[Brad]

Good afternoon y'all - -

We've had some on again/off again discussion in the past year or two about the VA recognizing PK as being Agent Orange related, and I thought I'd start this thread as an information repository of information for 1) those of us who have already been successful in our service connection claims for PK with the VA, 2) those who believe they may have such a claim, and 3) those who aren't sure or are just interested in the issue.

Basically, in mid-2009, the VA first recognized PK as being related to exposure to Agent Orange and other defoliants in Vietnam. As some others have said, for some time after that, the VA refused to accept claims for AO related PK, NOT because they wanted to drag it out in some way, but because they simply had to get their process in place for handling the AO/PK claims through the system.

In my case, I already had a small AO service connection for chloracne going back almost 20 years, so it was all a matter of filing a new PK related claim and giving it time to float through the system for approval. This took nine months, but when it was approved in March of this year, I was granted an additional 40% service connection (60% total) with back compensation from the date of my original filing.

Now to get on my soap box for a minute:

<soap box>

I'll be the first to admit that the VA is NOT perfect, but I'm also a firm believer that the VA system DOES, or at least CAN, work, when we figure out how to make it work in our favor. And that's where your friendly neighborhood veteran's service rep come's in. Their job is to know their way around the VA system well enough to understand what's going on with an individual's claim, and how to grease the skids and keep the claim moving when necessary. Were it not for the service rep who handled my original small claim nearly 20 years ago I might not have ever gotten my PK claim approved last year. It's as simple as that!!

</soap box>

I'm interested in hearing from anyone else who's been successfull in getting their AO/PK service connection claim approved, or from those still trying.

Welcome Home!!

ETC Brad Bradfield, USN (Ret)
Fort Worth, TX