Just another in a long string of DoD denials about the health impacts of serving our nation.
Young people should avoid military service as self preservation.
2
"We had nothing to do with what we did to you" - USAF
"USAF had nothing to do with what it did to you." - VA
U.S. Government's honesty preceded Donald Trump's.
2
Air Farce then, Air Farce now.
Lost atom bombs then.
Bomb civilians now.
These guys just keep getting better.
Space Farce anyone?
1
There is so much in stories like this that make my head spin. Under a universal healthcare system like other advanced capitalist economies, these people would not have to worry about healthcare bills bankrupting them.
Next, the first photo of Mr Skaar still has a sticker of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew, clearly displayed... is Mr Skaar still a proud Republican given all that we've learned about Nixon and what he did in SE Asia and Watergate?
Lastly, I wish similar stories about the military were more well-known vs. the propaganda you see on TV and NFL games. Uncritical support of governments and corporations is wrong since clearly they both can lie through their teeth.
[Submitted 10:36 am CT]
5
"the bombs that blew apart at Palomares contained more than 3 billion micrograms" (that is 3kg)
What a statement. Plutonium type nuclear bombs of that vintage would contain a far larger mass of plutonium in just one device.
1
There is only one way to describe the military brass and their political masters: THEY DO NOT CARE!
4
So Donald Trump will intervene in the sentencing recommendations for felon Roger Stone to protect his friend, but sit back and do NOTHING to force the air force to treat these servicemen with dignity they deserve?
Why aren't the Democrat supporting PACs running ads in Trump states highlighting this let them eat cake contempt for ordinary Americans?
3
See that Nixon-Agnew sticker in the background?
The military can do no wrong.
No, Veterans hospitals are not socialized medicine. Free ride medical care is communistic.
The Lord and the free enterprise system will take care of all the radiation complaints. Keep the trail lawyers away.
1
An important story very well done...pats on the back to all involved, from that Air Force victim to his colleagues to the Yale students to the reporter.
I notice the veteran has a Nixon/Agnew sticker.
I wonder if he knows that those two scuttled the Paris peace talks and then prolonged the Vietnam War by 4 years, killing about another 20,000 Americans?
By my draft physical I had already been studying Vietnam for five years, starting with high school debate. I knew that JFK had decided to withdraw from Vietnam before he was shot and that Johnson and Nixon were trying to keep from being the first presidents to lose a war.
At my physical, I was trying to flunk .
Some other young men on the benches began to make fun of me, as I was bent over, feigning a trance and on LSD.
One told the other he hoped he passed because otherwise the judge said he had to go to jail for auto theft.
I thought: "What you don't know is bound to get you killed."
I wanted to warn them but they probably wouldn't have understood. They were from a town that made nuclear weapons and had been brainwashed.
I went a great high school. We rigorously discussed everything.
Their local high schools lost over 80 students in Vietnam. My school lost six.
The world is dangerous. You've got to pay attention and make protecting yourself a priority.
All my life I've noticed people voting for republicans -- Nixon, Reagan, W, Trump -- and they have gotten screwed by everyone of them.
21
So while the Air Force continues to screw over these brave men and their families, the current administration submits a budget that drastically cuts domestic discretionary spending while giving the DoD even more money. What the heck will be left to defend in the US while Agolf Twitler cuts back on everything else worth actually holding on to?!!
13
This mess has been widely known and covered up. Same with Agent Orange. About 1979 I was evaluated for Agent Orange. I brought a color photo of me in dead riverside vegetation. I had ~2”x1” carbuncles on each shoulder where my LBE straps had rested and on my skin above my hip bone where my web belt rubbed up till 2002.
Yet my otherwise superb examining doctor said “This is all nonsense. You are not a plant.” And the Army, Air Force, and VA all ruled against me saying I did not serve in an area that had been aerially sprayed.
Right. I was security along the banks as the Corp of engineers boats sprayed A.O.on the banks and when water ran out in the 100 plus heat, we out purification tablets in our canteens after dipping them into the river water. Heat exhaustion was giant red if you did not drink more water than we could carry in our two 2 quart canteens.
Inconvenient truths have always been ignored by REMFs.
12
@Ramon.Reiser wrote:
"[T]he Army, Air Force, and VA all ruled against me saying I did not serve in an area that had been aerially sprayed."
This is standard official denialism. The military personnel systems is often purposefully ignorant, aided by the secrecy that shrouded nuclear matters. Advance your case by understanding its history through research.
Doing research on my dissertation ( https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/90554 ), I came into contact with a former B-47 fuel system technician. Assigned to the 55th Strategic Recon Sqd, he often deployed to remote sites in Alaska to support missions based there.
While never briefed, he understood that the unit engaged in collecting fallout samples, because the fuel lines, etc that often needed repair ran through the top of the bomb bay. To get to them, he had to lower the equipment platform installed there, which often released a visible dust in the process that got on him and his clothes.
It was often cold and isolated. Sometimes he'd eat the leftover flight lunches he found aboard the plane.
Developing several medical issues, he went to the VA, who denied his claim because his records showed no basis for contact with radiation.
The 55th SRS handled fallout sampling for Soviet tests and his service in Alaska was at the height of fallout production. I was able to provide him with enough info that connected his health to his job that he was able to make a successful VA claim.
Umm, and don't eat the leftovers.
4
A few more bits of relevant info.
I ran into another former B-47 maintenance tech on a wholly unrelated matter. He confirmed what was told me by the first veteran about the commonplace nature of the leaky fuel lines that passed through the bomb bay, although he thankfully never was involved with the fallout sampling mission.
About those leftovers...I located documents governing procedures for encounters with the fallout plumes whose sampling was the mission of the 55th Alaska deployments in this era. This doc indicated that upon encounter with the plume, eating must cease given the aircraft could not be sealed against fallout. Given the arduously long flights often required for this mission, the fact that there were leftovers suggests such encounters might be the reason they remained.
The white dust that the tech encountered when dropping the sampling pod was likely fallout, as these pods were otherwise meticulously maintained. He described physical damage to his skin that was congruent with beta burns. This was a problem with early sampling missions used to analyze US tests, but apparently the lessons learned then weren't applied to such work outside the test organization.
Bottom line. Many veterans were exposed to radiation, but their records often do not reflect this. You're a fuel tech, but there is likely nothing in your file about the sampling mission in just this one example. Compartmentalization isn't just a tool of secrecy, but also serves well for coverups.
4
It looks like the VA in this case is mimicking the rest of our healthcare system (sans, of course, Congress, the White House and all of the gov’t highly placed)...if you can figure out a way to not pay, then go for it. That’s the American way.
3
In parallel to this article, readers should dip into "Downwinders" on Wikipedia. It's about nuclear testing fallout and how many people who lived downwind got exposed to radio active dust and later in life died of cancer related illnesses. As well, many cast members who were filming "The Conqueror" in the 50s, John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead, Dick Powell all died of cancer. The movie was filmed in Utah during atomic bomb tests. Lastly, one of the BEST movies ever made on this subject is called "Black Rain" the Japanese movie NOT to be confused with the MIchael Douglas movie of the same name. The ending in the movie left me feeling so sad coupled with a sense of hopelessness for trajectory we are on as a species.
5
Here is a table of some of the elements found in the bombs that were involved in a similar accident at Thule AFB later that same year. It also involved a "cleanup".
Nuclide Half-life Type of radiation
Tritium 12 years Beta
Uranium-234 250,000 years Alpha
Uranium-235 700 million years Alpha
Uranium-238 4.5 billion years Alpha
Plutonium-239 24,000 years Alpha
Plutonium-240 6,600 years Alpha
Plutonium-241 14 years Beta
Americium-241 430 years Alpha/Gamma
4
@The Count, Unfortunately this information is not useful without the activity of each nuclide involved and the dose per microcurie ingested.
Unfortunately many elderly patients in their 70s and 80s lose their battles with cancer, but the chances any cases among veterans can be blamed on radiation at Palomares are infinitesimal.
The combined 3 billion micrograms of plutonium shards scattered at the site would form a cube 2 inches on a side. A dense metal, even the tiniest of plutonium fragments would have fallen quickly to the ground, not floated about in the air as "dust". Because it has a half-life of 24,000 years, the first step would be to return the site and take samples of the soil. The radioactive signature of any significant plutonium deposited there would remain, and might form the basis of a probabilistic risk assessment.
But very likely, radiation from the accident was millions of times less than the natural background radiation around us - radiation to which we're exposed every day of our lives. Statistically, cancers among elderly veterans are far more likely related to smoking, or environmental toxins to which they were exposed during their life.
2
@BobMeinetz Really, I worked cleaning up the 43 Nukes exploded on Enewetak Marshall Islands in the late '70's and have an urinalysis that shows .004 pico curies of Plutonium per liter. Please call the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 To Ask your US senators to support SB 555 and then call your US congressperson to support HR 1377 both are called "Mark Takai Atomic Veterans Healthcare Parity Act" To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for the treatment of veterans who participated in the cleanup of Enewetak Atoll as radiation exposed veterans for purposes of the presumption of service-connection of certain disabilities by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Thank you
4
"Thank you for your service"
3
"If Mr. Skaar’s suit is successful in forcing the government to recognize that the Palomares veterans were exposed to damaging radiation, many would be entitled to free health care."
So to obtain the free health care that is standard for the entire population in most civilized countries these veterans have had to fight an uphill legal battle for the last 54 years! And they still don't have it.
11
Reading through, I wondered why some groups succeed in getting Govt support while others are just left hanging. I am not sure this is the first of such incidents. I think this reflects a deeper issue of lack of gratitude.
4
This has ever been the model by which "justice" comes to the powerless.
5
I can only repeat what Kristine from Iowa stated,"Its horrifying that our county can be so cavalier, secretive, dishonest and cruel to these brave men. It is a betrayal of the highest order. I'm ashamed."
But I will add, our government officials should have more honesty and integrity because Americans have died believing their government but obviously Mr. Skaar is living proof the Air Force hid, destroyed important data. To me, this is "un-American" there is no excuse. Our servicemen and women deserve better treatment, every human life should mean something, just as it does to immediate family members.
10
What about the people who lived there when this happened? Were they harmed? What the Air Force is doing here is just shameful. I hope Mr. Skaar wins this case and that the Slone family and no other family will go broke because the Air Force lies.
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@dlb Good question. We covered it here: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/20/us/decades-later-sickness-among-airmen-after-a-hydrogen-bomb-accident.html
6
It’s not only this dishonorable administration, our government lies to us, administration after administration. Whether nuclear cleanups, or 16,000 lies and counting. Whether it’s LSD experiments, or “I’m not a crook, watergate style.”
Governing seems a system of smoke and mirrors.
23
@DavidJ And particularly ironic given the Nixon/Agnew bumper sticker on the wall in the background of the lead photograph.
1
My friend’s father served during WWII. He was one of the soldiers who stood outside and witnessed nuclear bomb testing in the South Pacific. Peter, he developed breast cancer, then Parkinson’s Disease. We all assumed (at least the beast cancer) was caused by that exposure.
Like with reports of the damages caused by Agent Orange, and the cancers caused following the World Trade Towers attacks, this info is so slow to emerge that one wonders if it is on purpose.. to mitigate financial liability.
At any rate, waiting to release info, and to act to help remedy that exposure with adequate health care screening and care, until most have succumbed to illness and/or died, gives lie to the belief that veterans are honored, that the government takes care of its veterans. One might conclude that the waiting itself, especially in the face of known illness is to cut costs, regardless of the human toll.
35
Here is what I do not get about all of these stories about first responders having to sue for healthcare: they all have excellent employer provided insurance. In this day and age of Republican promises for preexisting conditions all of these sick people should have care, correct? No one should be in court or in front of Congress fighting for healthcare, right? VOTE BLUE!
27
Note to self: Never join the Armed Forces. The pay is terrible and they never inform you of the true risks.
13
@Alan Falleur
Death is the true risk. Many who enlist expect to be trained for a useful job, part of a patriotic mission.Not a bad idea.But the top military knows only fighting, war, as the solution. Innocent, decent individuals are at the mercy of a command that is too often misguided.
Some kind of citizen "army" could provide jobs for enrollees to do important work in a peaceful country.
Most countries don't play with fire, trying to change other governments, refusing to accept different governing styles. Capitalism without rules shouldn't be a role model.
2
I can just imagine the court will rule on this one in favor of the plaintiffs (with Trump's supposed department of Justice working against them), require the government to pay for health costs and reimburse families, and Trump by fiat will decide they don't deserve it and refuse to pay it. I have seen documentaries done about this and like Agent Orange, it shows just how capricious and quite frankly stupid and mean the military can be, and likely still is.
8
We hear about this type of sad story all the time, America loves to say that it respects its veterans but in fact it just does its best to forget them if anything bad happens to them. This incident is just the tip of the problem - our country does not care about veterans at all once there are any unfortunate incidents that will cost the country money.
8
As a veteran, I find it hard to comprehend how politicians can always hail veterans as our protectors and heroes on the one side and then squash any possibility of restitution and assistance when the government is severely negligent against said veterans until such time as most have passed away from the item of negligence itself and only then take action after being sued! We put people like Julian Assange behind bars when the criminals themselves are still working at their government desks!
11
The article does mention it, but this incident was the main reason Operation Chrome Dome was ceased. That operation had armed bombers flying 24/7 in the 1960's. There were other accidents as well.
13
I’m 75. A colleague of mine while in the army was assigned to film those early detonations of A-bombs. He said the first time he attempted to photograph an explosion at Yucca Flats, he forgot to place a special filter on the lens of his camera. When he was done, he opened the magazine of the camera. All the film had turned to ash. That’s how close our government placed men’s lives to nuclear detonations.
23
I think I know the answer, but this article makes me wonder how many similar cases have been created over the past 18 years in Afghanistan and Iraq. I also believe I know the answer to how those cases will be dealt with.
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I think of Paul Jacobs (and the Nuclear Gang) who made a documentary about this subject fifty years ago.
5
3 billion micrograms is a strange unit. I understand the context relative to the previous sentence about only 1 microgram being hazardous but I think you should have also stated that this is is 3 kg or ~6.6 lbs of plutonium.
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@Mika M - how about just going with the old standard, 0.00295262 Imperial tons?
1
@Mika M You're right, my old science teacher would have told me to convert the units, but the point was to show how much risk was there.
4
This is a technical subject and numbers matter, yet no data is presented other than the plutonium mass expressed in ‘billions of micrograms’. While information that is not understood can be ignored or the meaning researched, a lack of information is just that.
1
@Brian Chase - I don't believe you need a scientific background to understand people were lied to.
12
@Fighting Sioux , In fact you do need a scientific background. Without accurate numbers one cannot determine whether any radioactive material was ingested, nor how much. All we know is that the Air Force failed to either collect or retain the data needed.
@Brian Chase More information is presented here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/20/us/decades-later-sickness-among-airmen-after-a-hydrogen-bomb-accident.html
3
We criticize, rightly, China’s response to the coronavirus and the USSR’s response to Chernobyl, but these powerful stories show that the US has a lot of skeletons in our closet when it comes to brushing botched disaster-responses under the rug.
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The article states: "And no formal mortality study has been done to determine whether there has been an elevated incidence of disease among the Palomares veterans."... This is a critical and obvious first step, and without that it's impossible to evaluate the anecdotal evidence that they were significantly exposed is completely baseless or not.
13
@Robert - I do believe you answered why such a study was never undertaken, publicly.
5
@Robert There are far too few individuals involved to get any useful information from such a study. The error bars would be huge.
Plutonium stays in the body for decades. If these airmen were contaminated it would have been possible to perform bio-assays over the entire period since the incident. If this was not done, the Air Force was negligent. At this remote date, it is impossible to estimate the radiation doses the airmen received, and therefore no one can say whether the cancers experienced by them had anything to do with plutonium exposure. The evidence was either destroyed or never collected.
10
Our country is no different than the Soviet Union, in their response to the Chernobyl nuclear accident. The risk of radiation contamination was downplayed. No information was shared with the public at risk, or the workers and soldiers who were forced to fend for themselves after exposure during the long and dangerous cleanup. We've been taught to expect this from the USSR, but, guess what?! Our country is no different. Its horrifying that our county can be so cavalier, secretive, dishonest and cruel to these brave men. It is a betrayal of the highest order. I'm ashamed.
40
@Kristine You folks in Iowa have the propensity for telling the truth, I agree with your comments and it is beyond regrettable that the Department of the U.S. Air Force would deny responsibility for their servicemen's safety and destroy valuable data. All of those officials involved in the betrayal have no honor period.
7
@Kristine Without exposure values, you are jumping to conclusions by assuming these airmen were harmed. The fact that these data were not collected is the scandal.