FROM: Mark W. Anderson

To: The Department of Veterans Affairs, Members of Congress, military service members, veterans, and concerned citizens

SUBJECT: MY OPEN LETTER TO THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS ON THE ANTHRAX VACCINE

I hadn’t planned on writing this letter, but given my impending appointment on April 20th, circumstances compel me to write this letter. I also wish for this letter to be placed into my medical record, so that there can be no confusion about what I am saying - e.g., morphing what I am saying into "delusional" and "disorganized" thoughts, while ignoring the substance of everything that I am saying.

I would like to go back into the genesis of my problems with the VA, which has been a burden that I have been carrying for quite some time. I have this lingering feeling of despair over this as yet unresolved issue.

What prompted me to make this impending appointment is a certain health problem I have had, which manifested itself while I was actually waiting to be seen at the VA in Loma Linda. Although this is a real health problem, which can be objectively verified, the VA has in the past said that it is in my head without doing any kind of tests or examination. As I was waiting for that appointment at the VA and experiencing this health problem, I was reminded all over again of what the VA says, making me feel so bad that I had to cancel that appointment while in the waiting room.

Let me start by going back into the past. I don’t know if it was my young age when I got out of the Marine Corps, or my health complaints, or both, that has caused people at the VA to assume I must have received a medical discharge from the Marine Corps, and, therefore, that I am possibly a "malingerer," so I would like to get this cleared up.

I left to boot camp two days after I graduated from high school, which was why I was very young when I got out of the Marine Corps. I was on active duty in the Marine Corps infantry from June 12th, 1995, to June 11th, 1999. That is exactly how long I enlisted for. I did not get out on a medical discharge. I served my entire time honorably.1 I did quite well while in the Marine Corps, having received a meritorious promotion. I received a Good Conduct Medal right on my three-year mark, meaning I had no disciplinary problems while in the Marine Corps.2 The nicest letter of recommendation that I have ever received came from my Company First Sgt.3, and the second-nicest came from my Company Gunnery Sgt.4 I have an impeccable record, with only one speeding ticket from 1997 as the only offense of any kind.

I initially injured my shoulder in 1997, but I did the Marine thing and sucked it up. It wasn’t until right before I was about to get out of the Marine Corps that I ended up having to get my first shoulder surgery. Couple that with having had to receive the anthrax shots right before I got out, and then also feeling like an incomplete person when I got out of the Marine Corps, it was a very difficult time for me when I got out of the Marine Corps. It was like all of my problems started right as I got out of the Marine Corps.

The genesis of my problems with the VA goes back to the anthrax vaccine issue.5 I would like to go over both some issues related to the program in abstract, as well as my own personal situation. By understanding the issue in abstract, that might better place my situation in its proper context.

I have noticed that many people actually hold two mutually exclusive positions simultaneously. On one hand, many people believe that everybody in the military has received the anthrax vaccine, and that it is part of the routine shots administered. Thus, they will wonder why everybody isn’t experiencing these health problems. On the other hand, if you tell that person that you received the anthrax shots, they will assume that you must have deployed to the Gulf. Neither position is a correct one.

It is true that many people who deployed to the first Gulf War did receive the anthrax vaccine. There were many who had to receive the anthrax vaccine, but did not deploy. There were also many who did deploy to the Gulf, but did not have to receive the anthrax vaccine. My brother-in-law, for example, deployed to the Gulf during the first Gulf War, he never had to receive the anthrax vaccine, and he has also been fine in terms of his health. And for those who did receive the anthrax vaccine during the first Gulf War, most of them received only one shot, since the government was in a hurry to deploy forces and didn’t have the necessary stockpile to administer the protocol established while I was in the military.

The Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program was inaugurated by the Clinton administration in 1998. I mention that it was inaugurated by the Clinton administration, because I find it to be chimerical the way opposition to the program is conflated with "left wing liberal" views. In 1999 and 2000, it was mainly Republicans who were questioning the policy, and you were considered a "right wing conservative" for being opposed to the policy. Fast-forward a few years, and now that there is a Republican running the administration, you get accused of being a "left wing liberal" for opposing the same exact policy.

So, the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program was commenced in 1998. At that time, the stated policy of the Pentagon was to inoculate everybody in all four branches of the military, both active and reserve components. That would have been 2.5 million people. In other words, the shots were not administered based upon whether or not you were going to deploy to the Middle East, as so many people assume. Because of all the damage the program was doing in terms of health and troop retention, the program was halted in the year 2000 after inoculating about 500,000 of us.

My unit started the anthrax vaccine series in February of 1999. When the AVIP was commenced, the protocol called for a six-shot series, with the shots administered over 18 months. You get your first shot, then two weeks later the second shot, then two weeks later the third shot, then it goes to six month intervals for the last three shots. My End of Active Service date was June 11th, 1999. Before I got out of the Marine Corps, I had saved up 46 days of leave, which you are allowed to take at the end of your enlistment, not needing to return when your leave is expired since you are out of the military - thus, it is referred to as terminal leave. I came home on terminal leave on April 26th, 1999. The policy for First Marine Division in regards to the anthrax vaccine was to make people take the shots even though they were about to get out of the Marine Corps. I received my first anthrax vaccine from lot number FAV036 on February 11th, 1999. I received my second anthrax vaccine from lot number FAV036 on February 25th, 1999. I received my third and final anthrax vaccine from lot number FAV036 on March 12th, 1999.6 I came home on terminal leave on April 26th, 1999. My End of Active Service date was June 11th, 1999.

After I got out of the Marine Corps, I always thought that was so strange how I would run into guys who were still on active duty, but they hadn’t had to receive the anthrax vaccine, but I did have to receive them right before I got out of the Marine Corps. How crazy is that? And given the way the VA works on these matters, which I will get to in a moment, the government really had no business making us take those shots right before we were about to get out of the military.

About the only way that I can put it is that I got screwed about as bad as one can get screwed. I have been on the receiving end of the most negative of all possible treatment. Those who complain of health problems and were in the military are looked upon with suspicion, as though they "malingered" their way out of the military. This was not my case, however. I had to receive the shots literally right before I got out of the Marine Corps. I started to get health problems shortly after I received the anthrax vaccine, which was right as I was getting out of the Marine Corps. My problems started when I went to the Minneapolis VAMC asking for help.

I served my entire time honorably, and I had to get the anthrax vaccine literally right before I got out of the Marine Corps. Since I had to receive the anthrax vaccine in such great proximity to my End of Active Service date, this creates a hurdle for me. You see, there is nothing in my military medical records about health problems from the anthrax vaccine. That, by the way, demonstrates another paradox the VA employs in its arguments. I will be told that because I have fair skin, then that means I have "always" had these problems. Yet, there is nothing in my military record showing that I have had the health problems I now have. In fact, having fair skin makes it easier to notice changes.

Since I had to receive the shots right before I got out of the Marine Corps, and there is nothing in my military medical record showing I had health problems, even if I have been lucky enough to be taken seriously and receive a medical diagnosis, all diagnoses made posterior to my End of Active Service date are NOT considered as service-connected, UNLESS I find a doctor that is willing to do enough research into my case and the anthrax vaccine, and then put in writing the explicit statement that there is a good chance my health problems are due to the anthrax vaccine. Kind of a big hurdle, given the fact that the anthrax vaccine is a military-use, non-civilian, experimental vaccine, which very few doctors at the VA, let alone outside the VA, know about. Also, how is one to satisfy this requirement when mentioning the anthrax vaccine at the VA is tantamount to thought crime?

I do have a service-connected rating for my skin lesion condition, which was awarded based upon a technicality. As I previously explained, the VA looks at your MILITARY medical records to determine whether or not your health problem is due to your military service. Also, I explained that I came home on terminal leave on April 26, 1999, and that my End of Active Service date was June 11, 1999. Fortunately, I managed to make it into the Minneapolis VAMC in May of 1999, where the VA actually documented into my medical records the complaint that I had - i.e., skin lesions. Most of the time the VA did not even bother to document my health complaint. The RNP that I saw even said that it looked like a "reaction to something." She didn’t write that observation down, but she did write enough to get that problem documented. Now, while the VA benefits side kept looking at my military medical records, I kept pointing out that they won’t find anything in my military medical records, but that they would find something in my VA medical records from May of 1999. And, in May of 1999, I was still on active duty. Having been on active duty at the time, there is a presumption of correlation between military service and the problem, so it wasn’t even my burden to have to prove a nexus between the anthrax vaccine and that health problem. It took me about three years to point out to the VA that they would find medical notes on me from when I was still on active duty in my VA medical chart. So, I got rated for my skin lesions not because the VA says they are due to the anthrax vaccine, but on the technicality that I managed to get that problem documented while I was still on active duty.

I explained everything above to illustrate the way the VA rating system works. All my health problems that didn’t get documented until after my End of Active Service date will NOT be adjudicated as service connected, no matter how truly service connected they are, unless I get a doctor to draw a nexus between my health problems and the anthrax vaccine. The funny thing is, if I had waited two more years to enlist in the military, rather than having enlisted straight out of high school, all of my health problems that did get documented between 1999 and 2001 would have been automatically considered service connected, since I would have still been on active duty.

Given the way the VA adjudicates service-connection, I find the VA's unwillingness to even acknowledge my health problems to be unexplainable. Even if I receive a proper diagnosis for something, it still won't be service-connected as long as the VA refuses to discuss possible causes, such as the anthrax vaccine.

Not only was the fact that I had to get the shots right before I got out of the Marine Corps a problem, but there is yet another problem. The problem is this: Since the shots were administered regardless of whether or not one was deployed, and, for First Marine Division, regardless of whether or not one was about to get out of the Marine Corps, I was in all the wrong places to get into the Gulf War Registry, or to go to the Gulf War Clinic, or to get a disability rating for Gulf War Syndrome. I have deployed to Okinawa, Thailand, and Korea, but never the Gulf. This shows the duplicity of VA policy. On one hand, the VA has pretended to objectively consider the anthrax vaccine as a possible cause of Gulf War Syndrome. On the other hand, the VA ignores those of us who did get the anthrax vaccine and have health problems, but were never in the Gulf. All of the VA’s studies focus exclusively on the theater of operations.

I was part of the only group (i.e., from 1998 to 2000) that had to receive anthrax shots regardless of where one was stationed. The program was halted in the year 2000, and then resumed in the year 2002 only for those who were deploying, and then due to a lawsuit brought by members of the military, the program was made voluntary for even those deploying to the theater of operations. So, even during a time of war, the program has been voluntary, because a federal court ruled that every time we had to receive those shots without informed consent, the government was violating the law.

It seems self-evident to me that the VA is in the business of profiling veterans.  If you speak about issues such as the anthrax vaccine because they have caused health problems, you will get profiled by the VA.

My problems with the VA started as soon as I began to mention the anthrax vaccine. See the enclosed page7 from my Minneapolis VAMC medical records, dated July 19th, 1999 (i.e., one month after my End of Active Service date), which states: "22yo with history of bizarre behavior in ER & UC. Feels he has multiple odd ailments secondary to vaccination. Nurse notes suggest violent potential. Psych eval ASAP. Possible paranoia." Those notes were written on a consult for psychiatry, which I didn’t even ask for.

Notice what is missing from those notes. There is no explanation of what violence I engaged in, because I never did. It is just a bunch of subjective, platitudinous innuendo that the Minneapolis VAMC used against me because I dared mention the anthrax vaccine. I got labeled as somebody who is "paranoid," engages in "bizarre" behavior, and a violence risk for my heresy of talking about the anthrax vaccine. If you were to believe the Minneapolis VAMC, I went from being a good Marine to a crazy civilian in a matter of days. The Minneapolis VAMC made a complete mockery of my health problems.

So, what was my "bizarre" behavior? Shortly after I got the anthrax shots, I started to get episodes where I ended up with eczema literally from my head to my toes. An inflammatory rash from my head to my toes. My face and body became red like an apple. I could both see the changes and feel the rash. I couldn’t even shower. So, I would present myself to the VA with eczema literally over my entire body. And you know what? Despite being an objectively verifiable health problem, that was said to be in my head. I walked around with it for weeks before I finally got a proper diagnosis outside of the VA, at which time I was administered a cortisone injection and it then cleared up a few days later.

Also, I find it kind of interesting that I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in 2005. I had mentioned that I felt fatigued and more sensitive to the cold to the Minneapolis VAMC several years ago. Did they bother to do tests? No. Did they bother to document my health complaint? No. Kind of funny how a lot of other guys who have gotten the anthrax shots have ended up with the same problem, and that the medical literature says that hypothyroidism is rare for males in their twenties. So, all those years the Minneapolis VAMC made a mockery of my health problems, and come to find out I do have hypothyroidism.

Everything I said came straight from Congressional reports and General Accounting Office reports. I noticed that the real nasty stuff the Minneapolis VAMC wrote about me they will not give me copies of, and that stuff comes out of my administrative records. The whole thing was about how they needed to start a "psycho-social profile" on me because I spoke about the anthrax vaccine.

Well, how awful I felt. I came to the cold realization that I had been used as a guinea pig, I ended up with health problems, and I dared mention the fact that I had health problems due to the anthrax vaccine. For that, I was attacked and treated like I was the bad person. Speaking about the anthrax vaccine was tantamount to being a "violent" person. How sweet of the VA to follow me around with security because I was used as a guinea pig. And then, the VA wouldn’t even bother to document the health complaints that I had.

Suppose you witness a crime, and you get it on tape so you have empirical evidence of the crime. Suppose you then go to the police station and file a report, and you are laughed at by the police officers. What would be your normal reaction? You would say wait a minute, I have the evidence, and then you would go get the evidence. And then suppose you do just that, and then they decide to ignore your evidence and insist that you are just "obsessed" with the issue. That is exactly the situation I have encountered with the VA.

Pray tell me, how is one to get help in an environment like that? And so I would be accused of being "delusional" and "paranoid." What would have been the normal reaction? I would then try bringing with me evidence - viz., Congressional and GAO reports - to my appointments. Without bothering to look at them, the VA would then simply say I was just "obsessed" with the issue. Well, yes, I am obsessed with the truth.

What has pained me more than anything about seeing how the VA ignores us is knowing that because the VA ignores us, the program would go on unabated, the government would keep administering the shots with impunity, and this would happen to more military service members needlessly. That is a huge reason why I would imagine the VA, if it was really interested in curtailing liabilities, would actually help expose the problem. By ignoring the problem, the VA is helping to ensure these problems continue and more service members will need to be awarded disability compensation. I would also imagine that from a healthcare standpoint, you would think an organization that claims to support the veterans would want to do an objective investigation to help prevent this from happening to more people, and to maybe find a solution to these problems.  The issue transcends me.  So, maybe the VA hates my guts, but by ignoring people like myself, this happens to more people needlessly.

I would have rather been shot on the battlefield than to have ended up with health problems from a shot that my own government made me take. So far, it seems as though the VA refuses to acknowledge the latter.

I am writing this letter because I am about to be seen for my allergies to fluorescent lights. That is one of the health problems that began shortly after I received the anthrax shots. It took me a few months of researching the issue and networking with others to figure out what my exact problem was, but I believe I have figured out what the problem is.

The reason why I am writing ahead of time here is that, previously the Minneapolis VAMC has said that I am imagining this problem, without ever once doing any kind of tests or examination. In fact, the Minneapolis VAMC even said that there is no such thing as being allergic to fluorescent lights. The interesting thing about this is that the anthrax vaccine product insert was redacted in the year 2002 with updated information. The systemic adverse reaction rate was changed from .02 percent to between "5 and 35%." Also, it specifically lists photosensitivity as an adverse reaction to the anthrax vaccine. If I go to Google.com and run a search on the words fluorescent lights and photosensitivity, one of the first pages that comes up is a page off of the National Instititutes of Health, at nih.gov. Apparently, it is the UV-B rays in the fluorescent lights that people can become allergic to, and it is part of photosensitivity.

While I would not bet my life that I am allergic to fluorescent lights, I am almost certain that I am. This is a health problem that can be objectively verified if I am. I am writing this letter ahead of time, because I would like to request a fair and objective hearing on this matter. If I do not have this problem, then let’s do tests to find out, rather than simply making ad-hominem attacks about my mental status. One popular definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. Perhaps, if I am insane, it is because I am naively believing that the VA will do something to help me. Please, prove me wrong this time.

Cordially,

Mark W. Anderson

P.S. - I have never suffered such indignities as I have courtesy of the VA. Not even during boot camp in the Marine Corps have I been made to feel so horrible. After all of these years, for everything I have been through, when will I be treated with dignity by the VA? I have a plurality of health problems, many of which still haven't been diagnosed due to being unable to receive any medical care, let alone objective medical care, from the VA. Of course, the VA then denies claims because the fake medical records which the VA keeps on me show nothing about my health problems from the anthrax vaccine.

How VA employees can so callously disregard objectively verifiable health problems as being "psychosis," merely because the veteran dares mention the anthrax vaccine, is breathtaking.  At stake here is the lives of veterans.  Furthermore, the ways the VA uses its own lies against the veteran - e.g., withholding the G.I. Bill because of health problems due to the anthrax vaccine, by saying the veteran is "too disabled" to attend college - shows that what the VA says and does is a perfect absurdity.  We get penalized for speaking the truth, by having benefits withheld.  Why would we wish to get penalized for saying something that isn't true?

I am sending enclosures along with this letter for the purpose of substantiating what I am saying here, so that what I am saying is not dismissed as a "delusion," albeit the VA has been unable to say what my "delusions" are.8

Source Notes - with SSNs blacked out

1 See my DD214 http://www.noanthraxvaccine.net/cases/files/sourcenote1.jpg

2 See Certificate of Good Conduct http://www.noanthraxvaccine.net/cases/files/sourcenote2.jpg

3 See letter of recommendation http://www.noanthraxvaccine.net/cases/files/sourcenote3.jpg

4 See letter of recommendation http://www.noanthraxvaccine.net/cases/files/sourcenote4.jpg

5 See documents at http://www.noanthraxvaccine.net/documents.html

6 See anthrax vaccine shot records http://www.noanthraxvaccine.net/cases/files/sourcenote6a.jpg and http://www.noanthraxvaccine.net/cases/files/sourcenote6b.jpg

7 Page from Minneapolis VAMC medical record making mockery of my health problems http://www.noanthraxvaccine.net/cases/files/sourcenote7.jpg