An astonishing factor hidden in the data in the VA's report is that those who were deployed after the war into theater are ill also! They have received anthrax vaccine and oral polio vaccine, they have been exposed to the theater of operations that was contaminated by chemicals and depleted uranium. The press and the nation wonders why are the Arabs, Moslems mad and attacking the United States? Well, has anyone figured it out, they are ill from exposures from the war! Think about the parallel with Agent Orange exposure and the Vietnamese - we all know the birth defects and cancer rates that the Vietnamese had to live with after Vietnam. There is a battle going on now to get the U.S. government to help the Vietnamese in relationship to Agent Orange. The data also shows that era veterans are ill but at a lower level. Fifty-seven percent of the era veterans are now eligible to apply for VA care and out of that a whooping 28 percent have filed claims. How does this compare with era veterans of the Vietnam War, and if it is disproportional then why? Era veterans have also been vaccinated and experienced secondary exposure from returning equipment and personnel. ERA veterans may have served in the Gulf area during the [1980-88] Iran-Iraq War or the lead-up to the Gulf War and they may also be the veterans that were serving in Israel which was hit by Scuds during the war (that group does not fit into the definition of being in the Gulf theater.)