13 replies to this topic

[Berta]

"November 29, 2011
Director (00/21) In Reply Refer To:
All VA Regional Offices Training Letter 11-03 (Revised)
SUBJ: Processing Disability Claims Based on Exposure to Contaminated Drinking
Water at Camp Lejeune
This updated training letter incorporates multiple recommendations provided by other
interested organizations, including the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, and
Office of Management and Budget. It also reflects the Environmental Protection Agency's
revised assessment of trichloroethylene (TCE), now characterized as "carcinogenic to
humans" by all routes of exposure.
Purpose
Veterans who served at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, were
potentially exposed to contaminants present in the base water supply prior to 1987. The
chemical compounds involved have been associated by various scientific organizations
with the possible development of certain chronic diseases. However, many unanswered
questions remain regarding the extent of base water contamination, the type and duration
of exposure experienced by base personnel, and the likelihood that contaminant levels in
the water supply were high enough to result in a particular disease.
While these issues are being studied, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has
determined that disability claims from Veterans who served at Camp Lejeune during this
period deserve special handling to ensure fairness and consistency in claims processing.
As a result, adjudication of these claims has been centralized at the Louisville, Kentucky,
Regional Office with tracking measures initiated. Technical aspects related to processing
these claims are outlined in Fast Letter 11-03, Consolidation and Processing of Disability
Claims Based on Exposure to Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune, North
Carolina.
This training letter was developed to provide additional background information on the
Camp Lejeune situation, as well as to provide specific guidance for issues related to
claims development and adjudication. The current guidance supersedes the initial release
and the Camp Lejeune section of Training Letter 10-03, Environmental Hazards in Iraq,
Afghanistan, and Other Military Installations."

Courtesy of my friend Bob Walsh , veteran's attorney- who just got this new training letter.

The 10-03 Environmental Hazard Training letter should be in our training letter forum.

The FAst letter they refer to is here:

http://agentorangezo...xposure-to.html


2

[Berta]

I added this part of the Fast Letter:

"From 1957 through 1987, persons residing or working at the U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, were potentially exposed to drinking water contaminated with volatile organic compounds, including benzene, vinyl chloride, tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE). Claims based on service at Camp Lejeune involve potentially complex issues of exposure and causation, and VA remains concerned about the potential for harmful effects associated with past exposure to the contaminated water supply. As the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which has been contracted by the Department of the Navy, continues to research the effects of exposure from this incident, VA must be prepared to evaluate claims based on such exposure in a consistent manner. By centralizing jurisdiction to the Louisville RO, VA enhances its ability to process these claims efficiently and consistently."

This could potentially involve thousand of Marines and even their family members exposed to these contaminates.They could have caused many types of disability.

[carlie]

Berta,
Great post.
I am pinning this topic.

[fanaticbooks]

Here's the full document. Until I can transfer it into the Training Letter Forum, I thought posting it here would help. :)

http://www.salem-new...ter_Claims).pdf




fanaticbooks
p.s. I'm working on it, but will be awhile until I include in here. Have a few others I want to do also.

[aggie54]

Thank you Berta for all the hard work you put forth to keep us advised on the Camp Lejeune Waters. I for one just recieved a Health Survey from the ATSDR Health Survey of Marine Corps Personnel and Civilians. Looks like it's going to take awhile to complete this, for it has over 26 pages of questions. And it looks like it has to be turned in before the end of the month. Once again thank you.

[eganusn]

There is an interesting side note to this whole controversy; Camp Lejeune, (I spent many days there as a dependent and on active duty.) is the only site that DOD was obligated to report. The EPA and DOD also lists many other bases on their "Superfund" sites, but the onus is on the servicemember/veteran, or dependents to inquire and possibly file a claim on their own for any possible conditions and illnesses.

If you go to the EPA's supefund site, it will list all bases that have had issues just like Camp Lejeune.

[Done wit this]

I'm Not a marine and This has hit me dead in the Face,in high school I had one really close freind .he entered the Marines and was stationed there-camp lajeune- in 84-85. He ended up with stomach cancer and Lukemia,he fought hard and long but it was cronic ..He passed on they last day of the year in 2010, He -Angelo Marinelli was like my Brother.and this subject right here is what I am told took him.his family is devistated , they will never be the same..I either...They are like My own..Justice needs to be served here...

------------Macool-----------

[meghp0405]

I thank the VA for acknowledging that this issue with the camp lejune water contamination exposure is alive and it's not going away anytime soon. However, I believe that the VA has to stop taking baby steps and break out with the stride. There are many people meeting their demise from this exposure. Like anything else with the VA, I believe that the "medical professionals" should comprise a list of disabilities that are commsenurate with this exposure. Next, verify through cross reference on those that have been affected by this. Those disabilities then should become presumptive, the same way they did with the effects of agent orange and radiation.
We owe that to those that were affected by this exposure.
Just my 2 cents worth

Edited by meghp0405, 24 December 2012 - 02:41 PM.

[wicho58]

Hello , 

I was stationed at Camp Lejuene from 1980 to 1981 . I was in 2/6 and 3/6 . I did fill out a survey and I did get a letter about the VA allowing disabilities claims to be filed . I need information on how and what to fill out . I work with several other Marines who were also stationed at Camp Lejuene . Thank you all for the help . 

[aggie54]

Wicho58, I was stationed in French Creek from 1976 thru 1979, and I was in Camp Johnson for M.T. school in 1977. I would also like information on what to fill out for this water contamination problem but ,

 

I would have to wait to file a claim due to having a current claim pending since retiring from the military in 2010. I will probably wait to file a claim after this claim is closed cause

 

I don't want it to delay my claim any longer. I do a lot of reading, and if I run into any information that might help us with this water contamination I will let you know.

 

Take care Marine, and God Bless.

 

 

Semper Fi.

 

Aggie.

[meghp0405]

You need a diagnosis first! then obtain an IMO stating that your diagnosis is more likely than not as a result of the water contamination and the doctor has to explain how and why he/she came to that conclusion. Then submit your claim to the VARO, Louisville, KY

 

There is a camp lejune water registry. I would at a minimum, complete the registry. That way, anytime the VA makes any progress or has any other notifications to make on this topic, you will be informed. 

[wicho58]

Thank you guys ! Very good information . I just got my reply from the VA denying  my hearing loss and tinnitus claim . I have resubmitted my claim again with the same evident . I  been told that the Vet center in San Antonio Texas will almost always deny the hearing claims . 

[retiredat44]

this kinda irks me, I spent years soaked in chemicals dying form diseases form chemicals, and the VA fights me,, yet some people say they drank water while tdy there... I wil die and blow a gasket if people who sniffed fumes get prioroty and more belief and results in claims than thos eof us that were soaked in chmicals daily with solid written records of daily exposure on the job, while they deny deny until we die and then give out awards to people whole touched the water a  few times..

 

I would really really be pissed!

I know some of you wil be pissed at me, but put yourself in my shoes and al of us that weere soaked in chemicals and being denied while we die.. a horrible death....

 

The rotten dirty scum at the VA vetter take the people who worked witht he chemicals as serioui as they are witht he people who say they drank water that may have been contaminated...

 

the peoppe that worked with chmicals were soaked in the chmicals,, not just a brief encounter saoked every day for years and years... in the course of your job and duties,,, and reporting the illnessses on active duty from those chemicals, yet we go through years of hell being treated like scum......

 

we better not be pushed to the back of soime line full of people who had lite contact, at best.. there will be hell to pay by the VA if that B.S. crap happens!

 

if some people truly got sick fromm casyual contact, I feel for you, but you have no frakkin clue what it's like to actually be soaked and be dying from the dieases associted with those chemicals

 

I had to get this off my chest,, I see some type of lobby foriming pushing another agenda to the front of the line...

 

please, I don't mean disrespect but see something that is pissing me off.. I don't have the time and luxury of waiting around to be pushed back in line...

 

pleaase don't hate me for speaking my mind..

 

thanx..

[rdawg]

some of those exposures go back to the 1960's. should those people who have been sick since then and just now have a recognized exposure and well grounded claim wait any longer? I think not. I'm in the same boat as you retired. but I know people who were stationed there that are suffering terribly. They made formula for thier babies with that water.

 

They were exposed before I ever saw service. They should be expidited, in my opinion, ahead of me.