Heads-up for Those Who Served at Fort McClellan

If you served at Fort McClellan – ‘the most toxic place on the planet’ – and are ill, give this info to your Dr and file a VA claim, say veterans’ advocates.

From Susan Katz Keating:

I want to hear from you.

Here’s why. I am in the process of preparing a Veterans Administration claim stemming from my service at the former chemical/biological warfare training site fondly known as Fort Mac. I want to talk to others who served there. If you don’t know about the toxic secrets that might be lurking inside you, I’d like to give you a heads up. If you do know about them, I want to hear your story.

If you are a Ft. McClellan vet who is a newbie to this issue, I have good news and bad news.

The good: The Veterans Administration has granted us a presumptive exposure status. This means we do not have to jump through hoops to prove that our bizarre health conditions are genuine. Nor do we have to account for how we acquired them at such a young age and with no apparent risk factors.

So even if you find yourself encountering human-guised hyenas who burst into laughter while you are popping the nitroglycerin or are holed up in the e.r. yet again, the VA understands that you cannot fake a heart attack or other recognized conditions (such as, winding up with a four inch rod bolted to your neck).

The bad news: We were exposed. Big time. The CBS program 60 Minutes once called Fort Mac the most toxic place on the planet. It reportedly is the only chem/bio facility in the Army where live substances were manufactured, stored, and used in training. The McClellan Cocktail includes depleted Uranium, sarin gas, mustard gas, and various other bacterial, nerve and chemical agents. And let’s not forget that old standby, Agent Orange.

This past weekend I talked to an old Army buddy who told me about her freakish list of health problems. Many of them mirrored mine precisely; but I was the first to tell her about toxic exposure at Ft. McClellan. I hope she joins me in filing a claim. It is a drawn-out process. You have to produce more than just the standard DD-214. I am in the process of filing my own claim. I already have sent my notification, as required, to the Veterans Administration. My Veterans Service Organization will pick up from there.

Meanwhile, if you or a loved one went through Ft. McClellan and you have endured a series of weird health issues that left your doctors scratching their heads… drop me a line.

Leave a comment on the blog, or email me at [email protected].