C-123 Veterans Association Works Washington – One Last Trip

I spent a week working various issues with VA and Senate staffers, including a very special luncheon on December 15 in the nice house just over my shoulder.

Worked with law firms providing our pro bono legal assistance, plus ROA, NVLSP, DAV and other advocates, finishing just a day before VA announced its new Camp Lejeune water policy which, like the C-123 policy, denied Reservists retroactive compensation benefits.

I had the opportunity to make suggestions to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs:
a) utilize fire department and military medics for VA home health care visits.
b) VA should inform America's 20 million veterans of steps ordinary Americans can take to help oppose terrorism.

Board of Veterans Appeals Calls Reserve & Guard "Weekend Warriors" in Disability Appeals

Unacceptable prejudice!

In today's All Volunteer military I find it highly offensive that an official agency of the Department of Veterans Affairs refers to Reserve and Guard warriors as "weekend warriors," slurs used even in official citations, summaries of their appeals for service-connected illnesses and injuries.

(from a Reservist's BVA appeal, Citation Nr: 1243683, remanded for VARO errors)

The BVA web site's decisions go back to the early '90s. Below is just the first page of dozens, each showing that an administrative law judge (ALJ) considered the veteran appealing a claim to be worthy only of a "weekend" label, somehow less than an American warrior, and that had to affect the claim's outcome. Clearly an ALJ using this language needs to be challenged.

The law, VA rules and regulations should govern the outcome of a veteran's claim, not the ALJ's attitudes.

Every Reserve and Guardsman having a BVA appeal and receiving this disgusting treatment should appeal to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. They've received an injustice from the Department of Veterans Affairs and it shouldn't be tolerated.

I trust that NGAUS, ROA and all other military associations will challenge VA on this slur.

 ("weekend warrior")

Citation Nr: 1503497 Decision Date: 01/26/15 Archive Date: 02/09/15 DOCKET NO. 09-18 264

www.va.gov/vetapp15/files1/1503497.txt [view]

hour weekend drills that each Reservist or National Guardsman must perform each year and is often referred to as "weekend warrior" training. These drills are deemed to be part-time training. 

VA Secretary McDonald's March 17 Memorandum on C-123 Agent Orange Veterans

We haven't seen it but have had references from various sources. We've heard enough to be disappointed.

We'll have faith that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs meant for VA to respond effectively to C-123 veterans, but his Office of General Counsel (OGC) has been very effective in preventing any impact that matters.

Apparently responding to the January 8, 2015 report to the Secretary by the Institute of Medicine C-123 Agent Orange Committee, Secretary McDonald has issued a memorandum summing up the VA reaction and plan going forward, but his plan was created by OGC in defiance of the committee set up by the Secretary to recommend his response. The committee recommended a much more reasonable course, but the OGC felt it best to prevent veterans' care with their own plan.

Our first response to the Secretary's action is that we're grateful that the memorandum acknowledges the IOM report, and concurs with its finding of exposure and harm to the C-123 aircrews and maintainers.

Our next response is one of bewilderment. While the VA now agrees we were exposed and harmed flying the former Agent Orange spray aircraft, the Office of General Counsel developed its extra-legal approach which prevents any medical care or benefits. Widows, widowers and disabled vets whose claims have been in for years are blocked from any VA care.

How? By the OGC decision to limit service connection from March 17 going forward, and just to those Reservists who happened to develop their prostate cancer over the weekend duty. By limiting all benefits to Reservists whose ALS developed during their two-week annual training. By limiting benefits to Reservists whose soft tissue sarcomas, or any of the other recognized Agent Orange illnesses, developed during, and only during, their Reserve duties.

But there likely aren't any aircrew or maintenance personnel affected by the Secretary's memorandum because science and medicine know perfectly well these Agent Orange illnesses take decades to manifest themselves. Thus VA yields nothing, concedes nothing. Cares about nobody. Saves VA money.

We've learned that VA's OGC approach endangers today's Guard and Reserve forces. Reserve Component volunteers who deploy on some hazardous situation in which they are exposed to horrible diseases such as ebola and return to civilian status when the mission has been completed, will be refused care and benefits from the VA when the disease completes its two week incubation period and the Reservist is struck with horrible illness.

VA has responded to the four year C-123 thorn in its side with courtroom adversarial lightning bolts. VA found a clever way to say "We care" while simultaneously preventing care for all C-123 veterans as well establishing a new and magnificent barrier to all future pesky Reserve Component disability claims.

Dengue fever, malaria, ebola, burn bits, insect bites, dirty water, any and all other environmental hazards which present an illness taking time to develop...VA will care only for personnel (read none, except sudden-type situations like snake bites or chemical burns) who develop the illnesses while on duty. If a disease in its natural course takes a few days or weeks to develop and the Reservist has returned to civilian life in the meantime, too bad. VA announced April 16 it save money and keep appointment lines in its hospitals shorter by refusing any and all benefits with firmly-expressed appreciation for their service and regrets that the volunteer dead or dying servicemembers aren't real veterans.

OGC's inventive but certainly extra-legal approach has been challenged by Senate and House leaders, by veterans service organization, legal scholars, and C-123 veterans themselves.  At this point, things seem to have stalled for weeks. The Secretary's actual plan, announced to the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee as ready for implementation by early March, still flounders.

And veterans are still refused care. And OGC has developed a whole new way to prevent care sought by today's veterans exposed to harmful biological or toxin agents. Real Perry Mason stuff, this!

By the way, let's hope the VA informs DOD of their decision, because somebody has to tell the Reserve Component servicemembers still volunteering for such duty placing them in harm's way without VA at their back.

Maybe some firm should market a special health insurance scheme for the US Army Reserve, US Marine Corps Reserve, Navy Reserve, Coast Guard Reserve, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard and Army National Guard.

As soon as those volunteers learn that once finished with their Reserve duty, VA won't care for them and neither will DOD's health care facilities, they'll either be out of the military or well-advised to insure themselves: DOD and VA won't.

ROA Calls on Secretary McDonald To Do The Right Thing For C-123 Veterans!

Yesterday, Reserve Officer Association Executive Director Major General Jeffrey Phillips added ROA's powerful voice to the Air Force Times and other calls for the Department of Veterans Affairs to act quickly, and inclusively regarding C-123 veterans' claims.

ROA first sought justice for C-123 vets in 2012 and subsequently, the late CAPT Marshall Hanson's very nice article about us in 2013. We appreciate this leadership and trust ROA's voice will be heard...loud and clear.

C-123 "Grassroots Victory" – Reserve Officer Association Magazine

"A FIRST STEP TOWARDS A GRASSROOTS VICTORY"...Reserve Officer Association (from the November/December issue)

Major Wesley T. Carter, USAF (Ret.), is an ROA Life Member and chair of the C-123 Veterans Association. While he didn’t start crewing on the C-123 until 1974, Maj Carter, a medical service officer, suffers ail­ments faced by many Vietnam veterans. 

Maj Carter, 66, wasn’t motivated by his own medical situation. While the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) denied his claim for Agent Orange exposure, he is 100 percent disabled due to other military-related injuries.

The VA grants compensation for presumptive exposure to herbicides to those who served in Vietnam. Between 1972 and 1982, about 1,500 Air Force Reserve men and women served aboard 34 C-123s that had been used for the defoliation mission spraying Agent Orange in Vietnam and other coun­tries in Southeast Asia.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Paul Bailey was one of the 1,500. For nearly a decade in the 1970s, he flew the airframe #362  nicknamed “Patches”—the aircraft had more than 600 bullet holes from enemy fire as it sprayed over Vietnam. He suffers from prostate cancer and terminal metastatic cancer of the pelvis and ribs.

Every claim filed by C-123 veterans without Vietnam wartime expe­rience, including Lt Col Bailey’s, has been denied, Maj Carter told The Huffington Post. Several C-123 veterans were granted disability benefits after appealing denials to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA).

Maj Carter brought this to the attention of ROA in 2011. In a testimony on Capitol Hill, ROA included the plight of Air Force Reserve C-123 crew members, including a statement before the VA Advisory Committee on Disability Compensation.

In his labors, Maj Carter is as much of a workhorse as was the C-123. He has contacted other nonprofits for support, vis­ited Capitol Hill, and reached out to scientists and medical professionals to gain support for submitted disability claims. Through his efforts, 14 high-ranking doctors, toxicologists, and environmental scientists questioned the VA’s C-123 pol­icy in a letter to Allison Hickey, VA undersecretary for bene­fits, in November 2012. 

Politicians have also begun pressing the issue. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., ranking member on the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., have asked the VA Office of Inspector General to review whether the department is inappropriately denying disability compensa­tion to veterans who say they were sickened by postwar con­tamination, the Washington Post reported in an article about Lt Col Bailey.

In August, the VA reversed its denial of Lt Col Bailey’s claim and granted him the presumption of exposure. It was a significant decision.

“No such claim has ever been approved [short of BVA]— Bailey’s is the first,” Maj Carter shared with ROA. His efforts can be credited with changing VA policy.

It’s unknown whether Lt Col Bailey’s success will lead to a reversal of VA C-123 policy or if the VA will continue to main­tain that carcinogenic dioxin and other components of Agent Orange could not have posed health risks after Vietnam. However, in October, the C-123 Veterans Association reported that a second veteran, MSgt Dave Noonan, won his VA Agent Orange exposure claim. He joins Lt Col Bailey as the only veterans to succeed in convincing the government of the validity of their situation.

“Perhaps, dare we hope, some change is coming?” Maj Carter suggested. One thing is certain. He—and ROA—won’t stop fighting on behalf of C-123 veterans.

If you have had legislative success as an individual or as part of an ROA department, contact CAPT Marshall Hanson, USNR (Ret.), at mhanson@roa.org.

(note: LtCol Bailey passed away from his Agent Orange exposures on October 27, 2013)

ROA Mentions C-123 Issue in Their SmartBrief

ROA kindly mentioned the C-123 folks in their 12 July SmartBrief, at their site for your reading. Thanks, Colonel Alan Clune, for sending it in and for wrapping it around a very effective message back to ROA leadership!

Reserve Officers Association Adds Support

Today we heard from ROA Executive Director MG Andrews Davis USMC Ret. of his professional

association's support for C-123 veterans' Agent Orange exposure claims. I haven't been able to attend a national convention since Chicago 1982, and it was there USCG CAPT Sparks recommissioned me into the USAF Medical Service Corps. A great day, as I really wanted back on flying status, although it cost me a year of time-in-grade for promotion.

The broad language of ROA Resolution 10-26 "Recognition of Illnesses Caused by Hazardous Warfare Agents address our eligibility for ROA support, in addition to their historical role of advocacy of supporting national defense. We look forward to fleshing out the details of what ROA can suggest as we move towards convincing the VA to follow the law...and permit our service connection claims. Many of us have contributed to ROA programs ourselves for decades and we're grateful we can turn to our professional organization at this time.

ROA's "The Officer" Comments on C-123K Agent Orange!

From the September-October 2011 issue of The Officer, by CAPT Marshall Hansen, USNR Ret.:

Despite statistics AO continued to affect Air Force personnel, even some exposed after the War. From 1972-1982, contaminated C-123 aircraft, which dispersed the AO during the war, were flown by reserve aircrews who were continually exposed to toxins for more than a decade after the Vietnam War.  Most crew members are showing ailments that can be related to AO exposure. Some have died.