Young Marine sergeant dies of cancer at age 25 following service in Iraq
Sgt. Klayton Thomas was young and strong, with the kind of healthy lifestyle most people think they should have and don’t. The 25-year-old Nebraska native went to the doctor complaining of a backache that he thought he’d gotten playing soccer, and fewer than four months later, he was dead, felled by a mysterious lung cancer. Lung cancer generally takes years, sometimes even decades to progress, but the painful and debilitating cancer that destroyed young Sgt. Thomas’ body spread so quickly the doctors had little time to respond, and not nearly enough time to save him.
Sgt. Thomas himself provided the key to the mysterious origins of the virulent disease. During his stint at al-Taqaddum Air Base in Iraq, contractors utilized a nearby pit to burn trash, and smoke from the burn pit sometimes filled the sky with toxic black smoke. Military contractors burn almost everything, including plastics, batteries, asbestos and other known carcinogens. It was the cheapest way to dispose of waste. At first, soldiers living nearby considered the smoke a nuisance, but as more of them began getting sick, questions began to arise. The initial condition became known throughout the service stationed in Iraq as the “Iraqi crud,” a persistent cough with dark phlegm.
Military senior health protection officials were aware of health concerns regarding the choking smoke for years and chose to ignore the warnings. A 2006 memo warning that toxic poisons were being burned in the pits prompted an assessment of conditions at Balad Air Force Base. The resulting draft warning of elevated cancer risks was quickly rescinded and replaced with study results that suggested the burn pits were responsible for only eye irritation and coughing.
It is too late for Sgt. Thomas and many others like him, but something is finally being done. A multi-million dollar lawsuit against KBR (formerly Kellogg Brown and Root), the company responsible for the burn pits, is in progress, and the government is taking action.
For the full story, go to The Omaha World-Herald
