America usually tries to do right by its military personnel and veterans, but it doesn't always work out that way.

From pension benefits to health care, special programs were established to address the special needs of those who risked — or gave — their all to defend or otherwise carry out the missions of this country.

Veterans can and do argue about the adequacy of these programs, but at least the programs exist and the efforts are being made.

Sometimes, however, members of the armed forces are wronged by the government they serve — and sometimes that grief was inflicted intentionally.

In such cases, the government typically becomes less forthcoming and cooperative.

Such is the case in the aftermath of Project 112.

Don't remember it? That's not surprising.

For more than a decade in the middle of the Cold War, the Pentagon exposed troops to biological and chemical agents. Some were exposed in the course of handling the materials, while others — thousands of them, as it turns out — were unwitting guinea pigs.

The Defense Department now acknowledges at least some of the tests, on land and at sea, that took place from 1962 through 1973.

But a lot of details are being withheld, including from the more than 5,000 troops known to have been involved.

Today is Veterans Day, and as such it is an appropriate time to call for support in Congress for a bill introduced Tuesday by Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif.

Called the "Veterans Right to Know Act," the measure would create a 10-member commission along the lines of the 9/11 Commission to investigate the tests conducted in Project 112.

Thompson has been out in front of this issue for a long time; it's good to see our congressman joining him on this bill.

"This is about openness, honesty and forthrightness in government," Rehberg said in a release about the measure. "Above all, it's about doing the right thing and uncovering the truth. Truth is what these brave veterans have asked for and truth is what they deserve."

Under the bill, the commission would have three years to study the issue and report to Congress and the president.

The panel also would work with the Veterans Administration to assure that people exposed to the substances are informed and given treatment if necessary.

"... These veterans have the right to know what they were exposed to so that they can receive the health care they need and deserve," Thompson said. "This legislation will establish an independent investigation to uncover which tests took place, what agents were used and which veterans were exposed."

Previous news reports indicated that the substances, some of which were sprayed on U.S. Navy ships at sea, included concoctions that contained e-coli bacteria and nerve gases including tabun, VX and sarin (the substance used in a terrorist attack on a Tokyo subway in 2002).

And information released so far indicates land-based tests were administered in Alaska, Hawaii, California, Utah, Florida and Maryland.

However, of the 5,842 soldiers and sailors known to have been exposed, only about 1,400 have been notified about it.

The Thompson-Rehberg bill has the support of virtually all national veterans' organizations.

On this Veterans Day, it deserves the same kind of support we've all been giving to the veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.