Vietnam vets urged to receive hepatitis C testing

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American Legion Post 1619 is working on a statewide awareness campaign and urging all Vietnam-era veterans to get tested for hepatitis C. Two free clinics are scheduled for Nov. 4 and 5 in Morrisonville.

MORRISONVILLE NY — The boot camp ritual was robotic in its precision.

Soldiers lined up for their vaccination shots. Needles were outdated, “jet guns” were in, and soldiers received high pressure blasts of an 18-drug cocktail before being shipped off to Vietnam.

The U.S. military saw the pneumatic devices as an exercise in modern efficiency.

“These guns were made for cattle originally,” said Danny Kaifetz, a U.S. Marine who served from 1970-72. “This thing hurt.”

The flinching led to ripped skin. Blood sprayed onto the gun, where it mixed with fluids from others. And kapow — the process repeated for the next guy, with no sterilization of the device between uses.

Now 40 years later, growing evidence suggests the guns, banned since the 1990s, acted as a vessel to transport diseases, including hepatitis C.

“The VA is backing off and is even allowing disability claims,” Kaifetz said. “Everybody knows it’s this gun.”