Three years later, a growing number of “missileers” — service members tasked with manning the nation’s nuclear missile launch control centers — have shared that they were diagnosed with cancer, and many have lymphoma. An unofficial crowdsourced document created by a Space Force officer and obtained by The Washington Post totaled 30 cancer cases tied to people who worked at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana over 50 years.
“It’s a waste of a good person,” Mark’s mother, Bev Holmes, said of her son. “For everybody who died or are in remission or still battling it, it’s a waste of their life. Their life is over or turned upside down, and it didn’t have to be.”Article content “We are working together to create courses of action moving forward,” Bussiere said in the statement, first reported by the Associated Press. “We are committed to remaining transparent during this process and we pledge to maintain an open dialogue with members, their families and stakeholders throughout this process. As we move through the next phases of evaluation, we will continue to provide updates, including pertinent information, as identified.
The slide show briefed in January lists Sebeck as the leader of an effort to create a registry of cancer cases, which has garnered attention as word spread through Facebook groups and email chains between missileers. The growing information-gathering mission has formalized, and there is now an online form for impacted service members to share their information.
Radon and polychlorinated biphenyls, which Air Force employees said they were exposed to, are often linked to cancer diagnoses, according to experts. Those chemicals can pose a stronger impact if they’re exposed to workers in cramped spaces with weak ventilation, experts said. “The big concern for us is, is this a Malmstrom Air Force Base problem or is this an ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missile] problem,” Warner said. “How far does this go? We have a lot of data that needs to be gathered and it’s too early to jump to any conclusions.”
In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, Tester requested information on “cancers, diseases or conditions along with any available data on incidence rate.” Jenny Holmes poses with her children, from left, Maddie Holmes, 11, Anna Holmes, 5, and Will Holmes, 9, at their home in Colorado Springs on Thursday.Many of the service members who shared their stories with The Post described learning of a greater problem through word of mouth.
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