My DAD had to get treatment for some lung ailment stemming from that stuff.

I am no expert on Agent Orange. All I know is that I got sprayed with it from the air twice while serving with the 25th Infantry Division. A very few months after the second time, I had Type 1 diabetes and was being shipped to Tripler Army Hospital in Hawaii and then a month later on home by Air-Evac.

Now-days if a veteran develops diabetes and is documented as having been sprayed or otherwise in contact with it, they will automatically qualify for a monthly "service-related disability" payment from the VA.

Me as well. 23rd Infantry Division, Chu Lai and Danang, two and a half years. Have they told you about the heart failure issue yet? You might not want to know, but do ask.

Rich

The list of Agent Orange related conditions just gets bigger.

USMC, RVN I Corps, 70-71.

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:
The list of Agent Orange related conditions just gets bigger.

USMC, RVN I Corps, 70-71.

Yes, the list certainly is getting bigger.
Ahh...
Agent orange. The boogey man implicated as a cause for all variety of diseases, but with almost no direct evidence of causation for any of them. The VA has truly bent over backwards giving us the benefit of the doubt about most of these things being service related. I almost couldn't believe it when they made diabetes service related 10 years ago or so.

http://caonline.amcancersoc.or...ontent/full/53/4/245

Wes

WESR,

they didn't offer it, their own studies merely confirmed outside ones. The "direct evidence" you wish to see occupies over 1700 pages covering four independent and one VA sponsored studies.
Believe me there is nothing voluntary about the VA offering a dime or a single percentage point of disability rating to anybody. They are still fighting the issue of TBI for Iraqi War Veterans.
Volunteer for a week at a VA Hospital or Vet Center and report back. If you have the balls...

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
WESR,

they didn't offer it, their own studies merely confirmed outside ones. The "direct evidence" you wish to see occupies over 1700 pages covering four independent and one VA sponsored studies.
Believe me there is nothing voluntary about the VA offering a dime or a single percentage point of disability rating to anybody. They are still fighting the issue of TBI for Iraqi War Veterans.
Volunteer for a week at a VA Hospital or Vet Center and report back. If you have the balls...

Rich

Rich,
I'm a vet and HAVE worked in a VA. Invitation to private topic sent!

And it wasn't 10 years ago that diabetes became service-related. It was 10 years ago that it became firmly causally linked to Agent Orange. There is a difference.

Originally, "service-related" applied to most every disability acquired while on active duty. The original deal was, "If you become disabled while on active duty, you will receive compensatory payment and medical care for the rest of your life." It was part of the battery of recruitment tools used to attract volunteer enlistment contracts clear back before WWII.

Then over time, the goverment tried to renege on that commitment when active duty personnel actually became disabled fairly often. I mean, Hell! They wouldn't want to spend money on a disabled ground-pounder, when that money could be used to fly a Congressman and his wife and kids or a senior bureaucrat First Class to Tobago or Bermuda on a "fact-finding tour", would they?

At that point the government started applying a guideline which said something like "Proove you got whatever you have as a direct result result of specific parts of active duty, or we ain't giving you shit!"

It was that action and attitude which boosted the start of a lot of studies, as people they had trained to kill (and be killed) were getting a tad upset at being conned and shafted (nice term, "victims of a breach of contract") out of what they signed on for.

Lo, and behold, some of those studies showed some government activities DID actually cause the deaths or disability of the troops from sothing other than directly foreigner-injected lead poisoning! Spraying our own troops with Agent Orange was one such activity.

So, basically, if you're gonna lure young men into harm's way, then harm them yourself, then have to pay the piper, at least once in a while justice will be done.

If you want to bitch about veteran's benefits, then bitch about the ones who served just one quick hitch stateside to avoid the draft, then got out completely physically sound, but now 35 or 40 years later are at the VA taking the limited medical budget which is intended for persons who WERE permanently disabled while on active duty! And at the same time those who slurp up that VA budget unjustifiably are bitching about "socialism" because this country might actually get some sort of half-assed plan which covers everyone equally when they need it.

I first knew we were screwed with a dick big enough to impregnate an Elephant when our Department of Defense and the VA got together over dinner one night and decided that the various branches of the service could discharge you on a medical condition related to your service, and then the VA in a totally unrelated process would make the determination as to whether you were really disabled and to what extent. One of my best friends from HS was a pretty good drummer in garage bands growing up. He joined the Marines, like his Father had in WWII. Stepped on a land mine in 'Nam and lost one leg at the knee, one arm at the elbow, and one eye and that side of his face. He got 100% disability and medical, including some cosmetic surgery so women and small children didn't puke when they saw him. With a lot of help and time, he got an artificial arm and leg, and began the four year journey back to playing drums in a band. The VA found out, and cut his disability rating to 40% on the basis that he could work, sort-of. Mr Carter's VA Director was responsible for that direction the VA took. Every since the VA has focused on cutting services and disability ratings to save money. Look at the TBI and EID caused disfigured and crippled vets from Iraq.

What a great country we sometimes do time in...

Rich

And if you serve long enough to retire,your disability pay comes out of what your retirement pay would be.

quote:

"service-related disability" payment from the VA

and that is TAX FREE as in NO INCOME TAX STATE OR FEDERAL PAID ON THE COMPENSATION.

yeah, like that maximum of less than 3K a month makes up for having a shortage of arms or legs, or other body parts, or dealing with PTSD.
Killing a man, and watching him die will do strange things to your outlook on life.

Rich

And a lot of veterans go on with their lives without holding their hands out....

SR4759:
Right you are, Sir! And GOD bless them. My family and I owe them everything. We get it. We will never forget. Soldier on.

quote:

Originally posted by SR4759:
And a lot of veterans go on with their lives without holding their hands out....

Are you suggesting that the ones who ARE disabled while serving their country (but still alive) shouldn't get anything? I can hardly believe you would be saying that, so I am a little confused by your comment.

I can tell everyone it often isn't a hell of a lot a disabled vet gets, even if it is tax free.

When I was air-vac'd home and disabled out, the over-generous VA gave me $13 per month to live on, then waited over a year (almost two years) to send me any of the first 23 $13 checks, due to a "clerical error"!

I'll never forget that profligately wasteful generosity, No Sir!

quote:

Originally posted by D Humbarger:

quote:

"service-related disability" payment from the VA

and that is TAX FREE as in NO INCOME TAX STATE OR FEDERAL PAID ON THE COMPENSATION.

That privilege is worth the lost loves, limbs and lives?

Pull the other one...