Springfield (MA) The Republican: Major C-123 News Article by Reporter Jeanette DeForge

Today's The Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts) carries a major article addressing the C-123 exposure situation and VA's tepid reaction to the definitive Institute of Medicine report issued on January 9, 2015.

The Republican, and reporter Jeanette DeForge, have carried news about this situation for four years, since C-123 veterans first filed a formal Inspector General complaint through the United States Air Force. That IG complaint was denied, as were all the veterans' complaints and requests for inquiries with the Department of Veterans Affairs, between 2011 and 2015.

But The Republican carried the story. The Republican saw the kernel of truth, and story after story, editorial after editorial, Deforge revealed the details of an intricate legal, historical, aeronautical, military and medical puzzle the veterans from Westover AFB, Rickenbacker ANGB and Pittsburgh IAP found themselves struggling through.

DeForge is due our thanks...not for her favoritism or special treatment, but because she and her publisher faithfully played their roles in fulfilling the Constitution's expectations of journalists, in its First Amendment guarantees of freedom of the press.

Thank God for that freedom, for The Republican, and for Jeanette DeForge.  They make wearing our flight suits for these past decades worth it all.

AGENT ORANGE
• Westover Reservists exposed to Agent Orange, federal officials rule after 4-year battle
• Support grows for Westover veterans who served in planes contaminated by Agent Orange, but VA scandal stymies efforts
• Editorial: U.S. government needs to own responsibility for Agent Orange exposure at Westover as it does for radiation exposure at Chapman Valve
• Editorial: U.S. government's treatment unconscionable of Westover veterans exposed to Agent Orange
• Westover Air Reserve veterans exposed to Agent Orange file complaint with Department of Defense

C-123 Veterans' Progress With VA Claims Thru 1/31/2015

C-123 Issues First Brought to VA Leadership– April 2011
           
C-123 Claims Honored by VA through 1/31/2015– ZERO, nadda, not a single one

Date All Scientific Information in Hand by VA to Award C-123 Exposure Claims – 2010

C-123 Veterans' Deaths Since 2008 – total is unknown but among others it includes:

BG Mike Walker
Col Warner Jones
MSgt George Gadbois
Maj Cliff Turcotte
MSgt Bill Schindler
MSgt Bill Gifford
MSgt Bob Boyd
MSgt Mike Lieb
Col Ed Paskowitz
Col Jim Gallin
SSgt Maleine Adams
LtCol Paul Bailey
MSgt Roy Menard
Col Ed Lincoln
LtCol Fred Fowler
MSgt Ron Ploof
LtCol Tim Olmsted
LtCol Betty Lalibrete
MSgt Ray Menard
Col Paul Hoffman
Col Jim Gallin
LtCol Bob Kirshling
TSgt S. Glenn

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.

VA? Can you hear us knocking at the door?

Hello in there? 

VA?

VA? Can you hear us?

Can't you hear us knocking? Can't we come in yet?

We're sick and its cold out here. You've kept us standing for years. Some of us have died, knocking at your doors.

Won't someone please come approve our disability applications which have been on your desk for years, and unlock your hospital door.

We want to come in for help. Now is much better than later!

We served. What more do you ask of us? 

Can't you hear us knocking? Hello?

Thank you.

    C-123 Veterans

AF Times: C-123 Veterans Were Exposed!

Veterans Affairs: A "HAMPSTER WHEEL" DISABILITY APPEALS PROCESS"

Veterans advocates: Stop the VA 'hamster wheel' disability appeals process

By Heath Druzin Stars and Stripes Published: January 22, 2015

Paper files of benefits cases crowd shelves at the Department of Veterans Affairs office in Los Angeles, December 5, 2012.

RICK LOOMIS, LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT

RELATED

• 
  

  ‘FUBAR on steroids’: Congressmen blast VA about construction debacles

  In the latest black eye for the Department of Veterans Affairs, congressmen grilled officials Wednesday over construction mismanagement that has cost the department hundreds of millions of dollars in overruns and delayed major projects by years.

The effort to clear a massive backlog of veteran disability claims is hurting efforts to address a similar backlog in appeals of denied claims, say advocates demanding reforms to an onerous “hamster wheel” system that leaves veterans languishing for years.

A congressional subcommittee hearing Thursday focused on the appeals process, noting that the Department of Veterans Affairs has about 350,000 pending appeals of denied service-connected disability claims.

“I am aware that the [VA] chose to prioritize certain initial claims in recent years, but I must say that when veterans in my district share that they waited six, eight, 10 years to resolve a meritorious appeal of a service-connected disability claim, I just find that alarming and unacceptable,” Rep. Ralph Abraham, R-La., said.

Veterans wait an average 3½ years to get an initial decision and often years longer for the VA to finalize that decision. There are almost 510,000 original disability claims pending, with more than 240,000 deemed “backlogged” — meaning the veteran has been awaiting a decision for at least 125 days.

VA & C-123 Veterans: "A Bellwether Moment" for Secretary McDonald (Navy Times Editorial)

Editorial: A bellwether VA moment

2:27 p.m. EST January 23, 2015

Bob McDonald must turn around VA.

New Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald has the Herculean task of trying to right his scandal-­plagued department, a mighty challenge forcefully defied by institutional resistance to change and a bureaucratic belief that its core mission is to serve the best interests of the government rather than those of the men and women who served the country in uniform.

VA's latest success in embarrassing itself involves the Air Force's fleet of C­-123 aircraft that sprayed the toxic defoliant Agent Orange on the jungles of Southeast Asia in the Vietnam War.

After the war, the planes were scrubbed down and kept in service, with 1,500 to 2,100 troops flying on them before they were retired for good in 1982. Many of those troops are now sick with cancer and other illnesses that they've long claimed were caused by toxic residue lingering in those C­-123 airframes.

That charge was backed up in 2012 in a government report. In customary fashion, VA's response was complete denial. Now, a new scientific review has come to the same conclusion as the earlier report — "with confidence." It's the latest in decades of VA health controversies: depleted uranium, burn pits, tainted anthrax vaccine, and more. 

In the pointed words of Rick Weidman of Vietnam Veterans of America, VA's standard approach to veterans' environmental health issues is "delay, deny, wait 'til they die."

McDonald somehow must turn around this massive, calcified outfit that still lacks vision, accountability, and, most importantly, trust among many of the

veterans it was created to serve.

VA officials promise to respond to the newest C-­123 report. That response will go a long way toward determining whether McDonald can effect the changes so badly overdue at VA.

House Veterans Committee Chair Blasts VA

He said it, right out loud. In the stately halls of Congress.

"FUBAR on steroids." Congressman Miller was referring to the Department of Veterans Affairs. If the phrase FUBAR is unknown to you, enjoy watching Saving Private Ryan again!

FUBAR for VA wan't good. It was Chairman Miller shooting from the hip with a couple full belts from his verbal .50 cal M2, expressing the nation's concerns over VA construction, claims, appeals backlogs and other scandals.

We don't know if VA opposition to C-123 claims these past four years fits into his FUBAR F-bomb, but we do know the delay has denied us medical care and also has cost us money. Denied state benefits because we still wait for VA disability ratings. Denied property tax relief while waiting for the VA to process our claims. Our kids, all now past college age anyway, denied tuition waivers due children of disabled veterans. There is a "catch-up" check of VA disability benefits when a long-delayed claim is finally approved, but there is no catch-up for everything denied the veteran during the years of waiting for "the big brown envelope" to arrive with a disability decision.

In our case, scientists have had everything the VA needed to properly adjudicated our exposure claims since at least 2008. VA, on the other hand, had everything it needed to delay our service connection ratings for these past years, and now seems ready to help only because the Institute of Medicine report showed the way.

That's their job, it seems. Our was to fly aeromedical evacuation. Both are important jobs with people's lives in the balance. We did our jobs to perfection. The airplane business is like that...imperfection equals death. The medical business of aeromedical evacuation is like that, too. Imperfection equals patient suffering or death. We did our jobs to perfection.

Can you imaging their take on us if we waited four years to do our jobs, getting around to picking up a load of patients? And doing our job only when forced to?

No...we were volunteers. We were professional and we were caring. The nation, and our fellow servicemembers, could and did count on us. No four year delay like we were handed by the VA.

Compensation & Pension Exec Gets $11,000 Bonus for Defending Agent Orange!

VA's Veterans Benefits Administration includes the famed Compensation and Pension Service. Its director's bonus in 2013 was over $11,000 and over $20,000 with earlier years' checks. Well-earned? Perhaps so, but let's check.

In 2012, its director explained to C-123 veterans and the worlds of science and medicine that:

"In summary, there is no conclusive evidence that TCDD exposure causes any adverse health effects."

Really? This is reassuring, but wildly inaccurate even though it met VA policy objectives for denying exposure claims. Other VA executives and the entire Department of Veterans Affairs including the Secretary, consider TCDD to be a known human carcinogen. So do the CDC, NIH, EPA, OHSA, World Health Organization, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Toxicology Program and most middle school students. The Institute of Medicine confirmed C-123 veterans' Agent Orange exposures, and the harm to veterans who served aboard them, in their January 9, 2015 report.

TCDD, aka dioxin, is clearly not good for anybody. Not even veterans.

But Compensation and Pension's director wrote this statement in recommending his denial of an Agent Orange veteran's claim for Agent Orange medical care and benefits under the 1991 Agent Orange Act.

But perhaps the irony isn't immediately obvious: an Agent Orange claim was denied by C&P because, according to them (at least for the purposes of the veteran trying to get medical care) Agent Orange and its toxic component TCDD are harmless. No adverse health effects. Claim denied.

No adverse health effects. Except (well, by golly, according to the VA itself,) prostate cancer, diabetes, soft tissue sarcoma,multiple myeloma, B-Cell leukemias including hairy cell, Parkinson's disease, ischemic heart disease, Hodgkin's disease chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Plus peripheral neuropathy (acute or subacute), and a couple others which Compensation and Pension group into its "no adverse health effects" category.

Puzzled by this, veterans read it aloud, and showed the statement to the director of Compensation and Pension, in his office together with his staff, without any challenge or correction from him or them other than his statement that he wasn't familiar with everything leaving over his signature. This was on February 28, 2013.

His statement has been allowed to stand, and the veteran's claim remains denied and in appeal for three years. Three years have provided the director, and VA itself, ample time to amend or correct such an obvious error and anti-veteran missive. Some veterans' groups term this, "Delay, deny wiat
'till they die."

His bonus checks have probably been cashed already, the money long since spent. Certainly, denying veteran's claims is a VA money-saver which justified the bonus payments but it is not in line with what the Nation expects of the VA.

I've met the director of Compensation and Pension Service. One has to acknowledge the gentleman (he's a veteran himself) is, indeed, a hard-working and faithful public servant, but he seems more policy-oriented than veteran-oriented.

His policy as he explained it to Major Marlene Wilson and me: no C-123 claims were to be permitted, per VHA. And despite VA's assurances to Congress of C-123 "case-by-case" decisions, all have been denied per VHA. No claims been permitted – ever. Thus far, only DRO or BVA actions have permitted C-123 veterans to receive earned benefits and VA medical care. Every other claim remains denied or "suspended."

The TCDD veteran is still waiting for his claim to be reconsidered, the claim not even forwarded by the regional office to the Board of Appeals following the 2012 denial.

Appeals of bad decisions take three to four years in the VA system, with the greatest delay at the regional offices where claims sit for years before heading to the BVA. There, however, decisions are quickly resolved in just months. It seems delays are caused by volume, but also by design, allowing years to take a deadly toll of veterans already sick enough to have applied in the first place. Too often, veterans are sick enough not to survive the appeals process but continue in hopes of aiding their survivors.

Compensation and Pension Service, in ordering all C-123 claims denied (regardless of the language with which it was done, that was both the intent and the effect) disregarded VA's own assurances to Congress via the Federal Register that all non-Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange were eligible for care.

Here is the entire paragraph in the opinion signed by the director, in which he summarizes (accurately? Read the Sinks letter and then C&P's summary) expert input to the VA from the CDC/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Nowhere in his summary of the CDC's finding does the director bother mentioning the CDC key points: C-123 veterans were exposed to 182-times the screening value for dioxin, and experienced a 200-fold increase in cancer risk.

Later, CDC reported to VA and DOD (repeatedly, by several subsequent directors of the ATSDR including Rear Admiral R. Ikeda, MD USPHS) that the C-123 veterans actually should have been flying in full HAZMAT protection, their airplanes were so contaminated with Agent Orange.

CDC-recommended C-123 aircrew and maintenance worker protection - FULL HAZMAT

Department of Veterans Affairs: "pro-veteran, non adversarial. All benefit of the doubt resolved in favor of the veteran." Thank goodness for the Institute of Medicine, and those worthy executives (specifically Under Secretary Hickey and Dr. Loren Erickson) in the VA who in2014 reordered the C-123 study, first promised by VA in 2012 but a promise forgotten once made but put right again by these folks. Again, thank you!

We agree that mistakes happen, even with veterans' claims as horrible as such cases may be. That's understandable. What is not understood and not forgivable is having the error pointed out (repeatedly, in writing as well as face-to-face) and yet the error allowed to stand for years! Wrongly denied veterans' claims mean financial loss, plus painful suffering and even death unless the vets can locate other care.

But "other care" can be hard to get for an Agent Orange veteran, even one blessed with solid health insurance. That's because most insurance carriers have a war clause and Agent Orange is a recognized weapon of war – thus no insurance, either. 

I am reminded of the famous quote from Upton Sinclair:

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

C-123 Casualties – Deaths With Agent Orange Claims Wrongly Denied

At least 10 C-123 veterans have died after VA denied their Agent Orange claims, groups say

In this May 1966 file photo, a U.S. Air Force C-123 flies low along a South Vietnamese highway spraying defoliants on dense jungle growth beside the road to eliminate ambush sites for the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. Crews that flew and serviced these aircraft after the war say the VA has unfairly denied their claims of Agent Orange-related illnesses. (Department of Defense photo)

Mike Francis | mfrancis@oregonian.com 
Follow on Twitter
on June 30, 2014 at 11:05 AM

At least 10 veterans exposed to Agent Orange while serving aboard aircraft contaminated by the Vietnam-era defoliant have died after being denied care by the Department of Veterans Affairs, two veterans groups charged Sunday.

The veterans, who served between 1972 and 1982, flew or maintained the C-123 aircraft that were used to spray Agent Orange on Southeast Asian forests during the Vietnam War. They maintain that the residue from those flights exposed them to deadly toxins – a charge the Air Force has disputed.

While the VA has said it presumes that certain illnesses among Vietnam veterans were caused by exposure to Agent Orange, the veterans groups said they don't extend the same presumption to those postwar veterans who flew in contaminated aircraft. The reason is that the agency has adopted an unscientific notion of the definition of "exposure," the groups said.

"VA continues to deny all claims from post-Vietnam C-123 veterans, while at the same time deceptively assuring Congress that claims are considered 'on a case-by-case basis,'" the Vietnam Veterans of America and the C-123 Veterans Association said in a joint statement. "In fact, VA does not tell Congress that all C-123 claims are refused following a year or two delay."

This argument is playing out in a more restrained way before the Institute of Medicine, which recently took testimony on the question of whether C-123 veterans were exposed to dangerously high levels of toxins from contaminated aircraft. On one side was a VA consultant who has long argued that any exposure to Agent Orange residues by C-123 crews was "negligible." On the other was a C-123 veteran and an array of scientists including Rutgers professor and microbiology researcher Peter Kahn.

"What the government has been doing," he told the panel during his testimony earlier in June, is "putting up the façade of scientific objectivity in order to avoid action. I regard it as a failure of political courage and moral courage."

Instead of stonewalling claims from C-123 veterans, he said, the VA should treat them as it does other veterans who suffer from service-related injuries.

The veterans groups didn't name any of the deceased veterans, except for Lt. Col. Paul Bailey of Bath, N.H., who died of cancer last year after the VA denied his claim, then approved it after he was featured in a Washington Post story and members of Congress raised questions. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., was among those who asked then-Secretary Eric Shinseki to examine the way the VA was treating claims from C-123 crews.

The Boston Globe focused on the issue Sunday, featuring the case of 70-year-old Richard Matte, a retired Air Force reservist and C-123 crew member who's had a heart transplant, his leg amputated and been treated for bladder cancer, lung cancer and nerve disorders. He is one of about 50 C-123 veterans or their survivors living in Massachusetts, according to the C-123 Veterans Association.

With at least 10 C-123 veterans already dead from diseases associated with Agent Orange exposure, "surviving C-123 veterans do not want more comrades' names added to this list," the joint statement said.

The C-123 Veterans Association is headed by former McMinnville resident Wes Carter who's also being treated for cancer. He now lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. He maintains the C-123 Veteran Agent Orange Exposure website.

-Mike Francis

© 2014 OregonLive.com. All rights reserved.

More: Congressional Support...or lack of it...for C-123 Veterans. Where is Rep. Neal?

Susanne Bonamici, D-OR

Although Westover Air Reserve Base (Chicopee, Massachusetts) is located in his district, and although most of the Agent Orange-exposed veterans are his own constituents, Congressman Richard Neal has declined to sign his colleague Suzanne Bonamici's letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki.

Bonamici led a bipartisan effort in the House urging the VA to acknowledge C-123 veterans' exposure claims, submitting their letter to the Secretary on October 23, 2013.

A parallel Senate effort has been led by Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR).

A large squadron of the C-123 troop transports was stationed at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee between 1972-1982. The C-123 was the aircraft used for spraying Agent Orange in Vietnam, and Air Force tests revealed in 1994 that 34 of the warplanes remained contaminated through the decade of use following that conflict. The aircrews, aeromedical evacuation crews and maintenance personnel were exposed to dioxin, the toxin in Agent Orange, by skin contact and inhalation of dioxin-laden dust.

As the Congressional letter noted, the veterans' exposure has been confirmed by numerous other federal agencies, including the CDC and National Institutes of Health, yet the VA declines to provide essential medical care and other benefits. 

VA utilizes their unusual in-house definition of "exposed" (one unique among federal agencies and scientific societies and disputed by EPA, CDC and NIH) to skirt requirements under the Agent Orange Act of 1991. That law requires VA to care for Agent Orange veterans. In the agency's dealing with C-123 veterans, VA has added a requirement for proof of individual exposure to Agent Orange tied to resultant specific illnesses, termed "medical nexus." 

VA's special definition effectively denies all C-123 veterans' claims of exposure because such proofs are not possible for individuals, and only possible for larger groups when evaluated by epidemiological specialists. Congress removed this virtually impossible individual burden of proof for Vietnam veterans by passing the Agent Orange Act. Title 38 and the Federal Register of 8 May 2001, page 23166, detail that VA will care for any veteran exposed to "military herbicide,' thus VA's special definition of "exposed" was created to bar C-123 veterans from care.

Rep. Richie Neal, D-MA

Representatives of The C-123 Veterans Association, visiting with Congressman Neal in his office in March 2013 were personally assured of his support, although no action seems to have been taken by his office in furtherance of that commitment . Neither have local Massachusetts C-123 veterans been successful seeking his assistance, and Neal's absence from the list of Congressional signers to this letter is disconcerting. 

Veterans suffering Agent Orange illnesses, such as prostate cancer, heart disease, peripheral neuropathy, ALS and otherrecognized ailments continue to hope that Congressman Neal, like so many of his colleagues in the House and Senate, eventually notice their situation and lend his support. Given the veterans' severe illnesses and age averaging in the late 60s, Mr. Neal's help would be useful sooner, rather than later.

Why is it left for the able Congresswoman from Oregon to lead this effort which should have had Congressman Neal's early and enthusiastic intervention with the Department of Veterans Affairs? Where is the voice of Westover's Congressman? How serious do our illnesses need to be to warrant his concern?

Then-Mayor Richard Neal with then-Captain Wes Carter, Springfield, 1991

Note: I first met Mr. Neal the night of the Springfield chlorine incident, when I was the first medical officer responding to the city's request for military assistance. Later, Mayor Neal honored all of the 439th Military Airlift Wing personnel who helped that stressful night, and later still, I met him at various city events. Lastly, we spoke in his Washington office where I sought his guidance and assistance for his district's veterans. 

As with the other C-123 veterans who've sought his help, including his constituents, many subsequent letters and requests have been unanswered, although his staff had asked me to detail the situation for them. Apparently, requests for Congressman Neal's comments from Springfield's The Republican newspaper have also been ignored. 

The Congressman is an able legislator so there must be a significant political reason for his avoidance of this issue. But for us as dioxin-exposed veterans, there is no avoidance possible.

VA Offers New Perspective on Veterans Agent Orange Exposure Issues!

Yesterday the VA's Public Health folks released a new perspective on C-123 veterans' Agent Orange exposure at this month's San Francisco meeting of the Society of Toxicology. While they still maintain exposure was unlikely, the door seems slightly ajar - they state C-123 veterans' claims will be judged individually. This is much more positive than the impression we were left with following the March 8 meeting hosted by Senator Burr in Washington DC, where they reported that all our claims "would probably" be denied. If this is so (oh, dare we hope?)...thank you, VA, for a more open mind on this issue!
What I find highly disappointing is their report's reliance on the 1991 data from one scientist (who took leave from the AF and accepted money from the chemical industry for writing articles implying the harmlessness of Agent Orange!) The VA data are in conflict with contemporary ATSDR toxicological profile for TCDD dermal absorption, as well as reports from the Institute on Medicine.
Isn't it reasonable to conclude that the Department of Veterans Affairs is committed to their position that Agent Orange contamination of our aircraft was unlikely, rather than being willing to consider newer and more authoritative research which agrees with our exposure? Every new discovery, every new opinion from non-VA sources which says aircrews were exposed the VA automatically rejects, rather than looking for a good possibility of a path to provide our veterans earned benefits.
These people are supposed to be scientists. The whole evolution of modern science started with, and still depends upon, scientists being eager to accept findings which both argue with and argue against their initial thesis. I can't find "science" in what they are doing...only political obstruction.
These people should remember true science was born only when Western civilization stopped trying to shape observations upon researchers' predetermined beliefs.

Here's the link to their release, entitled
                 "Agent Orange: The 50-Year History & the Newest Chapter of Concerns:



Did You Fly C-123? File your VA Claim NOW!

The VA famously (and sadly) takes years to make up its mind about a veteran's disability claim. This is a period of anxiety and worry while the veteran tries to address mounting medical and financial problems, but there's not much to be done about their timeline.

What you can do is consider the following:
1. get a letter, postcard ANYTHING to the VA immediately stating it is your intention to submit a disability claim for your illness or injury. Whatever compensation that eventually is awarded dates from the time-stamp on your notification to the VA...so don't wait. Say "Dear VA: I expect to apply for benefits for exposure to military herbicides and (any other issues you may have.)" sign and mail. Couldn't be easier!
2. consider using the VA's Fast Track claim process, where you complete everything you're going to present, gather all your proof (doctor's letters, personal statements, medical records, line of duty determinations, EVERYTHING) and submit. This is a process where you declare to the VA that you have a complete claim and are willing to let them make a determination based on the total package you present and on what's in their files on you already.
3. get with one of the veterans service organizations - they are the professionals in this mess. The Disabled American Veterans, Vietnam Veterans of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, etc., all employ highly-trained advocates to help you put your claim to the VA. They require a power of attorney to represent you, and these people are bull dogs! They really latch onto the finer points of VA rules and regulations and make sure your application is as solid as can be. They know the ins-and-outs of strategies such as Individual Unemployability, which can bring many veterans up to 100% disabled ratings. Not only is the 100% rating a better monthly payment but it also means complete medical care - eyes, ears, dental, everything. And if your rated disability is 70% or higher it also means nursing home care in your own community.
4. if you are ill, ask the veterans service organization to help you get medical care from the VA on a "presumptive eligibility" basis until such time as your claim is resolved.

Agent Orange Exam IMPORTANT! //Jan 2015 CORRECTION: C-123 VETS NOW ELIGIBLE

9 Jan 2015 Update: VA now invites C-123 veterans to arrange an Agent Orange Registry exam.

(edited out Agent Orange Registry restriction, now removed)

If you feel that you qualify for Agent Orange exposure through service 

on the C-123(aircrew, aerial port, aeromedical evacuation maintenance),

and for benefits for diseases associated with herbicide exposure for 

the veteran must establish a Direct Service Connection Claim for 

herbicide exposure related diseases.

The Veteran must show on a factual basis that they were exposed to 

herbicides during their service by showing: 

1. Credible evidence proving work on the C-123K
2. Medical diagnosis for disease associated with herbicide exposure.
3. Medical nexus connecting 1 and 2

If you have met these criteria’s, then file a Direct Service Claim with 

your local Regional Office. We need to stress the "military herbicide" 

issue rather than the more specific Agent Orange issue. Turns out the

C-123 was contaminated with a variety of agents and the law more 

broadly specifies "herbicides" - a big "thank you" to Professor Jeanne 

Stellman of Columbia University who, using very small words and lots 

of patient repetition, explained the fine points to me.

Please note:

·       This is not a Direct Claim for Agent Orange, it is for Herbicide only.

   Additional information can be obtained at the following VA link: http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/thailand.asp

Below is a directory of VA Environmental Health Coordinators by state and U.S. territory. Veterans may contact their local VA Environmental Health Coordinator about registry evaluations or health concerns related to military exposures to herbicides such as Agent Orange - don't worry about the Thailand and Vietnam-era language as we are presenting our claims on the basis of exposure on the C-123K outside Vietnam...there is a category for us, even though the VA presently denies that we were exposed. Because your claim is based on the date of your filing for benefits, and because the Agent Orange Registry exam might uncover useful medical information, each of us needs to call and get a physical scheduled!

The directory below contains the latest information received from VA health care facilities and is updated as changes occur.

Note:  To send a secure e-mail, use VA's Ask a Question - IRIS"

Names and other info last updated: March 2012

Aircrew Chem Warfare Romance!

AL  |  AK  |  AZ  |  AR  |  CA  |  CO  |  CT  |  DE  |  DC  |  FL  |  GA  |  HI  |  ID
IL  |  IN  |  IA  |  KS  |  KY  |  LA  |  MA  |  ME  |  MD  |  MS  |  MI  |  MN  |  MO
MT  |  NE  |  NV  |  NH  |  NJ  |  NM  |  NY  |  NC  |  ND  |  OH  |  OK  |  OR
PA  |   RI  |  SC  |  SD  |  TN  |  TX  |  UT  |  VT  |  VA  |  WA  |  WV  |  WI  |  WY
Philippines | Puerto Rico

**Dr. Walters' change to the Agent Orange Registry Exam:
Mr. Carter

The information Mr. Legere received is correct. The registry exam is essentially a physical exam and is not part of the disability exam.  The Agent Orange registry is available for the following Veterans. 

Vietnam :
Veterans who served in Vietnam between 1962 and 1975, regardless of length of time.
Veterans who served aboard smaller river patrol and swift boats that operated on the inland waterways of Vietnam (also known as “Brown Water Veterans”)
Korea :
Veterans who served in a unit in or near the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) anytime between April 1, 1968 and August 31, 1971.
Thailand:
U.S. Air Force Veterans who served on Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) bases near U-Tapao, Ubon, Nakhon Phanom, Udorn, Takhli, Korat, and Don Muang, near the air base perimeter anytime between February 28, 1961 and May 7, 1975.
U.S. Army Veterans who provided perimeter security on RTAF bases in Thailand anytime between February 28, 1961 and May 7, 1975.
U.S. Army Veterans who were stationed on some small Army installations in Thailand anytime between February 28, 1961 and May 7, 1975. However, the Amy Veteran must have been a member of a military police (MP) unit or was assigned a military occupational specialty whose duty placed him or her at or near the base perimeter.
Other potential Agent Orange exposures:
Veterans who may have been exposed to herbicides during a military operation or as a result of testing, transporting, or spraying herbicides for military purposes. Learn about herbicide tests and storage outside Vietnam. Agent Orange or Dioxin dried on surfaces does not present a significant threat to human health. Veterans are eligible if they were in the presence of liquid Agent Orange such as when Agent Orange was sprayed, tested or transported.

Terry Walters


Terry Walters MD MPH
Deputy Chief Consultant Post-Deployment Health
Office of Public Health
Veteran Health Administration

From: Wes Carter  
Sent: Monday, May 06, 2013 9:42 AM
To: Walters, Terry
Subject: Fwd: C-123 Veterans Challenge VA Publication "Scientific Review of Agent Orange in C-123 Aircraft"

Dear Dr. Walters,
May I ask your assistance? I understood that, regardless of any disagreement concerning our veterans' exposure claims, any veteran believing himself/herself to have been exposed to Agent Orange may request an AO physical if exposure is claimed to have occurred. This gentleman was refused...what is the situation?

Thank you,

   Wes Carter, C-123 Veterans Association