President's Executive Orders Address Veterans' Issues

Speaking today at the American Legion's 2014 National Convention, President Obama announced nineteen steps he is taking through executive orders to address the ongoing scandal in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Unfortunately, nothing was mentioned about the claims or appeals process. (CLICK for complete speech)

Yesterday, the VA itself released an Inspector General report which indicates no deaths can be positively attributed to the delays in patient care in Phoenix, despite whistle-blower allegations.

Among the key points in the President's orders are:

• A new recruiting campaign to fill shortages of doctors and nurses at VA hospitals.

• Automatically enrolling military personnel receiving mental health care into mental health treatment programs by the VA.

• A partnership with five national banks to help veterans get lower rate mortgages easier.

• New efforts to better understand traumatic brain injuries, including a $34.4 million VA suicide prevention study involving 1800 veterans at 29 VA hospitals, and more suicide prevention training for military and VA personnel.

• Automatic enrollment of separating service personnel in transition programs.

In recent weeks the VA has also trumpeted grants for homeless veterans throughout the country, dedicating millions towards this serious need.

The VA scandal erupted in April when a retired doctor at the VA hospital in Phoenix disclosed that long wait times may have contributed to the deaths of as many as 40 veterans. A preliminary investigation found that delays and falsified records were widespread through the VA system.

The President assured the Legionnaires, "We are going to fix what is wrong. We are going to do right by you and your families, and that is a solid pledge and commitment I’m making to you here.”

The American Legion has long been a supporter of C-123 veterans' Agent Orange exposure claims, for which we continue to express our gratitude.

A Little Vacation - Blog will be off-line for a couple days

Wes

This is sort of a personal entry in our C-123 veterans blog...hope you don't mind the editorial privilege after 226 earlier posts.

We will be off-line for a couple days beginning Monday. I'm in for another round of surgery at Oregon Health Sciences University...great place, great docs, and a great cafeteria. The reason is a problem called Avascular Necrosis (AVN) which will force replacement of my hips, and perhaps my knees also. This will be my 12th surgery since the end of the Gulf War. And AVN is now associated with Agent Orange. Oh, the joy!

OSHU...first university to identify C-123 dioxin exposure!

And my AVN, like our Agent Orange exposure,  also has a VA connection. Last year, in significant pain, I sought care in my local VA emergency room. The ER x-rays showed AVN, and the next month I was seen by a VA orthopedic surgeon. He dismissed the AVN diagnosis made in the ER, according to the notes he entered, because I had no history of being on a specific medicine which causes about a third of AVN cases. Patients who have joint pain, and who have a history of using that medicine, are supposed to have AVN considered during their doctor's examination.

And if this doctor had read a few pages back in my VA medical records...which were right before him on the same computer he was entering his notes with, he'd have seen I had been on that medicine for two years...two years of treatment by the VA.

I didn't learn of his error until later this year at the VA when I was having a procedure guided by fluoroscopic imaging, and the doctor mentioned the AVN that he observed, and mentioned also that my hip was fractured.

Ten months had passed since the ER visit in the same VA facility...ten months of increasing discomfort, and ten months of progress of the AVN disease which might have been halted, or at least slowed, by medicine. Maybe even tomorrow's surgery prevented.

The VA couldn't get me reviewed for the necessary surgery for a couple months which would have meant waiting even more months until the surgery itself. So off to a civilian facility where I was seen and surgery arranged within two weeks by an outstanding professor of medicine. Tomorrow I'll wake up with a new steel hip and a tray of hospital jello for dinner...yuck. Four weeks of rehab - double yuck.

Comrades, we've had a miserable year struggling through this C-123 contamination issue trying to get the VA to care for our Agent Orange illnesses. We're not there yet although a tremendous amount of information has been collected to support our position, and we have also gained the support of outstanding scholars in this field, journalists, legislators and veterans organizations. We'll prevail. But the problem is that there will be fewer of us to prevail than when we began...because the VA continues to refuse recognition that our decade of flying the dioxin-contaminated C-123 exposed us to that dioxin. The VA says "contamination-yes, exposure-no."

Even though the VA sometimes misses the mark as seems to be the case with my AVN disease, the VA are the go-to guys for Agent Orange presumptive illnesses, and the VA is where veterans must go when they lack other insurance. So it is a problem when the VA pretends that we haven't been exposed to dioxin.

Speaking for myself, I wish the VA would spend more time and effort properly caring for me and the guys I flew with than in preventing C-123 aircrews from being eligible for VA care!

I want to shout out my sincere appreciation for my VA dental service, for my primary care provider, for my prostate cancer team, the ER, and the imaging services. I'm blessed with the freedom to bitch and moan about the VA and still turn to the VA for treatment by people who truly care about me.

I wish that all our C-123 maintenance personnel, aerial port guys and aircrew could get the VA care they deserve!

I wish that all our C-123 maintenance personnel, aerial port guys and aircrew would shout at their elected officials, demanding that the VA grant service connection to our Agent Orange veterans! We need people like Senator Patty Murray of Washington to be beating on the VA for us...as has her ranking member Richard Burr.

Why Are We Getting Screwed on C-123 Agent Orange Benefits?

C-123 Veteran

Why? We were exposed - no question among reputable scientists about that. We were good soldiers - in fact, we were the "go-to guys" for decades, fighting in two or three wars along the way, recognized by our service for outstanding achievement. Why have we been shafted on this Agent Orange exposure issue by the Air Force which we love so much?

Disinterest. We've been dumped. There aren't enough C-123 veterans (only about 1500) to interest the average Senator or Congressman - to motivate them to motivate the Air Force.

Mostly, that's because our own members haven't been vocal enough to bring the message to their elected representatives. And partly, there is little "sizzle" left in the Agent Orange story and the public wearies of the issue. After all, who wants to keep hearing about a problem for four decades?

Unfortunately, we as C-123 veterans do indeed keep hearing about the problem of Agent Orange contamination of the C-123. We hear about it from our doctors! We keep seeing the problem evidenced in painful clarity in beloved friends from our flying days in the Dumpster.

SITREP:

 There are 100 United States Senators. Thus far, we have had interest in our cause expressed by only three (from Connecticut, Oregon and North Carolina.) 

There are 435 United States Congressmen. Thus far, we have had interest in our cause expressed by NONE. Not one. Nada. Not even an answer to the hundreds of letters our association has written asking for Congress to help.









We need C-123 veterans, particularly those in New York, North Carolina, California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Washington to contact their representative and loudly, loudly, ask for their help!

Get off your tired, old, worn-out butts and get your Congressmen and Senators involved - PLEASE!

A summary:
1. As for veterans' organizations, I count at least eleven of significant size and importance, yet we have only had assistance from the American Legion and the Vietnam Veterans of America. I have personally approached the leadership of the Disabled American Veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, the Military Officers Association of America, Paralyzed Veterans of America and Air Force Sergeants Association (I'm a member of all) without even the courtesy of a response! Also...the Fleet Reserve Association of which I'm not a member.

2. We did receive tremendous support from Dr. Linda Schwartz, Director of Veterans Affairs of the State of Connecticut, who at the time was National President of the State Directors of Veterans Affairs! Dr, Schwartz is also a retired Air Force flight nurse who flew C-123s!

3. As for professional associations other than Linda's, we have approached the Air Force Association, the Army Aviation Association, the Marine Corps Aviation Association, the Airline Pilots Association, the Society of Toxicology, and perhaps a dozen others...also without a single response even though our group of veterans belong to most of these groups.

4. Regarding government agencies: none has offered any opinions or support other than the tremendously important opinion rendered by Dr. Sinks of CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry - Dr. Sinks came out HARD and FIRM in confirming our dioxin exposure aboard the C-123. Every other agency declined involvement or referred us to another agency which they already knew wouldn't get involved, even if their mission statement did touch on concerns such as ours.

5. The Veterans Administration looked into the issue of C-123 contamination and conducted their investigation with the objective given their representatives of preventing all support regarding aircrew dioxin exposure. "How to keep the veterans from becoming qualified for service connection" was their position from start to finish. No effort was made to find an avenue, an "as likely to as not" possibility of our having been exposed, because that would have left us eligible for VA medical care.

6. The Air Force conducted a more formal investigation, done at the School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM). After five months their report generally stated the AF was unable to determine any degree of aircrew Agent Orange exposure. This was because of the years which have passed since the last spray missions, the years the aircraft were stored in harsh conditions and the methods used when first tests were performed. Somehow, unable to make a determination, they therefore concluded aircrews most likely were NOT exposed. Is that  twist of logic or what? Further, the AF report was cited by the VA as their reason for canceling a promised investigation by the Institute of Medicine's Agent Orange Subcommittee. We've already been told (most privately) by previous members that the IOM would have a hard time NOT finding our aircrews, maintenance and aerial port to have been exposed!

7. We have had good support from the media. The Gannett chain, CBS, PBS, Mr. Bill Kurtis, New England Public Radio, the Springfield Republican, the Hartford Courant, Air Force & Army Times have covered our issue with both accuracy and compassion. Various Internet resources have also given us their backing.

VA Deceives Sen. Burr's Staff re: Agent Orange & C-123

Correspondence Thursday regarding a meeting in which senior staff of North Carolina's Senator Burr (ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee) discussed our C-123 Agent Orange issues with representatives of the Veterans Administration. The VA put forth an argument denying the possibility of our exposure during the years 1972-1982 by saying that the surface contamination of the aircraft decades later when stored at Davis-Monthan would have lessened.

Does that make sense to anyone? To say that airplanes MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN contaminated in 2010 so they therefore weren't contaminated in 1972? What about the multiple Air Force tests done over the decades between 1972-2008 in which every single test reported POSITIVE for the presence of dioxin.

The VA wonks are using a hypothetical argument that dioxin would have decayed over the decades to claim we couldn't have been exposed the very year after the last spray mission. I'm working here to find a word other than "liar" to fairly describe such a statement!

Here is the response we sent Sen. Burr's office to the summation they provided of their meeting with the VA:
-------------

To: Tucker, Brooks (Burr)
 Subject: Sen. Burr's Staff report - meeting with VA and VA position re: C-123 Agent Orange

Thanks for responding.  They mislead you. Please remind them that Air Force tests, done in 1994, determined the aircraft "heavily contaminated"...Air Force words! Further, additional tests done in 1996, 1998 and 2000 showed continued contamination. These tests cannot be ignored! The VA can't pick and chose which facts to use to deny us service connection 

Hypothetical dioxin degradation on surfaces in direct sunlight hasnothing to do with our flying these airplanes right after their last spray flights...nothing to do with the contamination throughout each aircraft. A half-baked VA concept of surface dioxin degradation cannot trump multiple Air Force tests PROVING contamination. To accept the VA position one would have to say each of the scientific Air Force tests done over the decades didn't exist, or were in error.  Professor Jeanie Stellman of Columbia University School of Public Health has told the VA that Agent Orange can degrade as the volatiles age, but not dioxin! It remains. On some surfaces, it can remain for decades.   

Tell them that we flew the airplanes NOT decades after Vietnam, but just ONE YEAR after they stopped spraying Agent Orange. We started flying them in 1972 and flew them for a full decade. The contamination of the dioxin on the aircraft was not only on metal surfaces, but in nooks and corners, ducting, hollow tubing, insulation, fabrics (this old airplane had fabric everywhere!) and pooled under the floor as well as in the wings.  

IMPORTANT: Dioxin contamination of painted surfaces is also much more dangerous than dioxin on plain metal, and nearly every metal surface in our aircraft was painted, thus retaining dioxin longer because the toxins soak into paint more readily than into solid metal. This is why complete paint removal is required as part of the dioxin decontamination, as was done on Patches.

 Finally, they may have an opinion which they leap to in preventing our claims, but the Oregon Health Sciences University Toxicology Department and the School of Public Health at Columbia have reviewed the Air Force tests, concluded that they are scientifically acceptable even though a decade or more old AND THAT OUR AIRCRAFT WERE CONTAMINATED AND OUR CREWS WERE EXPOSED!   

The VA and Dod have as their usual source of the surface lifespan info Dr. Alvin Young, who is the gentleman who sarcastically described our Agent Orange-contaminated C-123 crews as "trash haulers, freeloaders", "looking for a sympathetic congressman for tax-free dollars." His attitude must disqualify him from influence regarding our claims.  

In the case of our aircraft stored at Davis-Monthan (the Boneyard), perhaps decades of the aircraft sitting in the desert sun did degrade the dioxin present on the exterior surfaces of the C-123K/UC-123K airplanes...but that hypothetical degrading did not take place between 1972-1982 when we flew, and it did not take place INSIDE the aircraft where our duties placed us for thousands of hours. Further, tests done during the decades the aircraft were store continued to show their toxicity. The aircraft did not go into storage until 1981-1982. Our exposure was over a decade BEFORE the first Air Force test on Tail #362 reported 100% of the swipe tests as positive for presence of dioxin. Our exposure was two decades BEFORE the first Air Force test on Tail #362 directed personnel not enter or work around the aircraft without hazmat protection.  

You mention "the lack of testing on the C-123s in the years following the Vietnam War". CORRECTION: there were tests, many of them, each of which established the toxins present. Air Force tests done in 1979, Air Force tests done in 1994, Air Force tests done in 1996, Air Force tests done in 2000, Air Force tests done in 2008, Air Force tests done in 2010...what lack of tests are they talking about? All these tests showed Agent Orange present. No tests done FAILED to show Agent Orange present. The words used by the Air Force..."HEAVILY CONTAMINATED, EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS, EXTREMELY DANGEROUS, EXTREMELY CONTAMINATED"...perhaps these should be strong enough to convince the VA that it is "as likely to as not". 

And I assure you, even accepting their thought that Agent Orange has a very short lifespan...we flew them within a year of their last spray missions! We flew them with dioxin contamination.  If the Air Force prohibited sale of the aircraft in 2000 to prevent a risk to public health, it is impossible to avoid the absolute fact that OUR health was affected decades earlier, with the contamination more intense. Further, Ranch Hand aviators flew their missions for 11 months while in-country. We flew our missions in these contaminated aircraft for A DECADE! Our exposure may have been less intense but it was over a much longer period. Please press as strongly as you can on this. 

We need you and Senator Burr to help us. An expert in dioxin contamination from any reputable laboratory or university would have laughed those guys out of your office! 

          Regards,    

Wesley T. Carter, Major, USAF, Retired    http://www.c123kcancer.blogspot.com-