FROM THE BINFORD TOOLS

                                                                   VARO IN DETROIT

Who said you can’t get HCV from drugs and still get SC? The boys  at the Detriot RO were rather adamant that this was from the clap. Then it was from the clap, maybe a tattoo and IVDU with a side of nose candy. Then it was too speculative to figure out. AmLeg to the rescue!

I can’t believe this guy got the win. Milo must have been in a good mood or it was so close to the 4th of July three-day weekend that he still had a hangover. Regardless the reason, we say Bust out the keg, dude. Foam your friends because you are not gonna be doing any drinking on a borrowed liverbox. That’s a Bozo no-no when you’re running on borrowed time and organs.

What we have here is a failure to address 38 CFR § 3.301 (a).

§ 3.301

Line of duty and misconduct.

(a) Line of duty. Direct service connection may be granted only when a disability or cause of death was incurred or aggravated in line of duty, and not the result of the veteran’s own willful misconduct or, for claims filed after October 31, 1990, the result of his or her abuse of alcohol or drugs.

Here at Asknod, we don’t make moral judgements. There but for the grace of God go I in this life. What?  You think I was a Saint? Let me say this about that. No Comment. Let’s just say that I fall under the preliminary part of §3.301(C) (2). I experimented with alcohol and I didn’t inhale it. My sinus cavities were polluted by AO and nothing more.  I spent most of my time either over the fence up north in what we called Barrel Roll or Military Region 2 (MRII). We jokingly referred to it as the extreme western boundary of the DMZ (if  a line was drawn straight through from the Vietnamese DMZ).  The balance of my time was in Thailand with an occasional jaunt over to RVN. We didn’t have access to all that junk that was so prevalent there.  The big kicker was opium-soaked Thai Stick which is a misnomer. The fact of the matter is that all the killer bud came from Laos. You could take a baht bus up to Nong Khai and cross over to Vientiane. They sold it in the marketplace for a nickel a stick. It came in bricks of twenty sticks  and you could haggle them down to 80¢ a brick if you spoke Thai.

Thai stick  has a storied history. Did you guys ever wonder why it was shaped that way? I asked my tealock  and she gave me the scoop. Thai stick was much smaller in the beginning. It was developed as a tampon for menstrual cramps. I never got a blow by blow description of how you would insert it and perhaps I don’t need to know. Some things are best left unasked. At any rate, the body naturally absorbed it. Who took it up a notch and poured hot, boiling opium over it will escape  well-deserved fame for all time.  But I digress. Back to Detroit.

Mr. Motor City dude is getting a major bye. No one is discussing the 800 pound willful misconduct gorilla hogging out the living room sofa and that is a lucky thing for him. All the discussion seems to go sideways into who has the most probative nexus  and whether its conclusory, predicated on having read the SMRs  or simply speculative.

Rarely do we see the discussion veer so far away from 3.301. Usually it’s very cut and dried. Hellooooooooo! Dude, you’re a junkie. Goodbye. What happened here has to have ulterior issues we don’t see and never will.  Was he a Senator’s son a la Credence Clearwater? Was he the son or friend of a very large contributor to a certain political party that bundles vast quantities of cash for them? A personal friend of Eric’s ? Who knows. The only thing one needs to know is he’s in high cotton for some reason. When was the benefit of the doubt ever trotted out like a dog and pony show?

When all is said and done this guy should have been over at Royal Oak at 1515 East Eleven Mile Rd. filing for SSD. We don’t question a win, though. Johnny Binford will be collecting both and happy as a clam at high tide. Rightfully so. 

Rarely do I throw up my hands and say “How diddo do dat?” I do this time. He has no Purple Heart,  no §1154B combat enhancement- in short, he’s a nobody. Now, however, he’s one of the storied few -one of the 11% of SC Vets with a Full Ride. My hat is off to him and his able VSO.  Happy Memorial Day weekend  Johnny Binford. You’re inside the wire and safe. Welcome home.