Vietnam & Agent Orange

[SSGmajik]

I was hoping someone could help me help my dad. My dad served in the navy & was in Vietnam in early 69' to early 70'. He spent most of hits time in Chu Lai & Da Nang. He has a long list of health problems, but I don't know the first thing of what might be caused, if any, from agent orange. I know for one thing he has nightmares! I remember as a kid you could not wake him up without him jumping up with his fists in the air ready to take someone out! I still remember him screaming alot in the middle of the night & he would wake up pouring sweat! Anyway, if anyone can point me in the right direction or give me any advice, to help him file a claim I would appreciate it. He has never filed a claim before & is currently on social security disability. He needs help & deserves so much, as all veterans, for his service to our country!

Thanks,

SSGmajik

[SP4RVN1971]

Berta is got right on!

Good luck and God Bless!!!!

[john999]

Berta

I admire your courage, brains and spunk. I told my wife you talk to you about DIC if I croak before she does. I don't know if I was the first to welcome you to Hadit but you are the noted brains along with a few others here that everyone turns to when they are up the creek.

John

[SSGmajik]

Berta,

First, as always thank you for your help & info. I meant to put possible side affects from AO. His dr said that his following symptoms could be related......

Trouble urinating (doesn't have a steady stream, mainly dribbles out), high blood pressure, memory loss & loses concentration easily, headaches, & a few I can't remember. Problem I think he might face is linking these to AO. As long as I can remember he's always had some health issues.

Also, I'm not sure what a "blue water navy vet" means. I don't know if this changes anything, but he was boots on the ground & not stationed on a ship. He was on patrols, guard tower duty etc.... I just pray that he can live to see the day where he was compensated for everything he's done & been through. His health is not the greatest right now, not life threading, but not good either.

John999, I sure hope you can get him to listen & file a claim soon! My dad you to say the same thing Berta, 'you can lead a horse to water, but you can make them drink,' Good luck & hopefully he will come to his senses!

Thank you SP4RVN1971!

Thanks,

SSGmajik

[Chuck75]

In the thread you indicated that the VA is already treating him. At any time was he hospitalized by the VA in a VA hospital? This can help with a claim if the reason was A/O or service related (the key VA term is nexus).

At least there must be some VA medical records in place. That's a start, and you will undoubtedly need to get a copy of those records. This may involve him signing a request, and/or you and he going to the treating facility.

[Berta]

OK- he does satisfy the "boots on ground" AO exposure criteria but as Chuck said, you need to get his medical records.

They will reveal his diagnosed conditions and these can be matched up to the AO presumptive list.It is hard to speculate on what the doctor's said as to AO.

"Blue Water" Navy veterans are those vets who served off the coast of Vietnam , on board a ship,during the war. (probably the entire 7th Fleet )

"Brown Water" veterans are those Navy vets who went into 'brown' water Vietnam tributaries and thus were 'in' Vietnam, on patrol boats and stuff like LCVPs, - we have at least one Mekong Delta brown water vet at hadit.

Many years ago a Brown Water hadit member contacted me off the hadit site because the VA had granted him AO comp (100% P& T ) but had proposed a reduction.His 2 kids were set to begin to use Chapter 35. His wife would have lost her CHAMPVA. It was a critical situation.

Long story but he had to prove he had 'boots on ground' after years of getting AO comp as a Brown Water Vet.I am parsing the situation a lot here- and one of our best weapons was the AO regs at that time themself but hard to get the regs to work in his behalf.

I helped him but he sure helped himself.

In our conversations I asked him if he had ever stepped on Vietnamese soil at all during trips up and down the tributaries.He could not recall doing that but I pressed him further.

He suddenly remembered he had ,on one occasion, had to pick up a Vietnamese officer, transport the officer to the main ship and then get him back to the same bank of the river.

'How did he get into the boat?'I asked, and the veteran then remembered he had to step on the river bank to help the officer get in and then out of the boat.

Bingo- 'boots on ground' and he was able,with more leg work, to prove this incident completely ,with documentation, and his comp reduction idea was dropped mere weeks before his hearing on the reduction.

This was years ago and he was the first call in I ever had to veteran's radio shows I began doing with Jerrel in 2007 on AO.

This all might help someone reading here , even if a little off your topic.

Many Brown Water and Blue Water Vietnam vets out there might still have no idea that they could be eligible for AO comp based on their current disabilities.

The AO Ships list has grown since I first read it and posted it here -because ,in part, the VA has seriously heeded the claims of these veterans and had to acknowledge many ships in the Pacific during the War were close enough to land to be exposed to AO.

The Danang harbor issue and other facets of this important subject are discussed in details at the Blue Water Navy site. Our member Mike Harris, also has sites on the net as to his Brown Water experiences in the Mekong Delta.

[SSGmajik]

Chuck75,

He has never been hospitalized at the VA. I plan on taking him to his next appointment, so we can get copies of his medical records & review them. Then I will help him schedule appoints & then go with him & ask the doctor to write a nexus letter to connect any of his disabilities to AO. We'll just take it one step at a time! Thank you for your help!

Berta,

I appreciate your help & if there's things put on this thread that can help a veteran that's all I care about, even if it doesn't pertain to any of my questions. I'm glad to hear that you could help the 'Brown Water Vet' & his family. You have a lot of valuable information & have helped a lot of veterans, including myself, & I know that I am truly grateful for your help & all those here on hadit. I know I would be lost & probably homeless if not for this site. As I stated above I'm going to take it one step at a time with my dad's claim & get all the information & evidence put together & see what we can do from there. Thanks again for everything!

Thanks,

SSGmajik