Note: this is long but well worth the read...
Hog
Hero punished for criticizing vaccine
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2004/10/31heropunishedfor.html
DOVER -- Jason Adkins is a hero.
On May 13, 2003, the technical sergeant was on the first C-5 flown into Baghdad. The aircraft and the runway were blacked-out. Adkins, the pilots and the crew wore night-vision goggles, casting a green tint on the gunfire that filled the skyline.
His next mission was even worse.
On Jan. 8, 2004, after another C-5 had an engine shredded by a surface-to-air missile, Adkins was picked to help fly the crippled aircraft out of Baghdad on its three remaining engines - a bold feat even airworthiness experts didn't know was possible with a 374,000-pound aircraft.
"We knew if [the plane] took another missile, we'd be riding it into the dirt," he said.
C-5s don't have ejection systems or parachutes for pilots or crew.
Adkins and the entire crew were recommended, and are still in line, for the Distinguished Flying Cross, one of the nation's highest awards for bravery.
Now, despite medals, special operations missions and an unblemished service record spanning 14 years, Adkins says commanders at Dover are making an example of him because he complained about his medical issues linked to the anthrax vaccine. Adkins believes he's being punished to send a warning to other personnel that they shouldn't call attention to the most controversial issue to hit the base since the Vietnam War.
Adkins' former commander, retired Col. Felix Grieder, is enraged that an airman of Adkins' abilities is being singled out for speaking the truth.
"Sgt. Adkins flew two of Dover's highest-profile special operations missions into a war zone and performed exceedingly well," said Grieder, who commanded the 4,000 troops at Dover Air Force Base from 1997 to 1999. "Only Dover's very best fliers are selected for the special operations missions. Since their missions are classified, their accomplishments are not widely known. Sgt. Adkins has served our country and the Air Force well. Now, the Air Force needs to properly address his health issues and treat him with the respect that he deserves."
Base officials declined to comment about Adkins' situation or the uproar the vaccinations have caused at Dover.
Safety of flight
Adkins arrived at Dover in 1998. It was the fifth duty assignment for the Alabama native.
He has started a part-time landscaping business out of his home in Smyrna, and he and his family are very involved in their church. Adkins plans to retire in Delaware some day.
"It feels like home to us," he said. "We love our church family and what we've made here."
Adkins got to Dover just as the anthrax vaccination program was taking off.
Six of his eight anthrax vaccinations were tainted with squalene, a fat-like substance linked to autoimmune disorders.
Adkins suffers memory loss, muscle and joint pain, an occasional racing heartbeat, weight loss and severe migraines, all of which he blames on the anthrax vaccine.
Once an avid powerlifter, Adkins weighed 252 pounds and could bench press 425 pounds before he received his first anthrax vaccination.
"I used to own the gym," he recalled.
Now, he weighs 200 pounds and struggles to bench press his own weight.
"I can't work out anymore because of the joint pain," he said.
On Oct. 22, after he was hit by a "crippling" migraine, Adkins told his squadron he was reporting to the flight surgeon rather than flying a mission.
He didn't want his illness to endanger his crew.
Air Force policy clearly dictates that sick personnel should not fly.
Even during a flight, if crew members become ill or overly tired, they are encouraged to declare "safety of flight," at which point they are relieved of their duties - no questions asked - without any fear of discipline or repercussions.
Adkins didn't mention the link between his migraines and the anthrax vaccine to the medical staff, but he didn't need to.
"Severe headaches," euphemisms for migraines, are cause for grounding of pilots and crew. And like "joint pain," headaches have become buzzwords at Dover for personnel suffering adverse reactions to the anthrax vaccine.
The flight surgeon prescribed Immotrex, an antimigraine medication, for Adkins' headaches and a narcotic pain reliever that grounded him for 20 days.
Because The News Journal has in the past month brought heightened awareness to the anthrax controversy, Adkins believes the response from his chain of command was immediate and unprecedented at Dover.
The chief flight engineer issued Adkins a letter of reprimand (LOR), a potential career-killer for an Air Force sergeant. Adkins' military lawyer says the LOR could bar Adkins from further promotion, access to specialty schools, choice assignments or possibly even re-enlistment.
"Your actions decreased the readiness of a high priority alert mission, caused last minute schedule disruptions and could have resulted in loss of training or inability of DoD assets to execute the mission," the letter states.
In addition to the written reprimand, issued contrary to the Air Force's policy of progressive discipline, which generally dictates a verbal warning followed by punishment that increases in severity, Adkins received 76 hours of additional duty. That forces him to do nothing while sitting next to another flight engineer in the base's control room - "on display" to every airman who walks by.
"They're making an example of me because I complained about the migraines," he said. "They associate that with the anthrax. They're scared of losing control."
Adkins can't appeal the reprimand, he can only write a response.
He went to Capt. Josh Slomich, an Air Force lawyer, for help.
Slomich has seen hundreds of letters of reprimand during his time at the air base, but few like Adkins'.
"This is a pretty bad one," he said.
The letter, Slomich said, is undeserved and unfair based on the facts.
"It's very unusual and strange he was given an LOR for going on sick call," he said.
Slomich and one of Adkins' former supervisors confirmed Adkins has never before been disciplined by the Air Force.
Adkins flew with Master Sgt. Dexter Joseph, the chief special operations flight engineer, on the mission out of Baghdad. The two later became close friends.
"We flew together all the time. We were on the same crew," Joseph said. "I trusted him with my life then. I trust him with my life now."
One former pilot said the reprimand will have far-reaching effects.
Retired Lt. Col. Jay Lacklen is a former Dover C-5 pilot who blames his advanced arthritis on the six squalene-tainted anthrax vaccinations he received at the base.
"By reprimanding Sgt. Adkins, Dover commanders are encroaching on a sacred safety principle established by generations of military fliers. When a crew member declares a safety of flight, he should never be challenged on that call, if valid," Lacklen said. "To do otherwise would intimidate crews into flying with unsafe medical conditions to avoid punishment. This would endanger the crew, the aircraft and the mission. This is a gravely unwise sanction for a flight engineer who did exactly as he should have."
Lacklen has spearheaded a public information campaign about the anthrax vaccination program and has interviewed scores of fliers with adverse reactions. But even Lacklen had never heard of a flier disciplined for going to sick call rather than the flight line.
"Apparently, the Air Force is reprimanding him for yielding to a condition they inflicted on him, a most unjust procedure that blames the victim for the crime," Lacklen said.
Bunker mentality
Personnel at Dover Air Force Base don't discuss their anthrax vaccinations openly.
"It's hush-hush," Adkins said. "We have to go behind closed doors. It's hardly even brought up."
Dover Air Force Base has become ground zero for the anthrax controversy. Problems began at Dover in May 1999 after some troops in their 20s and 30s began developing illnesses normally associated with old age.
Adkins was one of them.
"Sgt. Adkins has experienced a significant decline in his health since he started with the anthrax vaccination program at Dover Air Force Base in late 1998," Grieder said.
Grieder, who was then commander, halted the vaccination program, a move he said brought an end to his military career.
His decision thrust Dover into the national spotlight.
Testing by the Food and Drug Administration detected squalene in varying amounts in the vaccine administered at Dover. The substance was detected in all the vaccine sent to Dover, but not in vaccine sent to other military installations.
The Air Force and the Department of Defense have continually stressed the safety of the vaccine, despite the claims of scores of military personnel who say it made them ill.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered the Pentagon to halt the mandatory anthrax vaccination program.
U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan issued the order, calling the program "illegal." Sullivan did not rule on whether the vaccine was dangerous, but he chided federal officials for not accepting enough public input before they declared the vaccine safe.
Adkins, Lacklen and others say the combination of national events and scrutiny from The News Journal has created immense pressure for senior officers at the air base.
"Dover commanders are unjustly shooting this anthrax messenger, Sgt. Adkins, to ensure there will be no more messengers," Lacklen said. "This reveals an integrity collapse at Dover Air Force Base."
Neither Col. John Pray Jr., Dover's commander, nor Command Chief Master Sgt. Stephen Maynard, the base's senior sergeant, returned calls or e-mails seeking comment for this story.
Dover Air Force Base is subordinate to the Air Mobility Command, located at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.
Air Force Gen. John Handy, commander of Air Mobility Command, was unavailable for comment.
His spokesman, Mark Voorhis, said the safety and health of Air Force personnel are top priorities for Air Force leaders at all levels.
Voorhis hinted that Dover commanders may have gone too far in Adkins' case, though he declined to address it specifically, citing privacy concerns.
"It is not policy at any level to punish people for reporting to sick call," he said.
Despite the possible violation of Air Force policy, Voorhis said, "Wing and squadron commanders have the confidence of their senior leaders in their ability to effectively discharge command responsibilities at their levels."
On Thursday afternoon, after The News Journal started investigating Adkins' story - and after Voorhis made inquiries for his boss, a four-star general - the commanders at Dover intervened.
Adkins' entire squadron was recalled to the base for an unannounced meeting.
"Since I'm still grounded for the headaches, they told me I didn't need to attend," Adkins said. "They wouldn't tell me what it was about."
The pilots and crews were ordered to go through the base's public affairs chief, Maj. Cheryl Law, before talking to the media. They also were ordered to avoid talking about the anthrax vaccination program, and they were told they would be held accountable for what they say.
Law refused to disclose why the squadron was recalled, or on whose order the recall took place, or specifically what the personnel were told.
Lacklen pointed out that requiring the troops to go through public affairs does not deny them access to the media, but it does force them to publicly identify themselves before talking to reporters.
Structurally, they are filtering the soldiers' right to free speech, he said.
"It's something they may properly do to protect secrets," he said. "But they are doing it here to cover embarrassing information.
"Ominously, they apparently must warn their members not to tell the truth. The troops know nothing classified about the anthrax program, so speaking about it to the media shouldn't be a problem, but apparently it is," Lacklen said.
Ready to move on
Adkins does not want to remain in the Air Force, and he will never again take another anthrax shot.
"I feel like I've been deceived and misled," he said. "The whole program has caused a lot of harm to a lot of people who are putting their lives on the line for this country. I am really thankful to Col. Grieder for having the courage to step forward when no one else would.
"If someone is suffering symptoms like mine, they need to come forward, because if you're suffering now, it's only going to get worse."
