'Two Camps'

Hello Folks,
First of all, when I use terms like, "Terrible Tom" I am just joking around and close friends of mine take simple liberties when they know and like someone. Nick names, etc. It's not a big deal..lol. My blog is what I want it to be --it's mine and it reflects my own personality in many ways. Most people have a 'identity moniker' or sorts, perhaps something big in their life or a 'defining moment' that sticks out, traumatic or not, perhaps some achievement. I am now different. My two years in helicopter/ aviation combat was a non-stop merry-go-round, filled with joy, humor, learning, action, extreme excitement, terror and pain. Folks like me cling together because NO ONE else can ever know that extreme 'experience !' Maybe this will put some goofy questions to rest, or at least explain them. Most people are afraid of the 'boogie man' so that they don't make their private email address available. I do. tschuckman@aol.com If I want to inquire about something personal or sensitive --I would rather use their email. I don't claim to be perfect-- just forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ, my personal Savior. I also admit that I am blunt, direct and too tired and old to beat around the bush or candy coat everything I post.
Have a nice day!

Tom
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Question: Have you gone through life and discovered that there are basically 2 camps-- the 'Doers' and the 'Sayers?' Book of James 1:22 says, " But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves." [NASB]. Having served in America's Armed Forces- U.S. Army and a combat Veteran, I have heard so much BS [berry sap...lol] how 'IF someone were in command he would have done it this or that way.' Those are the whiners and 'sick sisters' and liars and cowards in life who, in reality, wouldn't make a pimple on a soldier's glutious maximus [butt]! They are the ones who have never tried to compete in sports, hard endeavors, or do anything where failure was a possibility! They are afraid of failure and have no real character, IMHO. So they go thru their sorry life and take pot shots at people who try to succeed. Shame.

I have fallen flat on my face many times, been humiliated, humbled, made fun/ sport of and back stabbed many times [and still am...], deserted by All my family when in dire straits/ real need, etc . But I have also achieved many fine things in my lifetime, and so have that inner pride that only true warriors have amongst themselves. It's NOT just the Army and combat. It's a full life, compilation and sum total of every supreme effort and struggle these past 59 years, but especially finding the Lord and His will. Listen to the apostle Paul, in Phillipians, Chapter 3, verse 8, "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." How is that for being a bit 'politically incorrect ??' Don't ya just love the poetic KING JAMES VERSION... Ha!??

Yep, now days we have Congressional lip service-- and then we have a few real Patriots and biblical Christians left. I tell you today-- in the near future there will be fewer of the last two mentioned. Christians are doing the preaching work and the angels are doing the 'separating work.' God is still in charge-- but He allows mankind to stumble and hang itself [just as He has done all thru history], abuse God's name and character and His servants on earth! Books of Matt. and Timothy says that these 'end times' will be much like the days of Noah, with mockers, liars, hecklers, and violence. And the super GREED OF MONEY!! Go figure: the big Corps, CEO's and Wall Street can't lose because they and the Gov't are all in bed with each other and they have all the loop holes working for them-- a double standard! But the working man goes bankrupt and loses everything he worked for including this hard won pension and health insurance.. and Obama cannot [will not] get it back for us! Actually, no man can or will!

With a large heart and being an old softy, I have listened to women asking for help-- and getting dumped on in the end. From now on, I will just take care of my own business and give THEM lip service.

I am NOT bitter. I am happy, joyful and content with whom I am and where I am. I may lose readers from outside manipulation... but they were fair weather 'friends' anyway. They never took a stand for Christ. How can I lose when God is with me ? 'Heaven is my home.' If I died tonight-- I would not have any regrets.

God Bless my wife, Sharon's Son, and his family. May they follow God no matter what comes down the pike.

Tom Tom

A Nice letter from Sharon's daughter-in-law from Ohio.

Good Morning, I'm glad you liked the pics of Jimi. I'll be sure to set several aside for you. The AWANAs is a mentor/leadership organization, right? Wow, I'm sorry to hear that you had so much drama with it. I know how much enjoyment you got out of helping others. It makes me feel good to serve as well. I would be a very unhappy if I couldn't sing in the choir or help out when needed. Let's see...I'll catch you up with Jimi. As you know this is his senior year. He had a great varsity soccer season. He was the second highest scorer with 8 goals. He also had 5 assists which gave him the second highest team points. The Team's record was 11-5-2. They played in the Divisional Semi-Finals and was beat by Bexley 1-0 in a golden goal overtime. JA was awesome! Jimi was selected for the All-Star Division 2 team which played at Capital University. He was seen by 38 college coaches. One of which was the coach from Bluffton University, the school he is currently interested in the most. His coach also gave him the "Most Improved" award for the year. He was also selected for the All County distinction. He received a medal and dinner at Der Dutchman and his picture was in the paper....oh that reminds me...I forgot to get a paper!! The Marching Band season was ok. We played Graham again this year at Graham. The Falcon Band looked great as usual and they almost beat us in the game as well. JA had approx 85 students marching this year. That's the highest it's been in years! Jimi played the Quads this year! He did great considering this was his first year playing them. The coolest two songs of the season were "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." On the first song, the band formed a heart and than the heart was split in the middle and broke in two. It was so cool! The second song was cool because of the duel saxophones that played the fiddle part. Jimi is currently taking Honors Physics and Calculus. He is pulling mostly Bs right now. He's been accepted to Bluffton U, Defiance College and is also applying to Bowling Green State. He wants to study Chemistry at the moment. He has a girl friend but isn't serious. And for his "sr project," a class that JA makes all seniors take, he made an electric guitar. It was mostly from a kit, but he custom painted it and has learned to tune and play a little. Well, I had better go for now. Let me know how Deuce is doing! Love, Tammy When I say..."I am a Christian," I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'." I'm whispering 'I was lost and now I'm found and forgiven." Adapted from Carol Wimmer's When I say, "I'm a Christian"

Every parent and grand parent hopes that their offspring succeed in life and climbs up the ladder toa better life than we had. Somebody did something right in raising those two boys--Sharon's 2 grandsons! Woo Hoo! We will take the good news when we get it!

Tom

It never ends... until you are in heaven.

GodBlesstheUSA0001.wmv Save images to my AOL Pictures Saving images to my AOL Pictures... Video *View images on AOL Pictures

In the picture, I am teaching my wife the finer points of using an Oxy-Acetylene torch to cut steel.
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I had a very pleasant day and got about half of what I hoped to do [slow-- old age]. This was one of my 'pay days' and so I moved some money around at my credit union, went shopping for a few things, bought a better, more sturdy music stand, pitch pipe for tuning the guitar, etc, and 2 pieces of stew meat for my dog that stayed in the truck.

I took some pears and bananas to my Marine buddy, named Marvin Ellis and his wife Jan, Marv was sick with infection in his lungs but we practiced with his guitars for a while. My Rottweiler [Deuce] and his bitch Labrador [Jada] had a good time playing in his back yard and both got a nice piece of meat that I brought. There was a round bone in the middle of the meat, one for each dog. I am very popular in that house hold now... lol. Marvin's wife has always been friendly to me and hospitable, and I always treat her with respect, of course. She is a Catholic but Marvin attends the Sunday service were I go--VBC- Victory Baptist church. I feel that if the Lord wants Jan to progress and learn His Word-- it is not up to me to push or shove her-- but to set a good, kind, friendly example. She smokes but not in front of me, out of respect, I guess. And I like that 'live and let live' attitude. I was much more dogmatic in my younger days...and had much to learn about people.. Ha!

My wife asked me to bring back some ground chuck-beef for lunch, and she was in such a much better mood for a change and actually cleaned much of the house!! Her doctor gave her some better meds for her lung problem. Woo Hoo!! That sure put me in a milder, kinder, appreciative mood too! I HATE fights and arguments!

Shoot! We got a phone call a few hours ago --that I have an appointment with the dentist tomorrow morn at 0900 for a teeth cleaning. Then I will make another appointment to have 3 fillings done while I am there. Good old Chrysler changed the rules again so that we have to pay a 'co-pay' when we get most dental treatments. Well, better than a sharp stick in the eye, I guess. It used to all be paid for--part of the union contract. Us retirees took big cuts across the board last year-- 'hard times'.. Ha! BS, I know the greed of the companies, and it will only get worse. The Bible tells me so.

But thank the Lord for all His gentle mercies and blessings. PTL.

We found out that the power chair hoist company [Bruno] installed too small [not powerful enough] a lift motor in my truck that won't lift Sharon's power chair. It actually 'laboured' to lift my lighter power scooter [Golden Avenger]!! I know the old story-- give the customer the cheapest product you can get away with, and it will give out, wear out sooner than it is supposed to. They are supposedly trying to get things done right now...lol, duh. Hey, when you all retired you have to watch care takers and workers like a HAWK so that they do their jobs right! That's right! When you are starting to slow down and lose some of your 'faculties' [mind-brains]-- that is when you need them the most! Hint: make friends with a kind, honest, smart younger person to look after some of your affairs... an advocate. It never ends until you are safely tucked in-- heaven.



Tom Tom-- Terrible Tom

Cold, Hard Reality --Paul to Timothy-- Jan Markell.

Let me turn you all on to some good, solid food~!

Can We Drop This Topic? My Head's Spinning! By Jan Markell OK, you've heard most of your life that the Lord is returning. He hasn't so you're skeptical now. You might even be bored and irrirated. Besides, studying the topic of eschatology puts your brain into a pretzel. I know, Revelation's bowls, seals and trumpets are tough to grasp. The image in Daniel 7 is equally confusing and uncertain. You've had no solid teaching on this, and it just strikes you as something to skip over. What's the big deal you might be asking? Maybe you've also had no strong teaching on Israel's importance as she relates to the end-times. Many prophecy scholars believe the end of the end-times began with her rebirth in 1948. But your church just might believe in Replacement Theology; that is, that the Church is the new Israel. Literal Israel, outside of being an important U.S. ally, really doesn't strike you as relevant if the Church has replaced her-a terrible false theology! Plus, you hear of other Bible prophecy theologies so which one should you believe? They conflict with each other. Yes, it can seem overwhelming to a generation that wants to focus on today and not the future. But tossing the topic away because of some of the above issues is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Now more than ever we need a "blessed hope" (Titus 2:11-13). So let me throw out a passage of Scripture all can understand: II Timothy 3:1-7 (NAS). It begins with "in the last days" and then lists the characteristics of those days. Mankind will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, and holding only to a form of godliness. Don't you skeptics see all of these in the headlines daily? In the interest of time and space, let's just consider the love of self and money. What generation has seen the rampant corporate greed that we are seeing today? Executives take millions for themselves, bankrupt employees, and harm the nation. Wall Street and corporate America are looking out only for self, and the country and their employees be darned! The primary reason for today's financial mess is greed. It is just the love of money predicted in II Timothy 3. I can remember when the corporate motto was "keep the customer satisfied." Now behind closed doors one wonders if some are laughing it up as they count their bonus cash. I believe God had Paul write these words to Timothy -- that would be so plain about the last days -- because they're tough to argue with! It's hard not to connect the dots. While some are now asking questions, more are scoffing. This was also predicted. (II Peter 3:3) Please take another look at this topic because it is a faith-builder! As my radio guest last weekend (November 15) Jim Tetlow says -- and I am shortening his comments due to space, "Jesus said that some men would be gripped with fear when some signs occurred (Luke 21:26), while others would look up with hopeful expectations" (Luke 21:28). This hour plus the hour with Tass Saada, a former PLO Arafat man, is posted at "Radio Archives." Which camp do you fit into? If you're fearful (of world events), there is good news and bad news for you! The bad news is that God will judge every man who breaks even one of His laws. The good news is that God has made a way to freely forgive us so that we may spend eternity with Him in heaven. If the signs alarm you, thank God, because He wants to awaken you from your spiritual slumber and give you eternal life. He wants you to repent of your sins, place your trust in Jesus Christ, and make Psalm 51 your prayer. God reminds us that He will never let us down. Eschatology, or the doctrine of the last days, is just such a sign that God keeps His promises! It is a comfort when all things go wrong including our battered economy. It keeps us going when everything is running amok because it keeps our eyes on things of an eternal nature and not bailouts that will never work as well as other troubling issues. Let me close by saying the Ark door is going to shut again some day. The punch line to this article isn't that you must enjoy Bible prophecy; it's that prophecy outlines things to come. The King is coming again. The blueprint is in the Bible. Are you ready? I encourage you to visit the category of Prophecy Watch at the Web site. It will answer a lot of your questions and untwist your brain now in a pretzel over prophecy-related issues. Live radio this weekend: White House correspondent Bill Koenig and Christian financial analyst John Terry join me from 9 to 11 AM CST on AM980, KKMS, Minneapolis/St. Paul. The program is heard around the country on other stations and by satellite. For more information, visit this link. For podcasting, click here. To become a CD subscriber for $30 a month and get two CDs a week of "Understanding the Times" radio, call 763-493-3010. Looking Ahead: I will be doing the "KKMS Live" program next Monday, November 24, 3 - 6 PM. This is my home station's drive-time program. I have three outstanding guests lined up and it will be lively. I headquarter out of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Listen live anywhere in the world at www.kkms.com. We wish we could answer every e-mail but cannot. All are read, however. To unsubscribe, see below. Awaiting His return, Jan Markell You may pass on these items or have people sign up on our Web site. We update "Current Headlines" twice a day and you can access our radio programming from the last three years on "Radio Archives." Also see the Web site for other options to catch the program, "Understanding the Times." Please report e-mail address changes. Please remember us prayerfully and financially. Donate on our Web site. (Gifts are tax-deductible with receipts sent out in January.) Note: Due to volume, we cannot respond to every ministry email but each one is read and appreciated. Olive Tree Ministries, Inc. Box 1452 Maple Grove, MN 55311 763-493-3010 or 763-210-8291

Wake up America...Ha!

One of my fav. songs:

Added

KANSAS - DUST IN THE WIND

I will probably be sorry for posting this introduction, but I claim to be an expert in throwing edged weapons. The Bible gives me the authority to protect home, hearth and family from harm and injury [see swords in the book of Matt.]. But I am only thinking about some self-defense at home. However, soldiers are taught to fight with darn near anything... and win! I didn't do 2 tours in Vietnam to come back with flowers in my hair and ear rings, etc... lol. My wife and I practice and teach others to throw tomahawks and knives accurately.. with a good, safe target in our back yard.. Woo Hoo! I better quit now while I am ahead. Enjoy. This is our noble beast, 'Deuce' the Rottweiler! Question: do you know why a Rottweiler hardly ever gets into fights withother dogs? Answer: they are too intelligent and don't have to prove anything! Ha! It's True.

Tom




It is now closer to reality than you think


You're sound asleep when you hear a thump outside your bedroom door. Half-awake, and nearly paralyzed with fear, you hear muffled whispers. At least two people have broken into your house and are moving your way. With your heart pumping, you reach down beside your bed and pick up your shotgun. You rack a shell into the chamber, then inch toward the door and open it. In the darkness, you make out two shadows.

One holds something that looks like a crowbar. When the intruder brandishes it as if to strike, you raise the shotgun and fire. The blast knocks both thugs to the floor. One writhes and screams while the second man crawls to the front door and lurches outside. As you pick up the telephone to call police, you know you're in trouble.

In your country, most guns were outlawed years before, and the few That are privately owned are so stringently regulated as to make them useless. Yours was never registered. Police arrive and inform you that the second burglar has died. They arrest you for First Degree Murder and Illegal Possession of a Firearm. When you talk to your attorney, he tells you not to worry: authorities will probably plea the case down to manslaughter.

"What kind of sentence will I get?" you ask.

"Only ten-to-twelve years," he replies, as if that's nothing. "Behave yourself, and you'll be out in seven."

The next day, the shooting is the lead story in the local newspaper. Somehow, you're portrayed as an eccentric vigilante while the two men you shot are represented as choirboys. Their friends and relatives can't find an unkind word to say about them. Buried deep down in the article, authorities acknowledge that both "victims" have been arrested numerous times. But the next day's headline says it all: "Lovable Rogue Son Didn't Deserve to Die." The thieves have been transformed from career criminals into Robin Hood-type pranksters. As the days wear on, the story takes wings. The national media picks it up, then the international media. The surviving burglar has become a folk hero.

Your attorney says the thief is preparing to sue you, and he'll probably win. The media publishes reports that your home has been burglarized several times in the past and that you've been critical of local police for their lack of effort in apprehending the suspects. After the last break-in, you told your neighbor that you would be prepared next time. The District Attorney uses this to allege that you were lying in wait for the burglars.

A few months later, you go to trial. The charges haven't been reduced, as your lawyer had so confidently predicted. When you take the stand, your anger at the injustice of it all works against you. Prosecutors paint a picture of you as a mean, vengeful man. It doesn't take long for the jury to convict you of all charges.
The judge sentences you to life in prison.

This case really happened.

On August 22, 1999, Tony Martin of Emneth, Norfolk , England, killed one burglar and wounded a second. In April, 2000, he was convicted and is now serving a life term.

How did it become a crime to defend one's own life in the once great British Empire ?

It started with the Pistols Act of 1903. This seemingly reasonable law forbade selling pistols to minors or felons and established that handgun sales were to be made only to those who had a license. The Firearms Act of 1920 expanded licensing to include not only handguns but all firearms except shotguns.

Later laws passed in 1953 and 1967 outlawed the carrying of any weapon by private citizens and mandated the registration of all shotguns.

Momentum for total handgun confiscation began in earnest after the Hungerford mass shooting in 1987. Michael Ryan, a mentally disturbed Man with a Kalashnikov rifle, walked down the streets shooting everyone he saw. When the smoke cleared, 17 people were dead.

The British public, already de-sensitized by eighty years of "gun control", demanded even tougher restrictions. (The seizure of all privately owned handguns was the objective even though Ryan used a rifle.)

Nine years later, at Dunblane , Scotland , Thomas Hamilton used a semi-automatic weapon to murder 16 children and a teacher at a public school.

For many years, the media had portrayed all gun owners as mentally unstable, or worse, criminals. Now the press had a real kook with which to beat up law-abiding gun owners. Day after day, week after week, the media gave up all pretense of objectivity and demanded a total ban on all handguns. The Dunblane Inquiry, a few months later, sealed the fate of the few sidearm still owned by private citizens.

During the years in which the British government incrementally took Away most gun rights, the notion that a citizen had the right to armed self-defense came to be seen as vigilantism. Authorities refused to grant gun licenses to people who were threatened, claiming that self-defense was no longer considered a reason to own a gun. Citizens who shot burglars or robbers or rapists were charged while the real criminals were released.

Indeed, after the Martin shooting, a police spokesman was quoted as saying, "We cannot have people take the law into their own hands."

All of Martin's neighbors had been robbed numerous times, and several elderly people were severely injured in beatings by young thugs who had no fear of the consequences. Martin himself, a collector of antiques, had seen most of his collection trashed or stolen by burglars.

When the Dunblane Inquiry ended, citizens who owned handguns were given three months to turn them over to local
authorities. Being good British subjects, most people obeyed the law. The few who didn't were visited by police and threatened with ten-year prison sentences if they didn't comply. Police later bragged that they'd taken nearly 200,000 handguns from private citizens

How did the authorities know who had handguns? The guns had been registered and licensed. Kinda like cars.


Sound familiar?

WAKE UP AMERICA , THIS IS WHY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PUT THE SECOND AMENDMENT IN OUR CONSTITUTION

"..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.."

Sickly Legacy to Gulf War.

http://www.military.com/n ews/article/panel-finds-sickly-legacy-to-gulf-war.html?col=1186032310810&wh=wh

Panel finds sickly Legacy to Gulf War

November 17, 2008

Cox News Service

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WASHINGTON - At least one in four U.S. veterans of the 1991 Gulf War suffers from a multi-symptom illness caused by exposure to toxic chemicals during the conflict, a congressionally mandated report being released today found.

For much of the past 17 years, government officials have maintained that these veterans -- more than 175,000 out of about 697,000 deployed -- are merely suffering the effects of wartime stress, even as more have come forward recently with severe ailments.

"The extensive body of scientific research now available consistently indicates that 'Gulf War illness' is real, that it is the result of neurotoxic exposures during Gulf War deployment, and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved with time," said the report, being released Monday by a panel of scientists and veterans. A copy was obtained by Cox Newspapers.

Gulf War illness is typically characterized by a combination of memory and concentration problems, persistent headaches, unexplained fatigue and widespread pain. It may also include chronic digestive problems, respiratory symptoms and skin rashes.

Two things the military provided to troops in large quantities to protect them -- pesticides and pyridostigmine bromide (PB), aimed at thwarting the effects of nerve gas -- are the most likely culprits, the panel found.

The Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, created by Congress in 2002, presented its 450-page report to Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peake on Monday. It said its report is the first to review the hundreds of U.S. and international studies on Gulf War vets since that have been conducted the mid-1990s.

In a 2004 draft report to Congress, the panel said that many Gulf veterans were suffering from neurological damage caused by exposure to toxic chemicals. The new report goes further by pinpointing known causes and it criticizes past U.S. studies, which have cost more than $340 million, as "overly simplistic and compartmentalized."

It recommends that the Department of Veterans Affairs order a re-do of past Gulf War and Health reports, calling them "skewed" because they did not include evaluations of toxic exposure studies in lab animals, as Congress had requested. The panel examined such tests and noted that recent ones -- unethical to carry out on humans - have identified biological effects from Gulf War exposures that were previously unknown.

While it called some new VA and DOD programs promising, it noted that overall federal funding for Gulf War research has dropped sharply in recent years. Those studies that have been funded, it said, "have little or no relevance to the health of Gulf War veterans, and for research on stress and psychiatric illness."

"Veterans of the 1990-1991 Gulf War had the distinction of serving their country in a military operation that was a tremendous success, achieved in short order. But many had the misfortune of developing lasting health consequences that were poorly understood and, for too long, denied or trivialized," the committee's report says.

The report also faults the Pentagon, saying it clearly recognized scientific evidence substantiating Gulf War illness in 2001 but did not acknowledge it publicly.

It said that Acting Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Gulf War illnesses Lt. Gen. Dale Vesser remarked that year that although Saddam Hussein didn't use nuclear, biological, or chemical agents against coalition forces during the war -- an assertion still debated -- "It never dawned on us ././. that we may have done it to ourselves."

"We know that at least 40,000 American troops may have been overexposed to pesti cides," Vesser said, adding that more than 250,000 American troops took the small, white PB pills. "Both of these substances may (be) consistent with the symptoms that some Gulf War veterans have."

The panel is urging Congress to spend at least $60 million annually for Gulf War research. It notes that no effective treatments have yet been found.

The VA declined to comment until it has a chance to review the report.

The panel focused its research on comparing the brain and nervous system of healthy adults with those of sick Gulf War vets, as well as analyzing changes to the neuroendocrine and immune systems. It found that in terms of brain function, exposure to pesticides and the PB pills hurts people's memory, attention and mood. Some people, it notes, are genetically more susceptible to exposures than others.

About half of Gulf War personnel are believed to have taken PB tablets during deployment, with the greatest use among ground troops and those in forward positions. Many veterans say they were forced to take the pills, which had not been approved by the FDA, and some said they immediately became sickened.

"Many of us got sick from the pills," said retired Staff Sgt.

Anthony Hardie, a Wisconsin native who was with a multinational unit that crossed from Saudi Arabia into Kuwait and then Iraq. He sai d he was required to take them for several weeks and soon suffered from watery eyes and vision problems, diarrhea, muscle twitching and a runny nose. A fellow Special Forces officer, he said, lost about 20 pounds in short order. "All of us had concerns at the time."

To ward off swarms of sand flies in Kuwait City and the eastern Saudi province of Dhahran, Hardie said trucks would come through at 3 a.m. and spray "clouds" of pesticides. Fly strips that smelled toxic hung "everywhere," especially near food. "The pesticide use was far and away (more) than what you'd see in daily life," he said. Several Soldiers interviewed said they were ordered to dunk their uniforms in the pesticide DEET and to spray pesticide routinely on exposed skin and in their boots to ward off scorpions.

Others wore pet flea collars around their ankles.

The federal panel added that it also could not rule out an association between Gulf War illness and the prolonged exposure to oil fires, as well as low-level exposures to nerve agents, injections of many vaccines and combinations of neurotoxic exposures.

Hardie, a panel member, is convinced that he was later exposed to the chemical warfare agent Lewisite in a freshly abandoned Iraqi bunker; he noted its signature strong geranium smell. He said he and others in his unit who ran miles a day past burning oil wells later hacked up bla ck chunks of mucus and what he says his doctors think were pieces of his lung tissue. He said civilian doctors have diagnosed him with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, dizziness, confusion, acid reflux disease and chronic sinusitis.

He was not among the 100,000 U.S. troops who were potentially exposed to low-levels of Sarin gas, a nerve agent, as a result of large-scale U.S. demolitions of Iraqi munitions near Khamisiyah, Iraq, in 1991. Troops who were downwind from the demolitions have died from brain cancer at twice the rate of other Gulf War veterans, the report stated.

A panel member, Dr. Roberta White, chair of environmental health at the Boston University School of Public Health, found evidence last year linking low-level exposure to nerve gas among in Persian Gulf troops with lasting brain deficits. The extent of the deficits - less brain "white matter" and reduced cognitive function -- corresponded to the extent of the exposure.

In addition, the panel said, Gulf War veterans have significantly higher rates of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) than other veterans.

White said that while there is a lot of anecdotal evidence of Gulf War vets contracting multiple sclerosis (MS), studies haven't confirmed a combat link to that degenerative disease. Questions also remain about rates of cancers, disease-specific mortality rates in Gulf War veterans and the health of veterans' ch ildren.

Conversely, the panel said there is little evidence supporting an association or major link with depleted uranium, anthrax vaccine, fuels, solvents, sand and particulates, infectious diseases, and chemical agent resistant coating (CARC).

The fact that veterans repeatedly still find that their complaints are met with cynicism, she said, "upsets me as a scientist, as someone who cares about veterans."

Hardie said the Gulf War veterans have felt profound frustration that the health community as a whole has only been treating affected veterans' symptoms.

"If you have MS - 'here's some Motrin.' How long can you take nasal steroids without getting at root cause -- the brain damage?" he said. "The sad thing is scientists are saying in more precise terms what veterans were saying all along: We are sick, sickened by Gulf War service, and we need health care to help us."