Death by 'Dust-Off'
lc
Did a colonel die getting high in Iraq? Read more about 'huffing,' a
secret war-zone epidemic.
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php
http://forums.military.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/672198221/m/8370043371001
This Week's Army Times
Death by 'Dust-Off'
http://urbansemiotic.com/2005/06/07/death-by-dust-off/
Very long but really needs attention
http://www.armytimes.com/issues/stories/0-ARMYPAPER-3396885.php
An air of mystery
Colonel's death by inhalant an out-of-character glimpse at a deeper
military problem
By Seamus O'Connor - soco...@militarytimes.com
Posted : March 10, 2008
Commanders could see stars on Jon Lockey's shoulders from the time he
was a lieutenant. From his earliest assignments, his officer
evaluation reports gushed with praise: "Brilliant." "[H]e's that
good." "Will definitely be a General Officer."
A 1985 U.S. Military Academy graduate, Lockey, 44, regularly received
below-zone selections for promotion and was recommended for the most
challenging positions the Army could offer him. In February 2007, the
newly minted colonel volunteered to head the biometrics task force at
Camp Victory, Iraq. He was charged with developing methods for
identifying and tracking terrorists based on fingerprints, DNA and
other biological indicators.
And he was good at it.
"If it wasn't for him, ... I don't think that biometrics would be
where it is in theater right now," Lt. Col. Michael Hildreth, who
served directly under Lockey in the task force, told Army Times.
The fact that Lockey was such a dedicated Army officer and vital to
the mission in Iraq only served to compound the sense of loss by
family and fellow soldiers when he was found dead in his trailer July
6.
His widow said the Army initially told her he died of natural causes.
But the grief was soon overshadowed by shock: The Army later
determined Lockey died by "huffing" -- inhaling the contents of -- cans
of Dust-Off. The product uses compressed difluoroethane gas to remove
dust from computer and mechanical parts; when inhaled, it deprives the
brain of oxygen, creating a brief high. But the slightest overdose,
even on its first use, can be deadly.
Lockey was a straight-edge officer who chastised smokers, family
friend Sarah Armstrong said. The idea that he would have tried to get
high from a household cleaning product baffled his co-workers and
family.
"This isn't a soldier who made poor decisions when it came to his
professional life," said his wife, Jean Lockey, of Fredericksburg, Va.
The evidence of inhalant abuse is clear in Lockey's autopsy and
Criminal Investigation Command reports of his death. His room was
littered with at least 12 empty cans of Dust-Off. A half-used can of
the product was found under his body. Difluoroethane was found in his
blood.
But Jean Lockey says that's not the whole story. She agrees her
husband may have died by inhalants, but is mystified by how the case
was handled.
Bruises and injuries on her husband's hands and head, visible upon his
body's return to America, are not mentioned in the autopsy report.
When Jean Lockey asked her casualty assistance officer about the
bruises, she was told they had been incurred in transit. According to
officials at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, bodies do not
bruise after death. As a matter of policy the Army does not permit
journalists to speak with casualty assistance officers.
Jean Lockey also wants to know why she was originally informed that
her husband died of natural causes. Only after questioning a series of
officials at numerous commands did she learn of the huffing verdict.
Though ruled accidental, the death was not in the line of duty because
inhalant abuse is misconduct. That means Jean Lockey won't receive
Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, which she estimated would have
provided $800 to $1,000 a month in addition to a $2,500 tax deferment.
She also lost the higher education benefits that the Department of
Veterans Affairs would have provided for the older of her two sons,
despite what she said were promises from her casualty assistance
liaison that those benefits would be protected.
Jean Lockey said that her quest for answers isn't about money. What's
important, she said, is if the Army could determine in short order
that Col. Lockey had been huffing Dust-Off, why did it ignore warning
signs that he might need help and step in before it was too late?
'Escape that pain'
Hildreth said his boss's death did not appear suspect at the time.
Two weeks before his death, Lockey showed up at work with cuts and
bruises on his face and head, blaming a fall in the shower, Hildreth
said, though there were no witnesses to the incident. Despite his
nasty injuries, Lockey ignored suggestions to seek medical attention,
Hildreth said.
"He was driven by mission, and he refused to [seek treatment] because
of what we were doing for the Army," Hildreth said. "If you're a
leader, you sometimes forgo taking care of yourself to take care of
things that are bigger than us, and he did that."
But Lockey had aggravated a chronic back injury. By July 4, he was in
severe pain, and Hildreth and fellow biometrics officer Navy Cmdr. Jon
Lazar persuaded Lockey to take the rest of the day off. Lockey did not
show up for work the next day, did not check in and did not answer
when Lazar called his cell phone, according to the CID investigation.
"Now looking back, [not checking in] was unusual for him because he
was always in contact with us," Hildreth said. Officials at Multi-
National Corps-Iraq did not provide contact information for Lockey's
superiors at Camp Victory, but the CID report makes no mention of
Lockey explaining his absence July 5 to anyone.
On July 6, when Lockey didn't show up for work, Lazar went to Lockey's
trailer. Lockey was lying unconscious and slumped out of bed, with a
half-empty can of Dust-Off under his chest, the CID report says.
Lazar, contacted by e-mail, declined to discuss Lockey's death.
Jean Lockey has plenty of bones to pick with the investigation report.
Her "anal retentive" husband's room appeared "trashed" in CID crime
scene photos. Even empty cans of Coke found in the room stuck out,
since Col. Lockey despised sugary drinks, Jean Lockey and Armstrong
said.
Hildreth said his boss talked constantly about his pride in his two
sons, and how badly he wanted to go home to see his oldest graduate
from Marine Corps boot camp.
But the job's high stress and Lockey's apparent aggravation of his
back pain could have created a dangerous situation, Jean Lockey said.
Also, he was on medication for depression, which he battled for four
years.
"If you want to look at worst-case scenario, ... he might have gone
home incredibly hurting, could not find relief through the normal
channels that he had," she said. So, she can see how perhaps "he had
done something incredibly stupid to escape that pain."
A growing problem
If Lockey did die from huffing, he was not the first soldier to do so
in the war zones.
"There have been eight confirmed deaths in OIF/OEF from inhalant abuse
-- Huffing," according to the CID report.
Overall, 47 service members have died from inhalant abuse since 1998,
the first year for which such figures were kept, according to the
Defense Department.
More than half the cases, 29, were soldiers. The Army was unable to
provide further details on those troops. Huffing also killed nine
Marines, seven sailors and two airmen, according to Armed Forces
Institute of Pathology statistics.
And cases are on the rise.
"I don't know if we're catching more cases or if it's just being done
more, but we're certainly documenting more cases of it," said Navy
Capt. Craig Mallak, Armed Forces medical examiner at AFIP.
In June, the base newspaper at Fort Rucker, Ala., cited an incident in
which two soldiers were killed when their Humvee rolled into a canal
in Iraq in February. Preliminary findings after the crash suggested
both soldiers huffed before the trip, the paper said.
The rise in inhalant abuse in the services mirrors that in society.
Huffing became a major issue among American teens in the 1990s and
became popular among 12- to 17-year-olds in the early part of this
decade. According to the Department of Health and Human Services' 2006
National Survey on Drug Use & Health, one in 10 civilians ages 12 to
17 have tried inhalants; among Americans 18 to 25, the figure is 12.5
percent; for those 26 and older, it's 8.6 percent.
An article in the April issue of the journal Military Medicine cited
inhalants as the third-most commonly abused drug among military
members, after marijuana and cocaine. A 2005 Defense Department report
showed 3 percent of soldiers admitted using inhalants in the past
year, versus 2.1 percent of all service members.
According to the survey's figures from 2003-04, although military
members were far less likely than civilians to have used marijuana or
cocaine within the past 30 days, they were slightly more likely to
have huffed, though only 1 percent reported doing so.
Huffing deprives the brain of oxygen when the user inhales vapors from
aerosols, paint and other products, now including cleaning duster
cans, sometimes called "canned air." But the cans hold compressed
difluoroethane, a chemical that can affect the central nervous system
and create a sense of euphoria, Mallak said.
The key danger of inhalant abuse is Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome,
according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The syndrome is the
label given to cases when a huffer dies within seconds of taking a
hit, usually from heart failure.
Duster products present a tempting target for huffers because the
product leaves no visible signs of use, Mallak said.
"It's not a safe high. It's perceived as an undetectable high because
it's not tested for through routine screening like our urinalysis
program," said Navy Cmdr. Lisa Pearse, chief of mortality surveillance
for AFIP.
Stopping abuse
Abuse of inhalants in the war zone is a recognized problem, according
to Army officials. Service members are likely to face greater
difficulty in obtaining illicit substances in Iraq, but cleaning
duster cans are available at almost all bases. The CID investigation
in Lockey's death showed he bought numerous cans of Dust-Off four
consecutive days before his death but raised no suspicion.
Sgt. 1st Class John Cortez, of the 5th Mobile Public Affairs
Detachment at Forward Operating Base Taji, speaking to Army Times in
Iraq in 2007, said there was a basewide ban on having canned duster
products in personal residences.
However, no such ban is in place for the whole of Iraq, MNC-I
spokesman Lt. Col. Rudolph Burwell said. But the Army is using a broad
information campaign to warn soldiers against huffing Dust-Off and
other inhalants, Burwell said.
Falcon, the company that makes the Dust-Off brand of cleaner,
introduced a "bitterant" chemical to its product when it heard of
users huffing Dust-Off, company spokesman Ken Newman said. The
chemical leaves a terrible taste in the mouth of anyone who inhales
Dust-Off. Falcon has worked to recall any pallets of Dust-Off sent to
military installations in Iraq that do not have the agent, and all
Dust-Off now being shipped to the Middle East now carries the
bitterant, Newman said. Burwell said that commanders are encouraged to
buy only duster products with the bitterant.
The dangers of inhaling Dust-Off are clearly marked in warnings
stamped on every can.
Fit for deployment?
While toxicology tests show Lockey was still taking his antidepressant
during his deployment, Jean Lockey questions why no one was keeping
tabs on her husband's mental health during the deployment, his first.
The criteria for determining whether soldiers have their depression
under control enough to deploy is not always clear, said Col. Elspeth
Cameron Ritchie, psychiatric consultant to the Army surgeon general.
According to military guidelines last updated in November 2006, a
service member "should demonstrate behavioral stability and minimal
potential for deterioration or recurrence of symptoms in a deployed
environment" before they are cleared to deploy.
There is no quantitative measure for determining who's fit to deploy,
Ritchie said, but the standard is usually three months of stability
while on medication. Service members shouldn't deploy if they have
just started new medication, and can't deploy if they are deemed
psychotic, bipolar or a danger to themselves or others, she said.
Lockey had been on medication for almost four years when he
volunteered to deploy, shipping out Feb. 1, 2007, Jean Lockey said.
His medical records indicate he felt the Celexa he was prescribed for
depression was effective.
Deploying soldiers who are already being medicated for depression
often are told to report for evaluation after 30 days. In the end,
it's up to the individual soldier to take his medicine and get the
treatment he needs, Ritchie said.
many soldiers avoid seeking mental health care out of fear that doing
so would harm their careers.
"We know that most soldiers will not go seek mental health care
because of [fear of negative effects on their careers]," Ritchie said.
"The reality is that simply going to seek behavioral health will not
have an effect on the soldier's career. What may have an effect on
their career is if the soldier gets himself into trouble, if they
commit misconduct, if they have a DWI or DUI."
So far, there is no apparent connection between depression and huffing
specifically, Ritchie said.
Moving forward
Jean Lockey said she will never give up until the Army answers
questions about the circumstances of her husband's death to fully
satisfy her that huffing indeed took his life. In the meantime, she
must learn to live on $2,000 a month, which she contends is thousands
less than she would be entitled to if her husband's death had been
deemed in the line of duty.
She concedes that now, given the way the case has been handled and the
rawness of her emotions, she is a hard sell on the Army's stated cause
of her husband's death.
"If somebody told me the truth tomorrow, I could not believe it," Jean
Lockey said. She said she feels her casualty assistance officer tried
to deceive her, and the officials she has spoken to brush her off as a
"grieving widow," she said.
She said she has contacted the offices of Sens. Kit Bond, R-Mo., and
Jim Webb, D-Va., for help. She is contemplating a legal challenge to
the Army's determination of death by huffing. But what she wants above
all, she said, is for her husband's death to bring change.
"If the military is going to stand on their position that my husband
huffed, I would like ... that there be something in place that
provides for a better accountability," Jean Lockey said. "Don't make
assumptions just because there's a soldier that's 22 years in the
military, that he can handle the rigors of wartime."
She said she hopes the Army will work harder to erase its soldiers'
fears of seeking medical and mental health treatment. She knows she's
not alone in her grief.
"I want justice, but I believe that the only reason I'm receiving any
attention is because my husband is a colonel," Jean Lockey said. "And
if it can help other families going through this, the casualty
assistance process, absolutely I think that there needs to be change
effected."
Huffing deaths
Defense Department statistics show that over the past 10 years, 47
military members have died as a result of using inhalants. Of those
deaths, nine were in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan. The
Defense Department did not keep such statistics before 1998.