by Rafaela Prifti/
PACT Act delivers Critical Health Care and Other Benefits for Veterans. It is considered to be the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans in more than 30 years. PACT stands for Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics and honors Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson. It is named after the decorated combat medic, who served in Iraq and Kosovo, and died from a rare form of lung cancer two years ago.
“This historic legislation will help deliver more timely benefits and services to more than 5 million veterans—across all generations—who may have been impacted by toxic exposures while serving our country,” White House said. Danielle Robinson, the widow of Sergeant First Class Robinson, was a guest of the First Lady at an emotional ceremony in the White House.
“Ours is just one story. So many military families have had to fight this terrible emotional battle. So many veterans are still battling burn pit illnesses today,” Danielle Robinson said.
It is a sentiment that echoes the long struggles to ensure treatment for chronic illnesses that have plagued veterans exposed to burn pits, which were a commonplace in order to get rid of a wide variety of items, and dispose of chemicals, tires, plastics, medical equipment and human waste. Estimates of affected troops run to 3.5 million, according to reports. However, 70% of disability claims involving exposure to the pits were denied by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
President Biden’s son, Beau Biden passed away at 46 from brain cancer. In a 2018 PBS interview Joe Biden said that his son’s fatal brain cancer may have been caused by exposure to military burn pits while serving in Iraq and Kosovo.
Ervin Dine, a Kosovo veteran and Vatra Executive Council Member told Dielli that he recalls the first experience with burn pits in Kosovo. “It was necessary in keeping with the hygiene, in particular when you are out there for 2 or 3 months straight at times. It is nauseating especially for the marines whose job is to mix in the burning waste.” Commenting on the approval of the bill, Dine said that “every area of life in 2022 is upgraded by advancement including arms, aviation etc. and that needs to include the hygiene of service members.”.
The bipartisan law will direct officials to assume that certain respiratory illnesses and cancers are linked to burn pit exposure, which would help veterans get disability payments without having to prove the illness was the result of the service. Although the provision involving burn pits has garnered the most attention, other health care services in the bill are expanded to benefit the veterans from the Vietnam War and more.
The Senate approved the measure by a vote of 86-11. The passing of the bill ended a brief stalemate that enraged supporters and saw veterans groups camp outside the Capitol. The legislation that passed last week is considered to be the largest expansion of veterans health care in more than three decades..
Elmi Berisha, Vatra President, reflected on the significance of the bill by highlighting the strong connection of Vatra in the service of the country including 3,000 Albanian immigrants who signed up with US troops in World War I and the Vatra Corps Volunteers who went to Albania on April 2, 1920 as well as generations of servicemen and women that have followed in their footsteps.