Agent Orange disability benefits are available to hundreds of thousands of Veterans, primarily those who served in the Vietnam War on land.
This toxic herbicide resulted in the development of many chronic conditions and illnesses over the years, creating a presumptive condition list to qualify Veterans with health conditions for disability compensation automatically.
However, many Veterans, including those who served in the Gulf of Tonkin, have not received disability benefits or may not know whether they qualify in the first place. Read on to learn more about this subject.
Agent Orange is a tactical herbicide the military previously used during the Vietnam War and similar conflicts. The military employed Agent Orange to remove hazardous vegetation that impeded military operations in southern and central Vietnam.
Agent Orange contained a highly toxic chemical contaminant called dioxin that’s been linked to cancers, diabetes, birth defects, and other disabilities. Nearly three million American soldiers served in the armed forces in Vietnam during this time who may have been exposed to Agent Orange.
After its use in the 1960s, the U.S. banned the herbicide in 1971. Congress eventually made a ruling that influenced eligibility for disability claim approval. They ruled that herbicide exposure in the Republic of Vietnam was so widespread that the presumption of exposure was necessary. They made this ruling as part of the Agent Orange Act.
This ruling affects many military Veterans, including Navy service members who served on aircraft carriers or other vessels off the coast of Vietnam, though these crew members did not originally receive disability benefits.
Veterans who served in the Vietnam Era may receive VA benefits to compensate them for illnesses and symptoms of exposure to Agent Orange.
Unfortunately, Agent Orange also caused or aggravated a wide range of negative health effects and diseases in exposed Veterans. These include cancers, diabetes, heart disease, and neurological conditions.
Because many exposed Veterans who served in Vietnam developed similar conditions, the Department of Veterans Affairs came up with a presumptive conditions list. This included a list of long-term health conditions and diseases now presumed to have been caused or aggravated by Agent Orange exposure. These presumptive diseases associated with Agent Orange or other herbicides include:
The VA also presumes certain birth defects in children of Vietnam Veterans are associated with Veterans’ qualifying military service. If you or a loved one have served in the Vietnam War and have any of these conditions or diseases, you could be automatically entitled to disability benefits. This policy has helped hundreds of thousands of Veterans recover the compensation they deserve and need to stabilize their finances.
The Gulf of Tonkin is located in the Northwestern section of the South China Sea off the coast of North Vietnam. In the prelude to the Vietnam War, many Navy Veterans were dispatched to the Gulf of Tonkin as part of military operations. They may have also taken part in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, which led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
After the Vietnam War began and through its conclusion, the Gulf of Tonkin was the site of many Navy patrols. Many military Veterans may have served in or around the Gulf of Tonkin, and been exposed to Agent Orange and other hazardous chemicals
Unfortunately, while the presumptive conditions policy from the VA enabled many Vietnam Veterans to receive compensation benefits, that policy did not extend to Veterans who exclusively served on U.S. Navy ships.
To summarize, only Veterans who set foot in Vietnam in some capacity were potentially eligible for disability compensation due to Agent Orange exposure.
Many sailors on ships developed similar health conditions, though. Over several decades, these Veterans worked with Veterans law attorneys to press the VA to expand its policy regarding automatic disability benefits. Their efforts finally bore fruit in early 2019 with a federal court ruling in Procopio v. Wilkie. This case led to the Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019.
In this landmark case, over 90,000 so-called “Blue Water Navy Veterans” qualified for new presumptions of service connections for medical conditions already linked to Agent Orange. Put another way, military Veterans who served in Vietnamese waters on Blue Water Navy vessels within 12 nautical miles of the shore of Vietnam now qualify for disability compensation where they did not before.
More specifically, the ruling qualifies eligible Veterans who:
Further developments to this ruling came with the Pact Act of 2022, which expanded the list of Veterans who qualify for presumptive service connections to:
This reflects a trend in VA health care and its disability compensation rules. As more scientific evidence comes to light, the VA increasingly determines that many more Veterans may have been exposed to Agent Orange than it initially calculated.
This is good news for Veterans who have high medical bills or related expenses. It means that they may receive disability benefits in the future and retroactively to compensate them for months or years when they should have been compensated by the VA.
Since the Gulf of Tonkin is a major water area around Vietnam, do Veterans who served in or around the Gulf of Tonkin automatically qualify for disability benefits?
Unfortunately, no. At the time of this writing, Veterans who served in the Gulf of Tonkin or the Gulf of Tonkin incident do not automatically qualify for disability compensation due to Agent Orange exposure. Instead, they must prove that they:
For example, suppose you served in the Gulf of Tonkin 13 nautical miles away from the shore of Vietnam and developed bladder cancer afterward. In that case, you do not qualify for disability benefits because of Agent Orange exposure.
While this news can be frustrating for Veterans with long-term health conditions, it’s important not to give up. The Blue Water Navy Veterans are still fighting to expand presumptive conditions and locations for Agent Orange disability compensation.
Because of these fights, the VA may expand its list of qualifying areas and Veterans sometime in the future. In the next few years, Gulf of Tonkin Veterans could be incorporated or folded into the collection of Veterans who qualify for VA disability compensation relating to Agent Orange exposure.
Suppose you or a loved one have a condition on the presumptive condition list for Agent Orange exposure but don’t qualify for disability benefits because you served in the Gulf of Tonkin or farther than 13 nautical miles away from the shore of Vietnam. In that case, you should still file a claim ASAP.
Why? The VA provides retroactive pay benefits for Veterans who qualify for disability compensation sometime after they initially file a claim. Retroactive back pay is calculated based on a Veteran’s claim’s “effective date,” which is usually when the VA receives an original claim.
For instance, suppose you file a claim for disability benefits due to Agent Orange exposure in the Gulf of Tonkin in 2023, and the VA starts accepting these claims in 2025. Then, you could receive back pay for the two years between your initial claim filing and when your claim is accepted.
Furthermore, filing a claim will help the legal cases of lawyers and other Veterans pushing for disability benefits overall. For example, imagine you can help prove that you developed Agent Orange-related conditions because you served in the Gulf of Tonkin. In that case, you could help to accelerate this change and inspire the VA to expand its list of qualifying Veterans sooner rather than later.
Ultimately, Veterans who served in the Gulf of Tonkin are still waiting for the disability benefits they likely deserve. Agent Orange exposure occurred over a wide area, and the US military isn’t sure which Veterans may have been exposed to this toxic herbicide.
While you may not qualify for disability benefits for Agent Orange exposure just yet, it’s still a good idea to file a claim anyway with the assistance of experienced attorneys like Berry Law. Our powerful legal team has championed the rights of Veterans and warriors for over 55 years and continues to do so across the nation. By filing a claim early, you’ll maximize your chances of recovering disability benefits and back pay later if the VA expands its benefits rules.
Contact us today to learn more about your options.
Sources:
Agent Orange Exposure And VA Disability Compensation | Veterans Affairs
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND – Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange Exposure | NCBI Bookshelf
Exposure to Agent Orange by Location | Public Health | VA.gov
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