Blue Waters WIN!!!!

[Berta]

 There is more info in the main claims forum:

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/01/29/court-rules-va-must-pay-disability-benefits-to-blue-water-vietnam-veterans/

Bart Stickman ( NVLSP )comments on this in the above article and if the VA does not appeal or appeals and fails-we will probaby have many BWN vets joining our site.

Bart Stichman, executive director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program, said the decision “unequivocally rights a wrong that is a terrible injustice to all veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange in the waters of Vietnam.”

Of course my interest will be how Nehmer plays into all of this, for retro. As soon as I know I will post that info here.

 

[Vync]

Excellent!

[Berta]

It is stunning!

I hope this makes National News!!!!!

That is the only way many BWN vets will know of it.

Some BWN vets have died. Some of their  spouses or children  would be  eligible for DIC.

Actually probably many of the have died by now-I think John Rossie and I discussed this issue well over 12 years ago---

I hope they will fall under Nehmer.

VA might be required to go through all past BWN vet denials, and contact them or their survivors  but that is what VA was supposed to do when IHD, Parkinsons, and Hairy Cell B went on the AO list in 2010.

My RO sure didnt contact me at all, and I bet others here never got contacted either.

I hope every veteran and their survivors learn of this news. I can hardly believe it.

 

[Buck52]

Great News ..I hope all the BWN guys and gals get due justice.

Ms berta, I beleive strecth was one   of the BWN ? but unfortunately he never made it , but hopefully his spouse can have some help now

Edited January 30, 2019 by Buck52

[Berta]

Buck he was BWN and also incountry Vietnam as I recall.I am pretty sure the wife had no problems with the DIC due to the 100% ten year rule.

His wife called a lawyer whose named I passed onto someone she knows and she presently has a FTCA case against them for wrongful death.

In the Malpractice issues at the Fayetteville AR VAMC last year( they are still going over the end of the 20 thousand pts who might have been harmed or killed by the impaired pathologist, she got a letter from VA saying his death might have occurred due to the malpractice.I am sure it did. 

 

 

[Berta]

I was just talking to Carol Olszanecki- an AO advocate here in NY,  as mentioned in the Delgado article here.

https://theotherhudsonvalley.com/2019/01/22/blue-water-vets-gibson/

Carol has been with John  Rossie , at Washington DC hearings in the long BWN fight many times and has been a relentless AO advocate here in NY for Years.She also has helped Many widows of BWN vets.

This all has a good way to go. She feels if it is appealed to the Supremes, they ( Supreme Court) would not tackle it at all.I agree but in any event this is outstanding news for vets- and John Rossie and Carol had done many past radio shows with us, and there is a long history to this issue.

I am sure it will l make some of the newspapers in her area,right away ,but we both want it to be National News.

If you know of any Blue Water vet that would be affected by it, make sure they know of this  incredible decision.

If they were denied in the past for an AO presumptive, now might be the time to find that older denial.

Both Carol and I agree that Nehmer Footnote One shoud kick in but this is a little far from the regulation stage at this point.

When VA added the newest presumptives in 2010, and vets filed claims right away, it was not too long before those claims were handled by the VA.My AO IHD claim took only 2 years- I say only-

because, first they said I didnt file it, then they found it and  they sent it to 3 separate VAROs first, and then when it got to the proper Nehmer RO (Phiadelphia), the claim was awarded in a heart beat.

As Carol said  to me  , the "battle is over, but the victory is still yet to come."

 

 

 

 

 

[Berta]

The VA has less than 3 months to appeal thi decisio- hopefully they wont, and there is another BWN AO bill pending anyhow.

I tried a Deck log link here and it isnt working but NARA has complete deck logs on line now:

https://www.archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/navy-online