Please Watch The State of the Union Part 2

 I am adding a local newspapers account of the events in my last post. Again, I am so proud of my friends and so honored to know them.  

The Sandusky Register, Sandusky, Ohio, March 1, 2022, Page 1

https://sanduskyregister.com/news/373046/sitting-with-the-first-lady/?fbclid=IwAR3J4qdO0zRzB3N1gycIxTqI-BHUDLEYLCEAuu5PJfcCu1wt3lRa22sQvAo

Sitting with the first lady

Matt Westerhold

Mar 01, 2022 7:00 AM

SANDUSKY — A former Sandusky woman who has fought for veterans' rights will be sitting next to first lady Jill Biden this evening when President Joe Biden gives his first State of the Union Address.

Heath and Danielle Robinson and their daughter Brielle. Susan Weber

Danielle (Kaufman) Robinson's husband, SFC Heath Robinson, 39, was a member of the Ohio Army National Guard who died on May 6, 2020, after suffering for years from illnesses associated with toxic exposure to smoke from burn pits maintained by the U.S. military.

"Heath should have been the person invited to the State of the Union address during his battle and fight, not me," Danielle told the Register Monday afternoon, shortly after learning about the invitation from Biden. "Since he is no longer here with us, I am honored to be the person sitting for him and all his brothers and sisters in our military family who are affected by toxic exposure to burn pits."

Former "Daily Show" host and activist Jon Stewart on behalf of veterans — especially those suffering from sicknesses caused by burn pits — contacted Danielle on Monday and relayed the invitation from President Biden.

Lost sons, husbands

Biden's son, Beau Biden, died in 2016 from a rare cancer believed to also have been caused by exposure to toxic smoke from burn pits.

Beau, 46, and Heath both had served in Kosovo and in Iraq prior to their deaths, where the military disposed of everything — chemicals, weapons, computers, other toxic materials and everything else — in giant burn pits near where military personnel were stationed. The military maintained hundreds of burn pits at military stations the size of football fields, and the toxic smoke streamed from them 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

There were no safety precautions taken to protect military personnel or the local populations. The military and the Veterans Administration have denied benefits to veterans suffering from burn pit illnesses, including Heath and his survivors and Beau Biden and his family.

Robinson served in Iraq for 13 months. He and Danielle, 36, a 2003 Sandusky High School graduate, had been married for seven years when he died. They have a daughter, Brielle, 8, a third-grader who struggled coping with her dad's illness for most of her life before he died.

Danielle, and her mother, Susan Zeier, of Sandusky, took up the battle for soldiers like Heath and Beau Biden soon after they learned what caused Heath's strange illness. He had been a model of fitness and prided himself for his endurance before he became ill.

He started suffering from a rare lung disease not too long after returning from Iraq, where he had served for 13 months, losing the ability to breathe.

Fighting for veterans

Zeier also will be in Washington this week as legislation is being introduced that, if approved, will grant presumptive benefits for any soldier who served in any of the countries where burn pits were maintained and who contracted one or more of the qualifying illnesses. House Bill 3967, the Honoring Our Pact Act, will be introduced Tuesday and voted on as early as Wednesday, Zeier said.

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Youngstown, a candidate for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat, is a cosponsor of that bill and of the SFC Heath Robinson Burn Pits Transparency Act, introduced in 2021, which, if it is approved, would give Congress oversight into all claims coming into the VA regarding burn pits illnesses and would require the VA to provide quarterly reports.

"It basically grants Congress oversight," Zeier said. "The VA is denying 78% of the claims related to burn pits."

Zeier said she and members of Burn Pits 360, an activist group she joined to fight for veterans, will be watching the debate from Ryan's Capitol Hill office. Guests are no longer allowed in the gallery because of COVID, she said.

Zeier said she was thrilled to learn her daughter had been asked to attend the State of the Union.

"After everything she went through for three years, taking care of Heath and not getting any help from the VA, she's ready. She's strong," Zeier said. "She'll be able to tell this story."

The invitation also gave Zeier renewed hope that legislation to protect the men and women who fought for the country and their families will finally get some traction in Washington.

"It means all our hard work with the Burn Pits 360 team has paid off," she said. "Lately, we've been feeling like our voices aren't being heard or we were losing our voice because of COVID and because of the violence on Jan. 6 (2021). We don't have as much access to lobby for these bills. This now is happening... it shows the president is aware of this and we are being heard. We're not going to let Congress slow-walk this anymore."

How it started

Zeier, 65, first began going to Washington in 2017, when Heath was diagnosed with the lung cancer.

"I didn't know what I was doing, but once I met Rosie Torres (who founded the Burn Pits 360 group after her husband returned from Iraq with a debilitating lung disease) things really took off."

She gave up vacations and trips to Columbus for Ohio State football games and other things she liked doing so she could afford it.

"There were all these people fighting for veterans, and veterans fighting, some of them sick and dying. I feel like I'm healthy enough so I gave up vacations, gave up going to OSU games, bowl games. We would budget our money," she said.

She's been to Washington about 10 times but less frequently since COVID hit, and since the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.

"We haven't been able to go back. We weren't allowed to go in the building or allowed to go on the grounds after Jan 6," she said. "These are areas you used to be able to walk freely before, and now the fence is back up because of the truckers' protest."