Posted 9/22/2010 8:05 AM (GMT 0)
Hi,
I'm a new member. I've had PD for about 13 years. I was a "donut dolly" in Vietnam in 1967. No one in my family has PD. I definitely think my PD is a result of AO exposure.
I was in Korea for 6 months (October--April '66-67) and responded to plea for "donut dollies" to transfer to Viet Nam. I was in Viet Nam 7 months (April-November "67). My first assignment
was Da Nang, then Qui Nhon and the last 4 months in Phu Loi which is about 29 miles north of Saigon in III Corps. My understanding is III Corps. was the most heavily sprayed area in '67 and68. I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 2000. I have advance Parkinson's now. No one in my family has or had P.D. which leads me to believe my P.D. was caused environmentally. Evidently, they used agent orange around the DMZ in Korea where I might have been exposed but definitely I was exposed for at least 4 months in Viet Nam. Of course I followed the news about P. D. being added to the list by the VA. I called the National Red Cross in D.C. to see if my service records were available. They suggest I file a workman’s comp claim with their insurer Travelers. I did file over the phone on 9/1/10. I called to check on the claim last week and they said it was being transferred to Colorado and it would be about 2 months before they could access my records which are archived.
From what I've read, very few civilian claims have been successful and for civilians, there is still the "burden of proof" to prove thaat my PD was caused by AO exposure.
If any of you have any exerience or advise that might help me, I'd love to hear from you.
I read a report from the GOA Government Office of Accountability (GOA-05-371). It basicaly
says the government is aware of the extreem difficulties in fiiing a successful claim. In spite of the
legislative suggestions in this report, they don't want to make it easier or do the right thing because it would set a precedent for civilians in more recent wars to do the same.
Waiting,
civilpd