BIG NEWS !!!!!!! AO BWN NVLSP

[Berta]

I have been waiting for this to happen ,wondering if BWN AOs would ever get benefits of Nehmer , and it did happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blue Water AO veterans now have true Equity and will be be given their proper RETRO under Nehmer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a Glorious Victory, Thanks to NVLSP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BTW- I just got the 2020=20121 VBM, and it seems they gave me a very favorable discount.

If you are a veteran's claims  advocate, this is an important tool to have, when helping veterans.

What a Wonderful Victory on the heels of Veterans day next Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nehmer will apply to BWN widow's claims as well.

 

 

 

Nehmer Order 11-5-20 re blue water claimants (1).pdf

[GBArmy]

Berta That terrific News: thanks for sharing! Of course this is going to divert some of the VBA's manpower away from claims in process currently so they can comply with the time line. Shouldn't have to wait 40-50 years to get your government to do the right thing.

[Berta]

That sure is a concern GBA, but when VA lifted the moratorium, this recent news from Americal Legion made the point that from Jan 2020 to October 2020, more than 22,500 Blue Waters have received AO comp and in many cases -retroactive money. 640 Million , per AL, has been paid out to them already.

The ship's list has grown to over 300  AO exposed vessels

But I was in the AO IHD Nehmer Class Action and although those claims took time- I believe the VA had some of their smartest people prepared to adjudicate them.The ones who can read.

This has been an ongoing process since January at VA, but those claims VA processed already probably were decided either under HR 299 or Procipio, and now Nehmer actually makes it far easier for VA to adjudicate them properly....and faster ( I hope).

In the same  SOP crap the VA gave me for every claim I ever had ---and so far they were WRONG-the VA actually denied my AO IHD claim at first-

But I whipped out a scathing CUE on them the next day, and then they awarded very soon after they got the CUE.

I am still pissed off about it because I was afraid they would pull the same BS on other legit AO widows. And maybe they did. And worse yet many those widows might have believed them and never appealed.

The RO  idiot who denied my claim stated that my husband ( Vietnam 65-66) had no evidence of IHD heart disease in his SMRs and that was why they denied. Say what?

I cued them with the FACT that most of these vets from Ops Starlight, and Rolling Thunder, ( Ist MARDIV) were KIDS, and joined in their teens ,and were still in their teens when they went to Vietnam  and that if they had heart disease when they tried to join, there is no way the Military would have accepted  them.

I said the legal error this dope made was in violation of the Nehmer,Court Order and I enclosed it with my CUE.I probably used 38 CFR 4.6 too-my favorite regulation which has worked for me many times.

The AO IHD claims went as fast as they could- but still it took time---however the VA is afraid to mess around with NVLSP and their decisions were reviewed carefully for any claimant they (NVLSP)knew of- and I guess most of those IHD decisions were correct.

The very system that the service of all of you men and women created is still populated by individuals who either cannot read, or just dont want to read claims and evidence properly and then properly apply the right regulations to them.

That is why we claimants need to know VA case law and regulations. Many RO people who control our claims do not have a clue on most of 38 USC/38 CFR,and/or M21-1MR.

It is a national disgrace.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 6, 2020 by Berta
added more

[Berta]

Gees I forgot to add-the new VBM by NVLSP explains in detail why some BWN AO vets got retro and why some didnt.

They gave their older email addy that most of us used for our IHD claims- agentorange@nvlsp.org and made the point that, as they had gone to press, to print this new VBM- the outcome of their suit that produced  the new Nehmer October 5 2020 Court Order was still undetermined.

Sec Wilkie only mentioned Blue Water Navy AO once at Fox News last year, as far as I know, and there has yet to be some major newspaper publication on any Blue Water Agent Orange news.

That tells me there are many more Blue Water AO vets and/or their survivors out there.