Chapter 21: Back to Okinawa
I was stoic on the ride to the airport. It had nothing to do with emotional control; it was strictly a survival mechanism. While it had taken me some nine years to learn it, keeping my mouth shut was the smartest thing I learned to do when my wife and I fought. We...Chapter 20: Why?
As a mandatory, force-wide countermeasure to the real threat of weaponized anthrax on the battlefield, the vaccine effort is unrealistic. It expands and distorts the use of invasive, dated medical technology to address perceived weaknesses in detection technology and...Chapter 19: Fighting Behind the Scenes
Executive Order 13139, which implements 10 U.S.C. § 1107, clearly states that the requirements it incorporated from the statute are for internal management only and confer no right enforceable by any party against the United States. E.O. 13139, §6(b). Additionally,...Chapter 18: The Walking Wounded
One year ago today, I was stationed in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. I received my fourth anthrax vaccine. That’s when my problems began. Until that point, I weighed 175 pounds, 5’9″, excellent physical condition. That night, I had a raging fever and my physical...Chapter 17: Studying Veterans and Project Badger
In 1999, a study was published in The Lancet regarding 8,195 British Gulf War-era veterans. The British soldiers, who served alongside American forces, were also given untested vaccines as prophylaxis against possible chem-bio weapons. There were two important...Chapter 16: Guard Pilots Quit
While many factors can influence an individual’s decision to leave the military, surveyed Guard and Reserve pilots and aircrew members cited the anthrax immunization as a key reason for leaving or otherwise changing their military status. Since September 1998, an...The Essential Way to Destroy People’s Rights
Coronavirus Lockdown, Day 13. We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or rats’ feet over broken glass In our dry...Chapter 15: Stay
“Well, if they’re going to issue the stay at all, now would be a good time! I mean, if no stay today, by tomorrow night my guy is eating with the big metal spoon, if you know what I mean.” I’m on the phone to appellate defense in Washington, D.C. I look at my watch....Chapter 14: SecDef Cohen’s Four Points
In December of 1997, the anthrax vaccine manufacturer was shut down and could not manufacture anything related to the AVA. Notwithstanding that hurdle, Secretary of Defense William Cohen announced that before the mandatory program would begin, it would have to meet...Support The Abject Lesson on Patreon
