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December 03, 2004
Gulf war illness II?
FOX is reporting on soldiers returning from the Gulf.
Let's take a look, shall we? The guys coming home have been over in Iraq for a very rough year (plus). They've been in combat. For those of you who are new to this, being in combat is a little stressful. I know, shocker, isn't it?
So, a group of people all under intense stress for over a year. Eating high-energy food to keep going on minimal sleep. Living in a very poor country, exposed to a foriegn population, doing dirty, backbreaking work. And a third of the people are reporting "symptoms, signs and ill-defined conditions".
My god! It's an epidemic! Of poorly explained health problems. Hmmm. Let's deconstruct some of them, shall we?
Complaining of " back and joint pain". Well, that would be surprising, except for the intense physical effort soldiers exert during combat operations.
Others complaining of "mental health issues". Can you say, Combat Stress? I can. It is stressful. Very. Some people are going to exhibit problems associated with that level of stress.
The only other issue the article specifically mentions is complaints of " diseases of the digestive system". Now, I may not be a health care professional like Em, but that sounds like a completely different order of problem from the first two. Are there water issues? Is there a problem with the food? Some essential part of their diet missing? What are the corresponding levels of complaint among the non-military people (i.e. contractors, etc.)?
I think it's very misleading to lump all that together as some over-arching "Gulf War Illness" or Syndrome. It looks like a bunch of soldiers went to war & some came back with medical issues common to soldiers who've seen combat.
This is news?
Posted by at December 3, 2004 03:59 AM