Veterans Post

The Department of Veterans Affairs has now agreed to provide disability benefits to certain Vietnam-era Air Force veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange in airplanes.

Were you ever on a C-123? Did you work on or around the airplanes? Does the name Operation Ranch Hand ring a bell? That was the operation that sprayed the Vietnam jungle and Korea DMZ area with the Agent Orange defoliant, and the C-123 planes were the ones that did it.

Until now, the VA had regularly denied claims from veterans who were ill with any of the 14 AO-related conditions and who said they were exposed to AO on a plane. The VA said there was no danger, and that any AO on the planes would have dried. What they didn't consider was the multiple uses of those C-123s: They also were used by National Guard, medical evacuations, routine cargo and more — for the next 10 years.

What's disturbing is that the VA has already identified 2,100 Air Force active-duty and reservists who can get compensation. Twenty-one hundred? That's all? It's also pre-identified the locations where those veterans worked, as well as the Tactical and Aeromedical Squadrons. (Note: The lists vary, depending where you look.)

Back in 2013, one veteran pushed hard and was finally given compensation for Agent Orange exposure that came from being aboard C-123 aircraft. In 1994, his plane had been sent to a museum, and there it was discovered that the plane was still "heavily contaminated" with Agent Orange.

Call 1-800-749-8387 for more information or see benefits.va.gov and put C-123 Agent Orange in the search box. Don't miss “Veterans Exposed to Agent Orange through Duty on Contaminated C-123 Aircraft.”

(c) 2015 King Features Synd., Inc.