Ao Blue Water Navy

[jbasser]

Here is an IDEA. You Blue water Navy folks who served off the coast of the RVN and are being denied may want to locate a Quartermaster who served with you, For Folks on the USS Mars, I have one locally. I cant see the VA denying a written statement from the person who drove the darn ship.

J

Edited May 20, 2010 by jbasser

[Chuck75]

Not to throw water, but some members of ship's crews have had letters from the ship's captains ignored by the VA. The common issue was proving "feet on ground". The Navy seldom documented this, and what records were made were informal, used to determine who was or was not on board at a particular time, and generally not preserved in historical records. The "Brown Water Navy" presumptive status was recently acknowledged formally by the VA. It had fought Brown Water presumptive status using "feet on ground" for decades. We found that the VA will accept (grudgingly) ships deck logs as evidence, when they contain appropriate information. The current situation is that the VA refuses to recognize the validity of the Australian studies, and has no countering information. Unfortunately, the VA's ability to do this is "codified" in law, allowing the VA Secretary the option to ignore any study.

It looks like congress is the last hope, along with public opinion.

Here is an IDEA. You Blue water Navy folks who served off the coast of the RVN and are being denied may want to locate a Quartermaster who served with you, For Folks on the USS Mars, I have one locally. I cant see the VA denying a written statement from the person who drove the darn ship.

J

Edited May 21, 2010 by Chuck75

[jbasser]

That is true Chuck. Sometimes they just dont take anything into consideration.

J

[carlie]

Vets and civilians need to call,email and write their congress critters on this.

carlie