The Fleet Reserve Association (FRA) urges all Vietnam veterans to review the latest updates to a list of U.S. Navy and Coast Guard (USCG) vessels exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam Era. The list, maintained by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), is of particular interest to those former service members experiencing health problems related to herbicide exposure, as it may help expedite their claims for VA health and disability benefits.
The list will be continuously updated to include more vessels that operated primarily or exclusively on Vietnam’s inland waterways; ships that temporarily operated in these inland waterways or docked to the shore; and ships that operated in Vietnam’s close coastal waters for extended periods with evidence that crewmembers went ashore. If a veteran's service aboard one of these ships can be confirmed through his military records during the specified time frames, exposure to herbicides can be presumed and service-related benefits may be available for Agent Orange-related ailments.
“Thousands of Navy and Coast Guard veterans who served aboard ships during the Vietnam conflict experience health problems related to herbicide exposure, but their illnesses and disabilities are not automatically considered service-connected in the eyes of the VA,” explains Slawinski. “The VA restricts this type of presumptive service connection to vets who had ‘boots on the ground’ or can prove their ship operated on inland waterways. Each addition to the VA’s list of exposed vessels will make it easier for these veterans to prove exposure and will hopefully facilitate more timely determination of benefits.”
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1 comment:
About time! Only 35 years late for the thousands who have died from diseases they wouldn't have gotten had they not been exposed: cancers, bizarre lung, skin, endocrine ailments, etc., etc.
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