Just a very few of the either long ignored veterans issues by those served and through their representatives, finally being addressed under Sec. Shinseki, and continuing under Sec McDonald, with the help from the Obama Executive branch and it's Cabinet. Grossly under funded and cobbled together peoples served responsibility with usually non funded legislation to fix problems created by them but blamed on the VA personal, or outright denied issues even exist!
July 15, 2015 - For nearly 50 years, Gillie Jenkins was sworn to secrecy about his job in the Navy.Jenkins and nearly 200,000 others who were involved in the nation’s nuclear weapons testing couldn’t tell their wives or even their doctors about their exposure to radiation while serving their country.
Thanks almost entirely to the efforts of the 85-year-old Jenkins, Virginia for the first time is recognizing those veterans by declaring today — the 70th anniversary of the first atomic bomb test in New Mexico — Atomic Veterans Day.
“Ask anybody what they know about atomic veterans and you know what they’ll say? ‘Never heard of it,’ ” said Jenkins, Virginia’s state commander for the National Association of Atomic Veterans. “I just think it’s good for people to know there is such a thing as atomic vets. We’re the forgotten group.” read more>>>
July 16, 2015 - The herbicide was Agent Orange, and Oates says he assumed it was harmless to humans. But years after coming home, he noticed a tremor in his left hand."I had one finger that just one morning started moving back and forth," he says.
Oates made an appointment with his doctor and was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He's one of thousands of Vietnam veterans who came down with similar diseases — such as type II diabetes, skin disorders and rare cancers — after returning from the war.
But when veterans first began reporting their illnesses, the VA said they didn't have enough evidence to qualify them for service-related compensation.
One of the problems was that the veterans couldn't prove they were exposed to Agent Orange because it wasn't recorded in their personnel records. So advocates for Vietnam veterans launched a lobbying campaign to change the way the VA treated their cases.
The effort was led in part by Mike Leaveck, a Vietnam War veteran and former chief lobbyist for Vietnam Veterans of America. Leaveck says they recruited thousands of activists and organized marches and letter writing campaigns.
"I lobbied myself blue," he says. read more>>>
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