'You deserve the benefits': Sen. Brown talks with Portage veterans about toxic exposure aid

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown met with veterans in Ravenna on Monday to discuss a new law that expands VA health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances.

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Brown met with area veterans at the Ravenna Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Ravenna to discuss the PACT Act, which is designed to provide health care benefits for veterans who were exposed to burn pits during deployment.

Burn pits are open-air trash sites that disposed of military waste through burning.

Brown said the law will take effect in January. It lists 23 specific conditions for which benefits will be paid, a list he said will get longer as more information comes to light.

“This law is the most comprehensive expansion of benefits for veterans who faced toxic exposure in our country’s history,” Brown said. “This is a cost of going to war. If you were exposed to toxins while serving our country, you deserve the benefits you earned. Period. No exceptions.”

Brown said he recommends that veterans file claims now, whether they have symptoms, and amend those claims as symptoms arise.

Richard McClellan, director of the Portage County Veterans Services Commission, said the county has 10,000 to 14,000 Vietnam veterans, who have been "filing claims right and left" for existing programs. He predicted that many area veterans from more recent wars would get help from the PACT Act.

Missy Moore, senior vice commander of the Ravenna VFW post, said she serves in the U.S. Navy Reserves, and recently returned from a deployment in Iraq. Since her return, she said, she has suffered from more lung issues such as bronchitis, and blamed the sand in the Iraqi desert. While Moore, who worked as an engineer, only remembers paper being burned in the burn pits, she acknowledged that other things might have been burned there without her knowledge.

Veterans have stated that many materials were burned in the burn pits, including Styrofoam, paint, medical and human waste, chemicals, petroleum and lubricants.

Jonathan Baker, a Kent State University student who serves in the U.S. Army Reserves, said he took videos of the burn pits while he was serving as a line medic, and it wasn't uncommon for him to discard his own human waste into them. He said many things were burned in the pits that shouldn't have been because in the middle of the desert, there was no other place to dispose of waste.

"I was in four deployments and each one was an experience to remember," he said.

Baker said he's spoken to Vietnam veterans worry that people will wait years to receive benefits through the PACT Act, just as they waited for funding for exposure to Agent Orange.

Roger Frye, commander of the Mogadore post of the VFW and a Vietnam veteran, expressed similar concerns.

"We need to get the Vietnam claims settled, and not a week or a month before he dies," he said. "I just don't understand why the government drags their feet on these claims."

Brown said the government has learned from that experience and designed the new legislation to avoid delays.

Joshua Rider of Kent State University said he works with 900 students who have claims with the VA across KSU's main campus and its regional campuses. Of those, about 550 are students, and the rest are family members of veterans using federal funding to pay for their education.

Rider said the students are "aware and very concerned" about the burn pits, and many learned about them from watching Jon Stewart.

"This is going to be a whole other layer," he said.

Brown predicted that the PACT Act will bring an influx of veterans to VA facilities across the nation, including the one in Ravenna. He said staff needs to be beefed up at all VA facilities — something the PACT Act also addresses.

"There are going to have to be people hired and trained," he said. Otherwise, he said, "I don't see how they're going to be able to keep up with the influx."

Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at dsmith@recordpub.com or 330-298-1139.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Sen. Brown meets with Portage veterans to discuss new toxic exposure help