By the time he was 40, John Brannon, had served duty at 17 different military installations and traveled to three continents, but he had also been exposed to different agents that have since proven to be carcinogenic or cause other maladies to the human body.
Brannon, who lives in Washington, West Virginia, had a unique military career having served in the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Army from 1990 to 2014. Starting out after high school, Brannon refurbished Air Force jets and repainted them. Later, when he tapped into the Army’s “Blue to Green” program — which allowed Air Force personnel to enlist and serve in the Army — during Operation Desert Storm, he was sent to the Middle East where he endured a weeklong sand storm and other toxins.
“Where we stayed was a place called Eskan Village, which is right next to, what they told us, was the largest oil refinery in the world, which constantly blew toxic crap all over us,” Brannon said.
He was later imbedded with an Iraqi Border Patrol unit along the Syria-Iraq border west of Sinjar, Iraq when a monumental sand storm struck.
“I was near burn fields all the time. I was out on the border, when the largest sandstorm in Iraq history hit in July of 2009,” he said.
Now 51, Brannon, like many U.S. veterans, wants to know if the PACT Act, which was signed into law this past August, can help him resolve some of the health issues he has.
Wednesday night, Brannon was one of about 50 veterans who attended a town hall forum at VFW Post 573 in downtown Clarksburg. The event was led by officials from the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center who explained the new law and why it’s important for veterans to sign up.
“As many of you all know, when veterans served our country overseas, many of them were exposed to toxic hazards — things like toxic air, radiation, smoke, agent orange, burn pits and other environmental hazards,” VA Veterans Experience Officer John D. Seti said in his opening remarks. “Years later, those exposures caused many vets to develop adverse health conditions, which impacted their lives and the lives of people around them.”
The PACT Act expands VA health care services to million of veterans and their survivors, Seti said. The law covers veterans who served in the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and the Middle East wars that took place after 9/11, Seti continued.
Seti said he has already encountered confusion from some veterans who think that if they apply for PACT Act benefits, it will negatively impact their current service-connected benefits. He assured guests that was not accurate and the two programs are separate. Veterans can apply free directly with Veterans Affairs without the need of any mediary.
“We at the VA want you to sign up now. We want you to get in and apply and we’ve got people here who can help you,” Seti said. “The VA will begin processing PACT Act claims on January 1st.”
VA Environmental Health Clinician Mabel Wright said PACT Act health screenings began on Nov. 8 for any veteran who has been to their primary care physician since that time as directed under the new law. As of Dec. 15, Wright said, nationwide, the VA has conducted PACT Act screenings on more than 700,000 veterans.
Wright said along with the known toxins, such as agent orange and radiation, there are what she described as mundane exposures covered under the new law, such as exposure to jet fuel, asbestos, depleted uranium, warfare agents or the testing of those agents.
“I’ve been doing this job 20 years and I haven’t had a veteran yet who wasn’t exposed to something even if it was in training, you’ve all been exposed to something and we want to make sure those exposures are getting addressed,” Wright said.
She said the first priority of the PACT Act is to ensure veterans are getting the care they need for being exposed to the different toxic agents and then to make sure the veterans are getting the benefits they are allowed under the new law.
For information on the PACT Act, call the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center at 304-623-3461.
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