Hello fellow veterans! My question concerns the PACT Act, and I was wondering if anyone here had any experience with this?
I served during OIF from '05 - '06. I was exposed to burn pits and regularly burned things in barrels (although it was trash, not human waste or anything), however I’ve suffered zero long-term effects that I’m aware of, and it’s now been 17 years (holy shit, time flies) since then. I’m reading that veterans should apply “just because”, but I don’t want to be the person that clogs the already overburdened system, and hell, it’s been 17 years and nothing has cropped up, so I assume I’m fine.
Should I enroll even though I have no issues? It’s unclear to me if they’ll even accept a claim if someone has no issues (and why would they accept it, right?). The deadline is August 9th.
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I’m not entirely certain, I think the Pact Act has presumptive conditions attached to it.
If you haven’t filed, do it.
It will get it on record where you served if something pops up later on.
SC in the hardest thing to prove and they are trying to make this as painless as the VA can.
These cancers are now presumptive:
Brain cancer Gastrointestinal cancer of any type Glioblastoma Head cancer of any type Kidney cancer Lymphoma of any type Melanoma Neck cancer of any type Pancreatic cancer Reproductive cancer of any type Respiratory (breathing-related) cancer of any type
These illnesses are now presumptive:
Asthma that was diagnosed after service Chronic bronchitis Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) Chronic rhinitis Chronic sinusitis Constrictive bronchiolitis or obliterative bronchiolitis Emphysema Granulomatous disease Interstitial lung disease (ILD) Pleuritis Pulmonary fibrosis Sarcoidosis
More can be found here https://www.va.gov/resources/the-pact-act-and-your-va-benefits/
even if you have no symptoms now, it’s not impossible that they’ll still pop up later in life, even after all this time.
I’m far from the person you should take advice from on this, but no one else replied. it doesn’t sound like signing up for this without any active condition will add much burden. it sounds like, if you’re taking clear, the only thing you’d get out of this is a screening for relevant health conditions, and the option to recurve specific care related to this later.
You should definitely enroll in the burn pit registry at the very least. The negative effects from the burn pits and other environmental hazards you were exposed to may never cause you issues, which is ultimately a good thing. But if they do, submitting these proofs are probably the last thing you or your family would want to worry about as you are going through diagnosis and treatment, possibly in pain and not clear of mind.
Second, look up the presumptive disorders on the VA website and if you have any of those, file a claim. There’s a lot of respiratory stuff and for good reason. It’s going to get bad as our Desert Storm/OIF/OEF vets start to get older.
Next, file a claim for any other medical issue you may have that manifested in or shortly after service. Get a VSO or vet charity group to help with your claim if the process is overwhelming which it can be. Navigating the VA system is absolute dog shit.
Finally, get regular medical check ups. Little stuff can be clues for big stuff and you have a higher statistic of having bigger stuff now because of your service.
As far as being a burden on the system, I dont think that’s for the veteran to worry about. The VA is very informed as to how many veterans with possible SC injury and illnesses it has to serve. Their issue to solve, not ours. Good luck to you, wish you the best health possible for as long as possible.
Thank you for your response!
So, I ended up just submitting an “intent to file”, which gives me another year to get it done. You are so right that navigating the system is crap. It took me about an hour just to verify my identity (system wouldn’t accept photos of my ID multiple times, system thought I had a mortgage when I’ve never had one in my life, system still thinks I’m using my married last name when I’ve been divorced for 5 years). I also registered with the burn pit registry, but the site was horrifically slow, and it kicked me out after freezing multiple times and I had to start over. The process took a literal hour.
It still seems weird to file for something that hasn’t happened. I feel like the VA is just going to be like “You’re fine, why did you file a claim?” and then toss it out and mark me down somewhere in their system for lying about shit. I just don’t trust them, and honestly, who would? We all know how shitty they are, and I can see them looking for any excuse to deny someone’s claim.
Lol yeah that sounds about right. I think a lot of vets don’t attempt to claim benefits because of how frustrating the VA system is which is just so unfortunate. Im glad you were able to do an intent to file (and burn pit registry), just keep track of the deadline.
In the meantime I’d be doing some self assessing on your actual health. There are things that you may be dealing with that you might be eligible for right now. Dont overlook small things. Allergies, sinus issues, joint issues from cartilege damage, foot issues, headaches/migraines, sleep issues, high blood pressure, carpal tunnel, ED, eczema, psoriasis, hemorrhoids, tinnitus, anxiety, depression, PTSD, etc. You can claim those if you have them and the first goal is to get service connection (SC). If you made any mention of them while in service, they shoukd be in your clinical notes from your military med records and then its a clear win. Submit those with specific pages with your claim as evidence. Once you have SC you can take your time filing for increases if they get worse.
Sort of funny note - had a friend who went into a VA clinic and the Doctor looked through his notes and asked him how his diabetes was doing. Friend- "umm I don’t have diabetes… Doctor - “oh, well let’s just delete that then”.
It’s all so poorly maintained, it’s ridiculous, lol.
Yeah, the VA isn’t known for their outstanding record keeping, are they? Not that the military docs are, either. When we were going through our pre-deployment health screening, after filling out the forms, my buddy and I got called in at the same time, in rooms next-door to each other. The doctor walks in and starts in on the the form review and says “How many times have you been pregnant?” and I say “Zero”, and she looks at me and goes “Well then why did you put one?” and I said “I put zero”, and she checks the name and asks “Are you Sergeant (insert my buddy’s name who is in the next room over)?” And I’m like “Nnnooo, she’s next door”. They had swapped our charts! Such a huge HIPAA violation, man! Lucky for the doctor I knew that about my buddy already, but Jesus.
