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941 questions in this forum
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BWN 12 mile long.lat info from HR 299
Bumping it up- cant find the original post---- “(d) Determination Of Offshore.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for purposes of this section, the Secretary shall treat a location as being offshore of Vietnam if the location is not more than 12 nautical miles seaward of a line commencing on the southwestern demarcation line of the waters of Vietnam and Cambodia and intersecting the following points: “Points Geographic Names Latitude North Longitude East At Hon Nhan Island, Tho Chu Archipelago Kien Giang Province 9°15.0’ 103°27.0’ At Hon Da Island southeas…
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Sec. Wilkie yesterday on BWN AO vets
The Secretary was on Fox news, briefly yesterday, and stated that there are potentially 560,000 Blue Water Navy veterans, to include those who are deceased and their dependents-that have a potential for a AO disability award. I checked this AM with some news outlets on line and they too have that figure-much higher than the 90,000 initially expected. Secretary Wilkie also said that the VA is trying to find and contact those vets.It would be easier if this was National News, and posted at every VA lobby, but much of this will come from word of mouth, so we all have have to ask any Navy vet we know-who might be affected by this news, if their ship was within the 12 mi…
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VA on BWN AO- possibly Nehmer?
https://www.va.gov/disability/eligibility/hazardous-materials-exposure/agent-orange/navy-coast-guard-ships-vietnam/ This just went onto the VA web site. It contains much of what I posted here already but has this encouraging statement----- "If we denied your claim because we determined that your disability wasn’t caused—or made worse—by your active-duty service, you can file a new claim based on the change in law. In certain cases, if we approve your claim, we’ll pay you back to the date when you submitted your original claim. We refer to this as retroactive payment." They mean the Footnote One provision of NEHMER!!!! Still that has to be formal…
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VA's Updates July 2019 AO Ships list
Yow-they said it would not take too long, just the other day and they were right- I was googling a BWN veteran's ship for him, that was apparently not on the older list and it popped right up in the New List! Good thing I checked it out He has an AO presumptive. [DOC] U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships that operated in Vietnam https://www.benefits.va.gov/compensation/docs/shiplist.docx
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Sec Wilkie puts "stay" on BW AO claims until 2020
https://connectingvets.radio.com/articles/va-secretary-wilkie-orders-stay-blue-water-navy-veteran-benefits-cases-until-2020 This is not unusual ,but maybe he will add some new AO presumptives before January 2020.But maybe not. I think this should have followed the VA PR I posted yesterday- I am trying to verify this from another source. But this was scuttlebutt in the BWN community-that it would take 6 months for the regulations to be written. The shame of it all is that, again Blue Water Navy AO vets, have to wait, and wait.Again.
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BWN AO -It is official!!!
VA Press release minutes ago July 5, 2019, 03:45:00 PM This link has all the AO presumptives and reiterates the 12 mile limit info I already posted in this forum https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=5280 The note here they added might mean they are adding more ships to the AO ships list. "For more information about Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam waters (Blue Water Navy Veterans), visit https://www.va.gov/disability/eligibility/hazardous-materials-exposure/agent-orange/vietnam-waters/. The updated web links will be live at 4 p.m. EST. Please disregard the content prior to the update." I cant access that link y…
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Sad Blue Water issue
One of the Big Six vet orgs had an article about HR 299 posted and opened their site for comments.There were about 70 comments and replies last time I checked it. I found some of these Blue Water Veterans had ships that were already on the VA AO Ships list and they didn't know it, until I went through the 2019 list and posted the info they needed. I also found that some of the commenters did not know what the AO presumptives were. Also some did not have their Deck logs and there are a few of us advocates there to direct them. I have seen Nothing on TV yet , but then again I only watch one news channel and sporadically at that. Maybe when the actua…
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Agent Orange-new presumptives
Back in March, Dr. Stone, one of the big honchos under Wilkie, said the the Secretary would be issuing a ruling on adding hypertension, hypothroidism, Parkenson-like disease, and another to the Agent Orange list of presumptive diseases. Guess what? 90 days gone by; when asked, they don't have any update. Another reason why I love the VA; you can always count on them to be honest and straightforward with the nation's veterans. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/07/01/no-decision-yet-va-new-agent-orange-presumptive-diseases.html
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12 mile limit maps ( Vietnam)
This research was done on the USS Bennington by a member of the original Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association: It shows how the sea coordinates were developed within HR 299. And also how the Deck logs reveal the sea coordinates. http://www.oldbluewater.com/carriers/Bennington_CVS_20N.pdf
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Blue Water Navy and past denials
https://www.va.gov/vetapp18/files4/1820459.txt We have a new member here who was on the USS Blackfin- The VA.gov site has been down to include BVA- down all week---but today I got through and found one claim there regarding AO and USS Blackfin.(link above) "ORDER Entitlement to service connection for DM II is denied. Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss is granted. Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus is granted." I f Nehmer kicks in with Footnote One, this vet as well as many Blue Waters, if they can prove, by the coordinates on their deck logs, that they fit into the 12 mile criteria, they have a chance to gain a g…
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POTUS signs HR 299!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It will take time for the regulations to be prepared but now is the time for any Blue Water Navy veteran to check their ship's position in the co or dinates I posted here-that are found at the top of their deck logs,with th dates in that post. If those co ordinates change I will post that info here as well but I do not expect a change in that. And, if Nehmer Footnote One kicks in, they will need to access any past VA denial for any AO presumptive, that appears as NSC, with a rating ,on the past decisions. If a AO should have been coded on a rating sheet but wasn't, I can help them prove (Hopefully) that it "should have been coded". I was a" Should have…
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Blue Water Act passed by Senate & Constitutional by Supreme Court
Ok so how is the VA going to calculate the backpayments of benefits?? We were denied disability pmts for years because we were considered Blue Water. I was in Vietnam & off the coast of Korea in the DMZ area in 1971. My first claim filed with the VA was 2010. But not for Agent Orange, because it wasn't allowed. Kind of a Catch 22. So took a chance in 2012 & filed, and of course denied. So heres food for fodder, has anybody thought about how far back is the VA going to go in calculating entitlements. And I don't want to hear from the day I initially applied for AO . In other words if I could have filed, if I would have . Does anybody have a clue?? Back to Agent Or…
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