Passing of Dave Fitzgerald, 731st Nav

Sad to say, I missed this email from John Harris about the passing of Dave Fitzgerald in August. 

Friends and fellow reservists,

It is with sadness that I tell you that my good friend and fine gentleman Dave Fitzgerald passed away Sunday from a complication from an Agent Orange disease. Dave was 83, a retired navigator in the 731st, and a school teacher here in Mashpee.

 

Susie and I met him and his wife Sue at our fitness center frequently and met for lunch or dinner occasionally over the years. He was a very popular teacher and the PA Announcer for the High School football team. He was always ready to tell his students stories about his time in the 731st. (Don't worry, he always cleaned them up, according to my sons who were both in his Spanish class!)

The ceremony will be for family only at the VA cemetery at Bourne.

John Harris

C-123 Update -- a little news

Recently some very good news, but also news that has our heads swiveling on our necks in pure confusion.

Good stuff first.

Ernie Pablo got word to us that he won a 100% VA disability claim, backdated to June 19,2016, for C-123 Agent Orange-related illnesses. Likewise, C-123 pilot LtCol Roger Pile emailed that his VA claim is now approved and "check is in the mail." Others have been winning their claims, according to VA, but we don't hear from all of them.

On the less happy side, Mrs. Lorraine Surrette has been told by VA that John's esophageal cancer won't be covered under the Agent Orange rules. John's doctor's letter to the VA was damaging...the doc just didn't seem to care. She's pretty shook up and hurt. An appeal to the BVA is now her only option.

The 74AES has their annual dinner tomorrow night, and I'm missing those folks already as I can't attend.

Meanwhile, our effort on retroactive claims continues, I promise. Not much hope but we're not giving up!

Paralyzed Veterans of America Adds Its Support to C-123 Veterans' Agent Orange Claims

Today the Paralyzed Veterans of America joined with other service organizations to voice support for C-123 veterans' Agent Orange claims. This was first through direct conversations with Secretary McDonald, and more recently by PVA leadership approving addition of their name to the list of C-123 supporters!

Thank you, PVA!

Wes Carter, PVA Life Member since 1991

C-123 Post-Vietnam Aircrew and Maintainers: Agent Orange Exposure CONFIRMED by IOM!

Exposure CONFIRMED! Last hurdle overcome!

In a clear message to the VA and USAF, yesterday the Institute of Medicine dismissed any questions of C-123 post-Vietnam Agent Orange exposure with their press release announcing conclusion of a year-long investigation. IOM confirmed the post-Vietnam exposures of C-123 aircrews and maintenance personnel in their VA-sponsored research.

This is a game-changer as VA has stated, through Under Secretary Allison Hickey, that whichever way the IOM report recommended the VA would likely follow. VA executives were briefed on Thursday and the IOM released their C-123 investigation to the public, legislators and the press on Friday. Following the report's presentation, VA leaders said staff was already working on the implications of the IOM's finding and details were being resolved.

The VA has been hit hard this last year, which with justification will be remembered as the year of the scandals. This is a scandal resolved, through the efforts of the scientific community )to include IOM as well as the independent scientists and physicians who continued to reveal the basis for C-123 veterans' exposure claims,) and VA staff which opened the door and their hearts with determination to resolve this mess.

So the resolution is on its way. We should see changes in VA web pages, communication from VA to their staff, press releases from VA on its views regarding the IOM report, and we hope...claims being released from the current suspended status ordered for all such claims.

Let's hope this is as much as win-win as it seems. In my mind, it leaves all involved a solid justification for feeling their duty to America's veterans has been satisfied. Congratulations!

Dow & Monsanto Team Up On New Challenge To Veterans' Agent Orange Claims

The Agent Orange manufacturers aren't content with having poisoned a decade of Vietnam veterans with their deadly herbicide known to contain deadly amounts of dioxin.

Faithfully continuing their profitable anti-veteran campaign first begun in 1961 and reaching now into 2014, Dow and Monsanto again joined forces with the VA in June at the Institute of Medicine's C-123 Agent Orange hearing in Washington, D.C.

Their Objective: Block veterans' Agent Orange exposure claims, by preventing VA medical care and compensation for C-123 post-Vietnam veterans.

Between 1972-1982, these vets flew the Agent Orange spray airplanes for routine cargo and aeromedical evacuation missions, but the crews and maintenance workers didn't realize their aircraft remained contaminated ("heavily contaminated," according to USAF toxicologists.) In 2010, all C-123s were destroyed by the USAF as toxic waste.

Researchers Drs. John Ross and Michael Ginevan presented their error-ridden letter to VA Under Secretary Allison Hickey in January 2013. Sponsored in this disservice to veterans by Dow and Monsanto, these private-sector consultants apparently felt it inappropriate that VA provide care for the C-123 veterans' Agent Orange illnesses.

Ross and Ginevan have frequently sided with the VA and the Agent Orange manufacturers in opposing veterans' disability claims, and nothing is new here. They ignored most proofs the veterans submitted to the VA to substantiate their claims, such as the CDC and NIH findings, and twisted others in their attack.

One particularly glaring deception was their description of Patches (C-123K Tail #362) as not being representative of other Agent Orange spray aircraft. Indeed...the others were likely even more contaminated than Patches because they sprayed Agent Orange more recently than did Patches and their contamination was "fresher."

They found a way to twist another fact into a deception. Dioxin is well-known as a human carcinogen, even acknowledged as such by the VA. Ross and Ginevan attempted to mislead VA into dismissing the dangers of the dioxin remaining on the aircraft. Offered to VA was a pretense that scientists question whether dioxin actually is a carcinogen. Really? From VA's own web page;

"TCDD (the dioxin in Agent Orange) is the most toxic of the toxins, and classified as a human carcinogen by the EPA."

That alone should condemn Ross and Ginevan's letter into the VA's trash heap. But it won't. They played to VA's eager ears. Dow and Monsanto were only too happy to feed VA deceptions to continue their joint defense of Agent Orange.

General Officer Statement on C-123 Safety

Patches, Tail # 362, now at USAF Museum, Dayton OH

In October 1979, even after tests were performed on a C-123K assigned to the 731st Tactical Airlift Wing and Agent Orange was identified which still contaminated the airplane, BG Don Haugen made the following statement to thousands of his personnel:

"As far as aircraft safety is concerned, although there is never a warranty, the C-123 is as safe as humanly possible."

I personally worked for this leader and admired him greatly. But he was in error.

The C-123 was a deadly hazard that had already poisoned us for seven years, and that would continue poisoning us for three more until the last was flown into desert storage. 

Agent Orange, identified on Patches (Tail #362,) remained on many of our aircraft following their Vietnam Agent Orange spray missions. The Conway tests proved this, but neither we nor our leadership were informed then, or ever since. We had to find out by the Freedom of Information Act.

What happened? Where was the leadership due us from the USAF Surgeon General?

Where is the leadership and responsibility of the Department of Veterans Affairs when we turn to it with proof of our illness, proof of our exposures, and find the VA locking its hospital doors against us?

Has VA not read its own mission statement, so horribly abused this Year of VA Scandals?

Mission, Vision, Core Values & Goals

Mission Statement

To fulfill President Lincoln's promise “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan” by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s Veterans.

Core Values

VA’s five core values underscore the obligations inherent in VA’s mission: Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect, and Excellence. The core values define “who we are,” our culture, and how we care for Veterans and eligible beneficiaries. Our values are more than just words – they affect outcomes in our daily interactions with Veterans and eligible beneficiaries and with each other. Taking the first letter of each word—Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect, Excellence—creates a powerful acronym, “I CARE,” that reminds each VA employee of the importance of their role in this Department. These core values come together as five promises we make as individuals and as an organization to those we serve.

Integrity: Act with high moral principle. Adhere to the highest professional standards. Maintain the trust and confidence of all with whom I engage.

Commitment: Work diligently to serve Veterans and other beneficiaries. Be driven by an earnest belief in VA’s mission. Fulfill my individual responsibilities and organizational responsibilities.

Advocacy: Be truly Veteran-centric by identifying, fully considering, and appropriately advancing the interests of Veterans and other beneficiaries.

Respect: Treat all those I serve and with whom I work with dignity and respect. Show respect to earn it.

Excellence: Strive for the highest quality and continuous improvement. Be thoughtful and decisive in leadership, accountable for my actions, willing to admit mistakes, and rigorous in correcting them.

Voice of America Reviews Agent Orange in Vietnam

News / USA

Q&A: The Story of Agent Orange

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FILE - Soldiers detect Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) and defoliant Agent Orange in Vietnam's central Da Nang City.

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Jim Stevenson

February 21, 2014

U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War was long and costly in many ways.  The conflict itself raged for more than two decades, but the consequences of military actions taken in Vietnam continue to this day.  One of the darkest legacies is the effect of a widely used defoliant meant to quickly clear dense forests and flush out enemy forces.  Known as Agent Orange, the chemical induced adverse health issues for both U.S. troops and Vietnamese on both sides of the war.

Peter Sills, an attorney who helped represent the Vietnam Veterans of America in a class action lawsuit regarding the use of Agent Orange, has written about it in a new book titled Toxic War. Speaking with VOA’s Jim Stevenson, Sills told of the many ways Agent Orange had a direct effect on people, and how it even evolved into a weapon.

• Q&A: Toxic War: The Story of Agent Orange

SILLS:  The thing that surprised me the most, when the (U.S.) government found out people were scared of it (Agent Orange), they began spraying the Vietnamese people deliberately. Whether they knew they were poisoning them or not is a question I raise in my book. And there is evidence on both sides of that.

STEVENSON:  So what you are asserting is at the very least unintentional chemical warfare.

SILLS:  Yes, a chemical war. The U.S. government used chemicals that were not manufactured as weapons but they were used as weapons. That includes herbicides, riot control gasses. Napalm which is supposedly used to defoliate was modified to stick to human flesh. As we started to lose the war and become more desperate, we changed the tools we used to help in the war, we started to use them against people.

STEVENSON:  How were American veterans at that time being exposed in harmful ways?

SILLS:  When you start spraying towns and villages, there are American soldiers there too. That is part of it. The food that people ate became poisoned, and the water that people drank. There is another surprising thing: herbicides came in 50-gallon barrels. When they were emptied, they were not really empty. There were two or three gallons of herbicide left in the barrels. Soldiers used them for showers, for bar-b-ques (grills for cooking). Vietnamese used them to hold gasoline and wound up spraying dioxin all over Vietnam. The cities became defoliated even though they were never sprayed (from U.S. planes). They were sprayed by Vietnamese automobiles and motorcycles. No one could figure it out for a while. So people were exposed in surprising and unexpected ways.

STEVENSON:  How many U.S. veterans are we talking about looking for some sort of compensation because of exposure to Agent Orange?

SILLS:  Hundreds of thousands, possibly over a million. That is muddy unfortunately because there are so many people who are sick for reasons other than herbicide exposure. The symptoms of dioxin exposure, the poison in the herbicide, are not very different from what people get normally, heart attacks, diabetes, lung cancer, liver problems, neurological problems, things that people just get. So to determine whether they were actually exposed, it should be possible to do that. But the officially done science has not been able to do that.

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VA "Final Rule" Addresses Agent Orange Exposures Outside Vietnam

We have frequently cited the 8 May 2001 Federal Register page 23166, in which VA states that it will treat veterans exposed to military herbicides outside the "boots on the ground" veterans, the same as boots on the ground veterans.

To be more complete in our referrals, we should also cite the Federal Register of 31 August 2010, where VA made its rule final, and stated:

"[w]we wish to make clear that the presumptions of service connection provided by this rule will apply to any veteran who was exposed during service to the herbicides used in Vietnam, even if exposure occurred outside of Vietnam. A veteran who is not presumed to have been exposed to herbicides, but who is shown by evidence to have been exposed, is eligible for the presumption of service connection for the diseases listed in § 3.309(e), including the three diseases added by this rule."

To all our readers, once again it should be obvious why Post Deployment Health, part of VA's Veterans Health Administration Public Health service, has unscientifically redefined the word "exposure." Doing so, VA is able to deny vital medical care to Agent Orange-exposed C-123 veterans by pretending the veterans weren't exposed at all.

VA accomplished this by redefining "exposure" to be:
"Exposure = Contamination Field + Bioavailability."

VA is unique in this redefinition, and in fact, Post Deployment Health is unique within the VA with their redefinition of exposure. Critical  observers might question the ethics involved. The redefinition has saved VA millions of dollars...not in compensation which will catch up with the veteran once BVA has overturned the denial, but in the medical care Compensation and Pension decided they should, outside the scope of law, deny the C-123 veterans.!

More critical ones might question the unlawful actions taken, solely to prevent C-123 veterans from receiving VA medical care.  

The 1991 Agent Orange Act, Title 38 and multiple rulings in the Federal Register need to be read carefully at 1800 G Street. It is wrong for Compensation and Pension Service to deny us medical care and other benefits as an expression of their personal preferences.

The law says, "exposure." Not bioavailability, not amount, not anything other than exposure.

Hey...we're not making this stuff up!!

2013 VA Benefit Book Now Available

Learn Your Benefits: VA’s 2013 Benefits Book Now Available

August 1, 2013 by Gary Hicks

   Navigating the road to benefits, health care and other services offered by VA and the federal government can be difficult, frustrating and often confusing. Add that to the fact that each Veteran is different can increase the difficulty of trying to figure out what a person qualifies for or is eligible to receive.
   Fortunately, VA has a product that covers it all in one easy-to-read reference – the 2013 Federal Benefits for Veterans Dependents and Survivors handbook. The 206-page book is inclusive to all Veterans and their family members despite their type of service or the era in which they served.  From the Mexican Border War period beginning May 9, 1916 through today, the book offers information on education assistance, disability compensation, pension, home loan guaranty, vocational rehabilitation, life insurance, burial assistance as well as complete listing of VA facilities, addresses, phone numbers and important websites.
   Need help adapting a car due to a service-connected disability? You can find that information on page 37. Having problems securing a loan to buy a home? Chapter 6, beginning on page 59, is dedicated to the VA Home Loan Guaranty Program. 
   Read it, know it, and share it with your realtor.For those still serving and not yet a Veteran, now is the time to read the book and prepare for your transition to civilian life. While Chapter 11 focuses on leaving active duty, numerous other portions of the book dive deeper into the specifics – very helpful things to know.

Working with the Joint Services Records Research Center

The VA is required by law to "assist" a veteran in gathering claim evidence. They meet this requirement (in their own minds) by collecting DOD and VA medical records, requesting same from civilian practitioners. In particular, VA turns to a DOD agency called "Joint Services Records Research Center," headed by Mr. Dominic Baldini.

Today, Mr. Baldini called to review the 4GB of government data we provided JSRRC to substantiate the C-123 dioxin contamination. He asked for a more focused and strictly government document based summation. Today, I will prepare exactly that and trust that soon JSRRC will more accurately inform VA of our exposure!

"A Soldier Died Today"

Waiting for an Air Force to Die? 

A Poem Worth Reading, passed along by Big John

He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he once fought
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.

And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly
For they knew where of he spoke.

But we'll hear his tales no longer,
For ol' Joe has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer
For a Soldier died today.

He won't be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.

He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won't note his passing,
'Tho a Soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young
But the passing of a Soldier
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution
To the welfare of our land
Some jerk who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?

The politician's stipend
And the style in which he lives
Are often disproportionate
To the service that he gives.

While the ordinary Soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small.

It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?

Or would you want a Soldier
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight until the end. 

He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We will need his likes again.

For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor
While he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage
At the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline
In the paper that might say:
"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
A SOLDIER DIED TODAY."

Patches - Not as Contaminated as Our Other C-123s?

Nope! At least, not according to an experienced Ranch Hand pilot. He informs us that Patches flew only malathion missions after 1965. The other Ranch Hand C-123s flew AO missions up to '71, so Patches, which still tested "heavily contaminated" in 1994 at the USAF Museum (29 years after its last spray missions!),  must represent "the lower end of contamination for the UC-123 fleet."Patches...was LESS contaminated! The others, untested, were MORE contaminated!
Dioxin, which Patches sprayed before 1965, has an uncertain half-life on different surfaces and in animals...such as us. It has, for instance, a half-life of about seven years in human females, and some studies maintain that should be 15 years! This means the other former spray planes we flew were more contaminated with dioxin than Tail #362, and had they been properly tested, would have shown their even-higher dangerous dioxin levels. But we only have Patches to go by, because the other airplanes weren't tested for many more years and after decades spent in desert storage at Davis-Monthan. By then, the dioxin had degraded.

In case you diid't note it earlier, we've located a Board of Veterans Appeals decision awarding service connection to a 731st TAS member who worked on Patches at Hanscom in the 72-73 timeframe. This won't help us get our own claims through as the VA seems to deliberately avoid noting virtually parallel decisions, and anyway, VA Compensation Services has directed in more recent years that no C-123 Agent Orange exposure claims be approved, regardless of evidence. The struggle continues!

VA Needs Data About C-123 Veterans - NOW!

The Veterans Administration and the Air Force...heck, EVERYBODY is confused about our C-123 veterans head count and personnel issues. The questions hitting us are:

1. How many C-123 veterans are there?
2. How many have submitted VA claims?
3. How many have VA claims which have been denied or approved? We don't know of any approvals.
4. Does any C-123 vet have an appeal of a VA claim denial in process with the BVA or other agency?
4. Can any or all of us claim having flown Patches or other known Agent Orange spray birds? IMPORTANT - did you fly Patches (Tail 362) or not?
5. We have been collecting a list of illnesses with LtCol Paul Bailey putting the list together in Excel - if you have not already submitted your name and whatever AO illnesses you claim, please give him your info by an email to: a208773@rocketmail.com
6. Please pass the word to other C-123 veterans - we estimate our people to number about 1560 aircrew, aeromedical evacuation, maintenance and aerial port personnel. The AF thus far has declined helping us search for retirees but we hope we can find each other by personal contacts. We also hope the VA can approach AF for help locating our people through retiree records. Again, have them write LtCol Bailey or Wes Carter, at wes@c123cancer.org
7. We need to know of deaths among our veterans. We know of just a few (Tim Olmsted, Bob Boyd, "Doc" Werner, George Gadbois, Lou Paskavitz, S. Glenn, Ron Ploof, Bill Schindler) but VA needs to get a better handle on those who have passed and their illnesses.

Great Story For Great Reporter! Call Us. Pulitzer Awaits !

Ace Reporter Looking for Great Agent Orange Story

Calling All Ace Reporters: This story has it all...romance, intrigue, adventure, airplanes, toxic dioxin chemicals, billions of dollars, government cover-up & veteran abuse. Did I mention airplanes? Did I mention romance?

2012 Prize for Agent Orange C-123 Story

Here is is, ready for your research, ready to put your      name on every wire service in the country, ready for you to get that well-deserved call from Columbia School of Journalism announcing the 2012 Pulitzer...with your very own name on it! Wow, that will leave the old J-School bragging you went there!


Are you backed by a great metropolitan daily or a large regional broadcaster? Do you have a sense of defiance? Do you yearn for an editor screaming "this story's too hot for us" as you type up your notes? Do you wish it had been you partnering with Bernstein as he met with Deep Throat? Well, Ace, that weren't nothin! Here's the blockbuster story of 2012 on a golden plate, just for the first hot shot like you to pull out his/her notebook, lick the pencil stub and start outlining the guts of a wicked awesome piece of journalistic excellence.


Here's what we offer: We are a group of 1500 manly Air Force guys and womanly Air Force ladies. We flew the C-123K Provider after Vietnam and have learned it remained heavily contaminated. Gosh, I don't know why we don't glow in the dark!


Our airplanes were discovered to be toxic, but there was a cover-up of sorts and our aircrews left unaware and unable to take health precautions related to their toxic exposures. The all-powerful Department of Veterans Affairs seems flat determined to prevent our veterans from receiving medical care (this is where you add tear-jerking emotional content), leaving us sick, and in some cases, leaving our widows in desperate situations. That ain't right, Ace.

Edward R. Murrow

This guy on the right set the standard. This guy invented journalism the way you always wanted it to be. It could be your voice saying, in effect, "This...is London." Not every reporter gets the opportunity Murrow had...or that you can grab right now!

We need your help fighting the VA's Evil Empire (that's funny...we need to fight them so they'll take care of us!) We need skillful investigative journalism, taking our 320 pages of detailed source materials and digging out the whole stinkin' mess -- we want to partner with a writer like you able to tell our story and in return, we'll give access to our pilots, flight nurses, maintenance personnel and point you to where the rest of the story can be revealed. Air Force, government agencies, universities, veterans, airplane boneyards, dark alleys, foreign agents, billion-dollar fines, dramatic court scenes...this story has depth and breadth you've never worked on before...give us a call and be the first to break the news!

We need you, Ace! Give us a few columns coverage and watch the story break.

Naval Aviator Asks House Veterans Committee to Support US!

I ask my friends to support us by writing their congressional representatives, and am heartened by this letter to Congressman Burr (chair of the Veterans Committee). Earlier, I'd convinced Mike to sign up for the Agent Orange Registry and he was fortunate to discover a previously unknown health problem during the physical! Here's this retired senior Naval officer's letter:

My friend, Major Wesley Carter,  USAF, Ret. Has been spearheading an effort to give aircrews who flew in Agent Orange contaminated aircraft the right to treatment in Veterans’ Administration medical facilities.  As you know, a number of C-123 aircraft that were used to spray Agent Orange during the Viet Nam war were later assigned to CONUS-based reserve squadrons.  Air Force tests show the aircraft remained contaminated, and, in turn, the crews who manned them were exposed to dioxin.  I thank you for the support you have already given to this issue.  I understand from Wes that your staff member, Brooks Tucker has been tireless in his efforts to obtain VA medical support for these aircrews.

I see VA’s adamant refusal to recognize the claims of the aircrews who flew in C-123K aircraft post-Vietnam as just another manifestation of the historic bureaucratic foot-dragging that has been typical these last thirty-odd years.  The VA has fought treating service members exposed to Agent Orange at every step of the way, but I fear we have yet to see the end of the claims resulting from this powerful toxin.  In the spring and summer of 1972, the aircrews from my helicopter detachment were in Da Nang at least every third day.  Out of approximately a dozen pilots,  I know of one with diabetes, another with prostate cancer and one with heart disease.  These diseases are on the list of illnesses attributable to Agent Orange.  Unfortunately, I haven’t been in contact with the remaining aircrew personnel in my unit and there could certainly be more illnesses.

In the coming years, we are going to see efforts to reduce and restrict the benefits available to our active duty and retired military personnel.  In the current fiscal climate, Americans are going to have to make sacrifices.  I often hear the statement, “Thank you for your service.”  The sincerity of that gratitude will be revealed, in part, by whether the American people will demand that military personnel (active and retired) make sacrifices in addition to those already incurred by virtue of their service.   I hope you will continue to “support the troops” both by backing Major Carter’s tireless labors and in broader areas of military benefits.

Thank you.

/Michael N. Lewis/
CAPT, USN, Ret.
Asheville NC 

Oregon Health Sciences University - NEW C-123 exposure confirmation

Today the Secretary of Veterans Affairs was sent an Independent Scientific Opinion from Oregon Health Sciences University. In this expert opinion, Dr. Fred Berman concludes that C-123 aircrews flew aboard aircraft were indeed contaminated as per the 1994 Air Force tests (Porter/Weisman), and that exposure occurred within these "heavily contaminated" airplanes!

Dr. Berman agrees that the VA's announcement dismissing our Agent Orange exposure claim was incorrect, and that aircrews "were more likely to than not" subjected to AO-presumptive illnesses caused by the dioxin exposure.

The VA has claimed there wasn't even any exposure! This is in denial of multiple Air Force tests, reviewed and accepted by other federal agencies and universities, all which say there WAS both exposure and crew contamination.

What's it take? Gold tablets from Heaven?

Appeal Readied to Seek Reversal of Aaron Olmsted's VA Claim Denial

Aaron Olmsted's VA claim was submitted and denied, then denied finally in his appeal decided 23 August 2007. Judge Stephen Cohn ruled that Tim had failed to provide evidence that the C-123s he flew were ever used to spray Agent Orange, and failed to provide evidence that there was any residue of Agent Orange in the aircraft. Tim, one of the country's more experienced aviators, died a couple months ago and an unexplained airplane crash.


Recent emails exchanges with VA, DOD, DOJ and documents provided by Hill AFB seem to give adequate meat to prepare an appeal to have the injustice done Tim reversed. I don't do this for a living...I don't know how such things are done. 


So, my draft of an appeal offered in simple English is attached. Normalspeak. And I've asked for editing from anyone except my wife who has already torn it apart nicely, thank you very much!


What now? Who can I get this to so that somebody will understand that the Air Force withheld documents which Tim's BVA judge cited as the ones missing from his hopeed for appeal for disability compensation? Is there an association of BVA attorneys (on both sides of the isle?) Is there a way to approach one of the judges or even the chairman of the BVA judges to say.."HEY...the government cheated Tim and his family."


Also, some emails and web postings have mentioned that I'm a pilot. Squash that. I am an MSC and therefore, by definition, a gentleman and not a pilot. John's the pilot, poor man.


Best,


   /s/  Wes Carter

Our complaint to VA Congressional Liaison Office re: Misleading Senator Burr

The VA's Congressional Liaison Office is the interface between that Department and both Houses of Congress. They recently sent representatives to meet with the staff of North Carolina's Senator Burr, ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Unfortunately, these folks totally twisted facts and figures in their effort to insure veterans who flew and maintain the C-123K are kept from receiving Agent Orange exposure benefits. C-123 veterans' position is that there is a preponderance of evidence confirming our dioxin exposure, certainly well past any threshold the VA might have in affording us the benefit of the doubt. Thus this letter to the CLO Assistant Director: (Oct 26 note--we've been corrected in that it was NOT the CLO meeting with Sen. Burr's staff but rather other VA officials. The CLO has, however, very kindly arranged a teleconference with their experts so we may learn more. Thanks, Carter and Adam!)
-------

12 October 2011

Mr. Adam Anicich
Assistant Director
Congressional Liaison Service
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
189 Russell – Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Mr. Anicich,

Members of your staff recently discussed with Senator Burr’s staff the Agent Orange contamination of airplanes my Air Force squadron flew between 1972-1982. This plane was the C-123K, used for spraying Agent Orange in Vietnam until 1971. Our crewmembers’ concern is that the aircraft remained contaminated with dioxin after the war and exposed us to the typical Agent Orange presumptive illnesses.

The VA having denied all claims from our veterans on this issue, I asked my Senator and his staff to evaluate the materials explaining our position and to bring them to the VA’s attention. Your staff responded, in a meeting with Mr. Brooks Tucker, with information I believe was misleading and structured not to be truthful but rather to deny any Agent Orange contamination, constructing whatever argument that might be necessary, however inaccurate. I acknowledge that the details provided Senator Burr by your staff may have originated from the Air Force but the VA has adequate expertise in this subject to have more correctly informed the Senator.

In particular, I object to your representatives characterizing the Agent Orange contamination of the C-123K, saying:

“The scientific analyses of the dioxin TCDD in Agent Orange indicates that it has a very short lifespan once it dries or binds on a surface like metal. In VA’s opinion, it is highly unlikely that TCDD would remain present in a harmful form for a duration of time that would allow it to be persistently present on metal surfaces for years after it dried on that surface. 

Given the lack of testing done on the C-123s in the years following the Vietnam War, it is impossible to determine if TCDD was present in a harmful state during the years you and others were flying and maintaining those aircraft. VA views the Air Force actions relative to the clean-up of Patches and the decision to not sell mothballed C-123s as indicators of an overly cautious mindset within Air Force legal circles that desired to avoid any potential for liability if the aircraft were placed in a museum or sold to a private entity.”

What the heck does a 2000 decision not to sell contaminated C-123 airplanes, already tested as positive for dioxin and labeled by the experts as “heavily contaminated, extremely dangerous, extremely hazardous, extremely contaminated” have to do with our exposure back in 1972-1982 when we flew them? It would have aided us to know of the contamination back during our duty days, but times were more innocent then regarding dioxin. But not now…the airplanes have been repeatedly and expertly tested past any court’s requirement of proof of having been contaminated with dioxin. Multiple expert sources have established that the aircrews aboard them for hundreds and thousands of hours were exposed. 

The suggestion that bare steel does not retain dioxin contamination over the years does not trump the fact that there were very few bare steel surfaces inside or outside the C-123. Instead, nearly every surface was painted and paint absorbs Agent Orange readily. Although the distillates would evaporate over the years, not the dioxin. And we began service on those airplanes the very year after their last spray missions, and without any decontamination, just broom swept and hosed out. The various fabrics and insulation, tons of it, absorbed Agent Orange. Agent Orange built up in residue in nooks and crannies everywhere, to the point that the depot maintenance experts said the floors and wings would have to be removed to get it all out.

How many tests does it take (and the Air Force did so many of them) to convince the VA that the airplane was contaminated? How many words do I have to type to make the argument perfectly clear? Are the Air Force’s own test results not adequate to move you?

How could the public servants in the Congressional Liaison Office mislead public officials with such intensity and firm dedication in trying to prevent veterans from receiving earned benefits and protections? Can you locate the many toxicologists who tested these airplanes and labeled them “extremely contaminated” so they can help you understand the obvious conflict with the VA’s characterization of the Air Force as having “an overly cautious mindset”? Does anyone, anywhere, use “extremely dangerous”(Air Force words) to mean “overly cautious” (VA characterization of Air Force position)?

Can you locate an ethical person in the VA to explain the Department’s position to me and to the veterans I flew with? We are not presenting a hypothetical situation of water containing dioxin somehow reaching our ship out at sea, but instead the PROVEN contamination of an airplane we were ordered to fly for a decade. And made sick thereby.

Respectfully,

 /signed/

Wesley T. Carter, Major, USAF, Retired
Medical Service Corps   http://www.c123kcancer.blogspot.com

Deadline for Retroactive Benefits Approaches - August 30!

PLEASE: If you have, or suspect you have any condition associated with Agent Orange exposure, your application for benefits musts be filed with the Department of Veterans Affairs by August 30 to qualify for one year of retroactive benefits.


The VA has been announcing this for quite some time, and those suffering from three specific diseases may qualify for a year of retroactive benefits...that will be determined by their rating officers, but YOU must send in at least a simple letter of application...consider using the following language - a more formal application can follow at any time but you MUST have something submitted.


Your more formal paperwork can follow later, but let's get this started now. If you know of veterans' survivors, please get the word to them as well!


(your name and address)
(your Social Security Number)


To: Department of Veterans Affairs
    address of your VA Regional Office)


I have been exposed to Agent Orange while in the United States Air Force as a crew member aboard our C-123K aircraft, and apply for all appropriate protections and benefits.


Respectfully,




(signature)
-------------- from Air Force Sergeants Association----------------

VETERANS NEWS  Agent Orange Deadline Approaching Vietnam-era veterans take note; an important due date is approaching for those who have medical diagnoses for three presumptive conditions related to exposure to Agent Orange. Veterans who have been diagnosed with ischemic heart disease, hairy cell/B-cell leukemias and Parkinson’s disease have until August 30, 2011, to file their disability claims with VA in order to qualify for up to one year of retroactive benefits. Veterans can file for disability claims online at VA's Agent Orange Fast Track Claims Processing System (https://www.fasttrack.va.gov/AOFastTrack).  ; Veterans who served in the Republic of Vietnam or in-land waterways between January 9, 1962 and May 7, 1975 may use this website to apply for disability benefits for these conditions. (THIS ALSO APPLIES TO ANY PERSON EXPOSED TO AGENT ORANGE UNDER WHATEVER CIRCUMSTANCES.) NOTE: Widows and widowers whose spouses have died from Agent Orange presumptive conditions may also qualify for retroactive benefits and are encouraged to file for dependent indemnity compensation by August 30. Immunization Awareness for Veterans VA health care workers prepare for the upcoming flu season, it’s important for vets to get the right vaccines in the right doses at the right time.  As part of National Immunization Awareness Month activities, VA provides this list (http://www.va.gov/health/NewsFeatures/20110818a.asp) of some of the most important vaccines.