I’ve been ping-ponging between rage and sorrow. The rage tinged with sadness. Two stories intertwined for me. Stories about how we send others out to fight and so often turn our backs on them.
There are some things that are damn near impossible to absorb. Because I was out in front of the Great Barrington Town Hall for almost a decade and a half demonstrating for an end to the Iraq War, I paid attention to what was happening there. And I had heard and read about the toxic burn pits that millions of our soldiers lived beside—a story that thankfully has finally become impossible to ignore.
Following decades of neglect and exhaustive struggle, today there is some reason to celebrate and the deliverance of a small bit of justice—all thanks to the relentless shaming of the Senate Republicans by Jon Stewart and veterans throughout the nation unwilling to allow the Republicans’ most recent betrayal. And forcing the final Republican surrender, and the Senate voted to finally pass the burn pit legislation. Here are two takes on what has happened. First, the President:
“I look forward to signing this bill, so that veterans and their families and caregivers impacted by toxic exposures finally get the benefits and comprehensive health care they earned and deserve,” Biden said.
Then Stewart, the comedian and tireless activist, as quoted by the Washington Post: “‘I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a situation where people who have already given so much had to fight so hard to get so little,’ he said after the vote. ‘And I hope we learn a lesson.’”
Let me first talk about the larger shameful story: the mind-boggling reality that approximately 3.5 million Americans who have served following Sept. 11 were exposed to toxic smoke from burn pits. Then the more personal story which has me stunned and so very sorry.
Twelve years ago, in a story entitled “Veterans Sound Alarm Over Burn-Pit Exposure,” James Risen wrote for the New York Times: “When former Staff Sgt. Susan Clifford was stationed in 2004 and 2005 at Balad Air Base in Iraq, she was assigned to help dump her Army unit’s trash into a massive, open-air pit.
“Every conceivable type of waste was piled high in the pit—plastics, batteries, appliances, medicine, dead animals, even human body parts—and burned, with a dousing of jet fuel. A huge black plume of smoke hung over the pit, nearly blinding Ms. Clifford on her twice-a-month visits, and wafted over the entire base. By 2005, Ms. Clifford, who had been a serious runner, began to cough up phlegm, and soon found it difficult to do any physical training. As her breathing got worse and other symptoms became more serious, doctors discovered that her lungs were filling with fluids. ‘The doctors say they have never seen anyone like me, and they don’t know what to do,’ she said.”
It’s hard to say that she was one of the lucky ones, but she, at least, was the first vet to get our government to agree her condition was caused by exposure to the burn pits supervised by Halliburton’s Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR). As it became clear how many service people could make similar claims for disability, the government began to deny that there were clear links between their ailments and their exposure to the burn pits.
Twelve years after James Risen, Megan Stack also wrote about the burn pits for the New York Times: “Operated in large part by KBR, the huge contracting firm that was enriched by lucrative wartime contracts, burn pits were a ubiquitous feature of the post-Sept. 11 wars—a primitive disposal method for the tremendous loads of garbage generated by occupying forces.
“At least some of the health issues ascribed to burn pits were probably caused by particulate matter, smoke inhalation or air pollution breathed on deployment, and specialists are generally careful to refer to ‘toxic exposure’ or ‘airborne hazards’ instead of singling out burn pits. But returning service members and their families tend to zero in on the trash fires. Monstrous conflagrations consumed acres of American bases, sometimes adjacent to working and sleeping quarters. The troops grumbled about the noxious smoke but to no avail: The burn pits were considered an imperfect but inevitable way to avoid hauling garbage through streets held by hostile occupation.” (Emphasis added.)
When you get a sense of exactly how many of those who served have experienced or are now experiencing symptoms, you can see how outrageous our neglect has been. Megan Stack takes us back to 2004: “The soldiers with inexplicable breathing complaints started appearing in Dr. Robert F. Miller’s pulmonology clinic in 2004, the year after Baghdad fell to invading United States forces. These new patients were active-duty troops from nearby Fort Campbell, men and women who came home from war with mysterious respiratory ailments … Some of them had been close to the fire at the Mishraq sulfur mine outside Mosul, thought to be the largest release of sulfur dioxide ever caused by humans. But others had never gone anywhere near the burning mine. Some of them could no longer run or climb stairs, and yet their X-rays and pulmonary-function tests looked normal.
“Confounded, Miller decided to try something radical: He began ordering lung biopsies under general anesthesia to look for more subtle damage known as small-airways disease. Sure enough, the tissue revealed toxic lung injury … To the doctor, this meant two things: First, the soldiers were not exaggerating their symptoms. And more important, noninvasive screenings couldn’t be trusted to detect these new post-deployment ailments.”
It’s so painful to read Stack’s long account. The Pentagon and the Veterans Administration didn’t want to know what Dr. Miller was learning. After all, our government had exposed close to three and a half million Americans, our fighting forces, civilian contractors, not to mention civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan to a never-ending toxic haze. And, of course, there were deep connections between a great number of politicians from both parties who had given vast sums of money to Halliburton, KBR’s parent corporation. There was $7 billion to reconstruct Iraq’s oil infrastructure and grants for a variety of projects including trash disposal. Remember, it was Dick Cheney who ran Halliburton until he ran for Vice-President.
The terribly close relationship between the corporation and government officials enabled KBR to extract sweeping indemnification clauses in their contracts, assuring that KBR couldn’t be held liable for lawsuits alleging negligence, even death, and they remarkably included provisions that called for the taxpayers to reimburse the company for legal fees.
As the New York Times explains: “The oil contract did not cover the burn pits, but KBR claimed in a 2015 lawsuit filed against the Department of Defense that the logistical agreement that included garbage disposal also obligated the government to ‘reimburse KBR for costs incurred defending third-party tort suits.’ That means that, by the time all the lawsuits and legislation play out, taxpayers will be required to pay the original cost of KBR’s contracts, the price of health care and benefits for troops disabled by burn pits and, finally, reimbursement for damages and any corporate legal fees paid out by KBR as the company fought against the veterans’ claims.’” (Emphasis added.)
The Times chronicles the consequences: “More than 200,000 people who deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan believe they suffer permanent damage from exposure to burn pits … They describe ailments ranging from shortness of breath to rare cancers but have struggled to convince the government that shipped them off to war that their suffering deserves redress. Instead, veterans’ pleas have been met with bureaucratic inertia and widespread perceptions of stonewalling. Researchers who uncovered early suggestions of links between burn pits and health problems say their work was discouraged or even censored by the V.A. At the same time, citing a lack of conclusive data, the V.A. was denying the vast majority of burn-pit-exposure claims.”
Perry Chiaramonte from FOX News’ investigative team adds perspective:
“Thousands of U.S. military personnel who served on bases in Iraq and Afghanistan recall the dense black smoke from burn pits where everything from IEDs to human waste was incinerated. Now many have died, and more are gravely ill. Those battling a grim menu of cancers, as well as their loved ones and advocates, trace their condition to breathing in the toxic fumes they say could be the most recent wars’ version of Agent Orange or Gulf War Illness.
“‘The clouds of smoke would just hang throughout the base,’ Army Sgt. Daniel Diaz, who was stationed at Joint Base Balad, in Iraq’s Sunni Triangle from 2004-2005, told FoxNews.com. ‘No one ever gave it any thought. You are just so focused on the mission at hand. In my mind, I was just getting ready for the fight.’
“Diaz returned from duty in 2008. A year later, he started developing health problems including cancer, chronic fatigue and weakness, neuropathy and hypothyroidism. Nearly every base he was stationed at during his four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan had burn pits nearby—and pungent smoke everywhere. ‘It’s breaking my family. I’m just trying to fight to stay alive long enough get my claim settled so my family has something when I am gone.’” (Emphasis added.)
In 2020, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), a veterans’ advocacy and support organization, asked their members to fill out a questionnaire about the issues they were now facing. As Jeremy Butler, a Navy Veteran and the CEO of IAVA, noted: “But while post-9/11 veterans are succeeding in their education and careers, our survey reveals other troubling statistics. Many of our members are facing significant physical and mental health challenges.”
Here’s a look at who participated in the survey:
Over the years I’ve gotten to know veterans who have fought in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and I have learned how difficult it is for so many to acknowledge and deal with the serious symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). And even if they’re prepared to talk about their combat experience, most people they’ve come home to don’t really want to talk about, or even know about, what they experienced during combat.
The reality seems to be that the overwhelming majority of Americans have no desire to serve, and seem perfectly comfortable with the idea of a volunteer army. As a result, they have no personal experience of what life is like for those who live and fight in combat zones. Consequentially, it’s not terribly surprising how alone our veterans often feel.
Here’s what these veterans had to say about the emotional challenges they’ve been facing since their return. I was particularly struck by the jump in the small percentage of those who contemplated suicide before joining, versus the jump in numbers of those after joining. Think about what they must have experienced:
The survey also confirmed the fact that great numbers of our post-Sept. 11 service members believe they were exposed to the toxic chemicals being incinerated in the burn pits.
If you add up the 43 percent who believe they’ve been suffering from symptoms related to their exposure with the 46 percent who answered maybe, you have a staggering percentage of veterans who’ve been endangered. And much like the hesitancy many veterans feel when it comes to talking about any symptoms of PTSD they might be experiencing, a large percentage, 59 percent, don’t feel comfortable sharing the ramifications of their exposure to the burn pits. And half of them haven’t officially acknowledged their exposure to the Department of Defense or in their medical reports.
Jeremy Butler highlighted some of the most compelling results: “62 percent of our members personally know a veteran who has died by suicide, a shocking 22 percent increase since 2014. Meanwhile, a stunning 88 percent of our members report they are experiencing symptoms that are or might be related to burn pits or toxic exposure. Our nation needs to step up and support this generation of veterans.” (Emphasis added.)
There have been a few victories and many defeats as veterans have looked to the legal and political system to get justice—to force KBR and the Defense Department to take responsibility and compensate them for their injuries.
On January 11, 2018 Administrative Law Judge for the U.S. Department of Labor ruled in favor of Veronica M. Landry in her legal action against Service Employees International, Inc. and Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania. At the time of her deployment, Service Employees International, Inc. was also Service Employees International/KBR Technical Services Inc.
She was employed as a morale, welfare, and recreational specialist at two forward operating bases in Mosul, Iraq in 2004 and 2005. Both bases were under daily rocket and mortar and car bombing attacks. She was called back from leave when a suicide bomber attacked a dining hall, killing 22. Then while hosting a karaoke event in the dining hall a mortar attack grievously wounded a soldier. Ms. Landry unsuccessfully performed CPR on the soldier for more than 20 minutes.
Landry testified she was exposed to smoke from the burn pits “every day” while working in Iraq: “They were just throwing all the hazmat stuff in there—we’re talking paint thinner, whatever, it could be any kind of, you know, hazardous materials – even ammunition. We spent hours in the bunker at a time, because there was ammunition just going off everywhere … [and] [e]very plastic water bottle that every solider drank out of was also burned in the burn pits.”
In 2016, Landry was diagnosed with “deployment related lung disease” at the National Jewish General Hospital in Denver, Colorado. The illness was deemed related to her exposure to the smoke and fumes from her burn pit exposures.
I’m going to skip past just how difficult it’s been to pass legislation to ensure that veterans get the care they need and deserve, and just jump ahead to one moment two years ago when Jon Stewart and Sen. Kirsten Gillebrand of New York rallied to press for health care for burn pit victims: “In an address at the U.S. Capitol, Stewart blasted lawmakers for not granting broad care and benefits to veterans sickened by burn pits and said the U.S. government has failed service members by setting an “almost impossibly high bar” to prove they were exposed to toxins.
“‘War after war after war, we treat them as expendable. And when they come home, we’re done with them,’ Stewart said later Tuesday in an interview with The Washington Post. ‘If an enemy did this to us, we’d … bomb them into oblivion. We did it to ourselves and we’re ignoring it.’”
And now to the last months.
On March 3, 2022, the Washington Post reported, “House passes bill to expand health care for veterans exposed to toxins; 174 Republicans vote against … The bill is known as the Honoring our PACT Act, the acronym denoting Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics … Republicans who voted in opposition argued that the measure, which has a $300 billion price tag over 10 years, would add too much to the country’s deficit and exacerbate backlogs at VA.
“Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa)—a physician, a 24-year military veteran and a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee—argued against the House bill on the floor, saying the Senate’s version, which is narrower in scope, is a more responsible measure. ‘We are not doing right by our veterans by being fiscally irresponsible in their name. And I say that as a veteran myself,’ Miller-Meeks said. The bill would expand health-care eligibility for veterans who were exposed to burn pits and other toxins; it must now be reconciled with the Senate’s version of the legislation.” (Emphasis added.)
This happened two months later. Here’s a June 16, 2022 article in Reuters: “U.S. Senate passes bill to help veterans exposed to toxic burn pits: A major bill expanding health care and benefits for veterans exposed to toxic military burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan passed the U.S. Senate on Thursday, as senators praised their bipartisan work on one of the few issues on which they can find common ground. The bill eases and expands access to health services and disability benefits for veterans who were exposed to toxic smoke from the U.S. military’s use of burn pits on foreign bases until the mid-2010s.”
The American Legion put it this way: “Senate passes historic burn pit legislation. The U.S. Senate made history June 16, ensuring millions of veterans exposed to noxious fumes emanating from burn pits will have access to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) care and benefits. The bill was approved by an 84-14 vote.
“The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act (PACT Act) addresses the full spectrum of issues affecting toxic-exposed veterans’ access to VA benefits and care, while also reforming VA’s presumptive decision-making process.”
Just as veterans began to believe something would finally be done to rectify years of neglect, pain, unnecessary suffering, even death, Republican Senators couldn’t help themselves. Annoyed that House and Senate Democrats were successfully passing legislation without any Republican support, they decided to withdraw their previous support and block passage of the final form of the PACT Act. It became more important to play politics than it was to support our troops.
The Texas Tribune explained: “The House and Senate both voted to pass their versions of the bill on widely bipartisan terms earlier this year. In the previous Senate vote, Cornyn and Cruz voted for the bill. But when the Senate went to vote on the final legislative text, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania raised concerns over budgeting mechanisms and led a group of peers to block the bill until his amendment could get a vote. Cruz and Cornyn then joined in with other Republicans in demanding a vote on Toomey’s amendment before letting it go further.”
The New York Times put it this way: “Mr. Toomey tried and failed to cap the amount of money that could be put into the fund every year, a move that Denis McDonough, the secretary of veterans affairs, had warned could lead to ‘rationing of care for vets.’
“Mr. Toomey also proposed shifting the fund for treating veterans into so-called discretionary spending after a decade, meaning that the Department of Veterans Affairs would have to request funding each year. That would subject the funding to Congress’s approval and the annual partisan spending battles on Capitol Hill, rather than having it guaranteed. Democrats opposed both efforts, saying the legislation did not need to be changed.”
As the Washington Post reveals: “The abrupt delay outraged veterans groups and advocates, including comedian Jon Stewart. It also placed GOP senators in the uncomfortable position of delaying the top legislative priority of service organizations this session of Congress. A group of veterans and their families have been camping out at the Capitol since that vote. They had endured thunderstorms and Washington’s notorious summer humidity …”
The political reaction was greater than the Republicans could have imagined, and they quickly folded. The Post reported: “Republicans reverse course as Senate passes burn pits legislation after days of pressure … The Senate overwhelmingly gave the final sign-off Tuesday on legislation designed to aid veterans fighting diseases they believe are linked to toxic exposure, particularly those who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
“On a 86-11 roll call, the vote served as a political surrender by Senate Republicans, a week after they blocked consideration of the popular legislation seemingly out of political pique because Democrats announced a party-line deal on an unrelated massive domestic policy bill that could be considered later this week …
“In the end, 37 Republicans joined 49 members of the Democratic caucus to vote for the legislation, which compels the Department of Veterans Affairs to presume that certain illnesses came from exposure to hazardous waste incineration, mostly focused on the issue of burn pits from recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That would remove the burden of proof from the injured veterans.”
* * *
Thus, the rage that has consumed me these many days. The utter ingratitude and callousness of those who claim to represent us. Especially those Republicans, who for decades have pretended to care for those who fight our wars. Who revealed how shallow their lies. Those same Representatives and Senators who gave trillions in tax breaks to the super-rich now claimed to be the guardians of our tax money, worried we’d be giving too much money to our sick veterans.
Most importantly, finally, after so many years of struggle, of unnecessary suffering, the VA will be doing what they should have been from the very beginning. They too have surrendered. This from the recently updated VA website:
“What’s the PACT Act and how will it affect my VA benefits and care?
“The PACT Act is perhaps the largest health care and benefit expansion in VA history. The full name of the law is The Sergeant First Class (SFC) Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act.
“The PACT Act will bring these changes:
-
- “Expands and extends eligibility for VA health care for Veterans with toxic exposures and Veterans of the Vietnam, Gulf War, and post-9/11 eras
- “Adds more than 20 new presumptive conditions for burn pits and other toxic exposures
- “Adds more presumptive-exposure locations for Agent Orange and radiation
- “Requires VA to provide a toxic exposure screening to every Veteran enrolled in VA health care
- “Helps us improve research, staff education, and treatment related to toxic exposures
“If you’re a Veteran or survivor, you can file claims now to apply for PACT Act-related benefits.”
And now onto the sorrow I bear following the far-too-early death of my friend Richard Flach. Our friendship grew slowly over the years. I had reached out to Rich when I began my film, “World on Fire: Spc. John Flynn’s War in Iraq.” Though I had spent a lifetime fighting against too many wars, I quickly realized I didn’t know much about what it was like to fight one. And if I was to be fair to John Flynn, I needed to learn more about it from the inside out.
Rich would be giving me a look right about now if he could read these next words, but so many of those who interacted with him during the daily give and take of life in a small town probably didn’t realize that he was a hero. I really don’t use the term lightly. But he repeatedly risked his life, tour after tour in Iraq and Afghanistan, flying in helicopters into combat zones to rescue those wounded in action.
There’s a memory I have from years ago—from the old location of Fuel, with Rich encouraging Christa who was behind the counter sharing her dream of flying— of Rich, always kind and considerate and helpful.
There are a couple of stories he told me that in a small way made me understand some of what his world was like in combat zones. He once picked up a badly wounded soldier, then back in the copter, the guy started to tell Rich his name and where he was from. Rich told me what he told the guy: “Don’t. I can’t know too much about you. I won’t be able to do my job.” Explaining to me it was too much. He didn’t have the time or mental space at the moment. He needed every ounce of energy to concentrate, putting everything he could into getting them all out of there safely.”
One time he explained to me that he only had about 30 seconds to go from relaxing on his bunk to getting to the copter. I could only imagine the stress of never knowing when the next call might come, and the extraordinary rush of adrenaline necessary to be alert enough to fly. And that quickly. To put the mind and body through that time and again.
The last few years—and I never knew when—he would seek me out at Fuel and it didn’t take long for us to start talking about serious stuff. I shared much of what I had learned from my friend Peter, a Vietnam vet, about PTSD and the help he was getting at the Albany VA. Rich always listened, but it wasn’t until much later that he told me without making the slightest deal about it, that he had started going to the VA.
A couple of months ago, he told me every conversation at the VA at some point came around to asking him about what they called suicidal ideation. What is it about the words we use these days? Hunger has become food scarcity, and thinking about taking your own life, suicidal ideation. Having been occasionally depressed by what life has become in this country, I joked and said, “well when you say no for yourself you can always say, but as for my friend, Mickey…”
My friend Derk called me to tell me about Rich. I don’t know for sure, but I was told he died in his sleep, suddenly. It turns out the last time Derk had seen Rich was at Fuel when he saw Rich and me talking and joined us. Derk had been called by Mark C. The two of them had known Rich for decades, had helped with work on Rich’s house in Great Barrington. All of us Deli Regulars, we had all lost Frankie T. not so long ago.
I don’ t think either of them really knew how grateful I was for Rich, or how our friendship, oddly focused on war and peace, had evolved. And, so too, I didn’t know what an incredibly deep friendship he and Mark had. How much he cared for him. Rich, he told me, had a heart of gold.
I learned some years ago, when I hosted some public showings of “World on Fire,” that there are many who imagine themselves above the fray, sanctimonious in some ways, and quick to imagine those who serve as inherently violent, damaged in ways that they aren’t. Never fully taking responsibility for the unmistakable reality that, after all, it is their money, their complicity, their acceptance of these wars that is fundamental. And yes, I’m quite aware that they might actually march once every year or so or when asked tell the pollsters that they’re definitely against the current war.
But there was also the morbid desire of some in the audience to know whether John had killed anyone. It was as if they never for a moment doubted that they had every right in the world to ask that of him. It seemed clear to me that it was, in part, a desire to assert their moral superiority. Without any profound consideration of context, they assumed our soldiers were killers. While they, of course, were the peacemakers.
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems all connected. The continuing criminal neglect for the mental and physical health of our service people. While Halliburton and KBR made billions. While the politicians continue to live off their blood money donations of the military-industrial complex. And so they all did nothing, year after year, while KBR burned the toxic trash of the war right beside the warriors—the warriors who risked their lives when they fought, then risked their lives when they tried to rest.
Then and now, if they’re lucky enough to come home, so many do next to nothing about the isolation and aloneness that awaits them.
There are some who risk their lives in peacetime and some who risk their lives in war. Rich risked his life time and again to try and give the wounded a chance to come home.
I’ll miss him to the end of my days.
