What's New
| Dr. Haley at UTSW Presents Compelling Brain Images Showing Gulf War Illness |
VCS Asks VA: Since UTSW Research Remains Vital to Understanding Gulf War Illness, Then Why Did a Handful of VA Staff in Washington Impede UTSW Contract and Then End Funding for UTSW? March 9, 2010, Salt Lake City, Utah (Science News) - Nearly two decades after vets began returning from the Middle East complaining of Gulf War Syndrome, the federal government has yet to formally accept that their vague jumble of symptoms constitutes a legitimate illness. Here, at the Society of Toxicology annual meeting, yesterday, researchers rolled out a host of brain images – various types of magnetic-resonance scans and brain-wave measurements – that they say graphically and unambiguously depict Gulf War Syndrome. |
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| March 9 VCS Weekly Update |
This week’s VCS update keeps you in the loop with news on issues you care about. One good change – our weekly news updates won’t ask you for money. Instead, our news updates point you to news articles at our web site. We hope you will read them and share the important facts with your friends. This week's update includes news about VA and suicides, VCS on CNN, our VCS FOIA campaign, VA automating Agent Orange claims, a waterboarding torture video, and Gulf War veterans' benefits. |
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| Federal Court Keeps Torture Lawsuit Against Rumsfeld Alive |
What's Waterboarding? Watch Video of Torture March 5, 2010, Chicago, Illinois (Associated Press) - A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a civil lawsuit accusing former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of responsibility for the alleged torture by U.S. forces of two Americans who worked for an Iraqi contracting firm. [Rumsfeld served at the Pentagon under former President George W. Bush.] |
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| Reducing Suicides: VA Adopts Policy on Emergency Care for Mental Health Patients |
This Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Directive provides policy to ensure the provision of safe and secure mental health services during all hours of operation for Emergency Departments (EDs) and Urgent Care Clinics (UCCs) in VHA |
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| Senator Hutchison Supports Gulf War Research at University of Texas Southwestern |
Texas Senator Calls VA Decision ‘Vindication’ for Gulf War Veterans February 28, 2010 - (Press Release) U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison released the following statement concerning the Department of Veterans Affairs decision to reconsider the rejected claims of Gulf War veterans: |
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Afghanistan War Army Soldier on Leave in Indiana Completes Suicide Watching Film "ZombieLand"
Written by Douglas Walker
Tuesday, 20 October 2009 11:17
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October 13, 2009, Muncie Indiana (StarPress) - The young military veteran who shot and killed himself in a Muncie movie theater late Monday has been identified as Jacob W. Sexton, 21, of Farmland. Sexton was on leave from serving in the Afghanistan war, but was set to return, according to the coroner's office. Sexton was in the movie theater with three companions, two of them his brothers, watching "Zombieland." City police Sgt. Mike Engle said the shooting took place about 20 minutes into a late-night showing of the motion picture, a Woody Harrelson comedy with a horror theme, at the Kerasotes Showplace 12, 800 E. Princeton Ave. Police were called to the theater about 10:30 p.m. In addition to the shooting victim, his two brothers and a friend, about eight other people were in the theater at the time, the police sergeant said. Witnesses reported hearing a loud pop, then were further startled to hear the victim's companions scream over what they had just witnessed, with one of the young men beating on a wall in anguish. Sexton died of a gunshot wound in the head. No one else was injured, according to police. Engle said one of the other men was the owner of the handgun involved, and had handed it to the shooting victim, at his request, just before the fatal shot was fired. Police believe at least three of the young men, including Sexton had been drinking before going to the theater. Sexton had argued with theater employees after being asked to produce an ID to view the R-rated movie, saying he had killed 18 people in the service of his country, witnesses told police. Investigators were able to interview nearly nearly all of the other theater patrons who were viewing the movie at the time of the shooting, Engle said about 2 a.m. Tuesday. Monday's incident came only three days after the Friday night arrest of an Iraq War veteran from Lynn who allegedly fired a shotgun at Randolph County sheriff's deputies. Those officers were not wounded. |