Question:
My husband is a Vietnam vet, has had a heart attack and stroke. I have been trying for three years to get help from the VA, They are saying he was never in Vietnam even tho I have pictures of him sitting eating sea rations beside barb-wire fence, because of his stroke he doesn't have any memory of being there, he served in the 41st aerospace rescue and recovery. For some reason it does not appear on his dd214 that he served there, but only in foreign and or sea service, but they don't state where did he serve if he wasn't in Vietnam. I know for a fact he was there, he rescued down pilots, was trained in jungle warfare, non of these things are on his DD214. I am so tired of fighting the VA, he served his country and noe is sick because of it. Not fair.
Jim's Reply:
First up...you do not know for a fact that he served in Vietnam. You weren't there with him so you know only what he's told you. I have pictures of myself in combat gear in terrible conditions...I wasn't in Vietnam. The service of this unit in the RVN is well recognized and documented, for example here . The unit wasn't black ops or seemingly under any secret mission authority so there's no reason that his service in Vietnam wouldn't be noted. If you have any other evidence that you'd like for me to review, I'd be happy to but for now it doesn't seem as if he served in Vietnam. If he were stationed in one of the outposts mentioned in the history of that unit, it's entirely possible that he was assigned TDY to other places and that won't reflect on his DD 214. You need to find out what duty station he was at so we can determine if he flew TDY (temporary duty) on missions in country...that's happened in the past.