AgentOrangeAlert.com

                               
Because this was such an historic meeting, it is important for the public to be reminded of exactly what went on at this meeting. Over 1.3 million litres of dioxin and hexachlorobenzene were sprayed on CFB Gagetown. What we did not know at the time of the meeting was the fact that another 2 million pounds of hexachlorobenzene contaminated herbicides were sprayed on the base in addition to what is discussed in the video.

Agent Orange Association of Canada

Front-Man or Puppet?

Another report that has been released by the BGAFFP (Base Gagetown and Areas Fact Finding Project) concerning the massive amounts of Chemicals spraying on CFB Gagetown between the years of 1956-1984. It is no surprise that the contents of the report states there would have been no lasting health effects to MOST of the persons in the area at the times of the spraying. I say that because the report comes from Companies hired by DND and dependant on government contracts and have work on the side of chemical producers to verify that the chemicals sold in Canada are safe. To have produced a report that found chemicals dangerous would not have been in their best interest.

                
Dr Furlong was appointed by DND to conduct the fact finding project and it was he that released any of the reports submitted by these companies hired by DND. Putting two and two together, I am surprised that Dr. Furlong has not realized that he is being used as nothing more than a 'front-man'. If he is leading this fact finding project, I would ask him "who hired the companies that are submitting these reports?" I expect the response would be DND paid for the reports and that he would evade the depth of the question, I expect that he was told by DND exactly which companies would be involved in the investigation or told exactly which companies he would contract to submit the reports.
                     
Dr. Furlong has listened to many stories of the soldiers and families that were on the ground at the time of the sprayings. Listened to the horror stories of illnesses and deaths. Being a doctor in New Brunswick and a former Health Minister of New Brunswick Dr. Furlong is not a person with low intelligence and yet he seems shy of common sense and seems to be guided more by politics than science. He has been used as a 'front-man' or 'puppet' and if he realized this, he would see that only a PUBLIC INQUIRY would bring out the truth instead of the whitewash that DND is having him release.
                   

Dr. Furlong, I ask you to drop the politics and let your intelligence and science knowledge free to prevent taking part in what has hurt so many and could continue to do so in the future if the government does not realize the extent of the damage these chemicals can and have done. It is the TRUTH and FUTURE that we are fighting for.

                  
Sandy Skipton
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June 22, 2007

From: Kenneth Young

Canadians More Resistant to Toxic Chemicals Then Other Humans BGAFFP
Suggested.

As according to the last report released by Base Gagetown and Area Fact Finding Project (BGAFFP), USA, Korea, New Zealand, Australia and the whole European Union have all of their science wrong when Canadian Chemical Industries (so called) experts (Cantox Environmental) Is reported to have said, "the vast majority of people who live and work near the sprawling base don't have to worry about long-term health effects from active ingredients in the herbicide sprays."

The tone of the latest report although expected was still somewhat disappointing to those of us who are the living proof that we in fact do have to worry about the long term effects from these chemicals and if there is a slight earth quake in New Brunswick
today it can be explained by the Hundreds of Soldiers that have gone before us turning in their graves.

What struck me as most disconcerting is that absolutely nothing has changed over the many years and we are now told,"The science right now is basically telling us there is a negligible risk." If my memory serves me right 40 years ago these same (so called) experts or their counter parts, were telling us the very same line and the only thing missing is that they this time didn't try to tell the public that the chemicals could be safely drank.

The Conservatives while in Opposition stated quite loudly that the BGAFFP was nothing more then an exercise in public relations and damage control. In my opinion on June 21st the first day of Summer 2007 the Conservative Party of Canada were for the first time in history, proven right beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Dr. Furlong is quoted to have stated that an epidemiological study of the overall health of people in the Gagetown area would be reported by mid-summer. We Victims of Chemical Poisoning have no doubt that the numbers of this study can also be manipulated to suit Ottawa's wishes so as to further minimize the cost or maybe even any need for compensations at all.

With no Public Inquiry on the horizon and as the Military and the chemical Industry continue to run the Fact Finding Project, Canada is being spoon fed unrealistic numbers and facts about the chemicals used in CFB Gagetown and their health effects, leaving most if not all Victims with no other choice but to join the class action lawsuit.

Kenneth Young

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June 22, 2007

From: Kelly Franklin

It is interesting that the Suzuki Foundation released a report claiming that many Canadians are poisoned every year by pesticides while, at the exact same time, CanTox released its report about CFB Gagetown.

The Suzuki Foundation tells us chemicals are dangerous as hell while CanTox tells us that beefed up military formulations of herbicides, including Agent Orange, are totally innocuous.

I'll just flat-out ask you: Who do you believe? CanTox, which is owned by a chemical company and is being paid by a government under siege for the largest poisoning of its citizens in the history of the world, or the Suzuki Foundation – which has no comment on Gagetown? This is the biggest issue in Canada today.
       
Put it together. Harper knows Canada is liable for a world-class calamity and is paying your taxes to people willing to minimize the impact. We're not talking about spraying lawns here.

The whole countryside of a piece of New Brunswick was hosed with military–grade herbicides for decades and hundreds of thousands of people had their health stolen, their lives ruined. Many have died.
Tell Harper he must deal with this or our country cannot survive.

Kelly Porter Franklin

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June 22, 2007

From: Gail Radford-Ross
 

How do you pull off a 50-year betrayal?

   
Well, if you’re the government, first you poison a significant number of people for 28 years with millions of litres and pounds of dioxin, hexachlorobenzene, arsenic, and over 20 other toxic chemicals. Then you deny the poisoning took place for 50 years.

                     
When the victims find out what you did, you tell Canadians that the only poisoning that occurred was 2 ½ barrels, sprayed by your US neighbours. You neglect to mention that you gave permission for the US to do the spraying.

                    
You don’t tell Canadians about the spraying accidents. Or the mist drift. Or about the soldiers drinking the water or crawling through the contaminated dirt and bush. Or about the soldiers coming home to the wives and children with days or weeks of poisonous material on their clothes.

                     
Then you hire "environmental companies" who also work for or are associated with chemical companies and you use "evidence" based on faulty studies done by the chemical companies. You set up a phony "investigation" run by a doctor who spends three days a week on his practice and two days a week on the investigation. You have the whole "investigation" supervised by the government department that poisoned the people.

                      
You don’t allow an inquiry because then the soldiers would be testifying under oath and Canadians would finally hear the truth.

                      
To continue your betrayal, you tell Canadians that the sick and/or dying men, women and children and the deformed children are imagining their health problems. You also insinuate that these deluded people are only doing this to steal taxpayer’s cash.

                    
You neglect to tell Canadians that military members, civilians, and their families in the US, New Zealand, Australia, and South Korea are being compensated for the misery and death resulting from these same toxic chemicals. You neglect to tell Canadians that a British soldier is receiving compensation for being poisoned at this Canadian base. And you certainly don’t tell Canadians that studies in NZ have proven that these same chemicals have damaged victim’s DNA, ensuring that the health problems will continue for unknown numbers of descendants of those poisoned.

                    
Will our present government own up to 50 years of betrayal of the soldiers and civilians at Camp Gagetown, NB? Or will they be as heartless and contemptible as all the previous politicians who ignored and/or denied this tragedy as it was taking place?

                
Gail Radford-Ross

• Endocrine disrupting properties of plastics;
• Fallates which are used, for instance, in softening
• Plastics;
• Antiseptics used in food can liners;
• Bisphenol-a, an industrial chemical used primarily to make plastic;
• Heavy metals like lead and mercury;
• Flame retardants, like polybrominated biphenyls, that last a long time the environment and are very common--particularly in dust, foam furniture and computer casings.

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June 15, 2007

From: Kenneth Dobbie

Agent Orange still haunts Vietnam, US

 

DANANG, Vietnam --More than 30 years after the Vietnam War ended, the poisonous legacy of Agent Orange has emerged anew with a scientific study that has found extraordinarily high levels of health-threatening contamination at the former U.S. air base at Danang.

"They're the highest levels I've ever seen in my life," said Thomas Boivin, the scientist who conducted the tests this spring. "If this site were in the U.S. or Canada, it would require significant studies and immediate cleanup."

Soil tests by his firm, Hatfield Consultants of Canada, found levels of dioxin, the highly toxic chemical compound in Agent Orange, that were 300 to 400 times higher than internationally accepted limits.

 

The report has not yet been released, but Boivin and Vietnamese officials summarized its central findings for The Associated Press.

 

Earlier tests by Hatfield, which has been working in Vietnam since 1994, showed that dioxin levels were safe across most of Vietnam. But until the study of the old air base at Danang, the consulting firm had never had access to some half-dozen "hotspots" where Agent Orange, a defoliant designed to deny Vietnamese jungle cover, was stored and mixed before being loaded onto planes.

 

The study is the product of a new spirit of cooperation between Washington and Hanoi -- after years of disagreement -- toward resolving this contentious leftover of the war that ended in 1975.

 

On a visit to Vietnam last fall, President Bush and Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet agreed to work together to address dioxin contamination at old Agent Orange storage sites. They are expected to discuss the issue further when Triet visits Washington next week.

The worst contamination in Danang is confined to a small section of the 2,100-acre base, the former Agent Orange mixing area.

 

The dioxin poses no immediate threat to the vast majority of the city's nearly 1 million people or the Danang International Airport terminal, which sits on the sprawling site and is widely used by tourists headed for Danang's beaches.

 

But blood tests found elevated dioxin levels in several dozen people who regularly fished or harvested lotus flowers from a contaminated lake on the site.

 

Tests also confirmed that rainwater has carried dioxin into city drains and into parts of a neighboring community that is home to more than 100,000 people, Boivin said. The levels there are only slightly elevated, but could rise if the dioxin isn't properly contained.

 

The levels fall off dramatically outside the base, said Charles Bailey, Vietnam representative of the Ford Foundation, which financed Hatfield's study. "Nevertheless, it's a public health threat, and it's a risk."

 

The United States is paying $400,000 for an engineering study of how to clean up the site. Ford, a New York-based charitable organization, is also paying for temporary containment measures, which will begin this summer, before monsoon season.

 

For some, though, the effort comes too late.

 

Nguyen Van Dung, 38, and his family have lived just outside the air base since 1990. Dung used to bring home fish he caught in Lotus Lake.

 

At about age 2, his daughter began manifesting grotesque health problems.

Now 7, Nguyen Thi Kieu Nhung's shin bones curve sharply and appear to be broken in several places, as though smashed with a hammer. Her right shoulder bone protrudes unnaturally, stretching her skin. She has only two teeth, her right eye bulges from its socket and she has sores on her face. She can't walk; she can only slide around on her rear end.

When her mother, Luu Thi Thu, changes her daughter's shirt, Nhung screams in pain.

"If they had acted before, we wouldn't have been exposed," Thu said. "I'm angry, but I don't know what to do. I go to the pagoda twice a month to pray that my daughter will get better."

Her doctors say she won't.

 

The Vietnamese military has taken some steps to contain the dioxin, but Le Ke Son, Vietnam's top Agent Orange official, said cleaning up Danang and other Agent Orange hotspots is likely to cost at least $40 million, far more than the developing country can afford.

 

"We have asked the American side to be more active, not just in doing research into the effects of Agent Orange but in overcoming its consequences," Son said. "Until we resolve this issue, we can't really say that we have truly normalized relations."

 

The U.S. Congress recently set aside $3 million to address dioxin contamination in Vietnam, and U.S. Ambassador Michael Marine said some of it could be used to help pay for a cleanup.

 

He said other donors, including the United Nations Development Program, might contribute.

Boivin said the U.S. should take the lead. "There's a real need for the U.S. to step up to the plate here and fund the clean up of these sites," he said.

 

During the war, U.S. troops stored Agent Orange in 48-gallon barrels at a loading station on the base and diluted it with water before loading it on planes. In the process, the herbicide often spilled onto the ground.

 

Dioxin attaches itself to dirt and sediment and stays for generations, posing danger to people who touch it. Although not absorbed by crops such as rice, it remains in the fat of fish and other animals that ingest it and can be passed to humans through the food chain.

Rainwater drains across the old mixing area and into Lotus Lake on the northern side of the site, where sediment tests showed dioxin levels 50 times the international limit.

 

The water sometimes also runs off into a city drain, carrying dioxin with it, Boivin said.

In Thanh Khe district, just over the 3-foot-high wall that surrounds the lake, Hatfield found dioxin levels that were slightly elevated but generally within accepted limits. Levels in a neighborhood three miles away were normal.

 

The company said blood tests of 55 residents found safe dioxin levels for those who lived away from the base, and elevated levels among those who had regularly visited Lotus Lake. One had dioxin levels 175 times above the safety limit.

 

There are no warning signs at the northern edge of the lake, in a lush and wild area by a crowded neighborhood. On a recent day, a man stood at the lake with a fishing rod.

The Danang project marks a significant change in the U.S. attitude toward Agent Orange, said Chuck Searcy of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

 

"For years, the official U.S. position was basically denial," Searcy said. "Now the U.S. wants to demonstrate that we will consider all possibilities and try to agree on ways to approach this problem."

 

The findings of the U.S.-funded engineering study, conducted by New Jersey-based BEM Associates, could also be applied to other Agent Orange hotspots, including the former Bien Hoa Air Base in Dong Nai province and the former Phu Cat Air Base in Binh Dinh province.

Vietnam and the United States have long disagreed about Agent Orange's impact on human health.

 

Vietnam says up to 3 million of its 84 million people have birth defects or other health problems related to dioxin. The United States says the number is much lower and that more scientific study is needed to prove a link to Agent Orange.

 

The U.S. compensates American war veterans who say they were exposed to Agent Orange if they have certain health problems that have been linked to the herbicide.

 

A lawsuit seeking compensation from Agent Orange manufacturers, filed by the Vietnam Agent Orange Victims Association, is to be heard by a U.S. appeals court on Monday.

 

Ambassador Marine said in an interview that the U.S. does not plan to provide direct compensation. But he noted that, on top of the $3 million Congress approved, Washington has spent $43 million since 1989 helping Vietnamese with disabilities, regardless of their causes.

 

"I think we've made progress in the last couple of years in our joint work to try to understand this issue better and find a constructive way of dealing with it," Marine said.

Some of the U.S. money could go toward caring for people such as Nguyen Thi Trang Ngan, 17.

 

Ngan's mother, Nguyen Thi Thuy Lieu, grew up next to the base and used to enter it regularly to get candy from the U.S. troops. The family fished in Lotus Lake and drank water from a nearby well.

 

Now her daughter can't speak, sit up, walk, feed herself or get dressed. She makes strange, uncontrolled grunting sounds and sucks her thumb.

"War always brings suffering," her mother said. "I don't blame anyone for it. This is my fate."

Sometimes, when she comforts Ngan, her daughter laughs. "That's my greatest happiness," Lieu said.

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June 13, 2007

FREDERICTON (CP) - Pressure is building on the federal Conservatives to make good on a promise to compensate people who say they were harmed by defoliant sprays at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in New Brunswick.

                       
Federal Liberal Albina Guarnieri said Wednesday that Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government are deliberately stalling on a commitment to compensate those affected by the testing of defoliants such as Agent Orange and Agent Purple in the 1960s. Guarnieri, the party's veterans affairs critic, has raised the issue in the House of Commons, pointing out that both Harper and Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson pledged speedy cash settlements in the controversy surrounding the testing of combat defoliants, as well as other powerful herbicides used at the base over the years.
                    

She said it appears the federal Conservatives are renegging on yet another promise they made in Atlantic Canada during the last election, referring to the fight over the Atlantic Accord and equalization. "They raised expectations with a promise they have failed to fulfil," she said in an interview. "It's shameful."
                    

The federal government hasn't explained why it is taking so long to produce an Agent Orange compensation package.

Thompson said he'll get the job done and he has talked about compensation of $20,000 to $24,000 per individual claimant.

But his original prediction of an announcement by early 2007 has passed and he isn't saying when a package will be presented.

                
"This file has been around for 40 years," Thompson said in Parliament in response to a question this week from Guarnieri. "The Liberals fell asleep on it. We will get it done."

                       
Guarnieri said it's suspicious that Thompson has been unable to keep a deadline on the issue.

"The question is whether Thompson has really failed to deliver a plan or whether the prime minister has rejected that plan," she said.

                 
Over several days in 1966 and 1967, the U.S. military carried out tests at Gagetown of a number of defoliating agents, including Agents Orange, White and Purple. The chemicals were widely applied during the Vietnam War to clear jungles and have since been linked to a number of human health problems, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia, soft-tissue sarcoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and chloracne. U.S. studies also suggest that exposure to the chemical defoliants could be related to a number of forms of cancers as well as diabetes.
                       

A fact-finding mission appointed over two years ago has decreed that Gagetown is a safe place for the military and civilian personnel who work there. But it also determined there may be lingering effects from Agent Orange and the other defoliants for those who directly handled, mixed and sprayed the products back in the 1960s.

               
John Chisholm, who was stationed at the base from 1956 until 1970, was involved in the spray programs and is in the forefront of fighting for compensation. "The thing is, a lot of people are passing on and they're going to get absolutely nothing out of this," Chisholm said Wednesday. "The government is moving ahead on native land settlements . . . why not us? It's our lives. It's not just a piece of land. It's our lives we're fighting over."
                     

Art Connolly of the Agent Orange Association of Canada said veterans across the country are becoming angry at the delays and stalling tactics. "They're getting impatient, frustrated and angry," Connolly said. "We're hearing nothing. In our opinion, they're stalling."
                     

In addition to growing political pressure, a massive class-action lawsuit is underway involving more than 1,700 people who say they're victims of defoliant spraying at Gagetown.

                 
The lawsuit's first goal is to have the federal government pay for medical tests at a cost of $750 to $1,000 per individual to determine if their blood or tissues have toxins from exposure to the herbicides sprayed at the base.

                 
Lawyers estimate up to 440,000 people may have been exposed, either while serving in the military at the largest training base in the Commonwealth or as civilians
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June 11, 2007

From: Art Connolly

Art,

Congratulations on 2 years of success.

For the sake of all those who are sick or dying, lets pray that this Gagetown spraying issue is resolved to the satisfaction of AOAC and that we do not have to congratulate you on year three....Jim

You never could have possibly known when you began your your site how entwined our lives would all become in this journey filled with strife. With every year and each passing day we gather facts and truths to say we spread the word throughout this land politicians fear the truth is at hand.

We fight for justice and accountabililty for those who have died and those who are dying
So why do we fight for compensation its all explained in our Mission Statement.

Lets remember why we are here !

The Agent Orange Association of Canada Mission Statement

The Agent Orange Association of Canada is committed to obtaining full disclosure from our Governments about the spraying of toxic pesticides, especially herbicides at CFB Gagetown. The values of integrity, determination, advocacy and truth guide us in our work to uncover the truth.

We seek a Public Inquiry, as the means to ensure truth, accountability, justice and compensation for all those persons who are sick, who are dying and who have died, as well as for those families who have suffered the loss of loved ones.

We seek to ensure that those responsible will be held legally accountable for their actions. We seek to ensure that our Governments learn from such a vast poisoning of their own people and of the environment, to protect human and ecological health.

We seek full acknowledgement from our Governments, of poisoning of military and civilian personnel, of their families, and of civilians who live or lived on lands surrounding CFB Gagetown.

We will advocate for and help those who are sick and dying.

We will educate about the dangers of pesticides, including herbicides, and their harm to our wildlife, our environment and to the people of Canada.

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June 9, 2007

From: Art Connolly

Today is the second anniversary of www.agentorangealert.com

Last Updated: Friday, June 8, 2007 | 6:30 AM AT

CBC News 

Support for the federal Conservatives in the Atlantic provinces dropped
significantly this spring, a new poll suggests....

http://www.cbc. ca/canada/ new-brunswick/ story/2007/ 06/08/atlantic- poll.html

The Day of Reckoning for the present federal government is coming. 
-Art
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June 8, 2007

From: Marilnn Doherty

National Post

DND CRACKS DOWN ON RELEASE OF FILES

David Pugliese, CanWest News Service

Published: Friday, June 08, 2007



OTTAWA - The Department of National Defence has cracked down on the
release of files under the Access to Information Act process.
The department is withholding previously released public records, for
months at a time, so government officials can once again examine the
documents in case they missed any information the first time.

The files in question have already gone through an official
department access-to-information on review process and are currently
considered public records because they have already been released.

But under the new policy, any member of the public wanting to see a
copy of such records, even historical files released several years
ago, must wait as the documents are once again eyed by a bureaucrat.
The process, which has delayed the release of some records by more
than two months, was instituted after Defence Minister Gordon
O'Connor found himself in the middle of a political storm because of
the release of access-to-information on records outlining allegations
that Afghani detainees were abused.

Access-to-information on specialist and retired colonel Michel Drapeau
said the Defence Department's decision to review files that have
already been made public goes against the Harper government's claims
that it embraces openness and accountability.

"It's a major, major step backwards," said Mr. Drapeau, an Ottawa
lawyer whose 2,800-page book about freedom-of-informant ion law is
considered the legal bible on the subject. "This information is
already supposed to be available to the public and all this is doing
is slowing down the public's right to see government records."
Mr. Drapeau said he has not heard of such a thing happening in other
federal departments, but added he was not surprised by the latest
development. "This government makes the previous government look good
in regards to access to information. "

Mr. O'Connor's spokeswoman, Isabelle Bouchard, said in an e-mail that
there has been no change in how the Defence Department is approaching
the release of information.

But in another e-mail to the Ottawa Citizen, the department
acknowledged it has instituted a new policy of reviewing records
already released to the public.

"Due to the high volume of documents handled by (DND Access to
Information) in response to requests and potential injuries arising
from errors during processing, we are taking particular care in the
review of files," the e-mail stated. "This includes a cursory review
of those that have been previously released to ensure consistency. "
The Defence Department said the process is not expected to cause
undue delays.

Mr. Drapeau said such an explanation does not make sense, because the
Defence Department is claiming on one hand that it is extremely busy
yet it is instituting yet another lengthy bureaucratic step in
regards to releasing records to the public.

These Conservative Party politicians are so frightened of the truth that they must do everything they can to avoid it
They need to hang their heads in shame.
-Art

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June 8, 2007

                                             

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June 8, 2007

From: Kenneth Young

Did the Liberals have their head in the sand for the past 50 years?

I find myself watching Kindergarten TV more and more as my age
increases. What I really mean is that I watch more "Question
Period," which even the first time watcher must admit is somewhat
akin to young children squabbling over the sand box or arguing as to
who has the neatest toy and sometimes even so far as watching dogs
fight over a scrap of meat or a bone.

Yesterday the Liberals were putting on quite a show of surprise
that "The Canadian Minister of the Department of National Defence,"
would lie or keep secrets of possible injury to some soldiers or
even the numbers involved, (even if they were the enemy) from the
House and/or from the people who needed to have this information,
for whatever reason.

I said show because between the two parties "the Liberals and the
Conservatives, their Ministers," and their Defence Departments, have
for the past 50 years kept the secrete of Chemical Defoliant
spraying at CFB Gagetown, its adverse health affects on soldiers and
even the numbers and names of those put into harms way. They also
didn't give the Disabled and Discharged Soldiers the pertinent and
absolutely vital medical information which many may have needed to
survive.

Many Veterans/Victims of Gagetown have died and even more are still
now sick and dieing and yet for the most part the Canadian Media and
our MP's in Ottawa are more interested in some bruises on some POW's
who wouldn't dare complain to their own people.

Ottawa's renewed and constant attention to the welfare of foreign
countries while admirable is somewhat perverse when they allow
people to freeze to death on the streets due to lack of low cost
housing, allow whole Native Nations to become sick for lack of
drinkable water, force parents of fallen soldiers to take them to
press in order to be re-imbrues for the burial of their children
and continue to allow thousands of Gagetown Victims to suffer on
their own.

All this from the same Ottawa MP's who continue to spend all
Canadians over and in my opinion illegal taxation, renamed by Ottawa
to read "Budget surplus," in the billions.

In my opinion lies and secrets are not the exception in Ottawa, the
exception in Ottawa is an MP doing the right thing, not for votes or
headlines but just because it is the right thing to do, the truly
Canadian thing to do.

Ken Young

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June 7, 2007

From: Jim Cadger

Year of DVA Cleanup Needed

I think I can be seen as part of the Military Family for all my 65 years

Born 1942 while my dad served in the RCAF. Married an RCAF member in Aug 1960 as my dad retired in Sept 1960. Went into uniform in Nov 1981 as my husband retired in Jan 1982. Our 4 children joined the military  1978, 1980, 1984, 1985. One child left the military after one year while 2 are now retired and 1 is still serving along with two grandsons who are just starting their careers. I can say I have never been NOT a family member. There really is 'No life like it!!'
               

But I think the Chief of Defense Staff and the government has to also realize what happens after the uniform is turned in and the horrors of trying to get assistance for bad health caused by the time served. During service time, a member fights for our country as is expected. After having done their duty they begin a different stage of life, fighting for their own rights. I am talking about DVA (dept of Veterans Affairs) and at that point they find a much harder fight than what they were trained to handle.

So as younger members of my family join the military, I encourage them to learn their job and do their duty but I also counsel them to retain all their documents concerning their time in and to keep a diary of ANYTHING that may happen to them like, names of superiors as they are transferred from unit to unit, ALL information concerning any injuries they might encounter. DVA can be the bottleneck of any enjoyment of life after the uniform, which is NOT as it should be.
                  
Perhaps what we REALLY need is a year set aside to clean up DVA so that our service members can look forward to enjoying a reasonable life "After the Uniform"

          
My father had to fight to prove he was a war vet. My husband is dead and I am continuing his fight to prove he was involved with the Chemical Spraying at CFB Gagetown. One of my retired children is trying to sort out a claim with DVA. My son and a grandson are serving in Afghanistan, will they also have to fight if they need DVA assistance?
          

Sandy Skipton
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