By Rick Johnson

Rowan County Veteran Services

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. The first U.S. combat troops arrived in Vietnam in March of 1965.

More than 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam conflict. Many who survived are fighting diseases the U.S. government now recognizes were caused by a very powerful toxic chemical used in the jungle war zone.

Since 2010, the Department of Veterans Affairs has recognized a list of diseases, cancers and illnesses caused by the chemical Agent Orange. The VA is now making a renewed push to ensure everyone knows about the benefits available to veterans sickened by Agent Orange.

A variety of illnesses are on the list, including, but not limited to: Type 2 diabetes, prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, chronic B-cell leukemia, Hodgkin’s diseases, non-hodgkin’s lymphoma, Parkinson’s disease and Ischemic heart disease.

Many Vietnam veterans aren’t aware of the Agent Orange presumptive diseases. Furthermore, some veterans choose not to go to the VA for their treatment or some veterans have never thought to apply. Yet other veterans aren’t sure how to apply.

Claiming a disability from exposure to Agent Orange is an expedited claims process since the illnesses are “presumed” to be connected to Agent Orange exposure, meaning Vietnam veterans don’t have to prove an association between their medical problems and their military service as it relates to exposure to Agent Orange.

Any veteran or family member who might fit any of these categories should call the Rowan County Veteran Service Office at 704-216-8138.

More Agent Orange Exposure Potentially Revealed

Marine Corps veteran Lt. Col. Kris Roberts is the first veteran known to have won compensation for exposure to Agent Orange while stationed at MCAS Futenma, Okinawa, Japan, and now he is urging the military to come clean about what really happened at the air base.

For the first time in VA compensation history, the U.S. government has awarded compensation to the ailing former marine at the center of allegations that the defoliant Agent Orange was dumped on Futenma Air Base in Okinawa.

On Aug. 10, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals ruled that Roberts, chief of maintenance at the installation in Okinawa in the early 1980s, had developed prostate cancer due to “exposure to hazardous chemicals.” The presiding judge based the decision on evidence including medical reports, buddy statements and “photographs of barrels being removed from the ground.”

According to publicly available Department of Veterans’ Affairs records, more than 200 U.S. vets believe they were poisoned by Agent Orange while serving in Okinawa. Their sicknesses include multiple myeloma, Parkinson’s disease and peripheral neuropathy — illnesses for which the Department of Veterans’ Affairs compensates Americans exposed to defoliants in Vietnam, some areas of Thailand and the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas.

Any military member stationed at MCAS Futenma, and who later developed any of the presumptive illnesses, should contact the Rowan County Veteran Service Office at 704-216-8138.

The presumptive illnesses are listed below.

See more at: http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/conditions/index.asp#veterans