Never Leave a Brother Behind: How One Veteran Plans to Take Experience with Veterans Legal Institute to Help Others

Ramon Balanga is a retired Navy Veteran who embodies the saying so often heard and repeated in the armed forces: “never leave a brother behind.” That’s why after establishing service connection under the PACT Act with support from VA and the Veterans Legal Institute (VLI), he’s seeking to help his brothers in service do the same. 

Balanga was diagnosed with cancer in 2019. At the time, he was 90% service-connected. This all changed through meetings with the right people and new benefits under the PACT Act, a law that significantly expanded VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to toxic substances. 

The series of fortunate encounters started within three months of his starting chemotherapy when he met Kate Majewski, a senior social worker for the VA Long Beach cancer program. She gave him a flyer for a joint legal clinic featuring the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and VLI, which provides free legal services to Veterans receiving care at VA Long Beach. This would start the coordination between these two services  and result in the finding of a key piece of proof from years past.

After receiving the flyer, Balanga attended a free VLI legal clinic at the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center for help with establishing his 100% service-connected claim. At the clinic, he met Douglas Tennant, VLI senior staff attorney. Tennant reviewed his claim and it became clear that Balanga needed proof of his service on the Proteus AS-19, a submarine tender anchored in Guam during the mid-1970s. It just so happened that Balanga's wife remembered a specific family photo they had taken during Balanga's first re-enlistment ceremony onboard the Proteus. After going through boxes in their garage, they found the picture and submitted it as proof of his service in Guam – a location covered by the PACT Act. 

Proof of his service in Guam, coupled with Balanga’s illness, established what VA calls a “presumptive condition” – an illness a Veteran develops due to probable toxic exposure during military service in specific locations during specific years of service. In other words, it meant that VA automatically assumed that his service caused his cancer and he didn’t need to further prove that his service caused the condition to receive the benefits he earned. 

Balanga has now taken on the title of "trailblazer" for his fellow shipmates from the Proteus AS-19. He plans to take them to future VLI legal clinics to get them on their way to service connection with the PACT Act. In the meantime, Balanga enjoys the retired life with his wife, a retired Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center nurse.