Posted on 09/07/2004 5:20:02 PM PDT by ebersole
I remember when this was controversial what? two/three years ago.
They didn't listen then, and if I remember correctly, at least one man took a courts-martial rather than the shot. Some even took an early out or retirement.
Same thing only different.
Shoulda just sprayed the areas with DDT first and then sent in troops. Wouldn't need the anti-malaria drugs then.
But I guess junk science is more important the human lives.
Took the stuff for a year... ruins the mind..... takes a full 2 years to get it back.
I am not sure there is a link...
When my husband fought in the 1973 Yom Kippur war, he was sent on the other side of the Suez canal into Egypt and had to take Lariam for 6 weeks...
No effect...
When I consulted in Equatorial Africa I took it for a few weeks...
No effect either...
Psychotic behavior? Chris Mathews???
Also, Mefloquine has also been used throughout the conventional military extensively, every time they are in a malarial zone, which in this war means since the first deployment to Afghanistan. And SF, active and Guard, have been taking it for years -- malaria is endemic in the third world hell holes we go to, and trust me on this, malaria would wrack up a lot more guys and kill a lot more guys than Lariam could, even if it was a hundred times as bad as this writer suggests.
Now, on the other hand, we had a guy in our unit (then A Co. 1/11th SF, USAR) leave the unit and some years later he killed himself. However, when he was in the unit its area of interest was Arctic Europe -- Norway and the northern USSR. SO Malaria was not a concern and no one ever took Lariam in those days. In his case, he wound up losing his job with the State Police because he ran afoul of Massachusetts's politically connected Bulger crime family. He got depressed and wouldn't welcome his old friends again. Finally, one day, he ended it -- a sad business and those criminals Whitey and Billy Bulger are to blame more than Bill is for his death.
But my point is, yes, even elite SF guys do occasionally suffer sufficient life reverses that they kill themselves. Guys even did it in Vietnam. A guy I know did it in Lebanon. And yes, we reported them as accidental deaths because the Army would screw their families out of insurance and benefits.
I wonder if this post is a preemptive strike on Special Forces men by the mainstream media, because SF veterans have been in the forefront of many of the most damaging attacks on Kerry. Either that, or they want to harm SF because it is effectively prosecuting the war on terrorism.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Er, make that a guy I knew. Among all the typos in my post, that one is painfully glaring.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Pfizer and Merk say so.
And they will sue anybody who says different, and ruin any physician who says different.
None of us had any ill effect, to my knowledge.
So what's the problem with Chloroquin?
None of the 9 SF soldiers had significant life reverses unless coming home is considered life reverses.
Thanks. I have been on that stuff many times, mostly in Central America and Asia but never connected to the military. I trust those in charge to know their business.
Doesn't work against the new strains of Malaria...
This is why you need mefloquin...
18F I can guarantee you with a 100% that no one in this story is targeting SF, and the writer is about as apolitical as a reporter can get. In fact, he has worked extensively with the Gulf Veterans Center to make sure information is brought forward to the military so that those soldiers (however few they may be) receive the appropriate disability benefits. Those of use who have been around SF for a very long time know how your bodies break down at a fast rate and how notoriously the military does not acknowledge the damage. I agree that there are a significant number of soldiers who have no problems with the drug, and that malaria is a disease no one wants. However, I would hope that SF command would not follow the regular military down a blind path. Iraq and Afghanistan are not resistent areas for chloroquine, there were only a few cases of malaria in these regions according to the CDC. The CDC does not recommend Lariam for any region of the world(resistent or not). There are safer alternatives that are just as effective in preventing malaria. Since I know the SF soldier to be quite intelligent, my hope is that questions are asked and answered by the command.
Wife of former 18a and CW2
"...are all believed to have taken the drug..."
UPIs solid research and reporting is C-R-A-P!!!!!!
Get the damned facts before you write it, asswipes!
Dammit, dammit, dammit!
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