Veterans For America

Veterans of the first Gulf War have long known it, and now a federal report sweeps away all doubts: Gulf War illness is real. The illness, which affects about one in four of the 697,000 veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf War, is likely the result of toxic chemical exposure. The report was compiled by a panel of scientific experts and veterans serving on the Congressionally-created Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans. No cure has been identified. 

Current deployment policies are shredding our readiness, and leaving our troops and their families under considerable strain. There simply isn’t enough dwell time — or time between deployments — and increasing that time is likely the most important factor in ensuring future readiness, said Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff. Casey also admitted that military brass “took our eye off the ball a little on outpatient care” for our wounded troops and that there is a needless and confusing conflict between VA and Army medical processes. Dwell time suffered considerably due to current deployment policies to Iraq — which will likely see some change under President Barack Obama. Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he is “comfortable” having all U.S. troops completely out of Iraq by the end of 2011. That’s the schedule required by a status of forces agreement approved by the Iraqi cabinet and awaiting Iraqi parliamentary approval. Mullen says he will give the next president “the best advice I can.” That’s not to say there won’t be challenges. 

Meanwhile, in the genuine front on terror and those who plotted the 9-11 attacks, Afghanistan is proving to be a much tougher battleground — a place of “persistent conflict,” in the words of Marine Gen. James Cartwright. “It’s still winnable, but only just,” says David Kilcullen, a former top strategist to Gen. David Petraeus. A U.S.-Afghan rift isn’t helping matters.

To sustain current deployment policies, the citizen-Soldiers of our National Guard forces have been churned inside and out by an operational tempo they were not trained or designed for. The strains run deep — and perhaps fewer know this better than Spc. Glenn Barker, 41, of the Arkansas National Guard. Barker is trying to recover from a traumatic brain injury suffered in Iraq, the death of his 15-year-old son and to rebuild his home after flood damage rendered it uninhabitable. Lt. Suzanne Jenkins, a social worker for the West Virginia National Guard has seen fellow citizen-Soldiers mixing relatives’ medicines with alcohol to try to chase away their combat pain. She’s seen countless fellow Guard members show surprise at hearing help is available or hide their psychological wounds out of fear of being stigmatized. She testified to the state legislature this week, noting the great needs our citizen-Soldiers have. “I hope they can do something,” she said, of the legislators. We wish our nearly continuously deploying Guard forces good luck, Godspeed, and a healthy return. Many of our citizen-Soldiers don’t make it back.

U.S. officials say conditions in Iraq are improving. But they still have governance issues to iron out, like fighting rampant corruption. Iraqi interpreters are livid that a new U.S. rule bans the wearing of masks — leaving the interpreters at risk to assassination. And a worrisome trend in Diyala: female suicide bombers. War is hell. Perhaps when he’s president, Barack Obama will have the political flexibility to bring our troops home from Iraq.