Join us in calling on Congress to wage and win the War on Arthritis by signing our urgent petition today. 

To lend your support to calling for increased investment in arthritis research, please add your name to the petition below.

Question Title

* 1. The Department of Defense (DOD) is equipped to deal with all kinds of threats to our national security, but DOD is still ill-equipped to deal with one of the biggest threats to the health and safety of our service members - arthritis. 

Within the U. S. Army alone, arthritis is the second leading cause of medical discharges, and it now impacts 1 out of every 3 veterans of all branches. 

Research on new treatments - and ultimately a cure - for arthritis should be a national imperative. It severely impacts military readiness, ends the careers of far too many service members, and degrades the mobility and independence of an overwhelming number of veterans.

Treatment and long-term care for troops and veterans who develop arthritis also consume greater and greater shares of the budgets of both DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). 

It is time to declare a War on Arthritis and seriously invest in research on new treatments and a cure by creating a dedicated, stand-alone category for arthritis research within the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) and funding it at a level to show that we're serious about taking care of our service members and veterans by alleviating and ending the scourge of arthritis. 

I stand with the Arthritis Foundation, the American College of Rheumatology, and America's national military and veteran organizations in calling for Congress to commit to wage a War on Arthritis - and win it! - beginning this year with a dedicated and well funded CDMRP account for arthritis research.

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