Rockefeller hails veterans medical care legislation

2007-07-27

Source: The Register Herald

Soldiers returning from combat duty in the volatile Middle East are targeted for improved medical attention in legislation whipped through the Senate this week on a voice vote.

The measure was co-sponsored by Sens. Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, both D-W.Va., in response to a scandal that shook Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital.

"Our soldiers are coming home with deep and debilitating wounds — both physical and mental," Rockefeller said Thursday.

"This can make their transition back into civilian life a truly difficult challenge. The last thing they need when returning home is a cumbersome paper process not worthy of their sacrifice. We're determined to fix it, and this legislation will go a long way toward giving our wounded soldiers the support they've earned and deserve."

Rockefeller took an active role in the medical treatment of returnees from the first Gulf War by launching a series of investigative hearings back in 1997 to dig into evidence that American soldiers were poisoned by their government, which then attempted to conceal a plethora of illnesses.

The senator conducted hearings in Huntington to hear from veterans who were given experimental pills known as pyridostigmine bromide in combination with insect repellents. At the time of that controversy, Rockefeller remarked in a Register-Herald interview, "It's the classic fight of the little guy versus the big guy ... and I'm sick of it."

Under the measure, the Pentagon and the Veterans Administration are required to enhance services for veterans suffering traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder by developing a plan for prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

Read More...

---