JARDINE: Modesto area Vietnam vets band together to write book

In fact, some local Vietnam vets are doing just that. When I mentioned our project to Modesto Vet Center Director Steve Lawson, he told me several vets a few months ago began collaborating on a book. Each is writing a chapter or two detailing his experiences and feelings.

They've produced a rough draft of eight chapters so far, with hopes of publishing it within the next year. Their stories all are compelling. Some are entertaining, and all of the contributors bare their emotions and souls.

They meet weekly at a restaurant in Riverbank to compare notes and give progress reports, each wearing a cap or shirt proudly telling the world they are, indeed, Vietnam veterans. Most of the men in the group are contributing to the book. Most have endured major health complications from Agent Orange exposure and struggled with Veterans Affairs to get their ailments recognized and covered.

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Other Toxic Substances: New round of pesticide tests Triangle Lake residents confront state & federal officials w/questions on contamination

“What we’re trying to do is assess whether or not exposures are happening to people in the Triangle Lake/Highway 36 area,” she said.

Dozens of people, from among the 100 of so who attended the meeting, posed some tough questions for the governmental visitors: How can you get my landlord to stop spraying Round-up? How do other communities with these same concerns get your attention? Why don’t you just ban these dangerous chemicals? How can we trust the state agriculture and forestry departments when they have been fighting us tooth and nail?

The inquiry by state and federal officials came about after testing by a respected researcher earlier this year found traces of herbicides that are commonly used to kill weeds in forest clearcuts in the urine of more than 30 people in the Highway 36 corridor.

Some of those tested a second time, following aerial spraying of herbicides in April, showed even more herbicides than had been found in the initial tests.

But Dana Barr, the researcher who analyzed the Triangle Lake area residents, found 2,4-D and atrazine in all the samples. Nationwide, those chemicals are found in just 2 percent to 4 percent of the population, Barr said.

In humans, some research suggests a link to prostate and breast cancer and infant mortality. Some evidence suggests that 2,4-D can cause cancer.

Pesticides — a category of chemical products that includes herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and rodenticides — are so pervasive in the country that studies have shown most people have detectable levels of them.

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PTSD: Iraq vet, rescued from suicide, tells of VA gaps

'The Warrior' - this is my rendition of my deceased husband's crazed PTSD face
Sharon Perry, Founder of AO Legacy, widow of a Vietnam veteran.

“We’re taught how to be soldiers, not civilians,” he said, and “once we’re put out, we’re hung out to dry.”

The human costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were on full display in the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Thursday when an Iraq veteran explained, haltingly, how he only got care for post-traumatic stress disorder after he attempted suicide.

He testified that in order to get care after he was discharged from the Army, he had to be arrested by Veterans Affairs police. “People are talking on their cellphones, telling me to wait,” he said, describing the bureaucratic hassles he faced as he tried to get care.

“How do you define timely [treatment] for a veteran with a gun in his mouth?” Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) asked William Schoenhard, the deputy undersecretary for health operations and management at the VA.

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