Agent Orange benefits for blue water Navy?

#Middlebury #Veterans #Navy

The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019, known as H.R. 299, seeks to give Agent Orange (dioxin) benefits to blue water veterans. The bill has passed the House (410-0) and went to the Senate in the mid-May.

Here, in part, is what it offers:

• Presumptions of service connection for veterans who served offshore of the Republic of Vietnam between Jan. 9, 1962, and May 7, 1975. If you were there during that time, you are presumed to have been exposed.
• Presumption of herbicide exposure for certain veterans who served in Korea between Sept. 1, 1967, and Aug. 31, 1971, which is a change of dates.
• Benefits for children of certain Thailand service veterans born with spina bifida for veterans who served from Jan. 9, 1962, to May 7, 1975.

Remember that the 1991 Agent Orange Act covered anyone who’d been in the war theater. In 2002, however, blue water veterans were cut out with the rationale that their boots never touched the ground. Never mind that the ground sometimes came to them in the form of personnel and material that had been covered in dioxin. It was in the air, the water used to wash down planes and decks, and drinking and shower water because it was sucked up into the distillers. Remember, too, that the Institute of Medicine’s 2012 update on Agent Orange said there was no reason to keep blue water veterans from getting benefits.

Educate yourself and see if you think H.R. 299 goes far enough in covering blue water veterans. Go online to the Blue Water Navy Association (www.bwnvva.org). Look up Procopio v. Wilkie, which held that veterans who served within 12 miles of shore were entitled to presumption of exposure. Look up H.R. 299 and keep track of it.

© 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.