Sen. Webb: Few Grunts in Vietnam

Before the Senate hands over $13.4 billion to the Veterans Affairs Department to compensate Vietnam Veterans for exposure to Agent Orange, Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., has a few questions for VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, according to this syndicated column by Tom Philpott.

Webb, a Marine Vietnam veteran, told Philpott he does not want to deny deserving veterans compensation. But he wants Shinseki, an Army Vietnam veteran, to explain at a hearing planned for Sept. 23 his reasons for adding three diseases -- leukemias, Parkinson's disease and ischemic heart disease -- to a list that qualifies veterans for disability compensation.

The Agent Orange law, Webb told Philpott, makes a presumption that any of the 2.7 million troops who served in Vietnam had exposure to the toxic defoliant. Webb pointed out that that misses the realty of Vietnam service:

On any given day in Vietnam they say about 10 percent of the people were actually out in direct combat. Percentages are actually higher than that because of rotations. . . . But the majority of the people weren't in combat where defoliants were used. That's just the reality of it.

I was one of those 10 percent, serving in two grunt outfits -- 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, and 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment -- and I would like to make sure VA disability bucks go to the front-line troops who deserve it most.