There is probably no way to divide the ones who now have various cancers, diabetes, etc. from Agent Orange, from those who would have gotten these diseases anyway. It is a fact that these men have definitely higher rates of certain diseases than non-veterans (and veterans who were not stationed in these areas) who are the same ages. It is also a fact that these are all health problems found in the general population at these ages. I think some common sense needs to be used, it is highly unlikely a person who had one short stop in VietNam is suffering from Agent Orange symptoms, unless his ship was carrying it. But since so much of this country did not seem to have any gratitude for our soldiers who served in VietNam at the time, perhaps it is time we assume responsibility for their health problems now, realizing that it is certain that VietNam and Agent Orange did cause an unknown but significant number of them.

I am also one of the millions of Americans who served in Viet Nam and am now enjoying the benefits of this service. I have high blood pressure, diabetes, had a cancerous kidney removed in June, 2010; I also enjoy having all the side effects of diabetes: heart trouble, stroke, declining vision and overall poor health. I sat through two days of run-arounds at the VA clinic in Columbus, Oh, three years ago and became disgusted with the obvious lack of care and concern of the myriad interviewers employed by the VA. If I would have been grossly overweight, a drug addict and alcoholic I would have probably got past the first stage of the process. I guess I'll remain a patriotic American and support my country and our troops wherever they may be assigned. Our generation of the believers in "My country, right or wrong, still my country" are slowly dying out and our replacements are sorely lacking in numbers. I would have liked to have seen some of the offspring of our ruling elite serving alongside me in 'Nam, but guess that is another dream for another time and generation.

I am a 100% disabled veteran. I spent a year in the jungles breathing this crap they called a defoliant. I developed, after 20 years, non-hodgkins lymphoma. I've lost my spleen, been through 5 years of chemo and I deserve everything I'm being awarded. After seeing my family crying at my bedside when I was told I had 6 months to live, having to spend thousands of my own money in treatment waiting for the VA to get off their butts and approve me, anything I get is not enough. I have blood clots, neuropathy, went through a bone marrow transplant and by God I'm going to hang around long enough to make sure my spouse of 40 years is not left destitute. They would like to bury this issue and I guess when we are all dead, they will. But Gulf War syndrome and PTSD will plague the many current soldiers. They also deserve everything they have coming.

As far as Im concern, regardless of service, it is a small price to pay for are Vet's. How about we cut off services to the illegals and free loaders that we current provide services for. I say tirm some fat out of the buget and move it to the VA. With the number of Vet's growing every day we need to care for them in the future.

Father of a Vet

The Right thing to do is to shut down dangerous chemical production. Plastics are ruining the quality of life and health.

well i only have one thing to say , take your self on down to the nearest va medical center and hospital , sit your ass down and watch for 2 or 3 hours as the old warriors walk past you (the ones that still have legs to walk anyways) thank your god that their are still men who will go to some @!$%# of a country and lay down their lives for the people who live their . to the @!$%# who drank agent orange ! your a lieing sob ! ap has their numbers wrong ! 2.5 million served 800,000 are already dead (1/3) 1/3 or 800,000 says fk the va i do not want anything to do with them sorry sob`s, so we have 800,000 left only 1/2 of them or 400,000 draw any money ( most of them 10% to 30% ) . as of august 2010 their are only 8,000 vets drawing agent orange related benefits from special monthly compensation which does not come out of tax payers pockets .

Why are the modern vets falling apart when WW11 vets came home, married got a job, had kids and did not have the health problems that our vets have today. Must be bad military food, drugs, booze and fighting wars that do not have a purpose. Historically our fighting guys fight to win battles that will protect our country not just to fight and kill people in a foreign land who are just trying to protect their own homeland. Killing people without having a good reason creates emotional problems for many of our troops on the ground.

I was still in school during the war. Lots of people died, or injured for life. Give these men what they deserve, take care of those who layed down their lives to help stop commuisiem. they deserve the best and all from this country.

Can anyone remember that the government spent millions buying up whole towns in this country just because of dioxin contamination, while still telling the veterans and serving military that there was no danger? I proudly served in Vietnam with the USMC and feel if we get sick we should be taken care of.

Some died in Nam, some were killed, and went home to die. Look at the children of nam vets, check out Agent Orange Legacy, and see the sad stories. But the press has always denigrated the Viet Nam veterans. They are starting on these iraq and afganistan vets too. One day there will be a war, and no one will show up.

I know a vet that has no family history of diabetes, no predisposing factors such as belly fat, and no other reason to have diabetes except for one; exposure to agent orange. So while experts may be skeptical, these men deserve the best care we can give them; otherwise they would be doomed by rejection by our greedy, for profit only, insurance companies. There is no safety net. These men have other health problems related to agent orange and diabetes complications. If we had low cost health care for all it wouldn't be such a big deal. But thanks to the Republican insurance lobby, we have a system that thrives on rejection of claims to increase profits.

Senator Jim Webb, bonafide war hero, is a hypocrite as he enjoys wide ranging access to the federal health care net available to all the DC pols. He was seriously wounded and enjoys a very high disability rating from the VA as well. Not so fortunate are those Marines who served under him and who are entering their sixties facing ailments linked to agent orange. Only five hundred thousand of us served in country Vietnam and a bunch of us are already gone. Given the slow movement of the federal machine I submit the problem will largely disappear before a law takes such an earned benefit from the deserving veterans who went in harms way for this country. In seventeen months there I saw a great many friends lost and today I hear daily of more going into the end game. Save federal dollars but not on our backs Jim.

My husband a viet nam vet- 68-69. Suffered a heart attack at age 49. While going in for procedures, a nurse came back in the room and asked if he had been in viet nam and when I replied yes, she asked when,recorded it.now this was some 12 years ago- so they know there is some connection. He receives nothing at this time. He has hearing problems. But supposedly not because of receiving no hearing protection when fireing a m16 or mortors.I say to those who feel a price tag for benefits for serving your country is to high- maybe you need to look at welfare lines and illegals and take their funding and give it to someone who made sure you could be free. This is a land of the free because of the brave.maybe our politicians need to pay for their insurance and retirement pkgs and give the benefits to those who served and deserve assistance.

It's hard to believe that a question of price tag for serving your country is even a issue. Some veterans don't even get veterans day off- but non service folks do - there is something wrong with that picture.

Serving your country is a honor ,and should be honored .

I served two years in Vietnam. There is no record of diabetes on either side of my family. I have never been overweight, much less obese. I got plenty of exercise all my life. Yet I developed Type 2 Diabetes in my early sixties for no apparent reason. The only reason I can come up with is exposure to Agent Orange.

I agree that someone who was "Boots on the ground" only 8 hours is suspect, but where was he? Was he in Cu Chi? Long Binh? Any of the other areas that were heavily 'defoliated'? He could have gotten diabetes with just a small amount of Agent Orange in the area.

My husband is also 100% disabled via TDIU (anyone who knows VA math knows that you have to be about 300% actually disabled to get to 100% rated disabled). He has diabetes, ED, high blood pressure, aneurysms, heart problems, PTSD, anxiety, etc. He would not have had ANY of these most likely if he had not spent almost 2 years in Vietnam. He also has skin cancer which is disfiguring and recurring, but because the VA doesn't see skin cancer as an Agent Orange problem (although it was seen in Operation Ranch Hand as an issue) he cannot get compensated for it.

The VA, while compensating for some things, drags their heels on others. I am currently going to school to become a social worker with the express purpose of working for the VA to help veterans who get frustrated at the system get what they deserve.

Where do you think the drinking water that was also used for food preparation came from? Spray it on the jungles and it winds up in the rivers! Read the Zumwalt report-the dioxin was created when the chemical companies heated up the process to make the herbicide faster. Send them the bill along with the WS bonus bankers. And don't forget the Vets at bases in surrounding countries where AO was sprayed around the perimeter. Its time for the country to "MAN UP" for the things done to Vets.

i hope we all know who introduced/created the wonderful agent orange?????? monsanto....the megaglomaniac co. behind the genetically modification of your foods/seeds....and good ol handy dandy roundup...

I am one of those Viet Nam vets who receive compensation for agent orange related illness. In 2006 some 30 years after leaving RVN I developed lymphoma. It broke my leg and now I have a rod running from knee to my hip and moderate pain. I would never argue I deserve it but neither would I agrue I don't. The money, however, did help keep me from homelessness throughout the 9 month ordeal of surgery and chemo. I would bet that many of the vets who are receiving benefits would have no health care care and many would be joining the ranks of the homeless themselves if it not for the VA. I would also add a comment about the fine work of the veterans organizations in handling claims at no cost. It was the Disabled American Veterans who secured my compensation within 3 months of filing. My experience with the VA health system has been entirely positive. They treat you with great respect and provide a model for universal health care. Locally they also enjoy the respect of the private practice community. These are some top docs. A greater problem is the many who have been denied benefits. Those who have suffered injury that are more diretly related to their service. And they are younger facing a lifetime of disability. I for one am encouraged by the President Obama's appointment of General Shinseki to head the VA. Yes it is expensive but shouldn't war be expensive. Maybe this is a way to discourage such ventures. Better we should pay a portion of taxes to vets than to hand over our life savings to a bunch of Wall Street suits.

I was a Marine Guard on a Naval Ammunition Base in 1970-1971, every once in awhile we would go on sweeps and would find the high grass was wet, not only later did we find out it was Agent Orange but the toxic chemicals, hundreds were found by the EPA it was place on the Superfund List. Most chemicals found were cancer causing, they also produced Nuclear missles there without telling anyone, many people that were stationed there have died and many have gone out on disability, many of the chemicals were VOC's, benzine, lead and many others found in the dust, drinking water and dumped in the ground. Back in those days the officers never informed enlisted personnel what was happening at any time, we would swim there, eat there, bathe there, patrol on foot and in vehicles. Mainside was 10,000 acres and the waterfront was 7,500 acres connected by a road.

Today Im 100% DV, diabetes II, peripheral neuropathy, blurred vision, loss of balance, vomit regularly, diahrrea, pain all over every day mostly joints. I never set foot in Vietnam my base was very active in supporting the war through bombs, rockets etc that were shipped and flown there, I cannot hold a job, memory problems, acts of violence, HTN, seizures. I have to walk with a cane, I don't have any Purple Hearts only a NDSM but have all these medical conditions that I believe were caused by Agent orange and other toxins on that base. The VA is doing a great job for me I have no complaints.

if the vet had kids in the 60 during that time of agent orange. and they are getting payed for it through the goverment . dont u think that maybe they gave it to there kids . it did change the make of of there DNA at the time and gave them diebetes, and cancer so who to say that they did not pass it down to there kids . and what did they pass down to their kids . so is the govement going to help the kids that have this stuff to are we going to get a check in the mail to because of are dads or mom that served in that time and now being in are 40-50 we have that stuff to it was pass down to us to

 Unfortunately too many Vietnam era vets still will have nothing to do with VA as many years ago they went to Va and got the run-around . I volunteer with the DAV to help vets and family members and I see so many of the VN. era guys starting to show up with long standing issues. I have to encourage them to stay in the fight for fairness--the benefits are not a free handout.

As for the Ranch hand guy who claimed to have drank AO--good luck. I spent 7 1/2 years incountry

and saw what the AO did--even the VN gov't shows there are still terrible effects on the people int he areas sprayed--it did a number on us and was the greater enemy for all of us.

My dad is currently enduring 12 chemo treatments for his colon and now stage 4 liver cancers. He was in country in 68' and 69' and has told me numerous stories about how he would fill his canteen from streams that had a slick of Agent Orange on them. The planes would fly over the Central Highlands and Quang Tri Province areas with impunity. How about we thank a veteran for the horrific things they have to pay for emotionally and continue paying for the needed medical care that they desperately need. Although I would never want the job of a soldier because of what my dad goes through daily, I respect and I’m willing to pay for care (as a taxpayer) that our Veterans have to endure. I recently spent time in the VA with my dad and before you judge how much care costs please take a look at how sick the patients are there.

oh well here i am 62 years old 2 strokes in 04 left side of body dead and in 8 pain 24 7s oh how could you be in pain your taking 15 pills a day, oh by the way used my pension from my local building trade at 57 1400 a month now 120 because i sevred in the nam 9th inf div. oh your strokes are from cigarette smoking, the va determines give me 20% for diabetes now 30% for right leg neoropathy. wow my appeal for the strokes secondary to diabetes appeal was in sept. o5 just got to washington this june got remanded back to correct many many errors. got 5 smokes 3 times a day in c rations a sundry box with as i remember soap shave cream etc. oh 20 cartons of smokes, huh 59 men in my forward maint unit in the ----in boonies. oh hgba1c test by admitting doc was a 8.9 major diabetic 3 to 4 months probably years is what caused my strokes. still waiting they owe me or my wife currently as i figure 211,000.00 back pay to 07 09 04. bunch of b.s. deny till the vietnam vet dies his claims will die with him. no not quite write i was the mosquito sprayer on our 1 acre base and also sprayed the village of ben luc. ok just follow the directions oh we are using a 3/4 ton truck weld rack on bed strap 2 55 gallon drums fill 50 diesel fuel in one the other 50 ao copper tube over roof of truck hole saw hood drill out hot exhaust manifold, ok start truck burn both woooooo lots of smoke killls all mosquitos and birds chickens etc. would like to try spraying the idiots making decisions at east 9th st , then have them readucate my claim fed up but still upright,here in cleveland , ohio may god be with us +fact 2mill 700 thous boots on thye ground about 650thou still breathin what a sad way to say thank you to all vets god bless america