Sen. Gillibrand to push bill extending VA benefits to Navy veterans exposed to Agent Orange
WASHINGTON - Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand will use a Veteran's Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday to push a bill to extend Veterans Affairs Department benefits to "blue water" Vietnam-era veterans exposed to Agent Orange.
It's a bid to right what many of those Navy veterans see as their unfair exclusion from a 1991 law that requires the VA to provide presumptive disability coverage to Vietnam veterans potentially exposed to Agent Orange, a toxic herbicide the U.S. used to remove jungle foliage if they develop health conditions tied to the chemical.
Though some of the Navy vets faced exposure, they cannot receive the benefits unless they set foot on the ground in Vietnam or can show "on factual basis" that they were exposed.
That leaves tens of thousands of veterans like Bobby Condon uncovered.
Condon, 68, who grew up in Flatbush, enlisted in the Navy at just 17, serving from 1965 to 1968. He was nicknamed "Brooklyn" by fellow sailors.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/gillibrand-push-aid-navy-vets-exposed-agent-orange-article-1.2219931
