Marsha R. Devine - Comment on VA Adjudications Manual, M21-1; Rescission of Manual M21-1 Provisions Related To Exposure to Herbicides Based on Receipt of the Vietnam Service Medal

Document ID: VA-2007-VACO-0001-0224
Document Type: Public Submission
Agency: Department Of Veterans Affairs
Received Date: December 04 2007, at 01:21 AM Eastern Standard Time
Date Posted: December 6 2007, at 12:00 AM Eastern Standard Time
Comment Start Date: January 8 2007, at 12:00 AM Eastern Standard Time
Comment Due Date: January 28 2008, at 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time
Tracking Number: 8036fac1
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This is comment on Notice

VA Adjudications Manual, M21-1; Rescission of Manual M21-1 Provisions Related To Exposure to Herbicides Based on Receipt of the Vietnam Service Medal;E7-22983

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Gordon H. Mansfield, Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dear Secretary Mansfield; As a wife of a Vietnam Veteran, I urge you to withdraw this proposal and reinstate the Vietnam Service Medal as the basis for presumptive exposure to Agent Orange and related herbicides. Over the past several years, I have watched my husband suffer from diabetes type II, congestive heart failure and prostate cancer. None of these illnesses are known to exist in his family medical history. As an air crewman, my husband was stationed aboard the USS Kearsarge during 1968 - 1969 and flew on helicopters over Vietnam on search & rescue missions with HS-6. Can you honestly state that you know without a shadow of doubt that the herbicide exposure was bound to the soil of Vietnam and its inland water ways? There is no scientific study that supports the Department of Veterans Affairs viewpoint that herbicide exposure is restricted to the soil and inland water ways of Vietnam. The water distilation studies conducted in Australia clearly demonstrate that herbicide exposure went beyond the shoreline of Vietnam. Exposure in the air and waters surrounding Vietnam are scientifically possible and the effects are exhibited by many sailors who served their country dutifully and honorably. Eligibility for the Vietnam Service Medal is limited to those service members who served in Vietnam or its contiguous waters or airspace during the Vietnam era of 1965 to 1973; or, for any period of service during the same time period in Thailand, Laos, or Cambodia or the air spaces thereover and in direct support of operations in Vietnam. These are our military members who would have been exposed to herbicides during their service! Once and for all, it is time to reinstate the Vietnam Service Medal as the basis for presumptive exposure to Agent Orange and related herbicides. Sincerely, Marsha Devine