American Legion Magazine Reports on C-123 Agent Orange Saga

The American Legion was the first service organization to stand with us in advocating Agent Orange benefits for our exposed C-123 veterans. Introduced to us by Columbia's Dr. Jeanne Stellman, Legion executives presented and the membership approved a resolution calling on the VA to recognize our toxin exposures.

Support from America's largest veterans organization is something that certainly got attention and respect from the Air Force and VA.

Continuing their focus on our C-123 issue, this month's Legion magazine carries an article by author Tom Philpott on page 19. Like the American Legion, Philpott is very familiar with C-123 issues, having begun his coverage of us in 2011 when we began our efforts. His coverage of the January 9 2015 report from the Institute of Medicine was very comprehensive, and carried through Gannett's chain.

Philpott has been covering military issues longer than most veterans served...over thirty years as a journalist, including his tour in the Coast Guard.

This month, he surprised us with his full page report in the Legion: we had no idea it was in the works. He certainly surprised me with his kind words, which are much appreciated as we anticipate wrapping up these four years of arduous work.

I believe the next report from Tom Philpott will announce (to use a naval metaphor) a terrific "sea change" in the way VA has evaluated our disability claims. That will be my favorite Philpott article ever! I can't wait!