US soldier dies in sleep (3rd in a week)

[DuctapeFatwa]

A soldier attached to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment died while sleeping at a base camp in Ar Ramadi on Aug. 12.

The soldier’s name is being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin.

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/news_release.asp?NewsRelease=20030828.txt

http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx

[NYC]

1. I guess this is a new one.

I heard the name of the one who died yesterday.

I wonder if they'll ever tell us what is causing this.

[blackcat77]

2. I used to think it was the uranium but now...

...I'm leaning more and more toward the vaccinations they're getting. Too many untested, powerful drugs in combination and it's killing people.

Of course there will NEVER be an offical cause given because that might mean that the govt would be held legally accountable...

[NickB79]

23. But those vaccines were given months ago

Before the soldiers even shipped out of the US. It doesn't sound like an allergic reaction to a vaccine, considering the time frame between the shots and the deaths.

[QuietStorm]

35. Anthrax vaccine tied to U.S. troop deaths?

"Is the anthrax vaccine behind the recent surge in pneumonia cases among active-duty American troops, including two which led to the deaths of soldiers serving in Iraq? "

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33954

Discharge sought for soldier refusing vaccine

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/221/nation/Discharge_sought_for_soldier_refusing_vaccineP.shtml

Troops' fears over anthrax vaccine

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2638125.stm

Father of dead soldier claims Army coverup

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030807-043512-3755r

[lebkuchen]

4. Heat stroke?

over 140 degrees in the tents

[treepig]

5. yeah, that and the fact the civilian (halliburton?) contractors

are failing to provide anywhere near the amount of essentials like drinking water (hello!!) needed.

[lebkuchen]

13. You mean 3 liters per man per day in 130 temps is inadequate?

Well, that's the civilian contract for you...when the going gets rough, the civilians are a no-show, and the contract is just another bennie going into the Halliburton et al pockets daring anybody to sue them for damages. Not to mention, the civilians don't have to do time for breaking the contract, unlike the multitude of no-show military folk who, when called up, said "screw it, I'm not going to Iraq."

[treepig]

14. ok, here's a link

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/2034902

don't really know if halliburton is at fault here, but they're always a handy whipping boy.

[lebkuchen]

17. "Even mail delivery, which is also managed by civilian contractors,

fell weeks behind."


Mail situation

I know everyone is sick of reading about the mail situation in Iraq. I am, too. That’s why I’m writing with the hope that I may be able to help fix the problem.

Recently I received a package from my mother. Upon opening it I found a note from a customs inspector who checked my package. It was so messy that no one in my unit could read it. I also found that one of my magazines was missing and several newspapers were ripped up.

Today was my phone day. I called my mother and told her about the package. It turns out that she didn’t send me some of the things that were in the box, such as a VHS tape from a church at Fort Hood, Texas, and some audiocassette tapes. Nor did she have any idea how a torn latex glove wound up in the package.

I’m not really upset about this, but I feel sorry for the soldier whose stuff I received. I just think that it’s time the military fixes the mail service and gives units a date when they can expect to go home. How is it that a military that takes over a country in three weeks can’t fix the mail system in four months?

Sgt. Chris Smith
Baghdad, Iraq

http://estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=16999

[Zhade]

28. You're over there?

Oh, man. That's awful.

Stay safe.

[GCP]

33. Hi, Zhade, welcome to DU

I believe Lebkuchen's in Germany (at least he was the last time I heard), I think he's referring to the link posted from estripes, the military news mag.

[dArKeR]

16. You can't just say that. It depends on the physical exertion/sweating

which would require more water intake. Not to mention their clothing and gear must smell just terrible just after one day. (I hope we have some DUers who work out? Your clothing stinks 1 day after a really sweating workout.) How are they washing their cloths? I feel so sorry for our children!

[lebkuchen]

18. Of course 3 liters isn't enough

So why is it being rationed?

What's with the planning of this operation, besides being piss poor? If you can't even get the water and mail right, you may as well pack it in.

[blackcat77]

7. Check Drudge's page

He's got two stories of soldiers who died shortly after they returned home.

One link was dead, but the other listed the cause of death as a heart attack. Remember that at least two health workers had heart attacks after getting smallpox shots...

[theHandpuppet]

3. Good Lord!

What the hell is going on there?! Young men dying in their sleep, more than an hundred down with some mystery pneumonia, plus the suicides, heatstroke victims, etc.

Bring the troops HOME!!!!!!!

[demdave]

8. I don't know about the other 2...but the one that died at home was 54

Hardly a "young man".

[markses]

11. Amazingly, you looked up the fact

that he was 54 and not 56 as you originally stated.

Needless to say, your absolute fanatical love of this war (evinced time and again on these boards) acts as no motivation for your needling (or piddling) corrections.

Still amazed that you bothered with an actual fact....

[demdave]

12. It was only three posts below. lolololol

[DuctapeFatwa]

19. Matthew Bush was 20. His family, not centcom reported it

I havent been able to find an age on the other one who died in his sleep this week, and there is no way to know how many families comply with the bush regime's request to keep their grief private.

[NYC]

25. I read that the other one was 21 years old.

.

[diamond14]

6. environmental toxins...there are all kinds of toxic chemicals

associated with BLOWING UP everything in a big city...like dioxins (which are like Agent Orange), polychlorinated bi-phenyls (from electircal transformers), farm chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, rodenticides), chemicals from storage tanks (industrial chemicals, gasoline, which contains benzene), water treatment plant chemicals (chlorine), chemicals from normal university research laboratories....plus, military explosions create carcinogenic nitrosoamines in soils, depleted uranium is everywhere, batteries contain different metal, lead, cadmium, mercury, lithium, and more...

add all that to HOT desert sand that is blowing around all the time, mix with 1000 years of diseases from mouse and camel crap...

[depakid]

31. I was thinking fungus- as in Valley Fever

It wouldn't surprise me if the Iraqi's hadn't been monkeying around with Coccidioides immitis- which they could have procured from the US in the 80's. San Joaquin Valley Fever, as it is called, causes flu-like symptoms in susceptible individuals, but in some cases it spreads beyond the lungs through the bloodstream - typically to the skin, bones and the membranes surrounding the brain, causing meningitis... which of course could drop a soldier's ass quite dead.

The peak time period for infection is June through November (the hot summer months) and the stuff just thrives in the type of soils found all over Iraq.

[treepig]

32. hey, where were you a few days ago

when the 'blame-everything-on-depleted-uranium' thread was going around?

anyhow, i tried to point out that there was a lot of other bad things over there the troops were exposed that could account for their mysterious illnesses. however, i did not have the '1000 years of diseases from mouse and camel crap' on the list (and now i can see why it wasn't very convincing!). thanks for the new (to me) information!!

[Journeyman]

9. I wonder too if these deaths. . .

could be something so mundane as snake bites or scorpion stings. There are a lot of nasty critters in the desert and with our guys essentially sleeping outside. . . well, Bushco could be as wont to keep deaths such as this as mysterious as those caused by DU, ill-considered vaccinations, or inexplicable pneumonia.

[FubarFly]

10. 128 degrees. No air conditioning. Insufficient amounts of clean water.

This is a recipe for disaster. Think of the worst heat-related crisises in recent American history, and then imagine how much worse they would have been without functioning electricity and running water. In Chicago, 1995, it is estimated that over 600 people died from heat-related illnesses. I don't need to see the bodies to know that the situation throughout Iraq is far far worse.

:mad:

[teryang]

22. Think of wearing body armor

...in that heat.

[drewb]

15. Every time I hear something like this...

It makes me happier and happier that I didn't re-enlist!

Phew!!!!

[BelgianMadCow]

21. and how does "hearing something like this" make you feel

about those who did re-enlist, maybe because it was their only option ?

[DUJunkie]

27. have you ever served BelgianMadCow ?

[drewb]

29. That's a silly question...

But to answer it:

I have a lot of friends that re-enlisted. I advised them to get out. Some listened, some did not.

If they didn't listen I feel that is their fault, I tried to help them as much as I could.

[DulceDecorum]

20. Modafinil

The armed forces needs soldiers that can resist fatigue for extended periods as well as maintain high levels of physical performance. Given this need, it is not surprising that the Armed Forces in general and the Air Force in particular are experimenting with modafinil for keeping troops and pilots alert for extended periods of time. The Pentagon cannot afford a soldier to make a single error as such a mistake could have devastating consequences. At the same time, the demands of service can necessitate that a soldier remain awake for an entire week without sleep.
<snip>

So, would it be harmful to us if we only slept two nights out of seven?

Studies involving rats that were kept awake for 5 to 30 days showed that rats would get sepsis and die from the presence of pathogenic organisms or their toxins that would form in the blood or tissues. But surprisingly, there is almost no data that indicates that prolonged sleep deprivation has any serious impact on humans at all. And the research on humans showed very little changes in basic bodily function in studies where subjects were kept awake for four days or even longer.
http://www.chemicalmuscle.com/showthread/t-1096.html

[QuietStorm]

24. "energy pills"

at least that is what they are being called. Probably its ampehtamine. Could be a co-factor. A friend's son's Commander called her to let her know her son was alright his troop just heading to Bagdad. This was before US troops hit Bagdad. He informed her they were being given "energy pills" because of all the hiking.

----

An unnamed US Army Officer declared to a journalist that ⌠The USA keeps its military vehicles in better shape than the mental health of the soldiers

http://english.pravda.ru/main/2003/01/07/41703.html

Crank in Combat

http://speed-zone.tripod.com/M4/Cases.html

--------------

But the Defense Department, which distributed millions of amphetamine tablets to troops during World War II, Vietnam and the Gulf War, soldiers on, insisting that they are not only harmless but beneficial.

In a news conference held in connection with Schmidt and Umbach's Article 32 hearing, Dr. Pete Demitry, an Air Force physician and a pilot, claimed that the "Air Force has used (Dexedrine) safely for 60 years" with "no known speed-related mishaps."

The need for speed, Demitry added "is a life-and-death issue for our military."

http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,57434,00.html

[Feanorcurufinwe]

26. These deaths are always reported as 'under investigation'

These deaths are always reported as 'under investigation', but it sounds like they are 'under-investigating' instead. Is it really that dangerous to sleep in Iraq? What's the real story?

[0007]

30. Have the British troops experienced

these types of deaths now or in the past when in the Middle East counties?

Are these subversive charactors that are having these strange deaths. Like falling off buildings and dying in sleep?

[QuietStorm]

34. good question

about whether or not british troops are experiencing these same strange deaths?

[tedzbear]

36. Drug overdose???

Too much Afghanistan heroin???