Works Cited: Health Effects of Gulf War Veterans

Brown, Michael T. "Your Experience in the Gulf War." Personal interview. 10 Mar. 2017.

During this interview, I began by asking my dad about his experience in the Gulf War. He
told me about his time in Iraq and described what his battalion did. They were involved in
clearing fields, bases, buildings, or any location that was being entered for the first time after
Iraqi groups abandoned the area or were detained. I wanted more information on the four main
health concerns during his time in the Gulf War: vaccines, government issued pills, chemical
exposure, and depleted uranium/shrapnel/IEDS. He told me Iraqis left canteens in the ground and
when they were pulled up, grenade-like IEDs popped out of the ground and exploded: this
method of explosives killed at least one of the seven men lost in his battalion. He then repeated
his story to me about receiving multiple vaccines per arm while walking down a line at base. I
then asked, Were you told to take pills, and did you take them as prescribed? upon which, he
told me Yes, but I didnt take all of them. Not all the time, or as directed.
The interview conducted with my father tied together information from all my other
sources, but went more in depth because it was a first-hand account of the situation. I believe
everything he told me because he is an honest man, but it was difficult for me to realize that
some information he shared with me cannot be publicized or spread. This made things difficult
when trying to form an outline of the interview without using the bits of information he shared
with me confidentially.
This is a credible source because my father, Michael Brown, is a veteran who served
active-duty in the Gulf War. He served from approximately September 1990-March 1991 (rough
estimate) and provides information on what Im searching for in terms of health effects of the
Gulf War.

Gulf War Illness and the Health of Gulf War Veterans: Scientific Findings and

Recommendations. Washington, D.C.: Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War

Veterans' Illnesses, Nov. 2008. PDF.

This online PDF provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is a 465-page long
word document on the health effects of Gulf War Veterans. As you can imagine, I have been
scanning the document for information, rather than reading the entire thing in depth. By looking
at the table of contents, I have determined the main ideas to be 1: Gulf War Illness and Health of
Gulf War Veterans, 2: What Caused Gulf War Illness? Effects of Gulf War Experiences and
Exposures, 3: The Nature of Gulf War Illness, 4: Federal Research on Gulf War Illness and
the Health of Gulf War Veterans, and 5: Research Priorities and Recommendations.
Subheadings listed under 1 include the following: Characteristics and impact of Gulf War
illness: Epidemiologic research, Gulf War illness prognosis and the need for treatments, Is
there a unique Gulf War Syndrome?, Other Gulf War health issues, Special committee and
government reports on the health of Gulf War veterans, and Recommendations. Subheadings
found under 2 include; Vaccines and Gulf War Illness, Cholinergic and related
neurotoxicants: Pyridostigmine bromide, pesticides, and nerve agents, Infectious diseases in
Gulf War Veterans, Other exposures in theater, Synthesis: What the weight of evidence tells
us about the causes of Gulf War illness, etc. The entire PDF document goes into very specific
details on different health effects, their possible causes, studies being done on them, etc.
Information included in this PDF is relevant to all of my other sources combined, because
it discusses vaccinations, depleted uranium, and numerous other health exposures, but covers
them in far greater detail than all of my other sources combined. Not only does this source
confirm what I have read elsewhere, but it also further illustrates it and combines it into a single
source. As much information that is contained in this PDF, I find myself believing the
information and find it very helpful as well as useful.
As another government source, I find this article extremely credible. Also, considering it
was published/authored by the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses, it
proves its worth by undergoing scrutiny by such a high-level board of people and high number of
people. Being peer-reviewed is, after all, an important step in the publishing step.

Null, Gary, Dr. "Gulf War Syndrome: US Veterans Suffering from Multiple Debilitating

Symptoms." Globalresearch.org. Global Research, 19 Feb. 2016. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

After reading this article, I realized it goes in depth with its research on Gulf War
Syndrome, including possible causes, symptoms, and the personal testimony of veteran Paul
Sullivan. Im no conspiracy buff, but government involvement with diagnosis of the disease has
been heavily discussed as well as their alleged attempts at blurring the truth behind the disease.
Furthermore, the article introduced me to the four main health concerns Ive hooked on to;
vaccines, pills, chemical/biological weapons, and depleted uranium. Some of the sub-ideas also
include Gulf War birth defects and illnesses, as well as a deep scientific interest in the cellular
level, down to chemical/biological impact on mitochondria. It describes the vaccines given by
the government as experimental, and claims the soldiers receiving said vaccinations were not
given all information on the vaccine and thus, did not provide informed consent. The pills are a
similar situation to the vaccines. An explanation as to why taking the pills was important was not
given, and many soldiers went against the rules by not taking the pills when they were supposed
to, or just not taking them at all. The article also describes how Sadam Husseins top general
divulged information to the United Nations about the stockpiles of biological and chemical
weapons so the government knew potential threats and this may be the reason for distributing
pills amongst troops.
This was the first article I discovered that covered the four main health concerns I found
researchable, so this made for a good start. I definitely view this article as credible, and it helps
further my understanding of depleted uranium and its effects on the human body. Also, since this
was my starting point in my research it helped me tie everything together and pinpoint specific
information I wanted to research more in depth, or look at more closely.
 The author, Dr. Gary Null, is a reliable source who is a radio-host of his talk show The
Gary Null Health and Nutrition Program as well as an author of over 50 books. He is also an
award-winning video producer of different health documentaries and nutrition director with
several institutes and companies, including the National Hypoglycemia Association and
Nutrition Institute of America. He also advocates for alternative medicines and produces a line of
dietary supplements.

"Persian Gulf War - Iraq." 20thEngineers.com - Persian Gulf War - Iraq. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Mar.

2017.

This article was discovered second in my research and gives me more insight as to what
my fathers battalion was responsible for during the Gulf War. It also gives me a slightly detailed
outline as to what happened, and a few challenges they may have faced. The 20th Engineer
Battalion was alerted to travel to Saudi Arabia for what became Desert Shield and Desert Storm
so they began rigorous training that included twelve-mile road marches, wearing all their gear in
the middle of summer at Fort Campbell. They also did NBC training (Nuclear, biological, and
chemical) to where they were so sufficient it was stupid, according to Lt. Col. Ellis. Information
that confirmed my fathers personal accounts was also mentioned. The 20th Engineers were
close to the Kuwaiti border and Iraqi rockets and long-range artillery, so they often thought of
places to find where explosives would not reach them; this article also mentions they built
underground bunkers, something my dad did not mention. Information on the 20th Engineers
building of roads and bases explains part of their job, while their work at Log Base Charlie and
the mission in the town Al Busayyah of detonating and clearing unexploded items from the area
explains another side.
My fathers interview was similar to this article because I asked mainly about what they
did and what they were exposed to. When the article mentioned that the 20th Engineers were
between Kuwait and Iraq that fit exactly what he told me. This made the article more believable
to me and my fathers interview answers confirmed many facts stated in this article. It also
broadens my understanding of what my father did in the Gulf War by detailing specifics of his
battalion.
Although I believe this source to be credible since its information aligns with many of the
things my dad has told me his battalion was involved in, there is no author or official website to
check for credibility. Upon researching credibility for the website, only ads for the definition of
credibility popped up. Also, there is no official homepage for the website, so a publisher/sponsor
is not available to be researched.

"Public Health: Gulf War Exposures." Publichealth.va.gov. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs,

03 June 2015. Web. 04 Mar. 2017.

 This website published by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs discusses health risks
Gulf War veterans may have been exposed to and the effects they have on the body. These
exposures include vaccinations, oil well fires, chemical and biological weapons, depleted
uranium, sound, CARC (Chemical Agent Resistant Coating) paint, occupational hazards, PB
(Pyridostigmine Bromide) tablets, pesticides, sand/dust and particulates, toxic embedded
fragments (shrapnel), infectious diseases, and heat related injuries. Vaccinations include standard
series of shots required when traveling to the region, but Anthrax vaccinations were given to
about 150,000 troops and Botulinum toxoid vaccinations were given to around 8,000 troops.
Studies have yet to confirm if there is any correlation between current unexplained illness in
Gulf War veterans and the vaccinations given. As a result of Iraqi forces setting fire to oil wells,
smoke often hung low to the ground and the Health and Medicine Division are now claiming that
exposure to the smoke could be the cause of lung cancer in some veterans, but they will not
definitively state any conclusions on the subject. Rockets filled with sarin and cyclosporine
mixes were found at a munitions storage depot in Khamisiyah, Iraq that had been demolished by
U.S. Service members following the 1991 Gulf War cease-fire. An undetermined amount of these
chemicals was released into the atmosphere. The Department of Defense concluded about
100,000 Gulf War Veterans could have been exposed to low-levels of these nerve agents. Health
results and links to Gulf War Syndrome are non-surprisingly, inconclusive.
The amount of information on various exposures to Gulf War veterans is larger than any
other source I have discovered. It goes very in depth and includes not only the source/cause of
the health exposure, but also includes information on its known health effects as provided by the
VA and other government sources. This relates to my "Gulf War Syndrome: US Veterans
Suffering from Multiple Debilitating Symptoms article by discussing previously mentioned
health exposures such as vaccinations, PB tablets, chemical and biological weapons, and
depleted uranium.
Since this article is a government website, I definitely view it as a credible source.
Although it seems that many of the health exposures have inconclusive results on veterans
health, I do not believe that the government is attempting to cover anything up or trick veterans
out of their health benefits. They are simply trying to conduct humane scientific studies to find a
correlation between illness in Gulf War veterans and health exposures.