made a new five-year commitment to provide another $65 million in humanitarian aid to Vietnamese people with disabilities "in areas sprayed with Agent Orange and otherwise . I had to quit my job, and move to CA to do so. Scavenging for scrap metal after the war, they found some barrels painted with orange stripes. B.Kent, Try the adjudunt officer s office. At VA Claims Insider, we specialize in helping veterans get the disability benefits they deserve. The South Vietnamese with heavy American air support are able to turn back the attack after a month and a half. The article was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center. Since it began, their project has channeled modest amounts of material support to disabled people things like a wheelchair ramp or a vocational training course or a brood cow to increase household income in rural areas of Vietnam that were heavily sprayed. With this updated information, veterans can get the care and benefits they need and deserve. So are cleft lips, sometimes accompanied by cleft palate. Ranch Hand involved spraying an estimated 19 million U.S. gallons (72,000 m 3 . The chemical was Agent Purple. I have Leukemia now in the early stage. an incomplete list. I hope this will help you. By examining the spray data, Dr. Jeanne Stellman and her colleagues at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health determined that up to 366 kilograms of Dioxin were sprayed on South Viet Nam during the war. have hearing loss. To make matters worse, the newly examined Air Force records show that the first intensive period of spraying in Laos used not Agent Orange, but the much more toxic Agent Purple, the use of which was discontinued in Vietnam almost a year earlier. On an earlier visit to Lapid, the War Legacies Project found a paralyzed baby girl, a 4-year-old with a club foot, a teenager born without eyes. Thousands of other Veterans in our Community are here for you. The Marine Corps is eliminating the scout sniper program as part of the service's big Force Design 2030 overhaul. My spouse doesnt provide any assistance. It was at one of these events that she met Chagnon. In 2019, U.S.A.I.D. Tests showed that the average concentration of TCDD in Agent Purple, a different chemical formulation, was as much as three times higher than in Agent Orange. Tango underground communications site. Not all veterans were necessarily exposed, but a fair proportion were. Harkins pushed back, arguing that the proximity of the unsecured border was precisely the point. He remembers when the Americans first sprayed Laos. The U.S. program, codenamed . The main focus of the War Legacies Project is to document the long-term effects of the defoliant known as Agent Orange and provide humanitarian aid to its victims. If you served in any of these locations during the Vietnam War and have since been diagnosed with a disease linked to Agent Orange exposure, you may now be eligible for disability benefits. Please advise. My dad is a Vietnam veteran. Between 1970 and 1974 I had two hundred-forty-nine, (249) Combat Missions on AC119K and AC130 A,E &H Model Gunships over S. Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia and one flight into China. Plus a stroke has weakened my left side. Submit anything you think might be helpful. How to Get a 100 Percent VA Rating (if deserved)! Attention A T users. also undoubtedly used herbicides in Laos, but their records have never been declassified.. Aluoi and Ta Bat bases were closed in 1965, being operational for less than one year. In each village, they note the age and gender of each person affected, a description of their condition with a firm diagnosis where possible and a comment on any who might benefit from referral to a hospital in the provincial capital or in Vientiane. Please reply ASAP. The rudimentary health care system in rural Laos means that few if any infants even get a diagnosis. chair. The highest TCDD levels were recorded at A So, 897.85 pg/g (Total . If you want to learn how to implement these strategies to get the VA benefits you deserve, click here to speak with a VA claim expert for free. In late April 1969, about 270 square miles of French and Cambodian rubber plantations in Kampong Cham Province were covered by sprayed Agent Orange. Between 1961 and 1971, some 18 percent of South Vietnams land area was targeted, about 12,000 square miles; in Laos the campaign, which began on the Ho Chi Minh Trail between Labeng-Khok and the Vietnamese border, was compressed in time and space. It was not until around 2000 that the United States was finally forced to acknowledge its obligations, after Hatfield Consultants completed its study of the impact of dioxin and showed U.S. officials incontrovertible evidence of how TCDD moved up the food chain, entered the human body and was transmitted to infants through breast milk. After a period of testing, on this day in 1962, President John F. Kennedy gave final approval to "Operation Ranch Hand" a massive effort to defoliate the forests . Map sourec: (13) We have submitted a disability claim for agent orange exposure as he has Parkinsons, cant move his legs, cant walk, is 100% incontinent, has a catheter and dementia. While waiting to fly, he biked all over the area. The adjunct (not sure ok of spelling) officer I agree with above . We had no rice for nine years, one old man said. I developed fluid on the brain and I have to wear a shunt in my head for the rest of my life. The commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, Gen. Paul D. Harkins, now requested authority to hit six new targets. It was as intense a ramping-up of the defoliation campaign as in any major war zone in Vietnam at the time. B.Kent. But in addition to Laoss neutrality, there was a second problem: Where exactly was the trail? If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. The whole body was soft, as if there were no bones. The women added Suk to the list of people with disabilities they have compiled on their intermittent treks through Laoss sparsely populated border districts. DOD conducted a thorough review of research, reports and government publications in response to aNovember 2018 Government Accountability Office report. There had never been any secret about the huge volume of defoliants used in Vietnam, and the evidence of congenital disabilities in the sprayed areas was inescapable. The Southern defense is thrown into complete chaos. Its like nobody wants to help. It was a not until recently that I was granted a ten percent, (10%) disability for Agent Orange Exposure and Prostate Cancer. The goal of Easter Offensive, officially known asThe 1972 Spring Summer Offensive, (also called the Nguyen Hue (Nguyn Hu) offensive) was to win a decisive victory in 1972 or at least improve the revolutionary position for future peace talks. How to Show your Support for Vietnam Veterans on National Vietnam War Veterans Day, Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act Extends Disability Benefits to Thousands of Navy Veterans. If you served on active duty in any of these locations, well automatically assume (or presume) that you had exposure to Agent Orange. The campaign was by far the largest and most comprehensive of the war, using a wide variety of aircraft as well as new smart bombs. Dublin, GA is saying they dont have them. You had to walk, sometimes for days.. Copyright 2023 Military.com. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. FAQ a. Click Go Elite Now below to get started today and a member of our team will be in touch within minutes. Average wind speed of tradewinds is 19mph. Im not positive about this where you live, however in Augusta, Ga. Fort Gordon all you need is your Military ID and your LPN has to have a State Drivers liense .To get in at the Military base. A few months ago it was 102 day average for new claims. If youve filed your VA disability claim and have been denied or have received a low ratingor youre unsure how to get startedreach out to us! 1972-73. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. A lock ( Meanwhile, the affected people are running out of time. Especially if you are sick. Hammond is painfully aware that bureaucratic wheels turn slowly; that Leahy, after 46 years in the Senate, may not be there much longer; and that Vietnam will always be the front-burner issue. Agent Orange was used extensively in Laos, but little testing has been conducted so the full extent of its usage is not yet known. The term "Agent Orange" also refers to the multiple "rainbow" herbicides used by the U.S. It ran through some of the most remote and inhospitable terrain on Earth, concealed by dense rainforest, largely invisible to U-2 spy planes, infrared sensors on other aircraft, even low-flying helicopters. The news comes on the heels of the Jan. 1, 2020, VA expansion of Agent Orange benefits to veterans who were exposed to the herbicide during their service. Service members exposed to Agent Orange may be at risk for various health problems, including cancer and other diseases. She was never able to receive proper medical care for her injury. The 600,000 gallons of herbicides dropped in Laos is a fraction of the roughly 19 million that were sprayed on Vietnam, but the comparison is misleading. He was on hospice and the VA paid for his care at first. This resolution was a matter of political pragmatism rather than hard science. A third child, a girl, died at the age of 2. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. visit VeteransCrisisLine.net for more resources. Men fish in boats made from the jettisoned fuel tanks of American fighter-bombers. Jacquelyn Chagnon, left, and Susan Hammond measuring the head of a 2-year-old boy named Sodsai, who gets severe headaches and has hearing difficulties. 1. Does anyone have any information on Ft Riley, Ft Polk, and Ft Richardson. The purpose of the spraying was to defoliate the area around the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which the North Vietnamese Army used to transport supplies and troops into South Vietnam. The VA has updated its list of Agent Orange exposure locations where service members may have come in contact with the dangerous herbicide. That is all I know for sure. Club feet are commonplace. Ground crew immediately evacuated but it took him time to unbuckle and unattach from the plane and leave. Agent Orange was a weed killer sprayed on the jungles of Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War to eliminate forest cover and crops for North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops. It was focused on narrow, defined strips of the trail, 500 meters wide (about 1,640 feet), and on nearby crop fields, and the heaviest spraying was concentrated in a four-month period early in the war. In great part, Agent Orange was used to clear the foliage and brush along many of the rivers and tributaries, especially in or near the Mekong Delta. According to the claim process both of these needed to have been identified and treated within a year of retirement. Hit enter to expand a main menu option (Health, Benefits, etc). The Southern defense is thrown into complete chaos. Veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange or other herbicides during service may be eligible for a variety of VA benefits, including an Agent Orange Registry health exam, health care, and disability compensation for diseases associated with exposure. My good friend from grade school died 2 years ago from stomach cancer. The following January, a 25-year-old Army captain from the South Bronx arrived at the A Shau base. What about GUAM? The map below can be used to see defoliant spraying missions by U.S. and South Vietnamese forces over Vietnam, as well as Laos and Cambodia. The database is considered the most comprehensive available on spraying missions. The list of Agent Orange exposure locations includes Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Guam, American Samoa, and Johnston Atoll. The model has been evaluated twice by the Institute of Medicine, which recommended that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs use it to evaluate the chemicals' health impact. To enter and activate the submenu links, hit the down arrow. office is where I got most of my information. Go to your congressman and start a congressional asap. You served in or near the Korean Demilitarized Zone between September 1, 1967, and August 31, 1971, OR, You served on active duty in a regular Air Force unit where a C-123 aircraft with traces of Agent Orange was assigned and had repeated contact with this aircraft due to your flight, ground, or medical duties, OR, You were involved in any aspect of Agent Oranges transportation, storage, or testing, OR. Health Care Long before the first Marines came ashore in Vietnam in 1965, infiltrators from the North were trickling into the South from the still-rudimentary Ho Chi Minh Trail, and the loyalties of the tribal groups along the border were dubious. He does not have diabetes, just painful neuropathy that makes any walking very difficult. Boivin wondered whether there might be similar dioxin hot spots on the Lao side of the border. His ailments make it difficult for him to walk. Only in the last two decades has the United States finally acknowledged and taken responsibility for the legacy of Agent Orange in Vietnam, committing hundreds of millions of dollars to aiding the victims and cleaning up the worst-contaminated hot spots there. I have an LPN as a caregiver. Im sure the records are incomplete, says Jeanne Mager Stellman, an emerita professor of health policy and management at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, who played a pivotal role in documenting the spraying in Vietnam and calculating the risks of dioxin exposure for American veterans. Although Agent Orange was used throughout Southeast Asia during the war, it is most commonly associated with the Vietnam War. 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