SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another episode of J. Bastard Exposed Vet Productions on this crazy October 9th, 2025. Today I have my co-host, Mr. Ray Cobb. How you doing, Ray?

SPEAKER_04: 0:17

Doing great. How are you doing tonight, John?

SPEAKER_00: 0:20

It's been kind of a busy day, but uh I'm doing really well right now. Uh, you know, it's been a pretty day outside, a little bit chilly up here, but uh, I'll take it over 100 degrees, you know, the hot, so the heat. And uh but uh today we've got Mr. Cobb and we're going to discuss a few things. Uh I'm gonna start off basically with uh let's start this is some as best of information and exposure stuff because we are exposed at and we do like to just you know we like to say stick a lot to our exposure issues because you know you're exposed to a whole lot of stuff in the military, you know, regardless of when you were in, what time you were in, what area you were in, you know, you were still exposed to certain things. Um I think the older the veterans get the worse exposure has on them because uh, for example, nothing's worse than Agent Orange. Um you know, it uh it's wiped out a whole bunch of people. And uh nothing's worse than asbestos either. It's killed a bunch too. So, you know, we'll stick on, we'll start off with asbestos today. Um you don't have to be just a navy vet to have as best issue exposure. Uh you can be an Air Force vet, Army vet, any veterans, you know. I mean, if you worked in a motor pool, you changed brakes, you probably had some of his best exposure in your life. You know what I mean, Ray.

SPEAKER_04: 1:50

I do, yeah. It's uh you know, you the chances of you being exposed to the asbestos is much greater than the ancient arts. Because if you think back, I know when I was even in basic, they had some old buildings uh that we were in and out of all the time that had been built back during World War II. And um you know, it's the beginning of the war. And then some of those pipes and things in there, they used asbestos as part of the installation. And that stuff is you know all over the place. Um I have to an Air Force person who got assigned uh they got in a little bit of trouble, so they assigned him to a special detail, uh work detail that was um cleaning out some old pipes and some old barracks, World War II barracks. And um he said that the uh the dust as they took down those pipes and things when they took off the insulation, that it just looked like a fog in the ring. Um he won his case, he's a hundred percent. Uh took his exposure, didn't take him much longer than a year.

SPEAKER_00: 3:08

Now, what was his medical health issue with it? Would he have cancer or was it uh asbestosis or what?

SPEAKER_04: 3:16

He had uh COPD.

SPEAKER_01: 3:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_04: 3:21

He had little problems with lungs and breathing. It hadn't hadn't turned into cancer yet, but uh, they told him he had several spots. You know, there's a a test, you probably even know the name of it, that they can do that can pick up if asbestos is still in your lungs. And it shows up as little green dots, I understand. And he had that test and showed several, and a few of them had kind of gotten close together. It wasn't just one or two dots, they were like seven right there in one little area. And I told him to keep an eye on that, that that could be an area that could develop into cancer.

SPEAKER_00: 3:59

I don't use if they find a spot on your lung and they you know suspect anything, as best as why their cancer was. Um the way the x-ray folks explained to me was they would do a high-resolution CAT scan, and uh it would focus pinpoint on the area they're looking at. And then what they would do there, they would go in and they'd see what they thought, and they would try to go and do a biopsy and see, and they'd pull it out. And then if they put it under a microscope, see it'll show the asbestos in there because asbestos never goes away, it's indestructible. That's the reason it kills people, you know, because it gets in your lungs and the body can't fight it off. You know, it can build around it, but it's not gonna fight it off because it's indestructible. You can't even burn the stuff, you know. But uh if you're uh the Navy started using asbestos way, way back in the early, early, maybe even 1800, I guess, when they first found asbestos in uh Africa. And they started using this. Is the greatest stuff ever was, you know. We can it won't burn, we can do this and do that. So they started making all kinds of form films and for it, put it on over steam pipes and things like that, use it at boilers and keep things from burning your hands when it's hot, and anything to do with heat and you know, mediation, they used it in. And it was the greatest stuff. And uh, but down the road, uh the places that mine this stuff, um, they had asbestos mines underground, and uh these guys would mine it, rip it out, and send it over to have, you know, to the processing places and have it informed or whatever, and all of a sudden everybody started dying, you know, even their families died from bad lung cancers and things like that, bad diseases. And uh they didn't I don't know if they put any uh caution to it or not, you know, because I mean it's it's been going on for years and years and years, you know. People, you know, I mean it wiped out it wiped out whole villages and places like that because I mean even the people even everybody in the factory is dead now that you know to put it together. Every family's dead. The guy would go home with it all over his clothes and his kids would get up his lap, you know, and they play around, they'd get it too, and they'd die. And of course it takes time, you know, it takes a while for it to metastasize, but you're you know, the heavier your exposure to asbestos, the shorter your lifespan, you know. And uh so for example, these guys are swallowing it every day. And uh you come into a military exposure though, say for example, you're on the in the military, you see a steam pipe that's got asbestos on it, you know, as long as it's got the insulation on it and it's covered and it's painted and it's hard, you can knock on it, it's no big deal, you know.

SPEAKER_03: 6:58

Um biggest issue is uh disturbing that insulation.

SPEAKER_00: 7:06

If something hits it, nicks it, or scrapes it, or cuts it, especially. Those fibers inside there are they look like it's hard to say, it's um it's like a dust powder, but it's it's more of a little gray, bigger, it depends on the type of asbestos. But once that stuff gets airborne, look out. Because the stuff will float and float and float, and once you know, and once it gets in your lungs, you know, you can handle a little bit, but get a certain amount in your lungs, and it could take you know, within 50 years, they could cause you to have mesocelioma or asbestosis or another type of cancers. It can get in, it can get in your throat, it can get in inside your stomach, anywhere. People swallow it. And uh I've had a lot of friends had it, several friends die from it. So that's as best it's in a nutshell as far, you know, I can go into what types and things like that, you know, but the and where they use it at. Uh like I said, anything steam-wise. Uh that even works in the army barracks. They had those uh little boilers, you know, had the steams going into the into the quantum huts.

unknown: 8:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 8:17

You know, they can those things are insulated. Um I've heard those stories about guys in the bird departments, you know, the steam line will be over top of the rack of the bunk. And uh they like to look real good in the mornings, they get their cold hangs, cold out, and they stick that cold hanger in that insulation to hang their clothes up. Every time they pull it out, they'd exposing the whole daggone barracks.

SPEAKER_03: 8:42

Excuse my friends. But uh Navy the same way.

SPEAKER_00: 8:50

Navy went into more detail because uh Navy ships are um well back in the day, most of them were steam propelled, and they had engine rooms and boiler rooms, and they're very hot working environments, so they had decks in between them to the main decks down in the engine room. They'd even put it on the floor and tile over to keep the heat from coming up in the rest of the ship. Uh they used it on steam pipes, they used it for several uses. Insulation. Um they didn't stop using it until maybe I want to say maybe late 70s, early 80s, and they stopped putting in ships and still they still put some in. Um submarines the same way. I think the last class quit. Huh? Uh fiberglass.

SPEAKER_04: 9:40

What do they use now?

SPEAKER_00: 9:41

Fiberglass. Fiberglass is it, I think. That's about what they do. Um have to use fiberglass, unless they got some kind of composites I'm not aware of. Um, but remember they don't have the engine rooms like they had back in the day, too. You know, there's still steam lines. Um, but you know, most of the potion now are gas turbine engines. You know, they might be some stuff around there. Um eventually they'll come back to that type of propulsion because I mean it's kind of like putting a chainsaw motor on a trying to get a chainsaw motor to run your truck down the road, you know what I mean? Two-cycle engine. But uh I'm thinking they still use it some aspects. Uh I think they still use it some brakes. Use ceramics too, or a lot of ceramics they use. But uh all depends on the expense and how they build. Uh I think the last the first class of subs that was asbestos three is probably the 688 class, Los Angeles class. I don't think it had a lot of asbestos in it. Anything before then, yeah, had asbestos in it. Uh I can vouch for that personally. Um I participated myself in over 250 asbestos ripouts in the US Navy. And the majority of them were on certain classes of submarines. And uh we'll supervise most of them, but still that's a fun job.

SPEAKER_04: 11:04

What do you have from from that? Or what medical problems do you have?

SPEAKER_00: 11:10

I don't really have an asbestos type issue. Uh my issues are neurological as far as that. Um I do have some CLPD and things like that going on. Um but my issue is uh I make them check me every year. And uh you know, and if you worked if you've ever worked in the asbestos field and removed asbestos, it is imperative that you get at least a good good test done every year.

SPEAKER_03: 11:43

And stay at the stay ahead of the game.

SPEAKER_00: 11:54

But you asked the question a while ago about what they're using now. They're using fiberglass insulation, they're using uh, I guess it's uh aluminum-based polyurethane stuff now. There's no asbestos, which is okay, you know. Um but uses a little bit different too, because I mean you got steam piping and things like that, you know, it's uh it's dangerous as far as that. I mean, especially in combat. Say if you're in uh combat on a navy ship, you take a hit like a missile or you know, a bomb hit you or whatever, there's an explosion inside the ship, you know, it blows and steam lines all to pieces, and thebestis is everywhere. There's still people in New York City today that are become being diagnosed with lung in asbestos conditions. Uh one of the Fox News guys just got uh he he's got diagnosed with some stuff from 9-11. And uh he's got some issues going on. Anyhow, but he got diagnosed from 9-11 to get uh things there, Sean. Uh hope it gets better and hope he gets his stuff straightened out.

SPEAKER_03: 13:20

Shipbuilders use it.

SPEAKER_00: 13:22

Um the Navy has a list of jobs that it's basically called a piece list, it's a is then the VA come out with a list. It's uh your higher risk MOS's for the Navy, just for the Navy itself. Um you got uh well, the Navy's got a rig called a bosun's mate. That's the guy that ties all the knots and does all the painting on the ship and stuff. You got a damage controlman, which is the guy that fights the fires and things like that. A Holt maintenance technician, that's the guy that welds the pipes, removes the asbestos for whatever insulation. Uh electricist mates, a lot of electrical places have asbestos around it, so we have to go in and you know be exposed. Uh fire control technician. I can see that. Um a gunner's mate guns, yeah. You gotta have some heavy-duty guns on because the shells are hot, so I guess make them out of asbestos. Uh machine MR machine retirement. They do a lot of stuff too. Uh metalsmiths, pipe fetters, water tenders, and welders. Okay, well, in the Navy, the whole technician takes up uh the pipe fetter and the welder. And and when I was in the D seam, so that rate, that rate there, if you're a whole technician in the Navy, you might want to be checked, especially if you worked in any asbestos removing field.

SPEAKER_03: 14:52

Okay. What kind of diseases can I get from asbestos?

SPEAKER_00: 15:07

The most common disease from asbestos is called asbestosis, which is the presence of asbestos inside your lungs. Uh that's there with maybe a little inflammation and things like that in your lungs, and uh asbestosis is uh not gonna kill you, but if you've got that, be careful because it will turn into something later on. Uh the worst one is mesocelioma, that is a cancer, a deadly cancer, that uh affects the lung the lighting and stuff for the lungs, and uh that's pretty much a fatal diagnosis.

SPEAKER_03: 15:45

Uh you can get other cancers related to it too. Uh Ray was talking about the earlier. And uh had C O P D and some other stuff, you know, as best as can, maybe it's used to do with that. Um as far as far as other well uh hey Ray, how are you?

SPEAKER_04: 16:17

I'm doing good. I don't know where you went, but you were talking and everything, and and all of a sudden you were gone.

SPEAKER_00: 16:24

I think I I don't know. Did anyone if the producer emailed you back home? I don't know. No, I don't know what happened.

SPEAKER_03: 16:36

Hmm. Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 16:39

Well, I just went over the diseases, Bray, that asbestos uh causes. I went through mesothelioma, I went through asbestosis and some COPDs and things like that. Um as far as the VA rating schedule for asbestos, the rating schedule for asbestos is under the interstatial lung disease issue. Um, used to be in the older regulations. Um exposure to asbestos, and uh it's hard to prove. Um it depends on your severity of your lung function and things like that, as far as uh, you know, how high the rating goes. Um just look at the Title 38, part four, look at your condition versus what it is, and you can kind of get a handle on what you're you know, but you got to know what your tests say and everything else, and you can ask your doctor or whatever, or your staff that you go see to, you know, what's my condition look like and how severe is it. Um if you had a biopsy done, that's one of the major diagnostic tools they want to use. So if you have mesocilium to do a biopsy and they see the cancer, of course, they can probably tell the cancer on the on the uh uh one of the films because uh east cancer basically is like you got your own signature, and that's what it is, you know, it's kind of that way. But uh once the biopsy's confirmed, um then if you've got it, you know, you're exposed. Yeah, now you've got to prove exposure from the military. That's that's something that the VA will definitely rack you up against. But I mean, I've seen a few claims. One Ray just mentioned one earlier, the guy won his claim. Uh I'm pretty happy that happened. How many is the best claims you've ever seen, right?

SPEAKER_04: 18:19

Um probably no more than five or six. Uh most of the things. We had a guy down there, yeah. I had one navy. That's a guy that was at the navy. He was like you, he was on a submarine.

SPEAKER_03: 18:38

Mm-hmm. Yeah, so that's the guy that was at the conference, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00: 18:47

Yes. Okay, I never talking to him. He's good people. Good people. Then we'll give you some secrets, guys. I'm not gonna give up my I'm not gonna give you up everything I got, but uh keep some secrets to proven exposure to the best of us. Um look your rating up on the list I got out. It's called the VA Pies list. It's on the sunset, it's under the VA.gov website. You can look it up and see it. Look up your occupation. Same thing for the Air Force. They've got the Army or whatever, you know, and what kind of you know, exposure you would have as far as the job series and title or your MOS, they call it rating. Maybe cause it rating Army calls it MOS. Uh, I don't know what the Air Force and the Marine, well the Marines call it. Well, what you're a marine, you're just a Marine, right? I don't think you got an MOS. I think it's hard charged and hard, you know. But uh look it up and see what your rating is and kind of look at your job. Now, when you enlisted folks who are end over this time, um, and you've got your hands on all your records, especially your milk, you know, military records, I would be going through those records or having digitized. And first thing I'd be looking at is my illicit performance evaluations. If you had a certain job in the military and it was your main duty, your main job, you will get an illicit performance evaluation every year. It'll tell you whether or not you're a good sailor, good soldier, or whatever, you know, do they recommend you for retention in the military service? You flip that thing over to the back, and all of a sudden things open up. Look up, well, so and so, so-and-so did this and this. Here's the guy's job, did so-and-so, he ripped out this, did this, did that, did this, you know. That's why you have a lead petty officer or a platoon leader or something like that, because they're the ones that do the initiation of these things. They ride it in, turn it into the higher up the chain, you know. It tells you what you did in the military. I mean, it may not go into exact explicit detail, but mine actually did. And uh my biggest issue, even though I removed asbestos, and even though my medical records are stamped asbestos from the from the military, the VA still denied I had any issue or exposure to asbestos. Can you believe that, Mr. Cobb?

SPEAKER_04: 21:20

Just like I didn't have any exposure to ancient orange.

SPEAKER_00: 21:24

Yes. We didn't use asbestos in the middle. That's a wonder. They got nose before they can get the bill. No, they didn't. No, they didn't. They probably still tell you that today. But we know better, don't we?

SPEAKER_01: 21:44

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04: 21:45

Well, we know better, we've proven better, and uh everybody is what I try to emphasize to the veterans, you probably do too, and your asbestos is about the same. Unless you happen to be in country or have a particular MOS that costs you to have to use it or be around it every day, they're gonna not recognize that you were even around it or that they even used it.

unknown: 22:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 22:13

Now we know that they had to use it, we know they had to test it, we know they had to develop it. I don't know if you remember, but a couple of years ago when we had that that uh conference down here, you remember James Cripp stood up and made the statement. He says, you know, a lot of times I hear people wanting to know who developed ancient orange and made it so deadly. And he said, You're looking at the SOB. And what they did, they went to him, it was a game board, and they told him they wanted him to come up with a combination of the mixture of diesel fuel and dioxin that would clear the trees in three days. Not the 21 days, not the 10 days, but the three days. That James developed. And when I say that 30% dioxide to 30% diesel fuel.

SPEAKER_00: 23:34

So the diesel fuel itself was kind of like an agent to make it start sticking to stuff when it sprayed on it. Is that what it was?

SPEAKER_04: 23:41

Yeah, yeah, that's exactly what it did. It kept it kept the dioxin from just rolling off and falling on the ground. It made it stick to the trees, stick to the bushes, uh, stick up on the leaves. Of course, anyone that's had uh seventh grade biology understands how the how the plants get their food and energy and and water and everything through the leaves. So it was their way of of uh when the leaves are gone and then the tree dies, and now you got barren land.

SPEAKER_00: 24:18

That's kind of crazy because they could have used Dawn dish disinterent for that. It does the same thing. You know, if you make something up for your grass with vinegar put a little dawn in it, it'll get on there, you know. That's overkill. And they overkilled everything. Well, it don't matter. I mean, Vietnam's paying us back anyways, because most of the furniture is coming back from there now, anyways, in the US. So we're used to we're getting the wood back.

SPEAKER_01: 24:45

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_00: 24:47

Oh no, but uh we can be back on this uh on your back page, it's got a list of what you did. Uh fortunately, mine looked up and uh I looked at mine and uh I ran it over, read it over, and it showed the exact number of asbestos reprofess that I did in service and house exposed. All four years, all all every one of them had the same thing. And uh, so it's been as well over a thousand. And uh so we did a lot, a lot of them. Um biggest problem is though um in 1985, I was the only asbestos worker, certified asbestos worker, certified radiation worker on the west coast. And so anything had to be done in certain areas of submarines, I was the one who had to do it. You know, we did a lot of yard yard work with the bird, you know, with the shipyards, but uh I had to kind of uh run uh what you call it project management with that and uh go dip in and out and do things like that. And that was going on for a very long time. So if you got asbestos clean, good luck. This back page of that evaluation, the form of evaluation is what actually turned around and got my asbestos exposure, you know, concealed, you know, they can see that I had it. So if I have any issues, you know, it's gonna be connected. But low and behold, if I'm already 100% for lung disease, so then I don't think we'll need to worry about it.

SPEAKER_03: 26:17

But uh just in case. Um lost a lot of friends due to asbestos.

SPEAKER_00: 26:24

We lost a couple, you know, um we'd lost four so far from our group from cancers that's died. Asbestos too took work, you know, right there alongside of us. And uh they're pretty good people, man. They live a pretty good life. But uh, it'll get you within 40 to 50 years after you get out, enjoy any time, depending on your exposure, how heavy you were exposed. So if you're exposed pretty heavy, it might get you in 10 years, five years, a little bit less, things like that, but it didn't matter. But you could I was exposed heavily, but you know, we did take precautions and we did wear a mask and things like that. Uh we had a 3M8710 desk mask back in the day when we did sampling. Uh some say that was not a very good mask at the time, but it's best they had back then, you know. And uh but you know, it's hard to really can't tell because sometimes them fibers will get through. So but other than that, that's as best in a nutshell. We can get we can go down and break up and tell you what types and kinds and where they were used at and things like that. But if you guys didn't even run those ships that were built in a anywhere before 1980, 81, 82, you probably were exposed to some asbestos.

SPEAKER_03: 27:42

That takes 10 to 40 years.

SPEAKER_00: 27:45

And it can take up to 60 years to develop final symptoms of vests, actually. Uh they keep changing it every day.

SPEAKER_03: 27:52

So but that's a nutshell.

SPEAKER_00: 27:59

That was kind of one of my favorite subjects. We're you know, about the halfway going. Ray, have you ever helped any veterans get service necked for heart disease?

SPEAKER_01: 28:12

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04: 28:15

Yeah, I mean, stink heart disease is pretty common with um with two two things. Number one, with diabetes, and number two, agent orange exposure, and they're connected. Um, you've got to get knots in some ways, and hypertension, but they're just now starting to recognize hypertension. Back when I was dealing with it, and I have a hypertension rating, but it says zero out to the sky. So they recognized I had it, military connected, but they gave me a zero rating.

SPEAKER_00: 28:51

Zero percent, yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 28:53

Zero percent. And that went on and has, I guess a lot of time still going on today. Uh the common saying, they used to make the statement, well, everybody has hypertension. Everybody gets it at some point in time. Maybe, but if you have to if you look at at the combination of things that causes it, everybody doesn't get diabetes, acidic heart disease, and hypertension. You know, and everybody that's overweight doesn't necessarily get hypertension. And also just because a guy may be skinny, he still could get hypertension if he's properly if he's been exposed to stuff. So it's it's an ongoing battle for you as an individual. If you don't have an assumption, somebody says, Well, you can't win a claim unless it's an assumption. Yes, you can, and James Cripps and I are ones that can prove that. But you've got to build your case based on your direct exposure or your direct contact, and not on assuming because I was at Fort McCallum, Alabama Chemical Training Center, that I was exposed to Asian arts. Um they have developed it there, they tested it there, they trained officers on how to use it and the different ways to use it. So to say that it was not there is just really a a joke on the Army's part, but you know, they don't laugh about it, except when they walk away and give them say, well, there's another one, we pulled it over. But um, you know, it's uh whenever you're getting into these types of whether it be asbestos, aged orange, or some other form of a chemical, burn pits, you need to first look, don't take it as an assumption. Take it and build your case as direct exposure. If it happens to be an assumption, that's great. But if you build it as direct exposure and prove that case, it's hard for them to deny it then because they're if they have an assumption and a direct exposure, that's the double whammy, and they can't hardly reject that. So I I tell all my guys, you sit down and do your research, and I tell them, I refer them to uh James's webpage, VA the Red Network, and follow that step by step. And if they do, they're gonna have a direct exposure situation. And if it matches up, wonderful, you'll win your case. Uh, for a lot of the guys that uh, well, one of our friends who's not with us tonight, Barry Freyley, he used that very step by step and won it the first time through. Didn't take him hardly long at all, but he did exactly the way it was laid out in James's webpage. And I don't know of any easier way that I've ever seen it done. Now, are you gonna have to appeal it? Yeah, if you don't do if you don't win it, but if you've got all that information built into it at the beginning, they may deny you, but it's a false denial. So you'll be able to uh turn that around with uh either a supplemental claim or carrying it to the BAV.

SPEAKER_00: 32:33

Guys, he mentioned James Cripps. Um James Cripps, yeah, is a uh kind of advertising that's been doing it for a very long time. Uh he was exposed because he was a game warden in the army and uh he sprayed the ponds and he worked around, you know, to keep the weedy stuff down, I guess, so the troops could fish in. Wasn't that Fort Jackson or what was that at? Fort Gordon, Georgia. Fort Gordon, Georgia, okay. He's also a deputy sheriff, so he can chase him off the basin and pull them over and rest them, you know, just in case. But uh his stories are interesting. You can go to VA the Redneck Way. Uh James Oswald runs a uh um kind of like a uh uh organization.

SPEAKER_04: 33:18

It's uh what is it uh US United States Veterans Alliance, USVA.

SPEAKER_00: 33:26

Yeah. Okay, USVA. And uh you should look read this stuff up and via the redneck way. I mean, it's pretty hilarious. Um he's the first person, okay, to ever be service connected based on a direct exposure, and direct exposure, Agent Orange Clay, while stationed here in the U.S. That's the first one, and that's a lot. And folks, number two is Mr. Ray Cobb here. And uh James had a lot to help him out with, too, and uh luckily they had uh one person put them both together, and uh they you know they came out and did it. I mean, he was exposed, he was exposed to it at Fort McClellan. So, but uh, you know it's a lot of issues, you know. They got heart disease and things like that involved with it now. Ischemic heart disease is uh well ischemia, and what that means is you have to have athosclerotic vessels around your heart and things like that, that's where the blood vessel goes into your heart. Any ischemia is basically ischemic, is what they call it. And uh to give you a little heads up of actually my best friend of the wall in the world. I met him back in the 1990s. He worked with the VA and uh he's since retired. Uh we did a lot of fishing together, we fished a lot of turn together and things like that. He's you know several years older than I was, but uh I went down to the pier one day and he we had a boat weight of fishing at a way in the Lake Cumberland, and uh so I was trapping the boat up and he was taking fish back down the ramp, you know, it's just a small ramp to put them back in the water. So I got the boat tied down. I'm like, where are you at, Wesley? I got lucky and didn't see him, so I hopped my truck and drove down to the ramp, and he was down there and he was kind of humped over. I said, Man, you all right? He said, I couldn't breathe. So I said, That ain't right, man. Let's get you home. So the wife got him over to the doctor, and he sure enough, his aorta was the size of a pencil. So we had to go in and work on him and get him fixed up because he had order stenosis. But during that carts can't scanned, they found ischemic heart disease. And uh this guy was in country Vietnam because uh you know he he reliably on the daisy cutter that had to dig in for them bombs drop, and he went, you know, he did a lot of foot patrols and things like that. So we saw that and I explained to him, I asked him to read the read the heart cath, and uh they read it, and I said, Wes when are you going in? He told me, I said, Why don't you get with me and we'll get on get you on the computer and I'll show you how to do this and you can do it, and he did it. He filed his claim with us within six weeks he was surface for schemic heart disease.

SPEAKER_03: 36:13

And his ears, because I mean it's pretty crazy. But um hypertension is a disease. Corne artery disease, another ischemic.

SPEAKER_00: 36:32

Uh it's heart actually hypertension is not really considered a heart disease, it's more of a vascular disease because of the way you've got it. Of course, cardiovascular, you know. And it's the part that you know blood blood to your heart. Um your heart bumps beats. It's a pump, okay, and it's an organic pump, of course. They pump, it sends blood to your arteries, to your vital organs or whatever.

SPEAKER_03: 37:05

The veins collect the blood and send it back to the heart. It's all uh moving system, you know, so people know that, so uh Ray, you have you ever heard of any arrhythmias?

SPEAKER_04: 37:23

Uh no, I haven't. And I haven't really um had anyone that's uh done a claim on one. I've heard about it, but uh as far as I know, I have not. Usually there's other complications that probably go along with that. Um I know that for example, there's a condition called AFib. Right I'm not for sure if that is somehow connected to any chemical exposure or anything or not. Oh no.

SPEAKER_00: 37:59

Um atropibulation guys is uh uh when you got four chambers of your heart, and you know, your heart's time, you know, it's like a timing device, right? It's beat pump like that. Um when your heart malfunctions, I guess to say, and it beats grown, it allows blood to pull into your heart. That's atrial fibrillation. And if it pulls long enough, you start shooting clots out. Next thing you know, or it's a big stroke causer. Matter of fact, it's probably killed more people than anything else. That's the main probably the main cause of the strokes. And uh, so if you've got atrial fibrillation, you better be taking some blood thinners. And uh, you know, you gotta be taking blood thinners. That's an arrhythmia. You got uh there's some arrhythmia that are deadly. There's some that are not deadly, but there's some you know that can cause you problems. It all depends on you know what the arrhythmias are. Usually the lower chambers uh uh BT is pretty bad. Ventral tachycardia. Uh the sinus stuff ain't too bad, but anything ventricle there might be an issue. So if you got those, it's pretty dangerous. Um people have more than one arrhythmia. If you've got autonomic dysfunctions, you know, your small nerves and things like that, or your automatic nerves are messed up sympathetic nervous system or whatever it is. Um you can have two or three different arrhythmias, depends on you know which function, and that can cause you big problems too. Um, you know, procedures for the arrhythmia, you know, they can do ablations on you and things like that, or give you certain beta blockers to help control, you know what it is. Uh I've had them for a long time. Uh I've taken every beta.

SPEAKER_03: 40:00

Blocker known to mankind. I've had ablasions before.

SPEAKER_00: 40:04

Um but when it comes down to it is uh if they can't keep them under control, if it's the different if it causes difference, say for example, it's neurological versus mechanical in your heart, then uh they're gonna have to do something different because they can't cure it, the only thing you can do is fight it. And uh that usually means either getting either a certain pacemaker or defibrillator or machine to doesn't stop it from happening, but in case it does stop your heart or mix you up like that, then it might bring you back to life. So it's kind of a last resort.

SPEAKER_03: 40:37

Um second for your heart. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_04: 40:46

Are you self-esteem for your heart? I am, I have aesthenic heart disease. Uh I've had a uh double bypass. And my uh I don't know how it relates today, but back then they used an injection factor. And my ejection factor was around 40. Okay, which uh put me into uh um 60 percent.

SPEAKER_00: 41:14

60 percent category, yeah. Yeah, yeah, they uh yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 41:18

If you if your ejection factor is 30 or below, that's uh a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_00: 41:25

Right.

SPEAKER_04: 41:25

And that's referred to as chronic heart failure.

SPEAKER_00: 41:30

Yes, it is adjusted heart failure, bad stuff. Um the V used to use ejection fractions, uh, which basically an ejection fraction is measured by uh either two tests, uh cardiac echo or a cardiac catheterization, which is the heart cap. Um they measure it and you know try to that's the injection fraction is your heart's ejection pumping ability. That's the strength of your heart, but actual measurement, okay. That's what they used to base it on. Uh now the VA doesn't really, I mean, they still use it to a certain extent as far as the severity scope, but now they're using metabolic equivalence for meds. Uh say, for example, you've got heart disease and lung disease. Uh say your lung disease is pretty severe, but your heart disease ain't as bad as lung disease, and you have issues uh doing stuff, then they test you and say, okay, we only use like three or four mets. Three methods is the same as a 30% injection fraction. You know what I'm saying, Ray? Four methods is 40%, five methods is fifty percent. That's how they kind of play that game, okay. You know, to me, I should have left it alone, but you know, that's just the way it is. And uh, but you don't want to be 100% for heart, and she, you know, because that's pretty bad.

SPEAKER_04: 42:53

Um Yeah. It is.

SPEAKER_00: 42:57

I'm serious, you don't want to be. I mean, there's certain things you don't want to be 100% for, and heart basically one of them, you know, unless you've got a defibrillator and uh, you know, things like that, you know, where you you might mess up and have your shock back to life again. Uh good buddy James Cripps has had that happen to him more than one time, anyway.

SPEAKER_04: 43:14

Yeah, yeah, I suppose, and I I've known of one or two others um that that's been the case.

SPEAKER_01: 43:25

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00: 43:26

Um I used to watch them police shows on TV, live PD and things like that. And they had an ambulance and the cops trying to catch this guy. And him and his wife got into it, and he's running out of the house from her. She'd uh get one of the fibrillators from her, he'd run 30 feet and he'd fall down. He'd get run again, he'd fall down again. I said, Man, what's wrong with you? He said, the fibrillator keeps going off.

SPEAKER_01: 43:54

Knocking him good, huh? Knocking him to the grave.

SPEAKER_00: 44:01

I like to laugh myself over that one.

SPEAKER_03: 44:04

Uh V ratings for hypertension or hypertension heart disease, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00: 44:15

They base the rating based on the severity of the condition and the impact's ability to work and perform daily activities. They range from zero to 100%, and probably determined by level of exertion measured in METS, metabolic equipment of tasks, level of exertion. So if you exert yourself a little bit and you get short of breath and you can't breathe, like that's pretty high. It should be 100%, you know.

SPEAKER_04: 44:44

I got a question. We were talking about this. Now I know that Asian orange causes the stink heart disease, and I also have have I've I haven't helped anyone, but I understand that some of the guys for a year and a few years ago over in Iraq and Afghanistan that were around the oil fields and the burn fields, then that affects their heart. I know it does the lungs, but does it affect the heart or does the lungs affect the heart?

SPEAKER_00: 45:19

Um, you want the scenario. If you got damaged lungs from inhalation to toxins like smoke or anything like that, what happens is you've got a heart that's trying to pump blood into diseased lung. And eventually it's like a pump, you know, it keeps having to work harder and harder and harder to get that blood through that lung. That's you know, that's the first place the heart pumps flow through your lungs, right? Mm-hmm. So one of the biggest issues is pulmonary hypertension doing that. And uh, you know, that's something you look at. And uh if you ever had a heart cat and you look at your lungs, and uh if you start snucking for your lungs, then you look at that and see because uh if you've got pulmonary hypertension, that's a hundred percent rating for your lungs. And uh it's got to be a certain level in order to do that. I mean, it's about 45 metal MMHG, or have the use of the ratings or whatever. I've had it for over 25 years, been sort of ready for it. 100% permanent total for one issue. And uh that's a fun because it kind of helps you out with the rhythms too, because it causes your heart, you know. It does. I mean, you got all this crap going on, you it causes your pulse to race a lot. Home hypotenuse is bad for you. My ex other co-host I had had it real bad, he still got it. Uh unfortunately can't come on the radio no more because of some issues with the stroke, but uh we try to talk as much we can to him. But yeah, that's one of his main issues. I mean, this guy's been an oxygen for years, and uh have how he's still here is even a miracle. But uh that's one thing it causes pulmonary hypertension as far as that. It can cause right-sided heart failure, core pulmonary, they call it. Um, cause your right heart to it can kill you. It's deadly. That's one way exposure and in relation to lung disease can cause your heart to go bad, right?

SPEAKER_04: 47:20

Well, I have some guys that to the best of my knowledge, they don't have any heart conditions yet, but they have some problems with their lungs, and um kind of another side effect to it. Their lungs are are you know, gave them some or giving them problems and then they were around the oil fields when they were burning. And I'm wondering if that also then doesn't go into other in other words, can we connect the dots to allergies that way too?

SPEAKER_03: 47:59

Allergies.

SPEAKER_00: 48:02

Depends on what they did are they service connected program exposure to the to the to the to the to the burn pits, yes. Toxin burn pits? What type of lung disease do they got? Is it interfacial disease?

SPEAKER_04: 48:15

One's 40% and the other 60%.

SPEAKER_00: 48:18

Okay. So would they have no heart issues at all? Or they got heart issues now?

SPEAKER_04: 48:25

No, they don't yet. But these guys are still I call them young because they're they're in their mid-40s. Right. Um they're between 40 and 50, and I didn't have any heart problems until I was in my 60s from Agent Orange. So um, and then there comes the question: is it the diabetes or is it the Agent Orange or a combination of the two? You know, how does it all, you know, you gotta look at guys and think about how it connects because we've talked here before, building your cases, stacking your 60s, you know, getting to that R2 level, uh, getting to uh needing aid in attendance and then R1 and then R2 and the Caregiver 1 and Caregiver 2. And I was talking to a gentleman the other day, and I kind of floored him. He I don't think I still don't think he believes me. And um, well, I can't go any higher, I'm 100%. I said, your work's just started. He said, What do you mean? I said, Well, there's 13 levels above a hundred percent. He said, You make money on that? I said, Sure you do. Every time you can go up to a different level or a different lever letter grade, and things equal up higher, that gives you a little more income. And I said, if you look on the charts and you go up and look at VA.gov, you find that a guy that has R1 and uh level one, then he's I mean R2 and level two, he's gonna end up making more than eleven thousand dollars a month. Now, how did you get from 4,000 to 11,000 if you can't stack them? And if things don't continue to go wrong. But I do understand that our county service officers, the ones right here in Frankfurt County, I said, don't worry about it once you get them to 100%.

SPEAKER_03: 50:32

Right. Uh or it's don't feel about it.

SPEAKER_00: 50:41

In a nutshell, if you have a condition that you think you need an increase in, or if you need something else filed, and you are 100%, okay. Uh basically, the way I read it is if you've got one single 100% disability, a single that's permanent total disability. I'm sorry, what if you've got one single 100%, right?

SPEAKER_03: 51:08

Yeah, and you can have two, it doesn't matter. Okay, and you've got an issue, file the claim.

SPEAKER_00: 51:15

Because you're gonna have to knock you off a mountain to reduce you on that. Now, if you are piecemealt, which is 60, 40, 20, 20, you know how that is, right? You're still 100%. Um, you could look at it, see, because they look at all your disabilities when they do reviews and things like that. If you've had them for a certain amount of time, you're okay. If you had them 20 years, don't worry about it. They're protected by law. You know, there's even 10-year protections, they can't do this or that. So don't want to tell you not to do something or they'll reduce you. I mean, that's your decision, not theirs. Their decision is to discuss with you, advise you, and file your VA claim for you or help track your claim. That is their job. Telling you to file or not to file is not their job. That is your decision, your choice. You're the veteran. You agree with that, right?

SPEAKER_04: 52:07

Absolutely, 100%. You know, what folks also don't realize if you have a condition, if you're neuropathy from your diabetes, it's so bad in your feet that you have no feeling. They can stick a pen in the bottom and you can't feel it. And then you may have a condition that develops called foot drop. And if it's so severe, it's easy to tell, you can really tell if a person has foot drop or not. I'll talk about that next. But that's another L award. And an L award is a loss of use award, and an L award is a hundred percent award. That means you've lost something that can no longer have can have functioning abilities. Now, I have two L awards. It basically says that couldn't be fixed by stones.

SPEAKER_00: 53:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 53:01

Now the danger is that if I happen to step on a rusty nail, I can have gangrene set up before I even knew I had a problem.

SPEAKER_00: 53:10

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04: 53:11

And now and uh Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 53:18

I had an issue the other night.

SPEAKER_00: 53:22

Had a pair of shoes that gave me a little bit of a hard time. I didn't pay much attention to that. I didn't feel nothing. I mean, just but uh, I got home and I took my socks off and rubbed my hand down through there. I felt an awful I found an uh ugly looking spot on my right just right next to my ankle.

SPEAKER_03: 53:40

And buddy, I tell you what, I've been fighting it hard to keep it getting infected. I didn't know it, you know. That's what diabetes does to you.

SPEAKER_00: 53:50

If you can't feel it, you can't feel it. But one good thing about that though, to tell you the truth, is you don't have to do the hokey pokey no more.

SPEAKER_04: 54:02

You don't have to take the wife dancing, right?

SPEAKER_00: 54:05

Right, you can't do the hokey pokey and forget clouds.

SPEAKER_04: 54:09

You know, you pay attention to what this is going on. If you find yourself tripling and and fumbling, you very well could have what's known as foot gall. If you look at your shoes and the toes are scuffed up from where you drug them, trying to step up onto a curb, or you drug them when you tripped, and he kind of you've heard those saying, uh, oh, he'd fall over his own feet. Well, if that's happening, you probably could have foot drop. So um pay attention to what's going on and don't ignore it. Uh, hopefully, and I know some do and some don't. I I think you and I are fortunate enough we do. Uh, our spouses pay very close attention to us. Uh-huh. And they pick up little things that you might be doing, and they'll say, Well, okay, for a little this morning, for example, uh, didn't say anything about it. Pam says, Uh, do you feel all right? Just tell a clear blue. I said, Why do you ask? She said, Well, you just seem like you don't feel. I said, Well, the blood sugar is over 400. What happened? I woke up this morning. I don't know. Have no idea. Now that's down tonight, it was 160 when we came on the show.

SPEAKER_00: 55:38

What happened to mine? I was getting bowls and uh went to see my endocrinologist, which she's amazing. She redid my pump and everything like that. So she adjusted it, so I was dropping certain times of the night, regardless of what I was. So she actually changed the settings on the machine to where at that during those hours itself, it delivers zero for like four hours. Which took out the loaf, you know, and uh which actually helped me a whole lot, you know. Um change those settings on it now. They told me that I wear you work, I wear my desk comb on my shoulder like you do on your arm, behind your arm. I put the pump about I put the pump about an inch and a half away from the same armor. And that takes away any signal loss issues, so that's good. You know, which is pretty cool. But uh I got to keep this foot situated where we'll be in trouble.

SPEAKER_04: 56:50

Well, I got a secure message back from uh um diabetics clinic today that they're uh you know I have they took me off of two units of U500, um from excuse me, Victosa, and and took me back to one. Well, the first thing that had to happen, I had to increase my insulin, then I gained weight, and then my blood sugars went up a little higher than average, and my A1C went up. Well, we've been looking at it now for about six or eight months. Well, I got the message today, they're putting me back on uh uh two shots or two units of uh uh Victosa on um Monday morning. So I'm anticipating it slowly uh my weight loss will come back, I'll be able to cut back on the insulin. And I've got to kind of make sure that um I cut back on the insulin when I need to, so I don't do like you're saying and have those overnight lows and overnight crashes.

SPEAKER_03: 57:57

Have you been on have you taken uh um what's it called? Uh zip. You think on Zipic?

SPEAKER_04: 58:10

Yes. I think on Zipik every every that's what they're move. I'm sorry, I said the wrong one. I'm going up to two units on Zipic. I've been cut back to one, and now my numbers are going back to one. So I'm going back on two units. Why'd they cut you back to one? Well, everything was fucking good. You know.

SPEAKER_00: 58:34

Do you have any in uh do you see an do you see an endocrinologist at the VA? Yes, I do. I would talk to the Vanderbilt endocrinologist and tell them what's going on and what happened to you. They cut it back or whatever. You have an issues with Ozipic, come requesting to put you on Monjaro, take you up to like five, seven and a half, and uh you had your problems be solved. Your problems will be solved. Okay. That stuff will come off you, you'll feel better, and it'll fall off you and go in it'll fall off you in growth.

SPEAKER_04: 59:20

Well, that's when I take two eunics of a zip, that's what happens. It just it's like it's just melting down and dropping off. Remember, you two eunuchs are still pretty we I think what we did, we cut it back too quickly, and we weren't paying uh I didn't understand it, and she wasn't paying enough attention. But anyway, when I was on it with two before, I started having like you, those overnight crashes, overnight loads, where I was getting down to 50, 40, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00: 59:54

That's why I got this pump set up like you had and changed like you had. That way you can kind of control your own insulin, you said what you're Carbs in.

SPEAKER_03: 1:00:01

But uh I would talk to your endocrinologist about one child.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:07

The VA can give you one child if an endocrinologist asks for it. But it's got to be an endocrinologist because your primary care doctor can't do it, they won't do it. Any diabetes are not going to be a good idea.

SPEAKER_04: 1:00:18

I don't see I don't see a primary care over the diabetes. I have a endocrinologist.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:24

I do too.

SPEAKER_04: 1:00:25

Campbell. Campbell's a night. And uh he's good.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:31

They cut me back from uh uh basically they cut me back to uh five, I think seven and a half, and uh I'd lost too much weight, went down to 164 pounds, which is too much. I want to be 180, so we'd uh we backed off a little bit and it's helped him a little bit. But uh you lose it, man. I mean, it's like you can move better and things like that. But hey, Ray, I hate to say this, man, but that's been fun. We're out of time. Uh if you get a chance, give me a call later on. I'll give you some information. Um, and uh we'll discuss some other things about some other shows we're doing. But uh other than that, thanks for coming on, Ray. I appreciate you, bud.

SPEAKER_04: 1:01:16

Always enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:01:18

All righty. Save some save some crop in that lake for me now.

SPEAKER_04: 1:01:22

Well, there won't be long, they'll be hitting.

SPEAKER_00: 1:01:26

That's right. Well, guys, this is John on behalf of the Exposed, say Bachelor Exposed Let Productions. We'll be shutting down for now. We'll see you next week, guys.

SPEAKER_03: 1:01:37

Good night.