On Wednesday, January 19 Senator Mike Braun held a Veterans Staff Day at the Fort Wayne Veterans Memorial Shrine to assist Veterans with issues that they might be having with State and Federal agencies.
Agencies represented included the Veterans Administration, the Social Security Administration, the Small Business Organization and a number of Indiana agencies. Opportunities were also available to talk with Senator Braun’s representatives about issues that were of concern to Veterans.
Post 330 had discussed a number of issues that face today’s Veterans and felt that it would be appropriate to use this event as a chance to share this discussion with Senator Braun’s staff. Post 330 Adjutant Larry Beardsley summarized the concerns and presented them to Courtney Thompson, Senator Braun’s Constituent Services Representative.
Here is the paper that was presented to Ms. Thompson:
January 19, 2022
Senator Mike Braun:
The American Legion, Post 330 of New Haven, Indiana thanks you for holding a Staff Veterans day.
The American Legion is the largest national organization representing wartime veterans and it serves as an advocate for veterans at the national, state and local levels.
There are many issues that impact veterans, certainly too many to try to address in any single setting, but New Haven Post 330 would like to call Senator Braun’s attention to four areas that we see as particularly critical to our veterans.
In the point paper that follows, we are not addressing any particular piece of legislation or program, but are highlighting topics that may be addressed by various laws, programs or policies – areas best left to Senator Braun to determine how they should be addressed.
Again, thank you for this opportunity to bring these topics to Senator Braun and his staff.
On behalf of American Legion Post 330;
Veteran Suicide: Veteran suicide is one of the biggest issues facing Veterans today. Women Veterans commit suicide at a rate 5-times that of the non-veteran population. Male Veterans commit suicide at a rate 50% greater than non-veterans. In Veterans age 18 to 34 years, suicides occur at 3-times the rate of the non-veteran population. The largest number of suicides occur in the 55 to 74 year age group, greater than twice the rate of non-veterans.
While the VA has initiated programs to address this problem, there are still instances where Veterans in a suicide crisis are forced to wait weeks or months for an appointment with a counselor or are simply medicated as a stop-gap measure until other action can be taken.
American Legion Post 330 of New Haven requests that you sponsor and support legislation that would enable Veterans Affairs to augment present programs to more effectively address the veteran suicide issue.
Opioid and Substance Abuse Issues: The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that more than one in 10 Veterans who seek care at the Department of Veteran’s Affairs facilities meet the criteria to be diagnosed with a substance use disorder. These Veterans may or may not become involved in a drug or substance abuse treatment program. The recent trends towards multiple deployments, combat exposure and combat-related injuries have produced an increasing number of Veterans who are at greater risk of developing substance use problems.
In too many instances, Veterans with chronic pain from service related injuries have been led into substance abuse by dependence on prescription drugs administered by the VA. As in the case for veteran’s suicide, the VA has a number of initiatives to address opioid and substance abuse, but there are still many instances where additional resources can be provided, including referrals to non-VA counseling and treatment centers.
Again, American Legion Post 330 of New Haven requests that you sponsor and support legislation that would enable the Department of Veterans Affairs to augment present programs to more effectively address Veterans Opioid and substance abuse issues.
Exposure to Environmental Hazards: Over the years the VA has been very reluctant to acknowledge that Veteran’s health problems can be traced back to exposure to chemicals and substances that occurred during their service. Historically, exposure to asbestos and Agent Orange are prime examples. Currently there are questions and issues arising from the effects of smoke and contamination from burn pits, exposure to Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) used in firefighting and training and the use of herbicides and insecticides in and around military facilities.
The VA and DoD have frequently put the burden of proof on the Veteran and have used the tactic of delaying the acknowledgment of an issue and access to records as long as possible – making it difficult for e Veteran or their survivors to bring a claim for benefits arising from a service related condition. Put in a crass manner – the policy seems to be “Let as many of them die as possible before we acknowledge that there is a problem.”
American Legion Post 330 of New Haven acknowledges that this is a difficult problem, but we request that you do whatever you can to make the VA and DoD ease the burden of proof required to link a Veteran’s health issues to possible exposure to environmental hazards during their service.
Long Term Effects of Required Immunizations: The DoD has, historically, required service members to participate in activities that, after longer term examination, were acknowledged to create long-term health problems. Exposure to ionizing radiation and nuclear fallout in the various nuclear weapons test and Agent Orange exposure are but two of numerous examples.
In the lead-up to the Gulf Wars, service members were required to take immunizations for anthrax and nerve agents. Required immunizations included anthrax and botulinium toxoid (anti-biological warfare drugs) and pyridostigmine bromide (given as a precursor to Desert Shield and Desert Storm as an anti-nerve gas agent).
In a House of Representatives report in 2000, a House Committee recommended that:
“DoD should enroll all anthrax vaccine recipients in a comprehensive clinical evaluation and treatment program for long term study”.
The Department of Veterans Affairs website says:
“The VA continues to evaluate the health effects of Gulf War vaccinations.”
Even in the face of Veterans reporting a multitude of conditions that can be attributed to the required immunizations, the VA is “evaluating the health effects of Gulf War vaccinations.” This sounds familiarly like the initial response to nuclear weapons test after-effects as well as the response to Agent Orange.
Additionally, all US service members (Active Duty, Reserve and National Guard) have been required to take one of the COVID vaccines as a required immunization. While the CDC insists that these vaccines are safe and will have no long term effects, there is no guarantee that in coming years unexpected effects will be observed in both military and civilian populations. In this case, it is critical that Veterans who were required to take these vaccines be granted access to VA and civilian health care resources to address issues that may arise.
American Legion Post 330 of New Haven acknowledges that this is also difficult problem, but we request that you do whatever you can to make the VA and DoD ease the burden of proof required to link a Veteran’s health issues to immunizations that they were administered during their service.