Question:
Jim, I had 15 days at Camp Lejuene and I have stage 3 kidney disease, renal toxicity and I had my right kidney removed due to a large renal mass but no one will help. You don't have to drink and bathe with contaminated water for 30 days to be affected. Those chemicals could take much less time and the government knows this. I know there are more Marines besides myself in the same position. Thank You.
Jim's Reply:
You'll need to get in touch with a veterans law attorney to explore your options. I'm providing 3 links to organizations that may be able to help you. You'll have to invest the time it will take to get in touch with each of these agencies and make your case known.
If you don't invest the time, nothing will happen.
https://www.vetsprobono.org/ https://www.vetadvocates.org/cpages/home https://www.nvlsp.org/
I feel for you, I was 5-6 years old when my USMC dad was transferred from Charleston, SC (he was a 'brig chaser' there) to Camp Lejeune. We lived in the Tawara Terrace neighborhood and I have fond childhood memories from our time there. My father went on to stay in for 20 and retired as an E-9, a gunny, at age 36. He passed years ago of KUB (Kidney, Ureter, Bladder) diseases we would now class as acquired at Camp Lejeune. My mom passed of similar KUB diseases many years prior to that and VA is currently working me up as a just in case sort of thing because of my history.
I served in the Army and carbon tetrachloride was a mainstay cleaning agent in my MOS...we were soaked in it some days.
I grew up in the USMC after being born at the Navy hospital in Charleston, SC. It was an era of polio, open burn pits, DDT and of course, atomic bombs. None of us paid much attention to environmental issues and our military bases were the worst offenders. For all the well trimmed foliage and clean streets of the usual military base, there are always dark secrets...ammo dumps come to mind.
Help is available but the hard fact is that you have to work for it. Good luck sir.