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Agent Orange News
VA Wants All Veterans Exposed to AO to Apply for Benefits
This year (2015) marks the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, the first U.S. combat troops arrived in Vietnam in March of 1965.
More than 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam conflict. Now, many who survived, are fighting diseases the U.S. government now recognizes were caused by a very powerful toxic chemical used in the jungle war zone. A list of diseases, cancers, and illnesses, many of them common have "presumptively" been linked to the toxic chemical, Agent Orange.
Since 2010, the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) has recognized a list of diseases, cancers, and illnesses caused by the chemical Agent Orange, now,
the VA is making a renewed push to make sure everyone knows benefits are available to veterans sickened by Agent Orange. Unfortunately, there
are a lot of Vietnam veterans who aren't aware of the Agent Orange presumptive diseases. Furthermore, some veterans choose
not to go to the VA for their treatment or some veterans have never thought to apply. Yet, other veterans aren't sure
The VA maintain surviving spouses, dependent children and dependent parents of veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange and died as the result of diseases related to the exposure may be eligible for VA benefits. Claiming a disability from exposure to Agent Orange is an expedited claims process since the illnesses are "presumed" to be connected to Agent Orange exposure, meaning Vietnam Veterans don't have to prove an association between their medical problems and their military service as it relates to exposure to Agent Orange.
Any veteran or family member who might fit any of these categories should call their VA Regional Office at 1-800-827-1000, visit in-person, or file an online claim at www.va.gov.
More Agent Orange Exposure Revealed
Marine Corps veteran, Lt. Col. Kris Roberts is the first veteran known to have won compensation for exposure to Agent Orange while stationed at MCAS Futenma, Okinawa, Japan, and now he is urging the military to come clean about what really happened at the air base.
For the first time in VA compensation history, the U.S. government has awarded compensation to the ailing former marine at the center of allegations that the defoliant, Agent Orange was dumped on Futenma Air Base in Okinawa, Japan.
On August 10, 2015, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals ruled that retired Lt. Col. Kris Roberts, chief of maintenance at the installation in Okinawa, in the early 1980s, had developed prostate cancer due to “exposure to hazardous chemicals.” The presiding judge based the decision on evidence including medical reports, buddy statements and “photographs of barrels being removed from the ground.”
According to publicly available Department of Veterans’ Affairs records, more than 200 U.S. vets believe they were poisoned by Agent Orange while serving in Okinawa. Their sicknesses include multiple myeloma, Parkinson’s disease and peripheral neuropathy — illnesses for which the Department of Veterans’ Affairs compensates Americans exposed to defoliants in Vietnam, Thailand and the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas.
For all military personnel stationed at MCAS Futenma, and who later have come down with any of the presumptive illnesses, contact your VSO immediately for further instructions.
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