First of all, thank you for your service to our country. Secondly, thank you for speaking out about your children's autism.

My husband is a disabled vet, and we have five children with autism. We should have known that the US gov't would treat their culpability in the autism epidemic the same way they have treated injured soldiers. Remember Gulf War Syndrome wasn't real? And here, all vets with PTSD are not diagnosed with PTSD but with bipolar disorder. Funny how all the vets in AZ are supposedly manic-depressive, and therefore not eligible for service-related benefits...

I am sorry you have had to join the ranks in the army fighting autism, but I am glad you have joined in our battle!

Blessings,

Denise Derusha

There are so many military families who know their children were injured by vaccines and regressed into autism. You have provided them a voice and an opportunity to speak up. Thank you.

For those of you who question why this is so hard... I will speak out as it has happened in our own family. Our members and spouses are fearful of retribution from military leadership. Period. As a spouse, i had to over come my own initial intimidation of stripes and ribbons. When my family was intimidated and implied threats were made, that is when I said enough is enough! I am a person and I wake up with bed head (although I was thinking something else...) just like they do. I have the right to make our families truth and my children's truth heard, I don't care how many stripes you have on your uniform.

On the flip side, many remain fearful, and they should NOT be faulted for this. Many are in positions where they simply can not speak up or they will lose their career and thus the ability to provide for their child(ren).

Maureen - you are right... this mantra is old. I'm sick of hearing it too. This is 2008, not 1950. Get with the times. Our members have families and chidren!

And David... our military families are so grateful to you and Age of Autism for opening the door for our community to be heard and unify. You all will NEVER know how grateful I personally am to you all. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Ang

What does it say about our current society that the groups of people who are supposed to be deemed the most sacred and due the most consideration and respect-- infants, children, our elders, those who are fighting or have fought our wars-- are now the first to be picked off for profits, often used as guinea pigs, silenced and left to rot?

What happened to Captain Mickley's family and the families of other service members are all compounded tragedies. First, this represents multiple offenses-- the injuries and the the cover-up and neglect of the injuries of the children of service members. Secondly, there's the issue of how these service members themselves were subjected to multiple forced vaccinations, which could have reprecussions for their health down the line.

When reading the coverage of the military vaccine website's inclusion of "autism" as a risk of DTAP, many of us were probably wondering if there was an alternate reality in the military where vaccine injuries were being acknowledged, treated and compensated. Maybe even prevented. No one would have begrudged it and I think we all would have had hopes that this model would eventually be extended to civilians-- that it could have been a wonderful sign that the CDC's reign of damage, denial and silence was crumbling. From what Capt. Mickley writes, this is far from the truth.

It used to be the tradition for many children of career veterans to volunteer for military training and enlist. I wonder if that tradition will survive under the present circumstances. The remaining military kids (or any kids, for that matter) who are even fit to serve or command may not wish to see their own future children maimed and neglected in thanks. It's not the kind of thing that recruitment centers advertise on their promotional material.

It's incredibly brave of these families to follow the "call to duty" again for all our sakes. Of course it's horribly ironic that, this time, they're having to go up against the government they served.

Also, military children bare the bearden of a nation. The are the ones that are asked to scarifies the most. They deserve better care then this.

Maureen

Proud wife of a Marine

Proud wife of a child with ASD on the road to recovery
 

This is a powerful and haunting statement that has left me in tears. Captain Mickley, thank you for your service to our country and now to our children. I pray that your children's health will be restored.

And David, thank you for all of your work on our behalf. I don't know why you continue to subject yourself to ridicule and criticism but I am so grateful that you do.

And same question here, Keith, how will Offitt spin this?

In 1950 a postwar book was published called "German Faces," by Ann Stringer and Henry Ries. It featured profiles of people who'd supported the Third Reich -- not just military officers, but average citizens.

Obviously communications technology then was limited, but still these people had to have read or heard about prison camp atrocities. I was struck by a singular thread running through the narrative -- regret, but the wrong kind. One young man who'd been in the Hitler Youth spoke nostalgically about missing the rallies and the perks, the sense of mission and belonging.

I see a similar unhealthy ideological framework in the network of coalitions built by public health administrators. Chains of one-sided information with no place for consumer input. Consumers who question their handling of vaccine safety are treated like an affliction.

I understand exactly how Capt. Mickley feels. I now see the dark side of humanity in the likes of Offit, Gerberding, Fombonne, Allen, and the rest of the vaccine zealots. Their fanatic belief in vaccines as the saviour of mankind is terrorism.