Blue Water Navy Announcement

From the Executive Director of Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association:

Good morning Shipmates!

I am pleased to announce that we held our first Board of Directors meeting last night. The Board has given my staff and I a green light for the new initiatives. First, and foremost, I want to announce that Mike Yates has been selected to become the first National Commander of the Association. Mike will be posting his official comments on the page and website. We are currently redesigning the website and making it user-friendly, as well as, transitioning the new staff to help with deck log research. I look forward to his leadership and hope you're excited about the changes coming!

Very Respectfully,

Michael J. Little

I want to thank Mike Little and the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association Board of Directors for this opportunity. I look forward to working with them.

The BWNVVA has been around for many years doing some very good work for Blue Water Navy Veterans. I hope to continue to do this type of work and help to bring the BWNVVA to be  an even stronger group than it already is. We need to be able stand up with other Veterans Organizations with our heads held up high and continue the fight. We need to be able to go up to any Member of Congress and when they hear we are from BWNVVA they will  respect us and be willing to work with us.

One thing I want to make clear. BWNVVA is working hard with Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans, BWNVVA is not only for them but for all Navy Veterans, Marine Veterans, and Fleet Marine Veterans, Active Duty Members, and all other Veterans. We all can work together and help each others

What does this mean for the BWNVVA. It means in the next year I am going to be busy. There is a lot of planning to do in setting the direction of the BWNVVA, I need to define and fill some other position and I need to do this while working on H.R. 299, S. 422, H.R.809 and any other Bills that we need to work on.

For those of you that don’t know about BWNVVA I’d like to invite you to join us on Facebook at Blue Water Navy, I would to have other pages work together. BWNVVA does have a Web Page but is is going off line for a while while it is being redesigned.

For those who don’t know me. I will tell you a little about myself. I am a Blue Water Navy Veterans. I served on the USS Bainbridge DLG(N)25 as a Sonar Tech. I spent many years in the San Francisco Bay Area and worked as a Senior Test Engineer before being retired in 2012.  In 2013 I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and in 2014 I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer. To top that off this year I have been diagnosed with Heart Problem, receiving a stent a few months ago. I have had many people ask me how I can keep a positive outlook while having these problems. I tell them two things, first I have Cancer, Cancer doesn’t have me and second. I am too busy with working on the Blue Water Navy Agent Orange issue to worry about it. I let my doctors do the worrying and I listen to them.

If you have any questions or any ideas that are going to help us please feel free to ask.

Mike Yates

National Commander

Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association

Veterans Day

This Saturday is Veterans Day, a day we pay tribute to all American veterans—living or

dead—but especially gives thanks to living veterans who served their country honorably during war or peacetime.

Veterans Day originated as “Armistice Day” on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual observance, and Nov. 11 became a national holiday beginning in 1938.

Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans are also Veterans, but in some cases we are being treated different that other Vietnam Veterans. There are studies that we were exposed to Agent Orange by way of the Water used on board the ships we served on. It has also been proved that the water going through the distillation plants on board the ships actually enhanced the Dioxins in the water causing the Blue Water Navy Veterans to be exposed up to ten(10) times the amount as A Veterans with Boots On The Ground.

In 1991 Congress passed the Agent Orange Act of 1991(Public Law No: 102-4) and was signed into law by the President George H.W. Bush and were granted benefits. but in 2002 the General Consul Mary Lou Keener of the Veterans Administration decided to remove these Veterans from being cover despite the sprit of the Public Law No: 102-4.

The COB has estimated that the total cost to cover these Veterans is around 1.1 Billion over ten (10) years. Now one interesting FACT from www. Foreignassistance. gov is that from 2009 until 2018 the amount of Foreign Assistance given to Vietnam is around 1.1 Billion. Now this does include fund that are being used to CLEAN UP Agent Orange in Vietnam. Our Government can find money to Clean Up Vietnam but not to provide Benefits for our Veterans. So Vietnam is worth more than our own Veterans. This is very sad.

I have attached a video that I found last year and posted. I am againing going to share it. Please remember Share this video and help other remember other Veterans.

Mike Yates

National Commander

Please Watch

Veterans asking for Americans Support

Most Americans believe that all Vietnam Veterans receive the same benefits and Health Care from the VA. This is NOT true. If your feet touch the ground or served in the inland waterway of Vietnam then you can receive NOT only Free Health Care benefits but they also can receive VA disability compensation based on the amount of disability you have by just applying for it.

Navy and Fleet Marines Personnel who serve in the Gulf of Tonkin supporting the “Police Action”, (they tell us it was not a WAR) have to PROVE they had “Boots on the Ground” or the cause of their illness was due to their service in the Navy.

In January of 1991, the US Congress, by unanimous consent of both the House and Senate, passed a law (Public Law No: 102-4) that provided the same benefits to all Members of the Service that receive the Vietnam Service Medal the same benefits. However in 2002 the  General Consul of the Veterans Administration decided on HER OWN that the way Public Law No: 102-4 was written, it didn’t cover anyone who did not have “Boots on the Ground”. There are still Members of Congress that are still serving that have said that is not true, they wanted to COVER ALL VETERANS that Served within the area of Vietnam.

Since 1991 when Public Law No: 102-4 was passed the number of diseases and illness caused by Agent Orange exposure has increased. In the future the may may increase. As you know they can take and look at Veterans who were in the Vietnam War and those who serve in other parts of the world and they can see that those who serve in the Vietnam are have a much high rate of suffering from these diseases and illness associated with Agent Orange Exposure.  

These Veterans have served their Country when they were asked to and now their Country is turning their back on them. Yes they can receive some health care but they have to pay a share where other with the exact same diseases and illness not only receive the health care they deserve and receive BUT they are receiving  Compensation for suffering these diseases and illnesses.

We are not asking for anything more that we deserve. We did our job and now it’s time for our Country to fulfill its obligation to their Veterans and provide them with the benefits they rightly deserve.

One other FACT that not only does some Veterans but Most Americans do not know about is the fact that OUR Government has paid close to 300 Millions dollars to clean up Agent Orange in Vietnam. Now I am not saying we should NOT help pay for it but What about the Veterans who helped defend that Country.

Some people are wondering how can Members of the Navy who did NOT set foot on Vietnam Land get exposed to Agent Orange. The way this happened is by way or water. As you know water is very important to human, it is also very important to ships. A Naval Ship will take in water from which it is sailing in, which more than like will be Salt Water and distill it into Fresh Water that the Naval Personnel can drink, bath in, cook with, and many other functions that they may need. The distillation is suppose to remove chemicals and other items from the water. It turns out that when it comes to Agent Orange is actually enhances the amount of Dioxins instead of removing it.

You maybe asking yourself what can you and other American do. You can contact you Members of Congress and asked them to support The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act, HR-299 in the House and S-422 in the Senate.

Mike Yates

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