Am I Wasting My Time?

[Seabee Wife]

My late husband, a 'boots on the ground' Vietnam Vet, passed away in 2015. His death certificate showed cause of death "Tongue Cancer." I have finally been able to get the death certificate amended to show PART I, "Squamous Cell CA Tongue" as cause of death and PART II, contributing conditions to show "Sepsis, DM2, and CVA.

The cancer is not on the agent orange presumptive list, however, DM2 is, and possibly soon CVA will be on the list. Since these two illnesses are only contributing conditions on his death certificate, will the VA award DIC or will I be required to jump through hoops to no avail?  My husband had never applied for disability. The DM2 diagnosis and CVA occurred after the cancer diagnosis.

Thank you for your time and input in this matter.          

Edited September 17, 2017 by Seabee Wife

[john999]

Berta

 

 

                                    Have you been watching the PBS series about Vietnam.  It is depressing knowing the war could have been ended in 1966 and the outcome would have been the same as 1975.   Our government are such liars.  I always thought the Vietnamese were laughing at us and now I know it.  They always knew we were coming even when they chose to die in place.

 

 

                                      John

 

 

 

[Seabee Wife]

John, I have been watching the documentary. Gut wrenching. Just kids fighting a war that we couldn't win. Makes me nauseous.

[Berta]

You bet John----today, Saturday, PBS is running what looks like the first 4 or 5 episodes again  starting at 1:30 PM.

The doc is 99 bucks at PBS but 60 at amazon and maybe that price will drop by Christmas.

The vets they interviewed for this movie sure said the real nitty gritty. I like the way they inserted what was going on in the 'world' between videos of the actual war...and the popular music (Byrds, Bob Dylan,etc) reflected the mood at home, maybe played on Radio stations , there while Hanoi Hanna was using psychological warfare to try to influence our men and women.

The only problem with a 16 or 18 hour documentary on Vietnam, to me, is that it isn't long enough and we can never know all this long war entailed-still; killing vets with Agent Orange...

John, when my husband got out of the PTSD 21 day inhouse program, I asked- 'did it seem like a long time away from us ' as he had been so apprehensive to even go to the 21 day at Buffalo VAMC.

He said it wasnt long enough---because, as happy as he was to be back home here, he felt he needed a whole year of inhouse therapy to get over a long year in Hell.

I think every American should see this documentary!

And the best PTSD doc I ever saw is "Fit to Kill" -only an hour long, made many years ago, by either PBS or maybe ABC. I wish they would run it again.

This is sort of funny- the other day I washed by hand and hung on my outside clothes line, my flags from Vietnam- the flag from the North my daughter bought for me when she was there , and the flag of the south and United Vietnam today,that I got on line. What is funny to me ( I live in isolated area but a few neighborhood  cars pass by every day) is that no one has ever questioned me about those flags when I wash them once in a while. I guess they all know Vietnam is one of the most important parts of my life and is here everyday even though my husband cant be anymore. 

I am sure glad Vietnam is an ally to us now.They aren't really that far away from Rocket Man.

 

 

 

[john999]

I read two books about Vietnam I recommend.  They are "The Things They Carried" and " Matterhorn"  . Both the authors are featured on the PBS documentary.  I read another good one "Chickenhawk" about the chopper pilots in Nam.   American military in Vietnam were exposed to AO and to drugs at a very young age.  I remember in mid 1970 very cheap heroin began flooding into military bases.  The word was that it was cocaine and it would help you stay awake on guard duty etc.  It turned out to be heroine and if you just snorted it for ten days you would be physically addicted.  The lies about the "Light at the end of the tunnel" are what gripe me.  Westmoreland was a liar as was LBJ and Nixon.  They got the same deal in 1973 they could have gotten in 1966 without 40,000 more KIA.

[pwrslm]

military ended use of AO in VN  around April 1970.

Edited October 31, 2017 by pwrslm

[Gastone]

John, you seem to have left out Kennedy. It all came down to reelection for all of the Presidents since Eisenhower.

We'll have to wait and see how Trump handles similar situations.