diabetes Vietnam Veteran?

[deltaj]

Here's the situation folks. Last week my husband, who has a protected 100% rating for a service connected mental condition, was diagnosed with diabetes. He is not insulin dependent yet. Unfortunately, his DD214 doesn't show service in Vietnam. Furthermore, his list of medals from the National Personnel Records Center doesn't show anything about it. I believe he is telling the truth because he has nightmares about combat. He was in First Experimental Regiment which later shipped out as First Cavalry during the Vietnam War. He rarely discusses his Vietnam service because his records don't show he was there and he is embarrassed by this. He tells me that in about 1962 he was sent to Vietnam with a Special Operations Group where he did one combat mission there. He got stabbed in combat and woke up in a hospital. He doesn't know what hospital he was in. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could prove he is a Vietnam veteran? Furthermore, there was a letter sent to VARO in 1982 by a special investigator for a county in California concerning the fact that neighbors of this veteran [who has a mental disability] had stated this veteran was "healthy as a horse and our taxes pay for his leisure." The letter inquired whether there was an annual evaluation for this veteran since he was disabled for welfare purposes but was receiving periodic unemployment benefits. Anyway the letter had the notation NAM veteran in a circle and the word NAM was lined through. This 1982 notation leads me to believe that V.A. used to have evidence that he was a Vietnam veteran but shredded the evidence. The scratched out notation NAM reminds me of a recent court case Cushman v. Shinseki where V.A. altered a medical record.

Any suggestions? I know that when my husband dies I will be entitled to DIC under 38 U.S.C. 1318 but service connecting his death could be useful.

Edited October 28, 2009 by deltaj

[MikeR]

I have an Uncle whom was in the Army in the 60's and of course he is an evil man, how evil? Well when he got drafted my Grandmother could not believe her luck. He did 5 years and from what I can tell he never served in Nam. My Father and I have watched him get drunk and tell wonderful stories, and they were all made up. My dad had to eventually tell him to quit, but it sure was entertaining for a while.

[LarryJ]

"If all the guys who claim to have been on secret missions in Vietnam were actually there we would have won that war."

John,

A very insightful statement indeed.

[pigdriver]

There were some American military personnel in RVN during the early 60's, mostly advisors. I do know the Corps had a helicopter squadron there in 62 flying combat missions, mostly carrying ARVN to and from hot spots back then. There were also Army and Air Force personnel on the ground then but I don't know what their function was other then as advisors but that does not mean they never engaged the VC. When I was in country in 65 and 66 there were some CIA "spook" types around but if I recall SOG was a function later in the late 60's and early 70's; I may be wrong on those time frames, my memory isn't what it used to be anymore, too many VA psyc meds. Best to leave it alone and let "sleeping dogs" alone. More trouble that its worth. Wish I could be of more help.

[LarryJ]

Air America also was active during the entire time of '59 up until the last chopper out of Viet Nam (the picture of the chopper pulling personnel from the roof of what has been wrongly identified as the US Embassy was NOT a USMC copter but was an Air America copter).

Air America "recruited" several of the Corps helicopter pilots that were there in country from the squadron that pigdriver refers to. They also "recruited" several of the squadron's tech people (and several of the "heavys" got new paint jobs, sloppily done I might add).

Don't ask, for if I answer you then I'd have to..............................................................cue the creepy music, maestro!

yeah, right...

[broncovet]

Delta

I wont comment on whether or not it is "worth it", because that is simply another issue. H owever, if your hubbie was sent to Vietnam, he should have written orders sending him there AND, he probably got hazardous duty pay.

First, you could try asking the military for copies of his orders, tho I am not sure how to do this.

However, if you are good at math, you might be able to prove he got hazardous duty or combat pay by looking at his social security pay records. See how much he was paid, then you should be able to demonstrate mathmatically, whether he got hazardous duty pay or not, because you would know his rank and time in service.

You might also ask hubbie to remember some details about it. Guys often do not remember dates..heck I know I often do not remember when something happened, but I usually know what happened.

Maybe he remembers some other details that only a RVN Vet would know.

IN criminal law, say when a person confesses and then recants his confession, he still gets nailed when he mentions details only the killer would know. So hubbie may well be able to mention details about his service in Vietnam, that one would not know unless he was there.

As an example, if someone claimed they were in my house, then I could come up with some questions about my house that only someone who had been in it would know...oh, I dont know, like what color is the carpet, or what picture did I have on the wall. jmho.

Edited October 6, 2009 by broncovet

[Jayg]

sorry carlie,

I would have thought that if someone was wounded in action there would be a record of his treatment somewhere.

Bill

Don't you just bet on it!

I had a shell frag removed from my leg after a short round at Graf and there's no record of it that I have ever seen or heard of. It sure isn't in my files. (I grant that's not a combat injury but the above comment refers to records, not the PH) It's the same thing for my treatment at clinic while at Ft. Knox. i got a knock on the head there and they had me go to the dispensary. Got no record of that either.

If this fellow was an adviser and got wounded, he likely as not would have received his initial treatment at a foreign facility, probably civilian. Also, since he would have been injured in a "non-combat' advisory" role, he would not have been authorized a PH anyway. At least, that's as far as I know of. Could well be wrong.