Thank You for Your Many Efforts to Help Military Members

July 3, 2008

Dear Honorable Congressmen of the House Veterans’ Committee:

Thank you for your many efforts to help military members. I am writing to you to specifically thank you for your support of the bill HR 6093, the Carmelo Rodriguez Military Medical Accountability Act. I would like to ask you to redouble your efforts to get this vital bill passed, because we know that HR 6093 will help thousands, up to hundreds of thousands, of military members and their families.

Our organization is called Protecting Our Guardians (POG), and we work to protect our troops from the devastating adverse reactions to the anthrax vaccine. We would like to offer our help in supporting HR 6093 as constituents and, more importantly, as those who can testify, first-hand,about the unconscionable lack of accountability when military members fall victim to bad medicine.

Allow me to explain what we see on a regular basis here at Protecting Our Guardians.Here is a brief background. Forty four deaths have been reported to the FDA using VAERS forms because of the anthrax vaccine and nothing has been done. 5,329 adverse reactions to the anthrax vaccine have been reported on VAERS forms too. The manufacturer, Emergent BioSolutions (formerly called BioPort, formerly called Michigan Biologics Institute) was given indemnity by Luis Caldera, who was Secretary of the Army, in Sept. 1998. Soldiers have not been able to sue the company for their crippling disabilities nor have they been able to hold the government accountable because of the Feres doctrine.

Members of POG's Board of Directors routinely see soldiers in their twenties on up, over and over again, going before the PEB or the MEB and being given 20% for their disabilities. They are told that their adverse reactions to the anthrax vaccine, or to a combination of vaccines, were not Line of Duty (LOD) and so cannot be covered by the government. One Medic from the Army was even threatened by members of the MEB/PEB. He was told "How long do you think a man in your condition would last in Iraq?" His meaning was clear: "Take what we are offering you or we will send you to Iraq to die of a third heart attack." This friend, and fellow veteran, has now lost the home that he raised his children in and everything he owned. He and his wife simply don't have enough money to make ends meet. How can anyone survive on 10-20% of their income--especially when they are too sick to work and have hefty medical bills?

These same soldiers then go to the VA and, after years of paperwork, are told that they are 280% disabled or 240% disabled. The VA then gives them 100% disability which helps them. These soldiers usually have to be taken care of by a wife or a parent for the rest of their lives. HR 6093 will give these soldiers a way to hold the government, and in turn, the anthrax vaccine manufacturer accountable for their medical care and ultimate survival. Military members deserve the same rights to medical accountability as average citizens enjoy, or even a greater degree of accountability.

We hope we have not upset you by giving you a glimpse of what we are facing and how much your fellow soldiers need your help. Please redouble your efforts to pass HR 6093. For some veterans, you are their last hope.

With gratitude,

//signed//

Marguerite M. Armistead

Protecting Our Guardians

Immediate Past President