Can we be proactive on the Ebola situation facing our soldiers? I know the government does things after the fact. If the American government were to be proactive, a letter of veteran concerns should be presented to Congress and the president. Getting Army action at discharge and/or VA action is always difficult and time consuming.
Action taken by the Army on the current Ebola action mentions nothing about how the soldier is going to be treated by the army or the VA if they get contaminated by Ebola. The nonmilitary medical staffs indicate they are not ready to handle ebola. I seriously doubt the Army is prepared. I believe action should be taken now to protect our soldiers prior to the potential of becoming contaminated. In Vietnam, no action was ever taken during the release of Agent Orange.
I believe, at the highest level of government, they should keep a record of names of who they send, dates before/after their tour and indicate who were contaminated. This information sheet should be fixed to their DD–214 on discharge so they do not have to go through the hassle to prove they were working with the Ebola problem. Whether not they were infected.
They put a lot of Vietnam veterans there through a lot of grief trying to prove they were exposed to Agent Orange. Soldiers, back in 1940s, entered the Nevada atomic bomb blasts without knowing they were being exposed to radiation. Over half of these died before our government acknowledged the radiation issue.
The Vietnam era veterans had to take the government to court to finally get a ruling in their favor, and it’s an orange contamination. No veteran should have to go through such stressful action after serving the country. I am afraid that the Ebola soldier will fall into this Catch-22 unless some organization takes a proactive stance now. What do you think?
Richard S. Dahl
Former SSGT Vietnam Veteran
