It is a hard truth that elite US Special Operators, soldiers, airmen, and women who were at the tip of the spear are now sick, dying, and dead after they answered the call when our country was so aggressively attacked on 9/11.  For 5 years after 9/11, over 15,777 military and contractors lived or passed through this base which had over 377 known chemical and radiological toxicants. 

Karshi-Khanabad Airbase (K2), coined Camp Stronghold Freedom, was a forward operating base chosen due to the strategic need. Our US personnel were poisoned where they lived, worked, ate, and slept. The water they used to bathe was contaminated with lead. Buried Russian chemical warfare canisters leaked nerve agents beneath the ground where they worked. Uranium was documented and present. Signs written in Russian posted warnings next to the track where our men and women ran and exercised to maintain good health. Mitigation efforts to reduce exposure stirred up the contamination from the original operators of the airbase, the Russians. A pond of water glowed at night and was titled Skittles Pond.  

Now these men and women, our nation’s heroes, are sick and dying from their exposure. Many of their unique diseases and illnesses are not recognized as part of recent toxic exposure bills, and they need our help. Please help us get them the care, treatment, and support they deserve. Let us demand on their behalf that the decision-makers answer our cries for help in defense of those who resolutely answered the call to defend our freedoms.

They cannot wait any longer. Their diseases and cancers are killing them one at a time. It is now time that we answer the call to demand for them the help that they not only deserve but unquestionably have earned.