The following planned speech
with impromptu tags was
delivered at the May 18-19,
2006 session of the VA
Disability Commission during
a full session hearing and
Public Comment period at
Arlington, VA.


MAIN SPEECH ON FORT MCCLELLAN
_____________________________

Today represents the third time
the Fort McClellan Veterans
have appeared before this
Commission: first I was here
last August, second one of our
other members was before you in
Chicago last month, and now
I'm here today again to repeat
our request to you for Presumptive
Service Connection status for
those Veterans who served in the
chemical contamination zone of
Fort McClellan, Alabama from
1955 to 1978.

Just like the first time I was
here, we are STILL locked
out of the Anniston Health
Registery with no change on
that; we are STILL without
any emergency assistance from
any of the agencies including
the VA, the DOD, or the Center
for Disease Control; and we
are STILL not showing up in
any of the Commission's
Minutes Reports as a chemical
exposure group of concern either
by this Commission or by your
contractor, the Institute of
Medicine.

In a recent query of the
Institute's own website
we have learned that the
Institute of Medicine does
not have ONE single published
medical study on U.S. women
veterans from the time we
first entered the Armed Forces
dating back to World War II.
The cohort manipulation in
their military data studies
cannot be trusted.

They have no real interest
in issues of women veterans,
and Fort McClellan is formerly
a womens Army base.

The silence which has come
out of this Commission
and the Institute has been
a clear demonstration of what
we have all been up against
as a chemical exposure patient
group - and as I stand here
today, it's clear that nothing
has changed.

This VA system has always
been hostile to chemical
exposure victims, and those
of us from Fort McClellan
are not the first to endure
this snub from the agency.
Vietnam Veterans and Gulf War
Veterans all know about the
anguish we are going through
as we pass through our journey
for medical justice. They have
been through this too.

But I am here once again today
to pursue some kind of a response
from this Commission which I
can take back to our group
as truth, and hope that you
can find your way while I'm
here to make some kind of
commitment to us that our
matter is being addressed.

______________________________

COMMENT TAG #1

We have heard a lot in these
past 2 days about the phrase
"Quality Of Life" for
veterans, and I just wanted
to take a minute to tell you
what OUR definition of "Quality
Of Life" is as it applies to
todays national Veterans arena:

Quality of life is measured
by the least amount of
pestering, process, harrassment,
human torture, and bureacratic
ordeal that the VA perpetrates
against Veteran medical patients
who are without access to free,
pro bono, licensed attorneys.

This is the definition that
we are all working with out
in the field.

_________________________________

COMMENT TAG #2

Going back to the beginning
of this session, I wanted to
comment on the idea of
opening up these hearings
to the public which all of
you were discussing.

If you open up these hearings
to the public, then what you
will get out of that is
war protesters. The war
protesters are already not
respecting our military funerals.
It stands to reason that if
the war protesters are trashing
our military funerals, then
they will also trash these
procedings. The war protesters
do worry me on this subject.

_______________________________

The result of this speech effort
was that Commissioners Rick
Surratt, John Grady, Nick Bacon,
and Butch Joeckel, broke ranks
and agreed that something should
be done, and Chairman Terry Scott
sided with those Commissioners.

A directive was issued from
the floor to have the Commission
send an official letter to
the Institute Of Medicine
to prepare and submit a
"background paper" and preliminary
report to the Commission regarding
the Fort McClellan contamination
zone and the effects on the
Veterans who were stationed
there.

A letter of thanks and appreciation
has been sent to the Commission
on behalf of our group, the
Fort McClellan Veterans.