William Bonk
Description
This is the Second Edition of "EXPOSURE: Surviving Historical Ft. McClellan." There have been some adjustments to the content, mostly corrections. The
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re are some minor updates since the original publication in 2020. The Works Cited URLs have been revalidated to the extent possible. Bill Bonk, currently a licensed private investigator, draws attention to the real possibility that veterans, their families, and civilians once assigned to the now decommissioned, formerly active-duty U.S. Army base, Fort McClellan (FMC), Alabama were subjected to toxic exposure. Former trainees, trainers, cadre, staff, and civilians were potentially unknowingly exposed to chemical weapon material, biological agents, ionizing radiation, heavy metals, PCBs, and a wide range of pesticides and herbicides and other toxic chemicals and substances starting in the early 1950s and continuing through 1999 and beyond. "I wanted to attract the attention of the 535 members of the U.S. Congress," said Bonk, also a retired supervisory criminal investigator and former U.S. Army military police staff sergeant who trained at FMC in the early 80s. "I wanted Congress to be able to have a reason to move forward with an FMC health registry and work toward presumptive illnesses within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs." The overwhelming majority of sources and content within "EXPOSURE" have been derived from U.S. government reports.FMC veterans, their families, and civilians were likely adversely affected by exposure to dangerous contaminants. The sad reality according to Bonk is, "Because of latency, dosage, time, risk factors, and lack of documentation, FMC veterans have to fight individually to attempt to prove an in- service event and the service connection with a nexus between the two. However, the VA, enabled by lack of legislation by Congress has been able to engage in conscious bias directed towards FMC veterans - hiding behind this statement on the VA's dedicated FMC webpage; "There are currently no adverse health conditions associated with service at Fort McClellan."
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