cancer

As young men and teenagers, we were given a futile and dangerous task to ‘cleanup’ the nuclear fallout and debris of 43 atmospheric nuclear weapon tests. We attempted to gather the highest level of radioactive material and dump it into a nuclear blast crater. We dumped 110,000 cubic yards into a nuclear blast crater on Runit Island before covering it under a massive concrete containment dome.

I’m a wife and caregiver to my now 82-year old Marine. My husband’s medical conditions NEVER STOP!! It all started in 1991, when he had blockages and ended up with 4 stents outside his heart. I was shocked when he started complaining of what felt like a toothache and even a heartburn episode. He went to his doctor where they told him to immediately go to the ER.

Enewetak is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 850 people forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its land area totals less than 5.85 square kilometres (2.26 sq mi), not higher than 5 metres and surrounding a deep central lagoon, 80 kilometres (50 mi) in circumference. It is the second-westernmost atoll of the Ralik Chain and is 305 kilometres (190 mi) west from Bikini Atoll. A total of 67 nuclear and atmospheric bombs were detonated on Enewetak and Bikini between 1946 and 1958. To put this in perspective, you would have to detonate 1.6 Hiroshima bombs every day for 12 years to match the explosive yield derived from these tests. The radioactivity left behind is palpable.

The primary mission of the 4,198-acre Luke Air Force Base (LAFB) site was to provide advanced flight training to fighter pilots. Discharges and waste disposal practices at LAFB resulted in soil and possible groundwater contamination. Thirty-two areas of the base were subject to further investigation. Soil was contaminated with waste oils and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) resulting from the diverse processes that have taken place at the site. Groundwater was potentially contaminated with waste oils and VOCs. Potential human health hazards include accidental ingestion or direct contact with contaminated materials.

This 1,200 acre site is comprised of the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove (NASJRB/WG) and the Willow Grove Air Reserve Station (WGARS), which are operating U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force installations, respectively, located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Activities that generate, store, or dispose of hazardous waste at the facilities fall into four general categories: (1) aircraft maintenance; (2) base civil engineering; (3) fuel operation and (4) personnel training.

We wore gloves but no masks. I’m glad we worked outside under a canopy. I don’t know what affect the toluene had on me. I breathed it in all day for almost a year.

Our dad, Joseph, along with Robert Kennedy, Jr., exposed a toxic military dumpsite buried in the 60’s (which included Agent Orange) at Stewart Air Force Base in Newburgh, New York. It is a site that has been covered up by our government, the EPA and DEC for the past 40 years. As a result, this contamination has poisoned the community for over 40 years by leeching into Washington Lake Drinking Water Resevoir, which is right across the street from the Air Force base that serves 10’s of thousands of civilians.

In 2014 I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. It all started with severe back…

I was an Air Force Firefighter for just short of eleven years, separating only after a physical injury left me unable to do my job. I served from Jan 1993 – Nov 2003. I was stationed at Fairchild AFB, WA, Clear AS, AK, Shaw AFB, SC, and Ellsworth AFB, SD. I deployed 4 times during my time on active duty. We used AFFF for everything. When an aircraft hangar would have a foam dump, we’d play around in that stuff because it was so deep we didn’t have much choice.

I was a US Air Force firefighter in the 80’s. We used AFFF (Aqueous film forming foam) in sizable quantities continuously. We practically bathed in it and I threw away more than a couple uniforms because of foam. As a right of passage, we also poured it over fellow airmen leaving; either discharged or to another base.