Benefits For 'Blue Water Vets' Signed Into Law

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - Thousands of veterans exposed to cancer-causing chemicals such as "agent orange" during the Vietnam War will now be eligible for disability benefits after a years-long battle.

This after a bill to help Navy veterans struggling with cancer was signed into law.

Jack Barrett is a Vietnam veteran with a tough fight ahead.

"It's a much more aggressive form, much more persistent form of, let's say, the average prostate cancer," he said.

He served two tours as a radio man on board the USS Long Beach.

"We were a support ship over there. We also monitored a lot of air traffic and engaged with the enemy with surfaced air missile," said Barrett.

He believes he and his crew were exposed to Agent Orange, a powerful herbicide used to kill vegetation and deny enemy cover during the Vietnam War. It was later proven to cause serious health problems, including cancer.

"My ship had 1,200 men on it and you need a lot of water every day," he said. "So where did we get our water? We'd take it from the sea and distill it so in that process and this is scientific knowledge, Agent Orange is enhanced 10 times."

Barrett is among a growing number of Navy veterans who believe the powerful chemical eventually washed into rivers and out to the sea where patrolling Navy ships collected the contaminated water to for drinking, bathing, doing laundry, and cooking.

Until now, Vietnam veterans who served at sea did not have the same access to benefits as those who served on land.

"We get about a case a month from a veteran who has been denied benefits or who is not getting the disability help that they need from the V.A.," said Central Valley Congressman Josh Harder.

Harder said those cases prompted him to co-sponsor the "Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act."

Thanks to a bipartisan push, the measure passed Congress and was signed into law late Tuesday by President Trump -- a move that came about six months after the measure was stalled in the Senate and just a week after the end of a legal battle that drug on for years.

The law requires the Department of Veteran Affairs to provide disability benefits to about 90,000 Navy vets who were exposed to the cancer-causing chemical.

"I am thankful because Jack is concerned about me being taken care of when he moves to heaven and so this will ease his mind," said Barrett's wife, Sue.

She said the new law will bring Barrett some peace as he enters his seventh year of battling cancer.

"It metastasized to other parts of my body. Showing up in my lungs and in my hip," he said.

Barrett said he's thankful thousands of vets just like him will get the same kind of care as the veterans who fought on land.

"It's about time, said Barrett. "No, we didn't set foot on the ground, but we were there. We were in harm's way," he said.

The provisions of the bill are currently expected to take effect on January 1, 2020.

Harder's office is encouraging "blue water" navy vets who served off the coast of Vietnam during the war to contact his office for information on an upcoming workshop to learn more about the benefits that will soon become available under the new law.