Ao Question

[EODMOMMY]

After I started posting on this forum in regards to my husband's disability claim, I was reading some of the AO ones and they got me thinking......not about my husband, but about my uncle.

My uncle was in the Navy and over in Vietnam during the war. I remember my mom telling me about him going on shore one time, but that was it. I did some additional reading about the Navy and their water supply from the off shore disalinization and exposure to AO because of that.

My question is, for Navy personnel who served in Vietnam during the war, what would the VA consider as exposure?

All I know is this is my dad's baby brother (he was a kid when my dad entered the Air Force in the 50's). They where never really close till recently. My uncle had a heart attack, I can't remember exactly when, I know it was before my dad had his (2000), and he had to have bypass surgery. I also learned that my uncle is has DMII, but I don't know how long he has had that. I tried to call him, but I found out he works during the weekend and he told my dad the best time to catch him is during the week. He use to work for Ford Motor Company, working on their corporate jets, but Ford sold off that part of the company to another and that company later sold it off to another company out of Russia and they went bankrupt. My uncle had been put on permanent disability because of his bypass surgery and was collecting his retirement, till that one company went bankrupt. Now his retirement is gone. So he is now having to work...I think he is only working part-time. But I know he has been having a lot of problems with his feet and recently saw a podiatrist who prescribed him diabetic shoes.

But I am going to call him tomorrow (hope I catch him, he can be a slippery sucker to catch) B) ....we don't talk much. My main memories of him are when I was little and he was in the Navy and would visit us when he came into port in VA, since my dad was stationed in VA at that time. I remembered him as this GIANT!! B) Scary for a little kid. But then I saw him about 20 years later and thought to myself, he isn't as tall as I remember him being! But with my dad being in the Air Force and retiring on the other side of the country, I never got to really know my uncle much. When we talk on the phone, I am like..what do I say to him? The biggest thing we have in common is a family scandal...we both got divorced in the same year... B) My last conversation with him mainly consisted of me asking him if he hit his head a lot on the doors in the aircraft carrier. He said, Nope...mostly my shins. Then I end up talking to his new wife, if she is home.

Edited June 6, 2006 by EODMOMMY

[Guest DON20906]

I have a similar one working right now where the only evidence the guy has that he was in VN is a polaroid of a driftwood clock in the shape of Vietnam with the word "Vietnam" on it and a buddy letter saying that the buddy saw the clock. I had the guy pull his 201 file from NPRC and there's nothing on it. What is the difference between a 201 file and a SRB?

If he flew in-(Navy)- he most likely arrived from Okinawa to Danang Air Base-

If he has ( or can get via NARA) his SRB- Service Record Book as well as his SMRS- in the SRB (NAvy, Marines) NAV 118 -there is usually a destination log and it should show an arrival in Vietnam and where the plane landed. But the "few hours" -that also should be in the SRB too as additional departure because he most likely got on another plane? Meaning he did have to step on land in Nam to get onto the other plane.

[Berta]

Don- I think the 201 (Army Personnel file) is the same thing as an SRB file.

Gee- is there any evidence of the boonies in the picture background?

Seems to me a clock that was purchased in Vietnam made by a local would say Viet^ Nam-that accent mark would be actually over the e and there would be a dot under the e too-

If the clock says Vietnam like that- I would think this would be good evidence that it was made in Vietnam and maybe proof that it was purchased there?

Sounds like a tough one though-

Edited June 6, 2006 by Berta

[EODMOMMY]

If he flew in-(Navy)- he most likely arrived from Okinawa to Danang Air Base-

If he has ( or can get via NARA) his SRB- Service Record Book as well as his SMRS- in the SRB (NAvy, Marines) NAV 118 -there is usually a destination log and it should show an arrival in Vietnam and where the plane landed. But the "few hours" -that also should be in the SRB too as additional departure because he most likely got on another plane? Meaning he did have to step on land in Nam to get onto the other plane.

I just spoke to my uncle and he said he flew from Okinawa to the Phillipines and then to a base in Vietnam that I can't remember the name of. I am going to send him the link to NARA to request his service records. I hope his where not involved in the fire, because he got out in 1970. At that time he wasn't assigned to a ship, but to a squadron on Okinawa.

I know the last time I called him, he said he remembered getting a thing for the Agent Orange registry, but I don't think he ever filled it out.