Vietnam Veteran Death Rate

Vietnam Vet Death Rate

 It is apparently based on an estimate that 800,000 Vietnam-era veterans had died by 2000. That number was reasonable: About 9.2 million Americans served in the military during the Vietnam era (1964-75), so that would mean about 8 percent of them had died and 92 percent were still alive.

  The problem arose when someone applied the 800,000 figure to a different denominator: 2.7 million, the estimated number of veterans who actually served in Vietnam, rather than at home or in some other theater. This made it appear that nearly one-third of those veterans were dead in 2000 and that they were dying at a rate of almost 400 a day. That would have meant more than 100,000 deaths a year, or nearly two million between 2000 and 2015: a path to near-total disappearance. 

  

  In reality, the death rate for Vietnam-era veterans in recent years has been comparable to or lower than that of other men in their generation, according to the CDC. 

  Of the men with the age distribution of Vietnam-era veterans who were alive in 2000, about 12 percent had died by 2010, with about 1.5 percent of the survivors projected to die each year since then. 

  (I don’t know if I believe these figures because there is a lot of room for mistakes and unknowns. Plus, it doesn’t show the percentage of actual in-country veterans still alive.)

  

  There is no real way to know how many of us are left. Phony in-country Nam vets are everywhere. The DOD probably has an accurate count of who actually served in Vietnam, but I don’t know if they have an accurate count of how many of us have died.

  I try not to worry about it anymore. I thank God every morning I wake up still breathing and ask him to give me twenty more years because I’m not finished with all the things I want to do in this life. That may sound silly to some people, but I believe attitude has a lot to so with long term survival. 

  When I think back on how PTSD had control of me ever since Nam, and how much I have fought it off and made strides to correct the symptoms inside me,  I realize there is hope for us. We can adjust and live with it and become better people  at peace with ourselves in our twilight years.

Unemployability: When Will They Make Me Permanent and Total?

BLT 1/3 on the USS Okinawa late 1967. I still had an M-14. They would make me
trade it for a 16 a few weeks after this photo. Vietnam was like being dropped on
another planet for most Americans, in a culture that was so alien to us that we
were truly strangers in a strange land. Long term effects like PTSD were sure to happen.

Unemployability: When Will They Make Me Permanent and Total?

When you  receive an  unemployability rating, you are getting the same benefit as a veteran  with 100% rating. The difference is one is schedular (100%) and the other is non-schedular (below 100%  but considered totally disabled). For PTSD, once you reach 70%, the VA automatically considers you for  unemployability. You will remain at 70%, yet, you will be 100%, which can be confusing. So why do some veterans get rated Permanent and Total and others do not?

  1. The amount  of  time you have been in the system.

If you have maintained employment most of your life and received unemployability in the last few years, the VA may not make you Permanent and Total right away. There may be a chance you can recover and go back to  work. Of course, for PTSD this is unlikely, but the amount of time you have been in the system can matter.

 2. Your age.
Once you reach age 50, you are kind of over the threshold with the VA. If you are on unemployabilty for PTSD, the VA knows you are not likely to maintain  employment ever  again. Employers aren’t likely to seek you out and tend to prefer younger people. Most Nam vets now fit this category.

3. Your Case History.
This goes back to point #1 and the amount of time you have been in the system. If you have a long history of PTSD and are over age 50, they are more likely to consider you for Permanent and Total (P&T).

Advantages of Permanent and Total

If you are single, there are no advantages other than a commissary card, and the VA won’t call you in for Comp Exams. I believe that you can once again take military flights, but you should check first. You don’t have school age children or a wife so ChampVA insurance and school benefits aren’t available.

If you are married with school age children, you get the commissary card, ChampVA Insurance for you family, education benefits, and no Comp Exams.

For veterans with families who have been declared unemployable, but have not been declared Permanent, it would be worth it to push your service organization to help you get permanent status. However, after five years you will probably reach Permanent and Total automatically.

If you are single or married and have been declared unemployable but not Permanent, but you don’t have school age children and you don’t need the ChampVA insurance, have your service organization check to see if the VA has you in the system for any future Comp Exams.

If you are not listed for a future Comp Exam, let it alone. Don’t push for Permanent and Total because the VA will not bother you again until you bother them. Then, say after five years, maybe pursue the Permanent rating if you think you need to. But don’t make waves unless you have to. You will be upgraded to Permanent and Total eventually.

___________________

If and when you are called in for a Comp Exam while on unemployability for PTSD, remember the VA cannot take your percentage away just because they feel like it. They would have to show you have improved and can maintain employment. They will check Social Security records to see if you have had any taxes taken out from employment while unemployable.

After five years, the VA must review the entire claim history before deciding to cut your rating. With PTSD, a cut is unlikely because of the age factor and because PTSD just doesn’t go away. Probably the most important factors in the Permanent and Total rating are age, how long you worked, how long you have been in the system, and the 70% rating.

There is legislation, or changes have been suggested by a group of analysts, to stop Unemployability after age 65 because a veteran could have already retired if working. I don't know if anything will come of it, and it will not change the status of veterans already on UE. This is still in the discussion phase on the way the VA budget can be cut. Hopefully, nothing will happen.

Dennis Latham Books

PTSD Claims: the Increase In Comp

PTSD Claims

When you file a claim for PTSD, you believe combat stressors have altered your life. Combat stressors are the key to the original rating. The VA admits you experienced events that changed your life forever. When you apply for an percentage increase, the increase is not based on additional stressors. You don't need additional stressors when you apply for an increase.

  Some veterans believe the more stressors they submit during the course of the claim, the higher their percentage. After the initial service connection, your percentage is based on your ability to function and support yourself in the work force. Most combat veterans mistrust authority, which can make life difficult when you job search or try to hold a job. Many veterans who had a position of authority in the service suffer from extreme survivor guilt over troops they lost. They often do not want to be put in a position of responsibility for others again. When you add drinking, drug addiction, paranoia, startle response, lack of sleep, and inability to feel emotions, it results in a bad case of PTSD.

  Some veterans can mask it for awhile, but others fall apart sooner. A severe employment handicap covers any increase beyond initial service connection. So if you put in for a increase, you must stress the problems you have at work if you are working or with a past employer if you no longer work. Don't bring up additional stressors unless they directly relate to your job. Many PTSD combat veterans prefer to work isolated so they don't have to deal with other people. This can result in job problems or self-employment, sometimes in a family business. The VA cannot penalize veterans for being self-employed.

Questions And Answers About PTSD and The VA

How can I request a waiver to not pay back the debt?

 To request a wavier you need to explain, in writing, the reasons you feel that you should not be held liable for your debt. Please explain the circumstances leading  up to the overpayment, and the steps you took to prevent the overpayment from occurring. You should also complete and return the Financial Status Report (VAF 20-5655), which was enclosed with your notification letter.

I filed a claim for unemployability due to PTSD. I told the DAV rep I was 100 percent disabled from Social Security for a physical disability, but he didn't want to use that information for now. I told a VSO the same thing and he said to use the information. What should I do?

 The VA is supposed to consider information from Social Security is you want them to, but...if you are 100% from Social Security for a physical condition, don't use that information in a PTSD claim because the VA could argue that you're unemployable because of the physical condition and not the PTSD, even though PTSD is the major problem. This could increase delay time for adjudicating the increase. The DAV rep is suggesting the smart move.

Is there any advantage to filing a claim for Type 2 Diabetes when I’m already 100% Unemployable?

  If you have been unemployable for at least ten years, there is no real advantage. You get treated for everything anyway after 50%. But if you have only been  rated UE for a few years, you must die of your service connection to make your spouse eligible for DIC survivor benefits. So if you were unemployable for PTSD and you died of complications from Type 2 Diabetes, but you were not service-connected for it, your spouse may have a hard time collecting DIC even though you were 100%.

  So below ten years unemployable, I would file. After ten years, you’re covered for any illness that can kill you so it’s not that important if you are total and permanent. It’s all about our wives or minor children if we have them. So I guess I would have to say file the claim, especially for Type 2 or any other Agent Orange related illness because it’s considered presumptive, and if you have it you get an automatic service connection.

If I am rated 100% for unemployability, can I do any kind of work at all?

  You can work as long as it’s not long term full time employment for a year or more. You can also help out in a family business or have scattered employment as long as it’s not long term full time employment. If you have your own business and show a huge income to the IRS, that could be a problem with the unemployability rating because  you are able to support yourself.

  The VA always sends me a paper every year wanting to know if I had taxable income or wages that were subject to Social Security. I imagine they will begin sending all kinds of papers to anyone on unemployability in the future, trying to find out if your ability to make money is restored.

  Just remember, working a few days a month or helping a family business on a scattered basis does not mean your earning capacity is restored. Being restored means a regular full time job.

Can the VA take away my money award?

  Generally, for physical disabilities, the VA can reduce your compensation, even for combat wounds, if the condition improves to the point where it has no effect on your life.

  For PTSD, once you are service-connected, you are pretty much service-connected for life. There is no cure for PTSD, and once you have a percentage for five years, the VA would have to review the entire claim history before cutting your percentage. They can call you in for Comp Exams, and they can give you a high GAF score on a given day. Just because you may feel good on a given day, doesn’t mean you are cured. And they cannot reduce you for a temporary improvement in your condition.

How long should it take a claim for unemployability to be granted?

  There is no way of telling because each case and RO is different. For PTSD, when it is the only disability, it shouldn’t take more than a few months is you are rated 70%. If you meet the combined criteria for unemployability for physical wounds or other disabilities, then it may take longer because the VA deals with each disability as it rates to working. The only good thing in waiting is that it will probably go back to the last day you worked or back to the day you filed. I’ve known a few vets who received over $100,000 in back pay by the time it was over. The main thing is to not give up when you have a good claim.

The End Of America?

As combat veterans, our generations stand alone as the last crusaders in our rusting armor,
trying to keep the faith in what is right and good and the ideals we fought to uphold.

The End Of America?

  It’s near the middle of summer. Fish are jumping but no one is having much luck catching them. My wife told me last night that I shouldn't let what goes on in America upset me so much because there is nothing we can do about anything. That is how most people feel, I guess. Basically, we have been beaten down to the point of acceptance because we are too old to change things and our Vietnam generation is dying out.  Still, it makes me sick that others would destroy my country just so they can make tons of money without any thought how it affects people.

  The VA situation is the same way. I believe the new leader of the VA will come in like a lion and then quickly get muffled after the elections in November. This is nothing new, and it happens all the time. A few heads will roll, the media will say the problem is solved by increasing the  VA budget, and everything will be wine and roses until after the elections. Then, things will return to normal. That is why the back log remains so high and why vets will continue dying during wait times. Nothing much is going to change. It’s politics, and those in power must make their money.

  In 1970, I wrote a letter to the government which basically said that since Panama was giving us grief at the time about using their canal, that we should bring back the 3 Cs (Civilian Conservation Corps), and build a new canal from San Diego along the border to Brownsville, Texas. It would provide thousands of job for years and end the border problem. Shipping costs would fall with the new channel. It would be expensive, but more cost effective than taking care of millions of illegals, and the jobs would really boost the economy.

  That was also the same year, after having served with the Marines in Vietnam in 1968, that I saw a mosque in Texas on the news where all the people were shouting, "Death to America." I told my father I couldn't believe such a thing was allowed in our country, and if left unchecked, we would be in trouble years down the road.

  Nothing was done about anything. The government thought I was nuts for suggesting such a project and the canal job would cost too much, and nothing was done about the Texas anti-American Muslims because they were allowed freedom of religious expression. Religious expression should not include screaming about death to America. That's not religion. Now we have the result of ignoring the problem.

  The government is so corrupt, and our politicians so rich, that it makes most people sick just to see them on television. Part of their long range goal is to disarm us. A nation with guns cannot be totally controlled by a government because there is always the threat of revolution. The national media seems to be a complete state run socialist propaganda machine.

  People starve in the streets, homeless, with no benefits, while any benefit they could get goes to illegals who are let into this country to disappear while carrying unknown disease and probable hate for America. They commit crimes and are let go. They drive drunk without a license and never pay fines, never show up for court, and never go to jail because immigration enforcement won't pick them up.

  Yet, on the news each night, we hear nothing except things are really getting better, in a censored broadcast to those who watch the news. Those who don't watch the news don't care anyway .

  The borders remain full of holes where thousands pour in every month, and they are living off the working class social security benefits and never pay taxes and expect us to adopt their traditions and give them everything. They bankrupt hospitals getting free care that will never be paid for by anyone.

  The military has effectively been weakened to the point of being unable to defend the country if we came under serious attack. The government buys billions of rounds of ammunition, either to ship overseas or use against us. Twenty-two long rifle, probably the most used ammo in America suddenly disappears, and what is left for sale is inferior, low grade rounds that won't cycle through rifles.

  Detroit is the future of America, a bankrupt, crime-ridden wasteland stripped bare of every resource. Half the city is without electricity and houses can be bought for 500 dollars. You would be safer walking in Baghdad at night than you would in Detroit.

  The attack is coming. The enemy has been crossing the border for years and there are cells everywhere. A person would have to be naive to think terrorists have not crossed into our country through Mexico and Canada.

  Does anyone think the Boston bombers would have been free to kill Americans if the government had been doing its job? These guys got rent and school money and a living allowance, and the government knew they were probably terrorists because one of them kept traveling overseas...but nothing was done. They locked down an entire city, violated American rights doing house to house searches, confiscated weapons, and then bragged about how they had locked down a major city. All they had to do was put one dog on the blood trail and they would have found the wounded terrorist right away.

 

  Boston was an experiment to see if they could control a large city. They did it with 10,000 people for a day or two, but what then? They could never hold a city very long before a revolution begins, and spreads. That will open the door for terror cells in place all over America.

  While people have been hassled at airports for years, the terrorists have come across the northern and southern borders in droves and have infiltrated into the system while waiting. They are possibly have government jobs. Foreign Aid, wars, and Medicaid have broken America. Heroin addiction is rampant because no one who could stop it wants to stop it because there is too much money involved.

  The military draft system should have never been done away with in America. The rich people didn't want their children to fight the wars they start so they made it a volunteer military. People don't join the military because they are patriots anymore. Now, it's just a job. The end of our country as we have known it is coming. The barbarians are at the gates just like the Roman Empire.

  I predicted back in 2006 that Iraq would collapse and Malaki was a dead man. The entire war was run wrong, and that told me we weren't there to win. Someone was making big money off the war. Why else would the U.S. split its forces among 140 bases that had to be supplied by road? Four billion dollars on pallets simply disappeared and no one was ever held accountable. We paid 20,000 terrorists 300 dollars a month each not to fight so we could finally pull out of the country and claim a stalemate victory.

  Afghanistan is the same. No foreign army has ever conquered Afghanistan. We watched the Russians try for almost ten years and we went in right after them without learning anything. Afghanistan is the drug trade. Period. It's not going to be conquered. Too many people get rich off the drugs, and a lot of them are Americans.

  I'm not a genius. All the signs are constantly in front of us for those who choose to see them. We have been getting the shaft from both parties for a long time. Our government is now a puppet regime. Period. No one in DC politics cares what happens to us, at all. We are the "little people" and they hate us.

  Somewhere in America, in the near future, some radical terrorist is going to detonate a nuclear or biological device, and then it will be the start of end for us. The country and the economy will quickly fall into turmoil. Survivors will have to fend for themselves. Most will not survive because they never thought it could happen.

  I never believed it could happen in my life time. I pray daily that it will never happen, yet... I'm really amazed at how fast our nation has sunken toward the finale. 

  But people still ignore all the signs and they will be screaming for help when the wars come to our country.

   As veterans, we are the last of the Crusaders, the Knights in shining armor. We still stand for what is good about America. Never forget that and keep the faith.

Delays In Treatment

The lines are long and delays keep building.

Delays In Treatment

  

Any veteran who has been going to the VA for years knows about delays. Politicians act like they just found out, which is just plain crap. There was a big movement about 20 years ago to privatize the VA for profit, and that movement is probably still lurking in the background.

  

The VA owns more property than anyone, all over the country, sitting there waiting to be stripped for profit. Don’t even think for a moment that we won’t be sold down the tubes if possible.

  

This is an election year for the Congress and Senate so they will act all up in arms about the VA. After the election, things will go back to normal and we will continue to be pushed around again. Rich people with no ties to the military want to open the VA to profit corporations and let every person in the world come there for treatment for profit. They would also like to sell off a bunch of VA property for profit. They try to convince the rest of the country that we taking advantage of our veteran status.

  

We are under attack constantly, and all that phony concern in DC is just part of the sideshow. I wrote about my struggle last year about the VA seeing me for a possible tumor, and when they wouldn't, I had to go outside the VA. It wasn't cancer, but the six month wait they hit me with at the VA could have killed me if it had been cancer.

   

The best thing to do if they tell you there is a long wait, is to request to go outside the VA, in a timely manner. No one wants to wait months for the region to decide what you can do. They should be able to make that decision at the local level. Then if you go outside, tell the people you see to bill the VA. It will probably end up in a delay for the billing party, but that’s not your problem because the VA will be responsible.

(From the S-2 Report)

Honoring Our War Dead

Little Round Top at Gettysburg

 

I think a lot of people read the wrong things into monuments to honor war dead. Each name on a wall represents more than the military. The name represents entire families, changed forever, all damaged beyond any recovery.

In Vietnam, we lost an average of around 15 men a day, each and every day for ten years. It blows the mind to even think about that. For what? Some may argue that it stopped Communist expansion. I still don't know what the hell we were doing there. I see the faces of my buddies who died and I don't understand to this day why they had to die, except for one reason.

The war dead did not die for policy, not some big picture or domino theory or an effort to stop terrorists before they come here. That's the stuff politicians spout along with medals so they can get people to die for their often bad and self-serving ideas.

Troops don't die in wars for policy. They die for each other. That is what makes their sacrifice so honorable. Politicians and governments spout high ideals, but in the end, troops die in war to protect their immediate ground and the lives of their fellow soldiers.

They don't die for the long range goal of freedom. As you can see most of the time, people could care less about them or war as long as it's not affecting their daily lives.

They don't die for the ideals of individual freedom. How can you be free when you're dead? They die for those who serve with them. This unselfish sacrifice for those around them is what makes heroes, not some policy created by a bunch of rich politicians.

When you are willing to die for your buddy in arms, you make the ultimate sacrifice a human can give. That is the high ideal of war. That is why we should always honor our war dead, not because of politics, but because those who died made the ultimate sacrifice for each other under the worst conditions.

The Biology of PTSD

The Biology Of PTSD

  

  To understand the biology of PTSD, one must note the difference between a response to stress and a response to life-threatening trauma. Exposure to stress results in  negative health outcomes, including psychiatric symptoms. Stress can be relieved, with the body no longer reacting to it. With PTSD, adverse effects associated with exposure to trauma continue even decades after the traumatic event.

  The response to fear is centered in the brain's amygdala, the major interface between experience and the body's biochemical response to it. The amygdala decides whether there should be a stress response and, if so, begins the process of activating the  neurochemical and neuroanatomical circuitry of fear.

  It can be just milliseconds before the startle reflex and other defense mechanisms are activated in the central nervous system. The heart rate skyrockets, muscles become flooded with glucose and the "fight-or-flight" response takes over. The hormones cortisol and catecholamines also are released, and the higher the stress level, the greater the cortisol dump. Catecholamines help deliver energy; cortisol works to eventually shut down the emergency response.

  With PTSD, cortisol levels are lowered rather than increased as they are in a classic stress response. Researchers are focusing on how and why trauma can lead to changes in the brain that can produce PTSD symptoms in some individuals but not in others.

  The question is...why has there been a failure of the body to return to its pretraumatic state?"

  The biology of PTSD seems, in many respects, to be different than biological alterations observed in other psychiatric disorders.

  Researchers once thought that low cortisol levels indicated that PTSD sufferers had developed a long-term adaptation to stress. But research has shown that they have reduced volume in the brain's hippocampus, which may be damaged by a massive overdose of cortisol. Many symptoms of PTSD and depression are similar, but PTSD creates different physical changes than depression.

  No cure has been found to date.

Meeting Another Nam Vet, Or Maybe?

A market along Highway 1 about seven miles north of Danang 1968.
Someone on our truck fired a shot in the air and everyone in the market hit the ground in unison.
Moments later, they were all back up. Strange times. (Click picture to make it larger.)

I met a Vietnam veteran last time I was at the store. I saw him in the bathroom washing his hands. He had on a POW jacket and a Vietnam veteran baseball type hat. He was scraggly and had a long grey beard. He was still washing his hands when I left so I waited outside for him.

"Hi, when were you in Nam?" I asked him. 

I will usually ask if I see a guy wearing all that stuff. It's just my curious nature because I'm one of those Nam veterans who doesn't wear the patches and hats and all the other bells and whistles.

"I was there in 64 and 65," he said. "And 66, 67, 68, and 69."

So this guy pretty much had the entire active war covered. That means he would have had to have done five tours.

"I was there in 67 and 68," I said.

"Lots of combat going on then," he said. "The Tet Offensive."

"Yeah, I was there for Tet."

And then the guy took off so fast, I didn't have a chance to talk to him about anything else. He for sure wasn't a lifer. Old lifers don't dress or look like he did. You can always tell an old lifer because they still walk and talk and look like they are wearing starched utilities. Their entire bearing and haircut will scream old lifer. This guy wasn't any of those things. 

I've never heard of any on the ground in-country enlisted man doing the five complete tours that it would take to cover those six years. It's possible he could have been Air Force and flew in and out during that time or he could have been a Blue Water Veteran from a ship that came and went. But I guarantee you, he never served five tours on the ground in Nam. Of course, he never said what branch of the service he was in before he took off.

I have to conclude, based on that brief encounter, that he was a phony. The phony Nam vet will always add more tours for some strange reason, as if one wasn't enough. Those who were really there know that one tour was enough. That's why the phony vet has to embellish because they don't know how bad it really was over there. Some veterans did a six month extension and some did two tours and some may have done three because of unit movements where everyone in the outfit has to go. But five is probably creative science fiction.

The first thing I usually ask is what outfit a guy was with after I ask what years they were in Nam. I didn't have the chance with this guy. If he didn't want people to ask, then why wear all the stuff that announces Nam veteran? He probably did want people to ask, but just not another Nam veteran. All I can say is they are out there, and they have been out there from every war. I could be wrong about this guy, but I doubt it.

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Michael In Hell, the ultimate PTSD novel.

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