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JIM STRICKLAND'S MAIL BAG: VOLUME #63 FOR 2008 --

Veterans' Advocate Jim Strickland answers questions

from VA Watchdog dot Org readers.

Veterans' Advocate Jim Strickland provides regular columns for VA Watchdog dot Org.

If you would like to contact Jim about his columns, you can email him here...

The archive of Jim's articles is here...

To find an answer to a specific VA benefits question, use the VA Watchdog search engine... click here...

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by Jim Strickland

NOTE:  Letters in my mailbag are reprinted just as they come to me. Spelling and grammar are left as is and only small corrections are made to improve readability, ensure anonymity or delete expletives that may offend some readers. This is not legal advice. You should always seek the advice of an attorney who is qualified in Veterans' law before you make any decisions about your own benefits.

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Jim;

This is in regards a "Package" in the hands of the Veterans Affairs House and Senate Committees which contains the following citations. We were exposed to Toxic chemicals and drugs by a variety of methods. Based on these citations and in your opinion are the Edgewood Volunteers Combat Related Service Connection entitled?

Page 32: 1958 Army Chemical Corps. "The participation of military personnel in these research activities contributes materially to the accomplishment of work which is vital to the National Defense."

Page 37: 1958 Chemical Warfare Laboratories. "... the evaluation of methods, procedures, and equipment utilized by soldiers in the filed. The use of volunteers in these tests is the only acceptable means by which subjects may be obtained to participate in the various scientific investigations which provide essential human reaction information."

Page 60: DOD 2006 Fact Sheet. Edgewood Arsenal Chemical Agent Exposure Studies 1955-1975. "The purpose of the studies was to insure that the U.S. military could adequately protect its service members from possible wartime exposures to chemical warfare agents."

Page 74: U.S. Army Inspector General's Report 1975. "1964 DOD assumes full responsibility for the protection of humans involved in research under its sponsorship, whether this involves investigational drugs or other hazards."

Page 82A: 1973 Letter of Commendation to a Volunteer from Edgewood Arsenal. "... you deliberately made a commitment to undergo procedures whose outcome could not have been known in advance. In so doing, you not only displayed courage and maturity, but you made possible the continuing advance of medical knowledge vital to your country's defense."

Page 77A: 1961 Army Chemical Center, Maryland. Medical Research Volunteers, Peacetime Heroes. "Their reasons for volunteering are varied" "... they serve far beyond the call of normal peacetime duty in a cause that vitally effects the nation's defense posture."

Page 94: 1962 Army Regulation 70-25. Use of Volunteers as Subjects of Research. "2. Definition: For the purposes of these regulations, unusual and potentially hazardous conditions are those which may be reasonably expected to involve risk, beyond the normal call of duty, of privation, discomfort, distress, pain, damage to health, bodily harm, physical injury, or death." "4. c. The experiment must be such as to contribute significantly to approved research and have reasonable prospects of yielding militarily important results essential to an Army research program which is not obtainable by other methods or means of study."

Reply;

For those readers who may not be familiar with this topic, The experiments at the Edgewood Arsenal (Project 112) are reputed to have been CIA sponsored mind control research programs. Project MKULTRA was another program that experimented with powerful drugs on live human subjects in a top secret setting.

Most official documents and statements will point out that the subjects were all volunteers who knew that there were significant hazards involved. The veterans who survive say that they were given very little information as they "volunteered" for this hazardous duty and that the lasting ill effects are not yet recognized nor adequately compensated by DOD or VA.

Controversy continues and it's not very likely that the issue will ever be settled to the satisfaction of those who were there. The history of these experiments is fascinating reading. Truth is indeed much stranger than fiction.

http://www1.va.gov/shad/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgewood_Arsenal_experiments

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKULTRA

The prospect of using mind control as a weapon of war is nothing new. It's a common theme in science fiction stories as techniques of brainwashing and "re-education" are used by the government to control the population.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_control

The tales of zombies persist in today's modern world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie

The Nazis had very high hopes for some form of mind control believing that they might have converted other "inferior" races into slaves for labor.
http://www.whale.to/b/patton.html

The CRSC program is in place to remove the offset of some veterans disability pay by their retirement pay. In the past a retired veteran would see his retirement pay offset by an amount equal to the disability award. The advantage of the "benefit" to the veteran with this arrangement was that the disability award was tax free whereas the retirement pay was taxable.

Understandably, most didn't see much of a benefit and many retirees didn't bother applying for a VA disability award, knowing that after years of frustration, the award wouldn't earn them more than a few dollars each year. At long last the program is being changed to better benefit recipients but some confusion exists.

The Army has provided an excellent web site to answer common questions and to walk veterans through the application process. I used the instructions from this site to help my dad, a retired USMC E-9 as he applied and found that the process was smooth start to finish.

https://www.hrc.army.mil/site/crsc/index.html

One key to approval is that the VA disability be "combat related". To respond to your question, I would argue that the answer is 'yes', that Edgewood veterans are eligible for CRSC. However, there is some ambiguity. At the Army CRSC site it's said;

***
What is considered a combat-related illness/injury?

Under the DoD program guidance, a combat-related disability or injury
is the result of:

* Actual combat (AC): i.e., Purple Heart (PH) injuries or
conditions verified as happening during actual combat operations
* Simulating War (SW): i.e., Special Forces training exercises,
combat confidence course or lanes training, or other training which is
used to prepare for combat
* Hazardous Service (HS): i.e., aerial flight, parachute duty,
demolition duty, experimental stress duty, and diving duty
* Illness or injuries incurred by Instrumentalities of War (IN):
i.e., tanks, grenade simulators, military planes, and other equipment
unique to the military

Note: The examples shown are to simply demonstrate the types of
injuries that could fall under combat-related categories and are not
meant to be an all-inclusive list. Secondary conditions could also be
eligible.

***

Using those above definitions I'd say that the Edgewood veterans would fall into the HS category. However, in that sentence it refers to "experimental stress duty", not necessarily to "experimental chemical exposures" and so on. "Stress duty" may be a reference to PsyOps experiments like sleep deprivation, noise, solitude, etc.

In any case, were I an Edgewood veteran who otherwise qualified I would file for CRSC. Like so many of the benefits that may be available to us, the best way to find out if your personal situation will qualify you is to apply. If I were denied, I'd then seek some assistance to perfect my appeal. A first level denial to any benefit administered by VA is to be expected, appeal is simply part of the routine and the veteran should expect that an appeal will be required.

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Jim;

Well it's just another day in VA hell. I have been having problems with the VA clinic I go to for some time now. My problem is the doctors don't seem to write everything in my medical records that I am there to see them about. Because of there bad record keeping I have been denied VA benefits because of there failure to do so. Case in point. I have recently been denied a Adaptive housing Grant because my denial letter more or less stated I need to be in a wheelchair at the very least to receive an approval for this grant. I was granted a motorized wheel chair and a motorized lift for my vehicle from my VA clinic but once again there was no mention of this in my medical records. Because of this I had to appeal the VA decision and put more stress on a overloaded system that should of approved this grant the first time,

I have just recently seen my doctor at the clinic and this time I decided to give him a list of my problems and concerns about my health issues. I thought that this approach would help me get these problems and concerns annotated in my medical records. I was wrong. I requested a copy of the Doctors office notes and once again almost none of my problems we discussed were there.

I decided to get outside medical help to get my conditions documented and receive treatment and medication. I was diagnosed with, severe depression, severe back, neck and joint pain due to arthritis, migraine headaches, Fibromyalgia & cronic fatigue syndrome . I was immeditally referred to a pain management doctor and am now under his care for my above conditions and am receiving treatment and medication. I submitted all documentation to my VA clinic as well as to my VA regional office.

Jim the point I am trying to make here is please tell your readers that they need to get copy's of there Doctor note visits to insure that everything concerning there health issues are documented at each visit. This will help greatly for any request for disability benefits or help in there appeals process. All the best and Thanks

Reply;

You're right on target. It's hard to understand why we have to force some providers to do the simplest things for us. I had a similar issue a few years back when a doc I really liked wrote "No complaints of joint pain" in my record. She hadn't asked me that question and if she had she would have heard that for 30 years I've had joint pain, diminished use, crepitus and more.

I tracked her down via her email and asked nicely that she amend that. I explained to her that 10 years down the road some new employee at VBA would be feeling all gung ho and look in my record and see that note. Then I'd be reexamined and have my rating lowered.

She didn't remember doing that...it was just habit on her part. She did correct it and was very nice about it all.

I've said it all before, your note is a good reminder. We must check our own records to ensure accuracy. If we don't and we have future problems, we can't blame anyone but ourselves. It's a lot easier to make corrections now...or seek outside help like you're doing...than it is under the pressure of a reexam. If you don't do it now, tomorrow may be too late.

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Jim;

I heard of you and your service from another veteran who gave me your email address. I am the wife of a Vietnam veteran. He has one of the conditions that are on the Agent Orange presumptive list. The problem we have is that the VA has denied his benefits and said he wasn't in Vietnam. While it's true he served other places overseas, he has memories of Vietnam. His memory isn't as good as it was and he's always been reluctant to talk about his service. Now that he's sick and needs help, the VA is denying any help for him. I'm enclosing paperwork that I have, can you help me sort this out and tell me what all this means? Thank you.

Reply;

I've made significant changes to that letter above. It was much longer and very detailed. I've had to inform the spouse I can't help her. I could talk with him but I doubt I'll hear from him and I can't tell her what I've found.

The veteran has been talking somewhat vaguely of his Vietnam history for decades. He's had problems over the years, attributed to the Vietnam war. His service elsewhere is plainly noted on his DD214. There is no mention of RVN service and no award of an RVN service medal. There's a gap of about 3 or 4 weeks that isn't accounted for and that had me puzzled for a bit.

Then I noticed he was drafted. Back then, draftees served 24 months. He had served a few months less. There was no lost time but there was also no accrued leave. The discharge was honorable, no mention of Article 15 or any other punitive actions. Then I notice the "Reason and Authority" for discharge. It was Section VII, Chapter 5 AR 635-200. The reenlistment code was 3A. The SPN code was 411. All of these "secret codes" have been steeped in controversy.

Army Regulation 635-200 covers Active Duty Enlisted Separations. This is a formidable document, written in military legalese to be as confounding as possible. It's here http://tinyurl.com/58pcwf  if you care to read through it.

Section VII, Chapter 5 deals with separation to the IRR...the Individual Ready Reserve. There is extensive language of how and why a soldier may be discharged to the IRR...or not. In the case of not being eligible to be sent to IRR status, we see a wide range of fairly minor infractions. We also see such things as "sole surviving son", "hardship" and so on. Reasons for discharge may be "in lieu of trial by court martial", "unsatisfactory performance", "misconduct", and so on.

None of these things are clearly noted on the DD214.

The reenlistment code of RE 3-A is significant. The Army RE codes 1 & 2 are qualified for reenlistment. The RE code 4 indicates that the soldier is not eligible for reenlistment. Code RE 3-A isn't used any longer but implies that a soldier will have to meet some intelligence or mental health standards and receive a waiver prior to being allowed to reenlist. The SPN 411 code is a bland sort of label only referring to the early discharge of an overseas returnee.

Adding it all up though, it isn't a pretty picture. We see a man who claims to have served in Vietnam even in the face of documentation that he was elsewhere. The missing days were days between duty stations, easily explained by authorized travel and some leave time. The lack of 2 complete years of service with no claim of injury or combat duty is curious at best. I enlisted and served my commitment of 3 years, shy by about a week.

It would appear it's all beginning to unravel.

But I don't know that for sure. I'm not sure I want to know. The way it came together doesn't look good. I do know that in recent years I've met quite a few guys who claimed RVN service and that the VA denied they were there. I know that a couple of these were telling the truth. Incomplete records, lost files, TDY orders and so on can and do happen.

I'll never understand why men lie about such things. I served during the Vietnam war...in Germany. I didn't ask for that and I would have gone to Vietnam had I been ordered to. I've never been the least tempted to pretend I went or saw combat. I know how fortunate I am that I've never been shot at, never exposed to dioxin. I'm proud of my service in Germany.

I believe that when a man lies about service in Vietnam he steals from those who did serve. The pretender takes a small slice of dignity from those who died there.

In life, what goes around comes around. Many of those who live a life of lies are punished in the end.

Heed the words of Sir Walter Scott;

"Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!"

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posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org

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