Nearly 19 years after toxins at an Uzbek air base known as K2 began to afflict U.S. service members responding to the 9/11 attack, the Department of Defense has declassified scientific documents that allow veterans to get one step closer to getting the healthcare they need.
“It is the first public acknowledgment by the DOD that there were harmful conditions present at K2,” retired Army Staff Sgt. Mark Jackson told the Washington Examiner after a Thursday press briefing.
“These documents do not go far enough,” he added, calling for passage of legislation sponsored by Rep. Stephen Lynch, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Rep. Mark Green, a Tennessee Republican, who hosted the press briefing.
“The most shocking thing is why DOD will not simply admit there were issues, order the epidemiological study, and ensure we get the care we earned,” Jackson said of the estimated 11,000 veterans who served with him at the old Soviet air base in Karshi-Khanabad, Uzbekistan.
The legislation calls for the DOD to conduct epidemiological studies and determine presumptive conditions. H.R.5957 was first announced in February following a Subcommittee on National Security testimony by K2 veterans.
K2 served as a northern staging point for U.S. troops entering Afghanistan in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. The declassified documents reveal the Pentagon knew the area that previously served as a munitions dump and bombed-out chemical weapons factory was dangerous.
The Department of Defense did not respond to questions from the Washington Examiner for this story.
Lynch said at the press briefing that the contents of the documents have been known for some time but were released only after congressional pressure and a several months’ delay by the Pentagon.
“These documents reveal U.S. service members were exposed to multiple toxic hazards while stationed at K2, including jet fuel, kerosene, dangerous levels of particulate matter in the air, as well as possible exposure to depleted uranium and other substances,” Lynch said.
VA requires DOD study
Lynch explained at the press briefing that the Department of Veterans Affair’s hands are tied until it has scientific proof that illnesses are service-related to grant veterans certain related health screenings and care.
“Veterans and service members who deployed to K2 are being diagnosed with various forms of cancer and other health disorders at alarming rates,” Lynch said. “The Department of Veterans Affairs nevertheless continues to deny that these health conditions are service-connected, making K2 veterans ineligible for disability benefits.”
One declassified document from September 2004 said that daily contact with radiation exists for “up to 100% of the assigned units.”
Veterans Affairs press secretary Christina Noel told the Washington Examiner that its current study of K2 veterans is expected to have initial results within 18 months. She also said the VA encourages all veterans to submit a claim if they feel their illness is service-related.
She said claims “will be adjudicated on a case-by-case basis using the latest scientific and medical evidence available, as well as any materials submitted by the Veteran.”
The Washington Examiner previously reviewed documents of at least 10 K2 veterans whose claims requesting specialized screenings were denied by the VA.
Lynch said that the best way to get the legislation enacted is for it to be included in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act.
“We just want to get this thing done,” he said.
Green, himself a physician and K2 veteran, told the Washington Examiner on the phone briefing that it could be “at least a year” after legislation is passed to complete epidemiological studies, and then weeks or months after that for each veteran to be vetted and approved for specialized VA treatment and benefits.
“The epidemiologic studies are going to take some time,” he said. “They have to assess all of the illnesses that have happened in that cohort of individuals that have served there.”
Only once a new review of the documents is conducted and links between the hazardous exposures and the illnesses are made will the Department of Defense deem those illnesses “presumptive” and pave the way for the VA to approve the specialized treatment.
For Jackson and other K2 veterans who suffer ailments that may have appeared after their service, the wait may be too long.
“K2 wasn’t a shadow or a ghost or a rumor. It was simply forgotten,” he said. “Unfortunately, we know that the only way to care for those of us who remain is to get this legislation passed.”
