James E. Rigsby - Comment on AM74 Proposed Rule

I am a Blue Water Sailor, having served on the USS Decatur (DDG-31) in the territorial waters of Vietnam (service in the Republic of Vietnam, and territorial waters) just as the law has stated. Nothing was said about stepping foot on land, in Vietnam. I served between the years of 1971 -1974, and made 2 WestPac tours. I have a few of the presumptive illnesses listed, as being as likely as not, cause by Agent Orange. Including Diabetes, which is under appeal by the VA (Haas) To think, that this class of service men and women are inelligible, due to not having set foot in Vietnam (as opposed to someone stepping off a plane, for a smoke, for even a few moments, in my opinion, is ridiculous. There is absolutely no scientific evidence that excludes off-shore personnel from exposure to herbicides and in fact there is overwhelming evidence that these personnel were absolutely exposed to herbicides that were present in the off-shore waters of Vietnam. Several other countries currently provide their military veterans with disability benefits for identical off-shore service based on solid scientific and medical data that they were exposed to herbicides and now suffer the illness and disability caused by that exposure. The VA statement that off-shore personnel were "exceedingly unlikely to have been exposed to herbicides as a result of Vietnam service" is without any grounds or evidence whatsoever. It is, in fact, clearly wrong in the face of existing evidence of hard science. I believe that the Department of Veterans Affairs is proceeding with this Proposed Rulemaking in spite of knowing that evidence exists to absolutely disprove that statement. Existing scientific and medical data, in and of itself, should be reason enough to mandate full benefits to off-shore personnel even beyond the fact that the current "presumption of exposure" granted to land-based personnel is not based on any scientific evidence. I additionally oppose the current stay on processing disability claims of off-shore personnel and I oppose any limitations on VA benefits of any kind whatsoever that has, is now, or ever will be imposed on members of the Armed Forces of the United States who served off-shore of Vietnam from January 9, 1962, to May 7, 1975. This current Proposed Rulemaking would only temporarily once again make the receipt of the Vietnam Service Medal the criterion for receipt of full VA benefits. The Department of Veterans Affairs has made it perfectly clear that rescinding this provision is only the first step in several which will lead to permanent denial of earned benefits to personnel who served in the off-shore waters of Vietnam. For those reasons, among other, I strongly oppose this proposed change to the provisions of the M21-1 procedures manual. with one swipe of their pen, the VA wants to rule me inelligible, for my Honorable Vietnam service (which is outlined as to who may receive the VSM) James M. Rigsby BT3 USN(Ret) USS Decatur (DDG-31) 1971-1974