Veteran fights VA over exposure to burn pits

[unhappycamper]

September 9, 2010---Shanna Wymore helps her husband Tim Wymore to his wheelchair Thursday afternoon. From September 2004 to March 2005 Air Force Tech. Sgt. Tim Wymore was stationed in Balad, Iraq where he was exposed to burn pits, open air fire pits where waste was burned. When he returned home he had constant stomach pain. In October 2005 he had a tumor removed from his stomach. He has been wheelchair-bound since March. "I just want answers," Shanna said of her husband's condition. "We've been fighting for five years." The Department of Veterans Affairs recently acknowledged that his symptoms are due to burn pit exposure. Emily Rasinski [e-mail]


Veteran fights VA over exposure to burn pits
BY PHILLIP O'CONNOR [e-mail] 314-340-8321 | Posted: Sunday, September 12, 2010 12:30 am

Iraq veteran Tim Wymore spends most of what he believes are his last days worried about what will become of his family.

He has three lesions on his brain, another on his eye. He suffers from a blood disorder, a damaged esophagus and abdominal problems that led to the removal of most of his colon. He can barely stand, and then only with the aid of a cane.

~snip~

Wymore, of St. Charles, is one of several hundred veterans across the country who have filed lawsuits contending that dangerous toxins from open-air burn pits operated on U.S. military installations in Iraq and Afghanistan made them sick. Last week a federal judge ruled the case could proceed.

The Department of Veterans Affairs acknowledges that Wymore's health problems are war-related.

But the VA believes his condition may improve. Because of that, the VA has yet to declare Wymore permanently disabled. As a result, his family is not eligible for many benefits. Those include medical insurance for his wife and college costs for their three sons. Also, Wymore worries that should he die, the VA will not pay a survivor's benefit to his wife unless she can prove his death is directly related to his military service, a challenge he doesn't want to put her through.

[Angry Dragon]

1. Our leaders want fodder for the cannons

but if the soldier is lucky to get home they are soon forgotten.
They are no longer useful to the war mongers, perhaps just a drain on the war machine.