USAF C-123 Ranch Hands and Agent Orange Related Illnesses
 

During Vietnam Years, the USAF conducted defoliation operations using C-123's and in the process sprayed millions of gallons of various Defoliants among which was "Agent Orange" which contains Dioxin, a chemical substance known to cause multiple types of very serious and oft times fatal illnesses.

Of all the various units and personnel that have been granted "Presumptive Exposure" Status by the US Veterans Administration, the Ranch Hands themselves have not been granted that status.

Despite their daily close contact with the Chemical in all forms they of all exposed do not get the Presumptive Status which means they have to "Prove" the link between their Illnesses to that exposure.

That results in long delays in the VA making a Decision on their Claim and delays in many cases, treatment for the illness.

This is one guy's website that is devoted to the issue and contains a great deal of information about Agent Orange, the Ranch Hands, C-123, and the VA Medical Care and Compensation system in dealing with Agent Orange related illnesses.

Tens of Thousands of us who served in Vietnam are afflicted with the results of our exposure to Agent Orange thus it is real issue and not one that is imagined.

A related issue is Gulf War Syndrome, yet another medical problem that the VA has attempted to deny every since Veterans of that Conflict reported the onset of mysterious ailments.

The VA, as in PTSD and Agent Orange, has resisted admitting the problems even existed and by doing so have denied Veterans proper care and treatment by ignoring the problem.

Major Carter's web site address is at the end of the Army Times Article

http://www.armytimes.com/article/201...-Orange-claims

Morals??????? Such is how governments deal with issues. The British refused to cough up to pay for decontamination of the atomic test sites in Australia, or to recompense Australian personnel brought down with illness and foreshortened lives by radiation and contaminants. The British insisted that they had made sufficient information available to Australian authorities to permit informed decisions, and that the agreement of 1968 and 1979 absolved them of further responsibility.

Mind you, the Australian government did everything it could to avoid recompense to individuals as well. By October 1986, a total of 272 claims arising from the testing program had been registered. The Commonwealth government, concerned over the possibility of having to defend common law actions alleging negligence in its involvement in the testing program, vigorously contested each claim. Of the 126 cases in which determinations had been made, claims were denied in 116 cases, and liability was found in only 10, two of which related to causes other than radiation exposure. Common law damages were sought by a few claimants, but the likelihood of success seemed low. Public assurances that the nuclear veterans were being well looked after did not appear to be borne out in the courts and hearing rooms of Australia.

And then don't you also have the DU / other illness - Gulf War Syndrome
that became another battle ?

Yup. Reasons ranging from exposure to depleted uranium (A-10) to some of the pre deployment shots along with those received shortly after arrival to everything else in between.

Man I hated those shots. The "two stepper" was as advertised. Make it about two feet before you had to sit down for a spell.