12 On Your Side Investigates: Is PACT Act’s promise to veterans being kept?

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Smoke filled the sky on the day Charles Bryhan decided to the military. The fires of the September 11th attacks ignited another fire inside him, and once the line at the recruiting office died down, he signed up to serve.

Meredith Anderson: “Are you proud of your service and what you were able to accomplish?”

Charles Bryhan: “Absolutely. Absolutely.”

He knew the job came with risks and that he could face enemy fire. He never expected to face another kind of fire.

Meredith: What kind of things were burned?”

Bryhan: “Everything. Everything and anything that humans would use was burned. Everything from food to toiletries to computers, plastics, you name it, everything. Everything and anything was burned. Even aircraft parts.”

He says those burn pit fires were constantly burning during his time at Tallil Air Base in Iraq. At times, it made it difficult to breathe.

Meredith: “When it was happening, did you think, maybe, this is dangerous?”

Bryhan: “Yeah, absolutely.”

It wasn’t just the jet fuel-soaked burn pits.

Bryhan says he had to physically burn barrels, reducing classified documents and DVDs to ash. “For about a month, it literally tasted like rubber,” Bryhan said. “Like, I was coughing up rubber.”

When he was stationed in Djibouti, he says the burn pits, at one point, were filled with the bodies of goats that died on the way from Ethiopia to Saudi Arabia.

“The smoke was so thick, you couldn’t even see, like, five inches in front of your face,” said Bryhan. “It smelled like burning goat for, like, two weeks. And yeah, it was gross.”

The Department of Defense estimates that as many as 3.5 million to 4 million veterans like Bryhan could have been exposed to toxic smoke from burn pits in the last 30 years.

In some places, these fires were massive operations, like t Base Balad in Iraq. Its burn pit covered nearly 10 acres.

So many veterans were getting sick, Congress got involved, and in 2014, the VA created the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry.

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Around that same time, Bryhan noticed he was having breathing problems.

“The unfortunate thing is I developed a really weird respiratory disease,” said Bryhan. “And then, they medically retired me in 2017.”

While it wasn’t what he wanted, he itted it was what needed to happen.

He continues to struggle with respiratory problems.

“It’s a completely different way of life now,” Byrhan said.

Enter the PACT Act. It’s designed to cover veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances.

Unfortunately, that’s something the VA has experience with. For more than a decade, 12 On Your Side Investigates has exposed problems with veterans exposed to Agent Orange getting benefits.

Meredith: “The whole reason for the PACT Act, though, was to make it easier for veterans to get benefits.”

Bryhan: “(Laughs.) No.”

Bryhan says he applied in 2021 and was approved, but he says he has yet to see benefits. Instead, he says it’s only been trouble.

Friday, the day after this story was originally published, the VA confirmed Bryhan was approved for PACT Act benefits. However, a spokesman tells 12 On Your Side Investigates, Bryhan’s initial service-connected disability rating of 100% he received in 2017 is no longer 100%. The VA says his rating was reduced in 2021 following a routine exam. His disability rating was then lowered to 90%.

The VA says he sent two claims after the PACT Act became law. Both times, he received a combined serive-connected rating of 90% disabling.

That means, even though he was approved for his PACT Act claim, he still remains under the combined service-connected rating of 100% disabling he initially received in 2017.

Bryan says the biggest headache, however, was when the VA somehow mixed him up with another patient.

Bryhan says a veteran in Atlanta was getting all of his updates, which really became a problem when he needed to have cancer in his neck removed.

“I never got the notifications for, ‘Hey, you have to be here at this time on this day for pre-surgery.’ So I missed all those appointments because I never got those notifications of when to show up.”

Bryhan has reached out to South Carolina Senators Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham.

12 On Your Side Investigates reached out to Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff. Bryhan says he called him personally.

“Veterans are owed these. Veterans have earned these benefits through their service. It’s not a burden on the rest of the country. It’s the rest of the country’s obligation to be there for those who, when they were in uniform, were there for us,” said Ossoff.

Just this month, the Office of the Inspector General found problems with claims processors that resulted in $6.8 million in improper payments.

Then, there’s the Department of Government Efficiency.

VA Secretary Doug Collins has been taking to YouTube and his social media pages defending the plan to cut around 80,000 jobs, roughly 15% of the VA workforce.

“The Va has been a punching bag among Veterans, Congress, and the media for decades,” said Collins on a YouTube post in March.

Secretary Collins says the VA will continue to hire for more than 300,000 mission-critical positions, like those processing PACT ACT claims.

“The money we’re saving by eliminating non-mission-critical and duplicative contracts is money we’re going to redirect to Veteran-facing health care, benefits, and services,” said Collins.

Meanwhile, veterans like Bryhan hope it’s not all smoke and mirrors.

He’s hoping 12 On Your Side Investigates can help clear the air. We reached out to the VA in Washington. Bryhan signed a release waiver so the VA could talk about his PACT Act claims.

12 On Your Side Investigates asked the VA about fears a veteran’s disability rating will drop when he/she applies for PACT Act benefits because of the possibility that veteran will be reevaluated. Here is the VA response:

“VA’s practice is not to look at previously processed disabilities when a new claim is filed that is not related to the existing claims, unless required by law. VA only reduces a Veteran’s disability rating when the condition shows a significant, sustained improvement.

There are certain instances where VA is legally required to review a previously service-connected disability rating when a new claim is filed. These include:

• If there is clear evidence of fraud.
• If a condition has shown a sustainable and sustained improvement, as proven by a thorough exam and an increased ability to function under ordinary conditions of life.
• If a temporary 100% disability rating is no longer warranted. Examples of temporary 100% disability ratings include the time period when a Veteran recovers from radiation therapy for cancer, surgery, or a heart attack.
• If a Veteran fails to appear for a routine future exam.
• When the Veteran files a claim for increase on a service connected condition.

While VA may reduce a disability evaluation on an individual condition after issuing due process, it often does not impact the Veteran’s combined overall rating, and therefore, the monthly payment amount. Even with the provisions above, a reduction in current benefit levels is exceedingly rare. When a Veteran files a claim, there is a 97% chance that their benefits will either increase or stay the same.”

The VA says the average waiting time for a PACT ACT claim to be processed is around 166 days, but that’s just for the veterans who have already applied.

According to the VA’s own numbers, 114,661 veterans in Georgia have applied for PACT ACT benefits, and 66,824 have applied in South Carolina.

The VA believes many, many more could be eligible.

In Georgia, The VA estimates that number jumps to more than 656,000 veterans, and in South Carolina, that number is more than 387,000.

Crunching the numbers, that means only 17% of those likely eligible for the PACT Act have applied in the two states.

“We are making decisions and granting benefits faster than ever before. We encourage anyone who believes they have a disability or illness as a result of their service to file a claim with VA and to work with an accredited representative at https://www.va.gov/get-help-from-accredited-representative/find-rep/ or VA if they need assistance,” said Gary J. Kunich, Deputy Director in the VA Office of Media Relations.

If you or a loved one needs help navigating this process, your elected leaders are also here to help.

Senator Jon Ossoff: https://www.ossoff.senate.gov/-us/message/

Senator Raphael Warnock : https://www.warnock.senate.gov//-form/?path=help

Senator Lindsey Graham: https://www.lgraham.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=casework-form

Senator Tim Scott: https://www.scott.senate.gov/constituent-services/help-with-a-federal-agency/

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