Vietnam veterans battle a new enemy.

September 1968, the Republic of Vietnam, somewhere near Pleiku: The young private first class stopped filling sandbags used to reinforce his fighting position and scanned the sky trying to spot the airplane he heard droning in the distance. Then he saw it, silver and grey in the early morning light. The soldier wiped sweat from his forehead and the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand as the plane banked and came in low over the jungle canopy and scrub bordering the road in and out of the region.

As the pilot leveled off, thin clouds of spray came from under the wings of the Fairchild C-123 Provider. The spray widened and all but disappeared as the powerful defoliant, Agent Orange, fell on the vegetation below.

Two days later the soldier was among two platoons patrolling through the sprayed area. He noted the dead and shriveled, grey-brown growth as he made his way through what had been an overgrown area bustling with the sound of insects and birds, an area where a resourceful enemy could have set up an ambush. Now the area was shriveled, brown and quietly alien. The soldiers' movements and their own breathing were the predominate sounds.

As they moved along, the soldiers stirred up small clouds of dust as they brushed against a bush or small tree.

February 2007, the waiting area of a VA hospital in Pennsylvania: The former private, now going on 60 years of age, sat looking at the papers he had been given. His 5'11" frame was slumped forward, and he had added 50 pounds in the wrong places to the 165 he weighed in Vietnam. His hair had thinned and turned grey.

He had just been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. His mother had diabetes before she died. It was something older people got, he thought.

The veteran in the story above is fictitious, but events and circumstances used to form this composite are real. The reality is that 90 to 95 percent of those with diabetes have Type 2, and the incidence among Vietnam veterans is substantially higher than the general population. In fact, the disease is now a presumptive service-connected disability for Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange.

Diabetes is a disease to be taken very seriously. It is recognized as a leading cause of death and disability in the United States. It is the leading cause of adult blindness, end stage renal disease and non-traumatic lower-extremity amputations. Diabetics are four times more likely to suffer coronary heart disease and strokes, and more.

There are three types of diabetes: Type 1 (insulin dependent diabetes mellitus) most often develops in children and young adults; Type 2 usually develops in adults; and gestational diabetes, discovered during pregnancy, usually disappears after pregnancy, but women who suffer it have a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes later in life.

The American Diabetes Association estimates more than 20 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes. More than 14 million are diagnosed while some 6 million are unaware they have the disease. Many of those who are unaware are Vietnam veterans.

During a Taking Control of Your Diabetes conference last year in Columbus, Ohio, Urban Miyares, the DAV's Outstanding Disabled Veteran of the Year for 1994, was the keynote speaker. In 1968, Miyares collapsed in a diabetic coma during an enemy attack on his unit in Vietnam. Since then he has suffered blindness, hearing loss, kidney disease and neuropathy as a result of diabetes. He has also become a diabetes education advocate, successful businessperson, motivational speaker and athlete.

According to Miyares, service connection for diabetes is increasing dramatically in the veteran population, especially among Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange.

"Diabetes is quickly becoming one the biggest costs to the VA health care system," Miyares said. "Veterans definitely need to get educated on this devastating disease."

For veterans who served in the Republic of Vietnam between January 9, 1962, and May 7, 1975, getting educated includes getting examined and diagnosed. Then you need to see a DAV National Service Officer (NSO).

"I would say 20 percent or more of the Vietnam veterans we see are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes," said Ronald F. Hope, Supervisory NSO at the National Service Office in Winston-Salem, N.C.

A combat service-connected Vietnam veteran himself, Hope has been advocating on behalf of and assisting veterans filing claims for service-connected disability for nearly three decades. He encourages Vietnam veterans to take immediate action regarding Type 2 diabetes.

"If you are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, you need to see your nearest DAV NSO to assist you in filing for service-connection for this disease," Hope said. "Bring us the diagnosis and DD 214 to prove Vietnam service and we'll do the rest."

To learn more about diabetes visit the American Diabetes Association Web site at www.diabetes.org. There is also a diabetes fact sheet available at the VA Web site, www.va.gov.