I visited site after site and read about the research and treatment of PTSD and Agent Orange and I have come to one conclusion. Their progress in these two areas are actually about where they were when they started. They still do not understand what they are dealing with and they think, because they have degrees and papers to prove that they know what they are doing, that they can improve and correct the problems. They may, to some extent improve some of the problems but they will not conclusively ever be able to correct the problems to the point where they know what to do when they need to do it.

The reason they will not achieve the kind of success they should in these two areas is because they are unwilling to listen or pay attention to someone outside the medical field who just might have some answers based on common sense and integrity.

I am a 50% service-connected Korean, Vietnam Veteran and served in three branches. I also held clearances in two of those branches and I also did extensive research on the chemicals used with regards to Agent Orange, and also the factors involved in PTSD. I know military and how reactions are taught, etc. I wonder how many doctors who are treating victims of Agent Orange and PTSD actually served in the military or did extensive research on HOW the military views and works with agents used for Agents Orange, etc.?
I have made contact with veterans and other people with various problems and I have even been able to help people who they said could not do what I was able to get them to do. Yet, I could not be employed in a job to help people like that because I do not have any degrees they say I need to have. This means that when you attend school and obtain the knowledge to get a degree in a certain field, that you are then an expert in that field and can solve all the problems of the people you are working with, right? WRONG! Degrees do not give you field expertise and they certainly do not qualify you as an expert in common sense and integrity. A degree is a PIECE OF PAPER which says you have completed the required courses in the field you want to work in. You need to get that straight!

Veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange are being herded like sheep into pens where the VA and others want to keep them so they can contain them in one area. The so-called experts do not know what they are dealing with and I seriously doubt many of them have done their homework as to what actual ingredients were used to create Agent Orange and other agents. I doubt that many of them even did any research on what the properties of the chemicals used can do to human beings, in any way, shape or form they are used in.
The bottom line is that this society is filled with people with Degrees who think they know what to do and what they are doing to treat problems like PTSD, Agent Orange, and other diseases, they do not really understand or comprehend. They have procedures to deal with A problem in each of those situations, but NOT the solutions because they have been short-changed through a medical system that needs to be overhauled.

I want all of you reading this to do your homework. Read the labels close on the medications that are prescribed for you. Check each and everyone of them out. When you see a substitute for that drug on TV and they tell you it is the miracle drug of the century, listen closely to the ENTIRE commercial. The side effects can KILL YOU! When a drug prescribed for you is suddenly changed or a substitute available for you, do your homework. That action may save you a lot of grief and your life.

Veterans who have been exposed to Agent Orange and who suffer from PTSD can have better lives, live more fully, and learn to realize that YOU can live with what you have. There are other ways and there are things you can do. But who listens to me, or others like me? We have no degrees and we did not attend Medical School. So how could we possibly know anything about this? Who are we?

Veterans exposed to Agent Orange and those with PTSD, you served this nation with honor and you deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. And you deserve the best treatment and advice available at the hands of a government who asked you to stand up and be counted. Unfortunately, many of those treating you do not understand or comprehend what they are dealing with so they do the best they can with the limited knowledge they have in their heads and at their disposal. You can use your computer and your Internet to help yourselves because there are answers out there which the medical profession does not understand.
You do not have to listen to me and you can continue to trust and obey a VA system which is short-changing you--because they do not understand!--but know this: Agent Orange and PTSD can be defeated, once people learn how to deal with them and take the correct steps to do so, based on common sense and integrity.

God Bless all of you and hang in there!