By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – Thousands of United States sailors serving with the Navy were confirmed to be affected by the spraying of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War in the 60s and 70s as their ships moved north and south in waterways that traveled out to the Pacific Ocean.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Congress passed the Agent Orange Act in 1991 to provide extra disability and health benefits for sailors exposed during that time of service.
So imagine the outrage and disbelief for sailors and their families who have been denied the same health and disability benefits by the Veterans Administration, all because their ships could have been as little as a few yards on the outside of the same waterways that traveled into Vietnam.
The fight against the Veterans Administration to gain benefits for all sailors affected by Agent Orange has been waged for years by various attorneys, including John Wells, a Slidell lawyer who now operates as the executive director of the Military Veterans Advocacy non-profit.
Wells, a 22-year retired Navy Commander who earned his law degree shortly before leaving the military in 1994, has emphasized his law practice in the area of the military and for veterans.
He was introduced to the issues with the VA denying benefits for Agent Orange exposure when contacted in 2003 by the widow of a sailor who died of Agent Orange related health issues. Her husband was among those who were denied benefits since he never set foot on Vietnam soil.
Since taking that initial case, Wells has worked continuously on similar cases, among other veteran-related issues, and thought last year that victory in the Agent Orange battle was finally close at hand.
In the spring of 2015 a judge ordered the VA to revise its policy and include all Navy veterans with healthcare and other benefits for exposure to the long-recognized Agent Orange toxins.
However, Wells was stunned recently when the VA released the newly rewritten policy that still denies benefits, but was simply revised to state the same guidelines in a different way.
“I am disgusted by this new policy that is still denying sailors benefits simply because they did not enter the waterways or step on Vietnam soil,” Wells said. “It’s crazy they can cover someone who walked on the ground or were in the rivers of Vietnam, but if you are outside the river area then you don’t get covered.”
Wells said his organization has uncovered a host of studies and substantial data that prove the Agent Orange claims beyond a reasonable doubt, not to mention Congress supporting the need for additional benefits.
One Australian study showed that salt water distilled on American ships for clean drinking water was actually enriched with Agent Orange toxins through the distillation process.
Another study from Russia showed how far out into the nearby Pacific Ocean the toxicity of Agent Orange was evident.
Wells said that one challenge in proving harm from Agent Orange to sailors is that the effects don’t usually show for 10 to 20 years, normally in the form of increased cancers, diabetes, heart disease and more. The toxins attack the immune system and then over a period of years opens the body up to many more health issues than normal.
In 1991 a recommendation from Congress asked for blood tests to be done on all veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange in the Vietnam area, but the Veterans Administration refused. That was the year Congress passed the Agent Orange Act that ordered the VA to cover any veterans affected by the toxin, but it only led to partial coverage of veterans.
“The executives with the VA who initially ruled against covering all veterans clearly made a mistake and since then they refuse to admit it,” Wells said. “That is why they won’t change this policy, pure and simple.
“They do not have the interest of the veterans at heart and only want to expand their areas of responsibility and pad their bonuses. They do not care about the veterans at all,” he added.
Wells said there were over 174,000 veterans who served in that area during the Vietnam War, with 84,000 traveling into the Vietnam rivers, where coverage of VA benefits has been provided. But for those who never were on a ship that went into the rivers, coverage continues to be denied.
“You could be anchored three feet from a river opening and not be covered,” Wells said. “How crazy is that.”
Wells is among a handful of attorneys in the country who represent various sailors, or their surviving spouses, in trying to get the added benefits from Agent Orange exposure. And he is attacking the problem on several fronts.
Congressional House Bill #969 would extend the presumption of exposure to those who were in any nearby seas. Wells currently has 300 House members as co-sponsor for the bill, out of 435 serving. On the Senate side he has 38 co-signers out of 100 senators who serve.
Additionally, he has filed a lawsuit in the Washington D.C. Court of Appeals trying to get the courts to review an individual case, one of three different lawsuits he has pending.
“Agent Orange takes an average of 13 years off the life of a sailor who was exposed,” Wells said. “It has affected them in many ways—forced to leave the work force early because of health issues, or they can’t qualify for health care when they leave the military and they still aren’t old enough for Medicare.”
Wells served in the Navy and was on six different ships during the Vietnam era, but never deployed to Vietnam and therefore was not exposed to Agent Orange. But he was drawn into the fight for the veteran benefits after obtaining his law degree, going to night school in the final years of his military service, and then meeting the widow of a sailor who served there.
Wells has done so much work on the topic that he is now deemed a technical expert and has been called to Washington D.C. to testify before the National Institute of Health, an arm of the Surgeon General that has also recommended all veterans in that area receive the additional benefits needed due to exposure.
Wells is also fighting several other battles for veteran rights, including the issue of burn pits in Afghanistan, where military leaders forced soldiers to throw a multitude of items into a burn pit, including medical waste and more.
“The soldiers had to put everything but the kitchen sink in the burn pit and were told to light it up. Many of them now have pneumonia and other breathing related illnesses,” Wells explained.
Wells said he will continue to press the Agent Orange fight “until it’s done or until I’m dead.”
The Military Veterans Advocacy organization he formed operates on donations and a few small grants. Wells does not draw a salary for the work he does, which had him going to Washington D.C. 12 times last year.
For more information on the group, go online to militaryveteransadvocacy.org.
