KHE SANH–50 YEARS LATER

Posted on January 27, 2018 by asknod

I saw an article on the Khe Sanh Golf and Country Club Grand opening this AM. January 21st, two days before the start of Tet ’68, all hell broke lose up in NW Quảng Tri province. It was about as far northwest as you could go without accidentally stumbling into either the DMZ (22 klics north) or Laos (9 Klics due west). Many thought the DMZ ended at the juncture of where the Republic of Vietnam and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam abutted Laos. Boy howdy would you be wrong. We jokingly referred to Military Region II (Barrel Roll) as the western terminus of the DMZ. More ordnance fell there than on all of Germany in WWII including five times as much AO and other Rainbow flavors.

Seems like we lost about 155 KHA and 425 WHA on that brain fart. Even if LBJ had not ordered that Khe Sanh be held at all costs, I doubt the Marines were going to throw in the towel. That would have been a USMC first no one wanted to own the bragging rights on.

I can say I’m glad I didn’t join the Marines after seeing the day-to-day footage of it. A Chinook driver friend of mine who died of AO pancreatic cancer several years ago described having his chopper shot right out from underneath him when he came in for a resupply. He narrowly escaped by jumping out of the starboard door as it rolled over. He was stuck there for two days and got constipated from being too scared to run down to the latrine. Up to then I’d heard of having the shit scared out of you but not in. Khe Sanh was the about the first time I began looking at the calendar and discovering I was going to be 1A in a year and two months. That became an even more  sobering thought several days later when the Tet Festivities began in earnest.

1st Secret Squirrel Group shoulder patch (Rangers)

Of interest, I bring up another subject I have been meaning to discuss. In fact, I guess you’re all wondering why I called you here this evening. For some reason, a lot of Vets have found me on the Internet and contacted me asking if I knew this or that secret outfit or ever ran into others who had. That’s usually followed by a plea to represent them with no evidence of the outfit they claim they served in. It was simply too secret to have a name. I never got above a T/S Crypto clearance so I didn’t hear about a lot this but I knew we had a few bunked in with Montagnard Hill Tribes. Their crossbows were sold in the market at Qui Nhon for about 100 piastres.  We used them  for apres le travail beer summits instead of dart boards when I was there. But I digress…

 

THOSE FABLED GHOSTWALKERS

My most recent batch of prospective clients began with a gal (spouse) inquiring about a Studies and Operations Group  of Army Reserve cooks and motor pool drivers/mechanics assembling at McChord Air Force Base south of me one night in early ’59 at 0200 on the flightline with their gear. 400 troops. Roger that. Not just 400 troops. 400 Reserve troops, mind you. These brave men then boarded the plane (singular, nung, un, môt) and they took off. They landed somewhere in Korea. By now they had a name but no platoon designation, Company, Battalion or Division. The ‘Ghostwalkers’ were officially in business. A ship transported them north to a beach along the west coast of North Korea. They landed- all 400 in zodiac-like surfboats- miraculously unobserved. So, conservatively, with six occupants per boat, they paddled ashore in 66.66 skanky old-fashioned life rafts (this was pre-Zodiac era after all)… completely undetected… silent as church mice tiptoeing past the Deacon.

From the beach, they marched inland and left a soldier with a M-1 Carbine to guard their egress every 100 yards. They followed a road inland unobserved by a single soul for 12 long miles. 400 Reserve mechanics and egg flippers with no Survival School or Escape/Evasion training spread out over 12 miles… in Indian Country…They were able to gain ingress to a NK nuclear power plant which was strangely unattended as well. They leisurely took pictures of the ‘controls’ and after a couple hours of chillin’, beat feet 12 miles back to the coast (again with their magic invisibility cloaks set on high) and were aboard their ship by dawn- vanished into the mist. Her tales of Hubby’s derring do made the rounds of Studies and Operations Groups websites and other Secret Squirrel conspiracy forums for a year or two. Where were these legendary Ghostwalkers? Nobody had heard of these brave men. Eventually, the tale came around full circle like a cocktail party game of Twenty Questions and lent itself credence. Some old timer (who happened to be his neighbor one town over) chimed in and claimed he too was part of this august group that predated even the fabled Green Berets. Was that before or after the alien abduction gig?

Here’s what I know. Two guys can’t keep a secret. Nor can twenty or two hundred. If there were 400 of these USAR Deputy Dawgs and a cast of hundreds of more in a support staff role, the Ghostwalkers would be an Oscar-winning movie by now. I can find no period military MATS aircraft- prop or jet- at the time this occurred that would seat 400 and fly non-stop from McChord to Osan. Not in your dreams jelly beans. No matter how I pointed out the problems with this faery tale, the more adamant and angry the gal became. I did elicit that her Ghostwalker hero husband was about 80. She recently married him in a Winter-Spring marriage. The 214 shows pure stateside Kimchi at Fort Hukachoochoo in Arizona as a hired E-3 eggslinger with some reserve time in afterwards-ostensibly under cover in North Korea? She knows this story is true because he wouldn’t lie. He has a bad back from falling down during the North Korean beach ingress and wanted to file for it.

I declined the request for my legal services. I did promise to keep searching for the Ghostbusters.

I went TDY to Nam in ’59

This gentleman lives near me. I waited patiently for six months for him to come over. He showed up last week. Only problem was he decided to try four wheeling through my grape arbor and the horse pasture. Those who have been to my humble hacienda have never had any trouble ascertaining what a concrete driveway is used for or where it’s located. When you come left on final it’s right in front of you. Twenty yards wide.  Line up on the Servant Entrance door. Apparently this gentleman was  confused. Too many secret missions to the future site of Tuy Hoa Airpatch( or was it An Khe) from a SAC base in Nebraska can leave you confused. I guess we had a secret force of B-52s there that maybe needed maintenance? The destruction was extensive. Two very old grape vines and supporting posts. I could eat the  electric fence damage but my grapes were the dealbreaker. Why the grapes looked like the most natural parking area to this fellow will be a question for the ages. When I came out to see what all the dog-barking and ruckus was about, I found this old boy trying to climb a near-vertical embankment. Each failure resulted in him sliding back down and creaming my grape vines. Sisyphus readily comes to mind.

I declined the request for my legal services and refused his offer of remuneration for the damages. He lives in abject poverty and I feel sorry for him.  I recognize him as a regular at our local food bank.

I was in ‘Nam but I don’t want to

file for the lung cancer or the DMII

Secret Operations stories must travel in threes. Any one of these would be a great story over at “This ain’t Hell (but you can see it from here)”. 

Yesterday, a fellow called me up. Seems he was stationed aboard the Connie out on Yankee Station in the Gulf. I needed to get hold of him pronto if I expected to do his claim. Hear? He was there during the USS Turner Joy “friendly fire exercises” that began the Vietnam Boundary Dispute in earnest. He also said he did 90 days ashore and piloted a 60′ supply ship up the rivers on TDY to supply Marines. Up to now we’d been talking about some injury he had out farting around during AIT back in the States before the SEA deployment.  He fell off a cliff and they’d amputated his kneecap. I asked him immediately if he had any other serious medical issues. Yeppers. He had lung cancer and DM II and was nigh on 74.  I immediately suggested he file for them as herbicide presumptives and the lost kneecap. He could get TDIU in a heartbeat with that poker hand.

The tenor of the talk abruptly changed. Suddenly, he felt he was unworthy of filing for the AO presumptives but wanted to pursue the knee claim. Seems he was TDY but there was no way to prove the shore duty. I immediately told him of my success with our mutual Congressman Derek Kilmer and his ability to get all manner of info out of NARA on some of my past Veteran clients-including morning reports showing a body was on shore. At that point, he took a new tack and said ” You know what? I really feel those Iraq/Afghanistan troops deserve that money more than I do so thanks for talking to me.” Click. Wellllllll, hush my mouth and excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me.

I didn’t get a chance to decline my services. I expect his 214 may show Blue Water service but I doubt he ever got the red clay between his toes. That shore duty was for all them good ol’ boys down at the VFW bar. To date, I’ve never had a Vet call me up to tell me he didn’t deserve compensation for his injuries. That’s what FacePlace© is for.

In the 2010 US Government Census, it was self-reported that 10.2 million American Men and Women identified themselves as “Vietnam in-country Vets” -they of the Sacred Band of Red Clay Betwixt the Toes. Oddly, our government bean counters can only identify 2.9 million-many of whom have long since departed for the Happy Hunting Grounds.  Most of the 845,000 of us who still remain here in this mortal vale of tears disremember it being standing room only.

Happy Tet to you all.

And thats all I’m gonna say about that.

 

 

Posted in All about Veterans, Humor, KP Veterans, Stolen Valor, Vietnam War history | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Prominent NYU nephrologist takes an interest in Agent Orange (AO)

Posted on January 25, 2018 by Laura

The FASEB Journal, 1 April, 2014  

April 1, 2014  https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.14-0402ufm

 Publisher:  Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology 

(The photo below is from a different interesting project.)

“From left, Bellevue Literary Publisher Jerome Lowenstein, MD, Editorial Director Erika Goldman, and Editorial Assistant Leslie Hodgkins.” (Now he serves as the Nonfiction Editor for Bellevue Literary Review. Image: NYU  Click for more information.

Dr. Jerome Lowenstein wrote a well-rounded essay, Agent Orange and Heart Disease: Is There a Connection? (LINK to pdf) about his experience helping a Vietnam veteran.  Excerpts:

In August 2011, a patient asked if I would complete a
form that he had received from the Veterans Administration.

It was an Agent Orange Fast Track Claim for
Ischemic Heart Disease. I completed the form, which
requested that I provide evidence that my patient, who
had served in Vietnam and described his exposure to
Agent Orange, had arteriosclerotic heart disease. That
was not difficult, as he had already, at the age of 56,
undergone a coronary artery angioplasty and stent. I
was not aware of a connection between Agent Orange and coronary heart disease.

He provides an overview on Agent Orange and then explains some of the biological processes on humans.

The science behind the decision

It is a story worth telling. As a nephrologist, I have an
interest in chronic renal disease. Although much has
been written about the treatment of chronic renal
failure by dialysis since the ground-breaking work of
Belding Scribner (6), the scientific community has
gradually come to the realization that although dialysis treatment effectively ameliorates the symptoms—nausea, vomiting, itching, confusion, and
weakness—that define “uremia,” the long-term  consequence of chronic renal failure, not corrected by dialysis, is ischemic heart
disease. 

lowenstein PDF  (3-pages)

This essay (with references) has been buried in the massive amount of medical research online but it deserves to be read and tweeted about!

Also see:

NYU “about me” page with BIG photo and links to 90 publications  (LINK)

Author page on Amazon (LINK)

I am grateful to this man for his practice, research, kindness–and for going the extra mile for veterans with his thoughtful essay.  It took about two years for his patient to receive compensation and I have no doubt that he would still be on the hamster wheel if Dr. Lowenstein’s stellar reputation and comments were not a deciding factor.  What VA examiner would dare contradict Dr. Lowenstein?

Good good doctor.

Kiedove

=========================

Related:  NOVA Disability attorneys Matthew Hill & Carol Ponton discussion on AO and kidney disease. The connection between AO, diabetes and kidney cancer as secondary to DMII and  ischemic heart disease as a presumptive AO disease.

(LINK)

“…You need to find a doctor who will look at the medical research, specifically, the chemicals you were exposed to. Anything that happened after service. Like, environmental exposures, or anything that you had hereditary. Meaning, somebody in your family had something similar. If you can role [sic] those out, show that’s service connected. There’s actually a huge piece of evidence out there, provided by the VA*…. have your doctor use that to write a link for you, showing that’s related.
You can service connected for this. You are going to have to fight all the way …”

*They refer to a Louisiana VA Medical Center study I haven’t located yet.

Posted in Agent Orange, AO, Food for the soul, Food for thought, General Messages, Guest authors, Medical News, Nexus Information, non-va care, Vietnam Disease Issues, Vietnam War history | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Sunday evening–shutdown woes

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Laura

Here we go again.  The last shutdown rested with the GOP tea party.  Now it’s the Dems refusing to fund the CR because of their Dreamers cause, as Sen. Blumenthal recently spoke to.  

Last night I did my civic duty and emailed Senators Sanders (I) and Leahy (D) and gave them my views with an emphasis on the negative impact shutdowns have on veterans and the active military.

The Senate is in session, live on C-span (LINK);  Senators McConnell and Schumer have been meeting.  No “deal,” but there may be a vote tonight anyway.  It will take 60 votes to pass a short term funding bill.  Trump will either sign or veto a bill if they send him one.

They all speak with weasel words.  

Image: CLICK to go to CNBC.

Well, we’re not supposed to engage in partisan politics here–there is too much of that going on in D.C..  But your/our influence counts so whatever your opinion is–to fund the government short term (a yes vote), or not to (a no vote)–I would urge you to let your senators know your opinion on this shutdown via your senator’s official website contact form.  Your yays and nays will be counted, discussed, and archived.

Kiedove

Posted in Food for thought, General Messages, Guest authors | Tagged | 12 Comments

SCOTTISH DEFINITION OF SH**HOLE

Posted on January 20, 2018 by asknod

The new Logo…and then Trump changed the  tax laws. Back to the S corp., I’m afraid

I received an email from one of our members further illuminating what constitutes an unequivocal definition of the noun ‘shithole’. Forgive me the scatological associations of the word and focus  your memories on how utterly primative 11 Bravos’ existence once was over in RVN – by and large. Certainly, some of us didn’t notice the temperature and relative humidity fluctuations or served in not-so-shithole countries with amenities like electricity. Nevertheless, this transcends the ages in translation.

Earl of Mulligan circa 1535

Member John Mulligan submits for your reading and educational enlightenment, the following. John claimed ancestry with the Great Scottish Clan of Mulligan who were credited as the originators of Golf.  I secretly had him checked out on Ancesters.com™. Turns out there was a a Mulligan listed on the Mayflower’s Manifest and John’s DNA matched his Ancestral saliva sample so he’s legit. Hey, he may be an asknod member but you vet everybody these days.  People are crazy. Some don’t even believe in Alien abduction and chemtrails. Can you believe that? Anyway, here’s how you can  use Phonics© to better sound out what a shithole assignment is.

1.If your Sargent tells you to update your Gamma Globulin, Yellow Fever, Malaria, Dysentery, Tetanus, Cholera and other painful immunizations–

You might be deploying to a Shithole country

2.If you are told not to waste your time bringing a radio, your cellphone or any other electronics, as there is no electricity or signals–

You might be deploying to a Shithole country

3. If the Travel Pay folks smile when they give you your travel advance and the Per Diem rate is only $8.00/day, for everything…

You might be deploying to a Shithole country

4. If the “Area Cultural” briefing is only 30 minutes long, but the briefing on communicable diseases is 3 hours long–

Yep. Your new Zip Code may be shitsville.

5. If the “Area Cultural” briefing instructs you not to be judgmental and to ignore leaders in the host country who keep young boys or girls as sexual slaves–

You might be deploying to a Shithole country

7. If the “Area Cultural” briefing includes facts that male members of that society have multiple wives, but nevertheless prefer sexual activity with barnyard animals–

You might very well be deploying to a Shithole country

8. If the “Medical Briefing” includes warnings to treat all reptiles and arachnids as poisonous and remind you there are no antidotes in-theatre…

Then you might be deploying to a Shithole country

9. If the AO Cultural Officer warns that staring at a female FORN (Foreign National) more than 10 seconds equates to de facto common law marriage–

You might be deploying to a Shithole country

10. If the DA 1594 Daily Report for your new assignment includes a large box for “Number of Personnel Med-Evacuated” from theater for_______________

You can rest assured you may be deploying to a Shithole country

In our time, they called you up to the Commander’s office and asked if you wanted to volunteer for a cool speshull assignment. If you paused before signing and asked “Where to?” the answer was invariably ” Just sign here, son, and I’ll brief you in on it”.  Your “Is it Remote/Isolated?” was always answered “Just sign here. I’ll tell you all about it. You’re not cleared in yet, boy.”  He did answer my last question -“What’s the casualty rate?”.  40%. Well,  when you’re 19 and you’re doing the math high as a kite on testosterone, 60% survive it. Shooo doggies. Color me signed.

Hmong shotgun marriage proposal

Nowadays, deploments aren’t voluntary. They are cush affairs with generators and Sat phones. Real “houses” with air conditioning, hot and cold beverages and heating at FOBs are the norm. To us, FOB was scotch neat with a water back.   At some OLs, we were forced to chill the Tanqueray® in a mountain stream all day-then come back and try to find it at dusk.  We had to crush quinine tablets and mix them in water to approximate  flat tonic water. Club soda was tonic water with quinine.  Limes? Are ya kidding me? Papaya or bananas were about it. That is the definition of shithole. Well that and the prohibition of even a lingering gaze at a passing Hmong maiden of marriagable age.

I certainly don’t want to impugn our Warriors who still fight over in Iraqistan but calling home in our day required a MARS SSB hookup when (and if) the skip was hitting in Arizona on the 10 meter band. A cell phone was a PRC 100. Alpha 6 was your ‘operator’.   We’ve come a long way baby.

This was our communication with the outside world in 1970.  

 

Posted in Humor, KP Veterans, Military Madness, Vietnam War history | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

CHELSEA MANNING TO RUN FOR US SENATE

Posted on January 15, 2018 by asknod

Former PFC Bradley Edward Manning, now Pvt. Chelsea Elizabeth Manning due to significant ‘gender dysphoria’, has announced her run for a US Senate Seat from Maryland. The former Oklahoma native has recently established legal residence in North Bethesda and it is presumed she seeks the seat of one of their two incumbant  Democratic Senators. She has not announced which party she seeks to represent at this time.

It is unclear as to how her previous court martial will affect her standing. Currently, she is on unpaid leave from the U.S. Army following her pardon by the President and subsequent release after her 7 year ‘staycation’ at the graybar hotel in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. A  future dishonorable discharge, would, on its face, seem to disqualify anyone from holding federal office. Until the legal ramifications are clarified, she intends to press forward with her desire to once more “be all she can be” and proudly serve America again. I applaud her choice.

I believe in letting bygones be bygones and heartily encourage her to seek office from the great state of Maryland. As a former Veteran, regardless of her unclear, muddled  military status now, she deserves the support of all Veterans in Maryland and towards that end, I urge my fellow Veterans there to help her in her bold quest for the candidacy. A noted progressive once pointed out that even a basket of deplorable zebras can change their stripes. I second that emotion and throw my unwavering support behind this courageous man cum woman. Her indomitable spirit and perseverance is a credit to Veterans everywhere.

I expect narrowminded, misguided zealots with a decided sexist bent will weigh in and disparage her aspirations but everyone has to begin rebuilding a shattered career from the ground up. File this one under Judge not lest ye be judged or We live in interesting times.

Posted in Humor | Tagged | 10 Comments

THE UDORN RESEARCH GROUP

Posted on January 14, 2018 by asknod

I belong to very few organizations and for good reason. Any time you attach your name to a group, you embody that group’s beliefs and aspirations. I hight three. I belong to the National Organization of Veterans Advocates, the National Rifle Association (Benefactor member) and lastly the Udorn (RTAFB) Reseach Group or simply the URG.

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P.S. April 12, 2023. To any reading this, obviously the PACT Act recently passed last year negates the fact that VA denied us all these years. Please feel free to refile for this entitlement. Any and all “presumptives” listed in §3.309(e) are now considered to be service connected if you carry a diagnosis of any of them. If you are a surviving spouse of a deceased Veteran, you can file for DIC based on the cause of death being related in any way to any of the diseases listed in the above regulation.

——————————————————————————————————————-

Many who know me recognize why I belong to these groups. My father bought me a life membership in the NRA when I was born in 1951. It wasn’t cheap then and it isn’t now. Such is the price and the courage to defend our heritage. I chose to do the same for my son and  upgraded both our memberships to the highest level of participation when I was able to financially. It’s a worthy endeavor. The NRA is responsible for teaching our police techniques they would not ordinarily encounter. In addition, they have taught untold generations of soldiers and kids the shooting arts and most importantly- gun safety. Seems they could take this program on the road to Chicago but that’s a blog for another day.

Likewise, I joined NOVA for the exact same reasons. No legal group is more focused on helping Veterans attain service connection in America and to my knowledge, there is no like group anywhere in the world devoted solely to the betterment of Veterans law. NOVA’s mission is narrow and focused on one goal. To that end, they provide me with many useful tools including a wide circle of others who are engaged in the same field to discuss and formulate policy and technique. I attend every spring session out here on the Left Coast with Cupcake and am grateful for the friendships I have developed. Quite frankly, I’m amazed that the group is so congenial as some organizations develop factions who advocate against themselves and create animosity where there should be mutual agreement as to the mission.

I have belonged to the Udorn Research Group for a number of years as well. It began as group of individuals who were stationed at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base (RTAFB) who wanted to share their experiences and photos from the base’s inception in 1961 through its eventual closure in 1975. Gradually, that group has grown to encompass any who were stationed at Air Force Bases in Thailand. And well it should. We all share a common heritage born in war.

Gradually, as we all grow older, diseases and illnesses crop up and we look to a reason for them. In our case, many diseases presumptive to Agent Orange exposure in the RVN are rearing their ugly head. Being stationed in Thailand doesn’t give you the presumptive of exposure accorded Vietnam Vets with boots on the ground. Look no further than the rude awakening all the Blue Water Navy Vets got when they applied for benefits due to exposure. Eugene Haas became the poster boy for that one.

Some were inadvertently granted service connection by virtue of being awarded the Vietnam Service Medal early on. Fortunately for them, the VA cannot declare CUE and claw back their awards-or at least they have not yet. I wouldn’t put it past them. Likewise, a small number made it under the wire from Thailand, the Philippines and even Okinawa based on the award of their VSM. Eventually, VA also looked for the award of a Vietnam Campaign Medal which, early on, was only awarded to those in-country for six months or more. Gradually, the award was expanded to include any who had directly supported the war regardless of where they were stationed in Southeast Asia. That’s about when VA decided they needed to give a haircut to entitlement to AO exposure.

About 1998, VA began to notice a major uptick in claims filings for Agent Orange secondaries. In order to squelch this influx and reduce awards, they began to examine their M 21 verbiage, revise it and clean house to rid themselves of the outliers. One of the first to feel this brushoff were the Bluewater Navy folks who were gayly sailing the bounding main in the South China Sea. I submit that this denial logic might have been  justified as most rarely flew missions a) unless they were on flight crews and b) they never flew behind C-123s assigned to Ranchhand AO spray missions. Any deckhand’s claims of getting AO on themselves due to residue from the aircraft were patently bogus. Another argument that mitigated for exposure,which certainly has far more merit, was their water systems drew in seawater through reverse osmosis and “manufactured” fresh water that was contaminated with AO runoff from the numerous rivers. Not. AO is a heavy metal and sinks like a rock into the sediment in the estuaries that spill into the South China Sea. Exellent induration of soils on the mainland along with a very shallow water table allows it to rapidly permeate the water supply and reside there for eons. Witness the plethora of birth defects to this day-over fifty years later. The coastal areas of South Vietnam were barely above sea level. In fact, as an example, Base Ops at Tan Son Nhut was 33 ft. ASL. I snapped this photo while we were refueling one morning in 1970.

images

After numerous battles with Veterans over the years, a list of Navy ships was eventually drawn up with documented records of touching land. These were then granted service connection. Next, certain lines were drawn across estuaries to deliniate what was an inland waterway and what was not. Bingo. Again, another group was disenfranchised out of Cam Ranh Bay. Since most Navy Vets arrived on their respective ships, it was difficult to segregate others who arrived via aircraft to Tan Son Nhut AB and were ferried out to their assigned ships. This further winnowed the list down. For some reason, the VA neglected to consider Rest and Relaxation (R&R) leave on shore at Vung Tau or Australia. How would you find orders showing that? I submit no Aircraft Carrier or Destroyer departed Yankee Station and headed south to Sydney for a week. I rest my case. So does VA.

In the meantime, VA set out to discover who, and who was not, entitled to service connection based on the broader application of the award of the VSM and VCM. There went the Thailand Vets. Extensive investigations by many of these Thai Vets turned up various evidence but none that conclusively showed AO usage at the seven acknowledged bases nor the numerous secret Operating Locations that were never documented anywhere other than on Air Force or AirAm maps. The best Thailand’s Vets could ascertain or prove was that “commercial” or “tactical hebicides” were deployed. Very few of these Thai Vets have won their AO claims which drew my attention to determine why.

As an aside, I have realized over the years that photos of jetguns could not prove the existence of Hepatitis C virus on the nose of a gun. A black and white photo showed a Vet getting inoculated and nothing more. Similarly, a guy standing in front a hootch could have been photographed in Okinawa- or Clark- just as easily as it could have been taken in Phu Cat-or Udorn. A photo does not a nexus make. Unfortunately, very few of these photos show the defoliation of the perimeters to prove the use of herbicides. A bulldozer or lawnmower can scrape the land as efficiently as AO.

Which brings us to the URG. Over the last few years I have contributed advice, a generalized “buddy” letter and photos of some of my wanderings around Thailand and Laos. I have shared this information with the group and noticed there was absolutely no change in the battle plan to win service connection. Virtually to a man ( but not to exclude any round-eye members), they cling to a belief that the ticket to a win is photographic proof, CHECO reports and proof of duty on the perimeters of the bases. Any and all advice I offer on VA law is met with derision or outright guffaws. The last straw was a fellow telling me to quit publishing mistruths and to change my “opinion” to comport with his highly regarded “opinion” that any who served on the perimeter via proof of their AFSC/MOS were automatically entitled to “presumptive exposure”. The actual mistruth I am asked to retract to comport with accepted URG orthodoxy is the  belief that Thai Vets’ need  an IMO/nexus letter to prove exposure on a direct basis (i.e. 38 CFR §3.303(a)(d)) versus the URG philosophy of a  more liberalizing  interpretation of §§3.303(b), 3.307(a) and 3.309(e).  Wishing doesn’t work in this poker game. Neither does bluffing.

Here is Mr. McCay’s reasoned opinion and my reply.

Presumptive exposure

Today, I spotted yet another who insisted that “brushkillers” were analogous to herbicide agents -ergo merely calling AO a brushkiller was documented proof of the use of Agent Orange in Thailand. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over?

Special attention to Mr Graham

Here’s the document that “proves” AO was used in Thailand

_AFATL-TN-70-1 (1)

Hey. I don’t mind getting called out when I step on my necktie. Shit happens and I might disremember the regulations after a few adult beverages. Here, I rarely do so. AO is one of my staples as well as SMC and CUE. I can smell it, sense it and detect it from afar. Hell. I ate it, breathed it and drank it for two years. I have Porphyria Cutanea Tarda rated at 100%. I think I speak from a position of authority. I began coughing up blood a year after I landed. You might catch me out on PTSD or favorable ankylosis. For that reason and others I won’t go into here,  I don’t include those in my repertoire.

For all my brothers in the URG, I wish to say I have no ulterior motives. I am defininitely not shopping for customers to represent before the VA. I have plenty to go around. Just ask Dan Smith, Bob Walsh and a host of other NOVA attorneys. I hand out candidates who come to me like Halloween candy. I simply cannot serve everyone. But I must say it does irk me when someone with no training or knowledge calls me out and tells me I’m a boob and/or poorly educated vis-à-vis VA regulations. I’d allow as you can call me Buckwheat or late for dinner but I draw the line there. I reckon this diatribe might get me booted from the URG membership but a man has to stand up to this tomfoolery.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Posted in Agent Orange, All about Veterans, AO, DM II, KP Veterans, Porphyria Cutanea Tarda, SMC, VA Agents, VA Attorneys, Vietnam Disease Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

VA CLAIMS–CASE, CONTROVERSY AND THE VIOLIN

Posted on January 9, 2018 by asknod

I read a lot of claims and appeals to better understand and absorb VA law. I often ascribe an apt analogy to a VA claim- it’s a recipe- just like baking cookies. You would never go off the reservation and cut a new legal trail to win a VA claim by ignoring the necessary ingredients (Caluza, Shedden, Hickson requirements) because that would be futile. The same holds true for baking a cake. If it calls for baking powder and you’re out, you don’t substitute baking soda solely because they sound the same. I speak from experience. You could have broken windows with my cake. I had to bake a new one correctly to get my Bear Badge for Cub Scouts. That was in 1958 and a lesson that sunk in.

In VA law, similarly, you are tasked with “building” a claim. I’ve taught thousands of you how to do this since the recipe light bulb went on over my head in 2007. It’s a sobering moment when you realize you’ve been beating a dead horse for nineteen years and it suddenly dawns on you why others doing this have won with little fanfare and even less effort.

One of my cohorts in the biz sent me several decisions recently. In each, the Vet showed up on his doorstep after expending some extensive frequent flyer miles on the VA Hamster wheel.  What both the decisions pointed to was a lack of case or controversy and a strong helping of violin music-aka how long the Vet had persevered in pursuit of his benefits and everything but pointing to egregious violations of VA regulations (case) or misconstrual of evidentiary fact (controversy). Case and/or controversy are the bookends that hold a claim or appeal together legally. In fact, they are also the meat and potatoes of Clear and Unmistakable Error (CUE) claims. We live or die by these standards of legal review.

 The Yoda Technique

Nevertheless, in VA jurisprudence, failure to assert error appropriately or to dispute material findings of fact with sustainable rebuttal will result in ultimate failure. As Yoda said on Dagobah one day (in a galaxy far away) “Do. Or do not. To try implies inevitable failure.” Oh what the hey. Maybe he didn’t say it. He should have. It would certainly seem (and sound) more profound emanating from his pie hole. Similarly, if you have no legal or factual leg to stand on, getting the sympathy violin out and trying to evoke tears of compassion from a DRO or a Veterans Law Judge is equally as futile as a halfhearted try at jacking an X-wing fighter out of the soup. Ditto the CAVC or Fed. Circus. If you ain’t got no ammo, it makes for a pretty silent machine gun. Sympathy, as a legal defense, is a dry hole.

We all know the proper recipe- or should by now. I will grant that a majority of the 146 Veterans Service Organizations chartered by Congress might not have received that email yet but it has been disseminated. Granted the 2001 VCAA wasn’t grossly explicit in discussing the minutiae of the Hickson elements but enough Veterans blogs, including this one, have pounded on the drum of requirements to the point of redundancy. That the importance of the requirements still eludes some explains why Congress finally let attorneys and Agents in to help out.

SYMPATHY AS A LEGAL PLOY

Sympathy at the VA is not in short supply. No siree, Bob. Read any denial letter and you’ll see VA is très careful to let you down gently. Boy howdy they sure don’t want you to depart post haste from your mailbox to the VAMC/Veterans “Service Center” or Community Based Outpatient Clinic(CBOC) nearest you and develop a bad case of self-inflicted lead poisoning due to sucking on a .45 calibre lollipop after you receive the ULUZ letter. Sadly, this is increasingly common.

Those Dear John letters now are replete with an upbeat “Thank you for your uncompromising effort to keep America free by your military service. Without you, America would be in a world of shit. While we’re on that subject, we’d like to take the time to point out that your claim is, too. We tried like the devil to make this pig fly but we were simply unable to. The DAV putting lipstick on the pig didn’t improve things.  The fact is, John,  your evidence just didn’t cut it. Fortunately for you, the law permits us to take another gander at it-but only if and when you refile to reopen it. Our door is always open. Y’all come back now. Hear?” Sympathy and $5.50 will get you a killer cup of coffee at Starducks©. However, it cannot be a substitute for probative evidence and a bulletproof nexus letter/IMO.

I was called in just before Christmas to put out a BVA appeals fire. A gal had lost her husband to a nasty cancer with their claim on the cusp of a decision in D.C. She performed admirably before the VLJ at the Travel Board Hearing considering she was essentially pro se with no magic paper or viable argument. Worse, Glioblastomas are not on the list of CJCW (Camp LeJeune Contaminated Water) diseases. Perhaps you folks don’t know this but representation by a VSO is not considered “legal representation” any more than dressing up as a cop on Halloween makes you one. DAV was busy that day or I suppose they would have trotted out a minder to argue for the Benefit of the Doubt in her defense. Shoot. Maybe they did. I disremember. Oddly, the VLJ in question, her honor Ursula R. Powell, took pity on this woman and gave her some breathing room by deferring the inevitable “No way in Hell”” and asking for an Independent Medical Evaluation (IME). This is one of those rare occasions when the sympathy violin worked like a charm. It bought her enough time to call me and prepare a counterattack. And counterattack we did. Yessssssssssssssss.

As King Canute discovered to his dismay, you cannot hold the tide or justice back from its inevitable course. As promised, that new BVA-requested IME arrived back licketyspit December 26th and was negative. It did not support her and her now-deceased husband’s contentions that his glioblastoma was service connected on a presumptive basis due to all those Camp LeJeune additives they enhanced the water with to help build strong Marines’ bodies twelve different ways. I guess there was no Gomer Pyle surprise there, huh? Calling any VA IMO or IME “independent” is as defective semantically as describing MREs as Meals, Ready to Eat. In the latter instance, it amounts to three lies in one sentence. A VA IMO usually runs to at least two pages.

Fortunately for us, VBA  often can’t even communicate to their personnel the proper way to write a nexus letter or IME that passes muster. VA’s first attempt with a lady doctor at the Agency level was a daisy. She used Wikipedia™ for some of her cites. In addition, in violation of Norris, Moody, Roberson and Hodges, she cited only to risk factors regarding  Camp LeJeune’s Aqua Vitae and ignored any discussion on direct service connection (a la Combee v. Brown). To add insult to injury, when you get the vapors in the heat of writing an IMO, you might try to avoid referring to vinyl chloride as “polyvinyl chloride”. When that happens it makes you look like an ignorant boob. This is not a sexist comment. In my day, no gender association or demeaning allusion (other than stupidity) attached to the comment. Our parents also called the TV a “boob tube”. Little did they know that misnomer would metastasize into HD boob reality in the present day. In any event, it reduced the credibility and probative value of the “independency” of her IMO. VA likes to employ the term ‘speculative” as in ‘farfetched’ when we do it. It’s satisfying to see the shoe on the other foot.

True to Judge Powell’s word, a Judas VA doctor was standing in the wings awaiting his 34 pieces of silver (COLA increase). In this case it was a doctor named Mohammad Khalil of Oke City fame. He gets $240 K a year for doing this in his spare time in addition to his regular duties as a VA doctor. Now, you’d think anybody such as this famous Amos would have a list of MD², FACS and about sixty other initials after his name to signify he was sooooooome kind of IME Wunderdoc. Negatory. He was so humble he even tried to obscure the fact he was employed by the VA by subtly referring to himself as

“Hematology and Oncology Physician

Medical Service, Oklahoma VAHCS

Clinical Assistant Professor, Univ. of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center”

Sure sounds like humble pie to me except for the rooster crowing at the end. I looked it up on the Google map and it’s hard to discern where the UO Health Sciences Center grounds end and the Ok City VAMC begins. Independent my ass. His nexus was as equally flawed as VA’s first attempt. He plagiarized heavily off the other gal’s original one. He evoked the “rabbit out of the hat” trick of ‘absence of evidence is therefore negative evidence’. It didn’t fly at the Fed Circus in McLendon and I doubt it will here. Simply running on to two or three pages reciting that there is no proof that chemical X causes Cancer Y is not demonstrable proof it never occurs. Worse, failing to even squander a sentence or two on peer-reviewed articles that mention it in passing makes the IME as probative as tits boobs on a boar hog. I wrote this up in a great blog to get this legalism across back in 2011. Check out Kahana v. Shinseki.

Fortunately for this gal, I have a fairly new resource on my rolodex. I would loosely call it “Dial-a-Nexus”. I pushed the pronto button to Adam and had a killer IMO in my hands in less than two weeks. As most know, there are a few Nexus Letter writers out there who will do this for $6-10,000. I won’t mention any names. You probably know who I’m referring to. Adam’s stable of IMO writers do this for a guaranteed $2 K as fast as you can say Jack Robinson-by legitimate doctors who do have a gazillion letters after the MD². We shall see what transpires. I’ll get back to you with an after action write up on the KHA/WHA.

As the appeal was advanced on the Board’s docket prior to the Veteran’s passing, it will continue that way and be heard soon. Better yet, as it is at the Board, we asked them to nail it down there with a Waiver of Review in the First Instance in order to prevent a War of the IMEs back and forth and a one year remand back to the Regional level. The score is currently two private doctors in favor without any supporting rationale, one IMO from a Wikipaedia Doctor, VA’s rebuttal IME by a proctologist(?) cum oncologist-for-a-day and our newest IMO from our whizbang oncologist. Sometimes the beauty of the Ex Parte form of Justice is that it can be transposed.  This is one of those times when we get the last word in edgewise and VA cannot rebut it with another bogus IME that desperately tries to cast aspersions on ours.

Here’s our take on the subject.

Filed IMO to BVA 1-8-2018 redacted

Today’s teaching moment was brought to you by the true makers and shakers of VA justice. And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

P.S. We won on 3/18/2018. https://www.va.gov/vetapp18/files3/1815897.txt

 

Posted in Camp Lejeune poisoning, IMOs/IMEs, VA Agents, Waiver of Review in the First Instance | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

VA-DON’T STAND SO CLOSE TO ME

Posted on January 1, 2018 by asknod

Willie and Alex in the Man Cave being politically incorrect.

Great Police song. I was humming it when I went in to the Seattle Regional Office last Thursday to report for fingerprinting and my Criminal Background Investigation (CBI) check. I told the gal doing the fingerprinting that the OGC had a pretty intense CBI already in their files that they ran on me for my Agent accreditation. Seemed they could just reuse the old one as it’s barely a year old.  Nope. VBA doesn’t trust OGC. They want their own CBI.  Do any of you in the Industry realize just how assbackwards this is? VA is aspiring to make sure VA Agents and attorneys are above board when their very own employees are busy shredding evidence, denying en masse via the Fully Developed Claims program and a host of other sins like addicted pharmacists and VISN directors getting busted for DWIs. 

Life can’t get any more humorous than this. That’s why it’s difficult to keep a straight face visiting at the RO when all the employees are grinning from ear to ear as they arrange your Texas-style Necktie Party. Only at the VA can you have a dismal approval rating of 15% of all claims submitted and point to it as evidence the system “works”. Where else but in a Government-run agency can you spend $1,000,000 over twenty years denying a claim for tinnitus- only to eventually cave in and grant it at 0%- and then point to that as validation that you are a bulwark against the injustices perpetrated upon Veterans? Idiot’s delight.

 

Devious Maids

In a different vein, Happy New Year. My Cupcake has me watching what can only be described as a chick flick- only a series- on  Roku© Hulu called Devious Maids. It’s about Beverley Hills Hispanic Maids and their escapades with their employers. Cupcake enjoys these shows, and to humor her, I started watching.

My observations:

The shows positively drip estrogen. I could feel my breasts grow a complete cup size after one episode. I began to crave chocolate. The next day I became depressed and got the vapors-not once but three times-accompanied by deep sighs. That third time I had to call my best friend to help me get through it. It was brutal.

Someone is getting whacked, stabbed, dismembered or rendered room temperature in every show and it becomes addicting beyond words. For an extra $5, you can download the whole package commercial-free. It’s well-worth it because you can cram not one but two episodes in every night before retiring.

As for all you VA law dogs and agents with LLCs- my tax accountant/son says convert  to an S corp. to avoid a tremendous tax liability. LLCs are going to get whacked to the tune of 69% but the new corporate rates of 21% will be easier on the pocketbook come April 15th.

 

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Happy New Year

Posted on December 31, 2017 by Laura

click…

The count down to the Times Square traditional ball dropping will begin soon.  I think this photograph on Instagram is a cheerful sight.  The New Year has already been welcomed in many parts of the world and our U. S. Eastern time zone is next.  

“As the famous New Year’s Eve Ball descends atop One Times Square, an estimated one million people in Times Square, millions nationwide and over a billion watching throughout the world are united in bidding collective farewell to the departing year and expressing joy and hope for the year ahead.”

This celebration is free to watch online if you’ve cut the cable.  (LINK)

Enjoy tomorrow wherever you are.  God bless America!

Kiedove

 

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

HADIT.COM RADIO SHOW THURSDAY

Posted on December 27, 2017 by asknod

Well, what an honor. John and Jerrell have invited me to be the last guest of the year on Hadit radio show series. I am honored. Remarkably, I also report tomorrow to the Seattle Regional Office for my official photo shoot, fingerprinting and submission for VBMS access.

I expect it will be some time before I actually get my VBMS spurs. Knowing VA, they probably hire the cheapest Criminal Background Investigation (CBI) outfits in town. Which is passing strange. The Office of General Counsel puts VA Agents/nonattorney practitioners through precisely the same meatgrinder to obtain our accreditation. Seems VA could save a passel of money by simply calling the OGC up and asking for a copy. They do this to attorneys as well as agents (the CBI for the VBMS access) whereas the OGC figures anyone who wants to be an accredited VA attorney is legitimate. Who in their right mind would go out and create $225,000 in Pell Grant debt to become a VA attorney?

It’s also interesting to consider why VA might consider an Agent more likely to be a felon or convicted child molester. Oddly, they also subject VA attorneys to this VBMS CBI treatment. I’m surprised this hasn’t been the subject of a lawsuit by a law dog. What an unmitigated insult.

Anyway, John, Jerrell and I will discuss the ins and outs of all these intriguing end-of-year enigmas, make new prognostications of what VA holds for the future and talk about whatever comes in from inquisitive callers.

Same Bat Day— Thursday

Same Bat Time— 1600 Hrs on the Left Coast and 1900 Hrs on the (L)east Coast. Subtract for the correct time on the fruited plains of Middle America.

Same Batty hosts— John and Jerrell

Same Blawgtawk English announcer

347-237-4819 plus the number 1

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