Sad tidings...

[natehale1971]

More and more of the Vietnam Vets are passing away... more every day, more in fact that had served in the Korean War. The VA had a report that said that the Vietnam vets would all die out by 2017 due to the complications from Agent Orange.

My father passed in October 2010, and right now my Uncle Dwight is now on his death bed... they had amputated both his legs, but the uclers had returned.. his lungs are turning into rocks just like what happened to dad. Both served together during the war, and both were decorated for bravery and gallantry under fire. they were friends and the reason why mom and dad ended up meeting and getting together. both suffered for the past ten years from the Agent Orange exposure they received.

Right now He and his wife are both in a VA hospital in Arizona and we can't get there in time to tell him good bye, nor can we afford to go to be part of the funeral.

If you know a Vietnam Vet, please get them to medical attention... help them before it's too late.

[Grimace]

My uncle also fought in Vietnam. He's in bad shape, physically, but still strong mentally. I certainly hope he's still around in 2017.

Sadly he's semi-resistant to going to the VA due to the woman he was married to for so many years being paranoid of doctors in general. She's gone now (my aunt died last year) and he lost his home due to a forest fire this year, but he still flies the American flag proudly over the ashes of his place.

My sympathies are with you, natehale.

[natehale1971]

Thank you Grimace, the VA has done great with me.. the doctors and other medical professionals have all been really good. so far it's been the unelected and unaccountable burecrats that have caused the problems... they where the ones that caused my dad and uncle from getting the care they earned by saying that there would have been signs of Agent Orange expsoure much sooner than what was happening.. even though the doctors and lab techs were saying that all the markers had been proven that they were indeed suffering from illneses related to that exposure. so the burecrats kept doing everything they could to keep from officially stating that was indeed what was happening. trying to pull every trick out to keep from having to give the 100% C&P for Agent Orange exposure and PTSD.

Heck, don't get me started on the MST i've been fighting with getting dealt with (yes, the evidence is missing from the NCIS archives and the bean-counters won't just take the ship's logs about the manhunt that was undertaken while we were out to sea and the Master-at-Arms cought wind that someone was stalking and threatening to rape me if he found me isolated somewhere on the ship so i was kept in the NIS agent aloat's office/quarters for six hours while they hunted for this asshole... but they can't find the NIS Agent Afloat's official reports. So it never happened. even with the ship's records showing what happened).

One of the best things that came out of the Bush 43 Admin was the reforms to the VA... the refurbishment of older facilities, the construction of new facilities, the streamlining the proceedures to get benefits, the modernization of the records system, ect. but the best in my oppinion, was allowing a veteran to get civilian lawyers (and other advocate groups like the DAV & VFW) to help them in their appeals instead of just relying upon the American Legion for that represtation.

it takes a while to get into the cue... but once you get in, and you have found the right primary care physician... you have a way to get treatment and get support. you just have to watch out for the burecrats screwing things up. but that's how anything goes now adays i guess.