VA Challenge: Show VA MILITARY Proof That Vets Flew Contaminated C-123s?

The question keeps coming up...and we keep answering it. YES! You want proof???

1. YES. There is military documentation firmly establishing the necessary proof of the C-123s in our unit being former Ranch Hand spray aircraft.

2. YES. There is military documentation firmly establishing the necessary proof of the C-123s in our unit, particularly Tail #362 (Patches) and the others, at last five, being contaminated with dioxin (Agent Orange.)

3. YES. There is military documentation firmly establishing the necessary proof of our aircrews flying C-123s specifically identified as former Ranch Hand spray aircraft.

Here are the three answers for the important question, last raised by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on June 7 2013 in his letter to Senator Burr, in which the Secretary wrote:

"VA does not currently have a method of determining if a Veteran claiming stateside AO exposure was flying on one of the Operation Ranch Hand C-123s or one of the many other post-Vietnam C-123s flown stateside during the 1970s and 1980s." 

1. The USAF Historical Records Research Agency, Maxwell AFB AL, has identified the histories of
nearly all C-123 aircraft from manufacture and sale to the Air Force, and has identified which of them by specific tail number was modified for aerial spray operations and used for Operation Ranch Hand, spraying Agent Orange in Vietnam. Further, they identified which of the three post-Vietnam USAF squadrons had which former spray aircraft. Tail numbers and units to which the aircraft were assigned were reconfirmed by HQ Air Force Reserve Command.

2. For Westover veterans, the most heavily tested C-123 is Tail #362 (Patches, mentioned by the Secretary) now at the Air Force Museum. Its first test confirming military herbicides was in 1979, and a more comprehensive series of tests by AF toxicologists in 1994 confirmed the aircraft was "heavily contaminated on all test surfaces" and "a danger to public health." None of the other former spray planes were tested so thoroughly, and because they've been destroyed as toxic waste no testing can be done any longer. Documentation released by AFMC showed 1996 testing of 17 aircraft reported all 17 positive for dioxin contamination.

There is every scientific and logical reason to conclude the other aircraft were similarly contaminated, especially as Patches ceased spraying Agent Orange years before the other aircraft when it was switched to malathion missions, thus the other C-123s had "fresher" dioxin.

3. Air Force aviators are provided tracking of their flying activities via a "Form 5" which reports the individual's name, crew position, date and time of the mission, type of mission, and tail number flown. Thus, veterans who flew Patches will have a Form 5 showing their name and Tail #362. In the decades since the C-123 was flown, very few veterans will have saved paperwork dating back over four decades. Veterans have been gathering available Form 5s and flight orders. Flight orders do not show a tail number but they list the crew members for the flight. Matching names on Form 5s and names on flight orders satisfies Air Force archivists requirements for documenting any individual's flight activities.

So there is no question. All three parts of the Secretary's question are addressed with military documentation adequate to convince any jurist or archivist. If some VA officials remain unconvinced, it is because they are deliberately looking away from the proof and are dedicated to wrongly preventing our veterans' access to vital medical care.

New Studies Not Needed- C-123 Agent Orange Benefits NOW!

Mention was made of a possible need for additional statistical or epidemiological studies of C-123 aircrews and maintenance personnel to better understand our dioxin exposure. The following note was submitted to two of the scientists who've looked into the situation:

Argument Against Time-Wasting Further Analysis:

A study could have been a good idea back in 1994 when the AF Museum/Brooks Armstrong Labs first identified the degree of toxicity on Patches. Studies could have been a good thing back in 1996 when, instead, the AF Office of Environmental Law directed that the info should "be kept in official channels only." In 1994 and 1996 most of us were still available to participate in a study, assuming enough veterans were existent to lend any accuracy to the study. It would have been decent...in fact, the only moral and legal decision, to alert our veterans so we could consider precautions and know to watch for AO-type symptoms. It would have been a better study if the veterans who've died before this problem was exposed in April 2011 had been able to participate - Lou Paskowitz, Paul Huffman, Bob Boyd, George Gadbois, Tim Olmsted, Warner Jones...all the others. 

I ask the VA and other government people to imagine what the public outcry would be if some large company exposed thousands of employees to dioxin (however innocently), learned about the exposure after the fact, and spent decades preventing notification of the affected employees...and even took steps to shred and smelt the evidence? This would be evening news headline matter...such criminal behavior would be meat for the grand jury! What would government employee unions do if workers had spent ten years inside a building with a 200-times greater risk of cancer due to dioxin exposure...and the government kept the information from them and even fought to prevent access to medical care when the news leaked? 

Imagine a whistleblower leaking an email in which managers labeled exposed employees "freeloaders", as our aircrews have been described by a VA consultant who has received support from the chemical industry for articles and served as an official of the Secretary of Defense office--he expressly cited the need to destroy the stored C-123s to prevent veterans' benefits from being awarded.

The last comprehensive study of contaminated aircraft at Davis-Monthan found half of the tested airplanes still hazardous in 2009 (nearly forty years after their last spray missions) except for short-term exposure!

It is flat-out unconscionable for VA to take any action that fails to recognize C-123 veterans' exposure NOW by citing cost, difficulty, small population or any other time-killer suggestion regarding further statistical or epidemiological studies, and unconscionable for VA to delay our care for the time to design, conduct, evaluate and obtain peer-review of such a study. Wasting still more time (what the Army veterans call "waiting for an Army to die") would obviously penalize the veterans by denying us essential medical coverage just so the VA could burn away a couple years for more studies followed by outside review of those studies.

The military completely failed to address the problem when it first surfaced, worrying only about the stored airplanes and avoiding EPA fines and bad publicity.Today, there can be no further failure of the AF or VA to promptly recognize our exposure to TCDD. There can be no further delay to conduct more "studies." Time enough is wasted in the VA application (FYI my own has gathered dust for 332 days so far.)

The studies have been done. The results have been validated by federal court, the GSA, the Air Force, the ATSDR and outside scientific experts. Crews and maintenance personnel were exposed to harmful amounts of dioxin....case closed!

The requirement for veterans (outside the Boots on the Ground Vietnam group) seeking service-connection for TCDD exposure is simply reasonable proof of exposure. That proof was developed in multiple tests by the Air Force, and substantiated by the GSA, federal court, ATSDR and reputable scientists. That proof has been offered, and substantiated, in spades!

We're not mad, but those of us still alive are sick as hell and we're not going to take it any more! 

Agent Orange & Peripheral Neuropathy

After the Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy carried a note about our Agent Orange & C-123 connection, I wrote them asking for advice helpful to our flyers. Here is the on-target advice from a Vietnam veteran who's already gone this route. Consider his approach...I can think of none better as we submit our VA claims. One important point about peripheral neuropathy...it must be acute and it must evidence within one year of exposure.

In my case, I had burning sensations severe enough that, while still flying the C-123, I had two operations to sever nerves in my left leg to stop the pain, thus meeting the timing requirement for symptoms. Let us all know how your own complaints get received by the VA!

Eugene Richardson gene@neuropathysupportnetwork.org to brenda, Dominick, me show details 6:49 AM (1 hour ago)  Wes Brenda at the Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy sent me your request regarding exposure to Agent Orange and Peripheral Neuropathy and fighting with the VA. As a retired Vietnam Veteran 67/68 I fought with the VA for six years and finally received 100% disability due to exposure to Agent Orange that in all PROBABILITTY resulted in my symptoms of PN!   Others have fought the same battle and won. The secret is to have a Neuromuscular Neurologist familiar with PN to run all the tests possible and rule out all other causes.   In this way via an AFFIDAVIT from that doctor, he can state that since all other causes have been ruled out, there is a very HIGH probability that your diagnosis and symptoms from PN are due to your exposure to Agent Orange. Refer to the research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Vet Medicine, published in the findings of the IOM December 2009, stating in essence that dioxin is a toxin and a carcinogen of the worst order, causing previously unknown damage to the very cellular structure of the human body and even the VA acknowledges that it causes Peripheral Neuropathy. Go on my website at www.neuropathysupportnetwork.org and first ORDER the FREE DVD at the ORDER DVD tab.   Second, go to the VETERANS/AGENT ORANGE tab read what it says about Agent Orange and PN, then at the VERY BOTTOM of this page there is a booklet to download.  In this booklet there are samples of cases won in regard to PM/Agent Orage, and sample affidavits that I used. If you have someone write up a draft affidavit for your doctor to use, that is better, as no doctor has the time to do this for you. Make sure you only use facts from your medical record that the VA has or will have. After all of this go to the FAQ tab and read all the questions and answers as you will learn much.  Remember some Neurologists support the fact of chronic neuropathy due to Agent Orange Exposure and other support only the Acute forms, and others deny everything.   It is important to know that the amount of Clinical training in the diagnosis and treatment of the neuropathies is in its infancy and few have been sufficiently trained.   If you read Dr. Latov’s book (RESOURCE tab) on the causes and some treatments, you will know more than many of them but do not tell them this.   Just use your knowledge to GUIDE them by asking questions that they can explore with you by testing.  When you have done all of this, please let me know when you have other questions. If you have a website we can send you a LINK ICON to the website for other veterans. I have attached an endorsement on the DVD and WEBSITE from professionals and ALL  of the endorsements are in the NSN TODAY tab on the website. Col Gene EUGENE B. RICHARDSON, BA, MDiv, EdM, MS (Counseling) LtCol, USA (Retired) President, Network for Neuropathy Support, Inc., dba Neuropathy Support Network Advisory Board Member of The Neuropathy Association, Inc. Volunteer Patient Support and Advocate Disabled American Veteran Visit The Neuropathy Association, Inc., at www.neuropathysupportnetwork.org

Retired Affairs Office - Bulletin Notes our C-123 Agent Orange Issues

Distributed in the 15 September 2011 Issue of RAO Bulletin, with over 85,000 readers!

Patches, at the Air Force Museum following $57,000 dioxin decontamination

0. Agent Orange Stateside Use Update 02: In recent complaints to the Air Force Inspector General, the chief of the Air Force Reserve, the Institute of Medicine and other officials, post- Vietnam War era, Wes Carter and Paul Bailey have cited documents showing that the Air Force knew, at least since 1994, of Agent Orange contamination aboard C-123 Provider aircraft flown at Westover and other bases — but failed to warn personnel of the health risks. Both men are diagnosed with prostate cancer along with many other in their Air Force Reserve former crewmates in the 74th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. Carter was stunned when he began checking and found that the first five crewmen he called had prostate cancer or heart disease. The sixth man he tried had died. 
   
   
   Since then, he and Bailey have found dozens more former Westover reservists who are sick – with prostate cancer, diabetes, heart disease, peripheral neuropathy and other illnesses connected to exposure to Agent Orange [AO]. In just a few months, they have compiled a list of close to 40 of their fellow pilots, medical technicians, maintenance workers and flight engineers who are sick or have died of such illnesses, many of them from Connecticut and Massachusetts.
   
   
   Among the documents the veterans cite is a 1994 Air Force report that found one of the airplanes, known as Patches, was ―heavily contaminated‖ with dioxins. Tests on other planes showed similar contamination, records show. In a 2000 legal brief, the General Services Administration argued that the proposed sale of C-123s to a private buyer should be canceled, dubbing the planes extremely hazardous and saying their release would carry the risk of dioxin contamination to the general public.
   
   
   In a 1996 internal memo, an official in the Air Force Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, Directorate of Environmental Law, had expressed similar concerns about the possibly contaminated aircraft being sold to third parties, but said: ―I do not believe we should alert anyone outside of official channels of this potential problem until we fully determine its extent. So far, attempts by Westover reservists to claim veterans‘ benefits linked to Agent Orange exposure on C-123s have been stymied.
   
   
   One of the veterans who tried was Aaron Olmsted of Ellington, CT, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who flew the C-123. Olmsted, 60, was killed in a plane crash in Pennsylvania in May, four years after he had lost a battle with the Board of Veterans Appeals to prove that he was sick from exposure to Agent Orange. While Olmsted had logged hundreds of hours piloting C-123s at Westover, the veterans‘ appeals board in 2007 rejected his claim that his diabetes mellitus was connected to Agent Orange exposure.