Military’s burn pit problems ignored by Congress

Veterans fear Congress has forgotten about the military’s burn pit problems
Military Times
By: Leo Shane III
5 hours ago

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Nathanial Fink, left, and Lance Cpl. Garrett Camacho dispose of trash in a burn pit in the Khan Neshin district of Afghanistan in March 2012. (Cpl. Alfred V. Lopez/Marine Corps)

WASHINGTON — For years, Veterans Affairs leaders and administration officials have promised they won’t let health issues surrounding burn pit exposure in Iraq and Afghanistan become another “Agent Orange” in the community.

Now, advocates and a handful of lawmakers are worried it already has.

“The level of awareness among members of Congress on the problems from burn pits is abysmally low,” said Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii and an Army National Guard soldier who served in Iraq in 2004-2005. “Too few understand the urgency of the issue.”

Gabbard and Afghanistan war veteran Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., recently introduced new legislation dubbed the Burn Pits Accountability Act to require more in-depth monitoring of servicemembers’ health for signs of illnesses connected to toxic exposure in combat zones.
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As his wife Sheila held Lonnie Kilpatrick's hand, he died

Sad update to WFLA News Got Vietnam Veteran Justice

Finally awarded Agent Orange benefits, veteran succumbs to cancer the VA missed
By: WFLA Staff
Updated: May 07, 2018

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. (WFLA) - As his wife Sheila held Lonnie Kilpatrick's hand, his daughter Kassie recorded some of his last words.

The Navy veteran said there is a reason for everything - his struggle with the VA, his impending death.

"Make something out of it, make it count," Lonnie said in a weak voice.

We met Lonnie in February, shortly after he learned Stage 4 kidney cancer had spread through his body.

"That hit me like a ton of bricks," he told us from his bed in Holiday in February.

For good reason. For four years, doctors at the VA at Bay Pines said his back pain was arthritis and disc related.

"Just couldn't get nobody to take it serious that, hey I've lost 50 pounds," explained Lonnie at the time.

The VA treated Lonnie for kidney cancer in 2013, pronounced him cancer-free, then missed its recurrence.

"You know you're going to lose him and that could have been prevented if the VA had followed up," said daughter Keri Ackerson.
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WFLA News Got Vietnam Veteran Justice

Target 8 helps misdiagnosed veteran get his benefits
WFLA 8 News
Steven Andrews
April 26, 2018

Stationed on Guam in 1971 during the Vietnam War, Lonnie claims his work near airfields exposed him to the herbicide Agent Orange.

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. (WFLA) - An enormous weight has been lifted off the shoulders of a Pasco County veteran and his family.

Following a series of Target 8 reports, the Department of Veterans Affairs reversed its previous denial and approved Agent Orange benefits for Navy veteran Lonnie Kilpatrick.

"Words can't even say how much we appreciate what you have done," said Lonnie's daughter Keri Ackerson.

After eight years of delays and denial, the VA reversed course.

It approved Lonnie's claim that exposure to the toxic defoliant Agent Orange left him 100 percent disabled.
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Retired Firefighter Honors Brothers Lost to Cancer

Retired Orange County firefighter walks across state for fallen brothers
Click Orlando
By Amanda Castro - Reporter/Anchor
Posted: 12:18 PM, April 14, 2018

Tom "Bull" Hill raising awareness for cancer-related death benefits

MELBOURNE, Fla. - A retired Orange County firefighter is carrying the burden of his fallen brothers while walking hundreds of miles across the state to raise awareness for cancer-related death benefits.

Tom "Bull" Hill started his 700-mile journey in the Keys March 20. The 58-year-old has walked up the state and made his way to Melbourne Fire Station 74 Friday night.

On Saturday, he continued his journey up the Space Coast.

"It's an honor to carry these guys. That's the truth," Hill said.

Hill called it an honor and a burden as he stood over a table covered with photos of fallen firefighters and members of law enforcement. On the table were three large backpacks filled with more than 500 badges, shields and names of first responders who passed away.

The retired Orange County firefighter said he's keeping a promise and walking in memory of two fellow brothers who died from work-related cancer.
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Dying Vietnam Navy Veteran Wants Justice...and deserves it

Misdiagnosed veteran contends military medical records are missing
WFLA 8 News
Steve Andrews
April 13, 2018

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. (WFLA) - From his bed at Florida Hospital North Pinellas in Tarpon Springs, Navy veteran Lonnie Kilpatrick has a message for the new secretary of the VA about spending money the right way.

"It's more important to take care of your veterans than it is to get approval for a bridge to nowhere," Lonnie said.

Arthritis the VA treated in Lonnie's back during the last four years turned out to be kidney cancer.

"Stage four, nothing they can do for me," explained Lonnie. "Make me comfortable, you know, maybe give me some drugs that will make me live a little longer."

This week, another blow.

The VA turned down his claim for Agent Orange disability benefits.
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Dying Florida Vietnam Veteran Target of Thief

Largo woman accused of stealing $2,500 from Vietnam veteran
Police say Vietnam veteran was her neighbor
WFTS News
Adam Winer
Apr 13, 2018

LARGO, Fla. — A Vietnam veteran was the victim of theft at the hands of his own neighbor.

The Largo Police Department is accusing Sonya Herrick of writing a check to herself with her neighbor's checkbook without his knowledge.

The victim, John Gibbs, 84, is a Vietnam veteran with pancreatic cancer who lives near Herrick on Seminole Boulevard in Largo.

According to the arrest affidavit, Herrick wrote herself a $2,500 check back on April 6.

Investigators say Herrick befriended the victim in the days leading up to the theft with the intention of stealing from him.
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WPFT 5 News got involved, veteran had claim approved in days!

WPFT 5 News got involved with a veteran about his claim. Suddenly, it was approved. 

One more lesson on the squeaky wheel!

Veterans and their families would be automatically eligible as long as they spent more than 30 days at Camp Lejeune and had one of the qualifying ailments, including kidney cancer. 

“They should be paying me,” he said,

But the VA wasn’t paying him, not until last week when we told them about Tom’s story.

And just days later, they granted Tom his long awaited benefits at an 80% disability rating-backdated to March of last year.

He's due more than $1,700 per month.

click link above for video on this veteran.

Did Burn Pits Kill Joe Biden's Son?

Biden addresses possible link between son’s fatal brain cancer and toxic military burn pits

PBS

Dan Sagalyn

January 10, 2018

The issue appears to be personal for Biden, whose son, Beau Biden, a former Delaware attorney general, died at age 46 in May 2015 from glioblastoma multiforme, the most common form of brain cancer.

A U.S. Army soldier watches bottled water that had gone bad burn in a burn-pit at Forward Operating Base Azzizulah in Maiwand District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, February 4, 2013. File Photo by REUTERS/Andrew Burton 

Former Vice President Joe Biden said he thinks toxins found in smoke from burning waste at U.S. military installations in Iraq and at other facilities abroad could “play a significant role” in causing veterans’ cancer.

“Science has recognized there are certain carcinogens when people are exposed to them,” Biden said in an interview with Judy Woodruff last week. “Depending on the quantities and the amount in the water and the air, [they] can have a carcinogenic impact on the body.”

Biden’s comments shed light on a debate that has roiled physicians, former service members and the Department of Veteran Affairs about whether the health of some U.S. military personnel was compromised by garbage disposal methods used by contractors and the military at overseas bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a major in the Delaware Army National Guard, Beau Biden’s judge advocate general unit was activated in late 2008. He served in Iraq for much of 2009 at Camp Victory in Baghdad and Balad Air Force Base, 50 miles north of the Iraqi capital. Both bases used large burn pits. Earlier, he helped train local prosecutors and judges in Kosovo after the 1998-1999 war. read more here

Has Florida Doctor found cure for burnpits

Vets exposed to burn pits falling ill, treatment invented in Tampa Bay
WTSP News
Liz Crawford
January 9, 2018

Dr. Harrell said he's cured all of the veterans he's treated so far. His goal now is to make his treatment easily accessible for all veterans suffering from burn pit exposure.

PALM HARBOR, Fla
You've likely heard many stories over the years of veterans dealing with PTSD or soldiers learning to live as an amputee but there's another lesser-known challenge tormenting our soldiers.

Exposure to toxic burn pits while in Iraq and Afghanistan could have devastating effects on the lungs. While tens of thousands of veterans have signed the VA's burn pit registry, nothing else is being done...until now.

Joe Hernandez served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with the US army. During that time he was exposed to toxic burn pits where the military burned waste like chemicals, ammunition, oil, anything they had to get rid of.

Hernandez explained that depending on which way the wind would shift, he would breathe in the burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan for extended periods of time.

“It’s war, it's not pretty. You got so many other things that are going to kill you on a daily basis so it’s like well what are you going to do?” Hernandez revealed.

When Hernandez came home in 2009, he struggled and had to adjust to becoming a regular civilian. Eventually, he found relief in fitness and started a new career in Florida as a personal trainer. However, Hernandez started to notice that although he was in great shape, he was lethargic and got winded way too easy, and even struggled to breathe.
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Veteran Needs Help With Medical Bills?

Bellevue community rallies around Iraq War veteran

KETV 7 ABC News 
James Wilcox 
November 10, 2017

And Justin also recently learned his prosthetic, part of a rare procedure done in Australia, also isn't covered by insurance. The cost is close to six figures.

BELLEVUE, Neb. — Justin Anderson was deployed to Iraq in 2003. He enlisted in the U.S. Army as a high school student in Bellevue. "Two weeks after after graduation he was on the plane heading to boot camp. He was ready to rock n roll," Justin's mom, Lisbeth Anderson, said. 

Nobody was ready for what happened next. Just four months into his tour, Justin and his fellow soldiers were attacked. Justin suffered a gunshot wound to the knee. "To date, I've had a total of 27 major surgeries. 23 of those were on my left knee," Justin said.

The injury eventually led to the amputation of his leg, which came a year after another setback. "In June of 2013 I was diagnosed with Astrocytoma, which is a form of brain cancer," Justin said. He fought the cancer with chemotherapy and radiation. The battle lasted more than two years, but Justin is now in remission. read more here

Vietnam Veteran Dying Dream Up in the Air...In Huey

WV Vietnam veteran receives dream

WDTV News

Jay Martin

August 11, 2017

MAIDSVILLE, W. Va. (WDTV)- If you saw a military helicopter flying over Morgantown Friday you saw Billy Kinsley.

Billy is a 69-year-old West Virginia Vietnam army veteran. He worked as an aircraft mechanic primarily on Huey helicopters. Billy currently has terminal lung cancer and had one last request to ride in a Huey with his four kids and reminisce about his time in the army. With the help of The Dream Foundation and Amedisys Hospice they made his dream a reality.

"This is our first dream here in our region, specifically for our care center in Morgantown. So we are extremely thrilled that we were able to make Billy's dream a reality," said Heidi Chickerell, volunteer coordinator at Amedisys Hospice.

With all the excitement Billy was thrilled to get up in the air...

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Homeless Vietnam Veteran Escorted With Honor to Rest

Homeless Vietnam vet honored by Funeral home with final free farewell

FOX 2 Now St. Louis

Staff Writer

August 8, 2017

ST. LOUIS, Mo. A homeless veteran will get a special final farewell this morning courtesy of a local funeral home and you can be a part of it.

The owners of Michel Funeral Home on Southwest Avenue are donating services for Sergeant John Beard, a Vietnam veteran who had become homeless in his civilian life. He was 67 when he died recently of cancer.

Beard served in the United States Air Force in Vietnam from 1968 to 1971. He received four different awards and later transferred to the Air Force Reserves.
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Veterans Get Burned Again By Court After Burn Pits

Court Deals Major Blow to Veterans Suing Over Burn Pits

Special to McClatchy Washington Bureau
By Patricia Kime
5 Aug 2017

"My husband is DEAD because of burn pits," Dina McKenna, whose husband, former Army Sgt. William McKenna, died in 2010 from a rare form of T-cell lymphoma after serving in Iraq, told McClatchy in an email. "I want someone to be held accountable."

A senior airman tosses unserviceable uniform items into a burn pit at Balad Air Base, Iraq, in March 2008. (US Air Force photo/Julianne Showalter)

A federal judge has dismissed a major lawsuit against a defense contractor by veterans and their family members, over burn pit operations in Iraq and Afghanistan that plaintiffs said caused them chronic and sometimes deadly respiratory diseases and cancer.

In the decision, U.S. District Court Judge Roger W. Titus wrote that the company, KBR, could not be held liable for what was essentially a military decision to use burn pits for waste disposal. Titus said holding the Pentagon responsible was outside of his jurisdiction.

"The extensive evidence ... demonstrates that the mission-critical, risk-based decisions surrounding the use and operation of open burn pits ... were made by the military as a matter of military wartime judgment," Titus wrote in an 81-page opinion.

The dismissal -- the second by Titus in the case -- deals a major blow to the more than 700 veterans, family members and former KBR employees who brought the suit.

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Marine Honors Dying War Dog With Bucket List

UPDATE

Community turns out for U.S. Marine veteran dog's last ride

MUSKEGON, MI - More than 100 people, 30 Jeeps and about 35 American flags gathered in honor of a four-legged Marine veteran on Wednesday, July 26.


Muskegon Marine creates bucket list for dying war dog
WOOD 8 News
Evan Dean
Published: July 21, 2017

MUSKEGON, Mich. (WOOD) — It’s hard to forget the heartwarming reunion of U.S. Marine Cpl. Jeff DeYoung and his bomb-sniffing war dog, Cena.

Now, DeYoung is trying to make sure his partner’s final days are just as unforgettable.

Marine Lance Cpl. Jeff DeYoung is reunited with his combat dog Cena. (June 5, 2014) The pair’s 2014 reunion made national headlines. Since then, they’ve lived and worked side-by-side in Muskegon.

“It was me and him against the world overseas. And now it was me and him against the world back home. And that changed our war,” said DeYoung, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Cena is now 10 years old, dealing with a wartime injury and a body that’s breaking down. A veterinarian visit last week revealed the worst.

“They diagnosed him with bone cancer,” DeYoung said Friday.

The war dog who served three combat tours overseas likely only has a couple of weeks left to live. DeYoung doesn’t want Cena to suffer any longer.
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Veterans Dying At VA Continues...In A Good Way

No, Gunny, I have not lost my mind with the title. I really believe in the care hospice offers patients on the last part of their journey though their lives. It is really good to know that they do not have to stop medical care to be in this one.

Dying veterans boost participation in hospice care
Reuters
Ronnie Cohen
July 14, 2017

By 2011, they found that 44 percent of veterans who died in hospitals took their last breaths in hospice beds, compared to 30 percent in 2008. By 2012, 71 percent of veterans dying of cancer were enrolled in hospice.

(Reuters Health) - An initiative to enroll dying veterans in hospice care appears to be working, and its success may offer clues for how to persuade others who are terminally ill to join the highly lauded end-of-life program, a new study shows.

After the U.S. Veterans Administration implemented its Comprehensive End of Life Care Initiative in 2009, growth of enrollment of terminally ill male war veterans in hospice care outstripped enrollment growth in hospice programs for elderly men who did not serve, according to the report in Health Affairs.

More veterans likely enrolled in hospice care because the initiative allowed them to continue to have curative treatments, said Joanne Spetz, a professor at the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. Other hospice programs require participants to cease disease-modifying treatment.

Spetz suspects that being able to use both hospice and concurrent care motivated people to sign up for hospice care "because it wasn’t an either/or decision,” she said in a phone interview.
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Army Combat Medic Faced One Death Too Many, His Own

Son’s suicide prompts Boylston mother to raise awareness
Worcester Telegram
By Paula J. Owen Correspondent
Posted Jul 8, 2017

“We honestly didn’t realize how much my mother’s death affected him until he chose to do what he did at her grave,” she said. “We never imagined in a million years. He always wanted to be a doctor and he texted me a few days before that he was accepted to BU.”

BOYLSTON – As a medic in the U.S Army, Sgt. Nathan R. Stark had seen a lot by the time he was 22, including several suicide attempts and a miscarriage. But it was the death of his grandmother to cancer on his birthday last year that seemed to take the heaviest emotional toll on him. It led him to take his own life at her grave.

Two months after his death, his mother, Rebecca L. Stark, 51, from Boylston, who works as a nurse, is raising awareness about high-functioning depression and how cancer affects everyone, not just those diagnosed.

Ms. Stark said her son was very close to his grandmother and that she was his confidante. Mr. Stark’s grandmother, Marion J. Stark, helped raise him while his mother was at work.

“She was his day care provider when he was little,” Ms. Stark said. “They talked a lot and he grew up around there.”

When Mr. Stark enlisted in the Army, his mother said, he felt guilty about leaving his grandmother, who had been battling endometrial cancer since 2006. He also had a hard time leaving his little sister, Jenna L. Stark, who was 6 at the time, Ms. Stark said.

“He felt guilty he couldn’t be there,” Ms. Stark said, holding back tears. “He would call from Korea and ask how his grandmother was doing. I didn’t want to keep bothering him, but I had to keep him informed. He just felt bad he wasn’t there. He was used to being a medic and making everything right.”

“Everyone was in shock,” she said. “Everybody says pay attention – people cry for help – but, sometimes they don’t. I think to myself, ‘I’m a nurse. How did I not see all this?’ I think sometimes you just have a perfect storm.” read more here

Parasites Still Killing After Vietnam

In 1993 my husband was tested for Agent Orange. We'll never forget the words the doctor uses after the test was done, "No adverse health effects yet." Yes, those words "yet" have haunted us ever since, knowing that one day, there would be and there was. I thank God everyday that we have not heard the words "cancer" but it hangs over us all the time. If you think for a second we have lost all we had to lose by those who fought the Vietnam War, you are not even close to knowing that price yes yet to be paid in full.

Now add in, cholangiocarcinoma.

Vietnam War veterans diagnosed with cancer linked to service being denied care by Veterans Affairs
ABC 7 News New York
By Kristin Thorne
July 05, 2017

"If Jerry, God forbid, doesn't beat this thing, his wife Edie would lose the benefit that her husband earned," Schumer said.

VALLEY STREAM, Long Island (WABC) -- They put their lives on the line for our country - in a conflict that bitterly divided the nation.

Now, some Vietnam veterans are being diagnosed with cancer that may be linked to their service, but they're being denied care by the Veterans Affairs.

Jerry Chiano was only 19-years-old when he went off to fight in the Vietnam War. Years later, he was diagnosed with throat cancer and then more recently, bile duct cancer.

"Most people get no symptoms. They turn yellow. They get a little pain. It's already stage 4," Chiano said.

It's a rare cancer that many believe stems from parasites in Southeast Asia's waterways, but the Department of Veterans Affairs does not recognize it as a service connected illness.

New York Senator Charles Schumer is stepping up to make care available for Vietnam veterans.

"Jerry, who served our country, should not have to fight a second war to gather scientific facts about bile duct cancer," Schumer said.

Schumer called on the National Academy of Sciences to launch a study examining the correlation between bile duct cancer and parasites that veterans may have been exposed to in Vietnam.
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And every other day as well.

Vietnam Veteran Gets Final Wish, Motorcycle Escort While Still Alive to Enjoy It

Final wish: Vietnam vet granted motorcycle escort 
WLOX News 
By Michelle Masson 
June 26, 2017

HARRISON COUNTY, MS (WLOX) -

A terminally ill Vietnam veteran received his final request Monday, as dozens of bikers from all over the Southeast escorted him to the Biloxi VA hospital from Gulfport Memorial.

Hancock County resident Teresa Ladner said she and her family have taken in Army veteran Martin deBie as their own for the past several years.

"He's just so happy that everybody came out for him and showed him he's not alone. I just need to let him know he's not forgotten. None of the veterans are. His family gave up on him, but we didn't," said Ladner.
Ladner said deBie went to the hospital for a broken hip a month ago, only to be diagnosed with cancer that had spread throughout his body.

He was being treated at Memorial Hospital Gulfport, but needed to be transferred to the Biloxi VA Hospital.

When deBie knew he'd be moving locations, he requested an escort from biker groups, like the Patriot Guard Riders, Bikers for Trump, and the Christian Motorcycle Association. Ladner helped make it happen.

"There's no words to describe it, but it's a wonderful experience," said deBie.
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Marine Vietnam Veteran Fought Back After Being Shot by Invaders

Friends Of Veteran Shot In Home Invasion Search For The Missing Shotgun

WKRG News

By Emily DeVoePublished: June 24, 2017, 

Mobile, AL (WKRG) Like looking for a needle in a haystack, friends of Michael Irving combed through the overgrown ditches on Bay Road searching for the missing shotgun used in Thursday’s home invasion.

Irving, a Vietnam veteran battling cancer., was inside his home when three suspects showed up at his back door and fired a shotgun through the window pane, striking him in the right shoulder.

“They were going to kill him, plain and simple. You don’t fire a shotgun at someone unless you mean it. But, guess what?  He’s a marine, and he came back with a vengeance. Of all people to pick on why pick on a marine?” Irving’s close friend who goes by the name, “Roadkill,” told us.

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Vietnam Veteran's Wish to Fly P-Model Cessna Granted

Vietnam War Veteran Gets Flight Of His Dreams
OPB FM
by Molly Solomon
June 17, 2017

Rowland was diagnosed with lymphocytic cancer in January. Doctors told him he only had a pint of blood left in his body. After trips to four different hospitals and two stints in rehab, Rowland was finally healthy enough to get on the plane.

It was a special day for a Vietnam War veteran in Vancouver, Washington. Simon Rowland, 66, has always wanted to fly in an old P-Model Cessna plane. And this weekend, he got his wish.

Veteran Simon Rowland peering out
the window of the Cessna plane as 
it flies across parts of southwest 
Washington. Molly Solomon/OPB

A crowd of friends who helped organize the flight met him at the runway Saturday morning. One of them is Meredith McMackin, an art therapist who met Simon while teaching a class at the VA Portland Community Living Center on the Vancouver campus.

“We were outside because it was a beautiful day and I had art supplies out there,” remembers McMackin. “And this fellow, Simon, looks up and sees a small plane and says, ‘I want to fly in one of those before I die.’”

That planted a seed for McMackin and she started making calls to the nearby Pearson Field. She got in contact with a local pilot, Bill Rollin, who was happy to help. When McMackin told Rowland she had secured a plane, he broke down in tears.
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