I don't know the history very well on it. I was one of these people that were just in the dark about it. And, frankly, like most people, when I got back from Vietnam, I just wanted to put it in my rearview mirror as quick as I could and get away from it. But I know there was a fight, and it probably culminated in the 1990s. And the late '90s is when things started to come into place and the government acknowledged that, yeah, these diseases more likely than not were the result of Agent Orange exposure. It's a dioxin. It was an herbicide used to kill off foliage to deny the enemy cover, basically. The reason it was called Agent Orange is it was stored in barrels that had an orange stripe on them.
Was it in the air, the water, maybe even in the food supply?
In my case I'm sure it was in the water that we used, and I presume it was on the foliage and in the dirt. Yeah, it was just there, and it was a lot of chemicals. I read it can stay around for years. I don't know if there was any one source attributed to how you come in contact with it. I think they mixed fuel oil or diesel fuel in with it so it would not evaporate and would adhere to foliage and things. A few times when I was in the field, I could actually smell what I thought was diesel fuel, and I never had any idea what that was all about. It was very faint, but it was very clear. It smelled like being around the pumps at a gas station with diesel fuel.
After you got back, you didn't have any immediate problems. How long was it before your disease appeared?
It was exactly 30 years after I got back that I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. I was diagnosed very early. The reason we caught it early was that I got pneumonia twice and that surprised the doctors. They dug a little deeper and found out there was something wrong with my antibodies. The diagnosis was multiple myeloma. They were surprised by that, too. This is usually a disease that strikes men in their 70s and older, and I was 52. They didn't speculate on where it had come from, but I always wondered after that. Some people when they get cancer ask, "Well, why me?" I got it, and I just couldn't understand why now. I had that on my mind. That was in 2000, and it wasn't until 2003 that someone said, 'You know, you should go talk to your county Veterans Service officer.' My claim was approved as 100 percent service-connected
What was the story on that? Did you run into somebody in a parking lot?
Yeah, it was quite by chance that I learned about it, and it just happened to be somebody that took the initiative to point it out to me. I was waiting in the parking lot to pick up my car at the mechanic’s. This lady looked at me because I didn't have any hair. I had just finished some chemo with my stem cell transplant. Then she looked at the car, and it had Vietnam veteran license plates. She came up and told me her husband had died of a disease that was associated with Agent Orange exposure. She told me I should talk to my Veterans Service officer. I didn't do it right away, but I thought about it for a week or two, and realized I should check into this. I probably would have learned about it sometime, but I don't know when. The benefits don't start until you submit the claim, so it was helpful that I learned sooner rather than later. So that's my interest in getting the word out to people. Maybe they know somebody that's a Vietnam veteran and I’m trying to give them a nudge to check into this and see if it takes them somewhere.
What are some other possible ways to get the word out? What if there were intake forms or something in doctors' offices where they could ask if you are a Vietnam veteran?
I know physicians have a lot on their minds, but if there was a way that physicians, say in hematology, would be alerted by patients who are 60-ish with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or multiple myeloma to ask the patient if they’re a Vietnam veteran. And if they say yes, they should refer them to their Veterans Service officer. In large medical places like Mayo I was told that's something that social workers do. I was interviewed by a social worker as one of the steps along the way to getting the stem cell transplants and all they said was, "Oh, there's a number of resources" and they hand you a booklet and —
You're on your own.
Yeah. There's a folder in there with about 100 one-line entries of Leukemia Lymphoma Association, American Cancer Society, all that, and I don't even know if Veterans Affairs is listed. I'm sure there's a whole lot of competing things in physicians' minds, but if they could — even if a few of them -- kind of perked up to an article like this and catch somebody, that's all the better.
Do people apply through Veterans Affairs, or through their local VA office?
Eventually the application for benefits is to Veterans Affairs, but one of the easiest ways to apply is through the county Veterans Services office. Every county has one and that office will help them gather up the information they need. It's pretty easy to apply. It eventually does end up with Veterans Affairs, but it's probably a little easier to get a Veterans Service officer to help you out.
What do you think the time frame is going to be? Should people get started early if they want to file a claim?
Yeah, probably. If somebody applies, if they have what's called a DD-214 -- a form that documents their military service -- and dates of marriage and children's birth dates, things like that, it's pretty straightforward. I think in my case it only took two or three months to get approval. It could be that they're required to take a physical or something, but it doesn't take very long. If the person can demonstrate that they were in Vietnam, either on the ground or in what's called “the brown water Navy,” you know, there in the inland waters, and that they have one of these diseases on the list, it goes pretty quickly.
What’s the best site for looking up the diseases?
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
