David Kirby on Autism and the Military: One Very Brave Captain

By David Kirby

I often receive letters from parents of children with autism, from all over the world. They are moving, gratifying, and powerful. They keep me going.

Yesterday, I received a letter that I will never forget. It was from a Captain in the U.S. Army, who has risked his life in the name of his country. He also has three sons on the autism spectrum, and he blames vaccines.

"To be honest, the vast majority of military families dealing with autism that I know, think that vaccines are the cause," Capt. Joe Mickley told me in a phone interview.

One colleague had a son born in the same military hospital, at the same time, as his own, youngest son – the most severely affected of his three children. The two boys both developed normally together, and then began to regress at roughly the same time, Capt. Mickley said, eventually developing the same symptoms and signs of autism.

He told me that the parents of that child recently bought Jenny McCarthy's book, "Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism," and, within a week and a half of starting chelation therapy and other biomedical treatments, "that child started recovering. He started speaking again."

This is not the last that we will be hearing from Captain Mickley. He and many other military families are getting ready to come forward and tell their stories en-masse.

It's easy to dismiss and ridicule me (and it is part of my job description, so I don't really care). It's more difficult to do so to a battle hardened Army Captain. Yes, people will try. But I don't envy them.

Here then, is Captain Mickley's letter to me. Anyone wishing to contact him should email Angela Warner HERE. Please include CAPTAIN MICKLEY in the subject line. Angela runs the blog Autism Salutes, she will forward the letters to him.

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Mr. Kirby

I just wanted to write you a quick note to thank you for the work that you are doing toward uncovering what is happening to our children, more specifically the work that you have done for military families. I am a Captain in the United States Army, with 11 years of dedicated service to the nation. 

I have recently become disheartened with how autism is being dealt with in the military. I am the proud father of three young boys whom all enjoy a spot on the spectrum.  I read on your site and others that the military has a very high rate of dependents on the spectrum, although I would swear to you that six months ago, when autism first exposed itself in my family, my wife and I felt like we were the first family to go through this, and over the recent months I have met others whose stories are almost identical to ours.  You have helped me realize that we are not alone and that something is going on to trigger what equates to be brain damage, instead of what I thought was autism.

Sir, as I follow your words it inspires me to gather together the members of the families who have gone through the same hell as mine.  To let our voice be heard so that action has to be taken.  I and others like me would like accountability why we lost our children. I have video of my son months prior to the vaccines that I believe triggered his withdrawal. He is engaged, alert, talkative and happy. 

Following the shots, he began a steady withdrawal and decline. The most painful part was that we watched him slip away, and before I knew it, he was not the same.  We also have doctors' records documenting our concerns as well as a military doctor's summary stating that our concerns were more than likely unfounded. 

After visiting that doctor, we fought for more than seven months through more red tape than anything I had experienced in ten years of service to obtain a diagnosis. Little did I know that this would just be the beginning of our battle to save our boys.

As a Soldier and combat veteran of multiple tours I have fought against our nation's enemies. I have seen the dark side of humanity and survived it. That experience pales in comparison to the horror of watching your child suffer a regression.   

Again sir, I thank you and hope that you may never grow tired in your efforts, because my family and many others count on you.

Respectfully,
Captain Joe Mickley
United States Army

David Kirby is author of Evidence of Harm, a contributor to Age of Autism and a founding contributor to Huffington Post.

Comments

[AutismDad]

Capt. Mickley,

Thank-you for your service to our country and I'm sorry you have joined our ranks. As opposed to the War in the Middle East, this is a war we can win. Eventually the truth will out. Our children are veterans in a way too, the victims of "friendly fire" from a public health war gone bad.

[Dawn BErge]

Capt. Mickey,
I understand and share your frustration. My son, now approaching 4, was diagnosed just after his second birthday. Like your son, my son was developing normally, until a series of vaccinations and he regressed. Were you aware that the military stockpiles vaccines? He was born in 2005, yet some of the vaccines were from 1998. My husband had retired from the Air Force just 6 months earlier, and the "mental health" portion of Tricare was unavailable to my son, due to the retirement. My congressman, Jeff Miller (FL), has helped raise awareness and write legislation to help children of military retirees recieve ABA services. It was sent to Congress in Sept. Lord willing, it will pass. Please know that you are not alone, and that although it is a long journey, we will beat this thing called Autism.

[Rick Brown]

Dear Capt Mickley,

Thank you for your service to our country. I admire your bravery to share your painful story of losing perfectly healthy children to vaccine toxicity.

We share children on the Autism Spectrum who were vaccine damaged. My son is almost 13 and a lot has been learned since we first entered the fray.

We have seen radical improvement through the GFCF diet and highly recommend it as a first line of defense. Since my son reacted to the MMR vaccine, our next step will be the Vitamin A Protocol, followed by chelation starting this summer.

I run the Special Needs Community Calendar for Los Angeles and have read hundreds, probably thousands of accounts from parents who have recovered or significantly improved their children with these protocols.

Wishing you and your family a healthy recovery.

Please feel free to contact me if I may be of assistance.

Best Regards,
Rick Brown

[Carol Hoernlein]

Capt. Mickley,

Don't give up hope. You have so many who believe you. Joyce Reilly of The Power Hour who got Gulf War syndrome after getting the vaccines only during the war believes that the vaccines not only cause autism but Gulf War syndrome. Our military has been abused by folks like Donald Rumsfeld who saw to it that aspartame was approved despite the objections of FDA scientists. These are the folks who are A-Ok with giving our military families powerful vaccines with glutamic acid in them despite all the latest evidence pointing to a glutamate-autism link. Perhaps Joyce would have you on her radio show. She just recently appeared in The Beautiful Truth Documentary that will be opening in San Francisco in January. She talks about her experiences in the film.

[Ben's Dad]

Thank you Captain Mickley for your service to our country and to also to this community of autism that we find ourselves in. My local Congressmen is Chris Smith, who has written legislation for both communities. And for your service, the least I can do is write a letter asking for help for our military families dealing with autism. Military kids should have the rights to the same vaccine exemptions that kids outside the base are entitled to. Their higher rates of autism need to be explained urgently, and there needs to be a more appropriate approach to treatment other then forcing kids who don't transition well to move on a routine basis and start over repeatedly. Finally, all of our kids deserve a 10 fold increase in research spending that focuses on the environment(including vaccines) and treatment, even in these difficult times

And once again – thank you DK for working so hard on this issue.

[Jeanne]

This is incredible. Captain Mickley, thank you for being brave enough to speak the truth in the face of such adversity (for our military men and women speaking the truth is a whole new level of bravery).

DK, thank you for sharing this beautiful letter with us. And know that we all feel the same way as the Captain.

Ang, speaker of truth, you rock! ;) Sorry, just had to get that in.

[Lisa Sigismondi]

Thank you so so so much David, I don't know what we'd do without you.

[jen]

Captn Mickley, I commend your efforts. I personally would not let my child enter the army expressly due to this concern (over-vaccination) and I think The military needs to know this. My son (11) has recently commented on a military service commercial where an ex-military welcomes a returning soldier home. What a shame!

[Coolinda]

As the very proud wife of an Army Officer, and very proud mother of a child fighting autism (successfully), I thank you. Mr. Kirby, thank you for continuing the fight to get to the truth. And CPT Mickler, we share your experience, your frustration, and your outrage. Thank you for words.

[Randy]

A couple of days ago we once again witnessed people lining up along the "highway of heroes" to honor those Canadians who lost their lives in Afghanistan.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/12/08/soldiers-return.html

I don't even feel worthy of trying to understand that kind of sacrifice. "W" once said "you're either with us, or against us" when selling his war to the masses. I'm with you, captain Mickley, and all those in uniform, where ever you are. But I'm not "with" these idiots who send you to fight (and die), and then preach to the world that we don't really respect you, if we don't buy into their agenda.

I don't pretend to understand any of what you've experienced in your career, on the battlefield, at home, wherever, but I admire and respect your courage, then and now.