Veterans News Korea

We Need to Rember VBA workers are Veterans to

Posted by Bill Combs on May 14, 2012 at 3:35 PM

We Need to Rember VBA workers are Veterans to and show them respect instead bitching all the time. Below is a message from American Federation of Government Employees.

Home Witness Testimony of James R. Swartz, Jr., Decision Review Officer, Cleveland Veterans Benefits Administration Regional Office, and President, AFGE Local 2823, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, and the AFGE National Veterans' Affairs Hearing on 06/02/2011: An Examination of Poorly Performing U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Offices Dear Chairman Runyan, Ranking Member McNerney, Members of the Subcommittee:

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the American Federation of Government Employees and the AFGE National VA Council (hereinafter “AFGE”). AFGE is the exclusive representative of Department of Veterans Affairs (Department) Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) employees who process disability claims.

AFGE welcomes all opportunities to provide input into efforts to break the back of the backlog, and it is our view that these efforts cannot succeed without front line employee input. Our members work on every aspect of the claims process, and many AFGE members working at VBA are, like me, service-connected disabled veterans who have applied for VA benefits. Quite simply, we know best which elements of the claims process work, or do not work.

We take great pride in our strong working relationship with veterans’ service organizations (VSO) on VBA issues and other matters, and our longstanding support for the Independent Budget. In contrast, VBA continues to exclude AFGE from a meaningful role in key elements of the claims process including training, skills certification and performance measures.

While AFGE members have been directly involved in some of the current VBA pilot projects, we have had minimal or no input into others. For example, the Subcommittee asked for our views on the Veterans Benefit Management System (VBMS). Other than a briefing earlier this year, we have had virtually no role in VBMS. The first phase of the VBMS pilot was implemented at the Providence RO, but only a handful of employees are working on it, and the Providence AFGE local was not given any role. We were pleased to learn that the VBMS contractor communicates regularly with the employees assigned to the pilot.

We understand that the next phase of VBMS will take place at the Salt Lake City RO. We hope AFGE will have a greater role in VBMS at the Salt Lake City site and during all future phases of the pilot.

As a service-connected disabled veteran, I especially appreciate this Subcommittee’s oversight of the claims process. I also faced long delays in getting my claim decided. It simply is not right for a veteran to wait 18 months for a claims decision. Waiting two to three years is absolutely unacceptable.

However, as this Subcommittee has been advised on many occasions, there are no quick fixes to the claims process. We share the view expressed by veterans’ groups at an earlier hearing that VBA should complete the current pilot projects before starting others, such as the pilot proposed by H.R.1647, that might interfere with their progress, hinder VBA’s ability to manage its workload or have other unintended consequences.

Within the next two years, VBA should see a reduction in the backlog. Many new hires will have acquired sufficient experience to increase their production levels. The recent surge of complex Nemer cases will have subsided. A number of the current pilot projects should be ready for a national rollout (and will no longer need to divert personnel from other functions.)

We especially caution against new initiatives that would restructure VBA based on labels like “underperforming” or “low performing” ROs. These are questionable labels that should not be the basis for major policy changes. RO performance data varies from RO for many reasons, including:

Number of new hires;Number of veterans filing claims at each RO;Experience level of managers;Quality of employee training;Whether staff is being detailed to another office (e.g. managers from Cleveland and other ROs have been detailed to other offices);Impact of brokering on performance data (e.g. often two ROs get credit for the rating of one case);Finally, and quite significant: How well local managers manipulate performance data.Rather than resort to new pilot projects or a major restructuring of VBA, AFGE urges the Subcommittee to build on current momentum by addressing three essential components of RO performance: training, quality of supervision and performance measures.

IMPROVED TRAINING WILL REDUCE THE BACKLOG

VBA training continues to be left too much to the discretion of RO managers preoccupied with “making the numbers” at all costs. It is widely acknowledged that it takes at least two to three years for new hires to get close to “full production” Yet, new hires returning from Challenge training are not getting the on-the-job training, supervision and mentoring they need to reach that level. They are rushed into production before they receive adequate hands-on training. Also, rather than rotating new hires to all stations, many are kept at stations experience the most problems, which prevents them from being able to handle a full range of claims later on.

Current employees also face widespread deficiencies with training provided by VBA to meet the mandatory 85 hour yearly requirement. Simply put, too often, 85 hours are not 85 hours. Our members frequently report that managers substitute fixed hours of classroom training on complex concepts with significantly less “excluded time” to learn this information online without any instruction.

As a former Rating Specialist (RVSR), I can say with certainty that if RVSR training was nationally consistent and of good quality, variations in performance between ROs would greatly diminish.

On numerous occasions, VBA has made a commitment to Congress to develop a cadre of national trainers teaching the same curriculum based on similar interpretations of law and regulations. To date, it has not delivered on that commitment.

I am not aware of any performance measures that reflect the quality of training provided by managers or the degree of management compliance with the 85 hour requirement.

QUALITY SUPERVISION WILL IMPROVE ACCURACY AND TIMELINESS

Given the growing complexity of claims coming into VBA and the immense pressure to rush new hires into production, it is all the more urgent that they receive supervision and mentoring from experienced managers with sufficient expertise.

In addition to mentoring and supervision, RO managers are responsible for conducting quality assurance and managing the workflow without sacrificing accuracy. Unfortunately, many VBA managers have been promoted after only a few years of “floor” experience regardless of their own skill levels.

In 2008, a unanimous Congress enacted Public Law 110-389 that provided for another needed reform: supervisor skills certification. This exam is still not in place. Like the skills certification exams that VSRs and RVSRs must pass, a supervisor certification exam can be a valuable tool for ensuring that managers know their subject matter – especially because they are not on the floor processing claims themselves every day.

As a veteran, I also am troubled by how few managers are veterans themselves, despite clear veterans’ preference rules that apply to VBA. I know firsthand how veterans’ status gives VBA employees a vested interest in making sure that a veteran gets what he or she earned, and in a timely fashion. In my RO, only about 5 percent of managers are veterans, in contrast to at least 40 percent frontline employees with veteran status.

FLAWED PERFORMANCE MEASURES HURT QUALITY AND PRODUCTION

The 2008 also law mandated that VBA develop an evidence-based work credit system to ensure that performance measures count all work that goes into getting a claim processed correctly the first time, including full claims development. Three years later, VBA still imposes arbitrary, unrealistic performance measures set through local management discretion that reward quantity at the expense of quality. It is urgent that VBA finally comply with the 2008 law, and include front line employees in the development of these critical measures.

OTHER COMMENTS

Is mandatory overtime cost effective? The current national 20 hour per month mandatory overtime requirement for all employees has been in place for a month. We fear the added costs of this requirement far outweigh the benefits. First, many ROs were already selectively using mandatory overtime (at a lower number of hours) to increase production. The new overtime requirement is imposing undue pressure on many employees with family commitments, and is already leading to resignations, shortcuts and lower workplace morale. The VBA workforce was already under intense pressure to make production; mandating more hours of work may lead to marginal returns at a great cost.

Bonuses: We also urge the Subcommittee to address the issue of excessive bonuses. Managers at my RO and many others continue to receive large bonuses regardless of performance, at the expense of taxpayers, veterans and workplace morale.

National Call Centers: AFGE urges the Subcommittee to look closely at the National Call Centers (NCC) and assess whether these resources would be better spent back at the ROs or on a centralized, automated tracking system for claims. The new Genesys system deprives NCC employees of adequate time to complete other tasks between calls and at the end of their shifts. They now have on average only five seconds (instead of fifteen) between calls. At the end of the day, they have less than fifteen minutes to complete other work, down from thirty minutes under the old system. As a result, employees are pressured to take shortcuts and work off the clock.

Genesys is also causing real hardships for veterans. They are on hold much longer. Employees are expected to work from scripts rather than provide individualized help. Calls longer than six minutes are discouraged and employees are pressured to keep most calls to three minutes. It is simply wrong to limit an 80 year old veteran to a three minute call, especially when it takes two minutes just to get him through the ID protocol!

We also recommend a reexamination of the costs and benefits of the Broome Closet templates used by NCC employees to answer callers’ questions and create correspondence. In addition to a significant error rate, this program creates additional steps in the process that cause unnecessary delays.

Consistency Studies: VBA has been conducting interreliability studies in the field to test the consistency of DRO and RVSR decisions. AFGE supports efforts to improve national consistency, but we are concerned that VBA is not producing reliable data or using these studies to make real improvements.

High Cost of Poor Personnel Practices: The number of labor-management problems at ROs is skyrocketing. Rather than working with employees and their representatives, RO managers are threatening many hardworking employees with terminations and “performance improvement plans.” These wasteful actions hurt the ability of front line employees to do their jobs and divert dollars from direct services to veterans. Holding front line employees responsible for management failures is not going to solve the backlog. Rather, we should all be working together on a meaningful solution.

Thank you again for the opportunity to share AFGE’s views on this important issue.

American Federation of Government Employees

Washington, DC.

June 2, 2011

The Honorable Jon Runyan, Chairman

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs

335 Cannon House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Runyan:

The American Federation of Government Employees has not received any federal grants or contracts, during this year or in the last two years, from any agency or program relevant to the subject of the June 2, 2011 Oversight Hearing of the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs on Underperforming Regional Offices of the Veterans Benefits Administration.

Sincerely,

Beth Moten

Legislative and Political Director

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They do care and also need are Support'

Bill

Social Security speeds up disability process for vets, service members

Posted by Bill Combs on May 2, 2012 at 3:15 PM

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The Social Security Administration and the Department of Defense (DoD) are working together to improve access to disability benefits for the nation’s Wounded Warriors, service members, veterans and their dependents. A new nationwide project enables Social Security disability case processing sites to receive military medical records from multiple DoD facilities with a single request to a centralized DoD site. As of today, this initiative is in its first phase of nationwide expansion.

“Receiving electronic medical records for our Wounded Warriors and other military personnel will significantly shorten the time it takes to make a disability decision,” said Michael J. Astrue, commissioner of Social Security. “This new process will improve the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of the disability program.”

Originally a pilot, the program included five states (Colorado, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia and Washington) and more than 60 military treatment facilities. These states are now receiving electronic medical records within 72 hours, an improvement over the previous average response time of five weeks for paper records from individual military treatment facilities.

The new DoD-Social Security collaboration consolidates requests for medical records from Social Security to a single location that has access to DoD records in a central electronic repository. This central location receives and responds to requests for medical records based on Social Security’s Electronic Records Express (www.socialsecurity.gov/ere), another successful initiative that offers electronic options for submitting health records related to disability claims.

The benefits of the new process include:

• Faster delivery of DoD medical records to Social Security;

• A more efficient system to obtain records;

• A reduction in the time it takes to make a medical decision on a disability claim, and

• A reduction in the number of consultative examinations (medical exams requested by Social Security when additional tests or medical records are needed.)

This is the first step towards the long-term goal of a fully automated solution of improving medical information sharing using health information technology and the Nationwide Health Information Network Exchange.

More information on Social Security’s use of health IT is available at

www.socialsecurity.gov/hit.

http://www.salisburypost.com/News/050212-WEB-social-security-speeds-up-disability-process-qcd

Veterans Kept in the Dark Over Chemical Exposure

Posted by Bill Combs on April 30, 2012 at 6:45 PM

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Veterans Kept in the Dark Over Chemical Exposure Robert O'Dowd Salem-News.com

As it turns out, thousands of veterans and their dependents lived and worked on military installations that are now listed as EPA Superfund sites.

El Toro was once a proud Marine aviation base; today it is a demolished wreck. At any rate, the ground was terribly polluted over the years and many have paid the ultimate price over it.

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - DOD is the biggest owner of EPA Superfund sites. The contaminants and health effects of exposure are published on the EPA Superfund website. A simple website hyperlink to military installations on the National Priority List (EPA Superfund), identifying the contaminants and health effects can save lives, but no one seems interested in setting up this hyperlink.

Veterans of military installations currently on the National Priority List (EPA Superfund) need to know the contaminants of concern (COC) found on these sites and the health effects of exposure to receive proper medical treatment.

Exposure to COC’s can cause serious medical conditions, including cancer and death. Veterans with serious medical conditions who were stationed on an EPA Superfund installation need to share this information with their medical care provider. This is not about collecting a VA disability compensation, but about helping veterans “connect the dots of serious illness” to military service and giving information to their health care providers that could save their lives.

Superfund is the environmental program established to address hazardous waste sites. It is also the name of the fund established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, as amended (CERCLA statute, CERCLA overview). CERCLA was passed into law in the wake of the discovery of toxic waste dumps such as Love Canal and Times Beach in the 1970s, according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

No one in their right mind would voluntarily live and work on a Superfund site. For the most part, veterans are not provided the choice of military assignments. Many of the installations on the NPL were constructed during WW II and experienced decades of environmental contamination.

DOD has spent and continues to spend millions in the clean-up of contaminated sites.

With exception of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, DOD has no means of readily contacting veterans separated from military service for years and even decades.

Congress mandated that the Navy and Marine Corps contact veterans of Camp Lejeune regarding the contamination of the base wells.

As it turns out, thousands of veterans and their dependents lived and worked on military installations that are now listed as EPA Superfund sites. No one has notified these men and women that they are at risk for possible exposure to contaminants.

EPA lists 130 military installations as Superfund sites, including the Contaminants of Concern (COC’s) with a hyperlink to the health effects of exposure.

According to EPA, “COC’s are the chemical substances found at the site that the EPA has determined pose an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment. These are the substances that are addressed by cleanup actions at the site. Identifying COCs is a process where the EPA identifies people and ecological resources that could be exposed to contamination found at the site, determines the amount and type of contaminants present, and identifies the possible negative human health or ecological effects that could result from contact with the contaminants.”

Access to the COC’s and their health effects can easily be obtained from EPA’s Superfund website, if you know where to look and, if you know that you may have been exposed to one or more of the contaminants.

The first page of every EPA Superfund website contains a site progress profile, including important information on contamination. Under the caption “Contamination,” a reader can quickly access all of the site’s COC’s with a hyperlink the health effects as determined by the Agency for Toxic Substances Health Registry (ATSDR), the Federal agency responsible for performing public health assessments of EPA Superfund sites.

The Veterans Administration and the Veterans Service Organizations (VSO’s) have the capability to establish a website hyperlink to the list of EPA Superfunds that are military installations.

Legislation may be needed to require the VA to establish a website hyperlink. The VA is not looking for more clients so I doubt if they would be interested in promulgating this information. On the other hand, VSO’s exist solely to service the needs of their membership or at least, that’s the theory. The VSO’s, many with excellent websites, could easily establish a hyperlink on their own authority.

Our review of the 45 VSO’s chartered by Congress or authorized by the VA to represent VA claimants showed that many have excellent website but NONE PROVIDED ACCESS TO THIS IMPORTANT HEALTH INFORMATION.

If you are a member of one of the following VSO’s chartered by Congress or recognized by the VA to represent VA claimants, take a few minutes to email your organization, asking them to help to save veterans’ lives by establishing a link to the military installations that are EPA Superfund sites. The life you save may literally be your own.

I’ve listed the military installations that are EPA Superfund sites by military service below. Please pass this information on to a veteran.

MILITARY BASES ON THE NPL (EPA SUPERFUNDS)

US Air Force

Air Force Plant #4 (General Dynamics) Fort Worth TX

Air Force Plant 85 Columbus OH

Air Force Plant PJKS Littleton CO

American Lake Gardens/McChord AFB Tacoma WA

Andersen Air Force Base Yigo GU

Andrews Air Force Base Andrews Air Force Base MD

Arnold Engineering Development Center (USAF) Tullahoma/Manchester TN

Brandywine DRMO Brandywine MD

Castle Air Force Base (6 Areas) Merced CA

Chanute Air Force Base Rantoul IL

Dover Air Force Base Dover DE

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards AFB CA

Eielson Air Force Base Fairbanks AK

Ellsworth Air Force Base Ellsworth AFB SD

Elmendorf Air Force Base Anchorage AK

F.E. Warren Air Force Base Cheyenne WY

Fairchild Air Force Base (4 Waste Areas) Spokane WA

George Air Force Base Victorville CA

Griffiss Air Force Base (11 Areas) Rome NY

Hanscom Field/Hanscom Air Force Base Bedford MA

Hill Air Force Base Hill AFB UT

Homestead Air Force Base Homestead Air Force Base FL

Loring Air Force Base Limestone ME

Luke Air Force Base Glendale AZ

March Air Force Base Riverside CA

Mather Air Force Base (AC&W Disposal Site) Mather CA

McChord Air Force Base (Wash Rack/Treatment Area) Tacoma WA

McClellan Air Force Base (Ground Water Contamination) McClellan AFB CA

McGuire Air Force Base #1 Wrightstown NJ

Mountain Home Air Force Base Mountain Home ID

Norton Air Force Base (Lndfll #2) San Bernardino CA

Pease Air Force Base Portsmouth/Newington NH

Plattsburgh Air Force Base Plattsburgh NY

Rickenbacker Air National Guard (USAF) Lockbourne OH

Robins Air Force Base (Landfill #4/Sludge Lagoon) Houston County GA

Tinker Air Force Base (Soldier Creek/Building 3001) Oklahoma City OK

Travis Air Force Base Travis AFB CA

Twin Cities Air Force Reserve Base (Small Arms Range Landfill) Minneapolis MN

Tyndall Air Force Base Panama City FL

Williams Air Force Base Chandler AZ

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Dayton OH

Wurtsmith Air Force Base Oscoda MI

US Army

Aberdeen Proving Ground (Edgewood Area) Edgewood MD

Aberdeen Proving Ground (Michaelsville Landfill) Aberdeen MD

Alabama Army Ammunition Plant Childersburg AL

Anniston Army Depot (Southeast Industrial Area) Anniston AL

Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant Hall County NE

Fort Devens Fort Devens MA

Fort Devens-Sudbury Training Annex Sudbury MA

Fort Dix (Landfill Site) Pemberton Township NJ

Fort Eustis (US Army) Newport News VA

Fort George G. Meade Odenton MD

Fort Lewis (Landfill No. 5) Tacoma WA

Fort Lewis Logistics Center Tillicum WA

Fort Ord Marina CA

Fort Richardson (USARMY) Anchorage AK

Fort Riley Junction City KS

Fort Wainwright Fort Wainwright AK

Iowa Army Ammunition Plant Middletown IA

Joliet Army Ammunition Plant (Load-Assembly-Packing Area) Joliet IL

Joliet Army Ammunition Plant (Manufacturing Area) Joliet IL

Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (Northwest Lagoon) Independence MO

Letterkenny Army Depot (PDO Area) Franklin County PA

Letterkenny Army Depot (SE Area) Chambersburg PA

Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant Texarkana TX

Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant Karnack TX

Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant Doyline LA

Materials Technology Laboratory (USARMY) Watertown MA

Milan Army Ammunition Plant Milan TN

Natick Laboratory Army Research, Development, and Engineering Center Natick MA

New Brighton/Arden Hills/TCAAP (USARMY) New Brighton MN

Picatinny Arsenal (USARMY) Rockaway Township NJ

Riverbank Army Ammunition Plant Riverbank CA

Rocky Mountain Arsenal (USARMY) Adams County CO

Sacramento Army Depot Sacramento CA

Savanna Army Depot Activity Savanna IL

Schofield Barracks (USARMY) Schofield HI

Seneca Army Depot Romulus NY

Sharpe Army Depot Lathrop CA

Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant Desoto KS

Tobyhanna Army Depot Tobyhanna PA

Tooele Army Depot (North Area) Tooele UT

Tracy Defense Depot (USARMY) Tracy CA

Umatilla Army Depot (Lagoons) Hermiston OR

US Army/NASA Redstone Arsenal Huntsville AL

Weldon Spring Former Army Ordnance Works St. Charles County MO

West Virginia Ordnance (USARMY) Point Pleasant WVUS Coast GuardCurtis Bay Coast Guard Yard Baltimore MDUS Navy

Adak Naval Air Station Adak AK

Alameda Naval Air Station Alameda CA

Allegany Ballistics Laboratory (USNAVY) Mineral County WV

Bangor Naval Submarine Base Silverdale WA

Bangor Ordnance Disposal (USNAVY) Bremerton WA

Barstow Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow CA

Brunswick Naval Air Station Brunswick ME

Camp Lejeune Military Res. (USNAVY) Onslow County NC

Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton CA

Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station Havelock NC

Concord Naval Weapons Station Concord CA

Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center North Kingstown RI

El Toro Marine Corps Air Station El Toro CA

Indian Head Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head MD

Jackson Park Housing Complex (USNAVY) Kitsap County WA

Jacksonville Naval Air Station Jacksonville FL

Marine Corps Combat Development Command Quantico VA

Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany GA

Moffett Naval Air Station Moffett Field CA

Naval Air Development Center (8 Waste Areas) Warminster Township PA

Naval Air Engineering Center Lakehurst NJ

Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island (Ault Field) Whidbey Island WA

Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island (Seaplane Base) Whidbey Island WA

Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek Virginia Beach VA

Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Eastern Pacific Wahiawa HI

Naval Industrial Reserve Ordnance Plant Fridley MN

Naval Security Group Activity Sabana Seca PR

Naval Surface Warfare Center – Dahlgren Dahlgren VA

Naval Undersea Warfare Engineering Station (4 Waste Areas) Keyport WA

Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant Bedford MA

Naval Weapons Station – Yorktown Yorktown VA

Naval Weapons Station Earle (Site A) Colts Neck NJ

Navy Ships Parts Control Center Mechanicsburg PA

New London Submarine Base New London CT

Newport Naval Education & Training Center Newport RI

Norfolk Naval Base (Sewells Point Naval Complex) Norfolk VA

Norfolk Naval Shipyard Portsmouth VA

NWS Yorktown – Cheatham Annex Yorktown VA

Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island SC

Patuxent River Naval Air Station Patuxent River MD

Pearl Harbor Naval Complex Pearl Harbor HI

Pensacola Naval Air Station Pensacola FL

Port Hadlock Detachment (USNAVY) Indian Island WA

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Kittery ME

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Complex Bremerton WA

South Weymouth Naval Air Station Weymouth MA

St. Juliens Creek Annex (U.S. Navy) Chesapeake VA

Treasure Island Naval Station-Hunters Point Annex San Francisco CA

USN Air Station Cecil Field Jacksonville FL

Washington Navy Yard Washington DC

Whiting Field Naval Air Station Milton FL

Willow Grove Naval Air and Air Reserve Station Horsham PA

Yuma Marine Corps Air Station Yuma AZ

Link to the following sites see below

http://agentorangelegacy.com/find-help/superfund-sites-u-s-bases-info/us-army-military-bases-on-epa-superfund-list/

Agent Orange - Korean Veteran Request for Information

Posted by Bill Combs on April 29, 2012 at 7:20 PM

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Agent Orange - Korean Veteran Request for Information

VETERANS RESOURCES NETWORK

http://www.valaw.org

Please Help Notice (and BVA cases below):

"Need to contact somebody who was in Hq Battery &-17th Arty

Camp Casey Korea April thru July 1967.

-- end notice-start BVA cases --

Below are 3 Board of Veterans Appeals cases wherein the government admits that between 1967 and 1969 Herbicides (agent orange) was used in Korea (with active use between 1968 and 1969). And some American forces were possibly exposed.

However, there is no presumption of exposure in Korea as there is in Vietnam, nor are the conditions presumed to be caused by Agent Orange as in Vietnam.

1. If you have one of the conditions which "Agent Orange" is presumed to cause?

2. And if you have a doctor's statement that you have it, and that your exposure to herbicides while in Korea cause it, or most likely caused it?

3. And if you can show you were in Korea during the time the herbicides where being used, and that you were in a location where they were being used.

Then benefits based on exposure to Agent Orange while in Korea is possible.

Also Argue the "Benefit of reasonable Doubt" must be given to veterans when all evidence is equal (38 CFR 3.102, see below).

The BVA cases below show service people who had buddy statements that they were along the DMZ during the time agent orange was used; they had photos of themselves standing on barren land which herbicide had been used on. And other such evidence.

---

BVA case:

Citation Nr: 9906724

Decision Date: 03/12/99 Archive Date: 03/18/99

DOCKET NO. 98-17 647

"An official letter from the Department of the Army to Senator John Glenn, dated in May 1996, reflects that official records show use of 21,000 gallons of Agent Orange in Korea in 1968 and 1969 in the area of the DMZ. This letter also states that Camp Casey was located in the area of the DMZ.

A letter from the Director, United States Armed Services Center for Research of Unit Records (USASCRUR), (formerly the United States Army and Joint Services Environmental Support Group, ESG), to VA dated in February 1998 also confirms use of Agent Orange in Korea in 1968 and 1969, and confirms that Camp Casey was located near the DMZ.

The evidence of record also includes a copy of an unidentified report, which appears to have been prepared by a

service department within the Department of Defense, titled, "Vegetation Control Program CY 1968," which reflects that a program for control of vegetation near the DMZ by use of herbicide defoliants was approved in 1967. Shipment to Korea of materials necessary to accomplish the program goals began in early 1968. The report reflects that herbicides were to be applied from the Civilian Control Line in South Korea to the southern border of the DMZ, with priority applications in the vicinity of roads and tactically significant areas. "

---

BVA case:

Citation Nr: 0601295

Decision Date: 01/17/06 Archive Date: 01/31/06

DOCKET NO. 04-41 328

"The Board observes that the Department of Defense has confirmed that Agent Orange was used in Korea from April 1968 through July 1969 along the DMZ and that the 2nd Infantry Division had elements in affected areas at the time Agent Orange was being used, including the use of field artillery, signal and engineer troops who were supplied as support personnel to various elements of those Infantry Divisions during the time of the confirmed use of Agent Orange.

However, the Board is unable to determine whether the veteran's unit, in fact, performed duties in the DMZ and

observes that the U.S. Center for Unit Research and Records (CURR) has not been contacted to research whether the veteran's unit was in fact near the DMZ zone. As such, given the fact that the veteran served in the 2nd Infantry between April 1968 and May 1969 and his principal duty at that time was that of a combat construction specialist, the Board finds that such an attempt should be made in this regard. "

---

BVA case:

Citation Nr: 0534064

Decision Date: 12/19/05 Archive Date: 12/30/05

DOCKET NO. 02-15 232A

"In February 2002, VA received a response from the U.S. Armed Services Center for Unit Records Research, indicating that herbicides were used in Korea between 1967 and 1969, and that Agent Orange was used from April 1968 to August 1968. Military records specifically note that chemical herbicides were used along the southern boundary of the DMZ during the 1967 to 1969 period by Republic of Korea Armed Forces. No United States personnel are known to have been actually involved in their application."

38 CFR 3.102 Reasonable doubt.

"It is the defined and consistently applied policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs to administer the law under a broad interpretation, consistent, however, with the facts shown in every case. When, after careful consideration of all procurable and assembled data, a reasonable doubt arises regarding service origin, the degree of disability, or any other point, such doubt will be resolved in favor of the claimant. By reasonable doubt is meant one, which exists because of an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence, which does not satisfactorily prove or disprove the claim. It is a substantial doubt and one within the range of probability as distinguished from pure speculation or remote possibility. It is not a means of reconciling actual conflict or a contradiction in the evidence. Mere suspicion or doubt as to the truth of any statements submitted, as distinguished from impeachment or contradiction by evidence or known facts, is not justifiable basis for denying the application of the reasonable doubt doctrine if the entire complete record otherwise warrants invoking this doctrine. The reasonable doubt doctrine is also applicable even in the absence of official records, particularly if the basic incident allegedly arose under combat, or similarly strenuous conditions, and is consistent with the probable results of such known hardships. (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501(a))"

VETERANS RESOURCES NETWORK

http://www.valaw.org

Seoul cleans up tainted water near U.S. bases

Posted by Bill Combs on April 22, 2012 at 11:30 PM

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Seoulcleans up tainted water near U.S. bases

The SeoulMetropolitan Government has removed some 2,000 tons of oil-contaminated waterin areas near two U.S. military bases in the capital, city officials saidyesterday amid growing public anxiety over the alleged burial of the toxicchemical Agent Orange inside a U.S. Army camp in North Gyeongsang.

Some 128 liters (33.8 gallons) of floating oil and 1,870 tons of pollutedunderground water have been extracted since 2001 from areas near YongsanGarrison, the main U.S. military headquarters in central Seoul, the citygovernment said. In areas around Camp Kim, adjacent to Yongsan Garrison, thegovernment has pumped out about 440 liters of oil and 100 tons of contaminatedunderground water since 2008, it said. The government also said some 11,776square meters (2.9 acres) of soil near Yongsan Garrison and 459 square metersof land around Camp Kim were polluted by oil suspected of having leaked fromthe bases in 2001 and 2006, respectively. The U.S. military said it completed apurification project at Yongsan Garrison in 2006, but contaminated undergroundwater has continuously been found near the base.

Records Found

Posted by Bill Combs on April 22, 2012 at 10:55 PM

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Hello Everyone:

For public release and widest possible re-post, forward and re-publication for the benefit of Veterans and their families. Pass it forward, folks! This post is for those Veterans and families who have been effected by VA denials or have been following the ongoing battle over missing military service records. Through the insider network (arms-length sources inside DOD/WA DC) involved in those discovery activities I have just received unreleased inside information that another approximate 8,000+ sets of "previously unknown" records were "discovered". NO, these are not the same warehoused records of which you may have heard several months ago. These were not warehoused, they were secretly "stashed"! CLASSIFIED JOINT SERVICES UNITS, LIKE GHOST WALKERS:A secret US joint operations CIA/Army unit code named "Ghost Walkers" served in both Korea and Vietnam. There were many similar units. "Ghost Walkers" is/was a joint operations CIA/Army group that conducted clandestine ops during Korea and Vietnam and both the name of the group and it's operationsremain EXTREMELY classified. We are talking ABOVE NEED TO KNOW classification. By the name, anyone with an understanding of military operations can develop a reasonably accurate guess as to the activities of the "Ghost Walkers". Operations so classified that records of the Veterans were not warehoused, rather they were "stashed" in holds that remained under the sole control of the separate "alphabet agencies" and were not subjected to the laws regarding release for VA claim use and declassification after term of years. VETERANS SERVICE RECORDS CLASSIFIED:The Ghost Walkers' extremely classified activities were such that even now the records of those military Veterans who served in it are classified. VETERANS DENIED VA BENEFITS AND DISABILITY:Even under VA service connected disability claims laws, NOTHING will be released relating to those Veterans' service in Korea and/or Vietnam, not even a generic letter of service and exposure to the medical disability precursor. These Veterans have been illegally denied VA service connected disability compensation for decades because their records are that tightly classified. The basic reason for the denials is that the units were assigned under various violations of treaties and world law, therefore; the units/groups and the Veterans' records were totally classified and release of anything in those records, even for VA service connected disability claim processing, was prohibited. Many disabled Veterans have been told for decades that there are no records of their service in Korea and therefore they are not eligible for service connection for disabilities caused by toxic chemical exposure and other issues sustained during that Korea service. VETERANS AND FAMILIES FOUGHT FOR THEIR RIGHTS:Those Veterans and their families began talking and communicating over the last few years and have sparked official military branch and DOD investigations, Congressional investigation committees, special offices/liaisons, and finally the beginning of a special (now forming) Veterans Administration office to deal with the "alphabet" national security agencies to find and open such records in "due diligence and duty to assist" for claiming Veterans. These Veterans and families have been working under very careful effort to not violate nondisclosure agreements and to avoid politically embarrassment toand international court claims for damages against the USA. However, to date, their efforts to remain patriotic and sympathetic to the secrecy and national security needs of the USA have been met with extreme lethargy and dilatory tactics by the government officials, double talk, unfulfilled promises, "one step forward and two steps backward" progress, and unfulfilled government lawfully mandated obligations to provide for those disabled Veterans of honorable service to our nation. In short, as usual, and with extreme dishonor to it's Veterans of honorable service, the USA has turned a blind eye and provided NO RELIEF to these long-suffering, patriotic Veterans. Instead, the USA/DOD/Congresspersons/VA/alphabet agencies/ect. wait for these Veterans to die without the fulfillment of the promises made for their military service. THE BREACH OF NATIONAL SECURITY HEREIN: is minor - the reference to a code name "Ghost Walkers" - which will shock those in authority but cause no damage in and of itself. The benefit in the release of the name is in the fact that it is known and now referred in a limited public manner, outside the supposedly limited circle of knowledge. The additional benefit to the Veterans of such service remains in what is not stated - but could be released to the world. There were other such units. The USA needs to IMMEDIATELY resolve it's issues with those Veterans and their survivors: issue the required VA disabilities, medical care, benefits, and compensations

for the decades of the unconstitutional deprivation of these Veterans and families civil and Veterans rights!

NO MORE DELAY, DO IT NOW! ISSUE THE LETTERS AND AWARDS!

VA Expands Claims Program

Posted by Bill Combs on April 3, 2012 at 11:35 AM

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VA Expands Claims Program Week of April 02, 2012

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced the release of 68 new forms that will help speed the processing of Veterans' disability compensation and pension claims. These disability benefits questionnaires (DBQs) guide physicians' reports of medical findings to be used by the VA. DBQ's can be found at VA's Disability Benefits Questionnaires webpage. Veterans may file a claim online through the eBenefits website. Servicemembers may enroll in eBenefits using their Common Access Card at any time during their military service. Veterans may also enroll in eBenefits and obtain a Premium account in-person or online depending on their status.

For complete guides to all veterans benefits, visit the Military.com Benefits Center.

http://benefits.va.gov/disabilityexams/

Disability Benefits Questionnaires (DBQs) - Fax Numbers

http://benefits.va.gov/TRANSFORMATION/disabilityexams/fax_numbers.asp

TITLE 38 PART 4 SCHEDULE FOR RATING DISABILITIES

Posted by Bill Combs on March 13, 2012 at 10:55 AM

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Subpart B

Sec. 4.70 Inadequate examinations.

If the report of examination is inadequate as a basis for the required consideration of service connection and evaluation, the rating agency may request a supplementary report from the examiner giving further details as to the limitations of the disabled person's ordinary activity imposed by the disease, injury, or residual condition, the prognosis for return to, or continuance of, useful work. When the best interests of the service will be advanced by personal conference with the examiner, such conference may be arranged through channels.

Note: The VA may claim an examination is inadequate for the purposes of rating and the veteran may make the same claim. If you believe your examination was less than perfect, you may appeal that.

All too often, the examiner doesn't stick to the rules he or she should follow closely.

I've personally had examinations by professionals who were concerned about my health and went way beyond what they had to do to ensure a perfect examination. I've also encountered examiners who appeared to be totally dumbfounded by the world around them and they hardly noticed I was there.

You have to prepare for either extreme. The following will tell you how to get the best exam and what to do if you don't feel your exam was adequate.

It's your job to understand how the C & P exam should progress. Nobody can or will do this for you. Before you have a C & P exam...read the instructions for yourself. Read this page carefully. Now, read it again.

Then, go the the VA Disability Worksheets.

Find the category that fits your claim. Read until you understand what the examiner should be doing.

Also, review the C & P Examiners Guide.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/73337962/Clinician-Guide-v2#fullscreen

Preparing for your C & P exam

Get to the exam early. When you arrive, remember that the people nearby may be employees of the C & P department. Don't say anything about your exam. Don't speak with anyone you don't need to speak to.

Have a driver. Even if you don't usually need a driver, you're under a lot of stress today and it's best for you to be relaxed.

Don't ever think about embellishing or overstating anything. These people are often expert in their jobs and they'll know. If you don't usually use a wheelchair, don't use one today. If your neck or back isn't ordinarily in a brace and your arm isn't usually in a sling, don't try to impress anyone with such gadgets.

Don't present yourself as happy and healthy. You don't ever want to fake it but you do want the examiner to understand your problems. If you're greeted with, "Hello, how are you today?" and you answer with, "I'm great doctor, I feel fine." it's game over.

If you're feeling so good, why are you there?

Do carry copies of any records you believe may be relevant. Do offer them to the examiner. Don't be surprised or offended if the examiner doesn't want them. The examiner is under orders by the Regional Office and will only do what those orders say to do.

As your exam begins, be polite, courteous, respectful and go with the flow.

You may ask for a friend or spouse to accompany you during the exam. The examiner may decline your request. If declined, don't make a fuss...go with the flow. It's not a big deal at this point.

During the exam you should attempt to do as the examiner asks you to do. However, when asked to do tasks that may cause you pain or fatigue you excessively, you may politely decline. For example, "Please flex your arm upwards and place your hand behind your head." "I'm not able to do that doctor, it hurts me too much and causes my arm to be numb."

Should the examiner attempt to do a maneuver for you, you may decline...again, politely and without any rancor. Simply state that there is too much pain.

If asked to walk and it tires you, make it clear that you become fatigued easily.

The bottom line is that you should attempt to comply so that you will get an adequate exam but you aren't required to hurt yourself.

Your exam probably will take from 5 to 25 minutes. You may have additional imaging studies (x-rays) or lab work ordered.

From the moment you arrive until you're far off the campus, don't speak unnecessarily. Keep it in mind that courtesy, a respectful attitude and giving the examiner and staff the benefit of the doubt will be in your favor.

Once your exam is complete, make notes for future use. Who was your examiner? What happened during the exam? What was said? Was the examiner interrupted by telephone calls or staff with questions? How often?

You won't remember these details next week, make written notes now.

About 2 to 3 weeks after the exam, you may then write to the VARO and ask for a copy of the examination results.

You have a right to see that C & P exam.

EXCEPTION...if your C & P was for mental health, you may need your mental health provider to release that to you. The rules protect mental health records...even from the veteran.

Now you have your C & P report in hand.

Do you have an adequate or an inadequate examination?

If favorable to you, you'll accept it as adequate. If unfavorable, you should begin to use your notes to write out why it's unfavorable.

You must provide details. If the regulations require a goniometer for measurement and you know that there was no goniometer used, you have a point of appeal.

So...you have had an inadequate examination...now what?

You may write it up and ask for a new exam right now or you may wait for the decision and use "inadequate exam" as your appeal point.

There isn't any way to say which path an individual should follow. The variables will depend on the other evidence you have and so on.

The key to success in appealing an inadequate exam is that you must be able to define and tell the VA why the exam was inadequate and unfair to you. Simply making the statement isn't enough. As with everything else VA, you must prove every word that you say.

Agent Orange/Dioxin/Herbicides Used Outside of Vietnam

Posted by Bill Combs on February 7, 2012 at 5:40 PM

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Agent Orange/Dioxin/Herbicides Used Outside of Vietnam

Korea The VA has received a listing from the Defense Department of locations outside of Viet Nam where Agent Orange was used or tested over a number of years. The information gives periods of time, locations and chemicals used. It does not contain units involved or individual identifying information.

The listings are almost exclusively Army records although there are an extremely limited number of Navy and Air Force records. These listings relate only to chemical efficacy testing and/or operational testing. The records do not refer to the use of Agent Orange or other chemicals in routine base maintenance activities such as spraying along railroad tracks, weed control on rifle ranges, etc. Information on such use does not exist. VA will develop for proof of exposure for claims for disabilities resulting from Agent Orange exposure outside of Viet Nam. When is the DOD going to come clean, to many Veterans are saying that they Sprayed around the Mess Halls and Barracks.

VA does have significant information regarding Agent Orange use in Korea along the DMZ. DoD has confirmed that Agent Orange was used from April 1968 up through July 1969 along the DMZ. DoD defoliated the fields of fire between the front line defensive positions and the south barrier fence. The size of the treated area was a strip of lane 151 miles long and up to 350 yards wide from the fence to north of the "civilian control line." There is no indication that herbicide was sprayed in the DMZ itself.

Herbicides were applied through hand spraying and by hand distribution of pelletized herbicides. Although restrictions were put in place to limit potential for spray drift, run-off, and damage to food crops, records indicate that effects of spraying were sometimes observed as far as 200 meters down wind. Then what about Camps like Camp Market, Camp Grant just to name a few.

Units in the area during the period of use of herbicide were as follows: The four combat brigades of the 2nd Infantry Division. This includes the following units: a) 1-38 Infantry b) 2-38 Infantry c) 1-23 Infantry d) 2-23 Infantry e) 3-23 Infantry f) 3-32 Infantry g) 109th Infantry h) 209th Infantry i) 1-72 Armor j) 2-72 Armor k) 4-7th Cavalry. 3rd Brigade of the 7th. Infantry Division. This includes the following units: a) 1-17th Infantry b) 2-17th Infantry c) 1-73 Armor d) 2-10th Cavalry. Field Artillery, Signal and Engineer troops were supplied as support personnel as required. The estimated number of exposed personnel is 12,056. This number is way to low. What about the truck drivers, lineman, signalman. And people who were TDY @ different times and they said orders would follow. So many records are missing. This needs fixed, And fix now.

Unlike Viet Nam, exposure to Agent Orange is not presumed for veterans who served in Korea. Claims for compensation for disabilities resulting from Agent Orange exposure from veterans who served in Korea during this period will be developed for evidence of exposure. If the veteran was exposed the presumptive conditions found for Agent Orange exposure apply.

These units were added (25 Sep 06) for time frame, April 1968 through July 1969:

1st Battalion 12th Artillery1st Battalion 15th Artillery7th Battalion 17th Artillery5th Battalion 38th Artillery6th Battalion 37th Artillery1st Battalion 31st Infantry (7th Infantry Division)1st Battalion 32nd Infantry (7th Infantry Division)2nd Battalion 32nd Infantry (7th Infantry Division)United Nations Command Security Battalion-Joint Security Area (UNCSB-JSA)

Crew of the USS Pueblo

Agent Orange used in S. Korea Pentagon reveals spraying in 1960s

Posted by Bill Combs on February 1, 2012 at 5:25 PM

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Agent Orange used in S. Korea Pentagon reveals spraying in 1960s

The San Diego Union - Tribune; San Diego, Calif.; Nov 17, 1999; Clark

Brooks;

Abstract:

A Pentagon spokesman said yesterday that the military used Agent

Orange and two other toxic defoliants in South Korea during the late

1960s, but he didn't know how many U.S. and Korean troops were

exposed to the chemicals.

[Craig] Quigley said the South Korean media recently reported the

Agent Orange spraying. He said he was not aware of South or North

Koreans seeking reparations.

The 1969 report recommended additional herbicide spraying in Korea,

using U.S. troops to help the South Koreans. That same year, South

Vietnamese newspapers reported increased birth defects from areas

sprayed with Agent Orange and a study in the United States found that

dioxin caused birth defects in mice and rats. In 1970, the U.S.

military stopped spraying Agent Orange.

A Pentagon spokesman said yesterday that the military used Agent

Orange and two other toxic defoliants in South Korea during the late

1960s, but he didn't know how many U.S. and Korean troops were

exposed to the chemicals.

Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said that in 1968 and 1969, with full

approval of their government, South Korean soldiers sprayed about

21,000 gallons of herbicides along the southern edge of the

demilitarized zone.

The area sprayed was about 100 yards wide and 155 miles long, Quigley

said by telephone from Washington, D.C.

American officers and enlisted personnel supervised the spraying,

which was done in heavy concentrations from the ground, according to

a declassified 1969 U.S. Army report obtained by the Union-Tribune.

Agent Orange used in S. Korea Pentagon reveals spraying in 1960s

The San Diego Union - Tribune; San Diego, Calif.; Nov 17, 1999; Clark

Brooks;

Abstract:

A Pentagon spokesman said yesterday that the military used Agent

Orange and two other toxic defoliants in South Korea during the late

1960s, but he didn't know how many U.S. and Korean troops were

exposed to the chemicals.

[Craig] Quigley said the South Korean media recently reported the

Agent Orange spraying. He said he was not aware of South or North

Koreans seeking reparations.

The 1969 report recommended additional herbicide spraying in Korea,

using U.S. troops to help the South Koreans. That same year, South

Vietnamese newspapers reported increased birth defects from areas

sprayed with Agent Orange and a study in the United States found that

dioxin caused birth defects in mice and rats. In 1970, the U.S.

military stopped spraying Agent Orange.

A Pentagon spokesman said yesterday that the military used Agent

Orange and two other toxic defoliants in South Korea during the late

1960s, but he didn't know how many U.S. and Korean troops were

exposed to the chemicals.

Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said that in 1968 and 1969, with full

approval of their government, South Korean soldiers sprayed about

21,000 gallons of herbicides along the southern edge of the

demilitarized zone.

The area sprayed was about 100 yards wide and 155 miles long, Quigley

said by telephone from Washington, D.C.

American officers and enlisted personnel supervised the spraying,

which was done in heavy concentrations from the ground, according to

a declassified 1969 U.S. Army report obtained by the Union-Tribune.

The U.S. military also conducted test spraying in 1967, before South

Korea became involved, the report said.

Eventually, thousands of South Korean soldiers participated in the

spraying. During one 44-day period, 3,345 South Korean troops applied

defoliants over 1,658 acres, the report said.

Quigley said the South Korean media recently reported the Agent

Orange spraying. He said he was not aware of South or North Koreans

seeking reparations.

Agent Orange contained dioxin, now known to cause some cancers. It

was used extensively during the Vietnam War to thin out the jungles

to reduce the risk of ambush.

Agent Orange had a similar use in Korea, during a tense period when

North Koreans were moving in and out of the demilitarized zone,

Quigley said.

The 1969 report recommended additional herbicide spraying in Korea,

using U.S. troops to help the South Koreans. That same year, South

Vietnamese newspapers reported increased birth defects from areas

sprayed with Agent Orange and a study in the United States found that

dioxin caused birth defects in mice and rats. In 1970, the U.S.

military stopped spraying Agent Orange.

"In the knowledge of 1999, we know that it's toxic," Quigley

said. "But at the time, this is not something that we knew."

The U.S. Air Force still insists Agent Orange didn't cause health

problems for the 1,200 airmen who were involved in spraying 18

million gallons of defoliants over 3.6 million acres of South

Vietnam. That conclusion is based on a study by Air Force scientists

that began in 1978 and will end in 2006.

Last year, a Union-Tribune investigation found the $200 million study

to be flawed by government interference, altered reports and the

withholding of critical information about cancer and birth defects.

Using the Air Force study as its yardstick for Agent Orange damage,

the government denied all but a handful of compensation claims until

1991, when U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Rep. Lane Evans, D-

Ill., co-authored legislation that provided compensation for two

cancers and authorized the National Academy of Sciences to study the

health effects of dioxin.

Now the Department of Veterans Affairs compensates Vietnam veterans

for 10 conditions the National Academy of Sciences has connected to

Agent Orange exposure so far, including one birth defect, spina

bifida.

While most of the Agent Orange used in Vietnam was sprayed from

airplanes, defoliants in South Korea were distributed by hand "to

preclude the possibility of unfavorable propaganda and to ensure that

defoliants would be properly employed with a margin of safety," the

report said.

However, spraying equipment was limited or ineffective, and "the

expedient methods of Orange application" was "literally pouring" it

onto foliage, the report said.

In areas where spraying was done, "units were advised to spray Orange

in a fine mist and to direct the spray high into the air allowing the

mist to settle on foliage. Although this procedure increased the risk

of undesired spray drift, the effectiveness of Orange was increased."

Because of the drift, the herbicide affected trees 200 meters

downwind of the application area, the report said.

Credit: STAFF WRITER

Investigation into S. Korea Agent Orange

Posted by Bill Combs on January 28, 2012 at 4:10 PM

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By Tammy Leitner

The contaminants showed up in drinking water

Fox News Link

http://www.kpho.com/story/16608661/military-investigation-into-agent-orange-over?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6678936

For the last nine months the U.S. Army has drilled, tested and analyzed soil and water at Camp Carroll military base in South Korea for traces of Agent Orange.

The result of the roughly $4 million investigation is a 58-page report, in which the Army claims no traces of Agent Orange were found. The Army said the report effectively ends their investigation.

[Read the military's final report (PDF)]

An environmental expert, meanwhile, say the report's findings are proof that the contaminants found were a product of Agent Orange, and two others say that no matter where they came from, the chemical listed in the report are deadly.

The report was written in Korean and CBS 5 Investigates had to have it painstakingly translated in English.

Once CBS 5 had the translation, it matched it with the military's version, and presented it to three independent environmental experts, who analyzed the findings.

"No one should be drinking this water," said environmental expert Steve Brittle.

The military would have you believe otherwise, declaring publicly Agent Orange didn't show up in their investigation.

"They weren't entirely truthful, let's be honest," Brittle said. "The testing says what it says. They found it. They found what would reasonably be considered a cooled off version. Time has worn it down, but it's still there."

What the Army found, Brittle said, are two deadly components of Agent Orange, one of which is the most toxic chemical. According to the report, the components turned up in samples in two places on the base. The military argues that the hot spots do not mean Agent Orange was ever on the base.

"For (the two chemicals) to get there, it would probably have had to come from Agent Orange," said Brittle said.

The most deadly toxin, called 2,3,7,8-TCDD, is a marker left behind when Agent Orange decomposes, a tell-tale fingerprint, of sorts, Brittle said. And while it also can come from burning materials, Brittle said that's likely not the case at Camp Carroll because it wouldn't have seeped so deeply into the ground.

That's not all. A second major ingredient of Agent Orange, referred to as 2,4,5-T, was also discovered on the base.

"You found the dioxin. You found the contaminant. You found half the chemical constituents of Agent Orange," Brittle said.

But perhaps more alarming is the discovery of chemicals unanticipated by the military.

"You've got trichloroethylene, PCE (perchloroethylene) in the water," explains Environmental Compliance Supervisor Tom Curry.

"The groundwater beneath the base in areas, it's contaminated," Curry said.

When CBS 5 Investigates began pressing the military for answers months ago, the investigative team got hold of documents showing the military buried more than 100 different toxic chemicals, solvents and contaminants on the base in 1978 and dug them up a year later.

Yet, the report shows many of those chemicals are still present in the soil and in the water - more than three decades later.

"The more contaminants you have, the worse the water has got to be for public health," Curry said.

Particularly worrisome are large amounts of the pesticide Dieldrin found on the base and in the drinking water wells. Dieldrin was eventually banned internationally in 1987 because of the harmful effects it poses to humans, fish and wildlife, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

During a CBS 5 investigation in South Korea in July 2011, the CBS 5 team found several children sick with leukemia living near the U.S. base.

"I would say there's a 99 percent likelihood that their leukemia was caused by these chemicals," said Brittle.

"I would be concerned for the people who are drinking the water from those wells," said water expert and Arizona State University professor Dr. Peter Fox.

He explains that even today the harm is still being done.

"They should immediately shut those wells off and find other sources of water until they can resolve how to clean it up."

"There's clearly a public health risk there," Fox said.

The military claims its investigation is over. But the three experts say it shouldn't be, not by a long shot.

"For them not to bring up the fact they need to do a decontamination of the site is kind of appalling," Fox said.

Getting IT Off MY Chest

Posted by Bill Combs on January 10, 2012 at 5:45 PM

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I have read many blogs relating to benefits and

Information on Agent Orange but everyone is missing

The big picture. We served our country honorably when

Our country needed us and they knowingly put our

Health in harm’s way and kept it a secret for 35+ years.

I wonder how many Korea vets died of cancer without ever

Knowing they were exposed? I wonder how many Korea Vets

Still do not know they were exposed? The Korea Vets

Need to organize and confront the Government about

This secret cover-up. Also all the Vets Who Records are missing or very Vague with Info.

Plus the cover-up more than the DMZ was affected by Agent Orange,example Ascom Depot, Kunson Airfield and I am sure there is more. Also many Vets are still being turn away if they were not in a Specific Unit. What about truck Drivers, Linemen, just to name a few.This is the 21st Century we need to take care of our own. We served our Country and they put us in Harm's way with theseDeadly chemical’s, we were young and did what we were told, now we need to tell them it is Time to take care of us!

DoD Article "Team Concludes Agent Orange Investigation in South Korea" This Bull Shit Tell the Whole Story

Posted by Bill Combs on January 2, 2012 at 6:20 PM

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well said Phil and thank you,

Yes, Milan, Agent Orange (along with Agent Blue and Monuron) were used in South Korea and the Army and DOD have stuck to their claim that it was only used along the DMZ in 1968-69. Now at least two official documents have been revealed by the VA showing these herbicides were used throughout ALL of I Corps and 1st ROK Army's sectors for a much longer period of time. Col. Birchmeier stated on American TV that only 300 some odd drums of AO came into the country in the 1960s and that it all was "eventually transferred to the ROK Army". (Now the good Colonel says it was "380 drums brought to Korea and that all was used up that same year". I think he needs to check his facts and also release all documents that he claims to have proving his statements.) Why won't the Army and DOD prove that statement? Simple, they can't. All supplies in the 60s went through Ascom Depot, yet the Army and DOD say the herbicides were never there. So the VA denies care and compensation the the Vets who handled it at Ascom. (Just as they deny that American Soldiers sprayed Orange and Blue and just as they deny that it was stored at Camp Casey, 2nd and 7th S & T Compounds and at the numerous other U.S. facilities and Camps throughout Korea.) If all of the AO that came into Korea went to the ROK Army, how did I end up with over 300 drums of it in my motor pool at Camp Peterson and how did 100 drums of it end up at my Compound at Camp Ethan Allen in Artillery Valley and our Bridge and Patrol Boat Dock sites on the Imjin River in 1969? How does the Army account for all of the health problems among both ROK and U.S. soldiers, along with hundreds of South Korean citizens who lived in areas where herbicides were deployed by American Soldiers? Could it be that the Army, DOD and the U.S. Government is being less than truthful and fully transparent about the storage, transport, deployment and disposal of these, and other chemicals? Why have so many of my own men (and a number of others) died from the effects of being poisoned by these herbicides? Certainly the Army, DOD and U.S. Government wouldn't lie about or cover up such horrible results of their actions. We all know the Army, DOD and the U.S. Government never lie or cover up any mistakes. Phil Steward, Captain (former) CO - Co. E, 2nd Engineer BN, 2nd Infantry Division, USFK - 1968-69 100% VA Disabled from A/O Poisoning in South Korea Go to the two links, please, and post your response. If enough people read our responses, the truth will be hard to keep hiding. We were sent to Korea to help protect its people from attacks by Communist North Korea during the 1960's - We fought, worked hard and many died in this 2nd Forgotten War. During this time, the Army used highly toxic chemicals to defoliate many areas 'for our safety'. The truth, however, is that the Army poisoned us! Now, 40 years later the Veterans Administration is making us fight new battles in that same war. And the poisoning continues today while the VA continues to deny us care and compensation... Info? pesteward@hotmail.com and Please visit these

Group Sites:

http://veteransinfo.org http://groups.yahoo.com/group/koreadmzcoldwarveterans/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/veteransinfo/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AO-Awareness-and-Info/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Veterans_Wives-Families/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VETERANS-FOR-CHANGE/

From Me

And they did not say anything about the Other Camps in Korea as well, example Camp Mercer or Ascom Depot Bill Combshttp://billkorea1970-71.webs.com/20th General Support Group 2nd Inf/8th Army

Ascom Depot (Camp Market)BupyeonDong,Korea

From barbara wright

Given the depth of cover up of operations in Korea during the Cold War it does not surprise me to hear that DOD found no AO barrels buried at Camp Carrol. I have a gut suspicion that the barrels were dug up and many found to be empty because of the corrosive nature of the herbicides inside. I doubt that the poluted ground below the barrels was removed and replaced with clean soil. I would bet that the defective barrels were simply thrown in a garbage dump somewhere or sent to Toule Utah for disposal. You will note that DOD did not produce the shipping manifests showing that the barrels were dug up and disposed of in Utah which leads me to wonder if they were or not.

Roger Response

Phil, good response, have been watching the dodge ball game DOD has been plying with the issue. Spent two tours in South Korea (67-68 and 69-70). I also had a cople of tours in Thailand (68-69 and 70-71), was able to prove my exdposure to herbicides during those tours. I cannot prove exposure twice, would like to stick it thier ear twice but not necessary. Am already at 80% with an overall of 70%, that is VA math for 1+1=1.5. Below is my response to the article I posted on another site.

The Headlines of this article are a little misleading, traces 2,4,5-T were found, earlier articles stated that DOD had dug up the barrels and had disposed of it elsewhere, but not where that elsewhere was. The article states it was probably shipped to Tooele Army Depot in Utah, which is on the Super Fund clean up list. The article is not misstating the facts, but may lead some people to believe there was no herbicides contamination from Agent Orange, no mention of Agent Blue, Purple or the rainbow of other color designation of herbicides used by DOD. Having an article written by the Stars and Stripes is like having the Fox write his own performance report on the good job he is doing watching the chicken coupe.

Roger L.T. Postera, SMSgt, USAF, Retired

Curmudgeon at Large & VASVW President

Many Vietnam War Veterans Stationed in Korea Suffer From Diseases and Disabilities as a Result of Agent Orange Exposure During Service But Are Declined VA Benefits

Posted by Bill Combs on December 12, 2011 at 12:35 AM

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Posted on June 14, 2011 by Kara Campbell

Finkeistein & Partners/Veterans Service Blog

http://web.lawampm.com/

http://lawampm.com/blog/veterans-benefits/

← Veteran’s Court issues Seminal Decision in Freeman v. Shinseki concerning the appointment of Fiduciaries for Incompetent Veterans PTSD Hurdle Harder For Women → Many Vietnam War Veterans Stationed in Korea Suffer From Diseases and Disabilities as a Result of Agent Orange Exposure During Service But Are Declined VA Benefits Posted on June 14, 2011 by Kara Campbell Many Vietnam War veterans suffering from the effects of exposure to Agent Orange during their period of service, are unable to get VA benefits because they were stationed in Korea and not Vietnam, during the war. The government’s position in this regard is intolerable. Recently published in Veterans Today U.S. Veterans stationed in Korea during the late 1960′s have confirmed that Agent Orange was stored at and transferred to the DMZ and Vietnman from Korea. Randy Watson, who was stationed at Ascom Depot, Company B, a supply and transport company stated that barrels of Agent Orange were stored at his camp. He told reporters, “We shipped supplies all over Korea and the far east. We would also take supplies by convoy to the DMZ area and to southern Korea”. On another U.S. veteran website, an anonymous man who served at Ascom Depot’s Company B from 1968 to 1970, gave more detailed testimony about Agent Orange. He said there were “toxicity warning signs” and barrels of the defoliant were kept in storehouses and in the basement of Company B barracks. Company servicemen transferred barrels to the DMZ, or soldiers came from DMZ to take barrels there. In order for these Veterans to be awarded VA benefits for their sufferings as a result of Agent Orange exposure, they must prove that they were, in fact, exposed to Agent Orange during service. More and more Veterans are speaking out about their exposure while stationed in Korea. One Veteran indicated that due to leaks from being hit by forklifts during loading, large amounts of liquid seeped into the ground, he said. Soldiers were exposed to the defoliant in the process of trying to roughly stop up the holes, and the leaked defoliant was discharged into the waterways within the camp, he added.

Notably, The Incheon Institute of Health and Environment took samples of soil and groundwater near the camp last Friday, and results are expected late this month.

If Agent Orange is found pursuant to the tests being conducted, this will present compelling evidence to the VA concerning Veterans’ exposure and may have an impact on many of the open claims in this regard, pending before the VA.

Camp Market

Posted by Bill Combs on October 20, 2011 at 9:25 AM

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I was Station @ Camp Market ( Ascom Depot) HQ & HQ 20th General Support Group , was all over Korea a different times with Supplies and doing Supply Audits.

Camp Market was in the vicinity of Inchon and was a staging area and breakbulk point for units stationed along the demilitarized zone

Most incomprehensible is the omission of Camp Market, which is located in the middle of a residential area in Incheon. Camp Market was found to be the site of non-transparent disposal of highly hazardous materials in documents published by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The location of a waste treatment facility, it processed more than 500 drums of hazardous materials in 1987 alone, including mercury, asbestos, and sodium sulfate solution. In 1989, it was cited by the U.S. General Accounting Office after the U.S. military merely stated that it had disposed of 448 drums of toxic polychlorinated biphenyl without leaving any record on how it was disposed of or where.

Perhaps as a result of this, a study of the area around the base conducted by Incheon’s Bupyeong District in 2008 detected benzene, lead, and other toxic materials at anywhere from 2.4 to 12 times the standard levels in the soil and underground water. Total petroleum hydrocarbons were detected at a full 32 times standard levels near an apartment complex bordering on the waste treatment site. A 2009 Korea Environment Corporation study found toxic trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, the same chemicals detected at Camp Carroll, at 2.7 and 2.3 times standard levels, respectively. Moreover, Camp Market is suspected of being the site to which the chemicals buried at Camp Carroll were moved. There also need to be document examinations and soil testing to answer the defoliant allegations raised regarding Camp Carroll.

Book: "Vietnam's Rain Agents Orange, White, and Blue"

Posted by Bill Combs on October 16, 2011 at 3:25 PM

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Book: "Vietnam's Rain Agents Orange, White, and Blue" 20051126 HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS PRESENTATION by CHARLES W. KELLEY December 6th 2005 PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY CAUSED BY THE DIOXIN TCDD, OTHER TOXIC CHEMICALS THE VETERANS WERE EXPOSED, OR TO WARTIME SERVICE IN VIETNAM IN A TOXIC CHEMICALS (PLURAL) ENVIRONMENT STILL DENIED BY THE VA AFTER 40 PLUS YEARS I am the author of the newly released book "Vietnam's Rain Agents Orange, White, and Blue (Weapons of Mass Destruction) http/www.2ndbattalion94thartillery.com/book/bookorders.htm

This book documents a four year review of DOD/VA/Government activity in denying the many effects of our Toxic Chemicals (Plural) Legacy. Up until our "Vietnam Veterans Toxic Chemicals (Plural) Legacy" it had always been the policy of the Veterans Administration (VA) and "Is currently the portrayed policy of the United States," with respect to individual claims for service connection of diseases and disabilities, that when, after consideration of all the evidence and material of record, there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding the merits of an issue material to the determination of a claim, the benefit of the doubt in resolving each such issue shall be given to the claimant. The VA in promulgating the rules specified by the Dioxin Standards Act of 1984, not only confounded the intent of this perceived intent of Congress, but directly contradicted its own established practice of granting compensable service-connection status for diseases on the lesser showing of "an increased risk of incidence" or "significant correlation" demanding instead the more stringent requirement that compensation depends on establishing a "cause and effect" relationship. Veterans are now calling this "Dioxin Standards Act" and this so-called "benefit of the doubt mandate" only a "painted and portrayed congressional deception.

In direct opposition to the stated purpose of the Dioxin Standards Act of 1984 to provide disability compensation to Vietnam Veterans suffering who were exposed to Agent Orange, the VA continues to improperly and illegally deny and stall compensation for death and disability. With the VA's definition of when the Veteran's claim ends, one would logically conclude the VA is now legally allowed to and in fact in many of my guys and my Marines "stalls to the death" of the Veteran. This includes the VA's refusal to change the service connected gate for mortality that applies to surviving widows and children that would be compensated at an additional three hundred dollars a month. Considering that toxic chemical cancers have a six month to two year mortality or free of cancer, it makes it impossible to for the Vietnam Veterans to even cling to life to make the extra years required for the special widows and orphans compensations. Toxic chemical cancers can go undiagnosed for decades and are symptom less until it is too late. This is certainly a conflict since the entire United States Government with over 25 years of stalling denied any damages from herbicides as Veterans died from the very cancers that were 25 years later pronounced "as associated." Both of these issues are definite and defined "conflict of interests" between the Veterans and the sole power given to the Secretary of the VA and this very adversarial federal agency.

I would ask the congress how it can possibly take 14 to 18 month to put a copy of DD-214 in a folder; a copy of those associated cancers, begrudgingly admitted to after over two decades of stalling, in that same folder; a copy of the cancer diagnosis, more than likely from a doctor that works for the VA itself, in that same folder and stamp it approved and get it over to dispersement. So the Veterans family can have the financial support they need while fighting with everything they have "the government/DOD caused cancer." This seems like a 10 minute job done by a sophomore in high school. Not a 14 to 18 month job done by educated federal civil service workers. One would have to wonder are they really that bad and inept; or they just directed to be that bad by the VA management.

Recently in the news, it seems that even out and out VA murders of five Veterans were attempted to be covered up by this federal agency. Including the firing of those VA pharmacy workers that came forward with the data and facts. The VA promulgating of the requirements was also found in a courts review in Nehmer v. U.S. Veterans Admin., 712 F. Supp. 1404, 1408. (N.D. Cal. (1989) wherein the court found after reviewing the legislative history of the Act that Congress intended service connection to be granted on the basis of "increased risk of incidence" or a "significant correlation" between the dioxin TCDD and various diseases." There are many Veterans, there are many members of Congress, there are many Americans who believe the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration have been less than candid about the health effects that Agent Orange has had on them as well as on veterans' children.

While the Government has acknowledged that some illnesses the Vietnam veterans developed are associated with Agent Orange exposure, and that these veterans can receive disability and death benefits. Many veterans believe that the health problems associated with Agent Orange are far more serious and widespread than the Government has acknowledged up to this point. The search for latent illnesses associated with exposure to "herbicides" (plural) in our toxic chemical legacy demands persistence, confronting hard truths, and above all integrity. The United States Government has failed miserably with "purpose and intent" in these issues. Prior to any studies or evaluation of these toxic chemical damages commencing there is evidence of the government/VA dragging its collective feet with total bias in addressing these issues with any kind of persistence and meeting the hard truths that hard data uncovered in our returning campaigners and meeting behind closed doors with chemical company lead scientists and medical directors.

The head of the VA's Environmental Hazards Group went out into the medical community early on and pronounced that any scientists that found a problem with dioxin was nothing but a Witch Doctor.

Revealing the VA's total bias against Veterans and their families. We now know who the biased Witch Doctor really was and is and who was behind this bias. The VA's own committee (VACEH) that held Vietnam Veteran's fate for 13 years operated from 1979 to 1991 was also heavily criticized for bias and lack of integrity. When independent prestigious scientific sources reviewed what this committee was doing and their processes; statements were made that nothing this committee was doing should be used "for anything" much less medical implications that would result in Veterans Compensations from death and disability.

The NAS/IOM that took over in 1991 seems to be just a continuation of this bias and also less than forthcoming and honest in their assessments with regard to proof of associations that are really required in a court of law versus what the White House/VA wants, which as I found out is totally impossible scientifically and medically. Twenty three years ago, the Air Force began a 25-year, $140 million research program to assess the relative health of 1,300 ranch hands, air and ground crew members who handled and sprayed Agent Orange and other herbicide defoliants in Vietnam. The Ranch Hand Study was designed to generate significant scientific data and analysis to be used by the Department of Veterans Affairs [VA], and others in making health care and compensation decisions regarding Vietnam Veterans. Nevertheless, according the General Accounting Office [GAO], Ranch Hand has been slow to publish findings, unwilling to share data, inconsistent in conveying design limitations, and resistant to congressionally mandated participation by "independent parties."

Controversial from the outset, the Ranch Hand study has been consistently criticized for both scientific and administrative shortcomings. Many believe Ranch Hand has so far failed to fulfill its promise as the pivotal longitudinal study of herbicide toxicity. Some conclude it never will. Others believe this research was designed to fail, or manipulated to avoid controversial findings.

Senator Daschle concluded when the first report was released in 1984 when compared to the original scientific draft that this was not just an interpretation of the medical facts found but the "perpetration of fraudulent government conclusions."

After reviewing the transcripts of the government oversight committee on Ranch Hand and the testimony of scientists themselves that were a lead part of the Ranch Hand, the head of medical research at Kansas State University (a two time member of the Ranch Hand study), and an advisor to the VA Secretary from Yale University; it was painfully obvious this study deserves this well-founded criticism. There were direct charges of command influence being used, the changing of cleared for publication medical facts that were found, the changing of established protocols directed by using the name of the Surgeon General, linear dioxin dose responses to medical disorders that were not understood were and are not reported found, disorders found at a 50% increase or more are not reported because no dioxin linear dose response could be determined, etc, and an overall total lack of integrity.

Additional charges were made that the study was only crafting for peer review and publication; not actually publishing the found facts. The ultimate lack of integrity charge was that for 20 plus years the study had and continues such cover-ups to have never given the Veterans a fair and unbiased assessment of their toxic chemical health status in birth defects, other cancers, heart disease, vascular disease, neurological ailments, endocrine disturbances, and hematological difficulties.

I would also add even B and T cell dysregulaton found that may even be the secondary root cause of all of our wide variety of issues of death and disablement is ignored. This includes down and up regulation in Interleukins 4 and 10, Interferon, and some disturbance of the tumor necrosis factor.

Some suggested that the Congress had given entirely too much power to the Secretary of the VA and its White House directed philosophy. I would add that Congress assuming "integrity" gave too much power, when there is very little government integrity that accompanies any "sole power" in our government. Some in congress have even suggested that data should be from some outside agency and not from a major role player such as the VA and the Air Force. I would add that after my four year review of these so called toxic chemical assessments, I would conclude it would have to almost be an international committee of totally independent scientists; not associated with the EPA, VA, FDA, any branch of the DOD, and certainly out of the mandatory influence of our own White House. Very similar to what the EPA did in their dioxin reassessments of 1992-1996 where they used over 100 independent scientists NOT associated with the EPA or any government influence. The EPA's previous history in the 1970's and the 1980's is certainly tainted with some EPA scientists with integrity finding the chemical company studies being presented in court were fraudulent. Their reward for demanding something be done was suspension. One EPA scientist wrote a scathing report shooting holes in the chemical company studies and issues. His report was summarily shelved in 1979 by the EPA. Yet, it documented many of the findings that would be presented in the EPA's "dioxin reassessment" some two decades later. Another 20 years went by while our most noble of all citizens died or became disabled since their doctors had no idea what to look for and no one in our government gave them a chance at a first medical strike against a cancer or an autoimmune disorder. One of the most despicable events I ran across in my review of the Ranch Hand Transcripts was when one scientist, not wanting to duplicate his work asked; Would it not be better to wait to review the chapters until the Air Force gets done with all its changes? The leader of this group then stated we do not want to say "changed." The scientists then said, "OK how about Airbrushed" as laughter broke out in the room.

Veterans are going uncompensated in death and disability and this group is laughing at the fact the Air Force is going to change what they as scientists have found or suspect. To include charges were made that totally rewriting some chapters was only to "deemphasize" the real findings. This White House philosophy made "not to support our Vietnam Veterans" in lieu of protecting and minimizing chemical company costs that would be incurred (*reference White House memo put out to federal agencies) and then deny Vietnam Veterans and their families death and disability benefits seems to be now " a learned and accepted practice" by our government.

The White House Bureau of the Budget put out a memo to all the agencies of government in essence not to find a correlation between Agent Orange and health affects. Stating that it would be most unfortunate for two reasons:

The cost of supporting the Veterans.

The court liability to which corporations would be exposed.

This White House/DOD/VA philosophy seems to permeate research and similar studies for Gulf War Syndrome, anthrax vaccine recipients, the Veterans of Project 112 testing and SHAD testing, and the Edgewood Arsenal testing, etc. There is also the known previous history of DOD/VA cover-ups in Nuclear Testing and LSD testing. It is time all past; present, and future Veterans make this White House/DOD/VA philosophy a National Security Issue. This especially holds true for the mothers and fathers that this government wants to send their sons and daughters into harms way. They need to realize "The Last Battle They Will Fight" is against our own government.

In Attachment 1, I have provided the various and wide variety of symptoms of this peripheral neuropathy debilitating disorder in nerve damages as well as the wide variety of severity of this toxic chemical caused nerve damage disorder. In Attachment 2, I have provided the overwhelming medical and statistical evidence that categorically supports this chronic and debilitating disorder of peripheral neuropathy is associated to the dioxin TCDD and/or Service in Vietnam regardless of which toxic chemical or group of toxic chemicals was the causation. This evidence goes back to 1949, as well as present day epidemiological studies; including Office of Technology Assessment results commissioned by congress itself in 1989.

While the VA wants to contend that only diabetes can create this nerve disorder you will see in ATTACHMENT 2 the p-values found and other studies as well as our own government studies conclude that this disorder is far from only associated to diabetes and with respect to Agent Orange and is the "most prolific disorder found" as a stand-alone. Medical and study evidence shows far and above the VA's notorious statement "just as likely as not." Time permitting I will review these submittals. Time not permitting I will leave it up to the members to review this direct evidence and move on in the presentation. Most of you are lawyers, so when you review this evidence put yourself in the position of a practicing attorney and in a "real legal system" where evidence means something; not this trumped up Veterans' Board of Veterans Appeals. Decide for yourself if I have proven my case medically, statistically, and scientifically to what congress intended to be compensated for government mistakes. Then multiple that by thousands of disabled Veterans with the same issue that this government is letting down with no financial support for "government wrong-doing and out and out government mistakes." Also, please review the BVA case file in ATTACHMENT 3 that categorically demonstrates that even when everyone concluded this Marine's nerve disorder was at least a 50/50 chance caused by his toxic chemical exposures. The BVA then states they give more evidentiary weight to the "medically astute Secretary of the VA and his statements made that denies such associations.

http/www.2ndbattalion94thartillery.com/Chas/VACAttachment3.htm

The White House had already decided this Marine's case in 1984 with their philosophy "not to support the Veterans." It was not decided in 2003 at the BVA after fighting for eight years to even get that point of an appearance at the BVA. The whole VA legal system is a joke that operates around a mandated budget only. Not truth or evidence of facts as in a real legal system under the constitution. No different than they find a way to trump the entire congress at the behest of White House Budgets, not facts. When MD Anderson Cancer Center one of our nations most prestigious cancer treatment and research hospitals, also known around the world, indicates that one of my Marine's diagnosed cancer is from TCDD and Agent Orange from a statement made by one of our nation's foremost doctors at MD Anderson; this is also overridden by the medically astute Secretary of the VA and his staff. Even though his cancer shows a residual dioxin TCDD attachment of 22 parts per trillion. Plus, studies show a Risk Ratio of over 2.3 for that cancer because of dioxin exposures. When studies show an increase of 5.6 risk ratio directly related to a group of Veterans in a single Corps Area and to the dioxin TCDD to such cancers as brain cancers.

The VA overrides such studies even when these studies are quoted by Cancer Treatment Centers. Even when there are at present over 3400 BVA appeals for the same brain cancer of those men that are still alive and should be considered hard data of Service in Vietnam. This also is totally ignored just as much of the hard data at the BVA is also ignored. When totally blind studies, unlike our own government studies, show a p-value of association to the dioxin TCDD in one disorder of p = 0.039 and when the comparison of difference between Vietnam Veterans and Non-Vietnam Veterans shows an astounding p = 0.0042 proving both statistically and medically this debilitating disorder is associated; this medical disorder is still denied by the Secretary of the VA and his staff. When a second study confirms this disorder as "the most prolific disorder found in Vietnam Veterans" this disorder is still denied by the Secretary of the VA and his staff. The whole premise of our Nation's legal system in setting precedence's is outlawed in this VA court and so stated as such. This is one reason why it takes a Veteran's claim 10 to 20 years to get through this government sham and why there are over 500,000 cases in the system at the BVA level alone. One hundred thousand cases can be identical and yet each one is considered totally separate with no regard to what one BVA sham of a court found over another. Either these BVA officials are our Veterans' judge, jury, and executioner or they are not. If they are, then there is no reason in this legal world that one decision as a precedent cannot be used in making approval decisions in a matter of minutes; not decades. If these legal folks are only there to enforce a White House mandated budget or create a Veteran's Lottery; then admit it is a sham and let the Veterans go back to a constitutional real court where evidence actually means something to include 100 year old precedence in legal rulings and medical findings. The head of the BVA at his senate coronation suggested that VA benefits are "gratuities," which would indicate gifts. I do not think you will find that word used in the recruitment and NCO retention speeches. Instead these are benefits earned by deeds, valor, and honorable service to a government that now treats it promised Veterans as "used up obsolete government assets." Maybe that also should be included in the recruitment and retention speeches. ATTACHMENT 4 documents statements made by some of the Edgewood Arsenal testing Veterans. A despicable government act indeed.

http/www.2ndbattalion94thartillery.com/Chas/VACAttachment4.htm

ATTACHMENT 5 documents statements as just one example made by the daughter of a Veteran and how the government has treated him. Does anyone really believe that she will recommend any military service to her offspring or any one else she comes in contact with after she has lived the government/DOD/VA treachery. Yes, I deleted her name for fear of VA reprisals from the local VA avenging angels.

http/www.2ndbattalion94thartillery.com/Chas/VACAttachment5.htm

So much for the "Mandated Benefit of the Doubt," the "Congressional Mandates," and the "Congressional Dioxin Act of 1984." The VA just in turn, adds legal nomenclature to C.F.R 38 that trumps anything Congress has intended or "at least on face value had intended" to accomplish for Veterans. Veteran's cannot only get the mandated benefit of the doubt as to causation but even when the entire United States Medical Community categorically states that in 33% of the cases you will never know the causation the VA then demands that very fact! Demanding medical facts that our most prestigious research hospitals cannot give those facts. For a Federal Agency to be this poor in performance, it has to try real hard to be just that. Not only poor in performance but integrity as well. Make no mistake; this is a very adversarial agency that works at the behest of the White House, not the Veterans. As a side note, I have to smirk at all the present political wrangling going on with the Supreme Court Justices. For Veterans of this nation it is irrelevant who is on the Supreme Court or even the constitutional legal system that guarantees protection for the rest of the Nation's Citizens against government corruption and collaborations. With the power congress has given to the Secretary of the VA and to each successive White House; for the Veterans and their widows the Secretary of the VA becomes not only the executive and legislative branch of government but also their Supreme Court, as all their real legal rights "as citizens" are laid aside. Without question, the Feres Doctrine has denied American service members, veterans, and their families "equal justice" under The United States Constitution. Many federal judges, scholars, lawyers, doctors, veterans and their families argue that the Feres Doctrine is unconstitutional since it violates the "due process, equal protection and separation of powers" clauses of the Constitution. The most significant dissenter in modern times is sitting Supreme Court Justice Scalia as cited in the case of United States v. Johnson, (1987): "Feres was wrongly decided and heartily deserves the widespread, almost universal criticism it has received." Furthermore, "Congress's inaction regarding this doctrine and its doing little, if anything in the way of modifying it to prevent Constitutional claims is clearly unjust and irrational. Again, allowing such power to military leaders can and does result in abuse therefore, where are the checks and balances on the military."

Yet, still to this day Congress will not address this issue of the DOD is presently allowed to do anything it wants with no accountability, including what many consider "crimes against humanity itself," which this very country hanged individuals for after WW2. Thus leaving the Veterans with no legal redress as guaranteed by the constitution that "they alone" so valiantly and honorably fought to protect. Add to this the omnipotent sole power and a "totally separate legal system" with no rules of any constitutional oversight given to VA by Congress in C.F.R 38, paragraph 510 and you have total government anarchy for one complete segment of society in this nation called "Veterans." The pledge that congress repeats daily is: I pledge allegiance...with liberty and JUSTICE FOR ALL. This pledge does not have an extra note that says "ALL" is not inclusive for those citizens that once wore the uniform of the United States Military.

The evidence I have submitted to you in ATTACHMENTS 1 AND 2 are strictly on this one disorder of nerve damages but there are many disorders that have an equal amount of medical evidence that I can address should you choose to "hear the truth." You just have to give me time to address each issue, as I am physically able to do so. When President Clinton approved this nerve disorder as being associated the nomenclature used was; "ACUTE NEUROPATHY." The DVA/White House to control the Veterans' compensation expenditures put a time limit on this prolific nerve disorder with a time limit of resolution and/or cure of this nerve disorder. The first proposal was for a 10-year time limit and a two-year resolution. Many scientists and doctors protested even this VA action to Secretary Derwinski. What it ended up was a one-year time limit and a two-year resolution announced in 1996. Which makes about as much sense as concluding the following: "That within 678 and one-half days the Veteran must manifest in order to draw disability compensations." It does not take a mathematical genius to crunch the numbers and calculate that even when this nerve disorder was announced, "As Associated," no Veteran at that time could qualify or would ever qualify. Nice propaganda move on the part of the VA, its' Secretary, and the White House. The VA then classified this nerve disorder; "transient acute and sub acute peripheral neuropathy," which no Vietnam Veteran has submitted for compensations.

In the VA propaganda magazine "Agent Orange in Review" which should be "Dioxin TCDD in Review" since no (zero) "U.S. Government Study" has done any studies on the herbicide Agent Orange, the issue was falsely printed as Peripheral Neuropathy. Only after protests by Veterans, such as myself, that this was a VA mischaracterization to the public did they finally change the listing to some form of truth. Including complaints from Veterans, such as myself, of Veterans' Magazines reprinting the bogus VA claims. In which, editors printed retractions after realizing the truth. By associating this medical disorder and two other disorders to a time limit, the VA has distanced themselves from the real causes of the three time limit disorders. In fact, by determining a time limit and pronouncing that a cure is available or at least the nerve damage will resolve itself over time; the DVA and the National Academy of Science Institute of Medicine (NAS/IOM)**, the hired guns of the government replacing the despicable Veterans Affairs Chemical and Environmental Hazards Committee that operated from 1979 to 1991, certainly must have concluded the following: a.. The concluding morphology of how the dioxin TCDD directly creates this transient acute and sub acute peripheral neuropathy outside of an antigenic response since scientists categorically state that the single dioxin (TCDD) does not create a body antigenic response such as spider bite or even some poisonous plants that are ingested. Therefore, one must conclude that the VA and the NAS/IOM have discovered this morphology and have kept this medical secret to themselves. a.. The VA and the NAS/IOM certainly have concluded not only the morphology, since the time limit of manifestation is now mandated. They certainly must have established either the minimum "total body threshold" regardless of means of ingestion or at least the minimum "dose rate" by specific methods of ingestion that equates to a mandated manifestation within one year of exposure to the dioxin TCDD. a..

The VA and the NAS/IOM have some how determined that every Veteran serving in theater during his or her 12 -18 months wartime service shall have achieved this magic "minimum exposure" required to the dioxin TCDD to manifest within the year after leaving the wartime theater. This would also include those that were wounded within three months of entering the war and left theater. Yes, all of this is government/VA medical nonsense. The VA and NAS/IOM have concluded a cure or resolution for this nerve disorder does exist. Yet, in seeing three board certified neurologists; one of whom was the head of neurology at Emory University indicates this nerve damage is chronic, debilitating, and not curable. It is self-manifesting from the secondary effects of the toxic chemicals. Not an antigenic response and more in the form of an autoimmune disorder, which is one of the cruelest of all diseases and disorders.

Some have suggested that to have this nerve disorder this badly it had to be caused by either heavy metals or toxic chemicals and not a diabetic connection. Once again it seems the VA and the NAS/IOM know how to cure this nerve disorder when the rest of the nations board certified doctors/neurologists seemed to be nothing but board certified quacks. The Congress has gone along with this DOD/VA collaboration that everything is associated to one single toxic chemical component (the dioxin TCDD) of three major Herbicides used; which is shear and total scientific nonsense. We know that "Agent Blue" was a form of arsenic acid that is noted for its neurotoxicity properties including warnings of creating nerve damage such as peripheral neuropathy as well as many issues that overlap what the VA is saying is only the dioxin TCDD causations. We now know that "Agent White" with its DOW chemical proprietary formula had other forms of dioxins outside of the dioxin TCDD, and closely related furans, as well as nitrosamines. And that this fact was never made known to the FDA, EPA, or to any other federal agency. We now know that Agent White contained Hexachlorobenzene, a noted liver damage toxic chemical. "Nitrosamines are a type of carcinogenic chemicals that are known to cause cancers and other medical problems. Exposure to high concentrations of nitrosamines is associated with increased mortality from cancers of the esophagus, oral cavity, and pharynx. When used in pesticides or herbicides it may cause DNA damage and cell death." Congress must realize the synergy effect of all these toxic chemicals used in one area can increase the potency and generated outcomes by a factor of 1600 times when using only two toxic chemicals over what a single toxic chemical can produce.

The bottom line for Vietnam Veterans is that no one will ever know what caused what to some level of "cause and effect" that the DOD, the VA, and our White House is demanding to a single toxic chemical element for death and disability compensations. Attachment 2 documents just how ridiculous this stand by the VA really is with respect to actual science, medical facts, statistics, and above all common sense with regard to this most prolific Vietnam Veterans nerve disorder. With wide ranging symptoms from constant discomfort and much pain to mimicking a muscular dystrophy issue with wasting and weakness of the limbs requiring a wheel chair or leg braces.

**(NAS/IOM is the government-contracted agency that associates Veterans Medical Issues in assisting DOD cover-ups and mistakes.

The same government contracted agency that for 10 years led the finger pointing that stress in a 100-hour war where the enemy was retreating and being slaughtered caused all the death, disability, and birth defects in our returning Gulf War Veterans.) Veterans now know better after 10's of thousands became disabled and/or died and other INDEPENDENT studies show stress had nothing to do with this death and disablement. Many Veterans that have dealt with the NAS/IOM and their total bias are now concluding they work at the behest of the White House/DVA connection only. Given requests to IOM to define the "evidences" of presumptive service and service connection, but in no way does anyone specify what that is or what level of proof is required; at least that anyone will admit. Because NAS/IOM is a separate and private entity from the VA then the IOM is wholly subject and liable to both political and legal methods. Many are suggesting Veterans and their families take NAS/IOM (and specific individuals within the NAS/IOM) to task under tort claims and malpractice, discrimination, and bias inside the Veteran's arena.

(Very similar to those individuals within the top levels of the VA that the Vietnam Veterans of America are now taking to court for their willful and wanton cover-ups of SHAD testing.)

Since they signed the papers and documents, they must now defend their convictions regardless of who in the DOD/VA directed such nefarious actions against Veterans for the sake of the DOD and/or politics and money. One of the jobs of our congress as our elected government officials is to make sure that no government collaboration or conspiratorial actions can or will take place against any single segment of society. It should not matter that we once wore the uniform of the United States Military.When you created the Veteran, you do not lay aside the citizen. Is this then their reward for serving an ungrateful Congress and President(s) who would rather protect chemical companies than support those who defended the constitution and then have no rights to its very protection. One of the definitions of "honorable" is, "characterized by integrity: guided by a high sense of honor and duty." While that certainly fits the men this nation sent to do battle for 10 years. In our toxic chemicals (plural) legacy our own government has not been forthcoming nor honorable.

I will close with a statement by Congressman Shays from the 2000 Government Oversight Review of the Ranch Hand Study: "At what level do you think Government should consider compensation? Should we have a no shadow of a doubt? The reason why I am asking the question is I have concluded, based on our work that we have done on Gulf War illnesses, based on our review of Agent Orange, that I have to be honest with our veterans.

By the time we will know the scientific data, you are dead. You will either have died early or you will have died in your old age in pain, but you will not get help from the Federal Government."

What the congressman left out was; this is all White House/DOD/VA purposefully calculated and planned.

Now Congress Has to also look at the veterans From Korea, Thailand, Guam, Bases in the USA aswell

Documenting US involvement in Chemical Warfare

Posted by Bill Combs on October 14, 2011 at 1:30 PM

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Documenting US involvement in Chemical Warfare Ed Mattson, Military Affairs Examiner October 14, 2011

How complicit was the US government in the cover-up attempt with Agent Orange or is “all this” a figment of the imagination of a bunch of disgruntled veterans? It is hard for the public to wrap their arms around the Agent Orange issue. 88% of the total population are 64 years old or younger, and 26% are under the age of 18, meaning the vast majority of people were either not born or too young to know much about the issue.

In passing conversations with those who have never been affiliated with military service, there is little interest in even learning more about Agent Orange. After a few minutes into a conversation it is easy to tell that people tune-out rather quickly. When we talk about the “government cover-up”; the “government being in collaboration with the big chemical companies to hide from any wrong doing” regarding Agent Orange; and how our elected officials apparently sided with “Big Chemical” because of the large campaign contributions made to “make the issue go away”, you can almost read the mind of the listener that they think you have a loose screw or that you are a couple of French fries short of a Happy Meal.

Advertisement Our nation has grown complacent at simply “accepting things the way they are”. One-half the country doesn’t even vote, and it hasn’t been, except for the last couple of years, that anyone is paying attention to what the hell is going on. Losing your job, paying $5 for 10 lbs of potatoes, handing over $4/gallon for gasoline; having the government tell you can’t build something on your own land for whatever purpose you want because you might disturb some “three-legged brain-damaged rat” that has become an endangered species; or that you find your home on the auction block because inflation just doesn’t leave enough money left at the end of the month to meet the mortgage…then and only then do you take a look around at what’s happening all around you.

Those in Congress depend upon the dumbing-down of the public so they can continue enriching themselves at the public trough. We have made it too easy for elected official to worm their way into office and stay there, with all their power and benefits, until they decide to retire.

Every veteran and active-duty service member, all 25 million of us, have a stake in the game. Not only have we become prime targets in “balancing the budget” by the same government that has sent many off to wars, we allow them to treat us like cattle to be lead around by a rope attached to a big ring in our noses. We took an oath to defend our country from all foes, both foreign and domestic, and right now it looks as “the inside the Beltway Crowd” has managed to work its way into the “Enemy Column” for many veterans. These are harsh words, but the way they government has handled the Agent Orange issue is downright criminal, and the way they have run from their obligation to correct the injustice that has been fostered on not only the veteran but also millions of innocent men, women, and children, is shameful.

Some interesting facts to remember:

1. The government said they were unaware of all the hazards that defoliants can cause.

2. That the chemical companies assured them chemicals like Agent Orange were safe to use.

3. That products like DIOXIN would quickly dissipate into the environment with no lasting effect.

4. That the benefit of depriving the enemy of jungle coverage and food supplies from using defoliants would shorten the war in Vietnam and make a big difference.

5. That the “U.S. Government tried to claim, for many years, the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam was not responsible for the wide variety of health issues suffered by veterans who served there”.

6. All along they knew the real truth as to the toxicity of the Dioxin component and played CYA (maybe that should read “grab-ass” with the Chemical Companies)

The Congressional Record which I eluded to in Wednesday’s article shows that Congress and therefore the Department of Defense, was well aware that our troops and civilian populations were in grave danger by our country’s use of the Rainbow of Herbicides. Below are some notable quotes:

A. In a Senate discussion regarding Chemical and Biological Weapons (CBW), Senator McIntire refers to words of a bill by Senator Stennis that “eliminate back door financing of programs relating to CBW programs”. Now remember, this is in 1969, 9 years after the use of Agent Orange and other herbicides started being used. The wording was “Except as provided in subsection (g) (2) of this section, no funds authorized to be appropriated by this, or any other later enacted Act may be expended for research, development, test, evaluation, or procurement of any chemical weapon, including any such weapon used for incapacitation, defoliation, or other military operations.” (Page S-9520, dated August 11, 1969-Congressional Record)

B. The Record goes on to say, “makes it clear our opposition to the use of lethal CBW agent as offensive weapons and prohibits expenditure of funds for any device to deliver these agents…and we express concern of many about the deployment or storage of lethal agents and microorganisms outside the United States…about recent accounts of unfortunate incidents involving such deployment or storage have prompted new congressional interest in what we may be doing in this area of CBW activity”.

C. Regarding shipments by rail of lethal agents, many had fear of inherent dangers and that, notice must be given Congress and local civilian agencies of any such shipments”, The section goes on to say, “detoxification of lethal agents before they are shipped off for disposal”, which was never followed and therefore a clear violation of the Act.

D. Senator Pell made an interesting statement, “I am sure we have all been concerned about incidents of the past several years where outdoor testing of lethal agents and micro-organisms have jeopardize both animal and human life” (referring to the accidental death of a herd of 6000 sheep in Dugway, Utah and the severe illness of two dozen CBW workers in Okinawa)

E. Senator Goodell admitted, “I want to clarify the point and that it is a crucial point that we are requiring this procedure of lethal chemical agents that are tested and all disease-producing biological microorganisms, or biological toxins”. He went on to conclude, “the anti-CBW amendment we are presenting here today represents an important break with secrecy over chemical and biological weapons. It is a modest measure to check the vast destruction potential of our CBW arsenal”.

F. The Congressional Record is very detailed on the subject of CBW’s, “We must be guided by the principle that the security of this nation begins with the health and safety of our own people”

G. The Congressional Record also entered a table of Chemical and Biological Weapons but can be summarized as follows:

a. Nerve gases

b. Incapacitating agents

c. Riot control gases

d. Harassing agents

e. Biological agents

f. Defoliants and herbicides: “2,4-D: A weed-killing compound known as dichlorophen-oxyacetic acid that has relatively low level of toxicity to man, IF PROPERLY DISPERSED. Heavier concentrations can cause eye irritation and stomach upsets, however. Dangerous to inhale. Usually used in Vietnam along with 2,4,5-T (trichlorophenoxyametic acid), which has similar-although somewhat more toxic-properties. Effective against heavy jungle. Cacodlyic Acid is an arsenic-based compound used against rice plants and tall grass. Strong plant killer that gives quick results. One serious restriction on its use is the possibility that heavy concentrations will cause arsenical poisoning in humans. Widely used in Vietnam. It is composed of 54.29 percent arsenic.

Supporters of the US's Agent Orange Campaign prefer to call it an "herbicide program" rather than chemical warfare. But these official documents reveal that the US Senate knew its real name…Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents.

With this much information available to a bunch of Senators in August of 1969, can there be any validity in any government agency, particularly the defense department, in claiming not to know the dangers of Agent Orange? Or that it was classified as a Chemical and Biological Warfare Agent?

That facts are clear, but even the real toxicity dangers of DIOXIN (the key ingredient in Agent Orange) were not totally revealed to Congress, nor was the haphazard training employed for precise dilution ratios, handling, transportation, storage, and disposal, made known. So in essence, the cover-up started long before the fallout began.

In closing it is apparent we must get Congress to open a complete investigation into the Agent Orange debacle and the affect it has had on our veterans, our civilian populations, and the citizens of some many other countries around the globe REGARDLESS of the cost. Monday I’ll clue you in:

The world hasn’t learned a thing from Agent Orange…it is still being used in to control foliage in the Brazilian Rain Forests and we hear they are looking using it in an application in New Jersey. It’s all part of Dow and Monsanto’s bottomline profits. We must act now!

Agent Orange What is it?

Posted by Bill Combs on October 13, 2011 at 9:05 AM

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Chemical Structure for Dioxin. Produced from the manufacturing process of 2,4,5-T

Barrels containing Agent Orange, identified by the orange stripe.

Agent Orange What is it?

Agent Orange is just one defoliant, among other defoliants and herbicides, to be used during the Viet Nam War. However, it is sometimes used broadly when talking about all of the chemicals that were used in Viet Nam during that time, and occasionally for referring to dioxin which is a very toxic chemical within Agent Orange.

Specifically, Agent Orange is an herbicide that was used during the Vietnam War to strip the land of vegetation making it easier for the US troops to see the opposing forces and also to deplete their food supply. Agent Orange was made up of an even mix of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T.

From the manufacturing process of 2,4,5-T comes the useless yet extremely toxic byproduct TCDD commonly referred to as Dioxin. Dioxin is one of the most poisonous chemicals known to man and it is the component that is believed to be the cause of so much damage and has been linked to many cancers and birth defects.

Agent Orange

What is it? Agent Orange is just one defoliant, among other defoliants and herbicides, to be used during the Viet Nam War. However, it is sometimes used broadly when talking about all of the chemicals that were used in Viet Nam during that time, and occasionally for referring to dioxin which is a very toxic chemical within Agent Orange.

Agent Orange was used along with other herbicides such as Agent White, Agent Blue, Agent Pink, and Agent Purple. The names were derived from the color of the barrel that held each chemical and were in place as a code to help the military distinguish each herbicide. For more information on Dioxin, Agent Orange, and the Chemical companies that manufactured and distributed it follow the link Dixon Home Page.

Dioxin Homepage

http://www.ejnet.org/dioxin/

The cold War South Korea

Posted by Bill Combs on October 10, 2011 at 9:10 PM

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Those of us who were sent to Korea came home to a war we could not have fathomed. We were “Vietnam ERA Veterans” drawing the distain of those opposed the war and disgust of those who were its proponents. We were warmongers to some and the generation that lost a war to the others.

Reaching out to our brothers who served in Vietnam, thinking they would understand, we received instead the worse rebuff of all.

“You were in Vietnam? They would ask.

“Yes you?”

“NO I was in the Cold war of Korea, we would proudly reply.

“Oh you weren’t in-country, the Nam veteran would say in a trailing voice as he turnedand walked away.

We quickly learned we were not the same as other vets. Instead we were second class citizens. So, it was easier to keep the memories of our service to ourselves rather than feel the scorn of those who opposed the war, the disgust of those who saw us as losers. Being discounted by those who were “in-country” made us to feel our service did not warrant the pride we had felt.

We were young, eager, and proud as boarded the flights that would carry us to Korea to a mystical foreign land that we read stories about. We were going to

Have the opportunity to put our training to use and perhaps experience the ultimate test. We wondered if challenged would we have the courage to make a stand against an attacking foe? Like our fathers before us, it was our turn to defend freedom. We grew from young boys waiting and expecting to have the same opportunity they had, and now that time had arrived. We were going to defend the freedom of South Korea and our nation’s cause to spare a people from the oppression of Communism.

Finally, the great healing, is bring our nation back together, to let us remember those we lost the cost of realize the true cost for freedom.

35 to 40 years later when we became ill with diabetes II. Testicular cancer, prostatecancer, Hodgkin’s, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, sleeps apnea, Acute and sub acute peripheralneuropathy, Ischemic Heart Disease , Chloracne, Respiratory cancers(cancers of the lung, bronchus, larynx and trachea), Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), Softtissue sarcoma (other thanosteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma, or mesothelioma), hypertension,an lose the strength in our muscles, unexplained chronic pain, and worst ofall, our children born with terrible birth defects, we wondered why. There wasno family history. Then it occurred to us. We remember how we saw the perimeter of our bases defoliated. Why didn’t it seem strange to us all the time that in a tropical climate nothing grew in those barren areas along the perimeter westood to watch, not even during the

Monsoons? We had been exposed to AgentOrange no different than those in Vietnam were. In filling our claims with the VA the agency charged with providing our nation’s compassion and care to its veterans, we found the lies had beaten us there “We never sprayed Agent Orangein Korea and since you did not serve in Vietnam, you do not qualify for compensation. And some 35 to 40 years later we are still second class vets,why? You and your service do not count. And still we fight the VA and DOD to come clean on all toxic chemicals we were exposed to, and lies continue about were Agent orange was stored, buried, and sprayed.

It is said time heals all wounds, but that is a big misconception as age old vets are suffering and in pain, and the DOD and VA are stalling so most of us past away. The only thing time does allow us to reunite with our band of brothers, supporting and reassuring one another in our shared knowledge of reality. It helps us understand that in the end,what others may think of our service to our nation is not important. Rather we reassure one another that the truth lies in our own heart and soul that we served with honor and so doing, we will truly “Take Care of Our Own”

The Vietnam War may be old history,and one nation hungers to put behind us, let us remember that we are talking about taking care of men and women who stood in harms way for this nation. The men and women who were exposed to hazardous chemicals chose to serve when others were burning draft cards and running to Canada. That something that should never be forgotten or put behind us, and until of those who died, were injured, or fallen ill from service are taken care of , regardless of what part of the theater of operations they served in, Agent Orange and other Toxic Chemicals will continue to haunt us.

US Army dumped chemicals in Imjin River in 1960s

Posted by Bill Combs on September 7, 2011 at 9:00 AM

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By Lee Tae-hoon

A new allegation has surfaced over the U.S. Army’s involvement in the disposal of toxic chemicals, including Agent Orange, into Korean waterways during its massive defoliation campaign in the 1960s.

According to a document that The Korea Times obtained Sunday, a U.S. veteran claimed that he released 25 to 100 gallons of leftover herbicide agents into major waterways, including the Imjin River, and by roadsides on a daily basis.

“It was common maintenance practice for us to release the remaining agents on to road ways, road sides, in rivers including the Imjin River or into creek beds,” Steve Witter stated in a letter to the State of Washington in 2004.

“We were never warned that the agents were hazardous nor told that we could not dump chemicals on roadways in rivers and or creek beds.”

The Imjin River is one of the major rivers in Korea that runs through the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides South and North Korea.

Witter served with a decontamination unit at Camp Howze near the border town of Paju between 1968 and 1969. His responsibility was destroying the foliage in and around the heavily fortified border using Agent Orange in an effort to improve the detection of North Korean infiltrations.

``We also travelled in and or near the DMZ. We also treated areas along or near the Imjin River with herbicide agents,” he recalled.

“Because there weren't provisions in camps or at staging locations to dump the herbicides agents at day’s end, we would open the valves to drain the tanks.”

Witter noted that the chemical company had four trucks that had tanks carrying 400 to 450 gallons of Agent Orange mixed with diesel.

The veteran said he found it odd that rubber, including the hoses and tires on the truck, would soften like gum when exposed to the agents.

“The hoses on the tanks constantly melted causing them to break and created direct exposure,” he said.

"The rubber on the soles of our shoes would also turn soft and glue like. At no time were we ever supplied protective equipment.”

Witter argued that he and others involved in the spraying found their skin and eyes would feel “irritated, burning, leaving a grayish color to our skin” after the applications of herbicides agents.

He was diagnosed with diabetes and many other complications in 1990.

Several former U.S. servicemen based in Korea have also testified that they were aware of the discharge of harmful herbicides, including Agent Orange, according to documents of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that The Korea Times obtained.

The government records show that Ralph White stated last year to the VA’s Board of Veterans’ Appeal that he was informed of “spraying Agent Orange and dumping unused amounts into the local rivers, streams, and ground.”

White also told the board that there was no vegetation, including grass, inside or surrounding his base during his service at Camp Market in Incheon from February 1969 to March 1970.

The retired soldier noted that he was assigned to load 55 gallon barrels stacked up labeled with "hazardous materials" symbols onto trucks.

Meanwhile, a joint investigation team into the Agent Orange scandal by U.S. Forces Korea and the Korean military announced Saturday that it would expand their ongoing probe into the extent of the U.S. Army’s disposal of toxic chemicals.

The team said it will also interview one of its former civilian employees who claims he witnessed the burial of Agent Orange inside a U.S. Army camp in the South in the 1970s.

The move came following retired U.S. soldiers’ statements that they had helped dump some 250 drums of leftover Agent Orange in 1978 inside Camp Carroll in Chilgok, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

Agent Orange contains dioxin, which is notorious for causing serious health problems, including mental illness, cancer and fetal deformities to those who are exposed to it.

The Pentagon admits that it used the toxic defoliant to clear plants near the DMZ in the late 1960s.

May 29, 2011 ... White also told the board that there was no vegetation, including grass, inside or surrounding his base during his service at Camp Market in ...

Jun 5, 2011 ... South Korean engineers take soil samples as they carry out an on-site inspection outside Camp Market, a U.S. base in Incheon

leeth@koreatimes.co.kr

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