New Law Gives aGeNt OraNGe PresumPtiONs tO vietNam Navy veteraNs
Military & Veterans Affairs Committee
Continued from page 60
Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of
2019 1 mandates that veterans who
served aboard vessels operating
within 12 nautical miles of the
territorial waters of Vietnam and
Cambodia between January 9,
1962, and May 7, 1975, are
presumed to have been exposed
to Agent Orange and other
herbicides. The Act provided
specific geographic names and
coordinates off the coasts of
Vietnam and Cambodia to
accurately identify the 12-mile
radius. This means that if a Blue
Water Veteran contracts one of
the listed diseases, that condition
“shall be considered to have been
incurred in or aggravated” by their
service, despite the fact that there
JAN - FEB 2020
|
HCBA LAWYER
was no evidence the condition
existed during their military service.
From a practical standpoint,
Blue Water Veterans may have to
produce evidence of their service
within the radius if a vessel they
served upon is not on the VA’s list.
This might include service records
like their Form DD-214, which may
list the vessels upon which they
served. 2 Other military documents
or witness statements from sailors
they served with may also provide
this evidence. It is also possible to
obtain ship logs to document where
vessels sailed. However, the new
law lifts the burden of proving
actual physical exposure to Agent
Orange, something that was nearly
impossible previously. Practitioners
who are contacted by veterans who
have been denied the presumption
by VA should immediately begin
working with their clients to
develop proof of their service
on ships that sailed within the
12 nautical mile zone to obtain
the benefit of the presumption. n
https://www.congress.gov/bill/
116th-congress/house-bill/299/text
[last visited 9/21/2019].
2 VA maintains at least a partial
list of ships that qualify at https://
www.va.gov/
shiplist-agent-
orange.pdf
[last visited
9/21/2019).
1
Author:
John V. Tucker -
Tucker Law
Group, P.A.
61