It was called "implied consent". You folks got a lot of stuff that was not USDA approved yet, but they thought you needed it. The president signed the order and you got it. I honestly think that happened to us in Nam as well, but back then no order was required....they just did it.
:cornut: That also happened with Swine Flu during President Ford's watch. Several public health types said that the Swine Flu out break at a Basic Training post meant that those trainee's had brought the virus there from all over the US and great numbers of citizens nation wide must be vaccinated with the available but untested vaccine. So President Ford bought off on it, many people died from it, and no Swine Flu epidemic ever materialized. That flu was only on that base and not nation wide. Those public health types were quietly fired. Jason
Glad you told me about the group cause I never knew it was there. It would nice if it was easier to find. Thanks Friskie for telling me about the group.
I know that you are right Justa Jim. they had us in the movie theatre explaining about these shots we were to be given for Iraq and I as a young SSG asked the LTC (female) that was giving the brief if they had done any research on any of this medicine. She replied no and I told her to her dismay that they were using us for guinea pigs to see if it would work or not. I was soon told to at ease and sit down!
My wife is a contractor to Army Medical Research and Development Command. I remember her telling me about this while it was happening to you folks. At first, you were to be told the status and allowed to take it or refuse. Then the changed. Then order was passed and you had no choice. I am positive, now, this happened to us too, but we had no idea at all. We got way more shots, during basic in 1968, then there were known diseases.
The problem I had with that crap for Iraq was if you did not get them in the right sequence you had to start all over again......
We use to stand in formation every morning and they would make sure we had our injectors and pills. At the beginning they use to makes us take them in front of them. The one they use to to give in the butt check was the killer, not to mention all the boosters that followed. It felt like they were injecting you with cold liquid lead, you couldn't walk right for about two days.:frown2:
We had these malaria pills we were suppose to take. The bottle sat on the table in the mess hall and we never took them. Guess they decided they had to watch you folks closer.
Yep they decided that cause we had to stand in formation and take them. Then they made you open up so they could see you did not hid it in your cheek. Then after returning from Somalia they gave us more and when asked why? They stated " the ones we gave you while over there were not strong enough for the strain of malaria they have there" Really, a little late now.......after the fact....
(Gamma Globulin) :cornut: Yeah that one got quietly retired from general immunizations and is now only for very specialized govt. controlled therapeutic treatment when they discovered that it was spreading HIV/AIDES.:yikes::yikes::frown2::frown2: Jason
20 years Air Force (retired) 1978-1998 Edwards AFB CA Mather AFB CA Geilenkirchen NATO AB GE Andrews AFB DC Hickam AFB HI
People overhear a comment about the service and tell me thank you for serving. Out of politeness I acknowledge their remark but inside I want to explain to them that those too few years were a school boy's dream come true. The far reaching adventure of being attached to a carrier task group or steaming off alone to exotic places around the world was priceless. It hasn't been so for thousands of others but the paths we took weren't totally of our choosing but by pure chance.
It is interesting to note that the young men and women in the military have more experience and responsibilities placed upon them than the general public can ever imagine. We had nineteen year old flight mechanics twisting wrenches on our aircraft and never gave it a thought. Not so on the outside. I remember when an Army aviator had a thousand hours, they were considered more than seasoned. On the outside a pilot with those hours would only touch the flight controls if they accidentally bumped into them and then would have to excuse themselves profusely. That was quite the wake up call.
"spreading HIV/AIDES" WhAT??? That's one shot I'll never forget. I was in country for two years, one tour and two voluntary six month extensions, don't remember how many I had.
The vaccine I detested was for plague. A literal PITA, but beat the alternative I guess. The bad part was the series had to be repeated at 6 month intervals. USAF 1966-1988 FL CA Far East SEA Central America
