The VA Board of Veterans Appeals recently published their decision on a Westover C-123 veteran's Agent Orange claim, and it granted full benefits. There was no question about this veteran's eligibility for Agent Orange benefits but the disability claimed was not one VA presumes associated with exposure. The claim was submitted in August 2015, denied in October 2015, and finally won on appeal effective retroactive to the date first submitted.
Winning a claim for a disability VA doesn't associate with Agent Orange exposure is difficult. I won my claim for, among other things, avascular necrosis, and here VA accepted a type of cancer not on their list. It can be done but requires persistence and lots of skillful argument.
Congratulations are due here for the years this veteran invested in pursuit of the justice due C-123 veterans for our Agent Orange exposure!
[T]he government’s interest in veterans cases is not that it shall win, but rather that justice shall be done, that all veterans so entitled receive the benefits due to them.” Barrett v. Nicholson, 466 F.3d 1038, 1044 (Fed.Cir.2006)
14 November 2019
Rickenbacker vet CMS Ray Maxwell has passed
Sad word from Tom McVey and the "Buckeye Wing" of the passing of veteran Ray Maxwell. Ray died on Veterans Day, November 11, 2019, and arrangements are uncertain thus far.
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