[T]he vote and discussion on the House floor Friday took only minutes, but for Rep. Chip Troiano, the bill that passed Friday to increase awareness about overseas military burn pits clearly cut deep.
Troiano served in Vietnam in the late ’60s as a helicopter door gunner, where he was exposed to Agent Orange, a defoliant used to make the enemy easier to find but which also contained cancer-causing dioxin.
For decades, the federal government refused to acknowledge the link between Agent Orange and health problems Vietnam vets suffered. For Troiano and Rep. Tom Stevens, the chair of House Housing, General and Military Affairs, that government denial was a betrayal to those who served and cost lives. They fear and are angry the federal government is practicing the same denial today with military burn pits, which the Department of Veterans Affairs says “research does not show evidence of long-term health problems from exposure” to burn pits.
Troiano, D-Stannard, the committee vice chair, said the testimony of vets sickened from breathing the fumes belies that claim of no link.
“For me having been poisoned from dioxin from Agent Orange, I just couldn’t believe it was happening again. It was just so insufferable to me,“ Troiano said in an interview after the vote.
One vet with cancer who testified before House and Senate committees, Wesley Black, had the same infantry combat badge as Troiano. Black described himself as “a dead man walking.”
Weeping, Troiano said: “For those of us who took the fight to the enemy and are paying with our lives years after just angers me. It shouldn’t happen again.”
The aim of the bill is to get the approximately 10,000 Vermont veterans who have served overseas over the last two decades in areas including Iraq and Afghanistan to sign up on a national registry that tracks symptoms that veterans have suffered from burn pit exposure. Part of the effort will include having the Vermont National Guard try to reach out to all of its members who served overseas.
The hope of supporters is two-fold: raise awareness among veterans and doctors about what symptoms to look for and get medical care sooner; the other goal is by compiling data, the government will more quickly recognize the connection between health problems and exposure to the toxic fumes from burn pits than it did with Agent Orange.
Stevens, D-Waterbury, said it was “heartbreaking” so many military members had died prematurely. Among those that testified in favor of the bill, S. 111, was June Heston, the widow of Brig. General Mike Heston, a Vermont National Guard commander and recipient of two Bronze Stars who died of pancreatic cancer last November after three tours of duty in Afghanistan. He worked as close as 300 feet from open air burn pits.
Stevens called it “distressing” that so few Vermonters had signed up on the registry, established five years ago. About 400 Vermonters have signed up so far.
He said veterans sickened by the fumes should not have to fight for benefits.
“These veterans, if we don’t treat them with respect and dignity, then they’re just chattel. And I refuse to believe our service members should be treated that way. So I get angry when I see our government take on policies or make decisions that treat people like chattel and I think that’s the case here,” Stevens said.
The controversy over the burn pits has reached Congress, which has vowed to hold hearings, according to the New York Times. Former Vice President Joe Biden has weighed in, speculating that toxic substances from burn pits contributed to the cancer that claimed his son, Beau, who served in the Delaware Army National Guard and died in 2015.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has denied the bulk of the claims filed. According to the Times, more than 11,500 disability compensation claims have been filed since 2007 with a medical condition related to burn pit exposure with about 2,300 granted. Most of the denials were for a “lack of evidence” the illness was service-related.
The House gave unanimous approval Friday on a voice vote. The Senate passed the measure last month 30-0 after an emotional appeal by Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, chair of Senate Government Operations.
After a final House vote, the measure will go to Gov. Phil Scott to be signed into law.
