The never-ending cost of war
Vietnam vets struggle with health issues caused by Agent Orange
By Roger Neumann •rneumann@gannett.com • November 7, 2009, 5:15 pmFor years, David Correll Sr. of Elmira volunteered at the VA Medical Center in Bath and played Santa Claus at the center's Christmas parties.
He had to give that up a couple of years ago because of two medical conditions -- the diabetes that resulted in the amputation of the big toe on his right foot, and the peripheral neuropathy that has left his feet numb.
"I'm unable to walk a lot right now," he said recently. "I've got some balance problems. I have no feeling in my feet."
Correll, who served three tours in Vietnam as a radio operator with the Marines in the late 1960s, has two illnesses that the Department of Veterans Affairs has determined are service-related, caused by exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange.
Now 59, he hopes the worst of his health problems are over but fears they may not be.
"It made me start worrying more," he said of his reaction after learning of the Agent Orange connection, "because I didn't know what was going to happen in the future."
Many Vietnam veterans and their families have the same concern, and with good reason.
Sobering message
This summer, John Rowan, national president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, delivered this sobering message to the VA:
"Vietnam veterans incur common diseases of old age many years sooner than those of similar age who did not serve in Vietnam ... Many Vietnam veterans are dying of these diseases much too early, far before our time.
"Where affected veterans do continue to survive, it is all too often with a dramatically reduced quality of life and loss of earning power due to the disability or infirmity caused by these diseases."
In June, the independent Ford Foundation released the results of a long study on the effects of Agent Orange and Dioxin, a by-product of the toxic combination that created Agent Orange.
Freelance writer and veterans advocate Jim Doyle summed it up this way:
"This stuff will kill you, or worse, pass to your children and grandchildren and cause a range of disabilities and diseases that will profoundly affect their lives."Doyle was writing in "Interchange," the quarterly publication of the New York State Council of the Vietnam Veterans of America. The paper devoted five full pages to the Ford Foundation report.
Dying young
Ken Stone, president of Elmira-based VVA Chapter 803, said the group has been hit hard by what he considers to be the effects of Agent Orange.
"We lost three of our guys this year," Stone said. "They all died of cancer, all had served in combat, and all were under the age of 60."
Why the concern now, nearly 35 years after the Vietnam War ended?
It's because the list of diseases linked to Agent Orange continues to grow and because, as Doyle pointed out, birth defects already have been found in the children and grandchildren of veterans who served in the war, and there is a recognized threat to future generations.
And that's just the effect on Americans. It doesn't even address the troops from other countries who served during that period and, of course, the Vietnamese people who lived there then and now.
Diseases recognized
The VA has identified 15 diseases in veterans who served in Vietnam that are "presumed" to have been caused by herbicides, meaning a veteran doesn't have to prove a link between the illness and his or her service.
The Veterans of the Vietnam War's Web site, www.vvnw.org, lists 23 diseases and disabilities (including several types of cancer, and some conditions affecting children) that it says could be recognized in the future.
In October, the VA announced that three illnesses had been added to the 12 that it previously identified: B cell leukemias, Parkinson's disease and ischemic heart disease.
The following week, five veterans with ischemic heart disease (caused by narrowed arteries and reduced blood flow to the heart) called the New York State Division of Veterans Affairs in Elmira, said John Canestaro, the veterans counselor there.
"They'd been trying to claim this for many years," Canestaro said of the affected men.In Ithaca, Ed Tenorio, an Army veteran of Vietnam who now is a state veterans counselor, speaks from experience when he deals with vets who ask about Agent Orange.
Tenorio found out about two years ago -- 37 years after he left Vietnam -- that he has type 2 diabetes, one of the conditions linked to the herbicide.
Tenorio said he recalls watching from his firebase in the northern province of Quang Tri as planes swooped in and unleashed their lethal cargo over the nearby jungles.
"We used to watch them spray it all around us," he said. "We never thought anything of it."
In a news release announcing the addition of three illnesses, veterans counselors pointed out that any condition that can be shown to be caused by the diseases already recognized by the VA could also be considered service-connected.
"The legislation has been made much more liberal, and these are benefits that are granted on a presumptive basis," said Broome County benefits counselor Brian Vojtisek. "However, you do have to prove that you served in country."
That has been the policy since 2002, when Congress ordered the VA to implement a "foot on the ground" policy to save money.
That meant only troops who had actually served in Vietnam or in the coastal waterways -- the so-called brown water veterans -- were covered.
That policy may change again.
Late last month, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., introduced legislation in the Senate to cover veterans who served at sea off Vietnam or who loaded Agent Orange onto aircraft for flights over that country.
An identical bill was introduced in the House in May, with Eric Massa, D-Corning, and Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, among its 180 sponsors.
Many local cases
Agent Orange doesn't have to be in the news to be of concern.
At the state veterans office in Elmira, Canestaro estimated at least 90 percent of the claims he handles are for Vietnam veterans, and at least 98 percent of those are related to Agent Orange.
In the Broome County office, about 85 percent of claims fall into that category, Vojtisek said.
Counselors urge Vietnam veterans to be tested if they have any questions about the potential threat to their health.
"That's something that we normally do any time a Vietnam veteran comes in and asks about Agent Orange exposure: try to get them hooked up with the VA and get what is called an Agent Orange protocol exam, a very extensive exam that looks at all the possible problems that might be the result of Agent Orange, as far as we know," said Bly.
"If they don't have any problems, at least it gives them a baseline of their medical condition at that point."
But not enough veterans are getting the message.
"At least 80 percent of vets do not use the VA as their health care provider and only some 25 percent are members of veterans service organizations," according to the VVA's Veterans Health Council.
'It came with the job'
Correll, a lifetime member of VFW Post 901 in Elmira, was diagnosed 10 years ago with diabetes.
Eight years ago, the VA determined the cause was Agent Orange. That same year, Correll had surgery to remove his toe.
Five years ago he was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, a condition that results from damage to the peripheral nerves in the feet and can be caused by diabetes.
Correll, a retired laborer, has four stepchildren from his second marriage and one adult son, David Correll Jr. of Elmira Heights, from his first. He said his son has felt no second-generation effects from Agent Orange.
As for the senior Correll, he uses a walker to getaround now and still volunteers when and where he can, usually at his VFW post. He calls bingo and performs other duties that don't require him to stay on his feet.
After his neuropathy diagnosis, Correll was given a 100 percent disability rating by the VA, which he said doubled his disability payment to about $2,400 a month.
That kind of money is important to men and women who have been disabled by their conditions, especially in this economy.
In Binghamton, counselor Vojtisek said the traffic in his office recently has increased "significantly," and he said economic concerns are one reason.
"That's largely due to not only the more liberal legislation covering benefits but also to the current economic climate," he said.
"A lot of them are struggling and wanting to inquire about any benefits they may be eligible for."
Those with Agent Orange-related illnesses, as with other service-related conditions, can receive free treatment through the VA, said Tenorio in Ithaca. He said he's taking advantage of that benefit himself, which he said eases his concerns somewhat.
"It came with the job because I was over there," he said, somewhat philosophically, about the diabetes he lives with now.
"Was I angry? Yeah.
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