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Pentagon
team here for
Gulf briefings

The team focuses
on Gulf War syndrome
misconceptions

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By Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin

The Pentagon is battling misconceptions about Gulf War syndrome in its own forces, and that's one of the themes behind a series of Hawaii briefings this week.

"The Department of Defense did not do a very good job acknowledging there were individuals who had problems" when they returned from the 1990-91 war against Iraq, Marine officers were told yesterday.

"We still don't know why the reported symptoms happened," said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Torres. He is a member of an outreach team seeking to hear the concerns of Gulf War veterans and their families and to tell military forces of the lessons learned from the Gulf War.

"We need to do a better job of risk communication," he said after questions yesterday from the crowd reflected distrust of pre-deployment administration of anthrax vaccine and an anti-nerve gas prophylaxis.

A 7 p.m. Thursday town hall meeting at Fort Shafter Richardson Theater will conclude the sessions by the team from the Office of the Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Gulf War Illnesses, Medical Readiness and Military Deployments.

'Don't tough it out'

Six out of seven Gulf veterans have not reported adverse aftereffects, but that's not necessarily a clean slate. Torres said "Don't tough it out" is the message from the Pentagon's special office for Gulf War illnesses.

"We keep a maintenance record on a high-tech vehicle, but not on our most important piece of equipment, the individual," said Torres, who served as a medic in the war.

He said one of the lessons learned from the Gulf deployment has been recently implemented as the Force Health Protection monitoring system, which will require service personnel to complete health questionnaires before, during and after an overseas deployment.

Col. Francis L. O'Donnell, director of medical readiness, said there is a misconception that a complaint about Gulf War illness could stifle advancement in the military.

"My worry is that there is a Gulf War veteran suffering from the symptoms of cancer, but he is toughing it out because of the perception of a stigma," said O'Donnell. "If the whole point of the military medical service is undermined by this fear, it is really unfortunate."

$150 million invested

Some 125,000 of the 697,000 American troops deployed in the war complained of symptoms including headaches, aching joints, fatigue and rashes. The majority received care for various medical conditions, but about 23,000 have undiagnosed illnesses, Torres said.

Some $150 million is invested in research about the Gulf War effects, with 180 studies under way.

Of the estimated 6,000 Gulf War veterans in Hawaii, about 1,000 have been examined after reporting symptoms, according to a local Army spokesman.

O'Donnell said Gulf veterans have two free comprehensive examination programs available, through the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration.