The VA and the Department Of Defense must possess information that they're not sharing with the rest of us and certainly not with the new enlistees. I know the Sergeant isn't telling new recruits that they should look out for MS, as they do with AIDS or syphilis. If there is a chance that MS might be contracted or complicated by their time in military service, then why aren't enlistees told this? Would this complicate the recruitment process? Probably, but I have the sneaking suspicion that it would complicate something far more important to the modern Armed Forces: vaccinations. This is the one factor, aside from the traditional haircut, that all service folks have in common. If, as some believe, the causative agent is a mycoplasma, vaccinations could conceivably be the mode of transmission.
What bothers me most is that I'm sure the VA and the DOD have research that justifies granting this disability to thousands of veterans. If they have information that connects MS to military service, then we should all know what that information is. Multiple Sclerosis is a serious and growing disorder that afflicts millions of persons. To purposefully withhold information that would better our understanding of this disease is unjustified.
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