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RP Members and Connections I post this question on behalf of Sgt David G Duchesneau Vietnam Veteran and Marine.
Do you think the Vietnam War is really over for those of you who suffer from that, "gift that keeps on giving," Agent Orange?
It's been over forty-six years and ten months since David came back from Serving two tours in Vietnam and he still battling the effects of being exposed to Agent Orange. Finally, after all of this time, the VA has recognized Agent Orange. David was exposed to what he was told is, "this defoliant agent that will never hurt you or your health."
How many Vietnam Veterans have become a casualty, a statistic, of the Vietnam War?
Yes, the Vietnam War maybe over, but how many of you are still battling the effects of Vietnam? So now what happens? For many like Sgt David G. Duchesneau and so many others like him, the Vietnam War will never end until that so called Agent,"Agent Orange" finally kills them. Let's hope not!
Do you think the Vietnam War is really over for those of you who suffer from that, "gift that keeps on giving," Agent Orange?
It's been over forty-six years and ten months since David came back from Serving two tours in Vietnam and he still battling the effects of being exposed to Agent Orange. Finally, after all of this time, the VA has recognized Agent Orange. David was exposed to what he was told is, "this defoliant agent that will never hurt you or your health."
How many Vietnam Veterans have become a casualty, a statistic, of the Vietnam War?
Yes, the Vietnam War maybe over, but how many of you are still battling the effects of Vietnam? So now what happens? For many like Sgt David G. Duchesneau and so many others like him, the Vietnam War will never end until that so called Agent,"Agent Orange" finally kills them. Let's hope not!
Vietnam War
Agent Orange
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Health
Edited 7 y ago
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 127
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No, like you said it's the gift that keeps on giving. Went through three years of Chemo for Leukemia and now they found more. Had a tumor removed from the bladder last week. Now I just wait till something else appears.
But I am just thankful that I came home and able to " live " !!
But I am just thankful that I came home and able to " live " !!
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SPC Michael Oles SR
That’s how I feel I was able to come home start a family buy a house the bladder cancer the prostate cancer the months of Chemo and months of Radiation and seemed like a lifetime getting the help and admitting it from Vietnam the good thing and strange was I made it home knowing today if quitting school joining the Army for Vietnam would result in the Cancer and it damn near crippling me HELL YES I’D DO AGAIN
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Patricia Overmeyer
Sharon Danitschek - That's because we are only two to three generations away from the war itself (1959-1975 means there are overlaps for generations). It is not known what impacts may come beyond five generations as various DNA gene mutations are passed down. The question is whether the DNA gene mutations will eventually become so recessive that they are considered rare.
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SR Emerson Custis
Look up Canadian Cancer Nurse, Rene Caisse. Cancer was cured back in the eighteen hundreds. She found a tea that can clean your body of Cancer, but it has one side effect, it cures diabetes first.
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No COL Mikel J. Burroughs ! The physical and mental effect's always are just hidden away until something triggers. Bringing it back out and, to the fore front. I know quite a few Vietnam war veterans. I have seen it first hand..... No the war will never be over.....
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SFC Ssg Sabin
SGT Randall Smith - Hang in there bro! I'm not sure if there is, or has ever been a 'cure'. We just find ways to deal with it that don't harm others, or ourself! I found that if one of these pops up on me during the night, instead of trying to get back to sleep, I'll get up and do some work on a hobby, read something (nothing 'bout Nam/nothing to do w/military), watch t.v. (again no O. North 'war stories'); or anything else (that's legal!), that I know brings me some peace. I'm usually able to get back to sleep before first light. I'm also a spiritual man and turning there bro is no sign of weakness. Prayer does work!
Now I'm no shrink, so I'm just sharing with you the things that help me, in the hope that they might help you as well! We may be separated by different wars, times, and places, but it doesn't matter; we're all affected in some way. If anyone tells you they've been there in the mud and blood, or near enough to it to get some of it on them, but they were never affected in a negative way by it, they're lying to you, but more importantly, they're lying to themselves and I don't want to be around when that charge goes off!
Just remember that you're not alone out there. and we're going to beat it just like we've done before; as a team. So back to back bro! Always!
Now I'm no shrink, so I'm just sharing with you the things that help me, in the hope that they might help you as well! We may be separated by different wars, times, and places, but it doesn't matter; we're all affected in some way. If anyone tells you they've been there in the mud and blood, or near enough to it to get some of it on them, but they were never affected in a negative way by it, they're lying to you, but more importantly, they're lying to themselves and I don't want to be around when that charge goes off!
Just remember that you're not alone out there. and we're going to beat it just like we've done before; as a team. So back to back bro! Always!
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PVT Mark Brown
You have stated it all, quite succinctly at that. Welcome Home Brother. There are many of us sleeping the same bed.
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Patricia Overmeyer
SGT Randall Smith - This is an excellent film that was done by a Nam vet's daughter. The website will take you to the film itself.
http://www.iwillgobacktonight.com/
http://www.iwillgobacktonight.com/
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SFC Lyle Green
Napoleon stated many years ago concerning combat warriors: "The Mental to the Physical is the same as Four is to One". The wounds of war are a great part of me today, but I have fought and overcome many of the past predictions of their outcome, Having to face that day many years ago (42) that I was in deep dodo wanting to do anything to find peace. All the constant Drs., pills, therapy are nothing but band aids on a cancer. For 36 years and 38 different "Professionals" I have gained only the tools to manage symptoms. Faces, smells, sounds, even feeling material things that were once part of me, still come around. Learning how to reason or disassociate they away for a while is the best we can hope for.
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Metaphorically speaking, the Vietnam War isn't over for me either. I carry a bug which doctors say will likely kill me one day: Malaria. However, there's an abyss between metaphor and reality, isn't there? The war was over, we won. Then the war was over, Congress surrendered it. Then the war was over again, American businesses began exploiting cheap labor there to help prop up the failing Communist managed economy. If the war still rages anywhere it's in the hearts and minds of anti-war protesters who still harbor animosity towards Vietnam Vets (yes, I still bump into them on occasion).
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CWO3 (Join to see)
Malaria is some bad stuff. It lies dormant and resurfaces at will. We took all the gamma globulin shots as well as all the pills before going ashore in Somalia. It was prevalent in PI also. In Korea the concern was hemorrhagic fever caused by mice turds. There was a standing order against billeting on the deck without cots. One Army Ranger Platoon Commander ignored the directive and around 20 members of his platoon contracted malaria, which is for life. They referred to it in briefings as what not to do. He said his men were hard and didn't need cots. Not a smart move.
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SP5 Rich Levesque
CPT Jack: I get the occasional bout. They tell me it will never go away. But you seem to have it worse than I have seen. Different strain?
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CPO Emmett (Bud) Carpenter
I met a Vietnam War protester and her draft dodger husband in New Zealand a few years ago. She was still protesting the war. I told her I was a Vietnam vet and she was one of the most hateful person I have ever met then I walked away. I just didn't want to fight the Vietnam War while I was on vacation in a foreign country.
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Suspended Profile
YES!!! The Vietnam war has been over for me since April 1975 when I flew Air America to USS Hancock. The medical issues remain for far too many veterans. But, the war is over - at least for me. I worked very hard on my own residue from the war - which I had safely locked away from memory for many years - resolving my feelings about the war in the past few years. I have no need to relive what I did and did not do during the war anymore. Warmest Regards, Sandy :)
Sharon Danitschek
Thank you for your service!!!! Let me know if you are interested in connecting with others that served on the USS Hancock. I am connected to their reunion group. Many share your thoughts on their time of service but have been overjoyed at reconnecting
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Suspended Profile
SFC Ssg Sabin - I don't recall ice cream. Not my thing anyway. Warmest Regards, Sandy :)
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I left Vietnam in the summer of 1967,the memories and effects of mind and body have never left,but I consider myself lucky, since things could have turned out much worse,and there still is that old saying "God takes care of drunks and fools" so maybe it's not all luck on my part!
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COL Mikel J. Burroughs
SGT Philip Roncari Thanks for sharing your personal account Philip and I'm glad you're here with us today on RP! God Bless you!
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Not for many of those who served there, COL Mikel J. Burroughs. The physical and emotional battles are ongoing.
Sgt David G Duchesneau
Sgt David G Duchesneau
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No, COL Mikel J. Burroughs, I do not. My father served in both the Korean (air duty) and Vietnamese (ground duty) conflicts, and passed in 2010 due to interstitial lung disease. I have begun to wonder about the effects of his time in Vietnam.
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COL Mikel J. Burroughs
Maj William W. 'Bill' Price I so sorry to hear about your father Bill. May he RIP!
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Maj William W. 'Bill' Price
Thank you again, Colonel. FYI we briefly exchanged condolences upon your Dad's recent passing. Interstitial lung disease is also what our friend SGT Michael Thorin Please let us know of any updates you are given permission to share.
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