C-123 Vet Passes: John Stuart Peavey, July 11, 1940 – December 2, 2015

  John S. Peavey, age 75, of the Shelburne Falls, and Buckland, Massachusetts area passed away at 11:30 PM on December 2, 2015.  John was born in Bangor Maine to his late parents, Edith (Turton) Peavey (Great Britain) and John Peavey (Maine).  John’s death was by natural causes attributed to respiratory failure brought on by ulcerative colitis.  John was buried at Blue Hill Cemetery in Braintree, Massachusetts.

   John leaves behind two sons, one named John S. Peavey II, and the other named unknown.  He leaves at least two grandsons also, and his former wife

Paula (Jourdenais) Peavey.

   John was a Air Force veteran of the Vietnam war/era, having served from May 22, 1961 to May 21, 1968.   He furthered his military career serving with 439^th TAW Reserve Unit at Westover AFB/ARB (C123s and C130s) during the 1970s and 1980s as an ART (Air Reserve Technician) full time civilian, military reserve obligated position, focusing in on the C123s.  T/Sgt John S. Peavey served in a dual role capacity being assigned to the 901^st CAMs (Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Squadron) as a C123 Flight line crew chief, both civilian and military, when not performing “flight status duties”, and also served with the 731^st TAS (Tactical Airlift Squadron), C123s, as an in-flight Flight Mechanic, performing both mechanical and flight crew support duties to complete the various mission assignments  of the C123 Provider type aircraft assigned to Westover.

    John was a very well liked individual by his many friends of both the 901^st Cams, and 731^st TAS units,  as well as his “buddies” from the hill towns including Shelburne Falls, and the Colrain area of Massachusetts.    John will be missed by all.

November 2017 activity report for C-123 Veterans Association

1. With NVLSP help, won 51 months of retroactive 100% disability compensation, with decision helpful for three avenues of approach to backdating liberalizing rule claims 2. Working on Colorado's disabled veteran property tax exemption. Last year got new law bringing CO statute into compliance with state constitution for military disabled retirees (vs VA SC,), but state still refuses to permit 8-12,000 permanent TDIU vets to receive exemption. I'm arguing that TDIU is a permanent and total disability rating complying with the original referendum, the state constitution and the enabling legislation, and that unemployability is improperly added only as a disqualifier on the application forms 3.Trying to get Veteran-Directed Home and Community Health System benefits extended throughout Colorado. Presently offered only in eight counties around Denver but not in our other 56 counties or in Wyoming. 6000 vets in my county eligible. 4. Many individual vets assistance, plus running veteran info tables at churches 5. Attended United Veterans of Colorado monthly conference to present VC-HCBS and Colorado disabled veteran issues for their support

November 2017 activity report for C-123 Veterans Association

1. With NVLSP help, won 51 months of retroactive C-123 vet’s 100% disability/SMC-R compensation, with decision helpful for three avenues of approach to backdating liberalizing rule claims

2. Working on Colorado's disabled veteran property tax exemption. Last year got new law bringing CO statute into compliance with state constitution for military disabled retirees (vs VA SC,), but state still refuses to permit 8-12,000 permanent TDIU vets to receive exemption. I'm arguing that TDIU is a permanent and total disability rating complying with the original referendum, the state constitution and the enabling legislation, and that unemployability is improperly added only as a disqualifier on the application forms

3.Trying to get Veteran-Directed Home and Community Health System benefits extended throughout Colorado. Presently offered only in eight counties around Denver but not in our other 56 counties or in Wyoming. 6000 vets in my county eligible.

4. Many individual vets assistance, plus running veteran info tables at churches

5. Attended United Veterans of Colorado monthly conference to present VC-HCBS and Colorado disabled veteran issues for their support 

Houston VA to Study Prostate Cancer & Agent Orange in African-American Vets, Using New Research Grant

NOTE: Like me, many C-123 vets are concerned about bladder cancer and prostate cancer, and we hope that VA will soon designate bladder cancer as an Agent Orange-related illnesses. Some vets have been successful with claims that prostate cancer increased their odds of bladder cancer, and argued with VA successfully to win disability claims.

Prostate cancer, however, is well-established as an Agent Orange-presumptive illness. VA has honored disability claims for many years, and even the most recent research has only firmed up the science behind the link between Agent Orange and cancer. My own oncologist at VA MedicaL Center Portland, Dr. Mark Garzatto, established that Agent Orange vets have twice the rate of cancers, and that ours are twice as likely to be highly aggressive cancers. Not good, and maybe this recent grant by the Prostate Cancer Foundation will help improve things.

Houston VA to Study Prostate Cancer with New Research Grant
Thanks to a new $1 million grant awarded by the Prostate Cancer Foundation, researchers will be able to study the link between prostate cancer and exposure to Agent Orange in African-American male veterans who served during the Vietnam War.

C-123 VETERANS: OUR PRO BONO LAW FIRM IS READY FOR YOUR CALL! S0...CALL TO SEE IF YOU CAN RECOVER

YOU'RE INVITED TO ASK FOR FREE LEGAL HELP.

Situation:

     Most of us who submitted C-123 Agent Orange disability claims before June 2015 ended up denied some compensation because VA decided to pay our claims only from that month forward. Others of us were diagnosed with AO illnesses but submitted our VA claims well after then, and by waiting also lost months of compensation. 

     There may be pro bono legal help to recover denied compensation. The National Veterans Legal Services Project (NVLSP, "Lawyers Serving Warriors") has skillfully helped C-123 veterans for years, and also the Vietnam Veterans of America and most other veterans' organizations. Here's a great video describing them.

     If your disability claim predates June 2015 I urge you to contact NVLSP. They'll review your situation with you. 

VA CORRECTS REGULATIONS TO ADD C-123 VETERANS

VA HAS BEEN CORRECTED!

The fundamental document guiding a veteran' eligibility for VA benefits is their regulation VHA DIRECTIVE 1601A.02.

Published in June 2017 it failed to include proper information about C-123 veterans. This was pointed out to them and a corrected version (see page 9) has now been released throughout the VA and supporting agencies:

The point is that C-123 vets ONLY need to prove C-123 duty and have a diagnosis for an Agent Orange associated illness.

Here is the additional C-123 language, page 9:

This term also includes an individual who has been determined by VA to have a service connected disability related to herbicide exposure under 38 CFR 3.307(a)(6)(v) who performed service in the Air Force or Air Force Reserve under circumstances in which the individual concerned regularly and repeatedly operated, maintained, or served onboard C-123 aircraft known to have been used to spray an herbicide agent during the Vietnam era.

It happened again last week. Another C-123 veteran's Agent Orange claim mishandled by his choice of veterans service organization ("VSO",) in his case Arizona State Department of Veterans Affairs as well as the regional office of the VA itself. The vet, however, did everything right!

Whats the problem? ALL C-!23 CLAIMS GO TO VA ST PAUL. That office has people trained in our C-123 issues, and instead of denying our comrade's claim "for want of service in Vietnam" they'd have recognized the several buddy letters and other documentation of his C-123 experience.

Solution: Consider sending in the following page, right out of VA's own manual, when working with your choice of VSO, and insist a copy accompany your claim and write C-123 VETERAN on top of your papers, just to make sure.

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DISABILITY COMPENSATION: Three paths to C-123 vets' retroactive compensation

Many of us C-123 veterans were diagnosed with Agent Orange illnesses before the VA recognized our rights to disability compensation. At that time (June 2015) it seemed impossible to get VA to recognize those claims from the date filed, as VA usually does. 

Last month that changed! In our favor!

An October decision at the Board of Veterans Appeals, supported by similar decisions in years past, suggest three approaches to retroactive compensation for C-123 veterans. There is no certainty, because decisions at the BVA do not set precedent. Decisions do, however, offer guidance. VBA seeks consistency, and thus far BVA decisions are 100% behind retroactive disability benefits.

Here are three situations where I see VA awarding retroactive disability compensation to C-123 veterans. Obviously, for those vets with illnesses diagnosed after June 2015 and who file claims after June 2015, the date of filing should be the effective date for compensation if approved.

 1. Veterans who filed disability claims on or after June 2015 who were diagnosed before June 2015 and whose illnesses continued until the date of filing their claim; in those cases, it seems that up to 12 months of compensation may be recovered:

 “Retroactive effective dates are allowed, to a certain extent, in cases where an award or increase of compensation is granted pursuant to a liberalizing law.  38 U.S.C.A. § 5110 (g); 38 C.F.R. § 3.114 (a). Under these provisions, the claimant must have met all eligibility criteria for the liberalized benefit on the effective date of the liberalizing law or VA issue, and have been continuously eligible from that date to the date of claim or administrative determination of entitlement. These provisions apply to original and reopened claims, as well as claims for increase. Id.; see also McCay v. Brown, 9 Vet. App. 183, 188 (1996), aff'd, 106 F.3d 1577, 1581 (Fed. Cir. 1997).
In such cases, the effective date of the award or increase shall be fixed in accordance with the facts found, but shall not be earlier than the effective date of the liberalizing law or VA issue. 38 C.F.R. § 3.114 (a). For claims received more than one year after the effective date of the liberalizing law or VA issue, benefits may be authorized for a period of one year prior to the date of receipt of the request for review. Id.”

2. Veterans who had a disabling line of duty injury during the period (1972-1982) that they were also being exposed to Agent Orange, thus establishing veteran status:

“Exposure constitutes an injury under 38 U.S.C. 101 (24) (B) and (C). If an individual described in this paragraph develops a disease listed in 38 CFR 3.309(e) as specified in paragraph (a)(6)(ii) of this section, it will be presumed that the individual concerned became disabled during that service for purposes of establishing that the individual served in the active military, naval, or air service.”

3.     Veterans with VA disability claims for Agent Orange-related illnesses predating June 2015 and who were denied retroactive compensation, receiving compensation only from June 2015 forward:

“GC Precedent Opinion VAOPGEPREC 4-2002 recognizes that a reservist's adverse reaction to exposure to a toxin during ADT qualifies as an injury under 38 USC 101(24) and therefore entitles him to compensation under 38 U.S.C. 110 or 1131. Thus, the regulation that grants presumptive C-123 rule was not a liberalizing law and his benefits should pre-date the effective date of 38 C.F.R. § 3.307 (a)(6) (v).”