process and
it is a classic example of the
kinds of "jerk around" that the
VA does to medical patients who
only want their dam money and to
be left alone after that.

There are 2 things going on here.

The Gulf War Veterans seem to be
confused about what they are chasing
and why, and the VA seems to be
confused, as always, about how
and what to do for the Gulf War
Veterans beyond recognizing and
paying their disability claims.

In the meantime, process is taking
on a life of it's own, and of course
the rest of us don't really understand
why.

Taking a findings report from the
VA Research Advisory Committee and
then handing it over to the Institute
of Medicine Military Committee,
then what, handing it over to anybody
on the sidewalk in downtown Washington?
What's next in this zoo and circus
of VA wheel spinning to nowhere?

At what point does Congress intervene
on their behalf, end the human torture,
and just give them their dam Presumptive
statusing and be done with it??

What a jerk off situation this is
and anybody standing on the sidelines
of it looking on, really does need
to tell Congress to cut the CRAP
and get the VA off the backs of the
Gulf War Veterans once and for tell.

Tell this shit-bag VA to shut up and
sit down and get out of our freaking
faces. The VA Secretary, after all,
IS a licensed medical doctor
just in case you all didn't catch
that.



VA Sends Latest Gulf War Illness Report to IOM for Review



December 1, 2008


WASHINGTON -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has sent the October 2008 report from the VA Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses to the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine (IOM) for review and recommendations.

The October report from the advisory committee identified potential causes for -- and asserted that research supports the existence of -- a multi-symptom condition resulting from service in the 1990 - 1991 Gulf War, which the committee identified as Gulf War Illness (GWI).

Because VA has traditionally and by law relied upon IOM for independent and credible reviews of the science behind these particular veterans’ health issues, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake has asked IOM to review the advisory committee’s report before VA officially responds to the report’s conclusions.

“I appreciate the committee’s work on this report, and I am eager to see the results of further independent study into their findings,” Peake said. “Of course, VA will continue to provide the care and benefits our Gulf War veterans have earned through their service, as we have for more than a decade.”

VA has long recognized conditions, granted benefits and provided health care to Gulf War veterans suffering from a broad range of symptoms, even though these conditions have not been scientifically recognized as a specific disease or injury or GWI.

These include chronic fatigue, persistent rashes, hair loss, headaches, muscle pain, joint pain, neurologic symptoms, neuropsychological symptoms (such as memory loss), respiratory system symptoms, sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal symptoms, cardiovascular symptoms, abnormal weight loss and menstrual disorders.

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END of VA Official Statement