Nearly five months after a federal advisory board concluded that Air Force reservists were exposed to Agent Orange years after their C-123 aircraft were used to spray the toxic defoliant in Vietnam, the former troops are still waiting for medical benefits from the VA.

An Institute of Medicine scientific panel concluded in January that the reserve members were exposed to chemical residue that could elevate their risk for developing illnesses associated with Agent Orange, including certain cancers, Parkinson's disease, amyloidosis and diabetes.

On the day the report was released, VA Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning Dr. Linda Schwartz said the department needed to determine who may have been affected and whether legislation was required to give these former service members health care and compensation.

Under VA policy, veterans may be eligible for services if they served on active duty and were discharged or released under conditions other than honorable.

"Active duty," according to VA, is defined as having served in the active component or on any period of active duty for training during which a person is disabled or dies from an injury or disease during that duty, or any period of inactive duty training during which a person is disabled or dies from an injury incurred or aggravated in the line of duty.

According to Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., VA officials have been debating the latter portion of that definition, with the VA Office of General Counsel arguing that a reservist must have incurred an injury during training, and the injury must have manifested itself into a disability during that period of training, in order for that member to qualify for services.

Burr and Blumenthal say that argument contradicts previous statements and interpretations made by the same office. In a letter dated April 27, they urged VA Secretary Bob McDonald to resolve the dispute.

"We fundamentally disagree. ... This not only contradicts VA's previous interpretations of the same statutory language but also leads to absurd results. For instance, reservists who contracted Ebola while flying patients during training but showed no symptoms until they are in civilian life would not satisfy VA's new-found interpretation," they wrote in the letter, which was co-signed by five other senators.

In an address to the Association of Healthcare Journalists on April 24, McDonald told a packed hall of reporters that an announcement regarding these C-123 veterans would be coming in "two weeks."

"We should be making an announcement that they would be provided health care. Part of that [has been] deciding: Does Congress need to pass a law [to change the definition] or can we just do a regulation," McDonald said.

The senators said no new legislation is needed.

"As secretary, you have the authority to make the decision that would provide these veterans the care and benefits they have earned. We ask that you do so without delay," they wrote in their letter.

For those who served on C-123s, including retired Air Force Maj. Wes Carter, who led the effort to obtain recognition and care for these veterans, the delay has been frustrating but comes as little surprise.

He has battled the Air Force for at least five years to get an official acknowledgment that the troops were exposed to dioxin levels high enough to make them ill.

"Why the pushback, I have no idea," Carter said. "There were, maybe, 2,100 of us? And how many people are we talking about now, a few hundred? Who knows how many are still alive, how many have Tricare or other insurance or how many at this point just don't want to deal with VA?"

Patricia Kime is a senior writer covering military and veterans health care, medicine and personnel issues.

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