Last July, I had surgery for T2,N2b, Stage III tonsillar/tongue cancer. I completed my radiation on October 31st which seem an appropriate date to complete that terrible experience. I applied for VA benefits based on Agent Orange exposure and was rejected....seems that prostrate cancer and respiratory cancer are automatic but tonsillar is outside the realm of the respiratory system. Are there any other Vietnam veterans out there with advice...needless to say I plan to appeal.

A close friend of mine says that the VA typically rejects ALL of the claims from Vietnam Vets for Agent Orange the first time through. He told me there is a network of vets that know how to get through the system (he also has Agent Orange exposure). Email me privately and I will try to put you directly in touch with him.

Unless you're breathing though your butt how is prostate cancer part of the respiratory system ;-)?

Gary,

You crack me up! Not to stray from the subject but I thought I would add this for something crazy....I was at the Colorado River this past weekend and my husband was speeding down the river at night on our boat and we got pulled over by the sheriff he said that kids these days are doing a reverse "beer bong" actually pouring the beer into a tube that goes into your butt because alcohol has stronger affects in the small intestines and it gets there faster that way. His comment was "they must be pretty close friends to do it that way". So I guess if you can drink through your butt who knows.......

I hope I didn't offend anybody I just couldn't believe it when the officer told us and seeing Gary's comment about breathing through the butt......

Dani

I've heard of that - wine enemas have been around for a while. The beer thing is a new spin though... I can only imagine the colon cancer risks.

Actually I think some people DO breath through their butt!

...or at least, talk through it!

As another Vietnam Vet I know a little about this. There are several things the VA looks at. First, the record of units and areas of operation that you were assigned to and operated in while in country. The records of where geographically and on what dates the Ranch hand program sprayed not only Agent Orange, but also agent white and other toxins/carcinogens are well documented. The records of unit movements in these areas in the years afterwards are also there. If your records do not show that you were in the mix, geographically and time-wise, you will not qualify. The primary cancer that dioxin is associated with is Lymphoma, and ironically enough Admiral Zumwalt, who was in charge of the program and ordered the spraying, had a son who was a brown water sailor who died of lymphoma right after the war as a result of the use of Agent Orange. While I will not argue that the government screwed us all for years (while they were waiting for their army to die before admitting complicity and responsibility), there have also been a bevy of vets with cancers that have no relationship to these defoliants trying to get in on the benefits (crappy as they are). People who have smoked heavily since the years of the war and now have lung cancer will have a hard time getting a claim approved in spite of their service. It would seem that even in this case where there are real people who were harmed by this policy of defoliant use, there are also those who would like to not take responsibility for their lifestyle choices, or other precipitating factors to their disease. Oral cancers are seldom the first cancer of choice for these Agent Orange carcinogens to initiate. Tonsilar and oropharangeal cancers are heavily tied to viral exposure, and I am living proof of this. If use the search tool and the word Vietnam, you will read old posts regarding this same subject.

Brian....Thanks for responding to my posting. Followed your advice and used the search tool with the word Vietnam....read several more of your opinions. As we both should know, Vietnam veterans usually only have one thing in common...being a Vietnam veteran. Never the less, people continue to attempt to sterotype us and throw us all into one big irresponsible pot. I mentioned in my bio that I was an engineer...I'm also a psychologist. Some of your responses bring a smile to my face....thank you....enjoyed the reading.