[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 52 (Monday, April 28, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3758-S3759]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



  [At the request of Mr. Daschle, the following statement was ordered 
to be printed in the Record.]

                   TESTIMONY OF MAJ. MICHAEL DONNELLY

 Mr. DODD. Mr. President, Maj. Michael Donnelly of Connecticut 
flew 44 missions for the Air Force during the Persian Gulf war. He is 
now afflicted with a neuro-muscular disorder he suspects was caused by 
chemical exposure in the war. I had the pleasure of meeting with Major 
Donnelly last week after he testified before the Human Resources 
Subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. 
His testimony provided a special insight into the plight of some 
Persian Gulf war veterans who fell ill after returning home.
  Mr. President, I ask that his testimony be printed in the Record.
  The testimony follows:

  Prepared Statement of Maj. Michael Donnelly, U.S. Air Force, Retired

       Congressman Shays and members of this committee, I want to 
     thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify before you 
     today. My name is Major Michael Donnelly. I am not the enemy.
       I was medically retired in October of 1996 after 15 years 
     and 1 month of service as a fighter pilot in the Air Force. 
     At the time Iraq invaded Kuwait, I was stationed at Hahn Air 
     Base in Germany flying F-16s. My unit, the 10 Tactical 
     Fighter Squadron, was attached to the 363rd Tactical Fighter 
     Wing and deployed to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on 
     1 January 1991 in support of Operation Desert Shield and then 
     Desert Storm. My unit redeployed to Germany on the 15th of 
     May 1991.
       During the war, I flew 44 combat missions. On those 
     missions I bombed a variety of targets, including strategic 
     targets (airfields, production and storage facilities, 
     missile sites, etc.), tactical targets (troops, battlefield 
     equipment, pontoon bridges, etc.). I also flew Close Air 
     Support, and Combat Air Patrol missions. Never during any of 
     these missions was I warned of the threat of exposure to any 
     chemical or biological weapons. Although we expected and 
     trained for that eventuality, we never employed any of the 
     procedures because we were never told that there was any 
     threat of exposure. Had we been warned, there were steps we 
     could have and would have taken to protect ourselves.
       Unlike other veterans who have testified before you, I 
     don't have a specific incident that I can remember during the 
     war that might have caused my illness. However, I can tell 
     you that I flew throughout the entire region of Iraq, Kuwait 
     and much of Saudi Arabia, to include in and around the oil 
     smoke. Evidence now shows that chemical munitions storage 
     areas and production facilities that were bombed by us 
     released clouds of fallout that drifted over our troops 
     through the air, and that's where I was. I know also of other 
     pilots who do remember a specific incident that caused them 
     to later become ill.
       So while I cannot point to one event to explain my illness, 
     I come before you today to tell you that I am yet another 
     veteran from the Gulf War with a chronic illness. Upon return 
     from the Gulf, I was reassigned to McDill Air Force Base in 
     Tampa, Florida. It was here that I first started to 
     experience strange health problems. It was nothing you could 
     really pinpoint except to say that I didn't feel as strong as 
     I once had or as coordinated. I felt like I was always 
     fighting a cold or the flu.
       By the summer of 1995, I was stationed at Shepperd Air 
     Force Base in Texas. It was here that I believe my illness 
     started and that I began to suspect that it was related to 
     service in the Gulf. During the summer, I was exposed several 
     times to malathion, which is a fairly dilute organophosphate-
     based pesticide used for mosquito control. The base's policy 
     was to spray with a fogging truck throughout base housing 
     where I lived with my family. I was exposed to the malathion 
     fogging while I was running in the evenings. I would like to 
     point out something I learned later: that organophosphate 
     poison is the chemical basis for all nerve agents--it is a 
     poison that kills just like a pesticide does.
       It was immediately after my exposure to malathion that I 
     started to have serious health problems. After this time, 
     every time I ran I would get a schetoma--or blind spot--in 
     front of my eyes and my heart would beat erratically. I 
     started to have heart palpitations, night sweats, 
     sleeplessness, trouble concentrating, trouble remembering, 
     trouble taking a deep breath and frequent urination. I 
     noticed that one cup of coffee would make me extremely 
     jittery. I noticed that one beer would have an unusual 
     intense effect on me. I was extremely tired much of the time. 
     I had to put my head down on my desk to rest while I was 
     working and I had to lie down at home before dinner after 
     work.
       It wasn't until December 1995 that I started to have 
     trouble walking and experienced weakness in my right leg. It 
     was then that I decided, right after the holiday season, I 
     would go see the doctor. On the second of January 1996, I 
     went to the flight surgeon at Sheppard Air Force Base. When I 
     finished explaining my symptoms to him and mentioned that I 
     had been in the Gulf War, he immediately started to tell me 
     about the effects of stress. He told me that the other 
     problems--heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, 
     sleeplessness--were probably stress related, but that we 
     needed to look into the weakness in the leg more, and I was 
     referred to a neurologist.
       During this first visit with the neurologist was when I 
     first heard the line that I would hear throughout the whole 
     Air Force medical system and that was: ``There's no 
     conclusive evidence that there's any link between service in 
     the Gulf and any illness.'' Each time I heard this line, it 
     was almost as if each person was reading from a script.
       If an active duty field grade officer walks into a hospital 
     and says he's sick and that he was in the Gulf War, why does 
     the military not seize this opportunity to investigate 
     whether there is any connection between service in the Gulf 
     and this illness? How can they say they're looking for an 
     answer when they deny it's even possible? How can they say 
     there's no connection when they don't study the individuals 
     who present symptoms that might prove that connection? 
     Instead, he gets ``the line,'' which proves that no one is 
     looking to see whether there is a problem. Only to deny that 
     one exists. Why should I have to call and register for the 
     Gulf War Registry when I'm active duty? I should 
     automatically be put on the list as another person with a 
     chronic illness who served in the Gulf. Again, if they were 
     really looking for a problem, all they have to do is look.
       My treatment included several trips to Wilford Hall Medical 
     Center in San Antonio for MRIs, CT scans, muscle tests and 
     multiple blood tests. Each time I mentioned I was a Gulf War 
     veteran, I got ``the line.'' At one point, a doctor in 
     Wilford Hall gave me a three minute dissertation on how my 
     illness absolutely could not be related to my service in the 
     Gulf. One thing I noticed during my four or five visits to 
     Wilford Hall was a room on the neurology ward labeled ``Gulf 
     War Syndrome Room.'' In none of my four or five visits was 
     the door to this room ever open or the light on. I started to 
     realize that because the military medical system would not 
     acknowledge my illness could be related to the Gulf War, I 
     would not get help.
       Once I realized that, I began to seek help from civilian 
     doctors, many of whom had already made the connection between 
     service in the Gulf and the high incidents of unusual 
     illnesses among the war's veterans. They had all the proof 
     they needed: the thousands of veterans coming to them 
     desperate for medical treatment. Because the military has not 
     acknowledged this connection, my family and I have been 
     forced to spend over $40,000 of our own money in these 
     efforts. Our search led us to people around the country with 
     the same illnesses who were also Gulf War veterans. In the 
     last twelve months, I have traveled all over this country and 
     even to Germany looking for help.
       Incredible as it may seem, the Air Force medical system 
     initially wanted to retire me with 50 percent disability and 
     temporary retirement with a diagnosis of ALS. Only after we 
     hired a lawyer, at our own expense, and went before the 
     medical board, were we able to change that determination to 
     100 percent and permanent retirement. All the while, I was 
     contending with my declining health and the trauma to my 
     family. I chose to not to fight over whether my illness was 
     combat related, because I'd already seen the stonewalling 
     that was going on and because I wanted to move my family back 
     home. That was my own personal decision, made at a time when 
     I knew I had other and far greater personal battles yet to 
     fight.
       Upon my retirement from the Air Force, I found myself 
     worked into the VA medical system. What alternative did I 
     have after my 15 years of service? I guess I'm one of the 
     lucky ones, since I was:
       1. still on active duty when I got sick; and
       2. given a poor prognosis, which required them to treat me 
     and compensate me. What alternative did they have?
       The VA bureaucracy is difficult and slow at best. I am 
     suffering from a fatal illness, where every month matters. I 
     can sit here today and tell you that despite my situation--
     which you would think would warrant expeditious treatment and 
     action--I ran into a red tape and paperwork nightmare that 
     continues to consume my life today. However, once I finally 
     got to see them, the medical personnel who have treated me 
     have been very kind and understanding, despite the fact that 
     there isn't much they can do. Maybe if we hadn't had six 
     years of cover-up, there would be something they could do.
       To this day, no one from the DOD or VA has contacted me 
     personally to involve me in any tests or studies. I myself 
     have found more than nine other Gulf War veterans, some who 
     have already come before you, who

[[Page S3759]]

     are also suffering from ALS, an unusual disease that rarely 
     strikes individuals under the age of 50. In fact, with the 
     ten of us who have ALS--and we are certain there are more out 
     there whom we just haven't found--the incidence of ALS 
     already far exceeds the normal incidence given the number of 
     soldiers who served in the Gulf. Why is there no special 
     emergency study of this outbreak? Why is no one worried about 
     what is obviously a frightening incidence of a terrible 
     neurological illness among such a young and healthy 
     population? One thing I can tell you: this is not stress.
       With every other Gulf War veteran we have found who has 
     ALS, the common thread has been subsequent exposure to some 
     kind of strong chemical or pesticide, such as malathion, 
     diazinon, and lindane--which is used to treat head lice in 
     children.
       Why aren't the DOD and the VA warning everyone else who 
     served in the Gulf War that they may get sick in the future, 
     just as I got sick four years after I returned to the US. How 
     many other people are out there waiting for that one exposure 
     that will put them over the top? Why is no one putting the 
     word out. A warning could save the lives and health of many 
     individuals, could save them from going through what I am now 
     going through. I'll tell you why, because that would take 
     admitting that something happened in the Gulf War that's 
     making people sick.
       I wonder how many flight mishaps or accidents that have 
     happened since the war have involved Gulf War veterans. Those 
     numbers shouldn't be hard to find: the military keeps records 
     on all of that. In fact, I wager that someone out there 
     already knows the answer to that question and hasn't shared 
     it either because of a direct order not to or because the 
     right person has yet to ask.
       How many other pilots are still out there--flying--who are 
     not quite feeling right? Just as I flew for four years after 
     I returned from the Gulf, how many other pilots fear for 
     their livelihood and the repercussions they know they would 
     encounter were they to speak up because they know ``There's 
     no conclusive evidence that there's any link between service 
     in the Gulf and any illness.''
       Imagine my dismay when the DOD announces $12 million (a 
     drop in the bucket) to study the Gulf War illnesses and four 
     of those studies are centered around the effects of stress or 
     post-traumatic stress disorder. You would think that the DOD 
     and the VA would have an in-depth knowledge of the effects of 
     stress after all the wars this country has fought. Most of 
     them a lot more ``stressful'' than the Gulf War. Why 
     aren't they taking our illnesses seriously? I'll tell you 
     why, because that would take admitting that something 
     happened in the Gulf War that's making people sick.
       Part of the ongoing cover up has been to trivialize the 
     illnesses that Gulf War veterans are suffering from. In the 
     press and from the VA, you hear about skin rashes and joint 
     aches, about insomnia and fatigue. There is no doubt that 
     these are real symptoms and are debilitating in and of 
     themselves. But what you don't hear about is the high 
     incidence of rare cancers, neurological illnesses such as 
     ALS, and immune-system disorders that are totally 
     debilitating. This is not stress. This is life and death.
       Why is it impossible to get the right numbers from the DOD 
     and the VA about how many veterans are sick or have sought 
     treatment? Why is it more important to protect certain high-
     placed government officials than to care for veterans who are 
     sick? When it comes time to fund the military, budget 
     concerns are usually set aside in the interest of defense and 
     the public good. Well, the national defense issue now is that 
     it's public knowledge that the DOD mistreats people who 
     serve. America will have no one to fight its wars.
       The primary goal at this point is not to find out whose 
     fault all of this is. Someday, someone will need to 
     investigate what happened and why. The people responsible for 
     this tragedy should be found out and punished.
       The top priority now for all of us is to help veterans and 
     their families get their health and their lives back. Or at 
     least that should be the goal. That should be your goal. All 
     I want is what I brought to the Air Force: my health.
       I'm not interested in hearing how surprised General Powell 
     and General Schwartzkopf are about how we were all exposed to 
     chemical weapons, or that the CIA really did know Hussein had 
     these weapons, or that the CIA alerted the DOD to this fact. 
     It's obvious now that there's been a cover up going on all 
     this time as more and more information gets released or 
     discovered. It's time for those people who know something--
     and they do exist--to come forward. And maybe we can save 
     some lives.
       During and after the war, we proclaimed to ourselves and to 
     the world how we learned the lessons of Vietnam and fixed the 
     military. We learned the lessons of Vietnam and we did it 
     right this time. Last week, General Powell stated that we 
     suffered only 149 casualties in the Gulf War. Well, I am here 
     to tell you that the casualty count is still rising. Just 
     like in Vietnam with Agent Orange, it appears that we didn't 
     learn all the lessons. We still mistreat veterans. This 
     country has again turned its back on the people who fight its 
     wars, the individuals to whom it owes the most.
       I want to thank you for what you are doing for the veterans 
     who went to war for this country. Many of whom were squeezed 
     out of the military right after the war and now find 
     themselves out on the street, fighting the very institution 
     they fought for. In the military, we have a tradition called 
     the salute and it's used to show admiration and respect for 
     an individual who has earned it. I salute you for what you 
     are doing here. You go a long way in restoring this soldiers 
     waning faith in a country that could so willingly desert it's 
     own.
       Remember: I am not the enemy.

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