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No One has proven that Agent Orange was NOT used on Guam
Agent Orange
VT has done quite a few recent articles on Agent Orange and how members of Congress, from both political parties, but surprisingly the Democratic Party want to place limits on NOT enhance Veterans claims for Agent Orange related diseases.
The last articles I did on Agent Orange were back on April 11, 2010, VA Proposes Change to Aid Veterans Exposed to Agent Orange. AND January 25, 2010, VVA’s THE FACES OF AGENT ORANGE.
Between January 2010 and now, I was kind of optimistic about the prospects for Vietnam Veterans filing Agent Orange claims with the VA. However, much of what Mike is writing about now has shattered any illusions I had about our government doing right by those who not only have been exposed to Agent Orange and related Rainbow agents in Vietnam proper, but also those exposed to or may have been exposed to dioxins outside of Vietnam.
Another momentary illusion and optimism overcame us when Larry Scott at VA Watchdog announced way back in 2006 that Agent Orange was used outside of Vietnam. In an August 2006 article, Larry wrote, “AGENT ORANGE OUTSIDE OF VIETNAM – A look at DoD’s use of Agent Orange and other herbicides outside of Vietnam…Florida, Georgia, Arkansas, Hawaii, Texas, Indiana, Utah, Maryland, Rhode Island, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Arizona, New York, Washington, California and more...
“I thought you would find it interesting to take a look at DoD’s use of Agent Orange and other herbicides outside of Vietnam,” said VA Watchdog.
In fact, the VA now uses the DoD listing of locations outside Vietnam to decide VA Claims and appeals. Unfortunately, the VA is using the official DoD listing to delay and deny more claims than enhance support for Vets who claim Agent Orange exposure on Guam. The problem is that not all locations where Veterans claim Agent Orange has been used, or Vets have given sworn testimony of using the herbicide themselves is on that list – Guam has been in contention based on the simple fact the Air Force, and DoD cannot find any documented evidence confirming Agent Orange use on Guam ever!
It is not the Air Force, or DoD’s obligation to confirm or deny Agent Orange exposure on Guam or anywhere else, that is the obligation of the Department of Veterans Affairs to make such determination. Not only that, but such determinations should be based on confirmation or denial ‘beyond a doubt’ that Agent Orange was NOT used on Guam, not some vague excuse from DoD or the Air Force that they cannot find records except probably stored on Guam during the Korean War for use on the Korean Peninsula. The DoD, and Department of the Air Force are not responsible for America’s Veterans that is the obligation of the VA who should not be collaborating with the Air Force or DoD as if they all have something to hide.
This story came to Veterans Today from several Retired Air Force Senior NCOs who filed claims with the VA providing evidence and ‘sworn testimony’ that Agent Orange was used at Anderson AFB, Guam. Guam is not on the official DoD listing that the VA overly depends on to make claims or appeals decisions.
Unsavory Trends at the VA from Regional Office to Appeals Board = incompetence and lack of accountability or responsibility.
We at Veterans Today did a review of 156 VA Appeals documented on the VA website for noted trends in adjudication, delay, or remanding, and eventual denial. I did several articles about the Negative Anti-Veteran Attitudes found the the mainstream media and at the VA among Associated Press Reporters, VA adjudicators and other VA employees covering the period of the mid to late-1990s up to 2010.
May 7, 2010 Associated Press spreading RUMORs about PTSD fakers
May 9, 2010 PTSD is Real, PTSD Fraud is Not – Veterans rebuttal to AP
May 14, 2010 Hostile Attitude toward America’s Veterans Using the VA is Nothing New
Although the focus of the articles was on PTSD, we believe that this anti-Veteran attitude spreads to Agent Orange, Gulf War Illness, Depleted Uranium, and whatever else will kill our troops 10, 20, t0 30 years after they leave Iraq and Afghanistan.
However, we believe that such an entrenched anti-Veteran attitude continues today regardless which political appointees run the VA and that given the evidence provided by these Veterans in relation to Agent Orange and Guam, our review of the 156 VA Appeals reflects not so much a negative anti-Veteran attitude but a callous impersonal attitude to Veterans in which the word remand is thrown around like a buzz word for “let’s wait for they to die,” despite of Congressional correspondence from Senators and Congressman to expedite a decision or finding.
See for yourself readers, glance through just half of these 156 cases, and note how many time an Appeals Judge will slam a VA Regional Office then remand an appeal a second, third, or even more time with the caveat that the case has a Congressional expedite as it Congress were a JOKE. Well???
A review of 156 VA Appeals by Veterans Today staff reflects several unsavory trends at the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). the Air Force, and DoD that continue today:
a. VA Appeals Board has a bad habit of remanding [delaying] claims of Veterans who allege exposure to Agent Orange on Guam over and over, and over again, despite the consistent errors usually being on the VA’s part usually at Regional Office (RO) level. Despite having Congressional expedites, the VA tends to ignore the Congress and still remand a case two or three times, sometimes more before denying it.
b. Several appeals were remained with the RO (not the Veteran) tasked to determine if there was a possibility of exposure to Agent Orange on Guam. In cases where the Appeals Court remained a case back to the RO it chastised the RO for ignoring procedures the VA had in place to determine Agent Orange exposure outside Vietnam. Veterans Today will be investigating what those procedures are, how efficient and accurate they are, for records show that Regional Offices have not been using these procedures, so there must be a reason.
c. In at least one case, the VA Appeals Court remanded an appeal back to RO concerned that a Physician’s Assistant had done the Veterans’ record review and made the decision to deny co-signed by a MD who did not examine the patient. The Appeals Court was upset that someone at the VAMC not qualified to review the Veterans case had made a determination to deny. The Appeals Board kicked the appeal back with direction to have a qualified medical examiner (MD) do the evaluation.
d. Each time the VA makes an error, VA employees, be they at a VA Hospital, VA Regional Office, or even on the VA Appeals Court are not held responsible or accountable, but the Veteran or Veteran’s family pays in having their claim delayed, delayed, delayed again until the Veteran dies.
e. Don’t take our word for it, skim through these 156 Appeals, and these are only appeals, we are sure that the number of Veterans who served on Guam claiming exposure to Agent Orange is much higher than this and likely to increase regardless what the VA, the Air Force, or DoD says about not finding any records of Agent Orange use on Guam.
f. As you look through these 156 cases yourself, one thing becomes glaringly clear, and this is despite quite a few of these appeals having Congressional expedites, which literally are meaningless. The slogan that critics hit the VA with, regardless if we are speaking about the Bush administration or Obama administration, “delay, delay, deny until they die become much more than a bias slogan from whining Veterans.
Given these Veterans have either already passed on, or have medical conditions that are terminal in nature, all a VA adjudicator has to do is look at the date of birth of the Veteran, note what illnesses the Veteran is claiming, and simply out wait the Veteran until he/she dies. These 156 cases speak for themselves.
g. Lastly, no one, we repeat no one, at VA, the Air Force, or DoD has stated unequivocally that Agent Orange WAS NOT used on Guam. The Air Force, and DoD conveniently point to an excuse that since there are no records of Agent Orange aircraft or operations being flown out of Guam, nor any records of storage of the chemical on Guam it stands to reason that Agent Orange never existed on Guam. However, the Air Force, DoD, and VA conveniently place the Veterans in a Catch-22 situation in which everyone can “neither confirm or deny,” except America’s Veterans.
The fact that no one has officially stated or documented that Agent Orange or related dioxins never existed on Guam is what this series of articles will be about. For we at Veterans Today contend that Veterans who served on Guam have provided enough documented evidence that Agent Orange and related dioxins were present on Anderson AFB, Guam during the Vietnam War, and may even have been stored there after given that the Air Force has been ordered to clean-up toxic waste disposal at several land fills on base that date back to the Vietnam Era, and contain trace elements of dioxins.
We have sent a request into The Research Branch of the Air Force Historical Studies Office, but in the event we get no response, get ignored, or get the same non-committal answer, we will follow up with a Freedom of Information Request demanding all supply, herbicide, and chemical records related to Ranch Hand and Guam, or Agent Orange and Guam, or one of the many Rainbow colors and Guam or for the Air Force to officially state Agent Orange never existed on Guam.
As I tried, and I highlight tried, to research this topic, we’ve had lawyers who challenge the VA contact us, Agent Orange advocates (real ones) contact us, and of course the Veterans involved anxious for us to do this story given the timing when Congress is fighting against expansion of Agent Orange presumptions in order to save money to continue fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on the backs of America’s Veterans.
That is my opinion only and may or may not be shared by all writers or editors on Veterans Today or the Veterans below.
Robert L. Hanafin, Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired, Veterans Today News
There is strong evidence that Agent Orange was present on Guam during the Vietnam War.
No One has proven that Agent Orange was NOT used on Guam, including the Ari Force or DoD, but we intend to prove that indeed dioxins related to Agent Orange and other Rainbow agents were not only used on Guam for Vegetation Control, but that trace dioxins remain at several land fills on Anderson AFB, Guam that continue to be cleaned up and monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The EPA cannot say unequivocally or definitively that Agent Orange was or was not used on Guam but dioxins related to the various Rainbow Agents remain in the soil of Anderson AFB long after the Vietnam War. However, EPA reports on Guam indicate the presence of significant amounts of tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) remain in soil samples at the Urunao Land Fill on Anderson AFB that would make the probability of Agent Orange storage high.
During the manufacturing process of Herbicide Orange (Agent Orange) 2,4,5-T, a contaminant 2,3,7,8-was produced in small quantities (ATSDR 1998). Many of the health effects resulting from exposure to Herbicide Orange are attributed to the presence of this contaminant.
In relation to the dioxins found on Anderson AFB, the EPA notes that many effects have been observed in animals following exposure to TCDD, and this contaminant is considered more toxic than the pure components of the herbicides used in Vietnam (NAS 2000).
The second part of my article will provide more detail on the current clean up of toxic waste at Anderson AFB, Guam which sites on base have traces of dioxin and which time frame the sites were used. This time frame will include the Vietnam War Era.
At this point I’d like the Retired Senior NCOs who approached us to tell their own stories in their own words. Most of the evidence pointing toward the probability of Agent Orange in Guam during the Vietnam War comes from both Veterans who have served but one tour on Guam and career Air Force NCOs.
MSgt. LeRoy G. Foster, U.S.A.F.-Retired
“I am ashamed that our leaders did not have the decency to do something, anything about admitting the use of Agent Orange on Guam. The first step is acknowledgment. I am looking for acknowledgment from our leaders in Washington, the Department of Defense, and the United States Air Force. I would like an apology from Dow Chemical and Monsanto, and I expect them all to do the Christian thing to do Honor and Cherish Human Life.” LeRoy G. Foster, MSgt, U.S. Air Force – Retired
MSgt. LeRoy Foster is someone I can relate to in many ways beyond being a fellow military retiree, he can articulate himself, tell his story, and make readers understand this situation is not just about LeRoy Foster.
When MSgt Foster first contacted me, he had this story to tell by way of making a point. Major Hanafin, My step son lost his father in 2006 to esophageal cancer, prostate cancer and dementia. He was Blue water – Brown water Navy Vet during the Vietnam War. He was denied by the VA his entire life. He ended up in a nursing home paid for by Chautauqua county social services in New York state. He died without knowing anyone even his son. His grave went unmarked for more than three years when I began writing Congressmen and Senators to get him a headstone marker as a Vietnam Vet. The local VSOs wouldn’t do anything include the New York state veterans affairs department. I finally goaded them long enough and embarrassed them to the point of doing something for a fellow Vet who had passed on. Sir, his grave was just a piece of dirt blowing in the wind. No stone, no flag, nothing. You wouldn’t even know a man was buried there near a cow pasture.
My point Sir is that we have Vietnam Veterans dying every day from Agent Orange exposure without one blink of the eye from those who are our leaders in DoD, the Air Force, Army, Navy or Marine Corps much less the VA or Congress.
Not one apology nothing. The Governor of New York did make a proclamation for Flagman Harold C. Bentley, Jr. to recognize his death and the Order of the Silver Rose given to his son. But to the day he died the VA denied him. He served aboard the LST 1122 and the ammo ship USS Pyro AE24 which 90 % of the crews are dead now from cancer and heart disease. MSgt Foster.
Veterans Today Editorial Comment: When we at Veterans Today read the DD-214 for the Sailor mentioned above, we noted that he EARNED the Vietnam Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. Yet, because of a bureaucratic technicality that he never set foot in Vietnam proper his VA Claims for Agent Orange were consistently denied. In fact, the VA takes the position (probably supported by some VSOs) that just because one has the Vietnam Service Medal, and Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal does not necessarily mean one stepped foot on Vietnamese soil. SO WHAT?
This is what happens when the intent of VA bureaucrats is to save money (cost savings over American Veteran saving, supporting, or helping) .
It unfortunately is too late for this loyal member of the Blue Water-Brown Water Navy, and the collective we have an uphill battle for those Vietnam Era Veterans who remain, left behind, their service slighted, by us other Veterans to do battle with a corrupt and inefficient VA system most Vets know little about.
Especially now given the climate in DC when Congress wants to limit Agent Orange presumptions, it is clear that the politicians in Washington, even one who served in Vietnam wants to save money at the VA in order to help defray the cost of Obama’s continued wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We suspect that members of Congress may even be putting pressure on mainstream VSOs chartered by Congress to lay low on Agent Orange.
Nope it is not too late to go to bat for MSgt Foster, and others who served on Guam, they will all testify under oath that they were exposed to or actually handled Agent Orange on Guam, if they are found out to be liars then the VA and courts have recourse for this called the Stolen Valor Act among other legal remedies. Simply throw the bums in jail if Veteran lie to our government.
The VA in fact makes the lame claim that Veterans who allege Agent Orange exposure or use on Guam are not qualified to even recognize what Agent Orange looks like let alone know they were using it even if they were.
This while at the same time an unqualified VA nurse practitioner is taking the word of the Air Force that there is no record of Agent Orange use on Guam.
Take note that the never ending response from DoD and the Air Force is a convenient one. They do not specify or state Agent Orange was not used on Guam only that there is no record of it. That is about the same as the Military Records Depository, Air Force, or DoD telling the VA that since they cannot find a record on a Veteran, or it was burned in some fire, he/she never existed.
MSgt Foster: It is living my life in pain and suffering all those years, even on active duty, and being treated incorrectly for those diseases and illnesses, because the medical staff of the United States Air Force was kept in the dark as well as those handling the crap (Agent Orange).
They didn’t know we were exposed to that crap and the first appearances for me were the chloracne and sterility on the onset as shown in my Air Force Medical Records, and then the degeneration of my body and the onslaught of the dioxin in my body with an undetectable autoimmune disease Mixed Connective Tissue Disease.
Veterans Today Editorial Comment: The EPA reports coming out of Guam indicate that one of the ways that dioxins are introduced to the body is vie injection through the skin. MSgt. Foster will swear under oath that he sprayed herbicide in areas around Anderson AFB, he has the evidence to prove it including Airman Efficiency Reports that reflect he carried out Vegetation control.
Though it could be argued that MSgt Foster used Weed B Gone, or some other commercial product available today, Dow Chemical Company, Monsanto, and a few other companies with Air Force and Army contracts were producing Agent Orange not Weed B Gone. The dioxins in the soil on Anderson AFB reflects that toxins were used in both herbicides and pesticides used on Guam that would eventually be outlawed in America.
One long time Agent Orange legal advocate said it this way, “I think everyone knows that dioxin is still used in commercial herbicides, but is diluted to what legally meets an acceptable parts per million. The concentrated brands require dilution under penalty of law, with warnings etc. Actually, I would love to have a VBA or BVA lawyer or judge argue commercial exposure, it would blow the “tactical herbicide” argument out of the water forever. I can hear them now, “Your honor, the VBA’s stance is that despite the DOD expert inventing the term “tactical herbicide” which we have used repeatedly to deny legitimate claims, we would like to make a motion that the Board accept that exposure to Ortho Weed-Be-Gone is sufficient to have the Board deny direct exposure to herbicides.”
I will cover the EPA reports in more detail in the second installment of these articles, as we consult with lawyers representing Veterans who have served on Guam during the Vietnam War and believe they have been exposed to Agent Orange, and other Rainbow colors produced by the U.S. Chemical Industry for profit during Vietnam. The most damning evidence we found that refutes the 2003 DoD position that no records exists of Agent Orange use comes from then Agent Orange producer Monsanto that in a 2004 risk assessment to investors indicated that Agent Orange not only was used on Guam but trace elements are showing up in the population of Guam outside of Anderson AFB.
MSgt. Foster: The Erie VAMC tested me for Mixed Connective Tissue Disease a few months ago, the VAMC said, but I don’t think they really did, or they didn’t know how to test for it. It should have come up positive. The only disease in the world that connects other Vets claiming exposure to Agent Orange on Guam and I is Autoimmune Disease MCTD because of their related lupus, diabetes II, lymphoma, peripheral neuropathy, heart disease,anklylosing spondiolitis, spinal stenosis, osteoporosis, and my heart disease, spinal stenosis, edema, anklylosing spondiolitis, osteoporosis, peripheral neuropathy in my limbs, eye sight loss, hearing loss, immune problems, anaphalactic shock air way closure, constant hives, etc.
Major, it is a progressive degenerative attack on the human body killing it just like it does the jungle overgrowth. It speeds up the growth to reverse it and kill it which is how it was developed in England but was originally developed to enhance growth of plants and vegetables and make them bigger so we could feed the world and instead we killed entire generations of humans.
Veterans Today Editorial Comment: I ran across a VVA Media Release that I got from Agent Orange Zone in which John Rowan at VVA stated (among other things) that, “VVA contends that many Vietnam-era veterans were also exposed [to Agent Orange] in their service elsewhere in Southeast Asia during the war, including in Thailand and Laos , and aboard Navy vessels off the coast of Vietnam , as well as certain military bases located in the continental U.S. and its territories.” Although VVA did not mention Guam specifically as a U.S. territory, we believe that it is a recognized territory of the United States. VVA of course may have been referring to Puerto Rico and or Johnson Island. Agent Orange had to logistically be stored somewhere in proximity to Vietnam for operational use in Vietnam. The closest territory to S.W. Asia, and a logistics pipeline during the Vietnam War was Guam and Okinawa. I believe the collective we need to hammer this point – Agent Orange had to logistically be stored somewhere in proximity to Vietnam – more than we do unless I’ve missed something.
A one to two sentence mentioning of Agent Orange being sprayed outside of in-country Vietnam in a media release that is about 10 paragraphs long IS NOT enough for VVA to hammer the point. More needs to be done NOW.
VVA and the other Veterans groups, ‘no ALL Veterans groups even those not recognized as ‘politically correct’ by the Congress or VA (VVAW, Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) an so on,’ WE better set aside our differences over how we view our wars and begin looking out for one another, because as the precious few (what less than one percent of the U.S. population now?) become even fewer with attrition from Agent Orange, Gulf War Illness, PTSD, and so on. However, I’m not too optimistic that will ever happen for obvious political reasons.
Mark my words, no one else in our American society is going to watch our backs.
MSgt. Foster: Major Hanafin, The plight of every veteran exposed to these dioxins is not in the hands of the VA or Congress. We know what they will do which is “NOTHING”. The record of the last 40 years speaks for itself. They are waiting for the Vietnam War army to die, and their children, grandchildren, etc will become extinct with disease, sterility, birth defects, etc.
Where these descendants will realize that like the Vietnamese people have chosen to do with forced sterilization and abortion of fetuses none to be carrying the defective Agent Orange DNA Altered Genes, and the resulting human suffering.
I am Ashamed of Our Government, the Air Force, DoD, and the VA
I am ashamed that our leaders did not have the decency to do something , anything, the first step is acknowledgment. I am looking for acknowledgment from our National Leaders in Washington, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and the United States Air Force.
I would like an apology from Dow Chemical and Monsanto, and I expect them to do the Christian thing to do – Honor and Cherish Human Life. They should be held just as accountable as BP OIL. It is the same scenerio with massive environmental contamination and loss of life.
We need our government to be on America’s Veterans side. I want our leaders to be on our side We Veterans that stool up and answered our country’s call to duty, and the Vietnam War Draft. We stood up for the American people, our government, and our nation. We do so HONORABLY, so why does our government behave so DISHONORABLY?
We stood up for America, and we got blamed for doing so. Please, please stand up for us and our children and grandchildren.Don’t leave another Veteran behind like we did Navy Flagman Harold C. Bentley, Jr.
It is not our government’s financial responsibility for the BP Oil spill no more than it is for Agent Orange to some degree. This shared responsibility must be taken on by Dow Chemical and Monsanto. They know in their investor risk reports that they are liable and accountable. If is our U.S. Congress that must bring the chemical companies to hearings to help our children and future generations they have poisoned. Please.
I believe the key to our collective problems as American Veterans is that we are our worse enemy. There remains lack of support from our fellow Veterans I am a member of the Air Force Association (AFA), the Air Force Sergeants Association, and the American Legion. It was because of all the support these VSOs failed to give me that I hired an attorney for my fight with the VA.
MSgt. Ed Jackson, U.S. Air Force-Retired
Good morning sir. It is always good to hear from another USAF Retiree. I am Ed Jackson, a retired USAF MSgt. I got your e-mail address from e-mails I receive from retired USAF MSgt. Leroy Foster. Like Leroy, and many other veterans from all of our military forces, I was exposed to Agent Orange while I was assigned to Andersen AFB, Guam. Other veterans were exposed there on Guam’s other military installations, or in Okinawa, Thailand, South Vietnam, US Navy and US Coast Guard ships off the coasts of SEA countries, South Korea, Johnston Island, Hawaii, CONUS bases, and other places we all were sent to.
What is at issue is the political position taken by the VA to ignore and deny the health issues of America’s Veterans.
To me the legacy of Agent Orange (AO), or the other “Agent Rainbow” herbicides is not the real issue. What is the issue is the political position taken by the VA to ignore and deny the health issues of veterans, and the US Governments responsibility and collaboration in this, and a host of other causes of health issues caused by other wars and other causes.
In addition to the AO exposure issues, there is the unaddressed issue of confirmed hazardous chemicals that polluted some 59 US CONUS bases, also.
It is here that the VA forces America’s Veterans to jump through a host of hoops set up by bureaucrats, many of whom never served and can not relate to us. I understand the need to address fraud in claims, but what is the percentage of fraudulent claims to legitimate ones?
I suspect it is very low. The VA is faced with some 2 million pending claims, or appeals from veterans from all services and every war and military experience since the 1930s. Only a very few claims seem to be found to be fraudulent each year, in numbers that always seem to be less than about 20, or so, that seems to make the news media, and even many of those are fraud activities committed by VA employees.
The current “wait until they die” attitude at the VA
The VA has EARNED a negative reputation among most America’s Veterans by maintaining a never ending wait until they die” attitude entrenched within the VA system when addressing claims by veterans that is shameful and disgusting.
But the primary motivation for this, by the VA, is to ensure future work and employment of its bureaucrats and keeping its hard working employees busy. The average employee who receives a claim from a veteran simply becomes a collection receptacle for the information, it is their managers who make the decisions on claims, not them. The mangers have a budget to watch, and a career to protect. Political appointees of the Bush administration made of secret of the emphasis on COST SAVINGS OVER VET SAVING, and the Obama political appointees who now run the VA seem impotent to do anything about this entrenched attitude within the VA Claims adjudication system. In fact, the Obama political appointees are about as impotent at cleaning up the anti-Veteran attitude at the VA as they are about cleaning up the BP Oil spill.
Veterans get no help from the Congress, either. All of the Congress, or people running for Congress give us is unfulfilled campaign promises and speeches. Well, even with the advanced technology of health care in the US, a speech has never provided the care our veterans need, either medically or financially.
Even President Obama ran on a platform of “hope and change”. Well Veterans have always had hope, but the change has increased our public debt pass some $13 Trillion in inept programs and proposals to include a bloated defense budget that does nothing for America’s Veteran except collaborate with the VA in denying VA Claims. But, this is not just President Obama or the Democrats who control the Congressional checkbook today.
The Republicans also have ignored the veteran too. The Republican controlled Congresses of the 1990s and early 2000s and Presidents Bush 41, and Bush 43 (along with Democrat President Clinton) did nothing either in regards to AO.
At lease Clinton initiated an open door policy allowing more Vets access to the VA that was quickly shut once the Bush appointees took over the VA with COST SAVING on their minds. What mainstream VSO does not remember the disdain most American Veterans had against the Veteran on the House Veterans Affairs Committee they love to hate – Congressman Steve Buyer of Indiana. Buyer was sent in as Bush point man in Congress to cut cost at the VA encouraging the spread and entrenchment of the anti-Veteran attitude by VA bureaucrats and even a few Veterans. How many times have we heard the refrain from a few partisan politically oriented Veterans that so and so Veteran thinks our government owes us something. Most of us tend to be of the consensus DAMN right our government owes America’s Veterans something for all the lies and deceit.
There has been nothing passed by the Congress about AO exposure since 1990 when the “presumption” of exposure was granted only if the veteran stepped foot on Vietnamese soil according to the VA’s very strict interpretation of the act.
Was that really the “intent of Congress”?
Government agencies of the DoD, EPA, and others have conveniently not been able to find any documentation or records on AO or other chemical pollution by our government or military. Why?
The VA maintains that because of this convenient lack of documentation or records from the Air Force, Army, Marines or DoD in general there must not have been any chemical pollution at all. Nothing is further from the truth.
The fact that official Air Force or DoD documents have not been “located” does not mean anything, except they were somehow lost or destroyed because of a political decision made years ago to sweep Agent Orange under the carpet. It is far from meaning those documents and records never existed. No one really knows what records are stored in the national archives, not even the government. One thing is for sure no one including the VA, Air Force, or DoD has looked very hard for such records either. Why?
My own experience and claim is consistent with all other claims from Guam, and elsewhere. So, how can as you note 156 Veterans, who did not know of the other veterans experiences and locations ever manage to tell similar stories?
We all can’t be lying, and the simple truth as even most lawyers who successfully challenge the VA, Air Force, DoD, and our government is that AGENT ORANGE HAD TO BE STORED SOMEWHERE.
Major Hanafin you have hit the nail on the head as to why the mainstream VSOs cannot, or will not, help and I quote, “The reason I seriously believe that none of the Military Retiree or Veterans groups are going to go beyond lip service on this is that: Taking a position that our government cannot be trusted to take care of America’s Vets runs counter to the war efforts of the precious few we depend on to now fight our wars (THE DRAFT will never again happen).
Major, what I think is most disturbing is all of us answered our government’s call, and our government(s) made promises they knew they could never keep politically. Yes, the federal government has limitations and political priorities keeps it from doing what it needs to do for those who have made sacrifices for this great nation.
Does that mean people like these Veterans like you, and me, or others here on Veterans Today, military.com or elsewhere would not do what were told to again, knowing what we know today? Of course not. But the military would also have to provide more protection for each of us from hazardous materials and chemicals.
Veterans are a small voting block, compared to other groups, and getting even smaller, so we have a small voice. This leaves our only recourse to bring attention to our problems with the VA is to use “the squeaky wheel gets all the grease method”.
It is a method I personally dislike, but this may become necessary. That means the loudest group gets its demands heard. Using news media outlets is one way to begin, writing Congress critters and Senator critters helps to.
MSgt Foster is very good at this, much better than I am. The plight of all veterans will only get worse, and the numbers of future veteran claims will further slow the VA wheel, which is already inefficient at best.
Of the 59 bases that are know to be polluted with chemicals and bad water, every base I was assigned to during my 22 year USAF career is on that list (Castle AFB, CA, Plattsburgh AFB, NY, Pease AFB, NH, and Carswell AFB,TX). I was assigned to Pease and Castle twice, and yes, I spent my whole career in Strategic Air Command, first as a Transportation truck and bus driver, then 18 years as a Boom Operator on KC-135s.
Ed Jackson, MSgt (RET), USAF
Posted by: Robert L. Hanafin, Major, USAF-Retired, Veterans Today News
(The next installment of this series will detail the evidence provided by Veterans claiming Agent Orange was used on Guam. Major Hanafin)
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=36066
Posted by Robert L. Hanafin on Jun 15 2010, With 0 Reads, Filed under Agent Orange, Benefits, Coping, Health, Vet News, Veterans Affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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I guess the bi-partisan nature of screwing veterans is not changing quite as one hoped.
Nice work on the piece.
Great post.
I and everybody in my Sector of the First Cav were sprayed repeatedly in the Korean DMZ. It was the only way to keep North Korean infiltrators under a modicum of control. Some spraying was by small aircraft. But what really pissed me off was the manual spraying close to our unit’s mountainside perimeter. That was BLACK soldiers’ jobs, and occasionally a white or hispanic soldier who was in the doghouse. I suspect all those good soldiers and good Americans who happened to have darker skin than mine, Henley, Jackson, etc., are sicker than dogs or long dead.
The VA and VSO said my claim would be invalid because I couldn’t prove the flight numbers of the aircraft nor any longer contact the sprayers. No surprise there, Senator Webb.
T.D.
I wanted to set this short post aside. On page 18 of the vawatchdog.org site I encountered a shock. Between 1948 and 1951 I lived on the outskirts of Prosser, Washington. On our small farm, we raised our own fruits and vegetables. We received our farm’s irrigation water from 2,4-D polluted water. No wonder we were all sicker than dogs and in 1951, eventually had to move.
I wonder if the VA will recognize this one since I have herbicide related diseases?
T.
Tom,
Hint, check out the link to the 156 VA Appeals, I’m not saying read all of them, I burned the mid-night oil this past weekend doing that.
About I say the top 10 you will run across one that was approved for just what you say or related. Checking with legal opinion on this aspect of “direct service-connection,” I found out that it was easier for a Veteran to establish a direct-service connection between dioxin poisoning and whatever illnesses they are claiming.
One need not be a scientist or lawyer to figure out that some 30 to 40 years ago the military was spraying, dropping, shipping, and storing all kinds of hazardous waste all over the damn place.
Ok, back to Agent Orange and Guam, the point I’m making is that no shit based on EPA Reports and Chemical Clean-ups at Anderson AFB, Guam, what Camp LeJeune and the list goes on. Veterans and their families have been exposed to hazardous waste outside of Agent Orange for decades.
One legal adviser I checked with cautioned me (and Veteran reading this) that though she does not debate the presence of Agent Orange on Guam during Vietnam, Veterans, especially those who go it along or with the sponsorship of a VSO that BTW is not going to stand with you in the Appeals process except on paper, we have to be careful with the evidence being used to ensure the VA cannot shoot holes in it because the VA is try to delay, delay, then deny or deny outright if they can.
A concern shared by some legal folks, even some who have worked for the VA, is that let’s say when a veteran submits some reports they got off the internet that focus on trying to prove Agent Orange was used on Guam (or anywhere else) we tend to loose focus on what we really should be trying to prove a connectin between exposure to some chemical, any chemical that causes cancer or what have you.
More on this in detail on Part II, but I understand that if we rely on something we get off the internet that can be well (fraudulent or fixed) as in the case of the Monsanto reports, which BTW happens to be the same as the Dow Chemical company report noting Agent Orange use on Guam, even if we submitted both these reports along with our claim as proof that AO was stored at AAFB, do we think the VA is going to research the history of these 2 identical reports before rejecting them and using them to make an adverse credibility determination regarding the Veteran himself?
Any lawyer familiar with the VA system will tell us that all veterans need to understand is what kind of evidence is needed to support a claim rather than just bury the VA with anecdotal evidence that allows them to bury us in delay, delay, deny until we die.
She provided this example [I call it free legal advice]:
Let’s say a Veteran wants to submit a report that shows Guam’s water supply in 2010 (or even 2000) has TCDD and other toxins in it as proof that AO was present at AAFB back in 1962-1975. Really?
The VA’s easy answer would be this: prove to us (the VA) that the TCDD you’ve detected in today’s water supply is from AO some 25-plus years ago. You can’t.
Soil tells a different story, and the EPA report and the National Priorities List specifically dates back to Vietnam era when Guam first become contaminated. However, if I understood her correctly this places the Veteran or some VSO rep, or some lawyer who does not know the VA system in a position of having to do all the VA’s work for them and still get denied.
SOLUTION:
As you touch on Tom in both this response and the next one, “Oh BTW, the EPA has a list of toxic sites that includes MANY military bases beyond the DOD’s list. Known bases where I and many others were exposed include Fort Ord, CA and El Toro Marine Base in El Toro / Irvine CA. I hope it helps someone.”
The key to what your are saying Tom is exactly what a decent lawyer familiar with the VA system would say, is EXPOSURE, and it does not have to be Agent Orange.
She advised us on a final note that there’s always more than one way to get “it” done. PLAY THE VA’S GAME!
For Air Force vets at AAFB, what if they stopped trying to prove exposure to AO and instead just show their exposure to chemicals used for cleaning airplanes, etc. (by MOS, personal statements, etc.) and get a medical-nexus opinion and be done with it?
The medical and scientific literature is there to support the medical opinion. Those chemicals (e.g., TCE) are as toxic, if not more so, than TCDD, and the VA would be hard-pressed to deny the presence of those chemicals at an AFB. Of course, it all depends on the medical condition(s) for which the vet is seeking VA service-connected benefits.
On a final note, as I was trying best I could to research this, I am NOT an expert on Agent Orange or the VA system, just know enough to get me in trouble. Vets I was trying to help got kind of anxious and upset with me for asking the hard questions as if I were a VA adjudicator, claims examiner, or judge.
They mistook my being a devil’s advocate for DEFENDING the VA or taking sides with the VA, and nothing could be further from THE TRUTH. The truth be told the only way to beat the VA is think like the VA – period.
First thing they teach you as a military intelligence technician or officer is to learn the THINK like the enemy. Veterans as considered the VA the enemy long before the Department of Veterans Affairs was created. I personally see nothing wrong with thinking like the enemy even if the enemy is our government. Thinking like the enemy and preaching over throwing our government are not the same thing.
Just a thought…
Oh BTW, the EPA has a list of toxic sites that includes MANY military bases beyond the DOD’s list. Known bases where I and many others were exposed include Fort Ord, CA and El Toro Marine Base in El Toro / Irvine CA.
I hope it helps someone.
T.
See my response above.
Yes this will come in very handy for thousands of Veterans across generations, if we only learn how to think like the enemy – be it the VA, Pentagon, White House, Congress, and so on.
For Air Force vets at AAFB, [just by example] what if they stopped trying to prove exposure to AO and instead just show their exposure to chemicals used for cleaning airplanes, etc. (by MOS, personal statements, etc.) and get a medical-nexus opinion and be done with it?
The medical and scientific literature is there to support the medical opinion. Those chemicals (e.g., TCE) are as toxic, if not more so, than TCDD, and the VA would be hard-pressed to deny the presence of those chemicals at an AFB. Of course, it all depends on the medical condition(s) for which the vet is seeking VA service-connected benefits.
History Lesson Time: The Vietnam Veterans Movement will only end when the last of our generation is DEAD!
The title is mine, some links are mine, but the intro is from Robert Rosebrooke, one of our staff writers. Brother Rosebrooke had this to note about the never ending controversy over Agent Orange. Bob leads the charge challenging the Veteran’s land grab in Los Angeles.
The Legacy of Jim Hopkins
Had it not been for Jim Hopkins, [an active member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW)] acting alone without the help of any VSO’s, Agent Orange would still be brushed aside as make-believe. And what VSO has come to the aid of the Old Veterans Guard protesting the criminal abuse and misappropriation of Veterans land?
The ACLU finally came to our defense to hang the American flag in “distress” because our property and the lives of 20,000 homeless Veterans are in extreme danger. The only thing VSO’s have contributed has been the writing of nebulous “resolutions,” Rees Lloyd’s American Legion resolution, notwithstanding. Maybe we need a modern-day Jim Hopkins to drive a jeep through the next carnival on Veterans property to get the attention of the news media and congress. – R
Though I’m not advocating a violent approach to resolving differences with the VA, because let me assure you VA campuses today are Armed camps compared to when Jim Hopkins drove his jeep through the lobby of one in California that focused the attention of the nation on Agent Orange.
History tells that his action frankly GOT ACTION.
ISR Issue 55, November–December 2007
________________________________________
Disposable heroes
By PHAM BINH
http://www.isreview.org/issues/55/veterans.shtml
Wadsworth Jeep
On March 14, 1981, Vietnam veteran and marine Jim Hopkins drove his jeep through the glass doors and into the lobby of the multimillion dollar Wadsworth VA hospital in Los Angeles, California. He fired rounds from his AR-14 into pictures of Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter while screaming that he was not receiving the medical attention he needed. As he was hauled away by police after the incident, he screamed into television cameras that his brain was “being destroyed by Agent Orange.”
Hopkins’ action got national media attention focused on Agent Orange for the first time. After Hopkins was released from prison and underwent subsequent treatment at a VA hospital, he went on a national speaking tour to publicize the Agent Orange issue. Sadly, he died of unknown causes on May 17, 1981. News of his death sparked a sit-in by veterans in the same lobby into which he crashed his jeep.
In response to the protest, the VA claimed it did not neglect veterans while the Reagan administration alternated between ignoring and ridiculing the protesters. The veterans escalated their protest by going on a hunger strike and Reagan retaliated by evicting them from the Wadsworth lobby. The starving veterans regrouped. They redeployed their protest in front of the White House and forced congressional veterans’ committees to meet with them. Fearing the collapse or death of one of the veterans, Congress agreed to a settlement: the veterans would end their fifty-three-day hunger strike and Congress would override Reagan to keep the VA’s outpatient centers open, refrain from cutting veterans’ benefits, and conduct studies of PTSD and Agent Orange.
Another source: consortiumnews.com
Killing U.S. Troops Slowly
By Michael O’McCarthy
March 9, 2007
Editor’s Note: Some Bush administration officials have expressed shock at the mistreatment of Iraq War veterans at Walter Reed and other medical centers. But this scandal has many antecedents, including the neglect shown to many veterans who served in Vietnam and in the first U.S. war with Iraq.
In this guest essay, writer and political organizer Michael O’McCarthy explains why the latest disclosures shouldn’t have come as that much of a surprise to the Pentagon or the White House:
Twenty-five years ago, March 14, 1981 Jim Hopkins, Marine veteran of Vietnam, born on the Marine Corps birthday of Nov. 10, drove his army Jeep through the glass doors and into the lobby of the multi-million dollar, showcase edifice of Wadsworth VA hospital, at Los Angeles, California. He did so to protest the gross, willfully negligent treatment given US veterans within the VA system, specifically, those veterans of the US war in Southeast Asia, aka, the Vietnam War.
He fired rounds from his AR 14 into the official pictures of then-President Ronald Reagan and ex-President Jimmy Carter. For emphasis he then fired his .45 caliber handgun and a shotgun screaming that he was not receiving the medical attention needed. Hauled from the hospital by law enforcement, he screamed into the cameras that his brain was “being destroyed by Agent Orange.”
That sent both a shock wave and a wake-up call through the U.S. and became a clarion call to thousands of veterans who felt the very same as did Hopkins.
Ron Bitzer, director and founder of the L.A.-based Center for Veteran’s Rights, and I [Michael O'McCarthy] took up his case. My specialty was dealing with vets suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, (PTSD) who had come into conflict with law enforcement due to their illness.
Hopkins’ case gave national voice to three major issues for vets:
1. The failure of Reagan’s administration to investigate the damage caused by Dow Chemical’s and Monsanto’s dioxin-based defoliants spread all over Southeast Asia known as Agent Orange, Blue and other quaint names – and its refusal to treat vets and their families for its damaging effect on both, especially the obvious appearance of birth defects of children born to the vets.
2. The refusal to acknowledge the illness of PTSD and to investigate its damage on vets and to provide appropriate treatment.
3. The callous and insulting disrespect shown the vets by Reagan and his efforts to cut both the benefits of the vets and to close their outpatient treatment centers.
After being released from inpatient treatment from the VA hospital where we had him transferred from the L.A. County Jail, Hopkins went on a speaking tour to vets. Despite our best efforts to help him Hopkins died on May 17, 1981, with an open liquor bottle and empty pill bottle found next to his body.
The news of his death spread across the country, sparking a sit-in of the Wadsworth VA lobby by veterans, who had come to view Hopkins as a hero. As Reagan alternately ignored and then ridiculed the veterans while the VA proclaimed its innocence of neglect, the protest grew until it became a hunger strike led by highly decorated Vietnam combat veterans.
The hunger strike drew mass coverage by the U.S. and world news. In the face of the aroused public, Reagan ignored calls for investigation, but held off forced eviction. When we rejected the government’s poor-faith negotiations, Reagan called in the Federal forces.
But we were prepared and within days were camped out in front of the White House and had forced meetings with various congressional Veterans committees. Fearing that any moment one of the vets would die and would trigger an armed response by the many outraged veterans across the country, Congress finally agreed to negotiate a compromise: The veteran’s strike would end after 53 days and Congress would over-ride Reagan so that the Vet Centers would remain funded and open; there would be scientific and medical investigations into both the effects of the dioxin defoliants and into the illness of PTSD.
But despite it taking so long for the government to address the issue, the substandard quality of care in the military and VA hospitals was not news. In 1976, Ron Kovic’s Born on the Fourth of July was published, a full five years before Hopkins’s protest. In this book, Kovic, a paralyzed combat veteran of Vietnam, documented, in graphic literary style, the mistreatment of vets in both hospital systems. But nothing changed.
In 1989 Oliver Stone made Kovic’s book into a movie featuring an Oscar-nominated performance by Tom Cruise playing Kovic. But neither the Congress nor the Presidency changed the continuing ill treatment given veterans.
Nope the Vietnam Veterans Movement is far from Over, and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Movement has just begun.
In addition to what Brother Rosebrooke sent me, since I have a born in Missouri – show me attitude, I like the two career Air Force NCOs were on active duty when this was going down – the Agent Orange War.
For those Veterans who are doubting Thomas’ thinking the VA can do no wrong, and our government can do no wrong – simply put WRONG!
Here are two links to original edition Times and New York Times articles that tell the same story Brother Rosebrooke tells – a true story.
Still Living with the War, Time Magazine, Monday, Jun. 08, 1981
For Viet Nam veterans, the battle for better care continues
Eight years after the Viet Nam War ended, Americans who fought it have not yet won a hero’s homecoming. That condition became especially galling to them when the Iran hostages returned to cheering crowds this winter. Yet, increasingly, the veterans’ demands are shifting from spiritual appreciation for their sacrifices to material help of the kind sought by past generations of warriors: tuition aid comparable to the G.I. Bill of Rights; generous and inclusive disability pensions; and, more and more, better treatment at the nation’s 172 Veterans Administration hospitals.
The protests for improved medical care are sometimes as passionate as protests against the war used to be. Despite a conciliatory letter from the White House, two Viet veterans’ groups continued a sit-in and a hunger strike at the Veterans Administration Wadsworth Medical Center in Los Angeles, a city that has become the focus of veteran activism. One of the 16 hunger strikers, a diabetic, had collapsed after refusing food and insulin for four days, and four others have quit. But, vows Hunger Striker Kenneth Van Glen: “We’re going to stay out as long as it takes.”
Both groups are protesting the death of James Hopkins, 32, a onetime Marine who thought his Viet Nam service injuries were driving him mad and that the Government would not help him. In March Hopkins donned his camouflage fatigues, drove his Jeep through glass doors into the Wadsworth lobby and shot up the walls with an M-14 rifle. Two months later he died at home, an open liquor bottle and an empty pill container near by.
Hopkins’ suffering typified a number of major problems complicating relations between the Government and Viet Nam veterans. First, the Reagan Administration had announced plans to make deep cuts in the VA budget. Second, most VA hospitals are far better equipped to handle physical disabilities, which are the norm among older veterans, than psychological disabilities, which predominate among Viet Nam vets. Third, the VA has been slow to acknowledge the existence of “delayed stress syndrome,” mental illnesses that arise years after their cause has ceased—in this case the war. Fourth, the Government has rejected the claim of thousands of Viet Nam veterans that a wide range of symptoms, many of which developed since the G.I.s returned, can be blamed on exposure to a deadly defoliant called Agent Orange, 12 million gal. of which were used by U.S. forces in Viet Nam.
Scientists have linked dioxin, the most toxic element in Agent Orange, to cancer in animals. Researchers in Italy and Viet Nam claim dioxin is tied to birth defects in humans. Veterans also blame the chemical for headaches, sexual dysfunction and organ damage. They say perhaps 80,000 soldiers were exposed to dioxin. The Federal Government says there is no way to tell, although some 45,000 soldiers have been tested and a federally financed study is under way at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Public Health.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922545,00.html#ixzz0r1WsknFT
VIETNAM VETERANS SET UP PROTEST CAMP
By ROBERT LINDSEY, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: June 6, 1981
Illustrations: Photo of Viet Nam Vets
LOS ANGELES, June 5, 1981
Tony Reyes went to Vietnam when he was 18 years old. Sixteen years later, he said today, he still has nightmares in which he sees babies whose heads have been blown off.
Mr. Reyes began to sob as he sat on the lawn outside the Wadsworth Veterans Medical Center, where, along with more than 40 other veterans of the Vietnam War, he has been camped for the last 16 days.
”Nobody can see the scars in your heart,” he said, ”but everybody here has them, everybody who went to Vietnam has them. But people don’t care; they’ve swept us under the carpet.”
The veterans say that they set up the camp, a dozen or so orange, khaki, red and blue tents pitched on a lawn in front of the hospital, to protest what they contend is inadequate care by the Veterans Administration.
But a common thread running through the veterans’ comments suggests that there is a deeper motive for the demonstration: a belief that the nation has not only forgotten the Vietnam veteran but also blames him for the national trauma created by the Vietnam War. ‘A Very Self-Righteous Place’
Richard Weinberg, a native of Lynn, Mass., who said he served in the 75th Rangers in Vietnam, was asked why he was taking part in the demonstration. In a phrase that was heard repeatedly, with variations, from the veterans, he replied: ”To be treated like a human being.”
”A bullet took part of my head off -there’s a steel plate in it, ” he said. ”But when I came home people looked at me as if to say, ‘You deserved it.’ ”
”I didn’t start the war,” Mr. Weinberg continued. ”But they look at you and blame you for it. America is a very self-righteous place.”
The veterans’ protest began after the apparent suicide last month of James Hopkins, a 32-year-old former marine. Two months before his death, Mr. Hopkins drove a jeep through the plate- glass window of the hospital’s lobby and fired several shots into a wall. He described the incident as a gesture to call attention to what he said was Veterans Administration neglect of a hearing problem that he had and of other ailments he attributed to service in Vietnam. Protesters List 4 Demands
The demonstrators, including a dozen who say they are on a hunger strike, spend the time talking among themsevles and with reporters and other visitors, including several young women who have enlisted in their demonstration.
They say they will stay where they are until President Reagan meets with them, an investigation of Mr. Hopkins’s experience with the V.A. is conducted, more efforts are made to determine the long-term effects of Agent Orange and other toxic herbicides used in Vietnam, and a program is put into effect to screen Vietnam veterans for stress-related problems stemming from their experiences in the war.
Today, with Los Angeles sweltering in nearly 90-degree heat and smothered by a layer of smog, the veterans sought shelter in their tents and under the few trees near their camp and talked about their experience in Vietnam and how it had affected their lives.
”We have a right to live like human beings,” said John Avalos, a 34-year-old former Marine corporal, who said he had a back problem that the Veterans Administration refused to treat as service-related. ”The V.A. doesn’t give a damn for us. When I went to Vietnam, I accepted the fact that I was laying my life on the line. But now I want something for it, to be respected.” Vietnam Experience Recalled
”My best friend lasted 10 minutes in Vietnam,” said Mr. Reyes, who was standing nearby. ”You’d arrive in Vietnam and the next day you’d walk into a village and see a bunch of Vietcong hanging from the trees. What do you think that does to 18-, 19-year-old kids?
”Once a Vietnamese came up to me,” Mr. Reyes recalled, ”and said that he had three babies in the back of his truck who had been blown up after they had played with a rocket dud, and he wanted me to take them from him.
” I went to the bed of the truck, and saw that two of them were dead. The third was still alive, but her insides were all torn out, and all I could do was place my poncho over her stomach to keep out the air.
The point I want to make is as readers go through these lessons we have failed to learn, please read them one more time SLOWLY, then note that all we need to do is change the name from Vietnam Veterans to Gulf War Veterans, or more so to bring it full circle throw in Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans and REST MY CASE. Does the fact that America does not blame the younger Vets of the Gulf War, and today’s wars make it any less disgraceful to ignore them?
If you are among the minority who do not feel ignored, simply ask MSgts. Foster and Jackson, hell they, like I were nowhere near Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) if you get my drift, maybe we should have gotten closer to those doing the heavy lifting.
Robert L. Hanafin, Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired, Veterans Today News
Let’s clear a few things up. Records of base use, storage and disposal aren’t kept longer than about 2 years. These are non-archivable records.
Dioxin on Guam in many places is measured in the ppm or part per million range. The EPA has determined there’s no safe level of dioxin. The highest amount of dioxin in the world in soil is on Andersen AFB at 19,000ppm. That means the soil is 1.9% dioxin. Many places on Andersen measure in the ppm range and all are chemical storage sites or burnsites.
There are at least 2NPL sites, more than 28 superfund sites and more than 200 contaminated sites on this island. Many of these sites sit atop the sole-source drinking water aquifer.
The EPA absolutely knows 2,4,5-T is on this island. EPA/540/2-89/024, this document is about the remediation of herbicide orange contaminated soil from Guam, Johnston Island and Mississippi. All of which were storage sites and disposal sites for the tactical herbs. The amount of dioxin on Andersen AFB, the 19,000ppm is at a burn site that was used for disposal. On Guam this would have been illegal. If the soil tested from Guam is from the 2,4,5-T that was stored on Guam during the Korean War then this shows the military had knowledge of the contamination to the 2,4,5-T. That 2,4,5-T was Agent Purple and was sent to Camp Detrick after the war. From Camp Detrick it then went to Eglin.
The overall contamination is horrific. When I was on Guam you could taste, see and smell a solvent in the drinking water. According to ATSDR the solvent, in this case mostly TCE, would have to have been 1,000,000ppb. You can still to this day find 2,4-D, 2,4,5-T, 2,4,5-TP silvex, picloram and cacodylic acid and many other pesticides in the drinking water of Guam.
After WWII they closed this island down essentially. It was referred to as the Coconut Curtain. This was done, I believe because of all the neurodegenerative disease. The people of Guam had an incident rate of about 1 in 4 and there were at least 18,000 cases of it in military personnel from this time period, the war until the middle 50′s. It is called ALS/PDC. Had we taken a good look at the cause we may have spared the world these diseases. Instead we covered it up and still do to this day. The reason I believe was from the massive use of pesticides like insecticides DDT and Dieldrin and herbicides like picloram and sodium aresenite. Both DDT and arsenic can be found all over the island. You add in the weapons of war and you have quite a mixture. The military is also very clear as to not using or storing insecticides and herbicides together. Yet this was done all over. I wonder what the military was thinking would happen in these rainy environs and runoff of the pesticides.
This is too big and there’s too much liability for the DoD and our government to admit to what we did on Guam and all over the world. A scientist told me about a year ago a 2 week stay, even today, can increase your chances of neurodegerative disease.
[...] This is London Channel 4 News - PR Newswire (press release) - Veterans Today Network - Progress Index all 240 news articles » Email this [...]
Guam has the highest dioxin contamination of any place on earth and they are going to double their population there soon. With the soil contamination up to 19,000 ppm and the Air Force just buried the cross island fuel transfer pipleline that I hand sprayed for ten years everyday the old adage ‘out of sight out of mind’ doesn’t cut the mustard..the contamination is still there and will end up in the food supply, water supply, etc. Those that try to segregate Vietnam War veterans and benefits are the same yokels who are giving separate benefits to the OEF and OIF veterans. A veteran is a veteran period. Let’s put it this way…was a russian mig over my head just as threatening as a North Vietnamese mig or a N Korean mig or Cuban tank or a Iranian gun boat…? It didn’t matter where you were when you were exposed to Agent Orange it is the same freaking dioxin and falling from the sky is a bit different than hand mixing and hand pumping and hand spraying it but that’s all under the damn dam when it only takes a pindrop to do the job..just ask that Ukraine president that was assassinated by KGB. The fact is Congress sent us to war, drafted some of us and when the bill comes in they run like heck. The protect their cronies CEO’s, profits, etc and let us DIE.
[...] is the second part of a series of articles on the probability that Agent Orange and the related Rainbow Colors of chemicals used by our Armed [...]
Ditto
This is another kickback from Vietnam 2010
They picked our article up from Google, and note we are with the big boys.
Bobby Hanafin
[...] is the second part of a series of articles on the probability that Agent Orange and the related Rainbow Colors of chemicals used by our Armed [...]
Sent of Veterans Today by MSgt. LeRoy Foster, USAF-Retired on June 11, 2010
PLEASE DO A STORY ON GUAM AGENT ORANGE. IT NEEDS TO BE TOLD. ANOTHER VETERAN CONTACTED ME ABOUT DEATH OF A CHILD AND ILLNESSES ASSOCIATED WITH HIS SERVICE ON ANDERSEN AFB GUAM WITH ME.
It is important to note “VEGETATION CONTROL PROGRAM” WORDS TO IDENTIFY THE APPLICATION OF AGENT ORANGE HERBICIDES. THIS IS IMPORTANT, MY AIRMAN’S PERFORMANCE REPORTS WHICH LEAVE LITTLE DOUBT OF AIR FORCE USE OF AGENT ORANGE HERBICIDES ON GUAM BY ME.
PLEASE CHECK OUT http://www.guamagentorange.info/home
Also, contact Sharon L. Perry founder of Agent Orange Legacy for the children and grandchildren of veterans exposed to Agent Orange at aolegacy@gmail.com
Also, Dr. Mary Paxton of the National Institute of Medicine Agent Orange Commission knows all about us veterans exposed on Guam
Veterans Today Editorial Comment: While doing research for this story on Agent Orange and Guam, we were literally overwhelmed by the data dump from Veterans that had served on Guam claiming use or exposure of Agent Orange on Guam.
okiedokie1950 had this testimony to say, “I had a baby girl die 12 hours after birth they said her cause of death was Potters Syndrome. I also have a son that had a kidney stone at the age of 8. I’ve been reading where Agent Orange can cause birth defects.
In just the past year I have had 2 urinary tract infections in which my Doctor says is very rare in Men, Also I was at Keesler AFB during Hurricane Camille and they had Agent Orange there also. Don’t know how I can prove anything. My brother suggested that I contact Senator Jim Inhoff. I will try and make an appointment with him if I can and see if he can give any help.
I was stationed at AAFB Guam from Sep 70 thru Dec 71, while there I worked at Base Fuels, I hauled a 55 gal drum that smelled like pesticides or herbicides to a remote location off the base. I also remember the grass around the barracks was always brown never green. I lived at the barracks in Marlboro.
I don’t have a lot of health problems, but am starting to experience some.
Is there any hope of me getting some kind on help from the VA. Every time I try they turn me down. Any suggestion would be appreciated.
While on Guam I Was Sgt R. E. Foster
Thank You an Air Force Vet.
MSgt. Foster’s response was, “Sgt Foster, Sgt Ralph Stanton, MSgt Ed Jackson, TSgt Joe McHale, Dr Mary Paxton, Mookie Porter of the VVA and Sharon L. Perry founder of Agent Orange Legacy.
You all should talk immediately about Guam and Agent Orange.
Please read the above email I received from Sgt R.E. Foster who worked in the Fuels Division at Andersen AFB Guam when I was there. I also have had several urinary tract infections as well as my daughter. They can cause severe kidney failure and damage to the kidney with prolonged infections. The assault of dioxin on the human body is naked to the human eye except for the chloracne. Everything else is cloaked in the form of many diseases that take months or years depending on the exposure amounts, human body resistance, and Immune systems.
I firmly believe there is a severity chart or exposure chart that should exist on Agent Orange exposure and the resulting step by step diseases that could appear over time. It could depend on each person’s DNA TYPE, DNA HISTORY, past DNA introductions of other chemicals over generations, but one thing we do know is AGENT ORANGE DIOXIN DOES CAUSE BIRTH DEFECTS IN CHILDREN AND DISEASES. WE also know that these dioxins cause severe diseases in veterans exposed.
The issue at hand now is how fast can this country react to those who will not be alive in six months. A delay of two months can be critical to veterans dying. IT IS VERY UNFAIR AND CRIMINAL IF YOU ASK ME.
Sgt Ralph Stanton and I have been both denied by the VA [based on DoD note being able to locate any records confirming or denying Agent Orange or any of the other colorful, deadly herbicides on Guam.]
I am probably only one of a very few men who actually prepared, mixed and hand sprayed Agent Orange herbicides that is still alive.
What would be ideal Major Hanafin is if you could put enough pressure on THE VETERANS SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS to ask THE HOUSE VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN BOB FILNER AND THE SENATE VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN AKAKA to just meet with us and other vets [exposed to Agent Orange outside of Vietnam] who know the truth.
We know what was concealed and why. We put two and two together on July 29, 2009 when the INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE Agent Orange Commission released the Veterans and Agent Orange update 2008. This is when it hit me like a ton of bricks that I was lied to and was denied all those years.
WELL, I realized immediately after reading the report that all of my illnesses were like an open book of AGENT ORANGE exposure starting with the Chloracne, sterility, immune problems, hives, air way closure, anklylosing spondiolitis, spinal stenosis, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, joint disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, ischemic heart disease, immune disease mctd..the biggy that masked all of the above diseases and is undetectable…and now my daughter and granddaughter born march 15, 2010 were born with multiple birth defects in WCA Hospital Jamestown NY. She is uninsurable and at the mercy of the Shriners Hospital in Erie Pa.
WE KNOW THE TRUTH. I USED TO HAND PUMP THE AGENT ORANGE HERBICIDES OUT OF 55 GALLON DRUMS INTO A 750 GALLON TRAILER THAT USE TO BE USED FOR OIL AND ADI FOR C124 GLOBEMASTER AIRCRAFT. I have witnesses who watched me hand-spraying the agent orange herbicides on the security fences on the flight-lines, around the fuels tank farms on and off base and the packaged oil warehouse near Marbo barracks complex and the CROSS ISLAND PIPELINE PICTURED IN ONE OF YOUR ARTICLES..AS YOU CAN PLAINLY SEE THERE IS TOO MUCH EVIDENCE FOR ANY COP OUT AND DENIAL BY THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT.
I know the truth and so does everyone else including Congressman Filner, Congressman John Hall of NY, Congressman Chris Lee of NY, Congressman Higgins of NY, Senator Gillibrand of NY, Senator Schumer of NY, Senator McCain of Arizona, Senator Akaka of Hawaii, NY Senator Cathy Young and others.
The worse of all of these denial and lies is the fate of our children, grandchildren, and future generations who will be adversely genetically affected by the DIOXIN.
It is an atrocity, genocide, murder. Check out this website for more information on Guam contamination from me hand spraying there: http://www.guamagentorange.info/home
Dr. Mary Paxton knows the truth too sir and hopefully she could enlighten people further to the tragedy facing our nation. She is on the INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE AGENT ORANGE COMMISSION, and she knows what is happening to our nation, to our veterans and to our children and grandchildren. We are in trouble. Major trouble.
We need more town hall meetings sponsored by the VVA and others if they will join us to help our children please. please please.
LeRoy G. Foster, MSgt, USAF, Ret
Life Member of the DAV of New York State
Member of the American Legion Post 777, Celeron, NY
Member of the Vietnam Veterans of America
70% Service Connected 100% Unemployable
Totally and Permanently Disabled from Agent Orange on Guam
MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO
427 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-5301
Phone: (202) 225-1188
Fax: (202) 226-0341
July 16, 2010
MSgt. Leroy G. Foster
7524 E Main Road Route 20
Westfield, NY 14787
Dear MSgt. Foster,
I write in response to your e-mail concerning Agent Orange and your use of the chemical during your time at Andersen AFB, Guam. Although Guam is not a documented geographic region for use, Agent Orange exposure cases do not come without precedence on Guam. Therefore I urge you to file an Agent Orange claim with the Department of Veteran’s Administration.
Thank you for writing me on this important issue. I will continue to work with my colleagues on the Veteran’s Administration Committee to see if further legislative progress can be made on this issue.
Sincerely,
/s/
MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO
Member of Congress