They know the jargon and often will tell someone else’s story. It’s often these guys who feel they have to make stuff up. Keep in mind that for every combat veteran there are ten in support. Sad to say but I’ve seen it many times with Vietnam veterans. Not fudging or embellishing, but out and out lying. Unfortunately after listening to just three stories I stopped because I knew that the vets were simply lying. The VA estimates the tab for treating these newly added diseases at about $40 billion over the next decade.I’m a Marine Vietnam combat veteran(‘68-‘69) so I started listening to this series. "So there's also no way to prove with absolute certainty a causal effect between the exposure and the medical condition." "Even if you could measure the body burden of the chemicals in someone's body now, it would have dissipated from the time of the original exposure. "There is no possibility of proving on an individual basis what the exposure was," says Trude Bennett, a public health researcher at the University of North Carolina who studies dioxin exposure.
Wade knows he came into contact with Agent Orange, but for many vets the connection isn't as clear. "There were about five people that came up: 'Did you hear about the VA?' " Wade says the hospital was abuzz with the news. Under an existing 1991 federal law, the VA already compensates for treatment for many diseases, including type-2 diabetes. So Wade welcomed the VA's announcement that it would begin approving compensation claims for Parkinson's disease, ischemic heart disease and a form of leukemia. "At that time, I had no inclination that what was being spilled was to some degree toxic." One of the items was the 55-gallon drums of Agent Orange," he says. But he has never been happy that the VA denied his claim that the Parkinson's resulted from Agent Orange exposure while he was a Marine in Vietnam. He is being treated at the VA Hospital in Durham, N.C., and is happy with the care.
Wade was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2003. And when I walk, it's like somebody walking in 3 feet of water, 2 feet of sand." "My rigidity is, you know, it's like a glove on your hand. "If I take my medication, I'm good for about a half-hour," he says. His hand had developed a minor tremor, which has only become worse. But about a decade ago, Wade, who still looks fit and trim at 61, noticed he had more trouble soldering the tiny electronics. The results of his hobby line the walls of the den of his home in Raleigh, N.C.
#NPR ECHOES OF VIETNAM AGENT ORANGE FREE#
Vietnam veteran Don Wade used to spend his free time building electronics equipment. But the announcement has drawn criticism. The Department of Veterans Affairs recently announced new guidelines that would cover exposed veterans for some additional diseases. Thirty-five years after the end of the Vietnam War, many veterans of that conflict are still battling for compensation for diseases they believe are related to Agent Orange, a defoliant that includes several kinds of dioxins. The Department of Veterans Affairs recently announced new guidelines that would cover exposed veterans for additional diseases, including Parkinson's, ischemic heart disease and a form of leukemia. Air Force planes spray the defoliant chemical Agent Orange over dense vegetation in South Vietnam.
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