Liquor and Guns

Posted on December 11, 2011 by asknod

During Christmas week of 1970, I was on TDY at a base right up against Laos. Udorn Royal Thai Air Base was the jumping off point for all the action to the north. Air America occupied a quarter of the base and there were more classified operations than you could count. Airplanes would land with Thai roundels on the side and take off with the Laotion Erawan (three-headed elephant). Six hours later they’d land, refuel and take off with no markings but the tail number never changed. Most of this traffic was on the AirAm  apron code named Waterpump.

Without going into detail, I was employed there that week. We had the run of the warehouse where all the small arms and liquor was and I was on very good terms with the manager. I got him lined out on calls back to the states on the MARS radio system and I got free booze and guns occasionally. I’d spotted a British SMG called a Sten and decided it was my kind of gun. Never mind that it was a 9mm. It had a silencer, looked cool and when you’re 19, that’s what counts.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sten

That weekend I stayed with our aircraft crew chief  who had a bungalow off base and we got pretty slippery. The hootch  was right beside a lake about 10 klics from the base called Dalat Nambua. I remember it was off Soy Nam Khang where an ice manufacturing plant was. That’s Ice Water road if you don’t speak Lao. Soy means road or lane. Nam is water and khang is hard. Hard water is Lao for ice. This language was really easy to learn. I took the Sten and several clips with because you didn’t wander around without armament in the boonies. Rich brought the Jim Beam and the Papasan who rented the bungalows brought over the left-handed tobacco. After way too much of everything, we decided to take the Sten down to the lake and try skipping bullets like flat rocks. This idea was not thought out very well at all.  Unbeknownst to us, 4 Klics south on the other side of Dalat Nambua was a Thai military outpost. That’s where the skipped bullets were landing.

Within 30 minutes things got pretty exciting. First, several Hueys came over and rocketed the shoreline and jungle 800 meters to the west of us. 5 minutes later three T-28s rolled in and nuked it with napalm and BLU-26.  http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/submunitions.htm

We tiptoed back to the bungalow, stashed the guns and the booze and came back out acting like tourists. If anyone ever tells you liquor and guns don’t mix, don’t believe them. Trust me on this.

Rich got the poop report from Papasan a week later. A  small contingent of CTs (Communist Terrorists) had tried to infiltrate the Thai compound and were repulsed. The body count was 5 dead and 3 captured. I’m not sure if they were counting monkeys or humans. Papasan forbid us to shoot from his property ever again.

Christmas will somehow never be that exciting again. As for the body count, this explains how we killed everyone in North Vietnam twice and they still had enough to whip the ARVN after we left.

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CAVC Results 2011

Posted on December 11, 2011 by asknod

Here are the results of the CAVC’s court calendar this year. While the year is 20 days away from completion, the Court has never shown any inclination to finish with a flurry of late opinions. I see no reason to expect them to do otherwise this year.

The Court heard 30 cases this year-one twice. This is the only year in the 22 year history of the Court where the Secretary was found in contempt and fined (Harvey). Buie is probably the only cutting edge decision as it upset some of the tenets of Bradley on TDIU. Otherwise, it was a ho-hum year.

The score looks something like this. Reversals in the Vet’s favor-7; Remand (in favor of the Vet)-16 and affirmation of the BVA’s decison-5. One can be seen as a tie (Peet) that requested a Joint Motion for Remand to readjudicate the case.

It can be said that the Court has matured and now is confident in its jurisdiction. As most will recall, the first decade of its existence was mired in arguments over whether they even had the right to inveigh on much of what they were presented. That rarely raises its ugly head anymore and the Secretary uses it less and less. He, too, is coming to accept that much of his jurisprudence is flawed and requires “fine-tuning”. Veterans continue to get high quality justice and a claimant-friendly venue when they appeal.

The addition of more justices to bring up the total to nine will do much to speed up our predicament. It is hoped that they will be approved by the Senate sooner rather than later. We have waited for our Commander in Chief to fill these positions for years and the delay is uncalled for. If he truly believes Veterans deserve better, he will sign the paperwork and get them ensconced up at Indiana Ave. promptly.

 

Happy bath tissue makes for happy raters. You see the problem?

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For Male Vets (#2)

Posted on December 11, 2011 by asknod

An extensive manual for the care and feeding of woman has been released and is available on Amazon. Shipping costs are rather steep but men simply cannot do without this tome. It was written by psychiatrists and is relatively easy to understand in spite of the fact that women aren’t. As women are complex and often misunderstood by men, this is “must have” for us and will go a long way towards  answering all those “How come when I …” and other FAQs. These things are selling like hotcakes from what I was told.

 

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Dr. Bennet Cecil

Posted on December 10, 2011 by asknod

Check this out. Dr. Cecil has a beautiful website.

http://www.hepatitisdoctor.com/

Dr. Cecil also has a new email address for Vets to contact him. Please leave me an email at asknod@gmail.com and I will provide you with it. He charges nothing for a nexus letter and is a warm, kind doctor doing a great service for us Veterans.

Posted in General Messages, HCV Health, Tips and Tricks, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

BVA–TARRED AND FEATHERED

Posted on December 10, 2011 by asknod

This is a classic example of VA’s habit of interviewing you at an initial intake exam and trying to pin the willful misconduct tail on the donkey. I have witnessed it numerous times, including having it almost happen to me.

When you first enter the VHA system, certain protocols occur. They want your old history as much as possible and will ask where any records regarding your ailment(s) are located. If you file a claim for SC, they will return to these initial records as they did to this Vet. What has occurred here is the Vet was undoubtedly questioned about the origin of his HCV and willingly provided evidence to the interrogator. The Vet was queried about any behavior that might have put him at risk. He repeatedly and vehemently denied any consumption of drugs during the course of his claim, yet it still sneaks in. It’s no mystery. When I came into the system in the fall of 2008, I had reams of info about this illness and not one scintilla of evidence about any drug hanky panky. Nevertheless, the first doctor I talked to started off the conversation with “Well. Let’s talk about your drug history. Tell me how you started out. Pot?” The assumption is always that it is a drug-related infection. VA doctors, for the most part, assume this from the get-go.

It is paramount that you make it known in no uncertain terms that this is not the disease vector. Just filling out the RFQ can be fraught with danger. We had one member that scratched out an answer regarding piercing because he wasn’t sure about the terminology. VA attempted to use this to prove he was being devious and was therefore not a credible historian. When he filed a second RFQ, they said he had changed his story. He won on appeal, but it illustrates what you will deal with.

When a doctor or an examiner from QTC asks you questions during a C&P exam, he/she will pose rhetorical questions. This means questions that are assumed or really don’t need an answer of yes or no. They will ask you if you’re a Veteran. Well, Duh! That’s why you’re there. So if a doctor segues into a discussion about drugs or the risk of drugs with respect to HCV infections in general, without referring to your case specifically, you can assume this is the groundwork for an assumption on his part that if you do not specifically deny it then you are guilty of it. It is a very subtle technique, but police detectives do it every day. Doctors write it in the records and you will spend the rest of your life trying to excise it. When the subject is broached, simply nod your head sagely and say something inane like “Well, that’s what I’ve heard, but I’m a pick one (Christian, Mormon, 7th Day Revisionist, etc.) and we don’t cotton to that stuff. Never done drugs or alcohol myself.”

If you so much as admit you puffed on a joint (and shared Slick Willy’s propensity for not inhaling), you’re headed for the Group W bench. No one will ever be able to prove this one way or another unless you have been busted and have a track record. Pot doesn’t cause HCV even if you shared the joint so why drag it into the discussion? The same applies for alcohol. VA uses anything in the file as a tool to leverage a denial. Therefore it behooves you to think very carefully before shifting your mouth into drive and taking your foot off the tongue.

This Vet was lucky because he kept his story the same. He didn’t get worried and start adding more suspected risks as he progressed. He refuted the “drug” testimony as soon as possible and did so frequently. One thing Vets should also consider is the conversation with the doctor is not testimony sworn to, but simply what the doctor wrote down. If you discussed this again and again every time you came in and bragged about how many times you’d been through rehab, it might be a little bit more damning. Here, the Vet discovered it and immediately set about correcting the record. Remember also, if you discover it and do nothing to correct the misconception, it is assumed to be true.

Meet our Veteran from Manchester, New Hampshire:

http://www.va.gov/vetapp11/Files3/1125743.txt

 

Posted in BvA HCV decisions, Introduction-Read these first, Tips and Tricks | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

BVA–§1151-HCV Reasonably Foreseeable?

Posted on December 10, 2011 by asknod

I always search BVA and CAVC decisions for medical validity and to see how the VA approaches these things. While reviewing this decision, I noticed, as did the VLJ, that a VA physician opined that the risk of acquiring an HCV infection via transfusion in 1982 was entirely foreseeable.

The VLJ analyzed the evidence and noted that HCV wasn’t identified or recognized until 1989. This was the difference between winning and losing this claim. Yes, I hear the chorus of naysayers. Sure, the Vet could have won this on appeal to the Court, but the fact remains that he shouldn’t have to resort to a higher tribunal to obtain justice. Physicians who set themselves up as knowledgeable, go-to specialists must be above reproach. This is very sloppy work for an expert. The fact is, we are seeing more and more of this in a rush to deny claims. Accepted practice dictates handing this off to a VHA employee who does nothing but opine. It is no surprise that virtually all of these “opinions” seem to come down in favor of the VA and against the Vet.

I wrote up a long treatise about another VA phyician who was asked to submit a “Independent Medical Opinion” (IMO) regarding the etiology of a Vet’s HCV. That chucklehead quoted all manner of incorrect medical procedures for identifying the hep using 1987 AIDS testing protocols. This is more of the same. The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, VA will use anything or anyone to deny your claim initially absent concrete proof presented by you. Do not expect them to collect this proof for you. In fact, expect them to use outdated protocols, inexact science and outright tomfoolery to deny you. Always examine a denial for several things. Among them, look for a dichotomy between accepted medical knowledge and when it was discovered.

Most importantly when denied, be sure to make sure VA addresses every possible risk you bring up. We are starting to see a plethora of denials based on one facet such as jetguns even though the Vet also claims other risks. VA will focus entirely on one risk to the exclusion of all others. There will be no discussion about these other risks and you will lose. VA is obligated to address all risks whether you bring them up or not. They rarely do this.

Here, where a Vet brings a truly viable claim to the table, the VA resorts to rounding up a pliant doctor who will say what he is paid to say. Fortunately the opinion blew up in their faces, but what if it had been couched in medicalese such that no one but another doctor could call bullshit on it? This gentleman was represented by the DAV and I have no confidence in their abilities to uncover what amounts to medical malpractice.

Veterans expect to be given a fair shake, but the evidence seems to come down more and more frequently proving otherwise. This decision exposes yet again the VA’s propensity to deny with no accountability. When exposed, the guilty party is not penalized. He/she can continue this practice for years aided and abetted by continued employment at the VA. In a civilian arena, this would be cause for remedial training or termination due to gross negligence. Witness:

In October 2009 a VA physician opined that the most likely 
cause of exposure Hepatitis C was the February 1982 
blood transfusion. She explained that Hepatitis C was
 commonly spread by blood transfusions prior to 1992. 
 Since then, a blood test has been developed to accurately 
screen the disease. The examiner opined that the Hepatitis 
C infection did not involve carelessness, negligence, lack 
of proper skill, error in judgment, or similar instance of 
fault on VA's part. She also opined that it was reasonably 
foreseeable. She did not provide further explanation for 
her opinions.

I hope Vets can take advantage of this adjudication for their own claims as it is a model of brevity and honesty. Sometimes the BVA gets it right.

http://www.va.gov/vetapp11/Files3/1125825.txt

 

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Wilco Farm Stores

Posted on December 9, 2011 by asknod

While shopping at the new Wilco store in Gig Harbor, Washington where I live, I was pleased to find that they offer a 10% discount to Veterans. I mention this because I always patronize stores which offer this above others that don’t. They are also proactive and ask you if you are rather than wait to be asked. I like that. We get the short end of the stick from an agency created to serve us so it’s always a joy to get an unexpected reward from the private sector. Besides, Wilco has a nice military ring to it as in “will comply”. Give them your business if you would. At the risk of sounding like a male chauvinist pig, the gals who work there are very attractive (mentally). They helped me find everything in short order and it was an unexpectedly pleasurable shopping experience.

Above is the only picture of my Father and my Uncle Jay I have. Dad and Uncle Jay didn’t socialize much after WW2. He retired as a Lt. General (USAF) in 1975 and my Uncle Jay, as I mentioned in a prior blog, was a guest of the Japanese government for 3 years following his completion of the 97 klic Bataan Marathon ( see Jay Claire Warner- 1916-1989- An American Veteran). He soured on the whole military thing after his POW experience.  I forgot the dog’s name.

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Of Prophylactics And The Monsoon

Posted on December 9, 2011 by asknod

Even though I spent most of my two years either in Thailand or north of the border, I did have occasion to visit Saigon more than once on business at 7th Tactical Air Combat Control (TACC). I was there for a month getting up to speed on French with a lovely young lady who was assigned to make me literate in the language again.

When off duty, I tended to seek entertainment in the downtown area. The marketplace known as the Cholon District was on the other side of the river and for the most part, off limits. All rules are made to be broken and I was a victim of the siren’s song. In addition to being a marketplace for foodstuffs, it had a thriving prostitution trade.

Without going into detail, I can say that finding a prophylactic when you need one is futile. Oddly, we had access to them by the gross where we were stationed, but nowhere to employ them up country. If I had been foolish enough to fool around with a young Hmong maiden, I would have found myself the guest of honor at a shotgun wedding. No one in their right mind would even conceive of doing this. We were warned repeatedly at every Commander’s Call and there were messages to that effect posted discreetly at the Air Operations Center. Why then, did they have enough rubbers to sink a ship on hand? We found out soon enough in August when the Monsoon began. You could employ them to keep water and dirt out of your weapon barrels. They were absolutely perfect for that. You didn’t have to remove them to shoot. They fit my 12 gauge and M-79 equally well. They could be carried in the hollow handle of a Car-15 and were also useful when stretched over the top of extra clips.

The problem was always being shortsighted when departing for a short TDY or a liquor run. Somehow the raincoats always got left behind and the need arose when far away from them. This is what leads me to believe one of the reasons we had such high numbers of HCV was due to unprotected sex. Back then we didn’t consider it high-risk sex. It could be cured with 3 million units of Penicillin in most cases. The approbation of your First Sargent was the big issue. For some reason the military took surveys and kept track of this disease. They engaged in “body counts” much the same as they did with enemy killed. Why we will never know. I suppose they don’t have to worry about that in the Afghan Olympics.

The fact remains that we almost always had these objects in our pockets during Monsoon to protect our weapons (no pun intended) but did not make a practice of carrying them during the dry season. If they kept the records I have mentioned, I surmise it would show a marked drop in reported cases of STDs during the Monsoon. It stands to reason if everyone was packing them during that time, that they were employed more frequently.

The VA has chosen to grant me SC based on the Genotype being 3A which is endemic in that region, and because of a transfusion from an encounter with the silver BB. Regardless of why it was granted, there is an equally recognized risk now that high-risk, unprotected sex was the culprit. VA never considered that and I luckily never had any STDs. I did have several instances of NGU, but that happens when you are wet a lot in that environment.

Veterans who are filing for Hep. should check their medrecs and if they ever had urethritis (non-gonoccocal), it would support a risk of HCV. Many mistakenly think that to win a claim, they must prove a genuine case of the clap. What most don’t know until they look at their records is that the pecker checkers were liable to throw a prescription of Penicillin in on top of a NGU diagnosis just in case the test was defective. Often you wouldn’t be back near medical facilities to test again soon, and pills were cheap. This saved everyone a lot of lost time and kept the wheels turning smoothly. This gives more weight to a “possible” dx of a dose whether you actually had one or not. VA will grant SC for this , but it may take a trip to D.C. to attain it. This is being offered as a FYI to all of you. I’m really not trying to wreck any marriages.

Fortunately my wife realizes the exigencies of war were far different from anything we encountered here. Certainly no one was aware of the host of diseases we all have come to fear since the eighties. That knowledge has changed the way we think and behave nowadays, but the sixties had a different cache. So check your medrecs before filing and look for the signature abbreviation of NGU or the words gram-negative if you ever had occasion to go on sick call for the telltale symptoms. A win is a win in this business. I do believe the jetguns will be found to be the greatest risk, but I also expect that finding won’t be published by VA until all of us from that era are room temperature.

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OUT TO LUNCH

Posted on December 8, 2011 by asknod

Cupcake and I are celebrating our twenty fourth anniversary today so I will be out. I apologize for no intriguing post about the shortcomings of the VA system this afternoon.

A short aside to you male Vets out there. When scheduling a marriage, it is important to do it near or after a prestigious day like February 15th, July 5th, December 8th, or December 26th. The reasoning being that it’s much easier to remember the date of the anniversary and have flowers on the magic day for pun’kin. She’ll think you actually remembered on your own without any prompting from her. I don’t personally advise using Easter, Labor day or post-Thanksgiving for this. Veteran’s Day is pretty much right out, too.

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BVA–Dr. Ben Cecil

Posted on December 7, 2011 by asknod

Here’s a case that exhibits the narrow-minded, myopic policy of the VA examiner to focus so totally on only one side of the dice cube that he never sees the other 5 sides. The Vet had hep in service and served for 17 of his 20 years with it. The evidence is overwhelming. One doctor in service even went so far as to say it was NANB in 1987.

http://www.va.gov/vetapp11/Files3/1126252.txt

The fellow has two very well-constructed nexus letters, yet can get no traction until he arrives here (at the BVA). Dr. Cecil and Dr. Stevens have both written letters that pass muster in every respect, but the Louisville RO has punted to the BVA. Considering they have the highest grant rate for PTSD claims, one would assume their raters are claimant friendly.

Dr. Cecil has a practice, but also writes letters for hep. c vets who petition him to do so. He provides the service for free and is a Godsend to Vets. I’m sure he also gets overwhelmed with this sometimes, but I hear he always comes through.

Fortunately for Mr. Kentucky here, the VLJ can see the perfidy of the examiner. If you ignore 75% of the assembled medical evidence pertinent to this adjudication, you can honestly report he had HAV in service and HAV does not spawn HCV. Claim denied. VA will say later that there was implicit consideration of all evidence, but we know that’s a gross mistruth.

The end result is obvious. He’ll get his SC- of that there is no doubt.  What the delaying tactic has done, as I mentioned in a prior post, is create a new class of deferred claims that are valid and will be won- eventually on appeal. What’s more is that a certain percentage-about 72% will give up, get drunk, get Jesus or go for SSD. Regardless of which outcome ensues, there will be a winnowing of the claimant pool and a long delay in the reckoning.

VA’s budget is finite. As with all Government agencies, there is a lot of waste and frills up near the top. Bonuses abound at 810 Vermont Ave. NW 20420 around Christmastime. Money from one program or another didn’t get used up and what better time to show appreciation for all those adjudications well done. A host of claims await in the inbox -38K plus from what we hear. 50 K more will arrive next year. 49K arrived last year. Two wars are going to  make the VHA constipated worse than a dog eating cheese. The VBA has significant delays now, but all we’ve seen so far is the tip of the iceberg. Experts predict the high tide of Vietnam Vets’ claims hasn’t even hit yet.

This has forced the VA to put a few more bends in the river to make it look like the Mississippi. We now have a backlog waiting to get into the VAROs. We have another already in the belly of the beast. We now are building an extensive backlog outside the BVA’s doors. Additionally, we have the claims in house which are still in progress. I’m not going to even consider the CAVC remand caseload. Were VA to actually get rid of all this old stuff, their budget would have to jump 33 to 40% to cope with the new winners. They don’t have that kind of money right now and Congress can’t get it’s act together to figure it out. This leaves VA in the unenviable situation of having to create more and bigger waiting rooms for those of us who are suddenly discovering there’s something wrong in Liverland.

This decision is all the more reason for Vets to get it right at the VARO level and avoid the interminable delay associated with what this poor soul experienced. He filed in 2004 and got the upside down thumb in December 2005. This decision is a remand. It will take, on average, 459 days (according to the VA), for this to reach fruition. That is counting from July 19th, 2011. Mr. K has almost seven years into it right now. My conservative guess is he won’t  see any wampum for another 3 years.

What this means is that VA is going to pay him in 2014 dollars for monies he should have legitimately received in 04. He has “loaned” them the money, not only interest free, but inflation adjusted dollars free. I’d say that was might’ neighborly of the old boy. He certainly could have grown that money in the interim. He is one of an expanding universe of claimants who are all similarly situated. Their only crime is finally showing up to file and discovering the line extends out the door and around the block several times. The worst part is the line isn’t moving perceptibly and it’s getting much longer every day.

I have created a new link at the top so you can all contact Sen. Patty Murray, the leader of our Pack, and tell her a) what a simply marvelous job of bitching she has done; and b)that the VA is not being honest with her. If enough complain, Sen. Tennis Shoes might get the impression we’re getting hosed with 2004 dollars-if we’re lucky.

Posted in BvA HCV decisions, Tips and Tricks | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments