Cherie, because they are in the military. Whenever you are injured or contract any kind of disease in the military while on active duty you can be considered service connected. I do not believe they are admitting to anything or establishing the "why" factor. They are simply recognizing that it should be covered if it occurs within an allotted time frame, which has been a thorn in the benefits department for sometime.

Think of it like workers compensation. If your injured on the job you can get worker's comp. Soldiers have been fighting for some time to establish benefits for neurological diseases. No one can say it's the military causing them because there are civilians who get ms and/or other diseases without being in the military.

One thing I do know 100% is that these soldiers, both male and female go through rigorous duty and are exposed to many chemicals both during peacetime and wartime. Jim was serving in Jordan the year before he started having symptoms but no one has ever declared his tour as being the reason he got ms. I personally do not think the military causes these problems but do know the work a soldier does can indeed exacerbate the disease. He was on the border of Jordan and Iraq. Iraq and Iran were at war and using neuro gases such as mustard gas. Jim said you could hear the war from where they were. Did it help bring on his ms? Who knows?

The bottom line is our soldiers are coming home with neurological problems either from the hard duty they perform or from exposure to something that intensifies disease to come on. Either way, it is service connected and they should be compensated just as civilians should when they work all their lives and pay into SS.

Hope that helped explain it better.