Posts from February 2010 by Douglas Karr, U.S. Navy Veteran

Think of hexavalent chromium and you may recall the movie Erin Brockovich. But the health consequences of exposure to this harmful contaminant are more devastating than anything you have seen in the movies.

At Qarmat Ali, a water treatment plant in Iraq, at least ten members of the Oregon Army National Guard were exposed to hexavalent chromium. They were attempting to protect employees of KBR, a war contracting company. The contaminant was spilled by Iraqis.

Jeff Jackson of the Soldier Support Project passed this along to me and I wanted to garner support via our blog.

Marine Corporal Josh Sweeney lost both of his legs after he stepped on an IED in Afghanistan. He was serving with the ¾ Scout Sniper Pit after enlisting with the Marine Corps at age 18. He was deployed on October 4, 2009 and just 24 days later he stepped on an IED while on patrol in the Helmand Province. Corporal Sweeney lost both of his legs above the knee, injured both hands, and has endured close to a dozen surgeries.

Female veterans in the Saginaw, Michigan area are invited to attend a Women’s Health Fair from 10 AM until 2 PM at the Aleda E. Lutz VAMC Auditorium, in Room 1-1370 this Thursday the 25^th.

In fact, all women in the community are welcome to attend, and children are welcome to tag along. The cost is FREE. Those seeking information about disease prevention, healthy lifestyles, parenting resources and other health-related topics should definitely put this in their calendar.

It never gets any easier to look at images of the September 11, 2001 attacks on America. The New York City Police Department has released new aerial photos, taken by the NYPD Aviation Unit, which were posted on the ABC News website.

The thirteen images show the World Trade Center towers after American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into them. Huge clouds of dark smoke trail from the top portion of the towers while the sun shines down on NYC. One of the most powerful images displays an unbelievable cloud of dust and rubble as it spreads out over Lower Manhattan. Included in the cloud of debris that settled over Lower Manhattan were airborne asbestos fibers, which are conclusively linked to the development of a fatal form of cancer, known as mesothelioma.

The Agent Orange Exposure Compensation & Pension Service has reportedly collected data that confirms exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides on at least sixteen U.S. naval vessels during the Vietnam War.

Robert Mitchell, a writer with the Saratogian online newspaper, stated that a number of sources confirmed that offshore naval vessels known as “blue waters” conducted operations in inland rivers and deltas in Vietnam (these inland rivers and deltas were known as “brown water” areas). Veterans who served on those “blue water” vessels were more than likely exposed to herbicide agents, including Agent Orange. The list of ships provided by the Saratogian included the USS Carronade IFS-1, the USS Clarion River LSMR 409, the USS Francis River LSMR 535, the USS White River LSMR 536, the USS Ingersoll DD-652, the USS Mansfield DD-728, the USS Richard E. Kraus DD-849, the USS Basilone DD-824, the USS Hamner DD-718, the USS Conway DD-507, the USS Fiske DD-842, the USS Black DD-666, the USS Mahan DLG-11, the USS Niagara Falls AFS-3, the USS Providence CLG-6 and the USS Okanogan APA-220.