Senate Passes Blue Water Navy Bill, Cementing Victory for Ill Vietnam Veterans

MCPO Roger Collins - I understand the VA can be lenient to illnesses that can be tied to things happened in the military, that made it worse (or could have made it worse through military service). Say someone was diagnose with diabetes in the military- but now their heavily Insulin dependent. Then the diabetes & Insulin would be service connected. You'll have to contact the VA Service Rep to be sure, I'm not an expert on claims or VA treatment. I've been enrolled in the VA in the past, when I got off deployment for OEF II 2004-2005, but haven't been there often since I'm back on active duty.

LTC (Join to see) Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying, I do have a permanent disability (category 3) which limits my mobility. I refused VA entitlements and use the 20% tax break. None of my illnesses which could result in an additional disability rating has placed me in a disabled category. Many others with serious conditions need it more than I do.

The is already a definition of "waters of Vietnam", which is the internationally recognized distance from shore, 12 miles I believe. Brown water (river/delta service) Veterans have always been covered.

MCPO Roger Collins - They don't. The intent is to cast the widest net possible to cover as many Veterans as possible.

SSgt Addison R. - I agree and many of My friends including some I served with in Vietnam have already died due to that Agent Orange exposure. We were land based and in one of the worst Agent Orange contamination areas in Vietnam.

Its such a shame it seems that everyone has to fight to get the benefits they are entitled to. That seems to be the practice by the VA almost without exception. An armed Federal contract I worked My boss died from cancer from Agent orange exposure and only got His 100% disability six months before He died from that exposure. He was a crew chief on a Huey helicopter in Vietnam and landed in areas where the dust from Agent Orange was all over the chopper when they hit LZ, Landing zones that AO had been used on. Also some of the guys I served with at Da Nang, Vietnam have also died from that exposure and one I'm still in contact with has serious problems with that exposure and is fighting the VA to get the help He needs. He and I worked the same post lived in the same hut and the contamination is so bad there the US government has spent Millis of dollars trying to clean it up and even put a concrete cap on some of the area and no one can even enter there due to the high risk. Local Vietnamese people have had problem there also including birth defects and it even got into water supplies.