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Vets Retested: Original Agent Tests A Phony

By VVAW

(Shortly after VVAW found out about the potential hazards of Agent Orange back in March of 1978, members of the Milwaukee Chapter of the organization went to the Veterans Administration to demand tests for the defoliant. Milwaukee VVAW has a long history of fighting the V.A. having taken over various V.A. offices a number of times and having pushed forward the fight for healthcare and disability payments in every way possible. As a result the V.A. there felt it had to do something about this newest demand. So they caved in to the vets demands and gave a test—a phony test, primarily a blood test—to defuse the anger of vets at this newest outrage. Once vets found out that the "test" was purely for show, their anger grew since it was clear that the V.A. was playing with veterans' lives.

The following letter describes the beginning of the process of retesting, again the result of the continued struggle against the V.A. and all that it stands for. The letter was written by one of the vets who had gone through the original phony "test.")

On November 9 a couple of us were called to the V.A. for further tests. During out Agent Orange Day demonstration a V.A. doctor mentioned that he had seen a list of 22 people being called back for testing for Agent Orange; so far, as far as I know, only 2 have actually been called back—two of the six VVAW members who took the original "phony test."

We were at the V.A. from 8:35 AM to 4:50 PM; I was just helped through a 4-page form, 2 pages for me and the two for the doctor. It asked name, rank, service no, places of duty in Vietnam, when, where, how, and how long, and what it was like. I asked if we were expected to remember all the dates and places the V.A. worker said it helps but isn't necessary, so I wrote them a book.

Then we went to one doctor who gave us a complete looking over and worked on the form. Then a shitty V.A. lunch that we had to pay for, followed by X-rays, blood tests, pulse and blood pressure.

I waited two hours to see the last doc and he was really neat. He said we really got screwed and that the poison was cumulative. Even if we ate Lake Michigan fish we were adding to our poisons because PCBs and dioxin are related. We talked about Agent Orange for 10 minutes. I then went down stairs to file for disability. I felt that since April we have forced the V.A. to move somewhat but still they are not pushing it except to ask each Vietnam vet if he was exposed to toxic chemicals.

John
VVAW, Milwaukee