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 Vallarta Living | Veteran Affairs | May 2006 
Memorial Day Reflections
 David Lord - PVNN
| | A Chicago artist builds a memorial to those killed in Iraq. US military deaths in Iraq total 2,465 to date and in Afghanistan 235, reports the Department of Defense. Ten American soldiers were killed last week. (Chicago Tribune) |
This Memorial Day, as I watched the President laying the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on TV, my heart cried for all those killed in action or lost in war, and I vowed to remember and honor their sacrifice by increasing my effort to educate Veterans on their benefits and veterans rights.
VA Registries were established to cover any large study of Veterans with medical conditions related to a specific source or in areas of testing world-wide. Anything and everything about military service related illnesses can be discovered if you will take the time to do the research with my aid.
You may not know the reason for an illness until you research the Registries and tie it to your Service dates. So let's get started with a simple guide to the program, I.R.R., which relates to radiation exposures during and after WW ll, including service in this war, wherein, so far, a total of 300 tons of depleted uranium have already been expended on actions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
AO, or agent orange, is a toxic or carcinogenic hydrocarbon impurity of the herbicides deployed to defoliate forest areas during the Vietnam War. Over 2.5 million men and women were exposed to dioxins during the 14 plus years of war in Viet Nam.
SHAD was a highly secretive program, run by Department of Defense for eleven years, involving the open air testing of both biological warfare agents and chemical weapons, including Anthrax, VX, and Serin gas on American Troops and Sailors using 1963-1974. This program was tested worldwide on land and sea. Please go to the DoD website: www.defenselink.mil to review data and test areas in the US and its territories.
There are several Registers for qualified veterans at VA Medical Centers, and these Registers are administered in the VAMC Environmental Agents Office (some refer to it as "Occupational & Safety Hazards") and not the Clinics. Handbooks relating to the various Registers can be reviewed & downloaded from the VA at www.va.gov/EnvironAgents. Various Register Newsletters can be received, as published, by going to the same site.
To be placed on one or more of these Registers, eligible veterans must fill in a Request Form. There are many occasions where veterans have attempted to be placed on a Register, only to be informed that there is no such Register. These answers are either a result of misinformed VA personnel, the veteran inquiring at the wrong location within the VAMC, or other misunderstandings.
Many of the older, more familiar, employees have either retired or are in process of doing so. Many of the newer replacements are in the process of getting up to speed regarding the rules. If no Register exists for the particular activity the veteran was involved in, the Environmental Agents Office can, in many cases, place the veteran into an applicable Program for treatment.
Being on a Register and receiving treatment(s) for listed diseases can assist the veteran in a related claim or claims. Generally, treatment and applicable medications for recognized diseases by the specific Register is free. By being on a Register your priority level may also be elevated.
In instances where a request is not honored or difficulty is encountered with a request to be placed on a Register, Dick Conant at RUCON1@comcast.net offers assistance that could remedy the situation. Your email request should include the veteran's name, address, telephone number, SSN, and your email address, as well as the VAMC & location of your VA.
This information is kept Confidential within the initial communication. It will be forwarded to a VA source in Washington, DC, who usually contacts the Registry Coordinator at the VAMC in question within 48 hours, directing that Office to make contact with the Veteran and initiate the Registry process, (if living in Mexico, your VA source is in Houston, Texas.)
The local VAMC Registry Coordinator will then contact the Veteran to set up the necessary appointment(s). These services are available to every veteran eligible for being placed on a Register, which is necessary in order to receive the applicable treatments.
The Recognition of Forgotten Atomic Veterans and their Surviving Spouses Act of 2005 (HR 4183) was introduced in the house by Rep Bob Filner (D-CA) in Nov 2005. Its purpose is to improve the availability of benefits for veterans and the surviving spouses of veterans who were exposed to ionizing radiation while in military service. HR 4183 directs the Attorney General to:
(1) Obtain records showing the identity of all atomic veterans from the files of the Operations Office of the Department of Energy in Nevada;
(2) To use the service serial number of those veterans identified to obtain the veteran's social security number;
(3) Use that veteran's social security number to locate the veteran, and, if living, advise that veteran of the provisions of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, including the right of the veteran to file a claim under that Act;
(4) Use that veteran's social security number to locate the surviving spouse of the veteran (if any) and advise the surviving spouse of the provisions of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, including the right of the surviving spouse to file a claim under that Act.
I take this opportunity to thank all the Veterans and their dependents here in Puerto Vallarta and Banderas Bay for their feedback on my column. It is rewarding to serve you and your family here in Mexico. I ask that you send any and all questions you may have by email to mophmx@yahoo.com.
 David Lord served in Vietnam as combat Marine for 1st Battalion 26th Marines, during which time he was severely wounded. He received the Purple Heart and the Presidential Unit Citation for his actions during the war in Vietnam. In Mexico, David now represents all veterans south of the U.S. border all the way to Panama, before the V.A. and the Board of Veterans Appeals. David Lord provides service to veterans at no fee. Veterans are welcome to drop in and discuss claims/benefits to which they are entitled by law at his office located at Bayside Properties, 160 Francisca Rodriguez, tel.: 223-4424, call him at home 299-5367, on his cell: 044 (322) 205-1323, or email him at mophmx@@yahoo.com or david.lord@yahoo.com.
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