S2 E2 – Guest: Bill Bonk
In this episode, we sit down with guest Bill Bonk to discuss his new book –Â Exposure: Surviving Historical Ft McClellan. Bill walks us through the situation and all of the various chemicals and exposures typical at Ft. McClellan, including ionizing radiation exposure. We also talk about the larger issue of military contamination at a variety of bases across the country and how to address this systemic problem and its impacts on those who served or worked aboard them.
Bonk, a licensed private investigator, draws attention to the real possibility that veterans, their families, and civilians once assigned to now-closed Fort McClellan (FMC), Alabama were subjected to hazardous environmental conditions to include chemical weapon material and toxic chemicals starting in the early 1950s and continuing through 1999 and beyond.
At this point, Bonk says the government “seemingly has no interest in even determining if FMC veterans are suffering from occupational illnesses due to the chemical exposure” and doesn’t presume that any adverse health conditions are associated with service at the post despite the expenditure of billions of dollars to “investigate” contaminants on, around, and under the historical FMC and cleanup of the adjacent town and Army depot. “We truly don’t know what we don’t know about the hazards on the historical FMC until we peel back the layers and connect the dots,” according to Bonk.
Stay tuned for more podcasts on a variety of base contamination issues, plus interviews and stories. Our goal is to develop a weekly series. You can always find our episodes here, or on our podcast site.