VA grants disability to waterboarded Navy vet

[unhappycamper]

VA grants disability to waterboarded Navy vet
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Mar 20, 2008 9:50:55 EDT

MOBILE, Ala. — The Department of Veterans Affairs has reversed its earlier rulings and granted a rare disability claim by an Alabama veteran who said he suffered long-term emotional problems after being waterboarded at a Navy survival training school in 1975.

The Board of Veterans Appeals in Washington, D.C., ruled in favor of Arthur McCants III, 60, of Eight Mile, following a series of stories in the Press-Register of Mobile, which reported on the department’s reversal Wednesday.

Steve Westerfeld, a VA spokesman, said officials considered information in the articles, as well as testimony from veterans who responded to the stories and described their waterboardings at the survival school in California.

“I’m happy. ... I feel a whole lot better,” said McCants, who is scheduled to undergo eight weeks of post-traumatic stress disorder counseling in a dormitory setting at VA facilities in Biloxi, starting next week. He will also get free medication.

Westerfeld said the VA Regional Board in Montgomery will decide the amount of disability payments McCants will receive.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_waterboard_032008/

[southern_belle]

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