I don't do anything special on Memorial Day but I do take time to reflect on the men and women who serve in our military. I don't always agree with the foreign policy decisions of our government when it comes to sending troops into harm's way but I do respect the courage and dedication of our troops. I know that sometimes it is deemed necessary for larger strategic goals to sacrifice soldiers but I would hope that our military at least equips our troops for the battles they face and that they are honest about the threats present in combat situations. I blog about nuclear affairs so today's post is going to be about nuclear issues and our troops.
During early testing of atomic bombs, a fourteen kiloton nuclear device was dropped from a plane over a testing ground. Troops stationed in trenches were close enough to be hit with the shockwave from the blast. Following the detonation, the troops climbed out of their trenches at walked around in the area of the blast. These troops were not issued protective gear and were just wearing normal uniforms.
Following the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, American troops were sent into those destroyed cities without proper safety equipment to protect them from the radiation and without being adequately briefed with respect to radiation hazards.
In 1957, soldiers at the Yucca Flats test site in Nevada were issued gas masks and told to face away from the detonation of an atomic bomb twenty miles away. One soldier reported that the flash of light from the blast was so intense that he could literally see though his own arm and through the head of a soldier near him.
It has been reported that between 1943 and 1967, over a million U.S. troops and lesser numbers of troops from other nations were exposed to radiation from military tests and the cleanup of Japanese cities that were bombed. Sometimes they were less than a thousand yards away from ground zero. Often these soldiers were told not to discuss any health issues that might have been connected to radiation exposure with anyone including their doctors.
Thousands of sailors on the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier were sent to Fukushima to help in the aftermath of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdowns that occured in March of 2011. They were not told how dangerous the situation was or how much radiation they were going to be exposed to. Now many are ill and are suing the U.S. Government while being told that their health problems couldn't possibly have been caused by radiation from Fukushima.
Radiation exposure can cause immediate problems depending on the dosage but low doses can cause damage that is hard to detect until years or decades later when cancers forms. Since the 1960s veterans who have health problems that might have been connected to their exposure to radiation have fought to receive treatment from the Veterans Administration. Repeatedly such individuals were assured that they could not have become ill because of radiation exposure. This has been proven not to be true but veterans with radiation related health issues are still fighting for treatment.
It is ironic and tragic that the scandal at the Veterans Administration hit the national headlines near Memorial Day. On Memorial Day, it is not just those who died in service to our country who should be honored but also those who served and are still living burdened by the injuries they received while serving. Every soldier deserves to be equipped for and informed about the dangers he or she will face. And every soldier deserves to have timely medical treatment for any injury received while on duty, even if it takes decades for the injury to become known.
