Posted on 05/01/2011 1:35:54 PM PDT by Palter
St. Petersburg , Florida -- Operation Desert Storm, which pushed Iraqi troops out of Kuwait but kept Saddam Hussein in power, took a huge toll on American servicemen and women.
159,705 veterans were injured or became ill, and 10,617 veterans have died of combat related injuries or illnesses since the initiation of the Gulf War during August 1990. Since the second Gulf War began, there have been another 5,884 casualties.
Most of the veterans we talked to for this story say they are aware when they sign their name on the dotted line, they might not come home or could be wounded. However, they say that is part of the job.
The Gulf War veterans were talked to also ask us not to identify them.
As one told us, it's the government and he knows what the government is capable of doing and he doesn't want his name out there.
One solider trying to get help from the Veterans Administration for combat-related injuries says he has been turned down, because his records are missing. He says he has all the medical records for the time he was in the states, but the records for everything that happened outside of the country are gone.
The VA has heard similar complaints before, but a letter from Department of the Army that has never been made public before says after Desert Storm ended, units were told to destroy their records since there was no room to ship the paperwork back to the states. The letter goes on to say it was in direct contradiction to existing Army Regulations.
READ: Army letter confirms medical records were destroyed (PDF)
We showed Andrew Marshal -- the regional director of the Disabled American Veterans -- the letter and he said he was surprised they were told to do that and that the Army put it in writing. Marshal says, "This could have been one, five, six, a couple of hundred or this could be thousands [of soldiers]. You don't know."
Marshal says there should have been backups to the records destroyed in the Persian Gulf. But in the Army's letter, it says several years after soldiers began putting in medical claims, it was discovered all records below the brigade level no longer existed. When we showed this to Marshal, he agreed some of the records could have been destroyed.
It's not just the after-action reports that have been destroyed or are missing. Files we've obtained show when some veterans come to the Veterans Administration to get help for service-related disabilities, there are records to show they served, but their medical records are nowhere to be found. That means when the vets make the claims, they have to be turned down.
Another Gulf War vet told us there is no recourse and what disturbs him the most.
This Gulf War veteran served 20 years in the Army. The Veterans Administration has documentation 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 service medical records for all potential sources were unsuccessful. He says all his medical records are gone.
The Department of Defense does have records and sent a letter telling this same soldier that he and others in his unit were in an area where exposure to nerve agents sarin and cycolossarin was possible, but they should not worry about any bad affects.
The vet is skeptical about the claim that the nerve agent won't harm him. "So we all got exposed to nerve agent as well, and according to the military, that is never going to affect us. They just wanted to to advise us that we've been exposed."
He says when he put on the uniform, he and his fellow soldiers put their lives on the line. But they feel as if the nation is turn its back on them, now that they are home and have injuries incurred while trying to keep the country safe.
Indian Rocks Congressman Bill Young has never seen the Army letter until now. His office asking the Defense Department to look into the matter and see how many this affects.
He wants to hear from you and so do we. If your records were destroyed, contact me at mdeeson@wtsp.com or leave us your information in the comments section below this the story. You can contact Congressman Young at Bill.Young@mail.house.gov.
The quality of so many VA clinics has always been so poor it has never seemed worth the effort to me.
No one lives forever anyway, and God has promised me a better place.
This is the reason why I have a copy of ALL of my military records from day one. When it gets convient for the gov.’t to do something, your records seem to get lost. then people wonder why I do not trust anyone, [not even my wife & I live with her too], but this is why I am suffering multipul head injuries too.
God’s will...
“One solider trying to get help from the Veterans Administration for combat-related injuries says he has been turned down, because his records are missing.”
What records? ALL his records, like every document that shows he served? Hardly believable.
One serves one hitch and gets out, that person receives VA “care” for life. No combat experience is required and no combat-related injuries demanded to receive “care.”
Its not the VA causing the problem. An couple of Army doctors almost killed my wife through incompetence. After I complained to the Hospital Commander her records mysteriously disappeared. Must be a secret regulation which requires them to destroy records anytime its a threat to the Army.
The Martinsburg WV VA is excellent, mostly because a biker got p*ssed off at what he saw back in 1990 and organized a small bunch of bikers for a benefit ride.
My first time was in 1993 and there were about 300 bikes.
We now number in the thousands.
Now our money isn’t going for “luxuries” like toothpaste or soap; they’re using it for indoor aviaries, video game systems, big screen TVs and other fun stuff for the vets.
Basically, we embarrassed the state into finally getting their act together.
It *used* to be the place where vets just went to die.
Not any more.
I sent my letter to the VA IG in Wash DC. They have 60-days to respond. I fully expect them to not respond and then we go the congressional route. I will not be ignored and our vets deserve better.
I’m having a hard time finding out where the numbers that are being claimed are coming from. The 10,617 number first appears in 2004, the 157,705 number first appears in 2002. Both appear to first show up in USENET posts, but that easily could just be a function of search engines that seem to give those posts a priority in early archives.
And while this article is from February of this year, the same claims appear to go back to 2005. (And strange that the casualty number went up from the first reports in 2002 to 2004, but has remained static since then, 7 years later..)
Please do not salute *me*.
We all salute people like *you* by doing this run.
[and when the flyer says the ride happens “rain or shine”, believe me, it’s *always* “rain or rain”]...:)
Good luck with your VA claim and God bless you for your service.
DAV and VFW help a lot of veterans and have the resources to do class action against lost records. I have had good luck with County Veterans Services offices. The area form Colorado Springs to Cheyenne has a lot of government and veteran offices to help. Medical has been good here.
Records showing you served doesn’t get you compensation automatically and nor should it, otherwise any jackboot who served can simply bring in their DD214 and say their back ache occurred while serving. I made sure to get LOI’s for every thing I went to the Doc for while serving, got copies of my entire medical history including times at MASH units and still had some issues. Sure he will receive medical care with just his 214 but if he has an injury that has gotten worse since separation and he needs the financial support that compensation will give him he is SOL w/o any proof after a year or two of separation.
there is no excuse for any records to be lost. ever. especially these days.
i’ve worked on record systems for various other departments. there has been plenty of work done. why this data is missing is a travesty and probably done under the bjclinton admin in order to screw military families
the time i’ve spent in the VA has done nothing but make me angry. usually at the nursing staff that seems to not give a rats a** as well as the condition of some of the rooms. weekends & nights were always the worst
bump
Didn't say anything about VA compensation. Was saying vets get medical care at a VA hospital and that care has nothing to do with combat experience or combat injuries.
It has to do with serving. You can walk in there and show your DD-214 and see a doc
Re-read my post.
Seeking care at a VA hospital is not hard, as long as you produce your DD-214. Have a DD-214 get care. The issue is VA compensation payments, not care.
Prior service guys can always seek (and receive) medical care at any VA hospital. Proof of a service-connected injury is required before anyone can receive pay for those injuries.
Two different issues.
I have heard this story before, in a slightly different version. As I remember, there were no verifiable accounts, and the reason the records were missing was that they were lost during the recovery and return of our forces. I am a veteran of Desert storm and 100% disabled, and have been dealing with the VA since 1994. Possibly I am the only person in the US who can say this, but I have nothing but good to say about them. I just can’t imagine a combat soldier being scared to stand up and be counted, when it comes to his medical rights, because he “knows what they can do.”
It is true that some vets have a hard time establishing the cause of their medical problems to be service related, especially in people who wait 10, 12 even 15 years to start filing. I even know, personally, two people who admit they never saw a medic or doctor while there, and never saw one afterward about anything related to possible combat service in SWA. They both, however, are convinced that their heart problems are due to that service 25+ years later. You can take my word they are not shy about their feelings and do would not hesitate to give their names in their complaints. They are also being seen at the same VA hospital I go to, even though their problems are not considered “Service Connected”.
Every time I hear one of these stories where un-named people make unverifiable claims my BS meter goes crazy. I’m gonna have a drink now.
Well I would hazard a guess and say that guy knows that. But if say he broke his leg in a tank while shoving artillery into a tube in ODS and his leg is now giving him hell he won’t get compensation, will have to pay for meds related to it simply because Uncle Same lost his records. This goes beyond simple medical care.
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