Blue Water Ao Update

[Berta]

From Carol Olszenacki, Blue Water Navy.org, that was posted at Facebook

by Congressman Chris Gibson.





"I am pleased to report that we have a Senate companion bill for our legislation to help Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange:
http://www.stripes.com/…/agent-orange-debate-renewed-by-bil…
The Senate bill was introduced by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Steve Danes (R-MT). I appreciate their support. In the House, we’re up to 170 co-sponsors, including 74 Republicans and 96 Democrats representing almost every state in the Union. This is encouraging progress, but we will continue to engage with the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs to see that our bill is brought to a vote and signed into law.
The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act is constituent-driven legislation. Carol Olszanecki of Ellenville, who lost her husband to Agent Orange exposure, has been an extraordinary advocate and source of guidance. I also want to thank Susie Belanger, John Rossie, and John Wells for their hard work in support of this bill. We will not relent in our efforts to see that these veterans receive the benefits they deserve!"

[Jerrel]

Thank you Berta this is good news Go Blue Water Navy Go...

[Navy04]

Always happy to hear of good info that comes out to help fellow Vets, thanks

[Chuck75]

The continuing fight involving "Blue Water" sailors is far from over.

Even if the VA were to grant presumptive status, it will still leave an open issue.

So far the VA has refused to grant legitimacy to the Australian Study involving fresh water distillation

systems and their contamination.

Why?

It's simple (in my opinion)

To do so would mean that sailors that served on such ships long after contamination occurred

would potentially be eligible also for presumptive benefits. Lots of dollars at stake!

[Berta]

You bet....no update yet on the Danang Harbor case ,Chuck., at the CAVC.......

John Rossie did a great show with us about 2 weeks ago on this issue at hadit blog radio. It is in our archives.

And the lawyer for the CAVC vet joined us a few weeks ago here


you can use his access link to read the CAVC case.......no update yet

[Chuck75]

As I understand it, a federal judge recently ruled against one of the general blue water cases, stating that congress gave the va secretary the authority to decide what was and was not covered under the A.O. rules.

(And that it was up to congress to change things if it desired to do so.) While I don't like the ruling by a single judge, I do believe that it will take congress passing one or more of the related bills to resolve things for the better.

As to Da Nang, I personally was in water of the bay, the river mouth, and the river itself, while serving on an LST. It tied up to the De Long? pier, and also with it's bow ramp down and on the river bank's LST ramp just before a bridge.

Fortunately, records existed (AF records, even though I was Navy) that proved "Feet on Ground", so I was able to short circuit the Da Nang debacle, and the earlier hassles over brown and blue water.

It also turned out that two destroyers that I was assigned to for annual active duty training in the 1970's were previously in Vietnam, and may or may not have been exposed to A.O.

[jbasser]

This will be a huge deal if it passes for the BWN vets. John Rossie needs a big pat on the back for his work on it.

J