It is through the process of diligence and patience of one Veterans Benefits Counselor named Maude DeVictor, an employee of the Chicago VA in the 1980’s,that brought Agent Orange exposure and the consequent medical symptoms to the forground. Her saga was depicted in the 1986 movie titled, “Un-Natural Causes,” staring the late John Ritter. It is must viewing for the veterans who have been exposed, and the families of the now thousands who have died.
Major Carter, may well be caring that baton for the veterans who have yet to be included in the claim process.
I declared from the outset,when posting the first narrative that Major Carter wrote, that the extensive nature of blogging and its broad reach, may well be part of the vetting process. Advocacy for veterans has an exploratory aspect in the search for the truth. Chemical exposure experienced by Desert Storm troops is evidence of that process.. If the advocacy stumbles upon truth that negates the assertions of Major Carter, then Veteran Veritas will report those negations. For the present, discovery continues.
Our C-123 Veterans’ YouTube video posted this evening (purpose of the video is to explain away VA’s new term of “bioavailability” aiming message to our members, supporters and the VA itself)
[tnivideo caption=”” credit=””]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQKIQDj2dP4[/tnivideo]
The 1991 Agent Orange Law took away VA’s ability to deny Agent Orange-exposed veterans claims by requiring medical nexus, a nearly-impossible threshold Oof proof for any veteran to achieve, and instead gave the VA’s authority over medical nexus to the Institute of Medicine, of the National Academies of Science. The IOM determines which diseases seem to have a medical nexus with dioxin exposure, and recommends inclusion by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the VA’s list of presumptive illnesses.
But with the C-123 Agent Orange exposed veterans, VA has tried to recapture their control over determination of medical nexus by insisting upon bioavailability as necessary element of exposure. No bioavailability equals no exposure, in the VA’s twisted thought process. In fact, however, bioavailability flows from exposure and is not an element of it. We’re protesting this double-think on the VA’s part, which unfairly bars us from protections of the Agent Orange Act by pretending we were not exposed because we cannot establish, at least on an individual veteran’s basis, bioavailability.
I have run this thesis past toxicologists and it seems to hold up… the VA is trying to snooker us and, with the help we’re blessed with from Congress, the media and other veterans organizations it will not succeed.
We’re not paranoid about the VA. They have reasons for obstructing our claims which perhaps seem valid to them, and which might include:
- budget restrictions
- genuine disagreement with the technical aspects of our claims
- confusing us with “Blue Water Navy” – both groups claim exposure but with wholly different scientific basis
- Agent Orange “fatigue” – general effort to “draw the line somewhere with Agent Orange claims…it has to stop somewhere.”
- inappropriate disagreement with the legal basis for our exposure claims (Agent Orange Act, etc)
- don’t like airplanes or airplane people?? Or other reasons important to them but unknown to us
May I remind everyone of how helpful each veteran can be? We have contacted so very few New England senators and congressional representatives to join forces with Senator Richard Burr…please urge your own delegation to join forces and help. Perhaps you have seen the long list of supporting documents on the right side of our blog…I got most of those by writing or calling names off the internet and finding nice folks who want to help. Looking into our situation, many universities and individual experts have weighed in to help by providing expert findings…you can get the same from physicians and scientists at your own state universities. Please give an hour or so if you can.
Wes Carter
“If military action is worth our troops’ blood, it should be worth our treasure, too; not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American.” -Andrew Rosenthal 10 Feb. 2013
Been a decade plus of No Sacrifice by those served nor demand they should, DeJa-Vu all over again, added to the previous decades and wars of. Easier to ignore, PTS, Agent Orange, Gulf War Syndrome, Burn Pit Contamination, to name but a few. Then to pay for the decades to come results of our wars. This past decade plus neither war has yet to be paid for, rubber stamped costs for and deficit rapid rising started Before 9/11.
–*From the Costs of War Project:*– “Because the Iraq war appropriations for FY2003 – FY2013 were not funded with new taxes, but by borrowing, it is important to keep in mind the interest costs already paid, and future interest costs. Iraq War appropriations for DOD and State were 54 percent of the interest costs. If one were to include Iraq’s share of cumulative interest through 2053, those costs could be more than $3.9 trillion.”–
“Why in 2009 were we still using paper?” VA Assistant Secretary Tommy Sowers “When we came in, there was no plan to change that; we’ve been operating on a six month wait for over a decade.” 27 March 2013
Prior too this present Executive and Veterans administrations:
Oct 16, 2008 – VA claims found in piles to be shredded
October 24, 2008 – House panel will target VA shredding
February 11, 2009 – Veterans’ Claims Found in Shredder Bins
And more disturbing in relation to even before and through the early years of these two wars and occupations, this:
Lost to History: Missing War Records Complicate Benefit Claims by Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans
“DeLara’s case is part of a much larger problem that has plagued the U.S. military since the 1990 Gulf War: a failure to create and maintain the types of field records that have documented American conflicts since the Revolutionary War.”
“We are dealing with veterans, not procedure; with their problems, not ours.” General Omar Bradley, First Administrator of the Veterans Administration
“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” – Abraham Lincoln {but the country does after each modern war, since Korea, and no sacrifice as to Afghanistan and Iraq!}
It’s extremely easy to join the attacks against the long underfunded, and with wars adding to the peoples responsibility they ignore, Veterans Administration by those charged to fully fund as they do the wars, the peoples representatives be they Federal or State, kept underfunded as they seek to privatize for profit not reponsible support for those who serve the nation.
Military and Vets On FLOTUS and SLOTUS, Administration and it’s Cabinet, “Best – Ever”: “We haven’t had this kind of visibility from the White House—ever.” Joyce Raezer – Dec. 30, 2011″, and plenty more of similar since Joyce spoke and also will continue, as will the obstruction as the tepubs continue seeking to privatize the Veterans Administration, the peoples responsibility to those that serve them!
USN All Shore ’67-’71 GMG3 Vietnam In Country ’70-’71