S. 1629 Agent Orange Equity Act of 2011 Take Action!

HR 3612 is Companion Bill

Please send the following editable message to your Representative —

I strongly urge you to co-sponsor and support S 1629, the Agent Orange Equity Act of 2011, introduced by Sen Gillibrand.

This legislation would expand the legal presumption of exposure to Agent Orange for veterans who served in the vicinity of Viet Nam.

Before 2002, it didn’t matter where a veteran served in the Vietnam War. If disabled due to the exposure to the terrible poisons in the air and waterways, VA would pay disability compensation. In February 2002, Congress decided to ‘save our taxpayers money’ and ordered VA to implement a ‘boots on the ground’ policy. After this policy revision, only service members who actually set foot on the ground in Vietnam could get compensated for medical conditions caused by Agent Orange and other herbicides that were routinely sprayed. The soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines serving in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and the China Sea were exempt from payment even though they were contaminated by these toxins just like their brothers in arms who served on the ground, in Vietnam itself.

Title 38 US Code Section 1116, defines a Viet Nam veteran as “a veteran who, during active military, naval, or air service, served in the Republic of Vietnam during the period beginning on January 9, 1962, and ending on May 7, 1975.” The Department of Veterans Affairs follows the Congressional mandate of “boots on the ground” which excludes most Navy and Air Force personnel who have Agent Orange related issues but who can not prove “boots on the ground.”

S 1629 would clarify and correct this situation for –

1. Compensation by amending Title 38, Section 1116, Subsections (a)(1) and (f) by inserting ‘(including the territorial seas of such Republic)’ after ‘served in the Republic of Vietnam’ each place it appears.

2. Health Care by amending Title 38, Section 1710(e)(4) by inserting ‘(including the territorial seas of such Republic)’ after ‘served on active duty in the Republic of Vietnam.’

Again, please co-sponsor and actively support S 1629. Further please due all within your powers of moral suasion to have this legislation included in the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act that will soon be negotiated in Joint Committee.

Robert O'Dowd

Robert O’Dowd served in the 1st, 3rd and 4th Marine Aircraft Wings during 52 months of active duty in the 1960s. While at MCAS El Toro for two years, O’Dowd worked and slept in a Radium 226 contaminated work space in Hangar 296 in MWSG-37, the most industrialized and contaminated acreage on the base.

Robert is a two time cancer survivor and disabled veteran. Robert graduated from Temple University in 1973 with a bachelor’s of business administration, majoring in accounting, and worked with a number of federal agencies, including the EPA Office of Inspector General and the Defense Logistics Agency.

After retiring from the Department of Defense, he teamed up with Tim King of Salem-News.com to write about the environmental contamination at two Marine Corps bases (MCAS El Toro and MCB Camp Lejeune), the use of El Toro to ship weapons to the Contras and cocaine into the US on CIA proprietary aircraft, and the murder of Marine Colonel James E. Sabow and others who were a threat to blow the whistle on the illegal narcotrafficking activity. O’Dowd and King co-authored BETRAYAL: Toxic Exposure of U.S. Marines, Murder and Government Cover-Up. The book is available as a soft cover copy and eBook from Amazon.com. See: http://www.amazon.com/Betrayal-Exposure-Marines-Government-Cover-Up/dp/1502340003.