Mm. And four veterans getting to this point where they can receive
the a benefits after becoming sick from toxic exposure in war zones.
This has been a very long and frustrating road
is back now. With this story. It was produced by our Dan Siegel in
it takes a deeper look at what's in this law and the heavy price
that veterans and their families have paid.
Come on. In decades of war, American Marines and soldiers faced an
enemy willing to kill.
That is what we live next to the fog of war, including actual smoke
and toxic fumes that could be just as deadly.
And as she burns every day.
Twice a day. Many of the 3.5 million Americans who served in uniform
since 9 11 breathed in fumes from the garbage that the military burned
everything from plastic water bottles to Styrofoam batteries, paint
cans, tires.
Even ammunition
down here to get a good shot of it. Toxic smoke filled the sky and
bases were service members lived. It's believed to be one reason
why veterans contracted higher rates of lung disease, cancer and
other serious illnesses, including Jennifer Howard's husband, 44
Year old Jason. When they came back, they talked a bit about how
everything was on fire.
Um they burned everything. Howard was the son of a soldier who became
a Marine and deployed to Iraq in 2003 and 2004. He was always fit
and healthy and love to run marathons. But he took these photos of
burn pits in Iraq. Jennifer blames that toxic smoke for his 2018
diagnosis of glioblastoma and aggressive brain cancer that usually
occurs in much older adults.
I have other pipes of pizza to
the V A resisted providing benefits because there was no proof that
he got sick because of his service. I have filled out more forms
and resubmitted the same form more times than I
Then, Um then I have time for the time I finally got it all back
together and submit it again.
Um
His body was giving out from treatments.
We filmed this interview in April 2021 3. Weeks later he died. They
had been married for 19 years. Jennifer Thank you so much for doing
this. We spoke again about the new legislation. I would hope now
People can get the support and the services right away so that they
can
Get the care that they need to get the support that they need and
enjoy the time that they have. Instead of spending it fighting the
promise to address Comprehensive Toxics Act or packed act declares
that veterans, asthma cancers and emphysema and other specified diseases
shall be considered to have been incurred in or aggravated during
active military service.
Notwithstanding that there is no record of evidence of such disease
during the period of such service.
But here we have our own version of hell. Legislation reverses decades
of policy that forced veterans to prove toxic exposure directly caused
their sickness something families found nearly impossible to verify
before Jason died. How much did you have to fight?
Um
A lot for for for a long time time that I wish I could have spent
just
Being with him and not fighting.
Sorry.
Okay. Sorry. What do you What are you thinking?
I just miss him.
Sorry.
I'm sorry. Just me just
The primary victory and getting this bill passed. It takes the burden
off the veteran.
To approving that they have a deployment related disorder. Dr. Robert
Miller is a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical
Center in 2004. He started seeing soldiers with serious breathing
difficulties.
After lung biopsies, Miller discovered they had constrictive bronchiolitis,
a rare lung disease where small airways are destroyed, and it's difficult
to detect having the biopsy is a matter of peace of mind.
That now I know why I'm short of breath, attended events on Capitol
Hill and met with congressional staffers, veteran activist and comedian
Jon Stewart to lobby Congress to change the law so veterans could
receive the benefit of the doubt the D, O, D and V, A actually actively
worked against employers in many cases and
As a result of this bill, there are 23 new conditions that are now
considered.
Presumptively related to deployment. The new law also covers veterans
exposed to oil well. Fires in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm
in the early 19, nineties, Agent Orange in Vietnam and crash sites
of nuclear armed B 52 bombers in Greenland, Spain and the Marshall
Islands in the sixties and seventies, and the new legislation expands
the time that veterans can take to enroll in via healthcare from
5 to 10. Years after they have discharged their looking for recognition
of what's going on. Cynthia Amon is one of the veterans.
Since who worked to convince Congress the news. Our first met her
in 2015, Missouri National Guard police company deployed to Kuwait
and Iraq in 2003, she and others live through massive sandstorms
and toxic pollution.
When she got back, she struggled to breathe. But she says at first,
the Via told her the problem was in her mind when I first started
going to the V, A and explaining my symptoms.
Automatically. They were telling me it was anxiety. Um, just hyperventilating.
They tried to put me on anti psychotic medications like different
mood stabilizers and things of that nature and
I was telling them no, my shortness of breath. It's something physical.
I know it is. Can't explain how excited I am and happy I am that
we finally got to this point. We talked to her again as the legislation
was making its way through Congress. What this means for other veterans
who present with these symptoms. You basically is if you were there
and those areas and you're presenting with these symptoms.
We automatically have to grant you compensation. There's no
You know, going to a million doctors having a million tests having
a lung biopsy? It just is what it is for a change. How are you doing
today?
Not super. Well, um
Sorry I am.
I just had some test and
had had some decline. You know, it's hard for me to breathe. It's
hard for me to do things, but I just do them anyway. I'm just going
to keep fighting. I have beautiful Children to fight for. You know,
I am wonderful fiancee. I have a wonderful life. Life has given me
so many amazing things, so just keep fighting.
Other veterans fights also continue. Despite the bill. Everything
I've read so far is going to have no impact for me at all
Rains had a 25 year career in the Army and army reserves. He was
diagnosed with constrictive bronchiolitis in the Via acknowledged
that is service caused his illness. But he took a pulmonary function
test like this, even though it couldn't detect his injury.
And when he scored well
denied him disability compensation. The pact Act does not fix that
issue comes in is whenever you start exercising yourself or when
you book get under physical stress or aerobic stress. That's when
the constricted bronchial livas kicks in. And that's when you have
the limitations right now, As far as I know, the V A has no method
for actually determining
The level of injury. Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough acknowledged
the problem. I know this is a great frustration for veterans going
back generations. My guess is we don't always get that precisely
correct. After decades of fighting, the new law helps veterans win
a battle.
But for many the war goes on, and many have been lost along the way.