BLUE WATER NAVY/ VIETNAM

O

OLDNAVYMCPO

US Veteran, Absent Comrade
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There are a large number of Navy Vets here that served in the Tonkin Gulf, South China Sea and Yankee Station. For me, it was aboard the USS America and the USS Constellation. Like me, many of you were flight deck personnel or otherwise worked on the weather decks where you were exposed to the weather and almost daily rain squalls. Agent Orange was an airborne agent that was readily dispersed, carried by winds and absorbed by rain.

Many of you have suffered the consequences of this exposure, me included. I posted a thread on Viet Vets and Cancer after losing a close friend on 07-11-2014. I won't repeat my personal circumstances since I went into some detail in that thread.

The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act (HR299) would extend VA Disability Benefits to up to 90,000 veterans who served aboard ships in Vietnam Territorial waters.

The bill passed the house unanimously in June. However the newly appointed VA Sec opposes the bill because of cost, increase in number seeking treatment and what he considers lack of scientific evidence. The previous VA Sec supported the bill as does the Vietnam Veterans of America and the majority of the congress. The bill is now questionable.

Me aboard America as PO1
Me aboard Connie as CPO
On the flight deck prepping a bird for launch
Receiving award for actions during Nam
 

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Thanks for the update Chief. It was just 54 years ago, August 2 and August 4, 1964, that the Tonkin Gulf incident happened that eventually brought us into the Vietnam conflict.

I was in a Navy Patrol Squadron operating out of Sangley Point, Philippines. The day after the incident all our planes began carrying live ordinance. Lots of confusion and rumors as to what was going on.

A great number of my Squadron mates have passed away from various AO ailments. Our patrols were made 1 mile off the beach at 500-1000 foot altitude, with all four doors open to accommodate the M-60's mounted in the doors. On many occasions we could actually see the C-130's spraying along the Mekong Delta.

My brother was in the Air Force, stationed at Da Nang for 18 months and they used to cut 55 gallon drums in half to make Bar-B-Q's. The drums were empty Agent Orange drums. He is still alive, but has had numerous surgerys for stomach and intestinal cancers. His hassles with the VA are too many to mention.
 
Walkin' Jack said:
Help me out here. So....Congress passes a bill and IT BECOMES LAW. How then can a local administrator refuse to observe it and deny vets the benefits to which he is legally entitled?!?!

This sounds like something a 1st year lawyer could cake-walk through federal court with no trouble. :confused:
Click to expand...

I believe it was reported the House acted; still needs
Senate and presidential signature.
 
After years of debating whether or not I should sign up for VA benefits, and at the urging of a good friend of mine who was in the Marine Corps, wounded once or twice in VN, and has 100% disability, I finally signed up, as I need hearing aids.


I went to my regular ear Dr. and they gave me a pair to try for a week, but the cost was close to $8,000.00:eek:. I just had an audiology test by the VA, and was told I will be getting a pair of aids, which are likely the same brand & model I had tried, and was told there would be no cost to me, except for the $50.00 co-pay.


I was also told I will be getting a monthly stipend as I had "boots on the ground" in VN, and have had a heart attack and have 4 stents. It's probably a 10% disability, which will be around $140.00 a month, but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye. The people I dealt with at my VA Center were more than helpful throughout everything I had to do to get signed up for the benefits.


I'm sorry to hear some Vets are having trouble getting benefits for which they are entitled and deserve a lot more than me.:(
 
GO BLUE WATER NAVY VETERANS OF VIETNAM!

Yup, we're still here trying to straighten their sphincters up... Much funnn....NOT! :mad::mad::mad:

Had all of my left arm pit lymph nodes removed after they swelled up like golf balls, thinking NH-Lymphoma... Lucking so far... but NOT celebrating for sure. :eek::confused::confused:

Currently collecting 100%, but no SMCs because of the VA run-around. Come September, I will be at 6-years on my thus far DENIED appeal (or is that 7-years?) on my VA DISABILITY BENEFITS APPEAL... :mad:

I truly believe that this is why I AM STILL ALIVE, ...just to haunt those VA elder abusers' (and AO-DENIERS) dreams!

...and PLEASE! Do NOT censor this as political!... WE ARE DYING because of this, some 40-50 years later!


WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME! :eek::eek::eek:
 
Not me!

The one and ONLY time I ask for help from the VA was with my meds. The first time thru they said I earned too much money so tried again after I retired and they said that program was no longer available! They told me that I would have a very hard time getting any benefits because I never had an exit physical so I can't prove any service related disabilities! I did get an education that served me well thru my life and provided me with the ability to earn a good wage. I have the ability to pay my own way and there are those vets that can't so me not taking anything leaves a little more for them!
jcelect USN 1961-1969
 
Funny thing about bureaucrats in any organization - they protect their turf.
I recently got my honorable discharge certificate after about 6 years of asking for it (I had a DD-214) and along with it came my entire jacket.
In it was a medical report from when I was in an Army hospital for 11 days being treated for blood poisoning. I'd had a training fall early in the morning that left some gravel in my palm that the medic in the field couldn't dig out, the 1st Sergeant said there were no vehicles available to take me back to main post (we were way out in some urban combat simulation site) and suggested I tough it out and see how it went. Didn't want to seem to be a cry baby so I did. The next day my forearm and hand was swollen like a football with oozing pustules all over, and virulent red streaks running all the way to my armpit. It hurt pretty bad too, and I got permission to go to the base hospital. While I was waiting at the HP, there was a guy standing there handcuffed to two MP's dripping blood from a gunshot wound in his hand. The orderly took a look at my arm, said "I gotta have a nurse look at that", the nurse said "gotta have a doc look at that", the doc said "I want a surgeon to look at that" (that scared me) and the surgeon took a look and said "we're going to admit you." I said "OK, I'll just go back to the barracks and get my shaving kit and the surgeon said "You don't understand - we're admitting you RIGHT NOW." (That scared me) This all didn't take but a couple minutes and the guy with the MP's just stood there and dripped. I got more attention than he did. (That scared me)
Upstairs, in to bed, saline soak and antibiotic IV drip for 3 days, then 2 needles of antibiotic alternating each arm, each buttock every 2 hours for the next 4 or 5 days, then once every 4 hours until I left. IOW, it was a pretty serious infection.
Fifty years after the event, I was gobsmacked when the report in my jacket said I was admitted for poison ivy.
I have to conclude the rotten bureaucrats didn't want to report a training accident and the apathy that didn't get my hand cleaned and treated sooner.
You guys fighting AO and a gigantic bureaucracy have my sincere sympathies.
 
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joe44va said:
Thank you again Lord for sending my sorry butt to the Med and North Atlantic, even in the winter.
Click to expand...

No worries mate. Some of us/US covered YOURs. You're very welcome... even when it hurts. Glad some of you got through whole, and maybe even slipped back into civilian life un-noticed...
Carry on...
 
My father in law , USAF retired E-9 , was a boom operator on KC-130s during that time , doing 6 tours , but they did 6 month tours . He recalls meeting up with his brother , USAF , somewhere in Vietnam . His brother was on a C-130 , dumping that stuff . They had to open the drums and transfer it . He recalls running into him and he was dripping wet with that stuff . Seems they would leave the cargo door down to get some air , and the stuff would come back in . He died a couple of years ago , a truly horrible death . Guess what ? He was told there was no way AO caused his problems . My hats off to you guys that have to put up with this trash , protecting our country . I went in in 1975 , so I missed all that .
 
My heart goes out to those that have suffered or do suffer from cancer caused by AO. There are a few members here that have seen the pics of what AO did to me and they are certainly not pretty.

All my treatments were through The Christ Hospital network as I never signed up with the VA. (Nothing against the VA but I was fortunate enough to have other options)

Like everyone here, I also wish that vets could get the help they deserve from our government especially when it wastes so many resources on frivolous, dead-end endeavors.
 
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