1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,780 All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio. 2 00:00:15,780 --> 00:00:17,640 And welcome to Veterans Radio. 3 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:21,280 I am Jim Fossum with veteransradio.net. 4 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:26,800 We are recording today from the Legal Help for Veterans Studio in Northville, Michigan. 5 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,080 Legal Help for Veterans is a Veterans Disability Law Firm. 6 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:37,200 You can reach us at 800-693-4800. 7 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:41,120 We want to welcome to Veterans Radio today Dave Biller. 8 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:46,120 Dave is a former United States Air Force Sergeant. 9 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:48,560 He spent six years in the service. 10 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:54,080 And we have him on today because we're going to talk about some of the contamination issues 11 00:00:54,080 --> 00:01:03,720 that he ran into at Anderson Air Force Base on Guam, which is a very large complex. 12 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:09,360 And a little bit about what his experiences have been with the VA in that regards. 13 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:11,920 Dave, welcome to Veterans Radio. 14 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,920 I appreciate you having me on. 15 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:23,200 Well this is, we've done a few of these toxic or environmental issues on bases. 16 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:28,400 We've done Army forts and closed Air Force bases. 17 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:32,960 What we're talking about today is Anderson Air Force Base on Guam, which I mentioned 18 00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:37,160 is a very large territory. 19 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:40,480 It's been a base since about 1944. 20 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:50,200 And while many people will know where Guam is, it's kind of between Japan and Australia, 21 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:54,320 West of Hawaii, it's this little dot in this very big ocean. 22 00:01:54,320 --> 00:02:02,320 But it's important because it's a western Pacific base where the United States Air Force 23 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:05,120 has heavy strategic bombers. 24 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:08,720 And Dave, when were you on Guam? 25 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:15,400 I was on Guam from 1986 to 1988. 26 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:20,000 And in what capacity were you at the Air Force Base? 27 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:22,680 I worked in civil engineering in a carpenter shop. 28 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:23,680 I was a mason. 29 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:30,680 So I did mainly concrete work, you know, block type work. 30 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:36,040 And did that work take you all over the base? 31 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:41,920 Or tell us a little bit about what that MOS would have done and what kind of where you 32 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:44,680 would have worked. 33 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:49,800 Well on Guam there's a, you know, they have a, typhoons come through there. 34 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:54,520 So pretty much all the buildings are, at least nowadays, are all concrete. 35 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:59,200 When I was there probably 95% were concrete buildings. 36 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:03,240 And they were built, a lot of them were built right after World War II. 37 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:06,280 So there was a lot of spalling going on. 38 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,080 And so I did a lot of that kind of work. 39 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:15,400 There was fuel pipeline that ran across the island between the Air Force Base and Navy. 40 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:21,240 And I used to repair the feet, you know, the footings for the pipeline going across the 41 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:26,680 island, tank farms, just about everywhere. 42 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:31,080 And then the last year, year and a half I was there. 43 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:35,200 I was assigned to a construction team that they put together. 44 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:39,360 And we did heavy renovation work. 45 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:43,920 And the mission, our goal was to save contract money. 46 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:48,760 And so we were doing heavy renovations around the base. 47 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:55,280 And one of the things that you provided to me in getting ready for our interview was 48 00:03:55,280 --> 00:04:04,000 some information, a 1987 government accounting office reporter, GAO report, that talked about 49 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:13,160 the base's challenges with handling of hazardous waste and materials. 50 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:18,960 This report was issued right during that period that you were at the base. 51 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:23,640 Tell us a little bit about while you were there, was there any heightened attention 52 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:28,400 or scrutiny to the chemicals and the hazardous waste being generated? 53 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:31,160 Well, there wasn't at the time. 54 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:33,160 Of course, I was young. 55 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,960 I was like 19 at the time. 56 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:43,240 But I was given a lot of assignments that at the time I didn't realize were tied to 57 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:48,240 this GAO report, which I come across during my research. 58 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:54,560 And one of the work orders I received shortly after I got there was to cut these curbs up 59 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:57,600 around the power pro area. 60 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:02,320 They did all the line voltage to high voltage power. 61 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:05,080 And they had transformer storage. 62 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:10,440 And when I cut these curbs, the curbs were actually built to a containment to hold the 63 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:12,680 chemicals back. 64 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:19,760 And they had me cut them all so everything could just run freely out through the field. 65 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:22,520 At the time, I didn't think about it. 66 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:23,520 I was just young. 67 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:27,160 I mean, you don't think about that kind of stuff. 68 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:33,320 One of the other areas that I worked was I didn't know that at this time either. 69 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:40,560 The contamination levels of the wells down by the Marbo annex spiked to the beginning 70 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:41,560 in 1986. 71 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:49,600 In the Air Force, they drilled relief wells with less contaminated water and they pumped 72 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:56,600 it into the heavier contaminated wells in an attempt to try to dilute the contamination. 73 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:00,080 At the time, they didn't have any way to filter the water. 74 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:02,880 They had no filtration plan. 75 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:07,360 I understand that now that that's all changed, they have filtration now. 76 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:08,960 But at the time, they didn't. 77 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:15,920 Well, and I think when people hear that particularly with today's sensibilities, it really grates 78 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:21,960 on us because we know that the solution to pollution is not dilution. 79 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:24,840 And for them to simply say, oh yeah, we got high chemicals. 80 00:06:24,840 --> 00:06:27,080 We shouldn't be drinking this water. 81 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:30,960 Let's just blend it down until we get an acceptable level. 82 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:35,200 As you say, at the time, you didn't think about it, but that's one of the items identified 83 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:41,160 by EPA and these GAO reports and subsequent environmental reports, isn't it? 84 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:42,160 Yeah. 85 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:51,640 The EPA did a report in September of 2010 and they listed 41 contaminants in the soil 86 00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:56,040 and water around Anderson Air Force Base. 87 00:06:56,040 --> 00:07:01,520 So while a lot of people, you know, they may have exposure to Agent Orange, and of course 88 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:06,440 Agent Orange was used on the island, but they also had exposure to a lot of these other 89 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:09,440 chemicals. 90 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:15,960 And EPA identifies some of these solvents such as trichloroethane, TCE, paint thinners, 91 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:24,920 dry cleaning fluids, laundry products, JP4 fuels, gasoline, pesticides, antifreeze, antiaircraft 92 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,720 cleaning compounds, PCBs. 93 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:29,040 The list kind of goes on and on. 94 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:33,080 As you say, there were 41 of them. 95 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:38,680 Did these exposures in your view, Dave, ultimately have an impact on your health? 96 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:46,320 I believe they did because I've been, from the past five years, I've been going to doctors. 97 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:52,600 I have neuropathy pretty bad in my hands and my feet and I've got issues where my hands 98 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:53,600 swell up. 99 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:55,840 And I've been to neurologists. 100 00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:59,560 I've been to, you know, other specialized doctors. 101 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:05,240 I've been to MS-type doctors and they're still having trouble trying to figure out how to 102 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:06,880 treat my symptoms. 103 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:12,560 I haven't truly got a diagnosis, but there's a paint management clinic up near Pittsburgh 104 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:18,720 that I started going to and one of the doctors that owns this place happens to be an Air Force 105 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:19,720 vet. 106 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:21,200 He was a flight surgeon. 107 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:28,680 So, you know, we kind of bonded and they actually sent my blood to the Mayo Clinic. 108 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:36,280 And even after all these years, I still had four types of PCBs in my system. 109 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:42,040 And of course, PCBs were banned way back in the 70s and the way he explained it to me 110 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:47,960 is nowadays, you know, as these transformers and fluorescent lights and stuff get taken 111 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:51,440 out of buildings, there's less and less exposure. 112 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:57,040 So it's unusual for somebody to have high levels like I do now. 113 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:04,400 Well, and I think it's, you know, very likely that the connection is to that exposure that 114 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:11,800 you had when you were, as you mentioned, you were young and maybe didn't know better and 115 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:17,240 maybe didn't, you know, weren't provided the personal protective gear that others might 116 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,040 have gotten today. 117 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:29,040 So let's talk a little bit about Dave, you've made a disability claim because of this chemical 118 00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:38,840 exposure with the VA, but these are really tough things for the VA to agree have occurred. 119 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:41,280 Tell us what that odyssey has been for you. 120 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:43,760 Well, it's been a long road. 121 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:51,360 You know, it started way back in 1991 when I got out of service in my exit exam. 122 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:57,160 The doctor told me when I got out to file a claim with the VA because I had severe apollops 123 00:09:57,160 --> 00:09:59,000 in my nasal passages. 124 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:04,840 Well, when I went to the VA, I filed a claim, they did an examination and said there was 125 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:05,840 nothing wrong. 126 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:12,280 So I went to a private doctor and they ended up doing surgery and I've been going from 127 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:17,600 there ever since and for the most part when I was younger, I could ignore a lot of the 128 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:24,760 symptoms I've had, but it seemed like when I reached, you know, 40, things started, you 129 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:32,480 know, getting worse and I haven't been able to get them totally under control. 130 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:39,440 It's in fact, it's my ability to work and do things I can't, I like to hunt and I have 131 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:43,480 trouble going out in the cold now. 132 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:50,880 And that neuropathy or the loss of sense of feelings in your extremities is where that 133 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:55,000 super sensitivity to the cold comes in. 134 00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:00,160 Have any of the doctors talked to you about, well, that may be from the chemical exposure 135 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:05,680 that you had when you were working on the civil engineering crews? 136 00:11:05,680 --> 00:11:13,720 Well, this fate management clinic, they believe that that's what happened and I have, I've 137 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:16,520 been getting medical care, you know, around the board. 138 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:22,800 I have my primary care doctor and I have some specialists and I've also been going to a 139 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:28,480 psychologist because these chemicals can cause different types of damage to your body and 140 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:35,240 didn't realize it until I started doing research that it caused a psychological damage as well. 141 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:44,160 And you know, for my psychological evaluation, that doctor determined that, you know, my 142 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:51,040 anything that was psychological was tied to medical conditions. 143 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:55,800 The problem is they haven't really been able to give you a true diagnosis. 144 00:11:55,800 --> 00:12:03,720 They, you know, my medical conditions, they can only treat the symptoms. 145 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:10,960 And you had mentioned to me that you made a claim with the VA because of Agent Orange 146 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:16,040 exposure but as it turned out for you, that wasn't the best way to go. 147 00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:25,120 Talk a little bit about your experiences with the VA and chemical exposures and maybe there 148 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:29,800 are some lessons you've learned that you want to pass on to other vets who've been at these 149 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:35,160 kind of bases so that they don't make the same missteps that you maybe made. 150 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:39,680 Yeah, and I've really been really trying to put that word out because a lot of people 151 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:47,200 focus on Agent Orange and, you know, I tell people that they need to do their research. 152 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:48,200 You know, that's what I did. 153 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:53,200 I had to do a lot of reading, digging into documents and I found chemicals and I went, 154 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:58,000 you know, that were tied to the wall and I looked at places where I was, places that 155 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:02,480 I worked and I looked at the, you know, maps. 156 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:06,120 There is a lot of different documentation that you have to go through and that's how 157 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:08,160 you determine your nexus. 158 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:13,240 You know, you show that you worked in an area or you lived in a certain section of housing 159 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:18,840 that had contaminated water and that's your nexus, that's your tie. 160 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:25,160 And then the next step is you have to tie your medical condition to that chemical or 161 00:13:25,160 --> 00:13:28,040 a list of chemicals. 162 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:32,240 You know, you might have lived in an area or worked in an area where you weren't only 163 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:38,400 exposed to Agent Orange, you were exposed to TCE and PCBs and some other, you know, 164 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:39,400 chemicals. 165 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:44,440 And one of the problems is the medical communities, they don't truly know how to treat or they 166 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:51,720 don't fully understand what happens to human body when you're exposed to multiple chemicals. 167 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:58,680 And there's a lot of research going on but they just don't have it down pat yet. 168 00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:04,400 And Dave, because I've looked at the materials you've sent over and you've done a great 169 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:10,160 job of kind of compiling your story to submit to VA. 170 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:15,440 Could you talk a little bit about sort of how and where you did this research you're 171 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:16,440 talking about? 172 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:22,520 All of my research has been online, you can find a lot of Docs. 173 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:29,320 Google is your buddy looking for documentation and actually right now for people that were 174 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:35,800 stationed on Guam, you can go to, I have a website and all they need to do is Google 175 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:38,360 Guam contamination and it'll come up. 176 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:42,640 And there's also a few other websites that are out there too. 177 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:49,440 They're mainly focused on Agent Orange because those guys are older and they were the Vietnam 178 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:50,440 generation. 179 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:52,680 But they actually got it all started. 180 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:57,040 I've got a lot of initial information from them and then I just kept digging in from 181 00:14:57,040 --> 00:15:06,320 there, doing Google searches for EPA, you know, that Google is your friend like I said. 182 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:10,680 I think that's the message I wanted to get across here is that you didn't just look at 183 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:16,840 Department of Defense or Air Force records, you were sort of marrying up what you knew 184 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:22,040 about the island and where the Air Force was and where the units were and then you had 185 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:32,080 to marry that up to the environmental research and maps and information that the GAO or EPA 186 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:36,960 or some other, maybe there's even a Guam agency, I don't know. 187 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:40,080 But that's the key to your research, wasn't it? 188 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:45,240 It's kind of marry up all that little pieces of information from different places. 189 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:51,280 Yeah, I mean I gathered research from the University of Guam. 190 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:55,880 There were some professors over there that have done papers on the contamination over 191 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:56,880 there. 192 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:01,480 So there's a lot of different types of information you can find and that's how you tie it together. 193 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:07,200 You have to have, you've got to show that evidence that where you worked and like I 194 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:14,440 said, what the contaminants are, that they were located in where you were located and 195 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:17,600 then you have to tie your illness or your symptoms. 196 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:22,160 Doesn't necessarily have to be an illness but it could be your symptoms, tie that back 197 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,520 to the chemical exposure. 198 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:32,680 And did you submit, when you submitted this information to VA, what kind of response did 199 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:34,080 you get, Dave? 200 00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:37,880 Well, they rejected it. 201 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:44,840 I submitted a report that was around 138 pages, I believe it was. 202 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:50,520 There was a lot of information in there and of course they rejected it and I appealed. 203 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:58,120 And we went to a hearing and the judge determined that I proved that I was exposed to chemicals 204 00:16:58,120 --> 00:16:59,120 while on Guam. 205 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:06,320 I had a lot of evidence that I presented and he ordered the VA to go back and review my 206 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:13,200 package again and determine if there are any illnesses or symptoms that I have that could 207 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:15,920 be tied to those chemicals. 208 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:18,000 But it's been about three years. 209 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:23,920 I mean, anybody that, any veteran out there that has filed a claim knows how long it takes 210 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:29,000 and I haven't received a response yet so I'm still waiting. 211 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:33,720 And veteran radio listeners were talking to Dave Biller. 212 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:39,400 He served in the United States Air Force for six years, came out as a sergeant. 213 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:47,040 He worked in the carpenter shop as a mason on Guam at the Anderson Air Force Base. 214 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:49,680 Those are the experiences we're talking about. 215 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:53,840 Now Dave, you've done a tremendous amount of research and I think people might say, 216 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:59,360 boy, I hear what Dave did, you know, maybe he's a rocket scientist, I don't think I 217 00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:01,520 could do this. 218 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:08,680 What would you say to the individual out there listening or spouse listening who might go, 219 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:12,360 yeah, well, Dave could do that but it's not something I can do? 220 00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:14,720 Well, Dave, it is. 221 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:16,960 You have to be willing to, it's a lot of work. 222 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:22,200 You have to be willing to do the research and reading the materials because everybody 223 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:23,200 is different. 224 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:29,240 You know, what I did when I was on the island, places I worked and places I'd been might 225 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:31,320 be different than someone else. 226 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:34,360 So everybody has to do their own research. 227 00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:37,320 And I mean, you can look at the people you served with. 228 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:43,720 I have people that I served with while I was on Guam that are having similar health issues 229 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:45,920 as I am. 230 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:47,840 So we're right buddy letters. 231 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:55,560 You can use those in your submission for your claim as evidence and that's the thing. 232 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:57,880 You have to be willing to put in the work. 233 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:02,280 There's time involved in it but there's a lot of information out there now. 234 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:08,280 I mean, like me, I'm putting documentation on my website, you know, people can go there 235 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:14,320 and, you know, I have no problems with them using this information for their claims. 236 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:20,440 They just need to tie the information to their specific tour while they were on the island 237 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:24,920 and they also have to tie in the illnesses associated with it. 238 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:33,000 And I think that's a good point that we should stress Dave Biller is that many bases, there's 239 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:40,320 somebody, there's some advocate like you out there who is compiling information and creating 240 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:45,480 a community and saying, hey, if you were at this base and you have some problems like 241 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:47,480 this, you're some information. 242 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:53,920 Let's share what you have and I'll share what I have and I've seen people swapping photographs 243 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:59,320 that have been instrumental to winning their case, you know, that sort of thing. 244 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:04,720 So is that the sense you get as you've been doing your research is that there's a lot 245 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:06,800 of cooperation among the veterans? 246 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:10,520 Yeah, and I can give you a good example. 247 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:15,680 There was a Master Sergeant Foster who was on the island of Guam. 248 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:20,480 He sprayed Agent Orange over there for 10 years and there was another fellow that served 249 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:26,480 over there during that time, Bant Sanderson, and they had photographs and it was a very 250 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:33,040 coincidence that one of the photographs that they had was, I had a very similar photograph 251 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:34,760 of the same POL lock. 252 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:40,680 So they had a photograph of them moving Agent Orange barrels and they claimed that they 253 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:44,480 punctured those barrels and that stuff ran all over the ground. 254 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:50,480 And when I was there in that same spot doing the work, we were building a barrier of protection. 255 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:51,760 I think it was a fire hydrant. 256 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:52,760 I can't remember. 257 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:54,800 It's been a long time ago. 258 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:58,680 But my picture shows dead vegetation all over the place. 259 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:01,240 The whole lot was dead. 260 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:02,240 So they were still spying. 261 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:05,680 I don't know if they were spraying Agent Orange at the time I was there. 262 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:11,840 I know when Foster was spraying there, he stopped shortly after or shortly before I 263 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:14,160 arrived on the island. 264 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:18,000 But that stuff, when it's in the ground, it lasts for a while. 265 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:19,000 Well and that's a good point. 266 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:25,080 I think one of the things that we should all be concerned about is if that contamination 267 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:33,240 has made it to the drinking water or the groundwater area, which is used for many places. 268 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:39,200 And we're not just talking about the past on contamination on Guam. 269 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:44,360 We're talking about how that contamination affects the future. 270 00:21:44,360 --> 00:21:48,360 One of the things our listeners may not know and you probably know more than most on because 271 00:21:48,360 --> 00:21:56,680 you're focused on Guam, which is that the Marines are shutting down some of their activities 272 00:21:56,680 --> 00:22:08,080 on Okinawa and relocating to Guam to establish the Marine Air Ground Task Force in that area. 273 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:13,040 And there's, I think it's predicted that they're going to have 5,000 Marines and approximately 274 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:19,360 1,300 family members moving to Guam here in the next year or two. 275 00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:25,320 As you think about what you've been researching, what do you think about this particular buildup 276 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:26,320 of troops? 277 00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:33,680 Well I have a lot of concerns because having been there and knowing all the information 278 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:39,960 that I have now, the military, they're big on the expeditionary forces nowadays. 279 00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:45,960 And that's going to be the Pacific Training Center for the whole Pacific side for the 280 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:46,960 military. 281 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:53,160 And the Marble Annex, which is an abandoned housing that the Air Force abandoned from 282 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:54,160 contamination. 283 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:59,760 What I read, they're planning on using that housing as an urban warfare training area. 284 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:06,080 And you know as well as I do, when these Marines go in there, they're doing urban warfare 285 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:10,360 training, they're going to be rolling around in the soil, you know they're going to be 286 00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:13,560 making dust, they're going to breathe this stuff in. 287 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:18,400 So the question is, you know, is that soil safe now? 288 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:23,760 You know if they've abandoned that housing for so many years, it seems to me that the 289 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:27,560 contamination would be pretty heavy. 290 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:31,920 Well this is the sort of thing that unless you were on the ground and thinking about 291 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:38,760 it, you know it might pass you right on by and that's why we do these podcast interviews 292 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:44,480 to bring to the veteran radio listeners sort of these issues, not again, not only in the 293 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,920 past but what might happen in the future. 294 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:53,180 We're just about out of time here Dave Biller, United States Air Force veteran. 295 00:23:53,180 --> 00:23:59,160 Can you tell people again if they're interested in this issue particularly or they want to 296 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:04,920 know more about the contamination of Guam or maybe even how to do their own research for 297 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:09,800 their own experiences, how do they get in contact with you, how do they follow this 298 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:10,800 information? 299 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:19,800 If they can Google Guam contamination and it will bring up my website and they can also 300 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:21,960 do a search on Facebook. 301 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:24,520 I have two different areas on Facebook. 302 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:30,360 I have a group which is a closed group and I have it closed because not everybody wants 303 00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:35,080 their information that they post to be public which is understandable and then I have a 304 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:40,780 general page which people can go there and like and I try to, when it comes to general 305 00:24:40,780 --> 00:24:47,320 information not so much information on a particular person, I try to post that to both pages, 306 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:53,360 the page and the group but they can get more detailed information and have conversations 307 00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:59,160 with people in the group and the group keeps growing. 308 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:03,360 Well we hope to assist in getting the information out. 309 00:25:03,360 --> 00:25:08,320 I want to thank you Dave Biller for giving us a little time today on Veterans Radio. 310 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,800 Yeah I appreciate you having me on Jim. 311 00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:16,960 I really would like to get the word out to people and I have people coming and asking 312 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:21,960 me questions of how they go about doing things and the biggest thing I can tell you if you're 313 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,880 going to file a claim to VA is do not file under Agent Orange. 314 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:33,960 You need to file under toxin exposure or chemical exposure because like I said there's 41 toxins 315 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:41,080 that are known by the EPA, the EPA's own report on WAM and you may have been exposed 316 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:44,280 to any number of those chemicals. 317 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:51,880 Well I want to thank you again and Veteran Radio listeners until next time you are dismissed. 318 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:55,720 If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, contact Legal Help for 319 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:59,960 Veterans at 1-800-693-4800. 320 00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:03,960 There are experts in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. 321 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:22,880 Your number again is 1-800-693-4800.