Saturday, October 10, 2009

Former Marine the New Face of Veterans Exposed to Toxic Substances

Full Article at: Former Marine becomes face of new Vieques battle

By MIKE MELIA (AP) – 7 hours ago

ISABELA, Puerto Rico — "The headaches began just after Hermogenes Marrero arrived on Vieques, the small Puerto Rican island where the young U.S. Marine guarded stores of Cold War-era chemical weapons.

The retired sergeant, now 57 and terminally ill with cancer and other ailments, blames exposure to toxins released while he was stationed there from 1970 to 1972. By coming forward to support similar claims by island residents, he has become the public face of a new and bitter battle over Vieques, the Navy bombing range-turned-tourist destination off the U.S. territory's east coast.

"I've been sick since I left Vieques," said the wheelchair-bound Marrero, who now lives in an apartment cramped with life-support equipment in this small town in northwestern Puerto Rico.

Marrero is a key witness in a lawsuit seeking billions of dollars in compensation for illnesses that past and current Vieques residents have linked to the bombing range, where the U.S. and its allies trained for conflicts from Vietnam to Iraq."

IS VA Showing Prefernce in Processing of Disability Claims?

This is a very disturbing revelation, if true, that veterans of different time periods are receiving preferential treatment in claim processing, that is indeed a clear violation of veterans due process rights[Constitutional rights].

"WWII Veteran’s claims are taking 28-60 months, Korean War Veteran’s claims are taking 26-52 months, Viet Nam Veteran’s claims are taking 24-48 months, Persian Gulf Veteran’s claims are taking 24-36 months, Iraq Veteran’s claims are taking 6-7 months and Afghanistan Veteran’s are taking 3-4 months."

Full Article at: Demands veterans processing to stop being swept under the rug and ignored by legislators
Friday, October 9, 2009

By: Jim Davis
Edited by: Barbie Perkins-Cooper

Veterans-For-Change, a non-profit vocal group for Veterans rights, benefits, and treatment, would like to bring to your attention the immeasurably serious problems affecting veterans and their families every day. Many of these problems escalate for veterans, and continue to be ignored, swept under the rug, or misrepresented by our legislators.

The membership of Veterans-for-Change continues to grow and as an advocate for Veterans and the benefits they deserve, we would like to address the following problems/issues:

Claims Processing in Order of Receipt:
Countless veterans and widows of the almost one million claims dating back to WWII are being placed on hold so that Afghanistan and Iraq veteran’s claims can be processed more quickly. While Veterans-for-Change relates to the difficulties, physical complaints and difficulties endured by the War on Terror Veterans, we believe it is crucial that VA Benefits claims should be processed in order of receipt regardless of when the actual service occurred, but this is far from the case.

WWII Veteran’s claims are taking 28-60 months, Korean War Veteran’s claims are taking 26-52 months, Viet Nam Veteran’s claims are taking 24-48 months, Persian Gulf Veteran’s claims are taking 24-36 months, Iraq Veteran’s claims are taking 6-7 months and Afghanistan Veteran’s are taking 3-4 months."