THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 TAG: 9610300442
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 23 lines
The Pentagon's toll-free telephone hot lines for Persian Gulf War soldiers have been getting unprecedented use, with 3,334 calls registered in a week, a spokesman said Tuesday.
Normally, only about 100 such calls a day come in, said Pentagon spokesman Capt. Michael Doubleday.
Last Tuesday, the Pentagon announced that it wanted anyone who may have information about the potential exposure of U.S. troops to chemical weapons in the gulf to call an ``incident'' hot line. Since that time, there have been 772 calls to that number, Doubleday said. The number is 1-800-472-6719.
A separate hot line designed to help service members obtain information about potential medical support and to sign up for the Pentagon's clinical evaluation program got 1,137 calls, he said. That number is 1-800-796-9699.
KEYWORDS: CHEMICAL WEAPONS EXPOSURE TOLL FREE TELEPHONE NUMBER
GULF WAR ILLNESS by CNB