Monitor and Care for Our Troops Exposed to Radiation in Japan

Veterans for Common Sense remembers there are US troops stationed in Japan and they are focused on making sure they are taken care of now and tomorrow.

VCS to DoD and VA: Monitor and Care for Our Troops Exposed to Radiation in Japan
Written by VCS
Tuesday, 15 March 2011 09:51

VCS sent the following letter to VA expressing our concerns about caring for our service membes and veterans exposed to harmful radiation while deployed to rescue missions in Japan.
March 14, 2011
The Honorable Eric Shinseki
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
The Honorable Robert Gates
Secretary of Defense
Dear Secretary Shinseki and Secretary Gates:
Veterans for Common Sense writes you regarding the health and welfare of our service members deployed in and around Japan. We support our nation’s military mission to assist Japan in her greatest hour of need in more than six decades.

However, there are new and important developments related to the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011. The situation at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactor facility prompt us to present three salient, significant, and urgent points to you.

1. Widespread Radioactive Contamination is Now Confirmed.
Japan and the U.S. now confirm the radioactive contamination of both air and sea water as well as the exposure of both Japanese civilians and U.S. military service members in Japan and off the coast of Japan. Therefore, the entire nation of Japan, the airspace above, and the waters nearby for at least 100 miles must be designated by the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs as a radioactive and toxic environment. The zone can be expanded as the radioactive contamination spreads.

While there is more to what VCS suggests, this one stood out.

3. Create New Team; Remove Dr. Brix.
The integrity and transparency of VA and DoD on this issue are vital. VCS supports creating a new, joint DoD-VA team to monitor this issue. Independent (non-government) experts should be advising our government, not the current staff assigned. Our U.S. service members, veterans, and the public are not served well with the continued involvement in any manner of Dr. Kelly Brix and her Department of Defense Force Health Protection staff. Specifically, any ties between VA and Dr. Brix on this and related matters must be severed immediately.
Dr. Brix, her staff, and prior DoD efforts on Gulf War illness, Iraq War burn pits, and other toxic exposures are not credible in the eyes of our veterans. This issue of our troops' health after radioactive and toxic exposures is far too urgent and important for her and the same Gulf War illness office to be involved with recent events in and around Japan.
During nearly two decades, she and her staff concealed, delayed, and denied the existence of Gulf War toxic exposures and multi-symptom illness.
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Monitor and Care for Our Troops Exposed to Radiation in Japan

How is this still going on and who will do something about it to make sure our troops are taken care of today and tomorrow when they become veterans?

U.S. military bases in Japan report all service members are safe

A spokesman for the U.S. military bases in Japan said all service members were accounted for and there were no reports of damage to installations or ships.

Widespread destruction from Japan earthquake, tsunamis
By the CNN Wire Staff
March 11, 2011 9:24 a.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Government sends 8,000 troops to help in quake effort
NEW: Air and rail service disrupted, thousands stranded
Between 200 and 300 bodies have been found in Sendai city, local media report
About 2,000 residents near a nuclear plant are asked to evacuate

Tokyo (CNN) -- The most powerful earthquake to hit Japan in at least 100 years unleashed walls of water Friday that swept across rice fields, engulfing towns, dragging houses onto highways and tossing cars and boats like toys, apparently killing hundreds and forcing the evaucations of tens of thousands.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the "enormously powerful" earthquake has caused "tremendous damage over a wide area."

The quake, which struck at 2:46 pm local time, sparked fires in at least 80 locations, Japan's Kyodo News Service reported, and prompted the U.S. National Weather Service to issue tsunami warnings for at least 50 countries and territories.

Police in Miyagi Prefecture say between 200-300 have been found in the coastal city of Sendai alone, Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported late Friday. The death toll is likely to rise as there are few casualty counts yet from the worst-hit areas.

Kyodo, citing Japan's defense forces, said 60,000 to 70,000 people were being evacuated to shelters in the Sendai area.

Japanese authorities ordered the precautionary evacuation of a nuclear plant affected by the earthquake, saying that while there was no immediate danger, crews were having trouble cooling the reactor. The Fukushima plant is one of four closest to the quake that the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said were safety shut down.
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Widespread destruction from Japan earthquake, tsunamis

Behavior training ordered for servicemembers on Okinawa

Behavior training ordered for servicemembers on Okinawa
Mandate comes after string of off-base incidents
By David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, March 25, 2010
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A recent rash of off-base incidents involving servicemembers on Okinawa has prompted commanders to call for mandatory behavioral training.

Marine Lt. Gen. Terry G. Robling, the senior commander on Okinawa, has ordered all servicemembers and civilian employees to take part in unit training “to review what is expected of them (in order) to ensure good order and discipline,” according to a news release issued Tuesday afternoon.

On Okinawa, even minor incidents involving U.S. troops are used as ammunition for opponents of the U.S. bases on the island. The latest incidents come at a time when the prefectural government and anti-base factions are stepping up their campaign to scrap a plan to build a new Marine air facility on Okinawa.

Robling met with senior commanders from all services Saturday to discuss measures “to reduce incidents and accidents to the greatest extent possible,” according to the release.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=68864

Broadcaster’s death still under investigation

Broadcaster’s death still under investigation
Stars and Stripes
European edition, Friday, October 30, 2009
NAPLES, Italy — Italian railway police still are awaiting toxicology results from an autopsy of a 20-year-old American Forces Network broadcaster found dead Oct. 20 near Aviano Air Base, Italy, an official said Thursday.

The body of Airman 1st Class Lauren Lagudi, who was stationed at Aviano, was found near the train station in Pordenone, about 10 miles from the air base.

Railway police believe Lagudi died by accident or by suicide, but they have not ruled out the remote possibility of foul play, said an Italian police official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65744

Military to issue report on overseas troops cut off from kids

Military to issue report on overseas troops cut off from kids
By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, October 31, 2009
The military will be required to submit a report on the number of troops who have been cut off from their children by family members overseas during the last two years, according to an amendment in the newly approved Defense Authorization Bill.

Though it stops short of requiring the Defense Department to implement new policies to assist servicemembers affected by international child abduction, the amendment is intended to spur such a move, according to sponsor Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J.

"This will be the catalyst for significant reform," Smith told Stars and Stripes on Thursday.

The report, which is due to Congress within 180 days, requires the military to document current practices to assist servicemembers entangled in overseas custody battles. Smith, however, said there appears to be no consistent policy within the DOD to address the problem.

The amendment came as good news to troops such as Navy Cmdr. Paul Toland, who has been fighting for rights to his 7-year-old daughter in Japan since she was a baby. While stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, Toland married a Japanese woman who he claims later abducted their daughter in 2003. Toland’s ex-wife died in 2007 and his former mother-in-law refuses to allow visitation, he said.

While U.S. laws provide for custody rights for both parents after a divorce, not every country protects those rights nor provides them.



http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65743

22 percent of military members voted in the 2006 election

Former Marine: DOD voting system ‘broken’
By Charlie Coon, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, September 11, 2008



WASHINGTON — A former Marine who was a voting assistance officer told a Senate committee on Tuesday that he recommends troops living overseas look at online voting alternatives rather than use their military-organized programs.

Bryan O’Leary, a former F-18 pilot who works for a Washington law firm, noted that many servicemembers are on the move or based in remote areas. Those troops, O’Leary said, would be better off using an online registration site — www.overseasvotefoundation.org — rather than the "broken" system devised by the Department of Defense for its members.

"This is your best recourse if you haven’t gotten a ballot yet," O’Leary told the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing on ways the Justice Department is trying to ensure voting access.

O’Leary, citing statistics from the Defense Manpower Data Center, said that only 22 percent of military members voted in the 2006 election, including only 17 percent of those stationed overseas, compared with 40 percent of eligible voters in the general population.

He also told the committee that more than 48,000 ballots from overseas were rejected after being challenged by various candidates from both major political parties.
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http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57336