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nitpicker

(7,153 posts)
Fri Apr 26, 2019, 05:50 AM Apr 2019

Supreme Court delays final ruling on 'blue water' Vietnam veterans benefits

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/04/24/supreme-court-delays-final-ruing-on-blue-water-vietnam-veterans-benefits/

Supreme Court delays final ruling on ‘blue water’ Vietnam veterans benefits

By: Leo Shane III ?  1 day ago

The Supreme Court this week granted a 30-day extension to Department of Justice officials contemplating an appeal of a lower court ruling in January which extended presumptive benefits to tens of thousands of Navy veterans who have claimed exposure to toxic chemical defoliants during the Vietnam War. But advocates say they are not concerned by the move, calling it a typical legal maneuver and not a serious threat to getting benefits to the group of so-called “blue water” veterans.

“This just seems to be going through the motions,” said John Wells, retired Navy commander and the executive director Military-Veterans Advocacy, which has lobbied on the issue for years. “It’s not a setback for us. Veterans Affairs Secretary (Robert) Wilkie has told us this was not initiated by his department.”

In January, a federal court ruled that VA officials for years has used faulty reasoning to deny disability benefits to veterans who served in ships off the waters of Vietnam.

VA officials had argued that for years that existing law established only that troops who served on the ground on on ships close to shore were entitled to the presumption of exposure to chemical defoliants like Agent Orange, speeding the process for their disability benefits. Sailors on ships further out to sea were not, even though many contracted the same rare cancers and respiratory illnesses that their land-based counterparts did. They have been required to provide proof of chemical exposure during their combat tours, a near-impossible prospect given the decades that have passed and lack of environmental monitoring at the time.
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Supreme Court delays final ruling on 'blue water' Vietnam veterans benefits (Original Post) nitpicker Apr 2019 OP
This justice department is corrupt as Hell. Haggis for Breakfast Apr 2019 #1

Haggis for Breakfast

(6,831 posts)
1. This justice department is corrupt as Hell.
Mon Apr 29, 2019, 12:41 AM
Apr 2019

These sailors were exposed. Their medical records stand on the facts and evidence of their conditions.

Why is the DoJ even involved in this ? The VA didn't call for this review of a lower court's decision.

Does the DoJ think that a defoliant knows to stop at the water's edge and not drift to nearby boats and ships ?

I HATE this fucking administration. Trying to nickle and dime every American serviceman and woman out of what is rightfully theirs. You wear the uniform, you deserve the benefits that accrue with it. Sadly, illness also comes with that. But you damn well earned the right to appropriate medical care and treatment without delay, obfuscation or BS.

That fat fuck is unfit to be CinC and I am sick of how he runs his fat mouth about the military and then turns around and stabs service members and vets in the back. Fucks with the pay for the spouses and families back in the states when troops/sailors are over in the ME ? WTF ?? I HATE this 5 deferment chickenshit coward bastard.

Any retired snipers out there looking for some pro bono pick up ?

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