`Reality is, Vietnam vets are dying before their time'

Ross Miller was "young and bullet-proof" when serving in the Vietnam War while Bill Lillicrapp said it was "exciting" times.
The two Northland men were professional soldiers in the NZ army when doing their tours of duty in the Vietnam jungle in the late 1960s. They drank the water in the streams, brushed against the foliage and slept on the soil.
Now a Massey University study has found what they have known for years, that agent orange - the chemical used to kill the bush and expose the Viet Cong enemy - infiltrated the environment they fought in and caused long-lasting health effects to veterans and their families.
The report, released yesterday, says there was "strong evidence that NZ Vietnam War veterans have been exposed to clastogen which can cause genetic damage as a result of service in Vietnam".
"While not wanting to appear alarmist," the report states, "inherited genetic damage can be passed on to the next generation, possibly causing detrimental health effects through many generations to come."
Mr Miller, of Victoria Valley north of the Mangamukas, has escaped health problems to this point, but Whangarei man Mr Lillicrapp has osteoporosis and skin problems, while lesions have been removed from his body.
He is seeking no sympathy or compensation for himself, but he wants the children looked after.
"Their physical and mental ailments should be treated and the government should pay for it."
He served in Vietnam for 13 months as a patrol commander in the elite SAS. He led a handful of men who spent 10 days at a time in the jungle, observing the enemy from dense foliage and reporting the details back to intelligence, who would possibly mount an operation in the area.
"Our job wasn't to fight, it was to gather information. I was young and it was exciting. We relied on stealth," he said.
Some areas they worked in was "just dead bush - like walking on cornflakes".
Mr Miller was a platoon commander with 35 men under him in Victor Three company. They would be in the jungle for 28 days at a time, have three days off, and go back in again.
"We were young and bullet-proof. We were in the jungle and New Zealanders are at home in the jungle," he said. "We accepted the spray as one of the things in the war chest designed to defoliate the area and remove the cover. We didn't think twice about it."
He is the chairman and founder of the Ex-Vietnam Services Youth Development Trust which helps children and grandchildren of Vietnam veterans further develop their potential. He has seen too many children of Vietnam vets with health problems to have any doubts.
The Massey report was "another chapter in the whole sorry saga".
"We are talking about inter-generational genetic damage and the full effects are going to occur perhaps in the next 100 to 200 years. It's incredibly sad that people who served their country honourably are faced with this legacy.
"The reality is the Vietnam veterans are dying before their time. The Government has a responsibility to pick up the pieces, but how do you compensate for someone that dies? I don't know."
The report recommends a more comprehensive study be undertaken.