Thailand VA claims: Agent Orange, Thai bases and what the Board grants

Is Agent Orange exposure presumed for veterans who served in Thailand?

Yes, since the PACT Act took effect in August 2022. VA presumes herbicide exposure for service in Thailand at any United States or Royal Thai base from January 1962 through June 1976, without regard to where on the base the veteran was located or what job the veteran did (38 U.S.C. 1116; M21-1 VIII.i.1.A). The conditions on the herbicide list, such as type II diabetes, ischemic heart disease, prostate cancer and Parkinson's disease (38 CFR 3.309(e)), and hypertension since the PACT Act, are then presumed service connected. In decisions that name Thailand, the Board granted 66.0% of claims for conditions on the herbicide list (3,608 of 5,468), against 23.7% for all veterans with the same conditions.

How the Board decided Thailand claims

5,474 Board decisions from 2020 to 2025 with a service-connection claim name Thailand or one of its bases. The decision records herbicide exposure in 4,812 of them (87.9%). The list below shows every herbicide-list condition claimed by 15 or more veterans, and the other conditions claimed by 100 or more.

Bar: share granted for Thailand veterans

Red mark: all veterans with the same condition

Conditions on the Agent Orange list

VA presumes these for veterans who served at a United States or Royal Thai base in Thailand from January 1962 through June 1976.

• Diabetes DC 7913

  68.1% · 1,291 of 1,897

  all veterans 22.3%On the Agent Orange list

• Coronary artery disease DC 7005

  72.0% · 806 of 1,119

  all veterans 32.8%On the Agent Orange list

• Hypertension DC 7101

  47.7% · 456 of 956

  all veterans 19.1%On the Agent Orange list

• Prostate, bladder or kidney cancer DC 7528

  72.5% · 573 of 790

  all veterans 32.5%On the Agent Orange list

• Parkinson's disease DC 8004

  74.4% · 201 of 270

  all veterans 36.9%On the Agent Orange list

• Leukemia DC 7703

  63.6% · 63 of 99

  all veterans 32.6%On the Agent Orange list

• Respiratory cancer DC 6819

  56.1% · 46 of 82

  all veterans 19.0%On the Agent Orange list

• Hypothyroidism DC 7903

  64.6% · 51 of 79

  all veterans 28.4%On the Agent Orange list

• Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma DC 7715

  74.6% · 50 of 67

  all veterans 30.2%On the Agent Orange list

• Multiple myeloma DC 7712

  72.1% · 31 of 43

  all veterans 31.2%On the Agent Orange list

• Heart attack (myocardial infarction) DC 7006

  66.7% · 18 of 27

  all veterans 18.0%On the Agent Orange list

Other conditions Thailand veterans claimed most

The most common other claims.

• Nerve damage, legs DC 8520

  40.4% · 307 of 759

  all veterans 23.6%

• Nerve damage, arms DC 8513

  31.6% · 149 of 472

  all veterans 18.1%

• Hearing loss DC 6100

  25.3% · 119 of 470

  all veterans 21.0%

• Erectile dysfunction DC 7522

  37.4% · 158 of 423

  all veterans 19.0%

• PTSD DC 9411

  25.6% · 88 of 344

  all veterans 26.6%

• Sleep apnea DC 6847

  15.6% · 43 of 276

  all veterans 24.8%

• Tinnitus DC 6260

  42.5% · 114 of 268

  all veterans 51.7%

• Skin cancer DC 7818

  22.6% · 45 of 199

  all veterans 19.5%

• COPD DC 6604

  9.6% · 19 of 197

  all veterans 12.2%

• Digestive cancers DC 7343

  32.2% · 47 of 146

  all veterans 22.0%

• Prostate condition DC 7527

  45.2% · 57 of 126

  all veterans 12.0%

• Dermatitis or eczema DC 7806

  16.7% · 17 of 102

  all veterans 16.7%

One count per veteran per condition; a remand counts as not granted. Conditions with at least 15 veterans.

Type II diabetes was the most common claim: granted for 1,291 of 1,897 veterans (68.1%, against 22.3% for all veterans). Coronary artery disease was granted for 72.0% (against 32.8%), prostate, bladder or kidney cancer for 72.5% (against 32.5%) and Parkinson's disease for 74.4% (against 36.9%). Hypertension, on the list only since the PACT Act, was granted for 47.7%, against 19.1% for all veterans.

Off the list, the gap was smaller. Nerve damage in the legs, often claimed secondary to diabetes, was granted for 40.4% (against 23.6%). PTSD (25.6%, against 26.6%) came out close to all veterans, and sleep apnea did worse (15.6%, against 24.8%).

To compare fairly, each group's share is set against what all veterans' rates for the same conditions would predict:

Conditions in decisions that name Thailand	Granted	Expected from all veterans	Times as often
On the herbicide list	66.1%	26.5%	2.5 times
All other conditions	29.0%	21.8%	1.3 times

How did VA handle Thailand service before the PACT Act?

Case by case. Before August 2022 there was no presumption for Thailand. VA conceded exposure on a facts-found basis for veterans who served at a Royal Thai Air Force Base, such as U-Tapao, Ubon, Nakhon Phanom, Udorn, Takhli, Korat or Don Muang, as a security policeman, security patrol dog handler or member of a security police squadron, or whose daily duties otherwise placed them near the base perimeter, where herbicides were used to clear vegetation (M21-1 VIII.i.1.A). The Board still applies that rule when a claim reaches back before the PACT Act.

The perimeter rule still shows in the decisions: the Board's summary mentions the base perimeter, security police, dog handlers, guard duty or the flight line in 863 decisions, 698 of them with a grant.

Before and after the PACT Act

Decisions that name ThailandAll veterans, same conditions

2020

49.5%

17.3%

2021

55.7%

20.1%

2022

72.7%

26.1%

2023

81.5%

28.3%

2024

77.3%

27.2%

2025

67.0%

24.0%

Share of decided claims granted; a remand counts as not granted. One count per veteran. Herbicide list: 38 CFR 3.309(e), plus hypertension and MGUS since the PACT Act. The PACT Act presumption for Thailand took effect on August 10, 2022.

Did Thailand veterans do better at the Board after the PACT Act?

Yes. On herbicide-list conditions, the Board granted 52.4% of claims in decisions that name Thailand from 2020 and 2021, and 77.8% from 2023 to 2025. For all veterans with the same conditions, the shares were 18.6% and 26.6%.

Decisions from 2022 sit across the change. Fewer herbicide-list claims from Thailand veterans reached the Board each year, from 1,222 in 2020 decisions to 300 in 2025; the data does not show why. In 2025 decisions the share was 67.0%, against 24.0% for all veterans.

Not a Vietnam effect

Many veterans who served in Thailand also served in Vietnam, where the exposure was presumed long before the PACT Act. Of 2,640 decisions that granted a herbicide-list condition, 697 (26.4%) also name Vietnam, about the same as across all Thailand decisions (26.9%). Leaving out every decision that names Vietnam, the Board still granted 68.9% of herbicide-list claims (2,629 of 3,818).

Why are Thailand herbicide claims denied?

Mostly over the exposure, not the diagnosis. For 643 denials of herbicide-list conditions in these decisions, the Board's note named the exposure or the service in 62.1% of them, a medical link in 54.7% and the diagnosis in 13.8%. Gaps seen in the decisions include no record of service on a base, service outside the dates, and a camp near a base rather than the base itself.

Read the decisions

Recent decisions, with the Board's reasoning as summarized by AI and checked against the decision text:

• A25110824, December 2025: type II diabetes granted, with nerve damage in all four limbs secondary to it. The Board noted the PACT Act presumption runs only from August 2022 and, resolving doubt, found exposure at the Nakhon Phanom and Korat Royal Thai Air Force Bases on the older facts-found basis.
• A25106029, December 2025: hypertension granted on the presumption, with erectile dysfunction secondary to diabetes and hypertension. A single high blood pressure reading before service was not clear and unmistakable evidence that the hypertension existed before service.
• A25104685, December 2025: chronic myelocytic leukemia granted for a refueling operator at U-Tapao, whose duties took the veteran to the base perimeter; a private medical opinion linked the leukemia to herbicide exposure.
• 25011273, September 2025: diabetes on a basis other than the PACT Act denied. Diabetes had already been granted under the PACT Act, but service at Camp Samae San did not place the veteran near the perimeter of U-Tapao, so the older rule did not apply.
• A25065702, August 2025: parkinsonism and nerve damage denied though exposure in Thailand was conceded; there was no diagnosis of parkinsonism, and the nerve damage was not the early-onset kind on the herbicide list.

What the data cannot tell you

The Thailand group comes from the places each decision names (Thailand, or a base such as Udorn, Korat, Takhli, Ubon, Nakhon Phanom, U-Tapao or Don Muang). Decisions that name it only in a quote of the law, or in a finding that the veteran was not there, are left out; 40 such decisions were left out here, and that check is automatic and misses some. A mention is not proof of service on a base, or within the presumption's dates. The herbicide list is matched by rating code, and a code can also hold conditions that are not on the list. Service-connection claims only, read for each condition; rating appeals are left out. The herbicide flag and denial notes are AI-extracted. These are historical outcomes, not predictions.

For representatives

• Show the base and the dates: personnel records, temporary duty orders, unit histories or performance reports that put the veteran on a United States or Royal Thai base between January 1962 and June 1976.
• Since the PACT Act, the job and the place on the base no longer matter for the presumption. A claim that reaches back before August 2022 may still need the perimeter facts: security police, dog handler, or duties near the fence line.
• A camp or site near a base is not the base itself; check where the unit was quartered and worked.
• A veteran denied before August 2022 can file a supplemental claim under the new presumption.