As if the Veteran Affairs Department does not already have their plates filled with a backlog of claims, they are soon to get hit with a cresting wave of lingering Agent Orange claims.
VA officials estimate that approximate 186,000 claims will be filed before the end of the year that address the new rules of presumed service connected disabilities for illnesses that are related to exposure to Agent Orange. Is this not just beyond comprehension? 40 years have passed and we still have soldiers dying of Agent Orange illnesses!
Yet, I have to stand in praise of the Obama Administration’s attention to the needs of the VA. Not only did they pass the first ever year end funding budget, October 22nd, 2009, which had not been done in 22 years prior to the end of the calendar year, but they are prognosticating well the needs of the current war veterans and the standing population of vets that are still in need of intensive care from service connected disabilities. To prepare for this onslaught they are hiring about 1800 people to process these claims. The average age would be 60 and assigned a disability rating of 60% or higher. The probability of using third party contractors is quite high since the research for the symptoms and nature of the illnesses has been complete. Not like the days of yore when we had to get the 4th Infantry to fight for us! Many of these claims can by cookie cuttered as a result of knowing the pattern of the illnesses.
It is the stated declaration of the VA Secretary Eric Shinseki that he will add a total of 4400 new employees to remedy the backlog of claims, inclusive the new Agent Orange claimants. The secretary affectionately calls this a “brute force” solution to the problem. We are currently experiencing about 160 days to work a file. The goal is not allow that to rise.
The estimate is that about 160,000 vets will file claim, at a cost of about 13,500 per veteran, inclusive of mileage.
It is ischemic heart disease that is determined to be service connected to Agent Orange exposure. Issues with brands of leukemia are still being researched.
Last year the VA processed just under 1 million claims. The projection for 2011 is about 1.3 million. The total cost of the Agent Orange claims will be about 13.4 billion in 2010. Should the Parkinsons and leukemia claims be approved, inclusive of widows benefits, they are estimating a cost of 42.2 billion over the next 10 years.
War is damn expensive ain’t it? Even when it is over. Lets hope that the indiscriminate use of chemicals does not occur again. But then the jury is still out on the effects of depleted uranium, and we still have vets making claims from exposure to atomic warfare materials. God save us.
Let us not forget other victims. The people of Laos are still dying and losing limbs from millions of tons of unexploded bombs that were dropped on them during the American War in Vietnam. A good portion of arable land is unusable due to the danger of unexploded ordinance.
Leftfield:
It’s a shame that they still suffer. But at least they live under the system called Communism. You know the one that has the picture of the guy you have on your computer/photo. You must love Karl Marx. He and his buddies, Lenin, Stalin, Mao etc. they and their kind have caused more mass murder and suffering than pretty much any other leaders in world history.
I will pass your sentiments on at the next meeting of the Politburo.
You would think that we had perfected the art of killing brown skinned people safely with our Predator drones, where our brave servicemen can commute into the office in the morning, blow up a wedding party or two, and then step out for a Starbucks Latte.
But it turns out that even our brave Predator pilots can suffer from PTSD- it’s enough to make you think that it might be something besides using chemicals and radiation to kill brown skinned women and kids that causes such suffering in our Vets.
Hey Tipster: Y’all forgot to include the blacks and the great yellow peril in there too. Where is your 21st century diversity?
BTW, how’s your nephew, (World Class Education) Dione doing these days? When are the doctors going to loosen his straps enough so he can use the padded cell computer again?
Yer pal, Ferrari Bubba
At least Leftfield has a heart. Those who only think politically and are lead like cows with ideology are pretty much heartless. That is on par with chemicals that kill.
Leftfield:
Well, that was a cute answer. I don’t like Agent Orange and what it did to our troops. But heck, if it killed a lot of Communist soldiers I feel good. Communists, like your little friend on the screen are on the sewage pit of history.
As always, most of the people killed then and now were civilians; just plain old subsistence farmers and villagers hoping to scratch out a living from one day to the next. They probably couldn’t tell you why there was a war going on if you tortured them. I’ll bet even a lot of the North’s soldiers, like the American kids, would just have soon been home.
Regardless of ideology, the victims would have more in common with you than you would like to think.
So, you are in favor of chemical warfare?
You have yet to see the entire cost of this war. The children of Vietnam veterans are often forgotten. You have forgotten them even in your article. Those who have left comments which followed your article also have forgotten them. So let it be known that the children of these veterans suffer from illnesses caused by agent orange. If you are the child of a Vietnam veteran please join us http://www.agentorangelegacy.ning.com
Visit our website http://www.agentorangelegacy.us
Sharon Perry, Founder aolegacy@gmail.com
This is interesting. I was not aware that there were any Agent Orange-connected illnesses amongst the children of those exposed.
A friend of mine has a ‘horseshoe’ kidney due to the effects of agent orange exposure to his Father. At least that’s what dotors have told him.
My Uncle Ed chose to never have children because of his exposure to it.
There are at least 11 illnesses of the children of Vietnam Veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange. The primary one is Spina Bifida, which has been compensable for 25 years. Many think that the fear of birthing disabled children was one of the causative factors leading to the inordinate number of suicides in the mid 70’s to late 1980’s.
The naivete about the ravages of war of todays citizen is alarming. As our those who think tagging commetary that is alien to their entrenched brainwashing is cute.
Somehow they think their abstractions are the equivalency of service to our nation.