Has anyone been asked to prove their exposure to chemical warfare to get a Purple Heart?

I was there from 2010 to 2011. If this is real, then they are only looking at certain regions because I have not received a letter like this. And, that is if this letter is even legit.

I should think the Army would need proof you were exposed for the PH. The way the letter is worded, one may receive a PH for a "perceived" battle wound. WHAT'S NEXT??? I have long been disheartened by the lowered standards for the receiving of certain ribbons and medals. I have read of the presentation of decorations under non-battle conditions and I have not agreed with the DOD decisions in those cases.

I dont know if this helps, but i was in taji in 2005-2006 and was tasked with running info from one area of the camp to another area about 1/2 mile away. At some point i knew i had walked into "something" because i started to feel my chest get tight and my eyes started to tear mildly. I knew right away something wasnt right cause i was only a year out of basic and we were taught about those thigs during gas chamber week. I started backtracking (double time) and my chest got tighter and tearing got worse. It got harder to breathe and i got to a road where i flagged down a civi contracter passing by in a truck and and i literally hit the ground at that point. I woke up in a tmc with an oxygen mask and ekg on me. I was flown to kuwait and all they said was it wasnt cardiac. I told them "something was out there". I was given return to duty orders and sent back to my unit at taji. They dug them up a few months later. This was one of the reasons i got ptsd benefits cause i had a really bad nightmare/flashback a few months later about not being able to breathe and waking up freaked out and gasping for air. So i got got ptsd benefits

I was unaware you could get one for this

I will say this in support of the VA (hard to imagine I know). The real issue is the Congress and dollars budgeted. The VA has an operating budget they have to live with, when the well goes dry, that's it. Rest assured they are pressured to not award claims if they can avoid it. The reason.........money, of course. Ever hear of Bartonella? It is related to Lyme Disease and was carried by the sand fleas (flys) in Iraq. Rest assured that will be ignored for as long as possible given the fiscal liabilities involved.

I called the number listed above when I saw the letter and there is a process to verify your unit and locations. Once that is done you may be called to go to DC for evaluation. That is what the man in charge told me.

Our unit was hit twice by chlorine gas in Iraq in 2007; luckily the insurgents miscalculated the wind drift. All we got were runny noses, sore throats, swollen eyes, and a chewing out by our BN XO for not masking. (It was so slow-acting and gradual, no one reacted.) CS training at Benning was worse. It's a cool story to tell, but I can't really see a Purple Heart being authorized, even if it was direct enemy action. Did they award PHs (or wound stripes) in World War I for gas casualties? Because I imagine coughing up your lungs from mustard gas is much more worthy of a Purple Heart than what happened to us.