Saturday, July 25, 2009

Ill Missouri Gulf War Veteran on His Way to D.C. on His Tractor

Written by Gulf War veteran Michael Woods, on the blog, Matt Letterman's Tractor Ride to DC
July 25, 2009

Matt Letterman Hits the road Headed to Washington DC in search of real HELP from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

He left his rural Missouri home on his John Deer Tractor Yesterday.

Matt has been fighting for real help from the Department of Veterans Affairs for years now. While the VA agrees that he is Disabled beyound the ability of holding any real job. They have used loop holes in the laws to deny him the real help that he has been in need of for years.

Matt served in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and has been suffering from disabiling illness ever since.

Gulf War Veterans pressed for passage of landmark legistlation in 1998 to help Gulf War Veterans with illnesses difficult or impossible for the VA to Diagnosis. In Matts case the VA is ignoring this important law. Under this law illnesses that remain undiagnosed for more than six months require the VA to rate these illnesses under the law specifically written for ill Gulf War veterans. Sadly, even to this day ill Gulf War veterans suffer these injustices because the VA does not require it's Health Care providers and Veterans benefits officials to be conversant in the laws and multi-symptom illness veterans face. A stark example of the ambivalence of the VA is the Veterans Health Initiative (VHI) Gulf War Veterans Health found on the web at http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/gulfwar/ This document produced by the VA is a guide to clinicians on the illnesses veterans face. The Research Advisory Committee of Gulf War Illness has been trying for 5 years to get the VA to update this guide to reflect current science and understanding on the illness but the VA continues to resist. That is why Matt was not rated properly, because the VA does not follow Congressionally mandated laws and it's Doctors don’t know what the current science says about the multi-symptom illness.

Here is a YouTube video about Matt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fScb9awKf6o

If you want to help email lpgulfvet@aol.com or comment on this post and we will help get you in contact with Matt

At this moment 5:22 pm Saturday July 25th 2009 Matt is just outside of Paducah In the morning he will start his way across the state of Kentucky.

For more information on Gulf War Veterans Facts contact The National Gulf War Resource Center (NGWRC) Jim Bunker at 866-531-7183 or http://www.ngwrc.org/
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