{"id":70789,"date":"2022-02-01T02:09:36","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T02:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/02\/01\/bureaucracy-is-failing-blue-water-vietnam-veterans\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:16:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:16:00","slug":"bureaucracy-is-failing-blue-water-vietnam-veterans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2022\/02\/01\/bureaucracy-is-failing-blue-water-vietnam-veterans\/","title":{"rendered":"Bureaucracy is failing Blue Water Vietnam veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 1961, when many avoided the Draft<\/a>, Ray Sarbacker <\/i>decided to enlist in the military. A fresh-faced kid of 18, Sarbacker <\/i>wanted to be a patriot like his dad. Sarbacker\u2019s <\/i>father was one of the WWII heroes who\u2019d parachuted into France on D-Day. Sarbacker <\/i>knew his father was traumatized by what he\u2019d witnessed that day \u2014 so much so that he\u2019d never discussed it. But young Sarbacker, determined to follow in his dad\u2019s footsteps, joined the Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within months, Sarbacker <\/i>found himself on an aircraft carrier. When he\u2019d enlisted, U.S. action in Vietnam was limited<\/a> to \u201cadvisors\u201d on the ground, but the nation\u2019s engagement escalated rapidly<\/a>. Soon, Sarbacker\u2019s <\/i>carrier was in the Gulf of Vietnam, and Sarbacker\u2019s responsibilities included washing Agent Orange<\/a> off of helicopters and planes that returned from missions. Then, overworked and exhausted, Sarbacker and his shipmates would sleep on the carrier\u2019s deck, using their Agent Orange-soaked towels as pillows until the next wave of helos returned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarbacker completed his service in January 1966.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ray Sarbacker aboard USS Hancock CVA-19 (Ray Sarbacker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When his dad came home from Europe, there were parades in the streets. When Sarbacker came home from Vietnam, the streets roiled with protests<\/a>. And Sarbacker became like his dad in an unexpected way: He didn\u2019t talk about his service and moved on. He had a wife and kids. But being a sailor never left him. He bought a boat and took the kids on exciting (and occasionally terrifying) adventures across the seas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the 78-year-old Sarbacker (now my stepdad) is still a proud patriot but one with heart issues, diabetes and Stage 3 kidney disease \u2014 probably all related to his Agent Orange exposure. He\u2019s hoping that, any day now, he\u2019ll hear about his long-overdue disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Eventually, he won\u2019t get less than $152.64 a month<\/a> \u2014 although it could be a thousand or more. However, he doesn\u2019t get a dime until the VA issues a \u201cfinal determination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarbacker\u2019s VA application has been pending for almost three years. If it goes much longer, he\u2019ll have fought the VA longer than he fought the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while the federal government made Herculean efforts to aid civilians during the COVID pandemic \u2014 distributing funds and cutting red tape \u2014 veterans like Sarbacker must comply with the same bureaucracy that\u2019s always been in place. Even though COVID has made compliance next to impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarbacker is one of 560,000 Vietnam War-era sailors and Marines exposed to Agent Orange<\/a> while at sea. But because these \u201cBlue Water veterans<\/a>\u201d never set boots on the ground in Vietnam, they weren\u2019t eligible for Agent Orange-related benefits<\/a> in the same way others were. Advocates fought for years until a law was changed, granting Blue Water vets access to those benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January 2020, a flood of Blue Water applications began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then along came COVID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VA offices shut down, so processing applications screeched to a halt. Hundreds of thousands of vets were placed on waiting lists for medical exams<\/a> while mail went unopened,<\/a> and files were unreviewed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the pandemic also impacted the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), the National Archives office charged with maintaining 56 million files of military records<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Before Times, VA would request documents from NPRC, while another 20,000 requests came in each week from the public. Even though older veterans\u2019 documents only exist on paper, stored in warehouses like the one in the finale of Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/i>, NPRC filled most requests within a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But COVID \u2014 with onsite outbreaks \u2014 has forced NPRC to operate with a skeleton staff since March 2020. By fall of 2020, NPRC had 100,000 VA requests and its public backlog skyrocketed to 381,000. NPRC caught up with VA\u2019s requests by April 2021, but NPRC\u2019s public backlog reached more than half a million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 24, 2022, 113 members of Congress pleaded<\/a> with Archives to fully reopen NPRC. It\u2019s now taking up to 18 months for veterans to receive waited-for military records \u2014 the veterans\u2019 keys to medical care, disability benefits, federal retirement benefits, state tax deductions, home loans, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\t