Hamilton Journal News

Biden salutes troops as ‘spine of America’ on Veterans Day

- By Colleen Long

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden saluted the nation’s military veterans as “the spine of America” Thursday as he marked his first Veterans Day as president in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

“There’s nothing low risk or low cost about war for the women and men who fight it,” said Biden, whose administra­tion earlier in the day announced a federal effort to better understand, identify and treat medical conditions suffered by troops deployed to toxic environmen­ts.

That expanded effort centers on lung problems suffered by troops who breathe in toxins and the potential connection between rare cancers and time spent overseas breathing poor air, according to the White House. Federal officials plan to start by examining lung and breathing problems but say they will expand the effort as science identifies potential new connection­s.

Biden’s son, Beau, served in Iraq, and the president has suggested a potential link between Beau’s death from an aggressive brain cancer and his exposure to toxins in the air, particular­ly around massive pits where the military disposes of waste by burning. There’s no scientific evidence to establish that link.

This year’s Veterans Day commemorat­ion comes just two months after Biden ordered the withdrawal of troops from Afghanista­n, a chaotic ending to America’s longest war where 2,461 service members were killed over the nearly 20-year conflict.

In his remarks at Arlington, Biden praised generation­s who have served, declaring they’ve “endured and survived challenges most Americans will never know.”

He also paused to remember three high-profile veterans who recently died, Colin Powell, the former secretary of State; Gen. Ray Odierno, an Army chief of staff and top general in Iraq, and Sen. Max Cleland, who lost three limbs while serving in Vietnam.

“You are the very spine of America,” Biden said of the nation’s veterans.

The new federal effort on toxic exposure is also designed to make it easier for veterans to make claims based on their symptoms, to collect more data from troops who are suffering and to give veterans more time to make medical claims after symptoms such as asthma and sinus problems develop.

“We’re discoverin­g there is a whole host of lung conditions related to deployment,” said Dr. Richard Meehan, an immunologi­st and rheumatolo­gist. The retired U.S. Naval Reserve officer, who served in the Mideast during the 1990s and in 2008, is co-director of the Denver-based National Jewish Health Center

of Excellence on Deployment-Related Lung Disease.

Beau Biden’s death was a defining moment for Joe Biden, one he said affected his decision to sit out the 2016 presidenti­al race. The younger Biden deployed from 2008 until 2009 as a captain in the Delaware Army National Guard. In 2013, he was diagnosed with a tumor, and he died two years later. He was 46.

Meehan is working with his colleagues to investigat­e the role of inhalation exposures among military personnel who were deployed to Southwest Asia. New rules will allow veterans to make health claims within 10 years of service.

The U.S. has been aware for years of health risks associated with open-air burn pits. In 2013, investigat­ors found a camp in Afghanista­n was operating a pit for over five years, nearly four times longer than rules allowed. The Defense Department has said burn pits should be used only as a temporary last resort when no other alternativ­e trash disposal method is feasible, still they have persisted for years.

 ?? DOUG MILLS / THE NEW YORK TIMES ?? President Joe Biden (right) salutes during a wreathlayi­ng ceremony for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
DOUG MILLS / THE NEW YORK TIMES President Joe Biden (right) salutes during a wreathlayi­ng ceremony for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

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