U.S. Senate passes bill to provide health care for Camp Lejeune water exposure - Bill now goes to the House as H.R.1627

Heads Up to anyone stationed at Camp Lejeune between 1957-1987 !

Pay attention fellow Proud Cold Warriors ! We need your help !

Read this, then contact your Congressman and tell him/her to vote yes on the upcoming H.R.1627.

(Press release provided by the Senator Burr website)
U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, announced that the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012, a bill that improves services and care for veterans and includes a bill he wrote, the Caring for Camp Lejeune Veterans Act, passed the Senate unanimously.  The Senate bill is known as S. 277.
This legislation will require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide health care to veterans and their family members who have certain diseases and conditions as a result of exposure to well-water contaminated by human carcinogens at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
“This has been a long time coming, and unfortunately, many who were exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune over the years have died as a result and are not with us to receive the care this bill will provide,” Senator Burr said.  “While I wish we could have accomplished this years ago, we now have the opportunity to do the right thing for the thousands of Navy and Marine veterans and their families who were harmed during their service to our country.  I am encouraged that the House will pass this bill quickly and it will go to the President’s desk for his signature.”   
An estimated 750,000 people may have been exposed to probable and known human carcinogens in the base’s water supply between the 1950s and 1980s. To date, this is the largest recorded environmental incident on a domestic Department of Defense installation.   
Also included in the bill was a proposal Senator Burr authored that will address the backlog of veterans’ benefits claims by authorizing retroactive effective date for awards of disability compensation for applications that are fully-developed at submittal. 

Link over to http://veterans.house.gov/hr1627 for more info on the House version.

Once it passes and reconciled between the two bodies, contact Whitehouse.gov and show your support so the President will sign it into law.

Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Proud Cold Warriors!

Today is certainly a day to be proud as an American.

Just think about what a strong move it was for our forefathers to announce the Declaration of Independence this day 236 years ago. They were ordinary men that had had enough of tyranny. 

This morning I watched a news program where one of the host remembered a 4th of July celebration at his home when he was young. His parents were having a party and the attendees all went outside to see the fireworks display together. As he told the story - the explosions caused a recently returned Vietnam War Veteran to become disturbed through remembering being under artillery fire and had to go back inside. The others left with him in support. A World War II veteran placed his hand on the disturbed Vietnam Veteran's shoulder and informed him that he also just felt the pain of his experience being under mortar fire himself. The commentator went on to state that his mother then thanked them both for their service and said that they would not be able to have the freedoms we have without their sacrifices.

How true is that statement!

Happy Independence Day to you all and thank you to my fellow Proud Cold Warriors for your service.

Through our diligence, sacrifices, and attention to duty we saved the world from nuclear annihilation.