This is for Mr Arkin in response to an article he published at the end of November.   It has some vital information in regards to the problems with Gulf War Syndrome and some of the medical studies done by the IOM MUFA unit for DOD to explain the health consequences of being exposed to Sarin at Kamisayah in March 1991.   Many veterans feel a lot of their health problems are related to the chemical weapons exposures in the Gulf.   I bring a different perspective as I was involved in a strange way thru the IOM, Edgewood Arsenal and chemical weapons and drug tests that were conducted between 1955 thru 1975.I was sent on TDY orders in June 1974 to Edgewood with 9 other men from Fort Lewis Washington for a 60 day period of TDY. We arrived at Edgwood on 25 June 1974 and left Edgewood on 22 August 1974 to return to Fort Lewis. We were used in various tests during the 60 day period, the tests involved unspecified substances, they were classified and we were not told what they were.   In 1985 we were contacted for a health study  that was being done by the IOM, it became a report entitled veterans at Risk 1993 by the National Academies of Science. It reported at that time that 385 of the 7120 enlisted men used in the tests had died. Very little other data that made any sense, except to doctors and scientists.   Then in 1990 I was activated for Desert Storm with the national Guard. Recieved all the shots for deployment for the gulf, went to Oman. So I wasn;t at Kamiasayah or anywhere near it.   In Feb-April 1992 I suffered a series of TIA's and a stroke within one year of discharge. I never filed a claim with the VA as I didn;t even think about it. I was working at the Post Office, I didn't think about a VA claim.   Then in Feb 1994 I suffered the first of 7 heart attacks, had my 1st heart procedure, the doctor called it an artherectomy (rotor-rooter) on a 100% blockage in my left main artery I was 38 years old. In February 1997 I had a triple bypass at 41, then 2 stents were placed about  3 months apart August 97  the first stent was placed when one of the bypasses collapsed, the 2nd stent was placed in November 1997 when another bypass closed, they re-opemed one of the orginal bypassed arteries and placed the stent there. Diagnosed with emphysema in 1997 also. Was having memory problems  etc. Skin abnormalities started developing.   May 2000, walked away from my job after 16 years at the Postal Service due to stress. In July 2000 I receieved some strange letters addressed to every rank I ever held, PV1, PV2, PFC, SP4, SGT and SSG Bailey in my PO BOX. It was a survey from a private company in Silver Springs Maryland. It had a bunch of health questions  etc. A couple on weeks later I got a phone call from the company, the questions lasted for an hour and a half, it was a survey for the IOM MUFA unit about the Edgewood Test veterans health since the end of the tests. It was like they already knew what problems I was suffering from.   In June 2002 my legs swelled up so bad I could not put on pants or shoes, I went into a VA hospital for the first time since 1997. The doctor ordered a nuclear heart test. It showe some problems so they ordered a heart cath in Oct 2002, it showed that 2 of the bypasses had failed and no further surgery could be done, the damage was to significant to my heart, there was no places left to hook by passes up to. The notes read medication only option for treatment.   I was 47, it didn;t make any sense, my CT scan of my brain shows shrinkage like an elderly person, the doctor can not explain it. I have the body of a 75 year old at 47.   I start looking at the things in my life, I had spent 10 years on active duty as an infantryman, and 16 years at the Postal Service most of it on walking routes, there was no logical explanation for my health.   I started looking at the things that had happened in my life, the only strange thing was the tests at Edgewood, and all the shots on the same day at Fort Stewart for Desert Storm, I had never received 7 shots in one day before, I didn;t know if they had anything to do with my health.   Then I started investigating the test program at Edgewood, what I learned gave me sleepless nights. I found a book written by Linda Hunt called Secret Agenda : Operation Paperclip. The book detailed the OSS/CIA sneaking german doctors and scientists into the US after WW2 thru Canada on doctored paperwork, 8 of them ended up working at Edgewood and helped set up the experimentation program on the enlisted Army soldiers. I don't know what you call german doctors and scientists that worked at the German death camps but when I was a kid we called them Nazi's. I was shocked to learn about them at Edgewood, and the fact the Army let them use  enlisted men for experiments with Sarin, mustard agents, LSD, PCP  etc  approximately 250 different chemcials and drugs.   Then I found the EPA superfund report on Edgewood Arsenal, the contamination in the groundwater and soil there makes the Love Canal seem like a swimming pool. The EPA summary states that Edgewood area of Aberdeen Proving Grounds is and will be hazardous to humans for years and decades to come. The list of toxins in the water is a full page of chemcials and metals, sarin, mustard agents, mercury, napalm toxins.   Then in March 2003 a Dr william Page of the IOM MUFA unit released a report titled Long Term health Effects of Anti-chloresternase agents, based on the study that was done in FY 2000 by the Silver Springs Maryland company and he determined the only health problems from Sarin were brain tumors and sleep disorders. He supposedly had broken the 4022 still living veterans down into the different exposure groups. Those exposed to sarin and those exposed to other chemcial agents. He did not address three main body systems, pulmonary, cardiac or gastrointestinal. He ignored those systems despite every known health study of people exposed to chemcial warfare agents showed problems with nuerological, cardiac, pulmonary and gastrointestinal systems. He also did not take into account the fact that all 7120 men were drinking water from the post drinking source, the contaminated wells that the EPA ordered capped in 1984 due to the toxins. Which should have negated any type of study anyone did on any control groups, as even the 25% of the 7120 men who were classifeid as level D test subjects and not exposed to any chemcial weapons or drugs in tests had been drinking and showering in the water from the contaminated wells.   Furthermore, none of the Edgewood test veternas are able to get the VA to service connect our medical problems that we beileive were caused by the exposures at Edgewood. In My case, they have spent since 2002 ignoring my assertion that my COPD, heart disease, skin abnormalities, emphysema, PTSD, ED or any of my other health problems was related to the tests. They never denied it, they never admitted it, they spent three years denying all my claims without ever addressing the issue, my DAV service officer had just submitted my file for appeal to the BVA, when I wrote Senator Larry Craig head of the Senate VA committee a letter about my problems with the VA. This was in September 2005, in October I received a letter from a Renee Szybala, Director of Compensation and Pensions, wrote me and I presume a copy to Senator Craigs office that my records at the Columbia Regional Office showed that yes I had volunteered for the "medical test" unit on 10 July 1974 but that I had taken ill and was sent home before the tests started, so therefore none of my current medical problems could be linked to the tests. She hoped that cleared everything up.   I wrote Senator Craig a letter and thanked him for finally getting me a statement about Edgewood, but that I was sorry to see the VA chose to attempt to lie their way out of this. I assumed they were lying, I hated to think they hired people to adjudicate medical claims that can not read army records and medical records, as that my records in Columbia showed that I volunteered in May 1974 at Fort Lewis arrived at Edgewood on 25 June 1974, classified as a level A test subject for use with pyschochemicals, I was admitted to Aberdeen Proving Grounds Hospital on 3 July 1974 and was discharged on 10 July 1974 back to Edgewood, where I stayed until 22 August 1974, when I left for Fort Lewis, arriving back on the west coast on 2 September 1974.   Last week I receieved a letter from the VARO, 1801 Assembly street Columbia SC   stating that they were investigating my claim for heart disease resulting from chemcial weapon and drug tests at Edgewood Arsenal in 1974. They wanted me to submit the date of each test and what substance I was exposed to. I have no idea  what test happened on what day 31 years ago, the entire 60 day period was for experiment, we worked Monday thru Thursday. They never told us what we were being exposed to, it was classified and we did not have the need to know. It was like  shut up and do what we tell you, you know how the miltary is.   But given the fact that 4 of the chemcials on the EPA list of toxins in the Edgewood groundwater cause cardio-vascular problems, I feel my heart disease should be service connected. If not for that then my cardioligist says that living with PTSD for 30 years either caused or aggravated my hypertension, artheriosclerosis  etc. They can pretend I am a chinese menu and pick one I don;t care, something the Army did caused my health to be this way, just pick something.   But the Sarin health study the IOM did to reassure the Gulf war veterans that they don;t have anything to worry about from Sarin is useless, due to the three ignored body systems, and the contamination of the water wells, DOD is using completely flawed science to claim they are not liable for health problems from Sarin, They would do better to use the Iraqi's and Iranians and the Japanese that were exposed to Sarin, they would make a better control group than the vetrans from Edgewood.   I think it is a shame that 30 years after the end of the tests, they were stopped in 1975 after Congress became aware they were happening. Three investigations, the 1976 Church Commission, The 1993 veternas at Risk and the 1994 Rockefeller Commission, that the government, i.e  the DOD and the Army and the VA would make sure these veterans who were harmed by these tests would be getting medical care and compensation if they were caused medical problems because of the tests.Not lying about them, refusing to hand over the names of the 7120 mento the VA, 3098 of the men are dead 40%, using VA, IRS and Social Security records the IOM could not locate these men, one can only assume they are deceased. These men were for the most part born in 1935 or after so in FY 2000 they would have been 65 or younger, a 40% death rate is high for men that young, then of the 4022 survivors, 54% reported very por or totally disabling health approx 2200 men, for a total of 74.43% dead or disabled, and we can not get the VA to help us, why? Are we not worthy of benefits, the numbers obviously show a bad problem. I think most people would grant that young men in the Army are healthy. Given that we were prescreened mentally and physically before being selected for duty at Edgewood test program, we were the best the Army had to offer, so there is no rational explanation for those death and disablity rates, Social Security says 3 out of 10 men will become disabled by age 65, it doesn;t say anything about 40%  dying. The 3098 men that have died I am sure left widows and children behind that should have been entitled to Dependent Indemnity Compnesation (DIC) and health care and college educations for the children just like other disabled veterans. Why has the Army and DOD refused to release the names to the VA. Why does the VA ignore claims that mention Edgewood Arsenal and the tests? Who is protecting the veterans? Will the Washington Post help get this story into the public eye, if this story does not get out the DOD and the IOM will stick it to another generation of abused veterans of chemcial weapons by using flawed studies to show  hey no problems. There are already 7120 men who are paying that price and have for 30-50 years, some of us are getting pretty old and some of us won't ever get old.   The Kamisayah veterans need an independent health study, I suggest UCLA,, University of Texas, Dr Haley, Dr Binn of the current RAC  he appears honest, I watched him testify at Rep Shays hearing on Nov 15th about GSW, he knows the VA is sticking it to us. Get it away from the IOM, Dr Page is to close to the DOD, and the Edgewood scientists and doctors, the Edgewood test program was largley paid for out of CIA funds, the CIA obtained most of the street drugs used at Edgewood, they are still protecting the names of the Nazi's that worked at Edgewood, ask Senator Dewine, he just forced Porter Goss in february to turn over the names of the Germans that the OSS/CIA helped into the US after WW2.   My shrink told me to quit watching the X Files, I wish this was a episode of the X Files, this was my life, scary huh. I expect to hear stories like this about Russia and China  not the United States.

I was reading the Post like I do every day, as well as the New York times, and I was appalled by a story about mistreatment of lab rats, at the University of North Carolina, discovered by an undercover operation conducted by a member of PETA. They can get an article about abused lab mice, I have been trying to get them to tell our story for 2 years, here is a copy of the letter I sent to the Editor.

I know this may seem absurd to you, but as a "human guinea pig" and can't get a newspaper to print our story, I was inflammed to see a story about an animal that was mistreated. I laong with 7119 other Army enlisted men were used in chemical weapons tests and drug tests at Edgewood Arsenal from 1955 thru 1975. We can not get the government, the DOD or the VA to repsond to our pleas for help in getting our claims processed by the VA. It seems as if the DOD and the Army will not turn over the list of 7120 names of the men used in these tests.   I have been fighting with the VA since October 2002 to get service connected for medical problems that I feel are a result of the exposures I and the other men underwent. I have recently learned that the EPA capped the water wells at Edgewood Arsenal in 1984 due to the level of contamination  from the multitude of toxins that had leached into the groundwater, they contained  very high levels of napalm toxins, mustard agents, sarin, mercury etc, They also had to cap the water field for the city of Edgewood Maryland and pipe water into it due to the contamination.   If we were not exposed to it in tests, we drank it, or washed in it. Of the 7120 men used in the tests, in FY 2000 the IOM gathered data from the 4022 surviving veterans they could find, using IRS, VA and Social security records they could not find 3098 of the men, 40% just disappeared, most likely deceased, I seriously doubt that many men moved out of the country, maybe a few. These were men that were born in 1935 or after so in 2000 they would have been 65 or younger.   Of the 4022 that did respond to the surveys, which was all the living veterans, 54% reported very poor or totally disabling health approx 2200 men. for a combined death and disability rate of 74.43%,  this is even more incredible given the fact that 25% of the original men were classified as level D test subjects and were not intentionally exposed in tests to chemical weapons or drugs, they were used in equipment tests. So nearly every man used in chemical weapons or drug tests appears to be dead or disabled. I am in contact with 5 other test vets that I have found online thur veteran boards, we are all disabled and drawing SSD but none of us can get the VA to address the tests at Edgewood.   I finally got a letter last week from the VA, addressing my heart disease and the test at Edgewood, due to a very serious mistake on their part. I wrote Senator Larry Craigs office in September 2005 after 3 years of claim denials they had never addressed the tests and my health, I have 6 of the known medical problems linked to the tests at Edgewood, mustard agents. The VA acknowledges 13 known medical problems caused by mustard agents and lewisite. It is a major coincidence I am sure that I was at Edgewood where the mustard agents were used and I have half the known medical problems.   But when Senator Craig sent my letter to the VA, they had Renee Szybala, Director of Compensation and Pensions  respond to it, she sent me and I presume Senator Craigs office a letter stating that yes I had volunteered for the "medical tests" at Edgewood on 10 July 1974 but that I got sick before the test started and was sent home, so therefore my current medical problems could not be linked to the tests.   I wrote Senator Craig a thank you letter for finally getting the VA to ackowledge I had been at Edgewood but I was sorry to see they were attempting to lie their way out of it. I assumed they knwongly lied to me and to him, I hated to think they hired people that did not know how to read miltary records and health reports when they adjudicated claims. I know that my records show no such thing as she wrote.   I volunteered for the tests at Edgewood in May 1974 while assigned to the 9th Inf Div at Fort Lewis, I was sent with 9 other men for a 60 day TDY period to Edgewood for the tests, we arrived on 25 June 1974.  I was admitted to Aberdeen Proving Ground Hospital on 3 July and discharged back to Edgewood Arsenal on the 10th of July 1974, where I remained and participated in the tests until August 22 1974, and went back to Fort Lewis with the other 9 men in our cars, we had 9 days travel time and reported back to Fort Lewis on 2 September 1974.   I know  I was still on the East coast when President Nixon left office in August 1974, as I went to DC to watch the circus of his last day in office, Lafayette park was a zoo, hippeis smoking dope everywhere, cops on horseback. When the helicopter left the White House  Nixon was doing his 2 handed peace sign and 250,000 people were between the white house and washington monument giving him a one finger salute. I was one of the few people probably who thought he should have burnt the tapes and then said now what? He was good to the military, he gave us our first good pay raises, he settled the Post Office strike which when I became a mail man helped my wallet. PS Level 5's and 6's make a lot  more money that GS level 5's and 6's.   I am ashamed I live in a country where animals get better press than do veterans who were abused by the Army, and are still being abused by the DOD and the VA. After 30 years after the end of the tests in 1975, 3 government investigations, The Church Commission 1976, Veterans at Risk 1993 and the Rockefeller Commission 1993, most people probably assume the government has taken care of these dead and dying veterans and their families.   They haven't  30 years later, we are still being lied to and swept under the rug. Why? Anumals that get abused can get press,  abused Iraqi's at Abu Graib get lot's of press, 3098 dead veterans and 2200 disabled ones, can;'t even get an honarable mention. Some people like Dr Jay Katz, Harvard have stated that these tests violated all known protocols, violated the Nuremberg codes of 1947, were as bad as the Tuskeegee Syphlis experiments. Because of the Feres Doctrine we can not sue the government, how do we hold our own government accountable when they are still lying, covering up, and just don't care about old dying veterans? Who do we talk to, does anyone care?   Michael G Bailey  803-808-5173 Lexington SC 29072      here are some links to published articles about the test vets over the past summer that mention us,  because of a series of articles written by the Detroit Free Press the WW2 era test veterans are just now being located for help, do we have to hope we live to 85 to get help, we won;t make it, to many are already dead?   Test Vet's   Superfund Information Systems: Site Progress Profile   Superfund Information Systems - CERCLIS: Contaminants   Thomas D. Segel    

I found the EPA reports on Edgewood Arsenal, for some reason I had thought they capped the water wells at Edgewood in 1977, but after finding the superfund site info, it shows they capped the wells on Edgewood in 1984 after testing the water and finding high amounts of many toxins, Napalm, mustard agents, sarin, mercury  etc  I will post the link but not the entire list it is way to long, at least 4 of the substances cause cardio-vascular problems according the the CDC  http://cfpub1.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/ccontinfo.cfm?id=0300421

I liked the summary page that stated Edgewood area of Aberdeen is and would be hazardous to human health for years and decades to come. They are still not finished cleaning the mess up. 20 years later and they are still not anywhere near done. I read an article about 2 years ago where some old barrels had worked there way to the surface in the housing area, full of toxic material. I get the impression the water we were drinking and bathing in was more danerous than some of the tests we were put thru.

I called to talk with my SO about the letter from the VARO, I was told that he no longer worked at Assembly Street, and that I have a new rep handling my appeal, I was told his name is Issac, I asked if Issac could call me back. The next day about 1700 hours I got a call, it was Issac, talk about shocked, I was. My old SO never worked past 4 and he never called me back, if I didn't catch him free I was just SOL. It turns out Issac is not "new" Issac has been handling claims for 12 years, even worked at BVA for a few years, so he asked me if my goal was to stay in a litigation status or did I want to get my claim resolved, he told me that part of my claims problem was the animosity between me and the DRO, no joke, I know that, but he ignores evidence and someone told the lie to Senator Craig, they said the info came from the VARO, so who would you assume did it.?  We talked about the Edgewood part of the claim and the best way to approach the issue from this point forward. The goal is still to secure P&T to get security for my wife and son, that is all this has ever been about. The same thing I want for all the "test" vets of all the programs, Edgewood, Deseret, Dugway, SHAD 112, Fort Dietrrich  etc, there are many prograns from 1940 thru 2003 that are experimental in nature and have caused problems.

After beginning this odyessy in October 2002, I received in the mail today a letter from the Columbia VARO, asking me for evidence to substantiate my claim that my heart disease is related to chemical weapons and drug exposures at Edgewood Arsenal while in the Army. This is their first admission I have even filed a claim related to Edgewood, they want to know what unit I was assigned to and what chemical wepaons and what drugs I was exposed to.and the dates of the exposures. They already have a copy of my Edgewood file that was submitted in 2003, the classification sheet of my being classified as a level A test subject with the note to Dr Siddell noting my "bad trip" 2 weeks earlier at Fort Lewis when someone slipped a full hit of 4 way windowpane into a drink without my knowledge, he was arrested and I ended up in the padded room at Madigan on 13 June 1974. The interviewer felt this made me a great test subject for use with the Pyschochemical tests and I was classified as a Level A test subject. The IOM March 2003 report states that all level A's were used in 2 or more exposure tests, but did not elaborate on what substances they were. I do have to note here that Dr Page of the IOM sent Eric Muth a list of the substances he was exposed to at Edgewood but when I asked him for a list of what I had been exposed to in March 2003, he told me I had to ask Edgewood, he was not allowed to distribute that information. I asked him why since the study said there was no classified data used in the study, he then hung up on me. He ignored freedom of Information requests until Senator Kennedy's office asked him for the copies of my two resposnes to their (IOM) questionairres in 1985 and again in 2000. I received them 2 days later in an overnight Federal Express Package, but no list of exposures. I have since found the EPA data on Edgewood Arsenal that explains how napalm toxins, mustard agents and sarin were found in the post water wells and they had capped them in 1977 and Edgewood had to obtain water from a civilian contractor pumping it in from the White Mountains. One study plainly states the ground and water at Edgewood will be hazardous to humans for decades into the future, this was published in 1990. They claimed in the letter I have only attempted to link my heart conditions to the exposures, I also have COPD, GERD, skin abnormalities that the VA can not tell me what they are after doing biopsies on them, I also feel the tests  and the feelings I have after learning about the full extent of them have contibuted to my PTSD. Most of my current medical problems are listed in the VA health initiative manual dated October 2003 titled Health Effects of Chemical, Biological and Radiological Weapons on pages 17,18 and 19  dealing with mustard agents and Lewisite exposures all of which are in the land and water at Edgewood. I have no idea as many of you don't if we were exposed to sarin or mustard agents while at Edgewood. But why after 3 full years have they just now addressed the original complaint and then only for one of my medical conditions. I am baffled, but I do feel this is a step in the right direction. Give them enough rope to hang themselves.

Dear Senator Larry Craig, Sir, I would like to wish you and your staff a happy holidays, I realize many of them are already on their Thanksgiving break, and Christmas and New Years are fast approaching, I wish you and them a great time of fellowship with family and friends during this joyous time of year. I write to you also again as the Head of the Senate VA committee, I recently came across some testimony that showed that BVA appeals and remands take approximately 960 days and then if it is remanded to the originating VARO for further work up and review then it adds an additonal 260 days to the process, close to 4 years. The testimony also showed that 74.9% of the claims are either awarded by the BVA or the VARO after additional work up by the DRO's. In reality very few of the claims are denied, most of them are eventually approved. It also stated that many veterans die while their appeals are in this process. This is very disturbing to me as you are aware that the VA failed to even address the most important issue of my claims, the fact that I was used as a human test subject in the Edgewood Chemical Weapons and Drug tests in June thru August 1974. Despite letters to Secretary Principi in November 2002, letters to Senator Lindsey Graham for assistance and President Bush in December 2004 in an attempt to get the VARO in Columbia SC to address these issues, all it did was make the employees of the VARO mad at my wife and I. We were scheduled for a DRO hearing on 6 January 2005, on the multitude of claims I have filed, on the 5th of January my Service Officer Robert Krause of the DAV notified me they were cancelling my hearing and wanted to have an "informal meeting" instead on the 6th. My wife and I showed up at 0900, the DRO came down and I gave him the copies of the 4 general court martials of the soldiers who had attacked me and robbed me in Alaska in February 1975 and left me for dead in a snowbank at 20 below zero.He ignored the studies from the National Center for PTSD a VA owner and operated web site, where I has printed out some of the studies that showed the linkage between PTSD and heart disease, Hypertension, artheriosclerosis, which in my case had manifested itself into 7 heart attacks and a triple bypass by the age of 43, with a stroke in 1992 that affected the left side of my brain in the occipital/parietal lobes, causing dementia.The DRO spent approximately an hour yelling at my wife and I for having the audacity to write elected officials trying to obtain help in getting the VA to address my usage as a human test subject at the age of 18. We left the meeting with the understanding we thought that I would be service connected for PTSD and my heart problems which due to their severity would have qualified me for the rating of 100% P&T, we were willing to drop all other issues on appeal. The object was to secure future security for my wife and 13 year old son. Fighting for additonal benefits did not seem worth the effort.Senator my health is very poor at the age of 50, I have been diagnosed with severe COPD 100%, PTSD severe and chronic GAF scores of 30-35 with lengthy statements from my treating psychiatrist saying that my family life, professional life are both severely impacted by my PTSD symptoms, I isolate, have no friends, and have attempted suicide twice, another 100% rating according to the CFR 38, my heart disease is obviously a 100% rating, I am not even a candidate for a transplant due to the damage of my cardio- vascular system. That is 3 100% ratings, I also have skin abnormalities that the VA doctors can not diagnose after biopsies, over 25% of my body, ugly scars, which could be a result of contact with mustard agents at Edgewood. I have LSD hallucinations which are totally different than flashbacks from PTSD, these are not a reliving an event experience, these are wild sound and visual distortions, 31 years after being exposed to LSD while in service, not self induced, I have other minor problems that should be rated like sexual dysfunction that is caused by the medications I take for PTSD. I am in a powerchair due to my heart and lungs, I should be entilted to the housing allowance to remodel a home to accomodate the use of my powerchair, I should be entitled to the automobile allowance to obtain a vehicle to move the powerchair around with me so I can get full use of it. Senator Craig, since the tests that were done from 1955 thru 1975, there have only been 2 medical studies done by the IOM on these veterans that were used in this program, 7120 men, the first in the 1980's was used as the basis for the report Veterans at Risk 1993, it showed that at that time there were 385 deceased test vets. Many had died in Vietnam due to helicopter crashes or combat, but there was one page that showed an unusual number of men aged 40-45 that had died from heart attacks or other cardiovascular problems.The next study was not done until FY 200o when the Pentagon needed data for the Sarin exposures at Kamisayah in 1991, we were the only US citizens that had been exposed to Sarin in a test situation. The IOM study compiled by Dr William Page was not a very thorough medical study of the 7120 men, first they could only find 4022 surviving veterans, they used IRS, VA and Social Security Records to find us. There was no explanation why they could not locate 3098 men, or if they had died what had caused their deaths. The study focused on nuerological and mental problems, it was published in March 2003, it found a high amount of "brain tumors" the news release this summer where the VA announced the high rate of brain cancer, was first shown in this study, I think it showed 9 men with brain tumors out of 7120 men. It also showed a problem with sleep disorders, that was not announced this summer by the VA.The study was called the long term health of these men, but they ignored pulmonary, cardiac and gastorintestinal problems? Why? They used 7120 menin chemical weapons and drug tests and then basically ignore them, no follow up medical care, no real long term health studies. I have found the EPA studies on Edgewood Arsenal, one of them stated that Edgewood Arsenal would be hazardous to human life for decades into the future, I believe the study was published in 1990. It showed that napalm toxins, mustard agents and Sarin had found it's way into the post water wells by 1977 and the EPA ordered the wells capped that supplied drinking water and water for daily use to the post, the Army contracted with a covilian water supplier to pipe water into the base from the White Mountains. So if we were not exposed intentionally during tests, it appears very likely that we were exposed thru the bases water system. Since there are no tests that can show past exposures, but our bodies are riddled with the long term health problems caused by such exposures, that the WW2 era veterans used in similar tests in 1941 thru 1945. These health problems are all listed in the VA Health Initiative Manual from October 2003 titled Long Term Health Effects of Chemical, Biological and Radiological Weapons. The only health problem not listed there is cardiac problems and that is discussed in a January 1994 report from the National Institute of Health report titled Toxicity of organphosphates GA, GB and VX. Senator, as you can see, my research is extensive onthese issues, I am in contact with many other "test vets" it doesn;t matter if we were there in 1958 or 1974 we are all physically disabled, we were the healthiest young men the army had for these tests, why are we all disabled by the age of 50?One other problem that bothers us greatly, the civilian in charge of the program Dr Van Sim, Dr Fredrick Siddell, were awarded the highest civilian award from the Pentagon for doing these experiments on us during their careers, none of the men used as test subjects despite all of us being "volunteers" and we were told we would be awarded the Soldier's Medal or the Army Commendation Medal for our sacrifice, none of us ever received these awards.Tom Segel wrote an article about the Edgewood tests vets in July 2005 titled Justice Delayed is Justice Denied, it quotes one of the staff memebers from Edgewood tellig Mr Segel that the substances we were exposed to are probably still classified, they have all been banned by International Chemical Weapons Treaties that the United States are signatories to. The experiments WERE hazardous to our health, some men died during the tests, he called our volunteering to be above and beyond the normal call to duty, and our sacrifice in these tests, probably saved many thousands of lives by showing the danger of using these substances on humans in a battlefield environment. He stated that we should have been awarded the Soldiers Medal. Due to the fact these assignments were never put on our 201 files, since they were done by TDY orders, which were not filed and kept, there is nothing in our personnel files to show our volunteering for these tests.It has been 30 years since the test program was shut down in 1975, yet the Army and the DOD has failed to supply the VA with the names of the 7120 men who were used in this program, why? Dr Susan Mathers told Congressman Bilirakis on March 10, 1993 that they would find all the test vets and get them medical care and or compensation if they deserved it, she never complied with her promise to Congress, and we test vets have been deprived of benefits, medical care, security for our families. Senator I have many medical problems, today I was diagnosed with a severe pulmonary infection, he was not sure if it is bronchitis or pnuemonia he gave me some antibiotics and if I am not better by Monday I will go back to the VA for further treatment. Senator, I have Congestive Heart Failure, a heart that is in very poor shape, lungs that are all but destroyed. I doubt I have 4 more years to fight with the VARO. My file is on hold as I wrote you in Sept.

I need from all the other test veterans a similar statement to what I am going to publish here so we can compare how the VA is denying us all benefits, please e mail them to me and I will post them to the site and send them to Tom Segel for research on future articles. It should prove beneficial to all of us in the long run.

My experience with the VA claims process began in October 2002 after I was told to file for SSD by my VA heart doctor, they had done an angioplasty and found that 2 of my bypasses had closed off and my ejection fraction was 25%, both qualified me on standards set by SSA, for award of disability. In November after researching the Edgewood tests, I wrote to Secretary Principi asking for his assistance with my claim as I knew it was going to be trouble, between the tests at Edgewood and being a Gulf War 1 veteran, both which are problem issues with the VA. He sent my letter to the Director of VARO in Alabama, who in tunred told me I didn;t have a claim in the system, not in Alabama, I filed it in South Carolina, but to make matters worse I had a service officer from the American Legion that told me I could I only file for one problem at a time, so we decided on the most serious issue, my heart problems, I was diagnosed with PTSD before we ever got the first denial letter in July 2003, so I asked him to file for the PTSD claim and to NOD the denial on the heart decision, he told me he wouldn't file a claim for a non-combat vet for PTSD, we got in a heck of an argument, he then said he would file it and the NOD on the heart issue. This was in July 2003, at Xmas time we stopped by his office while we were at the hospital and he was gone for the holidays but his secretary pulled my file and there laid all my paperwork, he had never filed the claim for PTSD nor had he filed the NOD, I revoked his Power of Attorney, and my wife and I went to 1801 Asssembly street the next day and filed for everything I had wrong with me, PTSD, GERD, the NOD on my heart problems, my back L5/S1 herniated disks, LSD residuals, flashbacks and hallucinations, skin abnormalities, we filed for all my medical problems, they of course denied them.

I then wrote President Bush at my shrinks insistence, and Senator Lindsey Graham, in the meantime I learned that copies of the court martials of the men who attacked me in Alaska were at HQ DA Clerk of Court Office, she sent me the 4 general court martials of the men sent to Leavenworth for assaulting and robbing me and sticking me unconcious in a snowbank in 20 below zero weather. We had a DRO hearing scheduled for Jan 6 2005, it was cancelled and they made it an "informal meeting" the DRO spent an hour yelling at my wife and I for writing elected officials, we left with the understanding that if I agreed to drop all the other issues, I would be service connected for PTSD and heart disease, giving me my 100% P&T, after my C&P for PTSD they rated me at 50% and denied all the other issues including the heart problems.

I have appealed everything to BVA, but I wrote Senator Craig in September due to the fact that the VA will not address the issues of me being used in the tests at Edgewood,  he contacted the VA and Renee Szybala wrote me a letter and I presume Senator Craig that I had volunteered for the "medical tests" at Edgewood on 10 July 1974 but got sick before the tests started and therefore none of the problems I currently have could be related to chemical weapons or drug tests.

I wrote Senator Craig back that I appreciated his help, that this was the first response I had from the VA about Edgewood, but there response was totally inaccurate, that I volunteered in May 1974 arrived on 25 June 1974 and left Edgewood on 22 August 1974, the entire 60 day TDY period. I did spend 7 days in the hospital at Aberdeen from 3 July thru 10 July 1974. So I was baffled on why the VA chose to lie about what my records truly show.

That is the point it sits at now, I was told by my SO that my file is now on BVA hold, whatever that means, he has requested a video conference or a traveling board whichever can be done first.

We have spent the past week moving to a larger home at Lake Murray as our daughter and 2 of our grandchildren have come to live with us. Getting settled and getting my computer desk set back up has been a slow process, priorities you know. I did submit evidence to a congressional hearing on 15 November for Congressman Shay's oversight of Gulf War issues, I firmly beleieve the problems the GW1 veterans are having are related to the chemical weapons exposures at Edgewood and if a full study of the Cold War era veterans was done it would show the connections. The March 2003 study done by Dr Page of the IOM was not comprehensive and does not explain  why so many veterans are deceased and so many disabled that volunteered for the tests at Edgewood. The study totally ignored three main body systems, cardiac, pulmonary and gastrointestinal. I for one am curious on how those systems affect all of us? Is there a linkage to our current health problems, and the toxins we were exposed to either intentionally or unintentionally thru the contaminated water system, the EPA forced the Army to cap in 1977 at Edgewood.

With respect to all, I mis-understood what the 638's were that Congressman Hyde's office had submitted for Albert Ellek and the other man from Illinois, with regret I thought it applied to all, if I have caused problems to Congressman Hyde, Alice Horstman of the Ellek family, I truly and deeply regret it  Mike Bailey

With the phone calls I have had in the past week, I have a renewed faith that we test veterans may actually see some action on our mutual plight finally after all these years. I am more hopeful now, than I have been in many years. Of the many letters we have sent to politicians, Eric's DVD production that was sent to the committe's on VA in both houses of Congress, DOD , Senators and Congress critters, and the combined efforts of all of us, Michael Ellek's tireless efforts with Congressman Hyde and one of his aides Alice Hortsman, in many cases the politicians get the credit when things happen when in reality it is the staffers who do the hard work of getting the files together, do the leg work, work with the different agncies on behalf of the elected officials to get us the benefits and or recognition we deserve, but was overlooked while we were on active duty. Tom Segel's work in writing articles that desrcribe our plight to the public and the politicians, so they can be more informed when having to make decisions regarding our future's, these people have done this out of concern, and caring, not for personal glory or any type of financial gain, they have the purest motives, decency. I hope all that read this can find a way to send your thank you's to these great americans.

I found the original blog I had created in 2004 before my old computer crashed and I couldn't remember the web address, I hate it when hard drives crash and burn, especially since I have such a bad case of CRS. There are a lot of good posts from last years here. http://abusedvets.blogspot.com/

Dear Senator Rockefeller,  We as a group need your assistance. In 1994 a commission that you headed investigated the human experimentation programs, nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

I am one of the 7120 enlisted army veterans that was used in the program at Edgewood between 1955 thru 1975. Sir, 40% of these men are dead 3098 as of FY 2000. Of the 4022 men the IOM could locate 54% reported very poor to totally disabling health approximately 2200 men. Sir, these numbers are extremely high.

I have been attempting to get the VA to address these issues for over 3 years. I first wrote Secretary Principi for help in November 2002. and ever since then the VARO has denied all my claims without ever addressing the issue of the test program at Edgewood.

In frustration in September 2005 I wrote Senator Larry Craig, he asked the VA what was going on, on 6 October 2005 I receieved a letter from Ms Renee Szybala, that ststed yes, I volunteered for the test program on 10 July 1974, but my records showed that I got sick and was sent home before the tests started, therefore none of my current medical problems could be related to the tests at Edgewood.

Senator, there is one major problem with her statement, none of it is true, my records show that I arrived at Edgewood on 25 June 1974, I was classified as a Level A test subject for use with pyschochemicals, on 3 July I was admitted to Aberdeen Proving Ground Hospital, and I was discharged on the 10th of July 1974 back to Edgewood, not Fort Lewis. I stayed and participated in tests until 22 August 1975, when my 60 day TDY period ended.

What also never gets mentioned is the fact that the EPA ordered the water wells capped at Edgewood in 1977 due to toxins from Napalm, Sarin and mustard agents being found in the wells on Edgewood, they had to hook up to a civilian water supplier. So if we were not intentionally exposed to it in tests, we were drinking it in our coffee, taking showers in it, and the swimming pool was full of it.

Senator, this is not just one mans problem, this affects 7120 veterans and their families, I am in contact now with 5 other Edgewood vets, we are all disabled and drawing SSD, but the VA either ignores out claims or lies to us.

Mike Moritz of the republican staff of the senate VA committee is investigating this issue right now, is there a way that both parties could endorse justice for these veterans 30 years after the tests ended and the investigations began. We are dying, and it appears at quite a rapid rate.

The 1985 study showed 385 deceased veterans, by 2000 the number had jumped to 3098, quite an increase in 15 years.

This is not a democrat nor a republican issue, it's an american issue, and we the veterans are the pawns, we never received the medals we were promised, and now it appears we can not get the VA benefits we were promised if we were hurt in service to our country.

I thank you for your time.

Congressman Steve Buyer,  I am writing you in regards to your position as head of the House VA committee. You need to be aware of my case, or rather my dealings with the VARO and Va in Washington DC. I have attempted since November 2002 since I first wrote Secretary Principi asking for help to get a successful resolution of my problem. I have been ignored for three years, the VARO would not even mention my main point of contention that my current medical problems are related to the chemcial weapons and drug research I participated in June thru August 1974. They just never addressed the issues in all their denial letters of my problems.   Finally out of frustration I wrote Senator Craig as head of the Senate VA committee a letter in September 2005, Renee Szybala was tasked with replying to the problem, her solution was to write me a letter stating that after a review of my records at the Columbia Regional Office they showed that yes I volunteered for the medical test program on 10 July 1974 but that I had taken ill and sent home before the tests began. Therefore none of my current medical problems could possibly be related to any yests at Edgewood.   There is a major problem with her assertions though, they aren't true. My records show that I volunteered in May 1974 at Fort Lewis Wash, I arrived at Edgewood Arsenal on 25 June 1974, I was admitted to Aberdeen Proving Ground Hospital on 3 July and discharged on 10 July, back to Edgewood and the test program as a level A test subject, not home as Ms Szybala states. I left Edgewood Arsenal on 22 August 1974, to return to Fort Lewis. They ask us to prove what we were exposed to. Since they never told us what they were exposing us to, that is a hurdle none of us can over come. I refer you to an article written by Tom Segel on 22 July 2005 published in GOPUSA.com where a former Edgewood staff member states that all the substances were classified and as far as he knows they are all still classified.   All I do know is that at the age of 36 I had a series of TIA's and a stroke that bled out in the left side of my occipital/parietal lobes, within 12 months of discharge from Desert Storm. I had my first heart attack at 38, triple bypass at 41 and totally disabled at 45 with heart disease, COPD, skin abnormalitites that the VA can not explain after doing biopsies on the affected area's. I also have emphysema, sexual dysfunction and PTSD. The PTSD comes from 2 stressors at least, 7 fellow soldiers beat me and robbed me and stuffed me in a snowbank in Alaska in Feb 1975, at 20 below zero. The other one is the nightmares I suffered from learnin g about the Nazi doctors and scientists the Army employed thru the CIA after WW2 at Edgewood that were used to set up the human experimentation program the Army was using at Edgewood Arsenal. These were men that should have been tried at Nuremberg, not in the US using American GI's for guinea pigs.   Sir, there are 7120 enlisted army soldiers that were used in these tests from 1955 thru 1975, a health study completed in March 2003, data gathered in FY 2000 by the IOM shows that 40% of the men are deceased 3098 men. Of the 4022 men they were able to locate, 54% of them reported very poor or totally disabling health, for a combined rate of 74.43% affected rate. Sir, I would like to point out these men were for the most part 65 or younger in 2000.   This is not going to end with me, I am in contact with 6 other test vets, we are all disabled and the VA refuses to address our claims honestly. We were used and abused in a program that was in violation of the Nuremberg Codes of 1947, three government investigations have all noted this, the 1976 Church Commission, the 1993 Veterans at Risk report by NAS, and the 1994 Rockefeller Commission. When will the VA accept the responsibility for our medical problems? Why do they feel the necessity to ignore the problems and then when they get cornered they attempt to lie there way out of it. I was of the belief that lying toCongressmen and Senator's was something that government employees just didn't do. I guess I was naive.   Here is a blog site where we are gathering the data to present to our elected officials. We served honorably and we feel we deserve to be treated honorably. Veterans Day is fast approaching, is taking care of veterans a feel good spech topic or is it something that Congress does? Isn't it about time these veterans receive the benfits they deserve? I feel as the head of the House's committee on Veteran's Affairs if you are not willing to help us, who should do it then?

Since he is my state senator I felt it was time to bring him up to date on my activities since I am sure he is going to hear from other Senators about my activities. I sent him and e mail to the Columbia office,  and recommended that he speak with Mike Moritz at the Senate VA committee office in DC. I explained about the letters to Senator Craig and the reply we recieved from Renee Szybala of the VA office in DC. I just don;t want to hear I wasn't keeping my own senator up to date on my activities.

Dear Mr. Bailey:

Thank you for sending me the news clipping entitled, "Warning! Republicans Are Losing Veteran Support Over Failed Promises!" I appreciate your alerting me about this important issue.

It is always helpful to know what issues are important to the people of Virginia and the nation. Please be assured that I will continue to apply my Jeffersonian conservative principles to all the issues that come before me in the United States Senate.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me. If you would like to receive an e-mail newsletter about my initiatives to improve America, please sign up on my website (http://allen.senate.gov). It is an honor to serve you in the United States Senate, and I look forward to working with you to make Virginia and America a better place to live, learn, work and raise a family.

With warm regards, I remain


Sincerely,


Senator George Allen

Senator Allen, I would like to thank you for your response, you should be pleased to know that you are the first presidential candidate to reply to my e mails. However you failed to address the issue of the Edgewood test veterans who are being systematically denied benefits by the VA. DoD and the Army's failure to provide the VA with the names of the 7120 veterans who were used in the chemcial weapons and drug research between 1955 thru 1975 has denied the veterans and their families from being able to obtain the veterans benefits we should be entitled to. I urge you to contact Mike Moritz at the Senate Veteran Affairs Committee and learn what has been happening to these men. Congressman Hyde has sent the Department of the Army 638's recommending the award of the Soldier's Medal to these  men for risking thier lives in these experiments.   As of FY 2000, 40% of them men were dead 3098, of the 4022 survivors 54% are disabled approximately 2200 men, yet none of us are service connected due to the medical problems caused by participating in that program.   Our group would really like to know your position if you are in favor of us getting the benefits we deserve and making the DOD and Army turn our names over to the VA, or is it okay for them to stonewall our efforts to obtain benefits?   I have spent three years trading nice letters with politicians, Senator Graham, Senator DeMint, Senator Hollings, Congressman Joe Wilson and Secretary Principi, yet no one does anything about the problem. We are dying and we need help, you want to run for President, are you willing to help us get the benefits we deserve or not? It's really a simple question. A few Senators asking DOD and the Army to do the right thing should make them get off the dime and fix this.   Senator I am not ashamed I am dying, my wife and son need the benfits they deserve, I have written the same letter to all Presidential wannabe's, Governor's Senator's and Congressmen, we will publish their names and the positions they take on this issue, nice letters and ignoring the issue will get you listed in the ignored column in the article. There are three columns  helped, ignored, or against   it is your choice where you get listed.    Senator when you are dying there is not time to play nice, I served my country proudly for 14 years in the Army 2 wars, 17 years at the Postal Service, my medical problems were caused by the tests at Edgewood in 1974. I am 50 and have the body of a 75 year old, severe heart disease, COPD, PTSD, skin abnormalities, sexual dysfunction, emphysema, all of it related to chemcial weapon exposure, the PTSD is a result of 2 things, 7 fellow soldiers attacked and robbed me in Alaksa in 1975 left me for dead in a snowbank at 20 below zero and then in 2002 I learned about the 8 Nazi doctors the CIA hid at Edgewood arsenal to do the experiemnts on american soldiers  after WW2. Porter Goss just this year agreed to release the CIA files on the Nazi;s after Senator Dewine offered to let him testify at an open hearing in February about them.   I don't know what is more frustrating the VA ignoring me or the fact my government let Nazi doctors and scientists from the death  camps develop experiments that I was used in, both are pretty disgusting thoughts when you get down to it.   Michael G Bailey 803-791-7953  

Blog's are catching on and are viewed by many people, before I created this one, I use to have another one that I created about 2 years ago, but I lost it when my HP bit the dust, but last month, I met a guy that runs a blog named Monkey McGee Monkey McGee’s Wild Ride and his grandfather had been gassed with Mustard agents in the Aluetion Islands in WW2  and spent years before he ever obtained the benefits he deserved from the VA. So in understanding our plight he ran a story about my personal problems and our joint problems. He has a tracker to see who views his site and it appears a senate web address showed up last week as viewing the blog.  For your info he orginally put up a statement that he was not adding anymore posts until at least one other fellow blogger posted the story or a link to his site explaining what it was about, a fellow blogger by the name of Bombadil stepped up Bombadil’s » Blog Archive » Monkey’s request  to read the rest of his blog click on his name at the top and it will take you to his active postings. When you get help from fellow blogger's please give credit where it is deserved, these fellow men and women can help us spread our story free of charge and you never know who may happen to read it. Let's be honest with over 40% of us already dead and all of us in contact are disabled, times are getting short and we need all the help we can get, and if Monkey and Bombadil don;t understand what I am saying here, is THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS, YOU GUYS ARE GREAT...............................

October 1973   joined the Army  Los Angeles Calif

November - January 1974  Basic Training Fort Ord

January - March 1974    Advanced Individual Training Infantry  Fort Polk Louisiana

March 1974    Assigned to the Co C  2nd Battalion 47th Infantry  9th Division Fort Lewis Washington

May 1974    Volunteered for medical test unit at Edgewood Arsenal

June 13 1974  SP4 from my platoon slipped a full hit of 4 way windowpane LSD into a coke I was drinking while on CQ Runner duty, woke up in padded cell at Madigan Hospital. He was arrested.

June 25 1974   Arrived at Edgewood Arsenal for human experimentation program

3 -10 July admitted to hospital at Aberdeen Proving Grounds Maryland, sent back to Edgewood

9 August 1974  went to Washington DC to watch President Nixon resign and leave

22 August 1974  the 60 day  TDY period ended left Edgewood to return to Ft Lewis

Feb 1975  was attacked and robbed by 7 fellow soldiers and left for dead in a snowbank at Fort Wainwright Alaska  weather was 20 degrees below zero

March 1975  Back at Fort Lewis, someone attempted to run me over while walking on a sidewalk by the PX, learned that the 7 soldiers were free pending trial, Chain of Command said there was nothing they could do to protect me, I went Awol, I was scared they were trying to kill me

April 1975 Battalion CSM called my mom and said the 7 men were in pre-trial confinement and asked for me to return to Fort Lewis, I received a Article 15 and received 7 days extra duty as punishment

April 1975 requested re-assignment to Korea

August 1975  PCS'd from Fort Lewis to 2nd Infanry Division, assigned to B Co 1/31st Infantry DMZ, Korea

many different assignments until  discharge as a Staff Sergeant in September 1982 at Fort Ord California

October 1988 Joined the Georgia National Guard  878th Engineer Battalion Augusta Ga

October 1990 volunteered for re-assignment to HHC 1/121st Infantry 48th Brigade for activation for Desert Storm

November 30 1990 - April 22 1991 active duty 48th Brigade

June 1991 returned to 878th Engineers

Feb- April 1992 series of TIA's and a stroke

August 1992  878th Engineers sent to Oman for ADT

October 1992 left the National Guard due to health

March  1993 Back surgery L5/S1

February 1994  1st Heart attack  Dr did an artherectomy out of work three weeks

February 1997  Triple Bypass  out of work 4 months returned to work June 1997

May 1997  blood clot caused heart attack  angioplasty

August 1997  heart attack  by pass failed  stent placed

November 1997 heart attack other by pass failed, re-opened original by passed artery stent placed

February 1998 heart attack angioplasty

Father's  Day 1998 stress related heart attack - missed doctors note that said I should retire, I was so fed up at that point I quit taking all my meds and quit going to Doctor's

May 2000 injured my back delivering mail, on the 20th I resigned from Postal Service, on the 24th I attempted suicide by overdosing on pills and drinking, woke up three days later, no insurance so they decided I needed to live with somebody and moved me in with Uncle Bill.

June 2002 my legs swelled up to point I couldn't wear shoes or pants, I went to VA as I had no insurance, they did some tests ordered a heart cath in Oct 2002

Oct 26th 2002 VA doctor DR Ahmed, told me the cath showed that 2 of my bypasses had closed off and I had a heart ejection fraction of 25%, told me to file for SSD.

October/November 2002 started researching why my health had gotten so bad at such a young age, stroke at 36, heart attack at 38 triple bypass at 41 and totally disabled by 47. The multitude of problemsI was having just didn;t make sense.

I had been diagnosed with COPD, skin problems with no explainable reasons, Hypertension, CAD, atherersclerosis, emphysema,  in Feb I was treated for stress and diagnosed with PTSD, I had been sent to pyschiatrists by the Post Office on and off for years due to angry outbursts at work.

March 2003 received in mail a IOM MUFA unit study that showed that 3098 men of the 7120 men used at Edgewood in the human experimentation could not be found using VA, IRS and Social Security records, one can only assume they were dead at the time the data was gathered in FY 2000. The study never said why they died. It never admitted they were dead either. The study then pointed out that 25% of the men had been classified as level D test subjects and they had never been exposed to any chemicals or drugs. It then went on to say that 54% of the survivors reported very poor or totally disabling health, approximately 2200 men. It never said what was causing the poor health.

The report did say that all Level A subjects had been exposed to two or more substances. If you look at the numbers of dead and disabled the data reveals that nearly every man exposed was either dead or disabled 74.43% , remember 25% had been classified as level D's. The report  ignored pulmonary, cardio-vascular and gastrointestinal health problems, even though all other studies dealing with chemcial weapons research shows that all the test subjects had problems with these areas. The SIPRI study of 1975 by DR Lohs, done on WW2 era  wermacht soldiers.

Even after three national level investigation on the program, the DOD and the Army will not release the names of the 7120 veterans used in the experimentation. The VA sent a panel to a Congressional meeting on 10 March 1993 and they Dr Susan Mathers and others promised the Congressmen that they would find all the veterans involved in the tests and get them medical care and compensation it it was warranted. Congressman Bilirakis was at that meeting. The VA did nothing, they forget about it, when it was discovered in November 2004 by David Zeman of the Detroit Free Press while he was investigating the WW2 era veterans used in similar tests at Edgewood, the VA, Renee Szybala announced the VA was getting right on the problem, in March 2005 the VA announced they were seeking the WW2 era veterans of the tests, when I called the 1 800 number I was told that they were not taking claims from the Cold War era veterans.

I was and am angry, I know this sounds bad, but the cold war era veterans have a higher death and disability rate that do the WW2 era veterans, I would imagine more of them, percentage wise are still alive, many of them probably healthier that the cold war veterans.

I am just curious if Congress or the Veterans Administration will treat these veterans with the respect and dignity they deserve, so far all I have seen are lies.

We have had phone contact with a member of the senate staff this morning about the Edgewood issue and the current medical condition of many of the veterans. I personally was impressed with talking with a member of the senate staff that appeared to be highly intelligent and did not have to have things spelt out for him. He took the data and understood what the numbers meant.. He seemed to understand that the veterans of the tests have been on the short side of recognition and obtaining the benefits we deserve. I sent hime much of the official sites from the IOM, NIH,  VA  medical training manuals etc. If you talk with anyone from the government concerning our situation please use only above board research, please DO NOT use the vast amount of conspiracy sites out there to advocate our position. There is enough legitimate research, that vague and undocumented sites do not need to be used as "evidence" and I personally feel that presenting them as evidence can only harm our claims. Please post links to this site on other vet boards, anywhere that veterans meet to talk, the internent has many venues, it has taken us how many years to find each other, please help find the other 4015 survivors we do not have contact with or if you can locate any of the deceased test veterans  wives or children. Many of the 3098 carried this secret to their graves and their families are not aware of the link between the chemical weapons and drug tests  and the possible cause of death of the veteran.  In a country of 270 million people finding 4015 men can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Until the Army or DOD releases the names to the VA, we will be kept like mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed BS.  Pass the word.

I hope you are all well aware of a great friend we have in Tom Segel, he has been the only writer so far that has been willing to publish the stories of the men from Edgewood, in July 2005 he wrote a nice article about the tests and Eric Muth, and on October 24 2005 he published an article to remind Republicans they are going to be held accountable at the ballot box in 2006 and 2008 for talking the talk, but not walking the walk, they talk like they support us, but they have ignored the promises of the past, Health care for retirees, recognition and medical care and benefits for the test vets of Edgewood, the Nuclear tests, Operation  Shad etc, the military has many sins they are trying to ignore, but it is us the veterans and our families that are paying for it. The powers to be in Washington DC get there paychecks and their benefits  on time, it is us the veterans that are being deprived ours. I hope you all take the time and write Tom and thank him for the publicity he is giving to our cause. Please let us know what politicians you are writing and of their responses to you so we can keep track of who is our friends, who is ignoring and who is actively working against us in obtaining the medical care and compensation we deserve. I personally feel that any veteran that poses for pictures with Senator Larry Craig for his next re-election bid, needs to have his head examined. If you wonder why, please got to the senate VA committee websites and see the comments he has made about PTSD and TDIU, he is not our friend. Congressman Steve Buyer either, he is busy trying to determine who is REALLY a veteran, now that should scare all of us.

This link will take you to a copy of the October 2003 manual from VA Health Initiatives that shows the medical problems caused by chemical, biological and radiological weapons. It was written for the Doctors and Nurses in the VA health system, so they would know what they were treating in relation to the men  and women that were seeking treatment from the VA, it needs to be pointed out these tests were stopped in 1975, any exposures since then have been done in a war setting with one exception it appears the Army did a battalion size experiment with LSD in 1980.  Do not attempt to copy the manual it is about 80 pages long.  http://www1.va.gov/vhi/docs/CBR_www.pdf

Michael Ellek, the son of Albert Ellek another Edgewood test vet from the class of 58, has been working tirelessly with Congressman Hyde's office for a couple of years now, long before I had ever heard his name. Thru his efforts Congressman Hyde had presented HR 2433 trying to get the benefits and the recognition these 7120 men deserve, or the families of the deceased will know what honorable men there fathers or husbands were. Congressman Hyde has presented 638's to the Department of the Army requesting the award of the Soldier's Medal to the 7120 men who "volunteered" for these experiments. It has to be pointed out that all of the chemical weapons or drugs approximately 250 different compounds have all been outlawed by international treaties  for use in warfare. Michael we all salute the effort and work you have put into our cause, and there are really not enough words to say THANK YOU !!!!!

So far this board is in contact with the son of one of the 1958 test veterans Michael Ellek, who was at Edgewood at the same time as Eric Muth, 1958, I also have had contact with Rick Lake who was at Edgewood with me during the summer of 1974, there were ten of us from  Fort Lewis sent there. Then there is David Dufrane  and a Larry Meirow who was sent there from  Fort Jackson in Novemeber and December 1972, he supplied me with a copy of his orders that has on it the names and Social Security numbers of another 49 men who were there at the same time. Other than Edgewood we all have in common the fact is we are drawing SSD. The other fact we all have in common is the VA will not address the Edgewood tests and if they do, they claim we were not exposed to anything and if we were can we prove it. In my case they said I got sick and was sent home before the test began on 10J uly 1974, the problem with that story is I have a copy of my Edgewood file that shows I arrived at Edgewood Arsenal on 25 June 1974  went into the hospital at Aberdeen on 3 July and was discharged from the hospital back to Edgewood and the test program where I stayed until 22 August 1974, when we returned to Fort Lewis after the 60 day TDY period. I have the paper that shows I was classified as a level A test subject which has a note on it addressed to Dr Fredrick Siddell that highlighted the fact that I had experienced a "bad trip" at Fort Lewis on 13 June 1974 when a fellow soldier slipped a hit of acid into a coke I was drinking. It made the interviewer feel I was a good candidate for the pyschochemical tests. Why the VA has chosen to attempt to lie about my experience leaves me to wonder what really did happen at Edgewood.

In an attempt to get our elected officials to take care of business, I have been writing to my own state elected officials, asking for their help with getting DOD to turn the names of the Test vets over to the Veterans Administration. But we also have a pool of politicians that are sending out feelers to run for President in 2008, you have all heard the names, Senators, Clinton, Kerry, George Allen, Sam Brownback,  John McCain, Edwards,  General Wesley Clark,  Congressman Tom Tancredo, Senator Evan Bayh, then there are the Governors, Richardson of New Mexico, Mitt Romney of Mass,  Vilsack of Iowa  they can bring pressure to bare on the Senators and Congressmen from their states. I ask them to let me know by Dec 25 2005 of one of three things, do they support us, are they going to ignore us, or are they against us getting the medical care and compensation that we deserve, I let them know that I am hoping to turn this into a news article after the beginning of the New Year and I need to know which of the three columns do they want to be listed in. I encourage all of you to do the same type of letters, one person they may ignore, if we all write them, they might wake up. We need help now, the government has promised for years, the first was the VA promise to a congressional VA committee on March 10,1993 that they would find us and get us the medical care and compensation we deserved , then they did nothing. We can not afford to let another 13 years go by without action. I doubt if I will live another 13 years, and they do not pay back benefits, they pay back to the date you file a claim with the VA. I am in my third year of appeals, they have just ignored me until now, when cornered they lied. Now we need pressure.

For Veterans, Justice Delayed is Justice Denied
July 22, 2005
by Thomas D. Segel The stories abound, but elected officials take no meaningful action. Documentation is presented, but military leaders and Department of Defense executives just shuffle the paperwork for a few days and fail to resolve the complaints by taking no action. The scenario is repeated time and time again for veterans of our armed forces. Having served their country honorably and in many cases heroically, they are returned to civilian life without recognition, awards or promised benefits. In many cases they are even denied much needed medical care. We are already seeing, failed promises and disregard for the veterans of our War Against Terrorism. In particular, members of the various reserve units and National Guard have returned home only to encounter extreme difficulty gaining promised veteran assistance. Of course, this isn’t something new in the ongoing plight of veterans. Historically they have returned home from battling our nations enemies, only to be forced into a continued fight against the bureaucracy of an unsupportive VA. Some would say it is a veteran’s agency in league with the military establishment to deny justice to these former service members.
Thousands upon thousands of military volunteers who participated in the atomic testing program between 1945 and 1963 were exposed to serious radiation resulting in illnesses and death. There were so many exposed that the exact number of radiation caused illnesses are impossible to tabulate.
Veterans have testified that they were rarely told of the dangers they would face. They were not given protective clothing and in most cases were not even provided with film badges that were designed to register radiation.
When questioned about these veteran concerns or complaints the Department of Defense usually responded by statements to the effect that atomic tests were highly classified and could not be commented upon.
Because of the secret classification of such tests, veterans were not even identified as being participants. Service records indicating participation often only stated the individual was sent on some unnamed temporary duty. In other cases the records were left blank, or reported as “lost” by the various branches of the armed forces. The end result of this was a denial of medical treatment by the VA, because the veteran could not “document” participation in any atomic test program.
Similar “stonewalling” by the military establishment has taken place when documentation was requested by veterans who participated in human medical research tests from 1955 until 1975. During those years almost 7,000 Army, Air Force and Marine personnel were subjected to medical experimentation “vital to the National Defense.” Led by Director of Research, Colonel Albert Dreisbach, US Army Medical Corps and Civilian Clinical Chief Dr. Van Sim the testing was conducted by the Army Chemical Warfare Center at Edgewood, Maryland. Members of Army Intelligence also staffed the test program. Volunteers were never told what they were being subjected to, but were given multiple inspirations of toxic agents and psychochemicals. These military volunteers were repeatedly tested using a variety of substances in what was called the “K” Agent Program. One of those substances has been identified as LSD. That, along with many of the agents used on our own personnel has still not been identified due to their secret classification. However, the majority has been banned for use in military operations.
Bernard G. Elfert of Florida was assigned duty at the facility. He recalls, “Clinical and other testing was conducted to determine the effects of various agents on humans. The testing programs were highly classified. I am unaware as to the current security classifications of the toxic chemicals and phychochemicals employed there, so I cannot specify their designations, the agents involved or regimens. However, I have heard that since then most agents tested have been outlawed for military use.”
Elfert says, “In the absence of volunteer participation the various chemical agents could not have been tested. The nature of the testing involved agents that posed unknown risk factors and such hazards could not be forced on military personnel as a duty.” He believes the exposure to these various tests placed volunteers in danger and at great personal risk going far beyond the call of duty. In his opinion, those who underwent the tests were heroic.
One volunteer for the medical research program was Eric Muth, a seventeen-year-old Army Private from Connecticut. During the orientation process, he along with the other volunteers was required to sign Security Non-Disclosure Statements and Consent Agreements. These papers stated that the volunteers acknowledged “awareness” of the hazards involved. The test subjects were also promised complete follow-up medical care and either the Soldier’s Medal or a special medal then under congressional consideration for exposing themselves above and beyond the call of duty.
During two separate testing periods in 1958, Private Muth was subjected to multiple exposures to those same toxic agents now outlawed by our country and other nations. He was also repeatedly and unwittingly exposed to psychochemicals. Today, he along with about 4,000 other human test subject survivors find themselves physically or mentally harmed for life.
Muth who left the National Guard in 1969 as a Staff Sergeant, is a disabled veteran and is under treatment by the VA. When he first applied treatment was disallowed because he was an “over income” veteran. He finally was granted medical care, not through the assistance of the government, but because he kept good personal records and obtained additional documentation of his service in the program through the Freedom of Information Act. Winning this treatment required him to battle the government for six years, before it was approved. With that approval, he is among a small number of test survivors to be offered care.
Other test subjects of chemical warfare testing are still blocked from treatment because the Pentagon will not release their names, thus evading responsibility for treatment by shifting the burden of health care to the private sector.
None of the military personnel were informed of the serious risks to life and health they faced, because those conducting the experiments had no knowledge of what would happen to people who were exposed to the test agents. They were made promises of health care and personal decorations for their heroic service, none were ever honored.
There should be no question concerning the heroism or the risks undertaken. That should be evident when viewing the records of Clinical Chief Dr. Van Sim. He was awarded a DoD medal to recognize Exceptional Civilian Service for placing himself “in grave personal danger”…….and he didn’t ingest a single chemical agent.
Another proof of justice being denied to these test veterans can be seen when reviewing the Code of Federal Regulations. In recognizing presumptive conditions, which military personnel could have received from exposure to various agents while on active duty, the code limits application of its rules to those exposed in Southeast Asia or the Persian Gulf. Those who developed the same conditions because they were test subjects who were gassed, drugged or injected in the United States of America, are excluded.
Additional federal regulations, known as the Feres Doctrine, even forbid these veterans from seeking justice through civil lawsuits. Because they were on active duty at the time of the tests, they are denied the right of court mandated action.
Volunteer participants in the Edgewood experiments deserve suitable recognition for their outstanding service to the armed forces and this nation. Their actions far exceed the recognized standards of duty. Justice demands the country face up to its obligations or promised care and personal commendation.
Thomas D. Segel
 

And here’s an excerpt from an article written about Mike from the Columbia, SC newspaper:

S.C. veteran finds bureaucracy hard to overcome

VA denies disability benefits for ailments he says were caused by chemical, drug testing

By CHUCK CRUMBO

Staff Writer

When Mike Bailey was 18 and a private in the Army, he was picked for duty that seemed too good to be true.

No KP. No guard duty. No weekends.

All he had to do was sit in an airtight room at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland where troops were used as guinea pigs for chemical and drug testing.

“I was young, stupid and thought I was invincible,” the 49-year-old West Columbia man said. “They told us the program was vital for national defense. There’d be no medical problems.”

Thirty years and seven heart attacks later, Bailey is battling the Department of Veterans Affairs. He blames his three months of duty at Edgewood for his problems and wants 100 percent disability pay. So far, the VA has turned him down.

Bailey’s battle with the S.C. Regional Office of the VA, located in Columbia, is out of the ordinary, according to other veterans and employees of two advocacy groups.

They say the S.C. office is one of the VA’s better-run operations.

They acknowledge some problems with the local operation but blame most on recent hiring freezes and the retirement of veteran staffers.

…

West Columbia’s Bailey once walked 15 miles a day as a letter carrier. Now, he is lucky to make the 200-foot round trip from his apartment to the mailbox.

Bailey believes his health problems are the result of drugs and chemical weapons he was exposed to over three months at Edgewood Arsenal.

Bailey said he cannot find out what drugs or chemicals he was exposed to at Edgewood. But he does remember sitting at a desk in an test chamber and being timed on how quickly he could perform tasks.

“Sometimes, we’d go in at 8 in the morning, and — the next thing you knew — it was 5 and you couldn’t remember what you did,” Bailey said. “They (the Army) told me all I did was listen to a radio.”

Bailey said he had to quit his job as a letter carrier about 10 years ago because of health problems. He said he also suffers from bouts of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and has panic attacks. All, he believes, are symptoms of being exposed to drugs like LSD or chemical weapons like mustard gas.

Bailey wants the VA to declare him 100 percent disabled, guaranteeing his wife, Doris, and 13-year-old son would be cared for should he die before them.

The VA has denied Bailey’s claims, saying his heart problems are caused by the rheumatic fever he suffered when he was 4.

Bailey has documents showing Army doctors detected a heart murmur during a physical exam but approved him to serve anyway.

Bailey’s stress disorder, the VA says, stems from a robbery and beating he suffered while stationed in Alaska.

Bailey has appealed the VA’s denials three times, losing each time. His next step is to appeal to the Veterans Board of Review, but no date has been set.

“I know my heart is going to kill me,” Bailey said. “I just want to take care of my family, but I think they want to wait me out.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   Thomas D. Segel
tomsegel@joimail.com
956 423 3126   Warning!  Republicans Are Losing Veteran Support Over Failed Promises!   969 words   Harlingen, Texas, October 24, 2005: The emails are flying across 
cyber space.  The blogs are filled with rage.  Letters to the editor 
abound.  All of them have the same tone of anger.  Retired military 
veterans, in huge numbers, are calling for others in their ranks to 
answer the failed promises of Congress by voting against all 
Republican incumbents in the 2006 general election.   Though the retired military community, which has historically 
supported Republican candidates, is angered about a number of issues, 
the heart of their discontent seems to be centered on health care 
issues.   Thousands upon thousands of World War II and Korean War military 
retirees were promised government provided health care as a benefit 
for their many years of service to the nation in both peace and war.  
Those who served in uniform for twenty or more years were told they 
and their dependents would always be medically cared for by a 
grateful nation. For more than 50 years Congress did fund that 
medical care.  Then it decided to change the rules and the promise 
was broken. Guaranteed lifetime medical care proved to be another of 
many congressional lies.   Year after year the veterans pleaded to have their promised health 
care restored.  All the cries fell on deaf ears.  Finally, attorney 
and Medal of Honor recipient Colonel “Bud” Day filed a Class Action 
Suit on the behalf of all retired military.  The legal battle went 
back and forth for years, ending up in the Supreme Court.   Once again the veterans lost.  Though the court agreed the promises 
of care had been made, it also stated there was no legislation to 
give authority to the promise.   It said that Congress would need to 
resolve the issue.   There have been attempts to correct the wrongdoing of Congress. Bills 
have been filed and have also died.  Currently the “Keep Our Promise” 
Bill or HR-602 is floating around the House of Representatives.  A 
total of 158 Democrats and 68 Republicans have cosponsored this 
legislation to provide long promised medical care to retirees.  More 
than half of the House members also indicate they support restoration 
of earned medical care. This same dialog and false promise chant has 
been taking place for more years than veterans can count.   Today, the retirees feel Democrats support this legislation because 
Republicans don’t really want it to pass.  They also think those few 
Republicans who have cosponsored the legislation are just putting up 
a smokescreen and are really trying to cover their backsides.  This 
feeling is amplified for them when it is noted that HR-602 is wasting 
away in committee with no sign of it ever reaching the floor for a 
vote, the same tactic Republicans used in the past.   Veterans also notice they cannot identify a single member of their 
“so-called” cosponsors who has gone to the Republican leadership and 
demanded action on the legislation.   It is true that one representative would have little impact on the 
congressional leadership.  However, 68 cosponsors demanding 
legislative action would get attention at once, particularly if that 
demand was made a condition of their support for future leadership 
generated actions.  Since none of this insistence on HR-602 action 
has taken place, veterans see the Republican cosponsors as insincere 
in their professed support.   Should the general public think this discontent with the Republican 
Party is linked to just one group of military retirees, it should 
also be noted that for more than four decades veterans who were 
volunteers or were ordered to participate in America’s atomic testing 
program have been fighting for promised medical care.   More than 300,000 American service personnel were subjected to the 
life threatening effects of radiation poisoning during the test 
programs of the 40s and 50s.  In open trenches and on the exposed 
decks of ships, with no protective clothing, they were placed in 
close proximity to atomic blasts.   Since that time thousands have died and thousands more have fallen 
seriously ill.  The VA and our Congress ignore their pleas for help.   A Republican presidential candidate, George W. Bush told American 
veterans that “Promises made would be promises kept.”  He repeated 
that pledge as president.  Ask any of the multitudes of Atomic 
Veterans what they think of his word.  When they wrote him about 
their plight, the president forwarded their letters to the VA, which 
in turn denied the veteran claims.  These same veterans wrote to the 
members of Congress.  Most often there was no reply, but when there 
was an answer, it was a form letter, which really said nothing.   We can’t forget to include more than 7,000 servicemen who were used 
as “test subjects” or human guinea pigs in chemical, drug and other 
substance tests at Edgewood Arsenal.  Today almost 75% of those 
military personnel who participated in the Edgewood tests are either 
dead or disabled.  They cannot even receive medical attention from 
the VA because there are no records of their participation in the 
Edgewood program available.  The Department of Defense refuses to 
release the names of those who participated.   Letters to the Department of Defense, including Secretary Rumsfeld 
have gone unanswered.  Letters to Congress have gained very little 
attention and when congressional members to respond, it is with a 
request to the VA to look into the veteran’s claim.  As in the past, 
those requests continue to be ignored.   Now the Internet buzz is becoming Anti-Republican from almost every 
quarter.  Though most of the career veterans have little confidence 
in the Democrats, they are talking about moving the vote in that 
direction as a protest.  They have reached the limit of their 
patience with false promises and the Republicans could very well pay 
for political lies with a battle at the ballot box.    

March 2005 VA letter on Mustard Agents   http://www1.va.gov/environagents/docs/USHInfoLetterIL10-2005-004_March_14_2005

The Cold War Experiments   The Cold War Experiments

Edgewood Guinea Pigs   Edgewood Guinea Pigs: Covert U.S. Army Medical Experiments on Human Test Subje

Bad Trip to Edgewood   LHCMA catalogue: BAD TRIP TO EDGEWOOD: US Army drug testing, television docume

Mustard Agents  mustard

1993 report Veterans at Risk   Nat' Academies Press, Veterans at Risk: The Health Effects of Mustard Gas and

1993 GAO Report that the VA never implemented   http://archive.gao.gov/d37t11/148642.pdf

March 2005 VA  VA to contact veterans exposed to dangerous chemicals in WW II

Canada to recoginze vets used in chemical weapons tests Chemical Warfare Agent Testing Recognition Program - Veterans Affairs Canada

March 2003 IOM MUFA Report  http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/5/844/0.pdf

Jan 1994 National Institute of Health report on VX, GA and GB agents  Sarin  Toxicity of the Organophosphate Chemical Warfare Agents GA, GB, and VX: Implic

American Gulf War vets board   American Gulfwar Veterans Association

We are the forgotten veterans of America's ugly secret past. The victims of Nuclear, Biological and Radiological Weapons and drug experiments, that have continued relatively unknown for decades.

The Nuclear tests in the Nevada and Mew Mexico test sites are the most famous or infamous, depending on how you look at it. The tests took place on islands overseas, in Alaska, Panama in places in the U.S like Dugway-Deseret Proving Grounds, Edgewood Arsenal, Florida.  There were a few tests that involved civilian sites, but the focus on this site is the military victims of these tests, that our government are ignoring now that we have become disabled after participating  in these tests 30-60 years ago.

A decade ago a web site like this would not have been possible, but due to the advances of the computer age, we are able to come together from the four corners of America, to finally locate each other and share our experiences with our dealings with the government in our attempts to obtain the benefits we so obviously deserve for our medical problems physical and mental that have occurred as a result of these tests.

This is not a site to place blame on the concept of the tests, or the people the U.S government employed to conduct these tests on us. It is to gather names, stories, and circumstances so we can lobby our elected officials after all these  years to obtain the medical care and compensation that we or the dependents of our fellow test victims  deserve.

The Edgewood test vets are my primary concern from the Cold War Era, I am one of the 7120 enlisted men that the Army used in chemcial weapons and drug research between 1955 thru 1975. It is my understanding from what is available in published reports, that it is known they tested LSD, PCP, Sarin, mustard agents, Nerve agents, and approximately 250 different unknown substances on these men.

Most of these substances are still classified, but what is known, is that by international treaties the use of these chemcials are forbidden for use in armed conflicts as weapons. At this time all the signatories to the treaties are destroying their stockpiles of chemical weapons. It is acknowledged that most countries, even the United States is running behind the scheduled destruction dates.

At this time, I have the names of Eric Muth, he was at Edgewood twice in 1958, Larry Meirow was there in Nov and Dec 1972, Rick Lake was there in the same group as I in June - August 1974,  David Dufrane dates are unknown to me, if we are lucky he will post on this site so we can learn. Then there is Michael Ellek's father who was there with Eric Muth, who is still alive.

Of the 7120 men used in this program a study released by the IOM MUFA unit in March 2003   http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/5/844/0.pdf  this study shows that 3098 men are missing, using IRS, VA and Social Security Records they could not be found in FY 2000, one can only assume they are dead, that is 40% of the men, of the 4022 men they did locate, 54% of them reported bery poor or disabling health, yet no reasons were stated what was causing this.

The report did show that 25% of the 7120 men were classified as Level D test subjects, and thus they were not exposed to any chemcials or drugs, they were used in equipment only tests. So that leaves 75% that were exposed, the death and disability rate is 74.43%. I don't know about anyone else, but these numbers scream there is something wrong here. These men would have been for the most part 65 or younger in FY 2000, Social Security says that 3 out of 10 men will become disabled by age 65, it doesn;t say 4 out of 10 will die, and 54% will become disabled.

Most of us have written to our elected officials and they send letters to the Veterans Administration Regional Offices and they get letters back saying they are processing our claims. In my case, no one ever mentioned the words Edgewood Arsenal, chemical weapons or drug tests. They exchanged nice clean exchanges that did nothing to ask for explanations about Edgewood. The VA continues to ignore the claims issue in regards to my exposure to chemicals and  or drugs.

In September 2005 out of frustration I wrote Senator Larry Craig, head of the Senate Veteran Affairs Committee, he sent me a letter saying he had sent my inquiry to Room 211, in a few weeks I received a response letter from Ms. Renee Szybala who informed me and I presume Senator Craig that my records at the Columbia Regional Office, in Columbia South Carolina that yes I had volunteered for the medical test program on 10 July 1974 but that I had taken ill and was sent home before the tests began and therefore none of my current medical problems could possibly be related to the tests at Edgewood.

One problem with her letter, none of it was true, I had volunteered for the "Human experimentaion" program in May 1974, there was nothing medical about them.I arrived at Edgewood on 25 June 1974 after a 9 day travel period from Fort Lewis by POV. I did fall ill on 3 July and was sent to Aberdeen Proving Grounds Hospital and was not discharged until 10 July 1974 but I was not sent home, I was returned to Edgewood Arsenal, where I remained and participated in tests, until 22 August 1974, when I was returned to Fort Lewis with 9 days travel time returning the beginning of September 1974. We were given cards to carry while at Edgewood, that if we were stopped by the police that stated we were not drug addicts and if they had any questions, to please call the number on the card xxx-xxxxx, someone on that line would explain to whatever law official that called that we belonged to the Army. We had so many needle marks from injections and blood draws we all looked like drug addicts.