The U.S. Air Force is investigating after “a growing list” of missile crew members at Malmstrom Air Force Base were diagnosed with cancer.
Missileers there have non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other cancers “exceeding normal rates.”
The Washington Post has more on the plight of the airmen:
Mark Holmes spent his last 16 months battling Stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, undergoing chemotherapy, committing his life story to home video for his kids to one day watch and wondering how he had gone from picture-perfect health to bedbound. When the former Air Force major died at 37 in 2020, he had no idea others from his base had developed the same cancer.
Three years later, a growing number of “missileers” — service members tasked with manning the nation’s nuclear missile launch control centers — have shared that they were diagnosed with cancer, and many have lymphoma. An unofficial, crowdsourced document created by a Space Force officer and obtained by The Washington Post totaled 30 cancer cases tied to people who worked at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana over 50 years. Fourteen had lymphoma, and four, including Holmes, died, according to numbers tallied up last month. Most were men in their 30s and 40s, well below the median age of 67 for a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis.
An Air Force lieutenant colonel who commanded Holmes argued in a Jan. 11 letter that Holmes’s cancer was caused by the thousands of hours he spent in the subterranean missile bunkers at Malmstrom. The letter, written to help Holmes’s wife prove his death was service-related so she could obtain survivor’s benefits, pointed to radon exposure and a slew of other chemicals in the 1960s-era silos as potential causes of the cancer. The letter warned of “a growing list” of missileers with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and other cancers, “exceeding normal rates for a population.”
“He was so healthy,” Jenny Holmes said of her husband. “He was fit. He exercised, ate healthily. He never had any concerns at all.”
U.S. Sen. John Tester, D-Mont., has called for an immediate investigation:
Per the senator’s office:
“Given the reported timeframe of potentially cancer-causing exposures, the unknown number and current status …of potentially affected individuals, and the seriousness of the reported health outcomes, I urge the DOD and VA to work urgently together to ensure every potentially impacted individual is made aware of this situation, receives the appropriate health assessment and is offered the appropriate care he or she needs,” Tester wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “I would also appreciate any relevant information from DOD about this situation, including steps that are being taken or have been taken to identify an exposure or exposures, establish a timeframe for exposure, recognize potentially affected individuals and address health concerns of those individuals.”
Tester pressed DOD to provide all relevant information regarding this potential toxic exposure or exposures, including:
Is this increased rate of cancer unique to those who served at Malmstrom Air Force Base, or are Missileers who served or are serving at other bases also suffering from a similarly increased risk of cancer or other diseases or conditions?
Have the reported incidents been narrowed to a particular timeframe – if so, how was that determined?
Are there other locations – training locations or living quarters – unique to Missileers that should also be investigated for exposures?
Have active duty servicemembers of other branches who once served as Missileers at Malmstrom Air Force Base reported diagnoses of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma?
In addition to Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, have any other cancers, diseases or conditions been identified as suspect among former Missileers of Malmstrom Air Force Base?
Has DOD, or VA, previously been alerted to or reviewed the health outcomes, particularly cancer, of Missileers?
He continued, “Most importantly, comprehensive health assessments must be made available to all servicemembers and veterans who served as a Missileer at any location to identify any potential adverse health outcomes … DOD must also ensure VA has the information it needs to ensure prompt decision-making if and when claims for service-connection are made as a result of potential exposures.”
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Apply to all ICBM sites active alone??
Have any gases or other factors been identified as possible causes? There has to be a common factor besides living near missiles in silos. Maybe something off-gassing from the propellants?
This sounds like something, that should of been caught, a long time ago.People coming down with cancer,because of exposure to some deadly toxin.working at the same places.Daaaaaaa WTH
I had a buddy who had a low sperm count and could not father children, to his dismay. I said to him: ‘Hmmm, you did perform a lot of maintenance, crawling around in missile silos back in the day.’ He did not argue.