So did you watch Law & Order tonight? It was a fictionalized version of the Larium issue. Interesting episode.
We are a military family, and although I bitch and grouse about a lot of the struggles we have with the military, I love the way of life, the tradition. We don't fly a flag in front of the house, but we are true patriots who serve our country in the military.
Every war since the Revolution. I will be truly proud when one or all of our sons serves.
I don't agree with the "big bad DoD" theory. But the idea of the cost of medication side effects vs. the threat of a fatal disease - yes, I can believe that might be true. And am I outraged??? No. It is cold, hard, brutal - and practical. And I can respect that. Do I think in this fictional example it was the 'right' decision... no, I really don't.
And this matters to us, more than you can imagine.
Daddy went to Vietnam three times - the old man Infantry platoon sergeant humping through the jungle in his 30's. He was exposed to agent orange for months. Is that why he has skin cancer? Yeah, probably. It is what it is...
But he's a lot more angry about the cost of gas than agent orange.
But it really hits home with #3. My precious baby - he is so very, very smart and such a happy loving little man. We hadn't planned on having a baby together, Autie and I. After Desert Storm, he saw all of the sensationalized news stories about children with devastating birth defects. And we both knew about Autie's sorry luck, LOL! So when we found out that I was pregnant with #3, we were surprised and worried.
And it happened. #3 has a syndrome that has been connected to Gulf War veterans. He has some health problems that are scary, but not too severe. And birth defects. He is so smart and so wonderful... Sometimes I cry at night, praying to Jesus that a beautiful girl will look past his appearance and love him like I love him. I see that he is beautiful... please Jesus, put a little girl out there that will see it, too.
Are #3's problems a result of Autie's Gulf War service? The shots? The depleted uranium he worked around? The chemical weapons they may/may not have been exposed to? We won't ever know. I do know that the VA did a medical study that found almost 4 times the number of occurances of this syndrome than would have normally been found... but since the condition was so rare, they said it was "statistically insignificant". And they only counted babies born in military hospitals, not anyone who delivered at a civilian hospital... or those born years after their daddies had left the military. We'll never know.
I would give anything for our baby to be healthy - to look like other babies. But do I blame the military? No... I can't. I honestly believe my government would never knowingly do anything that would hurt our children, but these things happen... little things add up and contribute to the end result, but I don't think there is any ill intent.
I'm just an Army wife. I just wait and pray and take it all as it comes. That is what military wives have been doing since the dawn of time. Blame and bitterness won't do any good. I am thankful for this life we have, thankful that Autie is able to do the job he was born to do. Good or bad, it is our destiny.