Posted on May 9, 2019
CPT Fccme
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Twice a day while I was stationed in Panama the DDT truck slowly drove in and around post, spraying a cloud of poisonous gas. Morning PT often had us running through that cloud. They would drive right by our unit family day function adding flavor to our potluck meals. Children would be on the streets playing as it drove by.
The picture is from a couple of decades before I served, but the cloud was just like this.
Many veterans and family members stationed in Panama have issues they believe are linked to this.
When I left Active Duty I brought this up several times and each time I was told that this is not something the VA recognizes as having been a health risk.

So the question is: When will the chemical exposures like this be treated like burn pits and begin to receive medical notice and treatment?
#ddt #panama #

Photo credit: Ernie Crews
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Responses: 26
SPC Casey Ashfield
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Like the burn pits, the VA won't determine the environmental hazards until the vast majority of the people who could collect compensation are dead. Agent Orange 2.0
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Lt Col Charlie Brown
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I don't know but it certainly is/was a health risk. Many of us were exposed to that.
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CPL Richard Flagg
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I know there is a Facebok group called Agent Orange in Panama; and it has been for years trying to get the VA and DOD to admit about our exposure to AO, and both those departments continue to ignore the facts.
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MSgt David Smith
MSgt David Smith
>1 y
Between AO and the bug juice its a wonder I am still alive. The bug truck went by the open air chow hall every night at Takhli. We would joke (then) that this was the way we got fresh meat as the bugs fell off the ceiling. Its no joke anymore. Lots of health problems and the VA don't don't seem to care but what can you expect from people who weren't there.
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