Veterans and Military Service Organization Roundtable Meeting, December 2, 2003

In his opening remarks, Dr. Michael E. Kilpatrick told attendees that the new issue of Deployment Quarterly, the Force Health Protection vision document and six revised Project SHAD/Project 112 fact sheets are now available on DeploymentLINK. The revised fact sheets include an explanation of what has been updated. Two fact sheets – Copper Head and Shady Grove – have been completely rewritten and incorporate greater detail as requested by veterans. He emphasized that these fact sheets show that while the active part of the investigation is complete, we continue to listen to veterans, accept new information, and update the fact sheets as new information becomes available. He encouraged service officers to provide the DHSD toll free number, (800) 497-6261, to those who have questions or would like to provide more information. More...

Veterans and Military Service Organization Roundtable Meeting, November 2003

There was no November meeting due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Veterans and Military Service Organization Roundtable Meeting, October 23, 2003

Three presentations were provided to attendees of the October roundtable meeting.

Captain Bernard Winkel from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs provided an overview of medical readiness and programs in place for members of the Reserve Component. More...

Veterans and Military Service Organization Roundtable Meeting, September 9, 2003

Three topics were discussed at this roundtable meeting.

Ms. Ellen Embrey, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs (Force Health Protection and Readiness) presented a new organizational chart for her office, which includes the Deployment Health Support Directorate and a policy division. She stressed her goal to provide world class medical care and integrate Force Health Protection with the policy side of her office. She also emphasized how pleased she is with these ongoing roundtable meetings and encouraged attendees to continue to bring up areas of concern and interest at the meetings. More...

Veterans and Military Service Organization Roundtable Meeting, August 2003

There was no August meeting due to national conventions.

Veterans and Military Service Organization Roundtable Meeting, July 24, 2003

Mr. Thomas Tower, a representative from DoD’s Personnel and Readiness office, provided an update of the Combat Related Special Compensation Program. The new program was authorized by the FY 2003 National Defense Authorization Act for certain retirees with combat or operations-related disabilities and became effective May 31, 2003, for qualified combat-related disabled retirees. More...

Veterans and Military Service Organization Roundtable Meeting, June 30, 2003

The primary topic at the June roundtable meeting was the announcement that the Department of Defense completed its nearly three-year investigation of the operational biological and chemical warfare testing done from 1962 – 1973 by the Deseret Test Center under Project 112. More...

Veterans and Military Service Organization Roundtable Meeting, May 22, 2003

The May VSO/MSO roundtable meeting focused entirely on Force Health Protection. A number of experts provided information on various aspects of our work. More...

Veterans and Military Service Organization Roundtable Meeting, April 24, 2003

Military and veterans service organization representatives received an advanced copy of the final Gulf War Environmental Exposure Report on Pesticides and an overview of the investigation. The lead investigator explained that analysts concluded that some servicemembers may have been potentially overexposed to pesticides during the 1990-1991 Gulf War. More...

Veterans and Military Service Organization Roundtable Meeting, March 27, 2003

The scheduled meeting was cancelled due to DHSD staff participation in Congressional hearings.

Veterans and Military Service Organization Roundtable Meeting, February 27, 2003

The scheduled meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather. The next meeting is scheduled for March 27th.

Veterans and Military Service Organization Roundtable Meeting, January 10, 2003

The focus of the January meeting was deployment occupational and environmental health surveillance. John Resta, director of health risk management for the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, provided military and service organization representatives an historical overview of the program. In his presentation, he explained that changes in policy and doctrine are based on a number of factors including lessons learned and new equipment and technology. He discussed the importance of risk communication and shared some of the educational materials distributed to deploying service members. More...