VA Regulation Could Help Up to 15K Lejeune Vets

The Department of Veterans Affairs expects up to 15,000 seriously ill veterans who served at Camp Lejeune, N.C., before 1988, when base drinking water was contaminated, to be helped by a faster-track compensation process proposed last month. But the promised acceleration in VA disability awards can't begin until the proposed regulation becomes final, which could take at least another year to complete, VA officials said in a phone interview Tuesday. In this case, time is money. Every month that passes before a final regulation takes effect is a month of compensation lost to ailing veterans of an older generation, most of them Marines. For more details, see this Military.com article.