VA extends deadline for Gulf War illness vets - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

VA extends deadline for Gulf War illness vets

The Veterans Affairs Department has extended the deadline for Persian Gulf War veterans to develop illnesses that may make them eligible for compensation.

VA announced in December that it extended its date for qualifying to Dec. 31, 2016. Under the new regulation, those who deployed to the 1991 conflict and develop medically unexplained chronic or undiagnosed illnesses in the next five years could qualify for disability compensation.

The deadline had been set to expire Dec. 31, 2011.

“Not all the wounds of war are fully understood,” VA Secretary Eric Shinskei said. “When there is an uncertainty about the connection between a medical problem and military service, veterans are entitled to the benefit of doubt.”

Some Gulf War veterans report unexplained illnesses and symptoms ranging from muscle and joint pain, fatigue and headache to memory problems, rashes and shortness of breath.

The group also developed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at rates higher than their civilian or non-deployed peers in the decade following the war.

The cause of these multi-symptom illnesses are unknown, although studies have linked them to environmental factors such as blowing dust and acrid petroleum smoke as well as exposure to toxic agents and adverse reactions to inoculations and preventive medicines.

Nearly 700,000 U.S. personnel deployed to the region in 1990 and 1991.

The extension allows vets whose symptoms develop within the next five years to apply for benefits as well as survivors of Gulf War veterans to qualify and apply for VA’s Dependency and Indemnity Compensation.

The American Legion has lobbied for an indefinite extension of the presumptive period for developing Gulf War illnesses and will continue to do so despite the extension, said Jacob Gadd, the Legion’s deputy director for health care.

“A lot of the long-term research for Gulf War illnesses needs to be studied, so we don’t want there to be a particular date tied to the manifestation of these illnesses,” Gadd said.

The fiscal 2012 omnibus appropriations law contains $10 million for Gulf War illness research.