Veterans coming back with PSTD problems

[hipaware]

Does anyone on this forum personally know a veteran with serious PTSD problems.

 

[waltky]

Agent Orange support troops denied compensation claims...

Ailing veterans denied claims as they point to Vietnam-era cargo planes
August 5, 2013 WASHINGTON — Nearly three dozen rugged C-123 transport planes formed the backbone of the U.S. military’s campaign to spray Agent Orange over jungles hiding enemy soldiers during the Vietnam War. And many of the troops who served in the conflict have been compensated for diseases associated with their exposure to the toxic defoliant.

But after the war, some of the planes were used on cargo missions in the United States. Now a bitter fight has sprung up over whether those in the military who worked, ate and slept in the planes after the war should also be compensated. Two U.S. senators are now questioning the Department of Veterans Affairs’ assertions that any postwar contamination on the planes was not high enough to be linked to disease. Complicating the debate is that few of the planes remain to be tested. In 2010, the Air Force destroyed 18 of the Vietnam-era aircraft in part because of concerns about potential liability for Agent Orange, according to Air Force memos documenting the destruction.

Citing tests done on some of the aircraft in the 1990s, North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, the ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., have asked the VA’s Office of Inspector General to review whether the department is "inappropriately" denying disability compensation to veterans who claim they were sickened by postwar contamination. "It appears that [the VA] does, in fact, plan to deny any C-123 claims regardless of the evidence submitted in a particular case," the senators wrote. The letter notes that a group of outside experts have called the VA’s scientific conclusions "seriously flawed."

The Air Force says the planes’ destruction was handled properly. "Because of the potential stigma associated with these aircraft, the Air Force ensured that the recycling of the aircraft was accomplished completely and that the metal was not stored improperly or abandoned prior to being smelted," an Air Force statement said. The C-123s were used to spray Agent Orange from 1962 to 1971 as part of Operation Ranch Hand. After the war, about 1,500 Air National Guard and Reserve crew members flew the planes on cargo missions in the United States until the last aircraft were retired in 1982.

The Air Force aborted plans to sell some of the planes in 1996, after evidence surfaced that 18 of them might still be contaminated with TCDD dioxin, a carcinogen associated with Agent Orange, according to Air Force documents and papers filed with the General Services Administration’s Board of Contract Appeals. The planes were quarantined instead in Arizona at a storage facility at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, nicknamed "the Boneyard." The Air Force did not notify the post-Vietnam crews or Boneyard employees of the potential risk, according to Air Force documents. When tests on four of the quarantined planes in 2009 showed little or no remaining dioxin, the Air Force decided it was safe to destroy the aircraft.

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[Bloodrock44]

Does anyone on this forum personally know a veteran with serious PTSD problems.

I know 2 personally. My brother served 2 tours in Viet Nam. 100% disability. Agent Orange was a factor. And a kid at church. In his late 20's. Road side bomb killed 4 in his platoon. He is in worse condition than my brother. Can you imagine the hell they were in knowing every step they took could detonate a bomb?

 

[rdean]

Republicans don't care. They say, "But you volunteered". Besides, helping people with problems is "socialism".

 

[9thIDdoc]

Does anyone on this forum personally know a veteran with serious PTSD problems.

I'm a Vietnam vet considered 50% disabled by PTSD and 70% overall. Serious enough?

 

[Granny]

The great love of my life still struggles with PTSD and other issues from service in Vietnam and like so many others, some 50+ years later, the VA hasn't and still isn't doing enough to help.

 

[Mr. H.]

Yes.

 

[Bloodrock44]

Does anyone on this forum personally know a veteran with serious PTSD problems.

I'm a Vietnam vet considered 50% disabled by PTSD and 70% overall. Serious enough?

Thanks for your service and keep up the good fight!

 

[9thIDdoc]

Does anyone on this forum personally know a veteran with serious PTSD problems.

I'm a Vietnam vet considered 50% disabled by PTSD and 70% overall. Serious enough?

Thanks for your service and keep up the good fight!

You're welcome. What turtle?

 

[Bloodrock44]

I'm a Vietnam vet considered 50% disabled by PTSD and 70% overall. Serious enough?

Thanks for your service and keep up the good fight!

You're welcome. What turtle?

University of Maryland (Terrapins) aka Peoples Republic of Maryland