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Greater Hartford
Connecticut Chapter 120
Over 31 Years of Service to Veterans
February 2015
Visit Our Website at www.vva120.org
Inside This Issue
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Chapter/State News
POW/MIA News
At The Capitol
On The Hill
Veterans Affairs News
From the Service Rep’s Desk
50 Years Ago
Coins on Tombstones
Meetings
The Chapter 120 membership meeting will be
held on Thursday, February 5, 2015 at
7:00pm in the Machinists Union Hall, 357
Main St., East Hartford.
The Board of Directors will meet on
Thursday, February 26 at 7:00pm. Call the
Chapter office for any changes in schedule.
Chapter members are welcomed to attend.
Notice
If you have moved or changed your address,
PLEASE notify us immediately. Call the
Chapter office at (860) 568-9212, mail us at
the address on the back of this newsletter or
e-mail
the
Newsletter
editor
at
[email protected].
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In accordance with
Title 17 of U. S. C. Section 107, any
copyrighted work in this newsletter is
distributed under fair use without profit or
payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information
for nonprofit research and educational
purposes only.
Report Says Air Force Reservists Exposed
to Agent Orange
U.S. Air Force reservists working in aircraft
years after the planes had been used to spray
the defoliant Agent Orange during the
Vietnam War could have experienced
“adverse health effects,” according to an
Institute of Medicine report released Friday,
January 9.
After being used to spray the herbicide
during the war, 24 C-123 aircraft were
transferred to the fleets of four U.S. Air
Force reserve units for military airlifts, and
medical and cargo transport, the institute
reported.
From 1972 to 1982, between 1,500 and 2,100 Air Force reservists trained and
worked aboard the aircraft. After learning that the planes had been used to spray
Agent Orange, some of the reservists applied to the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) for health care compensation under the Agent Orange Act of 1991.
Agent Orange was widely used during the Vietnam War to clear foliage in the
jungle. It contained a known carcinogen called dioxin, and has been linked to a wide
range of cancers and other diseases.
The VA said the reservists were ineligible for coverage because the health care and
disability compensation program covered only military personnel exposed to Agent
Orange during “boots on the ground” service in Vietnam.
However, the reservists said some air and surface samples taken from the C-123s
between 1979 and 2009 showed the presence of Agent Orange, and continued to
pursue the case. The VA asked the Institute of Medicine to determine whether
working in the aircraft could have posed a threat to the reservists’ health. The
institute wasn’t asked to make any recommendations on the reservists’ eligibility for
coverage under the Agent Orange Act.
In its report, the institute said the reservists could have had some exposure to Agent
Orange’s toxic chemical component TCDD, and that some reservists’ exposure
could have been higher than the guidelines for workers in enclosed settings.
“Detection of TCDD so long after the Air Force reservists worked in the aircraft
means that the levels at the time of their exposure would have been at least as high
as the taken measurements, and quite possibly, considerably higher,” committee
chair Robert Herrick, a senior lecturer on occupational hygiene at the Harvard
School of Public Health, said in an institute news release.
___________________________________________________________________
Never Again Will One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another
The CONNECTION
February 2015
CHAPTER 120 OFFICE
568-9212
Board of Directors
Paul Barry
Robert Burgess
Peter Galgano
Peter Lund
Frank Zizzamia
569-3530
646-0205
828-1999
644-9770
569-0705
Executive Officers
Patricia Dumin, President
Jerome Blum, Vice President
William Chiodo, Treasurer
Roger Anderson, Secretary
620-4131
267-2981
688-2518
528-4338
VVA Service Representatives
John Cutler
E-Mail: [email protected]
The January 2015 newsletter contained the December birthdays by mistake. So we
now wish a belated Happy Birthday to members born in January and Happy
Birthday to members born in February.
January
James G. Ashwell
Andrew Crafa
Henry E. Jackson
Ronald P. Morin
Jim Tackett
Stephen Brown
Arthur N. Desrosiers
Samuel L. Lavoie
William M. Quirk
Elizabeth W. Vozzo
William Coney
Stanley T. Duro
Helen McDonald
Penny Siggia
Michael E. Daugherty
Kathryn M. Lechausse
Ronald J. Pelletier
Robert Savino
Timothy M. Siggia
Paul S. Egan
Robert Longworth
Joseph Rinaldi
Earl J. Schofield
Joe C. Visco
568-9212
February
Gerald Fabry, MD
E-Mail : [email protected]
887-1755
Gary Waterhouse
E-Mail : [email protected]
656-0430
Membership
Frank J. Mello, Jr.
E-Mail: [email protected]
Birthday Wishes
604-3879
Vernon Bertrand
Michael F. Kane
George T. Miller
Roger Rowley
Francis T. Schulze
___________________________________________________________________
Chapter/State News
Women Vietnam Veterans
Patricia Dumin
620-4131
Product Sales
Ted Groenstein
688-5671
Newsletter/Website
John Cutler
E-Mail: [email protected]
282-7470
Notary Public
Gary Gazdzicki, Sr.
432-0111
268-4104
Vet Centers
Hartford (Area Code 860)
New Haven (Area Code 203)
Norwich (Area Code 860)
Danbury (Area Code 203)
563-8800
932-9899
887-1755
790-4000
Derby fourth-graders’ book drive to benefit Vietnam
veterans
On Wednesday January 14, students at Irving
School in Derby Connecticut launched a
communitywide effort to benefit Vietnam
veterans and their families as a way to show
respect and embrace a generation of folks who
for years felt abandoned by their country.
Fourth-graders in the school’s reading
enrichment program kicked off the book drive
in the school gym, which ran through January
28.
Teacher Edwin Croft said students came up
with the idea to involve the entire community
and asked the public to donate new or “gently
used” books at various locations throughout
Derby, which will benefit Vietnam Veterans of
America (VVA).
All Telephone Numbers are Area
Code 860 unless otherwise noted
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Robert Chechoski, left, of Vietnam
Veterans of America Chapter 251
and Patricia Dumin, VVA state
council president at the book drive.
A collection box set up in the school gym was
quickly filling up with the likes of Dr. Seuss’
‘Cat in the Hat’ and ‘Curious George’ as
parents attending the school’s community
meeting came armed with bags full of books. Over 2,200 books were collected by
January 23.
Vietnam veteran Patti Dumin, president of the Connecticut State Council of Vietnam
Veterans of America, was on hand for the kick-off celebration, along with fellow
Vietnam veteran Bob Chechoski. The pair were thrilled to see youngsters embracing
a generation who they said have often gone unrecognized.
“It’s nice to see this,” said Chechoski, an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam
from 1964-1969 and is treasurer of the VVA Chapter 251 of Milford. “Now people
are recognizing veterans as they should.”
Never Again Will One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another
The CONNECTION
February 2015
Dumin, an Air Force veteran who served from 1971-1986, said
the books will be distributed to veterans and their families at
various VA hospitals, veterans’ centers and veterans’ houses
throughout Connecticut.
“I’d like to thank you for thinking of the Vietnam Veterans of
America,” Dunim told the students. “When the veterans came
home, they weren’t treated very nicely and they couldn’t get their
benefits.”
Dumin explained the VVA was formed in 1979, and today there
are more than 74,000 veterans served by the organization, which
offers counseling, help with benefits, housing, medical issues and
more.
“Our motto is ‘never again will one generation abandon
another,’” Dumin added.
___________________________________
Hartford Courant Editorial - Jan.20, 2015
Naming Roads, Bridges for People Has
Gotten Out Of Hand
A bill has been introduced to name Route 322 in Wolcott after the
late Eugene A. Migliaro Jr. He was a longtime public servant,
having been a mayor of Wolcott, state representative, U.S. Marine
and state commissioner of Veterans Affairs. But he was also
reprimanded by the state House of Representatives in 1988 for
making a derisive comment, and not his first, about gays. Do we
really need to kick this beehive?
And the practice is constitutionally suspect. Article 1, Section 1
of the Connecticut Constitution holds that "no man or set of men
are entitled to exclusive public emoluments or privileges."
We will run out of bridges and roads, even subdividing them into
smaller and smaller segments, before we run out of good citizens
or political chums to honor. It's fine — sometimes — to name
major pieces of infrastructure after significant public figures.
Let's leave it at that.
Ed. Note: The bill to name Route 322 is House Proposed Bill No.
5226, Introduced by Rep. Sampson (80th Dist.) and Sen. Markley
(16th Dist.), referred to the Transportation Committee. A public
hearing will be held on this and other bills in the near future.
CT should stop naming every road or bridge after someone
we've never heard of
National Convention Delegate Elections
Coming in April
As state officials prepare for a serious discussion about
transportation policy, here's a small request: Stop naming every
highway overpass, road segment or other infrastructure after
groups or people most of us have never heard of.
Elections for six National Convention
delegates and two alternates will be
held at the Chapter 120 membership
meeting on April 2, 2015. Three
members of the Nominating
Committee will also be elected on that
date. If you are interested in running
for a Delegate to the National
Convention to be held in Springfield,
Illinois on July 21 - 25, 2015, you
should start planning for your trip and consider expenses
necessary to attend the Convention. Historically, the Connecticut
State Council and Chapter 120 have assisted with the majority of
expenses. But there is no way to know how much that financial
backup will be this year. If you are interested in a Delegate
position or wish to nominate a Chapter member for that position,
please contact the Nominating Committee (Pete Lund, Bill
Chiodo or Frank Mello). Election Rules will be posted in the
March newsletter.
Once, major pieces of infrastructure were named for people of
statewide prominence, such as former Govs. Raymond Baldwin,
Wilbur Cross and Ella Grasso. Over time, smaller bridges and
roads were named after historical figures, ethnic leaders, battles,
military units or veterans groups.
Then, as the practice got out of hand, friends of legislators,
accident victims, political contributors, state workers and relatives
of state workers were so honored.
Now more than 200 sections and subsections of state roads,
overpasses, rotaries, tunnels and rest stops are named for some
group, event or person.
Twice in the past decade, legislators have tried to reform this
practice, with limited success. The usual drill is that a legislator
will get a request from a constituent and pass it along to the
transportation committee. The committee, which entertains such
proposals in odd-numbered years, puts the request on a public
hearing agenda. Sometimes no one shows up to testify, but the
requests are almost always approved anyway.
Since there's no outreach or criteria for approval, there's a lack of
consistency. Some fallen soldiers or public safety officers are
honored, some are not. The Berlin Lions Club has a road, but not
the Hartford Moose Lodge or the New London Elks. It depends
whether someone asked.
It's also possible to create a controversy where none existed —
which could happen this year.
Never Again Will One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another
The CONNECTION
POW/MIA News
February 2015
From National Alliance of Families for the
Return of America's Missing Servicemen –
Jan. 10, 2015
Bits n Pieces Newsletter
Reorganization of the POW/MIA
Accounting Effort - After two months of
total silence, the Department of Defense
had re-engaged with POW/MIA family
groups and Veterans Organizations. In a
conference call/meeting on Friday
January 9, 2015, Undersecretary of Defense Christine Wormuth
named the interim director of the new agency.
Heading the new agency, at least into the summer is Admiral
Michael Franken. According to his bio, “Franken's previous flag
assignments include special assistant to the director of the Navy
Staff, the acting chief of staff for the Joint Staff J5, the chief of
Legislative Affairs for the Department of the Navy from June
2012 to June 2014, command of Combined Joint Task ForceHorn of Africa (CJTF-HoA) from May 2011 to May 2012, and
vice director, Strategy, Plans, and Policy (J5) at U.S. Central
Command from July 2008 to March 2011.”
Admiral Franken begins his new job on Monday January 12.
Serving as interim deputy director for the new agency is General
Kelly McKeague. Currently, General McKeague heads the Joint
POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC).
General Michael Linnington will serve as senior advisor to
Admiral Franken and Undersecretary Wormuth. According to his
bio, Linnington “graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in
1980 and was commissioned an Infantry Officer. His civilian
education includes a BS from the US Military Academy at West
Point, NY, and a MS in Applied Mathematics from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. His military education includes
the Infantry Officer's Basic and Advanced Courses at Ft Benning,
Georgia, US Army Command and General Staff College at Ft
Leavenworth, KS, and the National War College in Washington,
DC where he earned a Master’s Degree in National Security
Strategy.”
With the appointment of Admiral Franken and his team, the
Personnel Accounting Command Task Force (PACT) ceases to
exist. The stand-up date of January 15, 2015, for the new
organization, has slipped to the end of the month.
For now, the new agency will remain headquartered in the
Washington D.C. area. DOD will make a decision on a permanent
headquarters location, either the D.C. area or Hawaii, next year.
For the record, the National Alliance of Families is against any
plan to move the headquarters for the new agency to Hawaii. We
believe the Washington D.C. area is the best permanent location
for the new agency.
We want to be optimistic about the reorganization effort. We
really do. However, we have concerns about the learning curve
for this new team, as only General McKeague has any experience
with the POW/MIA issue. We voiced this concern during the
conference call and were assured that the new team would draw
on the experience of those with decades of experience in the
POW/MIA issue. Responding, we pointed out that many
individuals with decades of experience in the POW/MIA issue are
the very reason we are in the situation we face today.
_____________________________________________________
At The Capitol
From The New London Day
State lawmakers
discussing ways to help
veterans
Connecticut's veterans could receive a
number of tax breaks under a host of bills
proposed by state legislators this session.
The 14-member Veterans' Affairs
Committee presented nine proposed bills at
its meeting January 22 at the Legislative
Office Building in Hartford. The bills will
be taken up during future public hearings
expected to start in mid-February or the
beginning of March. The bulk – five of the nine bills – have to do
with tax exemptions for veterans.
•
Senate Bill 116 would increase the property tax exemption
for disabled veterans in order to align the exemption with
today's cost of living.
•
Senate Bill 202 would require the Department of Motor
Vehicles, upon registration of a motor vehicle by a member
of the armed forces eligible for the motor vehicle property
tax exemption, to notify the municipality where the armed
service member lives about the exemption in order to remove
the vehicle from the municipal grand list.
•
House Bill 5231 would allow municipalities to establish a
property tax relief program for veterans who have served on
active duty for six months or longer.
•
House Bill 5331 would allow more veterans to claim a
property tax exemption.
•
House Bill 5334 would allow for 10 percent of the value of
any property belonging to a veteran of the armed forces who
served in time of war to be exempt from taxation, and would
also provide for various tax exemptions for property
belonging to veterans who have been assigned a disability
rating by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The other proposed bills would create a program to assist
businesses owned by disabled veterans in obtaining state
contracts; waive occupational licensing fees for veterans; require
the commissioners of housing and veterans' affairs to assist
veterans and active duty members of the armed forces in securing
affordable housing; and allow for a Veterans Day observance at
the Rocky Hill veterans home.
Rep. Jack Hennessy, who served in the U.S. Army as a sergeant
in the 1st Ranger Battalion, 75th Infantry, is serving as cochairman of the committee for the third time. Hennessy said a top
Never Again Will One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another
The CONNECTION
February 2015
priority for him is addressing the 50 percent exemption that
veterans' pensions currently receive from the state pension tax.
The committee is interested in lowering the tax incrementally by
10 percent until it reaches zero. The idea is that lowering the tax
will retain more of the state's veterans, who currently can be
swayed to move to Massachusetts, where there is no tax on
military retirement pay.
Hennessy also cited the Rocky Hill veterans’ home as a priority,
saying that he wants to ensure the veterans living there are given
the “top notch” treatment they deserve. To that end, he also wants
to make sure the committee is keeping track of the current and
best practices for veterans when it comes to mental health, “a
rapidly changing field,” and that “soldiers returning from combat
get the best treatment.”
The next Committee meeting will be held on January 29, 2015 at
1pm in Room 1E of the Legislative Office Building (LOB).
Those interested in learning more details about the proposed bills
or the Veterans' Affairs Committee can visit the General
Assembly website, www.cga.ct.gov.
Program Review and Investigations
Committee to Raise Bill on Veterans'
Home Study
On January 23, the Program Review and Investigations
Committee raised a bill concerning the Veterans' Home Study.
The Bill will include recommendations 1 through 15 and 19 of
the study. These recommendations include the establishment of
two separate domiciliary care programs (transitional and
permanent residency), veteran worker program elimination, a
change in fee schedules for each residency program,
encouragement for increased volunteers and enhanced activity
and responsibility for the Board of Trustees.
_____________________________________________________
On The Hill
From Stars & Stripes
Veterans advocates: Stop
the VA 'hamster wheel'
disability appeals process
The effort to clear a massive backlog of
veteran disability claims is hurting efforts to
address a similar backlog in appeals of denied
claims, say advocates demanding reforms to
an onerous “hamster wheel” system that
leaves veterans languishing for years.
A congressional subcommittee hearing on
Thursday January 22 focused on the appeals
process, noting that the Department of
Veterans Affairs has about 350,000 pending appeals of denied
service-connected disability claims.
“I am aware that the [VA] chose to prioritize certain initial claims
in recent years, but I must say that when veterans in my district
share that they waited six, eight, 10 years to resolve a meritorious
appeal of a service-connected disability claim, I just find that
alarming and unacceptable,” Rep. Ralph Abraham, R-La., said.
Veterans wait an average 3½ years to get an initial decision and
often years longer for the VA to finalize that decision. There are
almost 510,000 original disability claims pending, with more than
240,000 deemed “backlogged” — meaning the veteran has been
awaiting a decision for at least 125 days.
When veterans’ disability claims are denied, they face another
lengthy process involving multi-step appeals in which their cases
often ping-pong between national and regional offices for years.
VA officials have said they are aggressively working to clear the
appeals backlog, but they are hamstrung in part by a complex
system they are legally required to uphold.
“VA recognizes that under the framework established by current
law, veterans are waiting too long for final resolution of appeals,”
Laura Eskenazi, vice chairwoman of the VA Board of Veterans’
Appeals, said in written testimony submitted to a House
subcommittee. “VA cannot fully transform the appeals process
without stakeholder support and legislative reform.”
Veterans groups and advocates lined up to blast the VA appeals
system at Thursday’s hearing in front of the House Committee on
Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on disability assistance and
memorial affairs.
“It appears the mission for some VA bureaucrats is to limit the
government’s liability to our nation’s veterans by formalizing the
claims and appeals processes to the point where benefits are
unfairly restricted,” Jim Vale, director of the Vietnam Veterans of
America veterans benefit program, said in submitted testimony.
A statement submitted to the hearing by Gerald Manar, deputy
director of Veterans of Foreign Wars, called on the VA to stop
ignoring appeals in favor of the initial claims backlog and
increase staffing on the appeals board.
The Veterans Board of Appeals “has neglected large segments of
other work in order to give the illusion that it is making progress
on reducing its ‘workload’ — self-defined as disability
compensation and pension claims — and its ‘backlog’ — again,
only disability and compensation and pension claims,” according
to his testimony.
In submitted testimony, Bart Stichman, a prominent veterans’
attorney and joint executive director of the nonprofit National
Veterans Legal Services Program, decried the “hamster wheel”
that veterans get caught in, even after their appeals appear to have
been resolved.
“There’s a duty to assist the veteran but not a duty to sabotage the
claim,” he said.
He laid out a five-point plan to reform the process, including
prohibiting the Board of Veterans’ Appeals and VA regional
offices from pursuing negative evidence against a claim after
veterans have shown sufficient evidence to support their claims.
Never Again Will One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another
The CONNECTION
February 2015
Lawmakers at Thursday’s hearing said the VA and Congress
must act now.
reviews of any suicide data it submits to ensure it is complete and
current.
“We need to take action so we don’t get too far behind so we’re
not having this exact same hearing two years from now,” Rep.
Dina Titus, D-Nev., said.
_____________________________________________________
Agent Orange report comes after years
of VA denials
Veterans Affairs News
GAO report faults VA suicide data,
tracking of veterans at risk
Despite heightened awareness of military suicides, the
Department of Veterans Affairs is incorrectly reporting suicide
data and does a poor job of tracking and caring for vets at risk
who are prescribed antidepressants, according to a report by the
U.S. Government Accountability Office.
The VA's protocols for treating veterans diagnosed with
depression were broken, and patient and suicide data were flawed,
inconsistent and incomplete, the GAO report found.
Ten percent of veterans who received VA health care in the past
five years were diagnosed with major depressive disorder, and 94
percent of those were prescribed antidepressants.
Because of problems that may permeate its record-keeping, the
VA may understate the prevalence of major depressive disorders
among veterans being treated at the VA.
Investigators reviewed 30 medical files for veterans prescribed
antidepressants following a major depression diagnosis at VA
medical centers in Phoenix; Philadelphia; Canandaigua, N.Y.;
Gainesville, Fla.; Iowa City, Iowa; and Reno, Nev., from 2009
through 2013.
Twenty-six of those veterans weren't assessed after four to six
weeks, the time specified in the VA's clinical practice guidelines,
and 10 veterans did not receive follow-up care within the time
frame recommended, the audit found.
The accuracy of veteran suicide data used for prevention work
also was cited as "not always complete, accurate, or consistent,"
the report found.
Forty out of 63 Behavioral Health Autopsy Program reports had
incomplete data, six had incorrect dates of death and nine
reported an incorrect number of outpatient mental health visits in
the last 30 days.
The errors were attributed to varying interpretations of the
guidance given for filling out forms, which also were not
generally reviewed at any level in the VA.
In response to the report, the VA said it will review its diagnostic
patterns looking at depression and said it will ask for additional
A new Institute of Medicine report that found veterans were
exposed to Agent Orange while flying in C-123 aircraft after the
Vietnam War came three years after another federal agency
reached a similar conclusion.
But despite a pronouncement in January 2012 by the Agency for
Toxic Substance and Disease Registry that these crews’ levels of
exposure to dioxin were 182 times higher than acceptable
amounts, representing a 200-fold risk for cancer, the Veterans
Affairs Department refused to acknowledge any link between the
veterans' current illnesses and a history of serving on that aircraft.
Instead, VA public health officials insisted that trace amounts of
dioxin on internal aircraft surfaces were not “biologically
available for skin absorption or inhalation because dioxin is not
water- or sweat-soluble and does not give off airborne particles.”
Meanwhile, since veterans found out in 2011 they may have been
exposed, at least 10 with diseases associated with Agent Orange
have had VA disability claims denied and some have died —
although just how many have passed away as a result of
exposure-related illnesses is difficult to pin down, said retired Air
Force Maj. Wes Carter, founder of the C-123 Veterans
Association.
Carter said that between 1,500 and 2,100 veterans flew the
aircraft, used during the Vietnam War to spray the highly toxic
defoliant and then kept in service for almost a decade after the
conflict. He said his association knows of fewer than a handful of
veterans whose claims have been approved, including just one
who triumphed without having to file an appeal.
“[The numbers] are terribly vague. We scattered decades ago, and
unlike many Navy folks, had no ship's association to keep us in
touch. We want to simply say that there has been death and
suffering,” said Carter, a C-123 medical services officer who is
among those whose claims were denied.
VA’s fight to deny health treatment and claims to what may
amount to a small number of former service members comes as
no surprise to veterans organizations and lawmakers who have
pushed VA for years to recognize certain environmental
exposures.
From potential harm posed by depleted uranium, burn pits,
tainted anthrax vaccines, anti-malarial medication, the water
supply at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, an incinerator at Atsugi
Naval Air Station, Japan, and more, VA's approach regarding
illnesses related to environmental pollution has been “delay,
deny, wait 'til they die,” said Rick Weidman, legislative director
for Vietnam Veterans of America.
“We don't pay VA to be veteran antagonists, and we don’t expect
them to be advocates for the cause. What we expect is they be fair
and neutral arbiters who have the best interest of veterans at
Never Again Will One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another
The CONNECTION
February 2015
heart,” Weidman said. “But that's not what happened here. It's not
what usually happens.”
As part of its ongoing efforts to study Agent Orange, VA awarded
a $600,000 contract in 2012 to researchers to develop a directory
of exposures and paid IOM $500,000 to look specifically at the
C-123 issue.
The amount spent on issues that already have been examined and
supported by “widely accepted science” vexes Sen. Richard Burr,
R-N.C., whose office has worked since 2011 on the C-123 issue.
“The VA’s delay has gone on long enough. IOM’s report
confirms what the VA already knew: C-123 crew members were
exposed to dangerous levels of Agent Orange. Instead of ...
commissioning an expensive study of [already] well-founded
science, the VA could have been caring for these veterans,” Burr
said.
In 2001, VA established the War Related Illness and Injury Study
Center to provide care for service members with complex medical
cases and medically unexplained illnesses. The center provides
environmental exposure assessments and medical evaluations to
veterans with difficult-to-diagnose symptoms related to
deployment.
But not everyone who served in the military is eligible to be seen
at the WRIISC, including many of the C-123 veterans who don’t
meet a requirement that they be combat veterans.
Weidman said it should be up
to VA to get veterans in the
door and help them instead of
denying them care for what he
calls “toxic wounds.”
Rick Weidman, VVA Legislative
Director
“The question is to get health
care to these veterans who
were exposed. These people
are sick right now. They can’t
afford health care, they are too
sick to work, they’ve lost their
jobs. The [VA] secretary has
the authority to immediately
grant them access to care,”
Weidman said.
According to VA officials, the department has set up a working
group to review the IOM report and is moving forward to
respond.
Weidman said he hopes the findings by IOM will help pave the
way for other veterans with exposure-related illnesses to get help
at VA.
“The C-123s were the canary in the coal mine. If [VA] could have
gotten away with it, they would have kept doing it to Gulf War
vets, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and any other young people
who have been exposed to environmental toxins or will be
exposed,” Weidman said.
Burr Releases Statement Following
Report on Post-Vietnam Agent Orange
Exposure in C-123 Aircraft
“The IOM’s report concurs with earlier findings from the CDC,
which found that the contamination during that ten-year period
would have posed a significantly higher health risk for Air Force
Reserve personnel,” noted Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) in a
January 13 statement after reviewing the report by the Institute of
Medicine (IOM), which examined the potential that C-123
aircraft flown and maintained by Air Force Reserve crews from
1972 to 1982 were contaminated by Agent Orange residue from
their service in Vietnam and that those crews and maintainers
were likely exposed to unsafe levels of Agent Orange dioxin.
“The VA's delay has gone on long enough. IOM’s report
confirms what the VA already knew: C123K crewmembers were
exposed to dangerous levels of Agent Orange. Instead of ignoring
widely accepted science for three years and then commissioning
an expensive study of that well-founded science, the VA could
have been caring for these veterans. They now have what they
need to start helping these veterans,” said Senator Burr. “I know
Chairman Isakson will continue to pursue this issue and ensure
these post-Vietnam veterans are treated to the same standard as
other veterans exposed to Agent Orange.”
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From the Service Rep’s Desk
Standard Claims and
Appeals Forms
Beginning March 24, 2015, a new
VA rule will require that all claims
governed by VA’s adjudication
regulations be filed on standard
forms prescribed by the Secretary,
regardless of the type of claim or
posture in which the claim arises.
This rule eliminates the constructive receipt of VA reports of
hospitalization or examination and other medical records as
informal claims for increase or to reopen while retaining the
retroactive effective date assignment for awards for claims for
increase which are filed on a standard form within 1 year of such
hospitalization, examination, or treatment.
The rule also implements the concept of an intent to file a claim
for benefits, which operates similarly to the current informal
claim process, but requires that the submission establishing a
claimant’s effective date of benefits must be received in one of
three specified formats.
Finally, this rule will provide that VA will accept an expression
of dissatisfaction or disagreement with an adjudicative
determination by the agency of original jurisdiction (AOJ) as a
Notice of Disagreement (NOD) only if it is submitted on a
standardized form provided by VA for the purpose of appealing
the decision, in cases where such a form is provided. Although a
standardized NOD form will only initially be provided in
connection with decisions on compensation claims, VA may
require a standard NOD form for any type of claim for VA
Never Again Will One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another
The CONNECTION
February 2015
benefits if, in the future, it develops and provides a standardized
NOD form for a particular benefit.
capacity. By leaving a quarter at the grave, you are telling the
family that you were with the solider when he was killed.
The VA says that the purpose of this rule is to improve the quality
and timeliness of the processing of veterans’ claims for benefits.
But many if not all veteran advocates disagree.
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According to tradition, the money left at graves in national
cemeteries and state veterans cemeteries is eventually collected,
and the funds are put toward maintaining the cemetery or paying
burial costs for indigent veterans.
50 Years Ago
In the US, this practice became common during the Vietnam War,
due to the political divide in the country over the war; leaving a
coin was seen as a more practical way to communicate that you
had visited the grave than contacting the soldier's family, which
could devolve into an uncomfortable argument over politics
relating to the war.
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Feb 8 – First U.S. Air Force strike against North Vietnam. In
the first action of Operation FLAMING DART, an F-100
Super Sabre flew cover for attacking South Vietnamese
fighter aircraft, suppressing ground fire in the target area.
Feb 10 – Hotel in Qui Nhon bombed by Viet Cong. Viet
Cong blow up a hotel in Qui Nhon. The blast kills 23
American servicemen.
Feb 16 – Vung Ro Bay incident provides justification for
Operation Market Time. The discovery of a 100-ton North
Vietnamese trawler unloading munitions on a beach in South
Vietnam’s Vung Ro Bay provides justification for Operation
Market Time, a combined U.S. Navy/Vietnam Navy coastal
patrol operation designed to stem the flow of supplies by sea
from North to South Vietnam. During the next seven years,
the coast patrol vessels and aircraft of Market Time would
thwart nearly all infiltration by North Vietnamese Navy steelhulled trawlers.
Feb 25 – First elements of the Republic of Korea Assistance
Group, Vietnam (Dove Unit) arrive. The Republic of Korea
Military Assistance Group, Vietnam, also known as Dove
Unit, arrives in Vietnam. It is composed of 2,416 men from
the Korean construction support group; the Korean Marine
Corps engineer company, Korean Navy LSTs and LSMs, and
a Korean Army security company.
Some Vietnam veterans would leave coins as a "down payment"
to buy their fallen comrades a beer or play a hand of cards when
they would finally be reunited.
The tradition of leaving coins on the headstones of military men
and women can be traced to as far back as the Roman Empire.
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Membership Renewals
Is your membership renewal about to become due? Please renew
today so you can continue to receive the Chapter newsletter, as
well as the VVA Veteran! And as you renew, please consider
joining the other 172 members who have chosen Life
membership. You must submit a copy of your DD214 to qualify
for Life membership.
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Coins Left on Tombstones
While visiting some
cemeteries you may
notice that headstones
marking certain graves
have coins on them, left
by previous visitors to
the grave.
These coins have distinct
meanings when left on
the headstones of those
who gave their life while
serving in America's
military, and these meanings vary depending on the denomination
of coin.
Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc.
Greater Hartford Chapter 120
P.O. Box 4136
Hartford, CT 06145
A coin left on a headstone or at the gravesite is meant as a
message to the deceased soldier's family that someone else has
visited the grave to pay respect. Leaving a penny at the grave
means simply that you visited.
A nickel indicates that you and the deceased trained at boot camp
together, while a dime means you served with him in some
Never Again Will One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another