Blue Water Navy Veterans
“Blue Water Navy Veterans” refers to those who served on ships within twelve (12) nautical miles around the coast of Vietnam. These Vietnam War service members had previously been denied benefits that veterans who served on land are entitled to, specifically because of the exposure to the toxic herbicide dioxin, known commonly as “Agent Orange.”
The United States government originally assured its military members that the herbicide was harmless and military members were never required, nor even told, to take precautions while handling the chemicals. Nonetheless, in the late 1970s, military members began to suspect their health issues – such as skin problems, miscarriages, birth defects, mental disorders, and various cancers – could be traced back to their exposure to Agent Orange. The VA, however, denied any claim filed based on exposure to the agent.
Several acts and rulings in the 1980s and 1990s, however, helped advance Vietnam veterans’ claims. The 1983 Veterans’ Dioxin and Radiation Exposure Compensation Standards Act (the “Dioxin Act”) required the VA to address service connection of certain disabilities for veterans who were exposed to dioxin in Vietnam, and to provide interim benefits for certain disabilities and deaths. In Nehmer v. United States Veterans Administration, a class action lawsuit was brought to challenge the VA assertion that chloracne is the only disease associated with exposure to herbicides like Agent Orange. The district court certified the case on behalf of all Vietnam Veterans and their survivors, and found the VA had violated the Dioxin Act- requiring the VA to conduct new regulations. They also voided all denials issued from 1985 to 1989 that had been based on the invalidated regulation that only chloracne was associated with Agent Orange. Finally, on February 6, 1991, Congress enacted the Agent Orange Act. The Act allowed the Department of Veteran’s Affairs to declare certain health issues and conditions caused by Agent Orange exposure service-connected on a presumptive basis. By declaring conditions presumptive, the VA acknowledges certain disabilities are caused by Agent Orange exposure. These regulations and rulings, however, did not include Blue Water Navy Veterans’ claims.
Blue Water Navy Veterans continued to fight for recognition. As a result of their efforts, VA ordered the Institute of Medicine in 2009 to undertake a study concerning the exposure of Blue Water Navy Veterans exposure to Agent Orange. The report detailed the several different ways veterans who served only on ships could have been exposed to the herbicide: contaminated shipboard water, spray drift, and dermal contact with the marine water. In 2011, however, a separate Committee on Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans and Agent Orange Exposure again failed to recognize Blue Water Navy Veterans’ exposure, concluding ground troops and service members on vessels that went into Vietnam inland rivers and waterways had more plausible pathways of exposure to Agent Orange than Blue Water Navy veterans.
Finally, on January 29, 2019, in Procopio v. Wilkie, a federal appellate court ruled that in passing the Agent Orange Act of 1991, Congress intended to include Vietnam’s territorial sea. After the ruling, Congress enacted the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act, which states veterans who served as far as twelve nautical miles from the shore of Vietnam, are presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange.
Beginning January 1, 2020, Blue Water Navy Veterans were finally eligible for service connection for any of the cancers and illnesses related to herbicide exposure: bladder cancer, chronic b-cell leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, prostate cancer, respiratory cancers (including lung cancer), some soft tissue sarcomas, AL amyloidosis, chloracne, diabetes mellitus type 2, high blood pressure (hypertension), hypothyroidism, ischemic heart disease, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), parkinsonism, Parkinson’s disease, early onset peripheral neuropathy, and porphyria cutanea tarda.