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Vets' Notes: Cutting Through Red Tape, Making Sense of Regs

By VVAW

In a perfect world the vet who is sick or disabled or who has problems would walk into the V.A., describe his problems, and get treated. Of course that's not the way it is; instead every vet is assumed to be a freeloading liar until he can prove himself—it's the direct opposite of innocent until proven guilty.

This Vets' Notes column describes two areas where the vet has to prove himself—Agent Orange and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder—and gives some of the steps necessary to provide the proof the V.A. thinks it needs.

AGENT ORANGE

Although Agent Orange was used almost everywhere in Vietnam, and although it is likely that even the smallest exposure could lead to severe health problems, it still becomes the responsibility of the veterans to "prove" he was exposed to defoliant sprays while in Vietnam. For vets who are part of , or plan to become part of the class-action suite against Agent Orange manufacturers, the information is also necessary.

Step one is obtaining a copy of military records. Standard Form 180 can be gotten from any V.A. office or from vets' service organizations. Once completed it should be sent to the National Personnel Records Center ( Military Records), 9700 Page Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63132.

Section II, #1 of this form asks what information or documents you need. Ask for your complete 201 file (Army) or service record book. It should include all medical records, combat history, unit assignments, induction and discharge physical and so on. To get the file takes about 6 weeks; if there are problems, contact VVAW or the Veterans Information Center: 1-314-428-2534, or 428-0113.

A vet should also send for his or her H.E.R.B.S tapes. These tapes are a computer record of 80% of the defoliation missions from 1965 through Jan 23, 1971. Write to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense "Health Affairs, "Pentagon Room 3E349, Washington, DC 20301. Tell them where and when you were in Vietnam and ask for grid maps of those areas. With the maps and the grids on the computer tapes, you can see where most of the defoliant was sprayed in your area.

Next, write to your branch of service for your unit's history. Sometimes these histories even mention spray missions or have maps where various operations took place. Your own operations are listed on your combat history page of your military records. The maps might place you in areas of spraying. For these records ( Marines), write to Commandant, U.S. Marines, Headquarters, U.S. Marines, Washington, DC 20380. Others can write to the Headquarters of their branch of service or to the Military Archives Division, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, Washington, DC 20408.

With this information in hand you are prepared to prove you were sprayed. For further steps, write VVA for a copy of the Agent Orange Self-Help Guide and we'll send a copy.

POST TRAUMATIC STRESS

While the struggle to get testing, treatment and compensation for victims of Agent Orange is still in its earlier stages—and the V.A. only barely recognizes that Agent Orange might have caused problems—the fight for the V.A. to deal with post-traumatic stress is further advanced. Last fall the V.A. recognized stress disorder as an appropriate problem rating a service-connected disability from the V.A.

As with Agent Orange, proof must come from the vet who must do and say the right thing to get benefits.

If you go to the V.A. the first person you must convince is the examining V.A. shrink; he has the first determination and power of recommendation for your eligibility. If he turns you down you can take your problem to the V.A.'s Adjudication Section, but it's not easy to overturn the first step.

Under the manual used to determine eligibility for PTSD these are the requirements:

1. You must have a neurosis problem (not limited to having made death threats).
2. You must have additional problems which my include
• Flashbacks or dreams.
• Emotional withdrawal from everyday problems.
• Hypertension or exaggerated response to sudden noises.
• Other related problems such as: sleep disorder, memory impairment, survivor guilt feeling, lack of concentration on normal subjects, reluctance to relive combat experiences through discussion, movies, etc, and a numbness to normal activities or emotional responses.
3. Your condition began to show up within a year after the experience that triggered it.

If turned down by the initial examining physician and you go to the Adjudication Board, it helps to have notarized statements from family, other relatives, friends, other vets, doctors, vets' counselors, and about any "responsible" member of your community. If you're considering filing for this disability, find a vets counselor at your nearest Vets Outreach Center (while they're still open) to help you prepare your case. And if you've applied in the past and been turned down, you may be able to reopen your case under the V.A. 's new recognition of post traumatic stress disorder.

GRENADE OF THE MONTH

The regular column "Fraggin" by Spec 5 Will (ret) does not appear in this shortened issue of THE VETERAN—it will return in the next issue. But Willy's award of the Grenade of the Month goes, after some debate, to the entire Reagan Administration individually and jointly.

• To President Reagan who made such a point of declaring his opposition to any cuts in V.A. spending—until he was comfortably in office and now has even angered leaders of the VFW and American Legion—which takes some doing for a conservative President.
• To Secretary of State Haig who will seize command at any opportunity and get us all blown to small pieces.
• To Secretary of the Interior James Watt who not only wants to turn all National Parks into oil wells but seems to have decided to rescind the temporary ban on the use of 2,4,5-T, the deadly active ingredient of Agent Orange.
• To David Stockman whose budget ax swings every which way; after his days as anti-war protestor and draft evader, Stockman seems to have found a new religion which says billions for the military, not one cent to vets or to the poor.