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Gracias for that link to hadit.com, Villagechild. I've gone there and posted about the DVA having just denied my most recent AO claim.
I'm now 0 for 4 with the DVA concerning my AO claims - having received my latest denial (dated 11/22/04) last Saturday for my type II diabetes.
My other 3 claims were filed in 1985, 1990, and 1996. Those 3 claims were all for my chloracne. I have had service officers (either DAV or VVA) assisting on all 4 of my AO claims.
My 1985 claim was dismissed outright, due allegedly to my military personnel records, including my discharge DD-214, not having the correct "in-country code" to prove I was somewhere over there where AO defoliation occurred.
My 1990 claim, shepherded by the Idaho DAV service officer and an U.S. Congressman who was a Vietnam War combat veteran, received mixed results. The VA Medical Center in Boise ran tests on me, including taking skin and fat tissue samples. Those tests revealed that I did have AO exposure - that damned stuff was still in my body. The result was that the DVA approved having me added to their official AO Registry in August 1990.
However, in the same August 1990 DVA letter, the DVA denied my AO chloracne claim. I now have chloracne scarring bodywide. My chloracne started while I was still at Nakhon Phanom Air Base (NE Thailand) and did missions with Task Force Alpha into Laos. AO was a long-time tactical component to assist the interdiction all along the Ho Chi Minh trail - with a portion of that trail directly across the Mekong from NKP Air Base - as well as defoliating all around the perimeter of the NKP Air Base whenever the jungle began to re-encroach.
We "enlisted" were told by our officers that the aerial spraying around NKP Air Base was insecticide for mosquitoes, but virtually ALL the plantlife turned brown and died immediately after the spraying. Like we enlisted were that clueless, duh!
That damned stuff got into the base's water supply. On the surface of our coffee, the oily sheen was readily apparent. We joked to one another about, "how's your cup of Orange this morning?"
If there is any consolation to the DVA's repeated denials of my AO claims, the AO contaminated water supply at NKP Air Base meant that everyone there was AO exposed, externally and internally, including all the admirals, generals, civilian GS-15s, all the way down to the lowest rank. I'm definitely not the only one in this boat.
Back to my 11/22/04 DVA denial letter, I filed my AO type II diabetes claim last April through the New Mexico DAV service officer during one of his visits down here to Las Cruces.
I took him my documentation from my previous claim attempts, including the August 1990 DVA letter that informed me about the results of my 1990 Boise VAMC AO medical exam and lab tests which revealed that AO was found in my tissue samples. Based upon that finding, I was officially notified in that August 1990 DVA letter that I had been placed on the DVA's Agent Orange Registry.
After the NM DAV service officer had perused my documents and listened to my comments, he responded that I shouldn't get my hopes up concerning my AO type II diabetes claim. He said that if the DVA could deny the AO handlers at Korat AB (Thailand) - as the DVA had done, then I shouldn't expect to be treated any differently by the DVA just because I served at NKP Air Base and did missions across the river in Laos....places that were defoliated with the AO loaded by those Korat AB handlers. He further explained that the DVA had a fairly recent policy change that excluded any AO claims for Vietnam War veterans who did not serve in North or South Vietnam proper....so Vietnam War veterans - like myself - who served in Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand and who were exposed to AO - were simply "SOL."
I told him that despite his "advice," I still wanted to submit my AO type II diabetes claim.
This latest denial from the DVA, dated 11/22/04, states:
"We determined that the following condition was not related to your military service, so service connection couldn't be granted. Medical Description: Diabetes mellitus, type II associated with herbicide exposure is denied because you did not serve in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam Era."
Under the "Evidence" section, it states the following were reviewed: my military medical service and personnel records; and my VA examination at the Beaumont VAMC (El Paso, TX) on May 27, 2004. That's all!! I gave both the NM DAV service officer and then the VAMC doctor on 5/27/04 a copy of my August 1990 DVA AO Registry notification letter. NO MENTION in my DVA denial! I also signed release forms for that VAMC doctor so he could legally discuss my medical history with my current primary physican and my former primary physican at the University Hospital in Albuquerque where my type II diabetes was first diagnosed in 1995. NO MENTION in my DVA denial!!
Earlier today, I called my local primary physician and asked if she had ever been contacted by the DVA concerning my AO diabetes claim. She said that she had never been contacted, period.
With me on 5/27/04, I had a complete set of my medical records from the University Hospital (I had paid for them) and offered the VAMC doctor the opportunity to copy relevant pages (I had them earmarked)....he refused.
I also gave both the DAV service officer and the VAMC doctor copies of my DD-214, showing my two tours ('69-70 in southern Thailand and '72-73 at NKP Air Base in Thailand and Laos), that resulted in my being awarded both the VSM and the RVCR. Yet under the "Reasons for Decision" section in this latest DVA denial, it states that: "your personnel records show you only served in Thailand from 9/5/69 through 9/5/70." Hello?? WTH???
One final quote from the "Reasons for Decision" section:
"....unless and if this condition (type II diabetes mellitus) is manifested to a compensable degree within a certain period after military discharge, service connection on this basis cannot be favorably considered because the evidence received in support of your claim fails to show your diabetes mellitus was diagnosed within one year of your separation from active service. You reported this condition was first diagnosed in 1995."
Am I angry? Angry doesn't even come close. My wife also read through the DVA denial letter and said, "you had better appeal this." I told her that in effect, my being 0 for 4 with the DVA concerning AO claims, how many more times should I "appeal??"
Ya right, concerning all that campaign rhetoric about Bush and his administration being pro-veterans....NOT! May DVA Secretary Principi and his colleagues rot in hell.
I apologize for this post's length, but I thought in order to convey my total situation, I had to include some background/history.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. I do not intend to give-up on this and just walk away. That would be giving in to those compassionless, immoral Republican-controlled DVA officials which is something I refuse to do. -- Michael
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