Anderson letter: Thailand veterans
Today, unlike our Vietnam veterans, countless numbers of Thailand-based veterans of the Vietnam War are denied the benefit of the “presumption of exposure” to Agent Orange and similar tactical herbicides, even though the VA acknowledges the use of such toxins on all Royal Thai Air Bases in Thailand, from 1961 until 1975. We suffer and die from the very same diseases experienced by our Vietnam brothers, yet we are forced to comply with vague guidelines prescribed by the VA to prove that our exposure to these chemicals occurred. I am one of those veterans who suffer an incurable condition that the VA associates with exposure to tactical herbicides, yet, for more than two years my case has languished in the VA bureaucratic morass.
My repeated petitions and evidence regarding the needed change in the law submitted to Congressman Raul Labrador over the past two years have produced little more than platitudes and “political speak.” Congress is complicit in this injustice done to so many veterans like me. Isn’t it time the media confronted those in office on this issue?
John Anderson, Meridian
This story was originally published May 15, 2016 at 11:24 PM with the headline "Anderson letter: Thailand veterans."