Army veteran Brian T. Martin says it was only the "squeaky wheel syndrome" that got him through the Veterans Affairs bureaucracy and won him compensation for Persian Gulf War-related illnesses.
Martin, 33, of Niles, Mich., told a House panel Monday how, five years after the end of the gulf war, he is one of just three veterans receiving 100 percent disability for health problems resulting from gulf service.He told the House Government Reform and Oversight subcommittee that he saw movement on his case only after Michigan congressmen came to his aid and he got publicity in the media.
"I am not here today highlighted as a trophy case or window dressing for the VA," Martin said. "I am here today because of the problems I have had with the VA, which is still happening to this day."
Martin, who suffers from a variety of neurological and stomach problems, was one of four sick gulf war veterans relating their difficulties in getting treatment for their health problems.
The Pentagon and the Veterans Affairs Department recently have been getting higher marks for their efforts to monitor, study and treat the thousands of veterans who returned from the 1991 war with health problems.
But doctors have found no evidence of a single cause for undiagnosed cases. The Pentagon denies that Iraq used chemical or biological weapons, cited by many veterans as a potential source of their illnesses.
"Veterans are frustrated," said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., chairman of the human resources subcommittee. "Veterans are understandably suspicious that the government may not want to find answers that refute military dogma or result in billions of dollars in health care and compensation costs."
Shays said the Pentagon and VA should contact all 697,000 military personnel who served in the war against Iraq to gain a full picture of the health situation.
Charles Sheehan-Miles, whose National Gulf War Resource Center is a clearinghouse for veterans with health problems, noted that less than five percent of veterans who have applied for disability under a 1994 law passed to facilitate help have been approved.
Veterans say possible causes of illnesses are exposure to such elements as fumes from oil fires, chemical or biological agents or depleted uranium in antitank missiles, or the experimental inoculations used to protect troops from chemical and biological weapons.
Retired Marine Master Sgt. William Gleason presented the panel with a survey of 73 of the 76 Marines of the company he commanded in the gulf, showing that all but nine were suffering from some long-term health problem.