Need I say more? Love the name. Love the idea of two Hep C birth control pills in one with no Ribavirin and no Interferon. Smooth sailing and in less time than you can count in Hepatitis C land. Thank you Gilead for persevering. No more hurling chunks and thyroid cancer. No more Ribarage. No more ____________________(insert malady here).
Here’s more:
For he that shall have borne the battle bobble head doll
At some point in our travails with the Veterans Administration, we reach a divide-a schism so vast, so impenetrable-that we suddenly realize we are dealing with mental midgets. We become cognizant of the fact we no longer are in Kansas and Toto is only a faint memory. I reached that point on Wednesday.
As I have reported here, my adventures in VAland appeared to be on track for a quick resolution and a grand finale this week. Would that it were so and I could report as much back to you. I can finally commiserate with Ric Shinseki and the predicament he found himself in when he discovered his minions were doing their best bobblehead doll imitations and ignoring him.
Having briefed the Seattle RO’s designated complaints officer on where to look and how to fix it, I sat back with that utter assurance born of false confidence that I had finally accomplished what no other mortal had been able to do these last twenty plus years-complete my VA claims. Rude awakenings are just that. The ultimate bitchslap, just when you thought everyone was going to make nice, always comes as a surprise. Although I wasn’t prepared for it, I can say with aplomb that I was not blindsided. After this many disappointments, it was to be expected. I just didn’t think it would arrive in a format that would be so easy to overcome.
The VARO weenies are finally desperate. Left with few fig leaves to hide behind, they are finally resorting to the Clinton defense of “Well, I reckon that all depends on what the meaning of totally disabled is.” They appear to be mustering their forces for that last ride into Medicine Tail Coulee to join Colonel (Brevet Maj. General) Custer on the hill. Today I will report back to “Bob” McDonald that his new initiative of glasnost and perestroika has not percolated down to the rank and file in his far-flung empire. Bad habits die hard. I strongly suspect the culprit is the M21-1MR Manual on VA denials.
This morning dawned and Procol Harem’s venerable song came to me as the perfect description of what we, as Vets, have come to expect from VA-lip service.
To illustrate, check this out. I spotted it deep into a CUE claim to right the wrong perpetrated when I was an inpatient for a year at the Seattle VAMC. I was not given time to file a Form 9 in a timely manner to keep my Porphyria claim alive. I finally filed a CUE claim to right the wrong. It took several years (from October 2011) to get here. They lost it for a year to begin with. My green card was the only way to prove I wasn’t lying about it.
When a government agency determines you are “totally disabled”, you assume the term means what it implies. I’ll make the documents below .jpg photographs and squander scarce gigabytes to let you enlarge it by clicking on it for easier viewing.
The little black holes on the top identify these as coming from my paper c-file which has not made the trip to the cheeseheads in Janesville, Wisconsin to be electronically digitalized yet. Due to budget shortfalls, the sheer volume and its weight (approx. 28 lbs.), VA has neglected to “VBMS” it to date. You can sort of understand that. VA bonuses to their Senior Executive Service (SES) for ignoring Vets’ pleas for medical appointments take precedence over mundane paper problems.
Now let’s examine what the Ratings Rangers at Fort Fumble were able to make of this revelation. This is the last four pages of the SOC where all the meat is. As a preamble, I defer to VA’s preferred Merriam Webster Dictionary definition of “totally disabled”:
And here all this time you thought you were playing on a level field where the benefit of the doubt was always proffered, where nonadversarial was a given and modus vivendi was the order of the day. Not. Were that the case we’d have no need of rainmakers.
The VARO weenies cannot bring themselves to admit they stepped on their necktie. Just because a stupid doctor let the cat out of the bag in 2008 and a Veteran was smart enough to spot it does not mean they have to throw in the towel. Knowing full well they can send this up to the BVA in Washington DC for appeal and a three-year delay gives them great pleasure. Having already spent twenty years, six months and ten days on it, what the hey? What’s another decade in the scheme of things? Veterans have shit for brains. And VA looks at us with the thousand yard stare and asks “Why do they insist on that inane phrase-‘delay, deny until we die’ thing?”
Here is proof positive that the General George Armstrong Custer gene is alive and well on the 11th floor of the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building. Seattle’s Puzzle Palace is prepared to die on this hill knowing full well that when it is finally overturned and justice prevails that they will suffer no consequences. This is the very same mindset that VISN directors suffer. They think no one will notice Vets keeling over on their watch as they greedily collect their $28,000 annual bonuses for efficiently doing away with them.
Secretary McDonald was true to his word. He handed this to a staff attorney at the BVA who analyzed it and agreed with me that yes, totally disabled means totally disabled. The snafu occurred when BVA handed it off to the gomers in Seattle. No one wants to earn the sobriquet of screwup. No one wants to find his picture in the Merriam Webster dictionary under stupid. The approbation of fellow raters is anathema to these folks apparently. So in a last-ditch attempt to justify their actions, they are attempting to redefine totally disabled to mean-well- we’re not certain here. They attempt to conflate it with the second half of 38 CFR §4.15:
In order to reach this epiphany, they have to step over their own definition in the first part of §4.15:
Most Vets and their attorneys would read this to say you are 40% disabled due to an occasional bloodletting and staying in the shade. Jones v. Shinseki says you cannot base a rating on the “new improved version” due to the therapy or prophylaxis. VA is looking at it and saying “Gee, the way to 100% is to quit the phlebotomies and start hitting the tanning salon every day.” Of course that will have some dire complications involving death but that is the path to 100% for this dilemma in their book.
Totally disabled Vets soon to be downgraded to 60% due to new VA ruling
Perhaps of even more concern, according to this Seattle DRO, all you folks out there with PTSD who are not suffering the permanent loss of use of both hands, or of both feet, or of one hand and one foot, or of the sight of both eyes, or becoming permanently helpless or permanently bedridden are now put on notice that you are up shit creek. You are not totally disabled according to this logic from this day forward.
Now, I do not for a minute think this will stand up in Court at the CAVC but I do not know if I’ll be alive to celebrate. I think I’ll send it to Secretary McDonald so he can chew on it and decide. Perhaps one of his weenies will send it to Richard Griffin over to the VA’s Office of Inspector General and they can determine that:
“We were unable to substantiate that being totally disabled, in the VA vernacular, was actually a physical or mental state of being that prevents gainful employment but we haven’t sent our opinion over to USB Allison “in Wonderland”Hickey yet for approval. We await her final say on this before we commit to shooting ourselves in the foot (again).”
I expect Secretary McDonald will have a few choice words about it but then Cupcake and I were ebullient when we walked out of my BVA Veterans Law Judge Board hearing on April 11th, 2011. Judge (and I am being generous in using that term) Mark Hindin looked us in the eye and said “Your case is pretty clear cut and you did a great job presenting it. I’m confident we’ll get it straightened out.”
I pray that if Secretary McDonald has any say about it this time, it will be rectified promptly. In the alternative, allowing the little people with Flat Earth Society credentials to adjudicate it will only result in more delay and denial all the way to the Court. This is exactly what I hoped to avoid. My letter to Secretary McDonald follows:
Rebuttal to Secretary McDonald PDF version
P.S. A law dog (#1) just emailed me and asked the burning question: If you cannot get to 100% (totally disabled) via Porphyria correctly granted at 0% under Diagnostic Code 7815, and you cannot get to 100% for phlebotomies under Diagnostic Code 7704 correctly granted at 40% (without pyramiding), how do you get to the 100% accorded by the good doctor’s nexus? Answer? Extraschedular rating but VA nixed that idea in the SOC, too. And, knowing you cannot, how many other ratings enigmas await us in the Diagnostic Codes? Using this logic, VA can now go through VAROs and reduce TDIUs at a wholesale clip. Back injuries top out at 60%. Sorry GI. You are not totally disabled. You are at 60%. There is no provision for 100% in back injuries therefore you cannot be totally disabled. Besides, you aren’t missing any hands or feet.
Law dog #2 says a skin rating under 38 CFR § 4.118 diagnostic Code 7815 Schedule of ratings-Skin in no way pyramids or conflicts with a rating under 38 CFR § 4.117- Hemic and Lymphatic systems Diagnostic Code 7704 Polycythemia Vera. Result? 40% +10% = 50% rating. Still leaves us short 50%.
Law dog #3 says Jones v. Shinseki and Otero-Castro v. Shinseki control. They must grant the 100% and pick any 100% rating they want to as a vehicle to get there. Which one is immaterial as long as it grants 100%. Either that or they must CUE themselves and say Doctor James Morgan had the vapors that hot, summer day in 2008 and misspoke. But Russell precedence overrules them because a mere disagreement over the facts or the diagnosis can never be grounds for CUE. Besides, they cannot prove it would manifestly have changed the outcome (10%). Hoist on their own pétard as it were.
Many (202 YR 2009) of the VA’s CBOCs are not staffed by VA employees but are employees of Healthcare Management Organization (HMO) type providers under contract with the VA. This may be more desirable in terms of efficiency and lower costs for taxpayers. For example, Humana purchased Valor Healthcare in 2012 to get into the business of veteran outpatient health care.
The ability to rapidly deploy a Veteran-centric facility while providing the absolute highest quality of care is a Humana’s Government Business hallmark. From the time of contract award, we can have a clinic opened, staffed and seeing patients within 90 days.
CBOCs (833 in FY 2010) are also closer to where many rural and urban veterans reside, a good thing. They can be VA-owned and staffed, VA-leased and staffed, or contracted and staffed by private contractors under contract.
In 2009, the break down was:
The above charts come from a Congressional Research Report. Are corporate cultures better than VA-culture in terms of quality care? Just depends.
Story by Mark Brunswick. HIBBING, MINN. – The 6-inch scar running down the middle of Lonnie Lee’s chest is one sign that all might not be well at the Veterans Affairs clinic here. Lee (65) is a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War.
For example, if you want to seen by a privately-contracted PCP in Puget Sound, “Valor HealthCare” operates three and Sterling Medical operates one.
Sterling Medical is hated by veterans at the Hibbing VA Clinic in Northern MN according to a story in the Star Tribune! And Minneapolis (VISN 23) does not disclosure on its website that Hibbing or any others are run by Sterling or any other clinics are managed by HMO. So it comes down to asking questions and doing some research about these clinics. Some non-VA clinics’ staff will be better than VA-owned or leased, others worse. But whoever is managing the clinics should be disclosed by every VA Health Care Network.
Should be free….but ask first
Oct. 6 VA Press Release: Veterans, you may be able to get your flu shots from Walgreens pharmacists nationwide this year. I just called a local Walgreens to see if they were participating and they are!
However, they might run out because–
Vaccines are subject to availability. Age, state and health related restrictions may apply. Many immunizations may be covered by commercial insurance plans, Medicare Part B or Medicare Part D. As part of this launch and under the agreement, VA funding can provide approximately 75,000 flu shots for enrolled veterans. For more information about VA’s immunization program, visit www.ehealth.va.gov/Immunization.asp.
Walgreens has not updated its website with information about this program yet so use the zip code” find a store locator app” for the phone number (and hours) to check for local participation. My sense of the wording is that if a vet has dual-eligibility with another program, the VA will be the secondary payer. But it looks like there will be no out-of-pocket for enrolled vets and no paperwork to file.
I actually got my flu shot at Walgreens last year combined with a shopping trip. They had a private room set up and it was very convenient. This will save gas, standing-on-line time at health fairs, and stress so let’s get the word out. Report back if this worked out for you!
Gez, where’d you park the Squad Car, Dick Tracy? May be tied to? How about “We couldn’t have done it without our loyal munchkins who, incidentally, didn’t get a dime of this baksheesh.” I love the indecision about whether $23 million in bonuses might or might not be motivated by “For he who shall have borne the battle, his widow and his orphan child”? What have they been smoking at VACO. It’s time for SECVA McDonald to get out the big broom and freeze some bank accounts before this all evaporates and they plead indigence.
P.S. In related news…http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/06/va-fires-4-senior-executives-in-response-to-scandal/
And:
I received a call yesterday from my secret VA weapon at Representative Derek Kilmer’s office. The news was confusing as well as disheartening. Nick Carr informed me that the Army REMFs are requiring more proof of Butch Long’s bravery under fire and some talisman that proved he had engaged in combat with an enemy of the United States before they would even consider awarding him his Combat Infantryman’s Badge. By way of explanation, the first two letters of REMF stand for Rear and Echelon. It was suggested Butch contact fellow Veterans with whom he served for confirmation and verification of this event before any discussion about a CIB was going to be forthcoming. They strongly implied they don’t just hand these out like Crackerjacks toys.
Let’s analyze this:
LZ Cork circa November 1968
Butch’s Tactical Operations Center (TOC), in what would normally be the most heavily defended portion of LZ Cork, was attacked as mentioned by “three gernades [sic] at doors of TOC”. This indicates the Viet Cong had already penetrated “inside the wire”. VC hand grenades were our old rehabilitated “pineapple grenades” left over from WW2. Mounted on top of them were a wooden dowel and a champagne cork nestled inside with a newer prussic acid fuse. One out of five blew up when you pulled the pin. As you can imagine, they were a really big hit with the Gooks. You can throw them about 25 yards if you are an NFL quarterback. The VC were smaller in stature and were even more distance-challenged. This can only mean the Viet Cong penetrated the perimeter where Butch was and attacked the TOC. They also made their retreat by the same path. “Possible satchel charges” indicates an explosion much louder than a grenade in keeping with the Viet Cong’s habit of using satchel charges to breach the perimeter concertina wire to gain ingress. As there was only one area of the perimeter that was attacked with eight casualties and two killed, Occam’s razor argues for the simplest explanation of all. The Viet Cong or NVA regulars came through the perimeter following the mortar barrage and steamrollered over Butch’s A company platoon. Butch confirmed this to me but the Army Ouija Board Corps considers that “lay testimony unsubstantiated by the written record”.
Butch’s A Company had two Killed In Action (KIA or KHA (killed by Hostile Action)) on the report) and eight Wounded In Action (WIA or WHA on the report). 2nd Lt. Barry Kelendel was his Platoon Commander however they misspelled his name. It’s Kellenbenz. He was KIA and his military record is available on the Virtual Wall. The second was PFC David Balzarini. He, too, was KHA on the 19th of January 1969 according to the Virtual Wall. You will notice that on both pages the Combat Infantryman’s Badge is prominently displayed as an award-undoubtedly posthumously. I firmly believe Lt. Kellenbenz and Balzarini qualify as “fellow Veterans that he served with” who can plead his cause. Sometimes voices from the grave speak more loudly as they are asked to here.
I also suggest that Congressman Kilmer give SECDEF Chuck Hagel a call and ask for special consideration due to the Army’s unconscionable delay of 45 years in the awarding of Butch’s medals. Butch meets all the criteria for a CIB as defined by Wikipedia. He is service connected for his injuries since discharge. Furthermore, he meets the definition of “combat Veteran” as defined by Congress in 38 USC 1154(b). Most importantly, his comrades he served with that night were awarded their CIBs. Why the Army REMFs can’t put this one together will remain one of the enduring mysteries like the Riddle of the Sphinx.
My Uncle Jay got a Bronze Star for being captured at Bataan in January 1942 prior to running the 67-Klic Bataan Fun Run. He also caught a bullet from a machine gun through his ankle, but that is beside the point. He got a second one just for being a POW for three years and 4 months. If Butch and his platoon got steamrollered by a mortar/satchel charge breach, I’d say a Bronze Star was in order. I’ve seen them handed out to REMFs for far less. Butch didn’t cut and run. He took the brunt of it and they walked over, through and around him and his fellow wounded and dead soldiers. Say what you want to about Butterbars and Ninety Day Wonders but 2nd Lt. Kellenbenz paid his dues. I’d say a posthumous promotion to O-2 (First Lieutenant) and his own Bronze Star is overdue but there is no one to advocate for him…yet. Same for PFC David Balzarini. But that’s a story for another day.
Lastly, the evidence of the TOC attack provokes a “benefit of the doubt” argument. I do not see any reports of another ingress inside the wire at LZ Cork that night so A Company and PFC Leslie Long’s platoon were quite obviously elected to be the WalMart Greeters. They paid dearly. Time for the REMFs to put down their iPhones and FacePlacing to man up and take care of business.
LZ Cork November 1968
This would make a fine present for Veterans Day next month. Additionally, knowing Butch will not be awarded the Vietnam Campaign Medal nor the Cross of Gallantry with Palm, our East Coast distributor of the Independent Living Program, Bruce McCartney, a four-tour Dustoff Combat Medic from 1968 to 1972 has graciously offered to give Butch his which are contemporary and were awarded when they were supposed to be back when the war was still a work in progress. He and his fellows in the Dustoff Association are also researching their records for Medics who may have flown that mission in 1969. What a wonderful reunion that would be.
We’re one big, happy family that continues to shrink like a dollar. Last I heard, we’re down to 855,000-give or take a few hundred. Seems like a good a time as any to take care of old, unfinished business.
LZ Cork
LZ Cork Bunker
Here’s a Utube video of LZ Cork I found
The Official photostreams of the branches of military service show tomorrow’s veterans at work today. They are doing dangerous work, useful work, and humanitarian (also dangerous) work. Will they find meaningful well-paying work commensurate with their experience and skills when they come home? Will they be treated with dignity at a reformed VA, or will they be frustrated with the same old disrespectful system based on obfuscation and lies by employees who have little empathy?
The Air Force stream is a favorite of mine for stunning aerial imagery. On the site you can zoom in on the pictures to see amazing details.
Thunderbolts set off flares Capts. Andrew Glowa, left, and William Piepenbring launch flares from two A-10C Thunderbolt IIs Aug. 18, 2014, over southern Georgia. (photo by Jamal D. Sutter.)
Wingman Day Airmen from Keesler AFB, Miss., Sept. 19, 2014. The run was the kickoff event. (photo by Kemberly Groud)
Training grenades A student assigned to the 99th Ground Combat Training Squadron picks up two M-69 practice grenades during the last iteration of the M-67 fragmentation grenade training class Aug. 30, 2014, at Silver Flag Alpha, Nev. (photo by Christian Clausen.)
Line of fire Pararescuemen shoot their rifles while wearing gas masks as part of a shooting drill during the 2014 Guardian Angel Rodeo, Kirtland AFB, NM, Sept. 24, 2014. (Photo by Katie Spencer)
I see you: Airman 1st Class Ryan Neal looks down the sights of an M4 carbine during training Sept. 11, 2014, on Andersen AFB, Guam.
About that serious HCV outbreak that ND’s health department wishes would go away (in 2013): The latest count is now 47 and one person was not a Manor Care resident (news video).
Unfortunately, the Fargo VHA (in VISN 23) is not stepping up to help one elderly veteran:
…We wish Dad could start the oral medications he needs to combat the infection, hoping that it would help with his fatigue and weakness. He was denied coverage of the medications by the Veterans Administration and cannot afford them otherwise. For the 12-week regime of two pills a day, the cost is $160,000.
Age-discrimination at the VA?
“Employee A” ????
Manor Care has filed a federal suit against Trinity Health’s referencing “Employee A,” a phlebotomist. Trinity denies any link or responsibility. (I haven’t located Manor Care’s lawsuit filing yet.) The first class action suit blames Manor Care, the nursing home, but appear to have added Trinity later.
Are Minot’s Airmen safe? Minot AFB (5,424 active duty, 6,189 family members) has a DOD outpatient clinic (M-F) but use Trinity for off-hours care. Therefore if Trinity Health’s phlebotomy practices were the source of this Hepatitis C infection, Minot’s Airman, their families etc. should get tested too.
For now, the Fargo VHA administrators don’t seem to be talking about Minot’s non-military related HCV epidemic which may shorten the lifespan of at least one of their veterans.
Update 10/6 from ND DoH. The HCV outbreak victim count is now at 50 (last count was 47). CDC just provides this.
| Skilled nursing |
2013
|
ND
|
>500
|
46
|
Preliminary epidemiologic analysis suggested podiatry care, phlebotomy, and nail care performed at the skilled nursing facility were associated with HCV infection |
Grand Poobahs Jeff Miller and Col. Sanders
Here’s a great article on who knew what, what they knew and when they knew it. Seems VA has been peeing on our collective leg and telling us it’s been raining since 2005. I can’t wait for the rotten watermelon over at the VBA to split wide open. This is actually the best time in the history of being a Vet to get traction and a voice in your claims process. My advice? Call Bob pronto. 513-509-8454
As Obama & Co. are fond of saying “Hell, we didn’t know. Nobody told us. We just found out after reading the newspaper. We were in the dark just like you. I didn’t get the email.” Now you can make sure they are in constructive possession of this info by emailing/calling SECVA McDonald. Remember, were it not for a) a paper trail and b) whistleblowers repeatedly coming forward at risk of losing their jobs and financial loss, we’d still be in the dark on the Phoenix scheduling fiasco. As for the Inspector Gadget krewe, we now know that if you baffle us with bullshit in the form of a 43-page report on how they were unable to categorically substantiate that someone was deliberately cooking the books, you can assume they are covering up untold numbers of other mis/malfeasance issues. This is what concerns me more. Just how much has been covered up? Who benefited is the other burning question. Well, beside Sharon Helman and a cast of thousands.
As Bruce Almighty in Midway, Georgia says -WGBTA-We’re Gonna Burn their Asses. I threw one of the first rocks through SECVA McDonald’s living room window with my 20+ year lament last Wednesday. It appears to be working.I think our day in the sun has finally come.
WGBTA
From the Vietnam footlocker of life, we pull out a story of one who thankfully missed his opportunity to be immortalized on the Vietnam Wall. On that day, three would die and fifteen would suffer life-altering changes from their wounds. This is the story of one- Leslie “Butch” Long, A Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 11th Light Infantry Brigade (Americal). Duc Pho was a coastal city and sat astride Route 1-the only highway running north/south in Vietnam. By 1969, all the bridges had been blown numerous times and the only way in was by chopper.
Duc Pho was a hotbed of resistance to the Saigon regime as it had been to the nineteenth century French colonization and the Japanese invasion in WW2. These folks were inured to war and suffering. Here’ an interesting article about what was transpiring just a year or more prior to Butch’s arrival.
Christine Copeland who belongs to Key Peninsula Veterans (KPVETS), my local unaffiliated Veterans outfit here on the Key Peninsula, approached me shortly after I was able to wrangle my medals out of the Air Force after 41 years. Her story was heart-rending. No less than six VSOs, service officers and others had promised to help Butch get his medals and recognition for his service in the Republic of South Vietnam all those years ago. I know how it feels. Many promised me the same in my pursuit of Veterans benefits and never delivered.
Christine’s entreaty was couched with admonitions. “Don’t promise me something you have no intention of doing or attempting. Been there done that, Alex. I have a pearl necklace of failures to show for it. Butch’s daughter was born while he was in-country and she wants closure.” Fortunately for Butch, his wife Barbara is a packrat and kept everything related to his service. Butch still had his draft card in his wallet. This is the stuff dreams are made of if you intend to prevail 45 years later with the Army. Even more so if you intend to go after the VA for benefits- and boy howdy are we on that warpath.
January 18th dawned hot and humid. No surprise there. Monsoon was recently over and the high season for Viet Cong activity was in full swing. Butch had only been in-country about four months and the VC had been low-key up to now. At 0710 hours, a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) departed LZ Cork for a day in the woods getting in touch with nature and their inner selves. A minor encounter @ 0750 resulted in one KIA (Killed In Action) North Vietnamese Regular (NVA) in uniform. No weapons were recovered as the zipperheads tended to take them when they bugged out.
Butch’s A company and the Recon patrol remained at LZ Cork for daytime defense as the other companies had the unenviable task of wandering in the vicinity of the LZ looking for trouble. After discovering a cache of M-16 rounds wrapped in banana leaves, one of their number began to suffer convulsions and the first Dustoff was called in for a penetrator rescue on a hoist. Dustoff was accomplished at 1340 hours to 312th Air Evac at Chu Lai.
Things went pretty well that afternoon. The LRRP wandered over to Nghia Hanh and had lunch. Companies B,C and D moved freely about the countryside until the evening dinner party began at 1845. About then, D. Co’s 1st and 2nd Platoon reported an ambush at dusk en route back to the LZ. Artillery from the local fire base was called in to COORD: 567634 and 44. The next day they would find several VC KIA in that vicinity.
The first signs of trouble began about 2325 hours when 60 mm mortars began their inexorable “walk” into the camp as Charlie got his range and azimuth corrected. According to the SITREP, it was sporadic and involved about 15-20 individual mortars and satchel charges. Just about then Charlie got inside the wire and the party began in earnest.
satchel charges
The gooks headed immediately to the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) and hurled in satchel charges and grenades. By 2345 hours it was all over. The VC had made an orderly retreat with no casualties. A company, where the zipperheads came through behind the mortars was the hardest hit. The TOC was in shambles as well with numerous wounded personnel.
The final count was ugly. The TOC had one KIA and seven wounded.
KIA: SP4 James Smith
WIA: Lt. Col. Coverdale, SP5 Felt, SP4 Gable, SP4 Hartman, SP4 Wise, SP4 Littlefield and PFC Camponelli.
Butch’s A Company took the brunt of the assault on the perimeter and had equally bad luck:
KIA: A Co.: Platoon leader Lt. Kelendel, PFC Balzarini
WIA: Sgt. Plummer, Sgt. Chambers (no dustoff required), SP4 Fagan, PFC Johnstonbough, PFC Lockett, PFC Durna, PFC Phillips and of course our forgotten PFC Leslie Long.
Butch had the misfortune of now wearing a good part of a 60 mm HE round. One shard went through his right eye and lodged near the outer wall of his brain. More SFWs (shell fragment wounds) lodged above his right eye, shoulder, chest and arm. Counter battery mortar fire by now was in full swing with Four Deuce (M-30 107mm) flares for illumination. Dustoff arrived shortly after and choppered the wounded and dead out by 0030 on the morning of the 19th.
Butch was air evac’d to Camp Zama in Japan via the 95th Air Evac out of Da Nang to enucleate his right eye. They popped it out to get at the SFW and plugged it back in like a wine cork. The big problem was the brand new white spot in the middle of his vision. The surgeons also determined leaving the mass of metal fragments in his forehead and right arm/rt. thigh was medically acceptable. I suppose it was then but metal moves around after 45 years. It’s coming to the surface these days like spring rocks in a New England cornfield now.
After enlisting the help of my able US Congressional Representative Derek Kilmer again, VA coordinator Nick Carr worked his usual magic. He was able to get the Daily Officer’s Log out of the NARA archives so we can get Butch his overdue Combat Infantryman’s Badge (CIB).
Long_Leslie_DA1594 (daily staff journal 18JAN69)
When Christine first showed me the telegram informing Butch’s parents of his mortar misadventures in Duc Pho, I knew he was entitled to more. Any discussion of long overdue medals, including a Purple Heart, was going to have to include the award of the CIB. Those of you in the Army, present and past, know what a CIB means. Manhood. Standing firm in the face of the enemy. Bravery and more -bravery under fire. Failure to cut and run. Camaraderie in combat.
We now await the Army and their slow pedantic pace in making a decision on whether Butch truly “deserves” a CIB. The quest for the Daily Log was the proof we sought. It’s simply a matter of hurry up and wait now. When the day arrives, Representative Kilmer will award him his Vietnam Service Medal, his Army Commendation Medal, a Purple Heart, and the coveted Combat Infantryman’s Badge. I expect they’ll throw in the Battle of Fort Hood medal we also call the National Defense Service Medal. Any who serve in a time of war get this one. Since the Republic of South Vietnam no longer exists and we have a thriving export business with Ho Chi Minh’s descendants, Butch will not be receiving the Vietnam Campaign Medal (shown at the top of my blog) and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry (with Palm). He’ll have to purchase those separately.
Butch isn’t doing well. It’s time to revisit his VA claim that gave him 10% for scars. Notably, he wasn’t awarded Special Monthly Compensation K for loss of, or loss of use of his right eye. His right arm resembles a lobster’s inasmuch as it is now the “feeder claw” and not the killer claw it once was. His range of motion and actual ability to use it is severely restricted. All those VSOs and well-meaning folks who didn’t get his medals for him also managed to neglect his VA claims as well. What? You expecting to get whiskey from a bottle of wine? Since SMC K is awarded at the time it can be demonstrated entitlement was deserved, we intend to go back and revisit the 1970 VA award for CUE. I also hope to get Butch a 100% disability for his residuals of the mortar injuries. His time in the sun is long overdue. I aim to fix that.
A warm thank you is in order to all who have helped me in this endeavour. I was simply the mailman but am proud to play even that small part in getting Butch his due. So many of us came home to a hostile, indifferent society that just wanted to put paid to the war and us. As sad as it is to say this, I almost feel like belting people my age who come up to me and vomit that inane saw ” Welcome Home!” Where in the Sam Hill were you when we came back in the sixties? Being all you could be in Canada? Why did Vets like Butch have to slink into the US and change into civvie clothes before we hit San Francisco International Airport to avoid the opprobrium of the anti-war protesters. I take that back. Butch didn’t have to suffer that indignity. He was medivac’d straight to Letterman General Hospital to get his eye remodeled.
I am too harsh. I suppose I should tell of the many who desperately wanted to serve in Vietnam but there were only 2.9 Million slots. So they held a lottery and only the lucky guys with low numbers won. In fact, about 58,400+ hit the winning combo with the Golden BB Powerball. The rest had to settle for backwater jobs in Germany, England and Spain.
I’d like to take this moment to also thank the brave men who flew our dustoffs and the Guys in Back (GIBs) who kept troops like Butch alive long enough to reach life-saving medical attention. No braver men ever served armed with nothing more than an S&W K-38. And that’s all I’m going to to say about that.
asknod
Bethanie Spangenberg
kcraveiro
robinhoodesqvetsatty
Wesley McCauley
