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Iraq veteran is cancer ‘timebomb’

AN Iraq War veteran from Skegby has spoken of his fear he may develop cancer as a result of the deadly chemicals he was exposed to while serving in Basra.

Cpl Jon Caunt (35) undertook five tours of Iraq between 2003 and 2007 when he and other members of the RAF Regiment were exposed to a distinctive orange powder at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant.

British troops, who were working alongside US forces and staff from private contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), did not know the orange powder was in fact Sodium Dichromate, which contains a cancer-causing compound.

It is banned in many countries and had been used to stop pipes rusting.

The soldiers were responsible for restoring the plant so Iraqi people could resume oil production in a bid to rebuild their economy after the war – but they had no protection from the chemical and would often sleep on the ground surrounded by it.

Cpl Caunt said: “You have got to understand that we were breathing it in, we were firing in it and it was blown up by the wind – this stuff was everywhere.”

It was only when he was later contacted by Sgt Andy Tosh and underwent a medical examination in April this year that he became aware of the serious threat the exposure had to his health.

He said: “Until I went for the medical, I did not realise how serious it was. When I got the results back, I did not want to look at them.”

Cpl Caunt’s medical revealed he already had the symptoms of several diseases, including respiratory, stomach and skin diseases.

“I have had skin complaints for a while, but I just dismissed it and never really thought anything of it until this came up,” he said.

“I am still fit because I am still serving but I lose my breath a lot more than I used to. There are quite a few of the RAF Regiment lads who are ill and it’s down to the exposure.”

Cpl Caunt fears he could be a ‘cancer time bomb’.

“It could be next year or it could be in 10 years – let’s hope it never happens,” he said. “But it’s a worry I have got to live with I’m afraid.”

Represented by US law firm Doyle Raizner, Cpl Caunt is now one of more than 100 British and American National Guard soldiers to have launched a lawsuit against American firm KBR – who they say knew there was a danger but did not inform them.

“All we want is annual medical screening and if and when we do start to show signs of illness that it is all paid for,” he said.

“It is not about monetary compensation, it’s about answers. Why were we there when they knew that chemicals were all over the ground?”

Officials at KBR have denied the claims, describing them as ‘unproven, incorrect and baseless allegations’.

A spokesman has said: “KBR is proud of its work in Iraq and is honoured that the US military repeatedly has chosen KBR to perform the important work of supporting US troops overseas.

“KBR remains committed to providing the US military with the high-quality service for which we have consistently been recognised.

“The company also remains committed to conducting its business with transparency and integrity.”

The MOD declined to comment when contacted by Chad.

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National Guardsmen suing KBR for chemical exposure

December 30, 2009 Wednesday
NBC Nightly News 6:30 PM EST NBC

NBC News Transcripts
ANCHORS: BRIAN WILLIAMS
REPORTERS: LISA MYERS

We’re back and we have an NBC News investigation tonight that takes us back to Iraq in 2003, after the combat phase of the war was over. American troops were working alongside contractors from private corporations, racing to get that nation’s oil flowing again, as you’ll recall. Tonight we bring you the story of some Army National Guardsmen who are suing the defense contractor KBR, accusing the company of putting them in a different kind of danger in the war zone. Here is our senior investigative corespondent Lisa Myers.

Mr. LARRY ROBERTA: Independence Hall.

LISA MYERS reporting:

When National Guardsman Larry Roberta went to Iraq, he expected sandstorms, physical hardship, perhaps even combat. What he didn’t expect was this: orange dust all over the place at a plant where his unit was assigned to provide security for contractors working for Kellogg Brown and Root, KBR. The workers were repairing the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant, needed to supply water to Iraqi oil fields.

Mr. ROBERTA: You could taste stuff in the air that–it had a really strange metallic taste.

MYERS: Roberta and others say the dust was throughout the plant and the grounds, and permeated the air during sandstorms.

Mr. ROBERTA: And it blew up in my face and on my chicken patty and my mouth and stuff like that. I didn’t really think a whole lot of it, other than it tasted really bad, and made me throw up and burned.

MYERS: Another Guardsman, Captain Russ Kimberling, says he asked KBR officials what the orange dust was.

Captain RUSS KIMBERLING: And what we got from them was it’s a mild irritant.

MYER: The orange dust actually was a highly toxic chemical, sodium dichromate, which had been used by the Iraqis prior to the war to prevent corrosion in pipes. Scientists have found that the chemical can cause lung cancer in humans. There were hundreds of bags of it at the plant, clearly labeled. Six years later, several Guardsmen who spent time at the site have reported rashes, perforated septums and severe respiratory problems. Former Lieutenant Colonel James Gentry developed a rare lung cancer. First Sergeant David Moore developed lung disease.

Larry Roberta, who hiked up Mount Sinai before he went to Iraq, now struggles to catch his breath when he walks. He has serious stomach and liver issues, migraines and acute respiratory problems.

Mr. ROBERTA: You almost feel like you’re–like you’re drowning. Like you want to breath but you just can’t.

MYERS: A KBR spokesman says the company immediately notified the Army as soon as it discovered there was sodium dichromate contamination at the plant. That, the company says, was in late July 2003. But an internal KBR document says a company technician actually identified the chemical at the site in May. Yet another KBR document warns of potential contamination at the site, and suggests testing and cleanup. It’s dated June 21st, more than a month before the Army was alerted. It wasn’t until late August that the Guardsmen became aware of the danger, and then only because they saw images like this, KBR workers wearing white chemical suits.

Capt. KIMBERLING: They were in full protective chemical gear, you know, from head to toe. I kind of looked at one of my men and just said, `This can’t be good, can it?’

MYERS: These and other Guardsmen are now suing KBR, charging that the company knowingly endangered their lives. KBR strongly denies wrongdoing. The company says it was the Army’s responsibility to ensure the site was free of environmental hazards and that tests done by the Army concluded that no soldier encountered a significant inhalation exposure. The company also disputes claims that the chemical made Guardsmen sick. We went to one of the foremost experts on sodium dichromate, Dr. Herman Gibb.

KBR says that there was simply no evidence that soldiers were harmed by exposure to this chemical.

Dr. HERMAN GIBB: I don’t see how they can say there’s no evidence. I mean, they experienced symptoms that are consistent with sodium dichromate exposure. The exposure must have been fairly significant to be associated with these symptoms.

MYERS: Since our interview, Dr. Gibb has been hired by lawyers representing the Guardsmen to review material for their case. Recently the Army acknowledged that 700 soldiers may have been exposed to the chemical at the plant. The Defense Department is now investigating. David Moore died last year at age 42. James Gentry died the day before Thanksgiving. Larry Roberta struggles just to get through each day.

Capt. KIMBERLING: They said it was a mild irritant. That’s what I told my soldiers, and suck it up and drive on with the–with the mission.

Mr. ROBERTA: IF KBR did now…(clears throat)…excuse me—about this before we were there, it should have been rectified.

MYERS: Lisa Myers, NBC News, Washington.

WILLIAMS: When NBC NIGHTLY NEWS continues in just a moment, who do we admire most these days in this country? Some new poll numbers are out tonight.

by Melissa Swan of WHAS-ABC 11 (Louisville, KY)

(WHAS11) – Indiana National Guard troops gathered to say goodbye to one of their commanding officers on Tuesday, Lt. Colonel Jim Gentry. Gentry believed his terminal cancer was directly related to his service in Iraq and even after death the 52-year-old Indiana National Guard commander is continuing a fight for his troops through a lawsuit.

Veterans from several wars held the stars and stripes as members of Jim Gentry’s family, both by blood and by military arrived for a final, formal goodbye.

“He was the type of person that loved the challenge, loved soldiers, loved to work with soldiers,” said Major General Dan Colglazier, a retired member of the Indiana National Guard.

Inside the chapel, were many of Jim Gentry’s soldiers, their patches for the infantry and for Indiana worn proudly on their sleeves.

Gentry entered the Army in 1981 as an infantry man and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He was among the first National Guard troops in the country to be deployed to Iraq. There he commanded soldiers throughout the country.

“We always talked about how to take care of the troops and how to fulfill his mission..Never about how he was doing, what kind of condition he was in..It was always his soldiers and the unit and the mission,” added Maj. General Colglazier.

It was during Gentry’s first tour of duty, in 2003, he and other Indiana National Guard soldiers first noticed a yellow substance in the sand near Basra.

They were guarding American contractors restoring the Iraqi oil fields. That yellow substance was later confirmed to be a cancer causing chemical, sodium dichromate.

Gentry would later come to believe that the sodium dichromate led to his terminal cancer.

Before his death, Gentry joined in a federal lawsuit against KBR, the American military contractor restoring the Iraqi oil fields.

More

by Melissa Swan of WHAS-ABC 11 (Louisville, KY)

Toxic Tour of Duty: Part 2

by Melissa Swan of WHAS-ABC 11 (Louisville, KY)

(WHAS11)–Russ Kimberling has nearly 2,000 images from Iraq on his computer.  They chronicle his duties there as a captain in the Indiana National Guard.

Kimberling now pours over the pictures wondering why he and other soldiers weren’t warned about a yellowish substance in thesand at Qarmat Ali, a water injection plant near Basrah.

Kimberling recently told me, “If it came up they would say don’t worry about it.  It’s a mild irritant.  It’s not a big deal.  You may get
a bloody nose.  It’s not a problem.”

He says he got that “don’t worry” message from workers with KBR, an American contractor headquartered in Houston, Texas and at the time owned by Halliburton.

KBR was restoring Iraqi oil fields.   The guard members were protecting the private contractors.

Clinton Hammack is a retired National Guard soldier from Tell city who says he wasn’t too concerned about what he calls “dirty sand.”  He says “You know I didn’t worry about it.  I did what I was there to do – take care of the contractor.”

The yellow substance in the sand was later confirmed to be sodium dichromate.  The Environmental Protection Agency calls it a human carcinogen.

It was used as an anti-corrosive at the Qarmat Ali plant before the Americans arrived.  It may have been spread by Iraqis to sabotage the site at the beginning of the American invasion.

Currently 51 Southern Indiana National Guard members have filed a federal lawsuit against KBR claiming the company knew about the chemical and endangered the soldiers’ health.

Kimberling says one day in Iraq he realized the yellow substance might be more than a mild irritant.

He says, “I remember that day when we jumped out, jumped out of the vehicle.  I’m kicking the ground around.  I’m kicking the ground and everyone’s in chemical gear all protected but not me or any of the soldiers.”

He says the people in the protective gear were managers from KBR.  He remembers thinking at the time, “They know something we don’t and it can’t be good.

Mike Doyle the attorney for the National Guard Members who have filed suit says, “That’s what’s kind of frustrating about it.  You have these fellows they have every reason to expect if KBR knew — and they did — there was this poison they’ll tell them about it.”

Related Stories:

• Toxic Tour of Duty: Part 1
• KBR’s statement and News Release on the Qarmat Ali Water Treatment Plant litigation
• Statements from KBR’s Director of Communications and from Attorney for Indiana National Guard members
• Raw Video: Evan Bayh testifies at a Senate Veterans Affairs hearing
• Toxic Tour of Duty: Site History & Chronological Events
• Information from the EPA on Chromium Compounds

For Original Story Please Click Here.

Washington  – Senator Evan Bayh made the following statement today at a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing about S. 1779, The Health Care for Veterans Exposed to Chemical Hazards Act of 2009:

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for the invitation to testify today—and for all you’re doing to ensure that the VA has the tools and authority it needs to help our brave men and women who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan nursing the wounds of war.

I am here today to testify about a tragedy that took place in 2003 on the outskirts of Basrah, Iraq.

I’m here on behalf of Lt. Colonel James Gentry and the brave men and women who served under his command in the 1st Battalion, 152nd Infantry of the Indiana National Guard.

I spoke with Lt. Col. Gentry by phone last week. He is at his home with his wife, Lou Ann, waging a valiant fight against terminal cancer.

The lieutenant colonel was a healthy man when he left for Iraq. Today, he is fighting for his life.

Tragically, many of his men are facing their own bleak prognoses as a result of their exposure to sodium dichromate—one of the most lethal carcinogens in existence.

The chemical is used as an anti-corrosive for pipes. It was strewn all over the water treatment facility guarded by the 152nd Infantry. More than 600 soldiers from Indiana, Oregon, West Virginia and South Carolina were exposed.

One Indiana Guardsman has already died from lung disease. The Army has classified it a service-related death.  Dozens of others have come forward with a range of serious respiratory symptoms.

The DoD Inspector General just launched an investigation into the breakdowns and gaps in our system that allowed this tragic exposure to happen. Neither the Army nor the private contractor KBR performed an environmental risk assessment of the site, so our soldiers were breathing in this chemical and swallowing it for months.

Our country’s reliance on military contractors—and their responsibility to their bottom line vs. our soldiers’ safety—is a topic for another day and another hearing.

Mr. Chairman, today, I would like to tell this committee about S.1779. It is legislation I have written to ensure we provide full and timely medical care to soldiers exposed to hazardous chemicals during wartime military service.

The Health Care for Veterans Exposed to Chemical Hazards Act of 2009 is bipartisan legislation that has been cosponsored by Senators Lugar, Dorgan, Rockefeller, Byrd, Wyden, and Merkley.

My bill is modeled after similar legislation that Congress approved in 1978 following the Agent Orange exposure in the Vietnam conflict.

The bill ensured lifelong VA care for soldiers unwittingly exposed to the cancer-causing herbicide in the jungles of Vietnam.

Some have called toxic industrial hazards the Agent Orange of the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan.

My legislation would make soldiers eligible for medical examinations, laboratory tests, hospital care and nursing services. It would ensure soldiers receive priority health care at VA facilities. It would recognize a veteran’s own report of exposure and inclusion on a Department of Defense registry as sufficient proof to receive medical care, barring evidence to the contrary.

My legislation will help ensure that we provide the best possible care for American soldiers exposed to environmental hazards during the reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan. At a bare minimum, my bill will ensure compassionate care so families are spared the added grief of going from doctor to doctor in their loved ones’ final days, searching for a diagnosis.

The 1978 Agent Orange registry only covered one chemical compound. But my bill is broader. It covers all members of the armed forces who have been exposed to any environmental chemical hazard, not just sodium dichromate. It recognizes a new set of risks that soldiers face today throughout the world.

Senate testimony last year identified at least seven serious instances of potential contamination involving different industrial hazards—sulfur fires, ionizing radiation, sarin gas, and depleted uranium, to name a few.

S.1779 ensures that veterans who were exposed to these chemicals will be eligible for hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care.

It allows the Secretary of Defense to identify the hazards of greatest concern that warrant special attention from the VA.

My bill switches the burden of proof from the soldier to the government. Soldiers exposed to toxic chemicals will receive care presumptively, unless the VA can show their illness is not related to their service.

Exposure to toxic chemicals is a threat no service member should have to face. It is our moral obligation to offer access to prompt, quality care. We should cut the red tape for these heroes.

Mr. Chairman, I promised Lt. Col. Gentry that I would fight for his men here in Congress. I promise I would use my position to get them the care they deserve and to make sure we protect our soldiers from preventable risks like this in the future.

This tragedy will be compounded if we do not take the steps to provide the best medical care this country has to offer.

Thank you for this opportunity to offer testimony today. I urge this committee to adopt S. 1779 to honor the sacrifice of Lt. Colonel Gentry and all of our brave men and women doing the hard, dangerous work of keeping America safe.

###

Doyle Raizner LLP is proud to represent over 75 National Guardsmen from Indiana, Oregon, and West Virginia fighting to uncover the important truth of what KBR knew about the dangerous risk from exposure to the chemicals at Qarmat Ali and what its managers failed to share with dedicated American and British servicemen serving in Iraq.

Our soldiers, including the commander of the Indiana Guardsmen, Lieutenant Colonel Jim Gentry, understood and accepted the risks of enemy action when serving in harm’s way for their nation, but they had no way to anticipate that KBR’s managers, charged with safely completing the Qarmat Ali project, would not fully share all they knew with the men on ground directly exposed to dangerous toxins spread across the plant. 

At Doyle Raizner LLP, we are proud of the fighting spirit of all our clients, and we are especially proud of the men of the United States Army and Army National Guard who are still carrying on the fight for full exposure of what happened at Qarmat Ali.

Larry Roberta’s every breath is a painful reminder of his time in Iraq. He can’t walk a block without gasping for air. His chest hurts, his migraines sometimes persist for days and he needs pills to help him sleep.

James Gentry came home with rashes, ear troubles and a shortness of breath. Later, things got much worse: He developed lung cancer, which spread to his spine, ribs and one of his thighs; he must often use a cane, and no longer rides his beloved Harley.

David Moore’s postwar life turned into a harrowing medical mystery: nosebleeds and labored breathing that made it impossible to work, much less speak. His desperate search for answers ended last year when he died of lung disease at age 42.

What these three men — one sick, one dying, one dead — had in common is they were National Guard soldiers on the same stretch of wind-swept desert in Iraq during the early months of the war in 2003.

These soldiers and hundreds of other Guard members from Indiana, Oregon and West Virginia were protecting workers hired by a subsidiary of the giant contractor, KBR Inc., to rebuild an Iraqi water treatment plant. The area, as it turned out, was contaminated with hexavalent chromium, a potent, sometimes deadly chemical linked to cancer and other devastating diseases.

No one disputes that. But that’s where agreement ends.

Among the issues now rippling from the courthouse to Capitol Hill are whether the chemical made people sick, when KBR knew it was there and how the company responded. But the debate is more than about this one case; it has raised broader questions about private contractors and health risks in war zones.

Questions, says Sen. Evan Bayh, who plans to hold hearings on the issues, such as these: “How should we treat exposure to potentially hazardous chemicals as a threat to our soldiers? How seriously should that threat be taken? What is the role of private contractors? What about the potential conflict between their profit motives and taking all steps necessary to protect our soldiers?

“This case,” says the Indiana Democrat, “has brought to light the need for systemic reform.”

KBR denies responsibility

For now, dozens of National Guard veterans have sued KBR and two subsidiaries, accusing them of minimizing and concealing the chemical’s dangers, then downplaying nosebleeds and breathing problems as nothing more than sand allergies or a reaction to desert air.

KBR denies any wrongdoing. In a statement, the company said it actually found the chemical at the Qarmat Ali plant, restricted access, cleaned it up and “did not knowingly harm troops.”

Ten civilians hired by a KBR subsidiary made similar claims in an arbitration resolved privately in June. (The workers’ contract prevented them from filing suit.) This isn’t the first claim that toxins have harmed soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan; there have been allegations involving lead, depleted uranium and sarin gas.

This also isn’t the first challenge to KBR, whose billions of dollars of war-related contracts have been the subject of congressional scrutiny and numerous legal claims.

Among them are lawsuits recently filed against KBR and Halliburton Co. — KBR’s parent company until 2007 — that assert open-air pits used to burn refuse in Iraq and Afghanistan caused respiratory illnesses, tumors and death. (KBR says it is reviewing the charges. Halliburton maintains it was improperly named and expects to be dismissed from the case.) Earlier this year, several members of Congress asked Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to investigate potential burn pit hazards. He replied that his agency is conducting a health study of 30,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and noted the VA “has learned important lessons from previous military conflicts” as it deals with environmental exposure questions.

Some veterans advocates say the military is more attuned to health risks than it was in Vietnam and the Gulf War, but still falls short.

“I’m a realist — things are going to get burned, things are going to be blown up,” says Tom Tarantino, an Iraq war veteran and policy associate at the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “But I think the DoD [Department of Defense] could do a better job at tracking what people are exposed to. If there’s a big pit outside your base, you need to know what’s going on and do tests … so if people start getting sick, they won’t spend years trying to figure out what’s wrong with them.”

This isn’t a natural fit, he concedes, since the Defense Department “is a war-fighting agency, not an environmental protection agency. But I think there’s a lack of information out there.”

This case stems from the chaotic start of the war in 2003 when a KBR subsidiary was hired to restart the plant, which had been looted of equipment, wiring, even metal roofing and siding. The Iraqis had used hexavalent chromium to prevent pipe corrosion at the plant, which produced industrial water used in oil production.

It’s the same chemical linked to poisonings in California in a case made famous in the movie “Erin Brockovich.”

Hexavalent chromium — a toxic component of sodium dichromate — can cause severe liver and kidney damage, and studies have linked it to leukemia as well as bone, stomach, brain and other cancers, according to an expert who provided a deposition for the civilian workers.

The chemical “is one of the most potent carcinogens know to man” and it can “enter every cell of the body and potentially produce widespread injury to every major organ in the body,” said Max Costa, chairman of New York University’s Department of Environmental Medicine.

KBR, however, says studies show only that industrial workers exposed to the chemical for more than two years have an increased risk of cancer — and in this case, soldiers were at the plant just days or months.

The company also notes air quality studies concluded the Indiana National Guard soldiers were not exposed to high levels of hexavalent chromium. But Costa says those tests were done when the wind was not blowing.

Both soldiers and former workers say there were days when strong gusts kicked up ripped-open bags of the chemical, creating a yellow-orange haze that coated everything from their hair to their boots.

“I was spitting blood, and I was not the only one doing that,” recalls Danny Langford, who worked for the KBR subsidiary. “The wind was blowing 30, 40 miles an hour. You could just hardly see where you were going. I pulled my shirt over my nose and there would be blood on it. I also saw the soldiers. They had blood splotches on their masks.”

Roberta, a 44-year-old former Oregon National Guard member, remembers a strange metallic taste and dust everywhere. He sat on a bag of the chemical, unaware it was dangerous.

“This orange crud blew up in your face, your eyes and on our food,” he says. “I tried to wash my chicken patty off with my canteen. I started to get sick to my stomach right away.”

Roberta had coughing spells and agonizing chest pains, he says, that “went all the way through my back. Whenever I breathed, the pain got more sharp. … Every day I went there, I had something weird going on.”

Russell Kimberling, a former Indiana National Guard captain, had severe sinus troubles that forced his evacuation to Germany. After returning, he became alarmed one August day in 2003 while escorting some officials to the plant in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

“I jumped out of the truck and I turned around and they [KBR staff] had full chemical gear on,” he says. “I looked at some of my soldiers and said, ‘This can’t be very good.’ ”

“They could have told us to put chemical suits on,” Kimberling adds. “There are so many things that could have been done.”

Were warnings ignored?

Ed Blacke, hired as plant health, safety and environmental coordinator, says he became worried after workers started having breathing problems and a former colleague sent him an internal KBR memo outlining the chemical’s dangers. Blacke says when he complained at a meeting, he was labeled a troublemaker and resigned under pressure.

“Normally when you take over a job, you have a briefing — this is what’s out there, here’s what you need for protective equipment,” says Blacke, who testified at a Senate Democratic Policy Committee hearing last year. “There was nothing, nothing at all.”

Blacke and Langford were among those whose civil claims were resolved in arbitration.

Kimberling is among nearly 50 current or former Guardsmen — most from Indiana, a smaller number from Oregon — who have sued. Some soldiers who were part of the West Virginia Army National Guard are expected to follow soon.

Mike Doyle, the Houston lawyer representing the soldiers and civilians, maintains KBR knew as early as May 2003 the chemical was there, but didn’t close the site until that September.

“Once they [KBR] found out about it, they didn’t tell anybody and they did everything to conceal it,” he contends. “You have [KBR] managers in Houston, in Kuwait City who knew about this. Their staff was getting reports and soldiers and civilians who were in the field were told, ‘No big deal. There’s nothing to worry about.’ ”

The lawsuit cites minutes of an August 2003 KBR meeting that mentions “serious health problems at the water treatment plant” and notes “almost 60 percent of the people now exhibit the symptoms.”

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, KBR chairman William P. Utt discussed numerous issues and suggested the company be given some latitude with its military contracts.

“We think there ought to be some consideration given in many of these claims to the same protections the government has from these suits that exist,” he said.

He also said KBR has been unfairly targeted in war zones.

“People think there’s an opportunity here in Iraq, let’s paint it on KBR, then we’ll worry about making the facts precise or correct later,” Utt said.

As for the water plant, KBR says once it learned of the chemical, it took precautions to protect workers, notified the Army Corps of Engineers and led the cleanup. It says the Corps previously deemed the area safe.

KBR also points to Army tests of 137 Indiana National Guard soldiers that showed no medical problems that could be linked to exposure, as well as a military board review that found it unlikely anyone would suffer long-term medical consequences.

But Bayh and Doyle say those tests were done too late to be valid, and note that soil tests were taken after the contaminated area was covered with asphalt and gravel.

Doyle also disagrees with KBR’s contention that workers weren’t there long enough — weeks or months — to have elevated cancer risks.

It can take a long time for symptoms of illness to surface — five to 10 years or more for cancer. But some of those who say they were exposed are ill already.

Gentry, a retired lieutenant colonel who commanded the Indiana National Guard unit, is in the late stages of lung cancer, which has spread to other parts of his body, according to his friend, Christopher Lee.

Gentry hasn’t sued, but in a December deposition he recalled complaining to his superiors after his soldiers were told by KBR workers the orangish sand was a cancer-causing chemical. He said it was “very disappointing” that KBR managers didn’t share that information.

“I’m dying because of it,” he said.

While acknowledging he wasn’t 100 percent certain that’s why he has cancer, Gentry — who served a second tour in Iraq — said his doctor “believes the most probable cause was my exposure to this chemical.”

KBR’s actions, he said, had put “my men at risk that is unnecessary.”

Guard contacting soldiers

The Indiana, West Virginia and Oregon guard have sent hundreds of letters to soldiers notifying them of possible contamination and urging them to seek medical attention. The Oregon National Guard also set up a Facebook page and reports about 15 soldiers have reported medical symptoms.

Bayh has introduced a bill calling for a special medical registry that would require the Department of Defense to notify all military members of exposure to potential toxins — and provide comprehensive medical care. (It would be limited to those serving after Sept. 11, 2001.) A similar notification measure was approved Thursday in the U.S. House, an amendment to the defense authorization bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, an Oregon lawmaker.

All these measures come too late for 1st Sgt. David Moore, who served with Gentry.

He thought his persistent cough in Iraq would stop when he returned home. Instead, breathing became difficult; he eventually needed a chair in the shower because he could no longer stand, says his brother, Steve.

Moore had nosebleeds, too, and boil-like rashes behind his ears and on his back, arms and legs. He went from doctor to doctor. “None of them could ever figure out what it was,” his brother says.

By late 2007, the one-time construction worker — who had been “strong as an ox,” and ran 3½ miles every other day — couldn’t even venture outside, Steve Moore says. But he didn’t give up.

“He was always upbeat,” his brother says. “He said, ‘They’ll figure it out, they’ll figure it out.’ He thought that until the last time I talked to him. You could see the fear in his eyes. They had him on 100 percent oxygen and he still couldn’t breathe. He requested to be put on a ventilator so they could figure it out.”

Moore died in February 2008. The cause was lung disease. His death was ruled service-related. His brother believes it was hexavalent chromium.

Roberta, the former Oregon guardsman who needed stomach surgery after his return, still has physical and emotional problems: Post-traumatic stress. Mood swings. Nose polyps. Chest pains. Migraines that can keep him bedridden for days.

He takes two inhalers — he can’t walk a block without them — and high blood pressure medicine every day and testosterone shots every two weeks.

“I have 100 percent disability,” he says. “I’ve got a long laundry list of things that happened to me while I was there. If you add it all up, I’d be almost 200 percent disabled.”

Roberta recently testified before Oregon lawmakers, urging them to set aside money for guard members who develop cancer from exposure to the chemical.

His wife, Michelle, says her husband’s illness has dramatically changed his outlook.

“He has no ambitions for life anymore,” she says. “At his age, that makes me very sad. I worry about him every day.”

Kimberling, the former Indiana guardsman, struggles as well.

The father of two young children — he’s a pharmaceutical salesman in Louisville, Ky. — says he hasn’t been able to get life insurance because his possible exposure is mentioned on his medical records.

Sometimes, he says, it’s hard to sort out his real aches from his fears.

“I feel like I’m a 38-year-old in a 60-year-old’s body,” he says. “There are a lot of things that seem to be going south a lot quicker than they should. Sinus problems … pain in my joints that I’ve never felt before.

“I’m not sure if it’s the anxiety of finding out about it or not. I kind of know and feel it’s just a matter of time before it catches up with me.”

———

Kimberly Hefling in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Sixteen Indiana National Guard soldiers have sued the Houston-based defense contractor KBR, saying the company knowingly allowed them to be exposed to a toxic chemical in Iraq in 2003. The soldiers were providing security for KBR during repairs of a water treatment plant in southern Iraq shortly after the US invasion. The suit claims the site was contaminated for six months by hexavalent chromium, “one of the most potent carcinogens” known to man. It alleges that KBR knew the plant was contaminated but concealed the danger from civilian workers and soldiers. We speak with one of the soldiers and with the lead attorney in the case.