Global Recognition Campaign for Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Phillip

Since leaving the Air Force in 1987, tears can’t wash away the constant pain we go through each day from a myriad of as the Department of Veteran's Affair's say are either symptoms or conditions. I don’t care, I am allergic to codeine so there goes any form of pain killer for me, however I have considered suicide many times and Glenda had to wrestle a knife from my hands on one occasion.

I joined the Air Force twice, the first time I volunteered to join as an Adult Trainee when the Vietnam War was on and not wait to be called up for National Service. My enlistment date was the 20th February 1970 and my service number was A120699. I stayed in until the 11th September 1973 (although changing jobs from a Clerk Equipment to a Radar Operator), after completing extra studies. I remained in until Gough Whitlam brought in an amnesty at the end of the war and as I had a course lined up outside, they let me go.



After waiting seventeen months I re-enlisted (Stupid Me) as a Supplier (Stores person) on the 10th April 1975 and was immediately posted to No 2 Stores Depot in Regents Park in Sydney, however upon arrival, was sent to the different depot, which was still part of the main base called, G.E.M.S. or Ground Equipment Maintenance Squadron at Villawood.


This is where I first came into contact with a myriad of chemicals, herbicides, thinners, paints, pesticides, insecticides as well as Diesel, Avgas and Avtur in 205 Lt Drums! I was never issued any breathing protective apparatus, protective clothing and gloves or face masks in fact anything at all, accept for my normal work clothes, which could have been a pair of overalls in winter or shorts, T-shirt as well as a pair of non shock absorbing steel capped boots.


In the hanger where I worked I was also subject to constant mechanical noise as well as machinery noise, fumes and vapours from where the Trades personnel worked with chemicals such as Magnasol etc to destroy any trace of rust from vehicle parts.


After working there for approximately three or four years, I was transferred back to the main Stores Depot and worked at the Unit Store. At the back of the building was a Flammable Store, which was inspected every Friday for cleanliness, plus I had to supply the Depot as well as the Special Security premises next to Sydney Harbour, with all forms of supplies, from pencils to chemicals for the Paint Shop, Cabinet Makers etc.


Yet again I was given no protective garments etc, to wear inside the Flammable Store, to either select supplies for issues to user sections or clean the shelves ready for the weekly inspections. Once again all I was given was a cleaning rag, which was placed in my pocket, after cleaning, spilt liquids, powders, oozing cans, oils, gels etc.


I also had to handle gas cylinders both at Villawood and at Regents Park. In addition I passed my forklift course at Regents Park on a very old forklift.


Finally I was posted to Base Squadron Central Store at Amberley Air Force Base outside Ipswich near Brisbane, where I was immediately sent to what was called the outstations. This meant the following areas where I was employed. The Fuel Farms, K-Group and the Board of Survey area.


I worked a Corporal in charge of the Fuel Farms for fifteen months and almost on a daily occasion, I was doused in Avtur or Avgas, as part of de-fueling the road tankers and releasing the build up of gas inside each of the four cells in the tankers. I had to stand in front of the outlet valve and pull down a long steel lever.


If I was fortunate enough I would just hear a whoosh or vapours, which I used to breathe in as it hit me directly in the face, on the other hand 99% of the time, there may be about ten litres of fuel left and it would hit me in the face, wetting all my t-shirt and shorts, plus run down my legs soaking the tops of my socks and gradually seep into my boots.


Each day I would be sloshing around in wet socks and boots from Avtur, which was mixed with FSII and my clothes, reeked of aviation fuel, to the extent, that all personnel working at the fuel farms were barred from going to Airmen’s Mess to eat, so we were given rations of food, left out the back of the Mess in a carton, where we would drive in and pick it up, while people stayed away from us.


I was not even allowed to hand in my morning dip readings in person to the Officers in the Warehouse and had to stay outside, pass the paperwork to a person, who would then pass them on.


So my sole staff member and I were isolated from everywhere on the base, accept when the staff members from across the road at K-Group (the large holding compound and storage facilities for large than normal flammable and hazardous materials were kept – including the SR51, which was used in the F-111 De-seal/Reseal fuel tank maintenance program), would ask for assistance when unloading the SR51 from the trucks, arriving so we could all get away from the stench as well as having the sealant on our bodies, while working with the drums.



My wife Glenda

Now to change the subject slightly, Glenda and I were married on the 4th November 1978 on the Gold Coast. We were married while I worked at Villawood, Regents Park and finally Amberley. We attempted to have a family while at Amberley, Glenda was twenty-nine, however we spent a huge amount of money trying to find out why we couldn’t have children and Glenda was bleeding so bad, that the Specialist suggested that she have a hysterectomy.


Glenda comes from a large family, one Sister and four Brothers, yet she was the first female to have a problem having children, to this day we still shed tears and suffer depression on that subject alone. Glenda has also been diagnosed with heart fibrillations and had to be rushed to Caboolture Public Hospital twice, prior to our relocating up here about three and a half years ago.

 
Glenda's Hands

Apart from those conditions, she also suffers from chronic psoriasis of her hands, elbows, knees and feet, plus sometimes around her eyes. She suffers Short Term Memory Loss, severe osteoarthritis in her lumbar region of her back and depression due to seeing her Husband getting worse with the numerous conditions I suffer from.



As I also suffer from a number of orthopaedic problems, which the Department of Veteran's Affair's have taken many years to agree upon, balance problems (fallen over a number of times and constantly against the wall in the shower), Glenda, although trying to save some money so we could try to go on our first holiday in eleven years, decided to spend it all on a Hospital bed for me, so that I could sleep back in the bedroom, after having to sleep in the reclining lounge chair in the lounge room for a year.


My shoulders are in a bad way, with surgery on my left shoulder coming up this month on the 21st. During the past year the pain I have had in my back (I am a walking paraplegic), plus pain from both shoulders, made it impossible for me to sleep in the queen bed, so Glenda know sleeps in a singe bed beside my Hospital bed in our main bedroom.


I suffer from Asthma as well as having Sleep Apnea and have been using a CPAP Breathing Machine since 1997. So while trying to sleep in the lounge chair, the humidity and my uncontrolled sweat attacks, used to cause my face mask to slip and the air would escape and I used to average between two to four hours sleep per night.


Since getting the new bed, my sleep pattern has changed completely, I usually get between nine and ten hours per night, my CPAP Breathing Machine is working correctly (the pressure was changed recently after a sleep study from 10 – 12) and now I can sleep on my back all night without pain from my spine.


The Department of Veteran's Affair's have already accepted Lumbar Spondylosis; they are currently reviewing my middle back, upper back and neck. I have seen an Occupational Physician by the name of Dr. Johnn Olsen at Bargara, who looked at MRI’s of my spine and said that it is very bad and can’t be operated on. He also said that he is very concerned about my upper spine and especially my neck.


This diagnosis was recently validated by my seeing a Dr. Ryan at the Brisbane Private Hospital and he has written a letter to Dr. Olsen confirming that the upper back and neck are in bad conditions.



In the Air Force as a Supplier, I had to unload trucks without the use of forklifts, as they were not available all the time, so I had to carry lengths of steel rods, heavy timber, drums etc all exceeding twenty or even thirty kilos. On numerous occasions I had to, with the aid of an assistant at the far end of a semi trailer, have long lengths of metal rods or metal piping, kicked off the truck, which would then drop a distance of about two feet onto our shoulders, then roll and hit our necks. We would then carry them into the Bulk Store for storage and then continue unloading up to maybe fifty of these, then prepare for the next truck waiting to unload its items.


I am attempting to have the money spent on my Hospital bed, reimbursed to us, so that we can buy a second Hospital bed for Glenda to help ease her pain, but as usual the Department of Veteran's Affair's are taking their time.


This has been a very long message to you; however I was hoping I could find someone to talk to for advice on the poisons in our bodies? Our families don’t believe us, both of our Mother’s died last year and my Father has called me a Joke to the family.




Just thought I would tell you that since I last contacted you, regarding all the chemicals I handled in the Air Force, without ever being presented with any form of protective clothing, breathing equipment, gloves, over boot covers or head protection, that a recent CT scan of my abdomen has shown a large mass behind both kidneys.


The left kidney has been pushed down lower than the right one and it sits at the entrance to the pancreas, plus no one knows what it is, but I can guarantee it’s from all the chemicals, aviation fuel I used to be saturated with as well as the SR51I handled.


The Department of Veteran's Affair's doesn’t know about it yet, but they wouldn’t care anyway as they have recently stated that I would never reach the TPI level, due to all the declined decisions I have had against me.


But at the same time they want me to prove everything, where I have been, they want witnesses, thirty years afterwards when many of those people are dead, so recently I told everyone I was ready to end it all and just take all my medication at once.


Within moments, the phone rang, e-mails arrived and the Bundaberg Police contacted me. I don’t care anymore as nobody is game enough to write down on paper and say that I suffer PTSD from being at the Granville Train Disaster (I need witnesses and photos if at all possible, or it would be knocked back).


Then as the person that received the SR51 sealant onto the base at Amberley, they don’t believe me and have destroyed records, not allowed our sections to be included in the handling listings, yet without us equipment personnel, nothing would come onto the base in the first place.


If I was single, I would kill myself, as I am tired of continually telling the truth about things, only to be called a liar and have to prove everything, when I am the sick person and those other people are just office clerks.


Now since then, all compensation for people who have been waiting since the Maralinga Atomic Testing days, through to now have had it cancelled and that money is being used to bribe people, including the year 12 students into joining the ADF, as they are around ten thousand personnel short.


   

I have included some extra information for you. Glenda’s hands bleed so bad now, that because I can’t drive, she has to drive even when her hands are bleeding. She suffers depression and anxiety as well. Our sexual relations are non existent now although we are only 54 and 49, due to intense pain from Glenda’s problems, along with all my orthopaedic problems, plus to top it off, I have to face a Veteran’s Review Board early next year, to convince them that I carried heavy objects on my head, causing my cervical spinal problems, plus my rotator cuff injuries.



I have just had both shoulders operated on and still have to have physiotherapy, but they are about to give up as looking at my back, it’s like a steel bar from shoulder to shoulder and they can’t help me anymore as the muscles have totally seized.


Is it any wonder that I have thought of suicide and in fact, I have already told the Police that if my wife dies first, I will call and ask them to send two ambulances as I will commit suicide as I would be lost without her!

Phillip Moon is Queensland Central Region Coordinator for MCS Global

Website:  http://poisoned.homestead.com/index.html
Email:       phillipmoon(at)bigpond.com

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