Gulf War vet with MS - Shares what he did

[Margaret Diann]

By the way, MS is an autoimmune dysfunction of the nervous system (immune system attacking YOU). I suspect besides the common denominator, autoimmune hemoltyic anemia, that most add on ailments are also 'autoimmune' (1-30-05)

Scott was asking about MS - says 400 gulf war vets have it that he knows of, as they are on their own discussion forum His question here- GWV Forum. (Gale has moved this as she didn't want me linking to gulfwarvets.com ... but it is still there somewhere I would expect)

What he did in the gulf war:

We were in the front, but not the very front. My unit 3/6, 2nd Marine Division, was the second wave of the front line. After the breaching of the mine fields, we had POW's for a day, or so, and then caught back up with the main body. We went to one of our operations, which was to take out a communication center in a huge crater in the ground. Air destroyed them so there was not much for us to do there. We moved again and then set in in a location where there were dead sheep as far as you could see. We were on the edge of them but they were every where. We finally moved to our major operation, Al Jahrah. We stayed on the outskirts of the city awaiting orders. There was a land fill right across the street from us.

Some tunnels were found in the land fill so we went in and cleared them out, that was fun. We never went into the city due to the cease fire. At this position we were flanked by their tanks. Our tanks moved in and destroyed them all, an amazing site in the pitch dark. Did they have chemical ammunition on them? Who knows, maybe, maybe not. I have read alot about the demolition of the stock pile ammo in Khamisiah ( have no idea how to spell it ). I have no idea where my unit was during that time frame, I understand it was after the ground invasion was over. No way to tell where we were. I did stay back on a rear party to help clean some of the captured vehicles. We cleaned tanks, and tracks. There is no real way of telling what the hell happened. I was no where near aircraft. If we did move it was by truck and when we did fly it was in helo's, but we didn't fly during the ground action. Maybe one day some one in power will get some balls and come forward, doubt it but maybe.

What did you clean with? How often did you clean your weapon/guns? and with what?

Scott,"We cleaned our weapons all the time, several times a day. We used what they called CLP, which they told us was cleaning, lubricant, protectant. That is all we were allowed to use.

That may be the cause of 2-butoxyethanol poisoning that I have been harping on.

Do you think anyone can find out what the solvents are?

http://www.valdezlink.com/clp.htm

They don't name the solvent or the proprietary ingredient which is said to be a linear hydrocarbon.

I believe it is a primary cause of 'gulf war syndrome'

And I believe the govt has NO IDEA

Scott: "I have no idea how one would find out what it is, or what's in it. It is not really like a solvent, in that it has a petroleum base to it. It doesn't evaporate and it is oily. It supposedly loosened up the carbon and oiled the weapon all in one."

Do you have fatigue? Someone in the military (can't find the e-mail he sent) told me that the troops cleaned their gear (I think he meant guns) daily with a product that contained 2-butoxyethanol.

Now, you note on what they do say, that for repeated use ... wear goggles... etc, etc

I'll ask the chemist on GWV But, if you check more in your blood, you will know (once they find the right test) whether this chemical has harmed you: Such as the Retic ratio and have a lab tech comment on the red blood cells! Are they small? Ragged and beat up? or tear shaped and normal size? Can they do the function of iron utilization/storage that mature red blood cells do?

What does the lab recommend? But what should they check, to find the 'biomarkers of the CFS, CFIDS, 'gulf war syndrome' fatigue?

That's the blood damage, but all the rest of gulf war syndrome is what this chemical does

http://www.valdezlink.com/gwv/1-5.htm my organization of posts under topic of EVOS and GWV

To continue, "I got out in 91 and didn't have a problem with anything until 94 when I started having problems with my vision. I do have a problem with fatigue but that has come on in the last few months, it is also a problem in MS. The doc put me on Provigil for it and it seems to help.

You mentioned that someone you know said that they would clean their gear with something that had that chemical in it. When we would refer to gear, it is all the accessories but that stuff was hand washed with soap and water. I did know of people who would try and use oven cleaner to clean their weapon for a big inspection but if you were caught doing that you got in BIG trouble. I can only speak from my experience in the grunts, as far as weapon cleaning goes. I have no idea what the troops did who had the big guns, etc. I would "assume" that if there was a problem with the CLP, it would have manifested before this time frame, the Marine Corp has been using that stuff for a looooooong time.

This is my personal opinion and I have no evidence to prove anything, I think it is the result of a few things, environment, chemical weapons, vaccines, and the mysterious pill.

You know one thing that I find amusing is that someone found a web site that you could type in your ssn and it would tell you where your unit was and the exposure you may have had from the oil well fires. It showed me the right info. and it told me that my unit was and that we were only above the limits (pel) from the oil well fires for one day out of the 40+ days we were in the smoke. I have a photo at home that was taken in the middle of the day and way in the background you can see an orange line from the sun. It was like that for a long time. I sent them a message telling them that they were full of s***, of course I will probably never hear from them. I always find it interesting that so many people can tell you what you did or did not experience when they weren't there or when no one bothered taking down specific data."

A National Geographic Magazine overview.

You are right on all points

I do think the military and the general public has been harmed by this chemical in many, many products for years and years...

Eyes? Have you had a good eye check up with an ophthalmologist? With this chemical there is concern about damage to the eye tissues, maybe even holes in retina.

Oven cleaner? Ouch! It can have up to 30% of pure 2(2-butoxyethanol) There are a couple of brands on this list of products containing the compound version. Which by the way, Gulf War troops were also exposed to (but not thought to be this source, of course.)

I know I don't know what you went thru; I just know that the one chemical I studied that seem to cause all of the gulf war syndrome type symptoms ... is also one of the solvents/pesticides/poisons you were exposed to.

Now what the govt thinks it was in is one thing (I'd like to know)
But, as you can see, there may be other things that no one is even told about.

And I think the doctors should check Attorney General John Ashcroft's red blood cells for retic ratio and look at them under a microscope, too. He had pancreatitis and now gall bladder removal surgery? Lots in our group have the same. Even removal of swollen pancreas, spleen!

And for other leaders, too, if they have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome