GULF WAR DISEASESE

My topic for this blog posting isn’t focused on politics or global events. It’s about Buddy.

I have a friend, Nilda, who cuts my hair. My wife, Lisa, and I have been seeing her for at least fifteen years. Over that time we have gotten to know each other very well. She knows our kids and never fails to ask about them. We’ve met her husband, Buddy, many times at her shop … he even attended our little girl’s dance recital when she was in pre-school. I think that recital was one of the last times I saw Buddy … our daughter is ten years old now, so that must have been at least five years ago.

Buddy is a veteran. He served our country in the US Air Force. He proudly served this nation and fought against Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War, Operation Desert Shield that later became Desert Storm. Buddy would not be a veteran if he’d had his way, but as times would have it, he lost his job in the military due to a reduction in force (RIF’s they call them) that was brought on the military by the Clinton administration. I believe at the time they said we did not need a large military due to the “peace dividend” that our nation and the world was enjoying at the time. So Buddy was RIF’d out of the Air Force just as very many others were. Probably the most famous military layoff was Tim McVeigh the Oklahoma City Bomber, he was Gulf War vet too.

Buddy moved on with his life and went to work in the hotel business with Hilton Hotels. He moved up, was well liked, was good at his job and with people. I know every time we were together, he was kind and friendly. Nilda says that he was always a happy go lucky guy. Buddy isn’t so happy go lucky today. Buddy is sick. He is very sick and he is dying. Buddy has Gulf War Disease, or Gulf War Syndrome as it is more well known.

You see, Buddy’s been sick for a long time now. This disease is killing him and other Gulf War vets and they aren’t getting the help and medical attention they need from the Veteran’s Administration. Why that is, I’m not sure. Part of the problem is that the disease attacks vets differently causing them to become ill in many different ways. It causes physical problems, medical conditions, and mental disorders that are too numerous to mention. Veterans that have it are dying from chronic illness and many have committed suicide. I have not researched it, but Nilda has and, more importantly, she and Buddy are living it. They’ve seen what it has and is doing to other vets.

Buddy has gotten so sick that he is a shadow of his former himself. Nilda says that he has lost all interest in things that he used to enjoy. He has medical, mental, and physical sicknesses. His hair has thinned and he has rubbed bald spots on his head from rubbing his hands on his head due to headaches that he suffers. He has lost teeth without even knowing it. He has lost weight, his appetite, and concern about personal hygiene … this from a man that used to wear a suit to work.

Nilda tells me there are thousands and thousands of Gulf War vets that are enduring these and (even worse) troubles than Buddy has. She says that many vets go undetected with the illness because they fall off our radar. They either die without ever being diagnosed and treated, or they become dysfunctional and are unable to cope with life and have no personal support system to aid them. Many of their marriages fail. Too many of them become homeless and are left to roam cities and towns untreated. They are forgotten.

This shouldn’t happen to our veterans … that is why the Veterans Administration exist. The VA is supposed to look out for the interest of our vets. The VA is supposed to be a safety net for them, to treat them when they are ill, and help them … especially if a veteran does not have the means to do so … not out of pity, or as a welfare program, but because they are owed that help as veterans. They signed an agreement with their country … an agreement that is to be honored .

Veterans served the nation….in turn the nation must serve them. The US government should not dodge that commitment simply because it is an expensive proposition. But from what I’ve recently heard from Nilda, and from the experience I witnessed watching my father go through the VA system, it is clear to me that money dictates at the VA. Instead of using aggressive action to get vets the help they need, it seems the VA uses aggressive action to skirt and deny patients’ treatment. I’m sure the VA administrators would say something differently, but that is how I’ve seen and heard the VA operate.

Some people say that an issue never becomes personal until it becomes personal. Nilda has kept me up with Buddy’s trials and tribulations for a long time now, but she’s been able to hide the effects of Buddy’s condition from her clients. It wasn’t until recently that she’d even mentioned that he is dying. She’s always maintained her composure and has been upbeat, but knowing that she is losing Buddy to a slow death has to taken its toll on her. It has also made her angry that the US government has been so reluctant to provide Buddy, and veterans like him, the proper medical treatment they need. From what I’ve heard her say, Buddy’s experience with the VA borders on incompetence … for that there is no excuse. She told me that Buddy has never regretted his service to the country that he loves and that he would do it again. Yet he has also told her that he never expected his country to treat him this way.

I know I’ve left out a lot of details regarding Buddy’s story. I’ve done that out of respect to him. However, what he has gone through and continues to go through is happening with far too much regularity to US veterans and it must be stopped.

There you have it.
Pass it along if you like or let me know if I don’t have a clue.

Eddie