A Thought for an Unsung Hero on Thanksgiving Day 2015

Wes Schneider is a very special person.  Wes is living proof that you Northeast-20140511-00094 (3)don’t need to be shot at on the battlefield to deserve the Congressional Medal of Honor.

You see Wes is an engineer with several patents to his name.  Among his inventions is a drinking system used by our combat troops to protect their lives from chemical poisoning on the battlefield.  Wes’s invention has saved countless lives of our warfighters over the past twenty years.

To Wes we all thank-you on this Thanksgiving Day for the unbelievable courage and integrity you have shown by placing the lives of our soldiers ahead of your own well-being.

In the 1980’s Wes Schneider took on the entire Army establishment by insisting that the protective gear that was being issued to our troops was insufficient to save their lives from chemical and biological attacks.  He took his new invention to the Army.  But what happened then was a nightmare for Wes, his family and our soldiers.

A group of corrupt Army officers and their civilian counterparts were more interested in making money than they were in protecting the lives of our warfighters.  Instead of saving the lives of our troops, they stole Wes’s invention and passed off the stolen goods to their own pet defense contractors to manufacture and make profits.

The scheme prevented the delivery of the life-saving protective gear to the combat soldier for over two years resulting in countless deaths and injuries during the Gulf Wars.  Thousands of soldiers who were exposed to toxic chemicals during the Gulf Wars are now suffering from Gulf War Syndrome—a malady that causes fatigue, chronic headaches, and skin and respiratory disorders.

But Wes did not rest until he was sure the Army did the right thing by getting his protective gear to the people that needed it most.  He took on the Secretary of the Army, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals and their corrupt contractors.  In the end, they ended up destroying Wes’ life but the troops got what they needed as the result of his courage and steadfastness.

So today, on Thanksgiving we say thank-you to Wes Schneider for placing the lives of our troops ahead of your own.

If you would like to learn more about the courage of Wes Schneider and other brave Americans please visit our website at https://jgpis.org.  Your contributions to our cause will go to help people like Wes Schneider and other victims of government corruption.

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