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ARMED FORCES NEWS |
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Last month, Defense Department spokesman Dr. Michael Kilpatrick briefed Gulf War veteran leaders about the Khamisiyah chemical warfare agent exposure plume, and during the briefing he said that DoD's effort to explain the possibilities of exposure to sarin and cyclosarin was non-scientific. Subsequently, Steve Robinson, Executive Director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, wrote the Department of Veterans Affairs, declaring that "Gulf War veteran leaders are stunned to hear his comments because they represent a reversal in DoD policy." Robinson added that "the benefit of the doubt should be in favor of the veteran when the veteran seeks health care or compensation benefits for medical conditions associated with chemical warfare agent exposure." Therefore, the only fair and reasonable solution for ill Gulf War veterans is for VA to affirm the presumption that every deployed Gulf War veteran was exposed to chemical weapons, he asserted. |
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