

The truck has been found by authorities





Cobalt-60 is most often used in hospital radiotherapy machines.

Source: NPR

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RE: so will everyone
By Amedean on 12/6/2013 2:25:19 AM , Rating: 4
This conversation brings back old memories in my Army days when I was a infantry paratrooper in the 82d Airborne.

Back in 2003 little known but I was part of a detachment on a mission here:

because we had to recover a larger than a baseball bat sized rod of Cobalt 60. Below that small town was the former Iraqi Army chemical weapons school and depot where an unknowing villager was paid by Al-Qaeda to drag that rod to his home.

I imagine the original intention was to make a dirty bomb.... needless to say America's finest including myself had to knowingly guard this exposed rod with all the understanding that we may all die of cancer in a few years.

Had a small lump on my scalp ever since but it is non-malignant. One guy in my company got breast cancer and another a tumor on one testicle. Either way, the VA wont accept documentation for this exposure and I am left today footing the bill taking precautionary antioxidants and anti-neoplastic supplements for as many years.

There you go, the unheard sacrifices soldiers knowingly accept to protect lives...

P.S. to the south west across the road from the spot I marked on Google Maps is 3 large facilities that were industrial weapons factories which also manufactured G5 howitzers and ammunition. Yes, chemical weapons as well. It is also the site of this disaster where I used to walk through unknowingly:

RE: so will everyone
By Amedean on 12/6/2013 2:29:05 AM , Rating: 2
My appologies, the correct map link is here:

Google maps got confused...

RE: so will everyone
By sorry dog on 12/6/2013 11:07:34 AM , Rating: 2
If that's the story, then you have my gratitude for your service.

I'm curious about the V.A. situation. Can you elaborate?

RE: so will everyone
By Amedean on 12/6/2013 11:46:50 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah, the VA only covers conditions diagnosed during service or "proven" service connected.

Hypothetical hopefully, but if I were to develop cancer it would require a miracle of paperwork to form a service connection. Let alone, by the time the paperwork would have been finished I would probably have died. I was even advised to not mention my cobalt-60 exposure should that happen to reduce paperwork so they said to claim "excessive sun exposure" as the most probable cause.

To give you a broader perspective on the issue, I broke my wrist in Afghanistan, cracked a few bones on my feet, cronic joint pains (naturally)......sports injuries apparently. Never played sports either but I have been fighting this and the exposure issue for over 5 years.

All the process is for is to reduce legacy costs of our many years at war.

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