5th Special Forces Group Commander Col. Chris Conner thanks Larry Kutschma of the Wisconsin Veterans of Foreign Wars for donations to family readiness groups. Kutschma, a district commander, also brought 50 turkeys to donate to Group families for the holidays. Wisconsin VFW posts contributing to the donations were Kutschma’s own Como Memorial VFW Post 5811 from Lake Geneva; the Wallace-Culles-Maveus Post 6858 from Brodhead; and the Becker-Godfrey VFW Post 9403 in Milton. Photo by: Maj. April Olsen

As the holiday season continues, please don’t forget all the men and women fighting around to protect our right to do so. As you visit with family and friends over the next few weeks, here are a few things related to veterans and wounded soldiers to keep in mind. Don’t worry. It’s not all bad news. But sometimes it’s during Happy Times of Holidays that a lot of veterans and wounded soldiers have a lot of trouble dealing with their problems.

The National Resource Directory will include information on care coordinators, health care providers and support partners, Dr. Linda Davis, deputy undersecretary of defense for military community and family policy, said during an “ASY Live” interview today on BlogTalkRadio.com.

“Working with wounded ill and injured service members and their families, there [are] many resources and individuals available to help them,” Davis said. “We needed one source that can tell us where everyone in the country is who wants to help our wounded warriors and their families. While the families did appreciate that, they also found it confusing,” she said. “They didn’t know who to call at the right time in the right place for the right service. The family oftentimes becomes the primary caregiver 24/7/365, and that is extremely stressful, both physically and emotionally.”

The relevance of information in the National Resource Directory goes far beyond solely wounded illness, injury, and recovery services, Davis said. Many of the sections are very useful to any service member and their family.

“We have already had several other programs wanting to connect and use the directory, especially in the area of benefits and compensation,” Davis said. “Here, you will find not only what’s available through the DoD Disability Evaluation System and the VA disability compensation programs, but things like Social Security benefits, life insurance and video libraries. … We have sections on how to file claims, on unemployment benefits, and benefits for retirees.”

In addition to the directory’s website, a toll-free phone number is available – 800-342-9647.

From the National Resource Directory Website:

The National Resource Directory provides wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans, their families, families of the fallen and those who support them with a web-based directory of valuable resources.

It delivers information on, and access to, the full range of medical and non-medical services and resources needed to achieve their personal and professional goals across the transitions from recovery to rehabilitation to community reintegration.

This online partnership links to the services and resources of federal, state and local governmental agencies; veterans service and benefit organizations; non-profit community-based and faith-based organizations; and academic institutions, professional associations and philanthropic organizations.

If you have family in the military, this is a great website to check out.

DoD Joins With VA to Resolve Gulf War Veterans’ Health Issues

“We work very closely with the VA for those who’ve separated” from military service, Dr. Michael E. Kilpatrick, deputy director of health affairs for force health protection and readiness, told American Forces Press Service and Pentagon Channel reporters.

“We find that the No. 1 disability that veterans have is problems with muscles, bones and joints, ankles, knees and lower back,” Kilpatrick said. These types of ailments, he said, also surface as the top health issues cited by active-duty troops at sick call.

“So, there’s a relationship between service and those kinds of wear-and-tear joint problems,” Kilpatrick said.

Of the nearly 700,000 U.S. military members involved in the 1990-1991 Gulf War, Kilpatrick said, about 120,000 service members returning from deployment in the Middle East reported a multitude of symptoms, including depression, tiredness, muscle and joint aches and pains, memory loss, headaches, and rashes. Service members suffering from one or a combination of these maladies would later be said to have “Gulf War Illness.”

While 80 percent of those 120,000 veterans received a medical assessment and treatment for their ailments, about 24,000 veterans with Gulf War Illness-related symptoms remain undiagnosed, said Kilpatrick, a former Navy physician who commanded an Army/Navy infectious disease research unit during the Gulf War.

A congressionally-mandated report titled “Gulf War Illness and the Health of Gulf War Veterans” was released Nov. 17 and presented to Veterans Affairs Secretary Dr. James Peake. The 400-plus-page report says Gulf War Illness is a genuine medical condition. The report also notes that pyridostigmine bromide pills taken by some servicemembers in theater as a prophylactic against nerve agents and the use of pesticides to ward off desert insects are possible causes of Gulf War Illness.

“I think if you take a look at chronic fatigue syndrome, where people are extremely tired even after a good night’s sleep; they’re lethargic, they may have some short-term memory loss, some muscle pain in joints,” Kilpatrick said. “That’s part of that syndrome.”

Gulf War Illness isn’t a mystery, Kilpatrick said, but it is “something we don’t understand, and we need to do more work.”

That’s a lot to think about. And a great website to gather information.

This is Sgt. Stryker signing out.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2008 at 7:49 am and is filed under General Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.