WASHINGTON (AP) — Nine military officers who worked at a nuclear missile base in Montana decades ago have been diagnosed with blood cancer, and there are “indications” the disease may be linked to their service, according to slides military intelligence services. obtained by the Associate. Printing. One of the agents is dead.
All of the officers, known as missiles, were until 25 years ago assigned to Malmstrom Air Force Base, home to a vast silo field of 150 Minuteman III ICBMs. The nine officers were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to a January briefing by US Space Force Lt. Col. Daniel Sebeck.
The missiles travel on caged elevators deep underground in a small operational bunker enclosed in a thick wall of concrete and steel. They stand there sometimes for days, ready to hand over the launch keys if the president orders them to.
“There are indications of a possible association between cancer and missile combat crew service at Malmstrom AFB,” Sebeck said in slides presented to his space force unit this month. “The disproportionate number of rockets presenting with cancer, particularly lymphoma,” is concerning, he said.
Sebeck declined to comment when reached by email by the AP on Saturday, saying the slides were “prejudicial.” In the slides, he said the issue is important to the Space Force because as many as 455 former rocketeers now serve as Space Force officers, including at least four of the nine identified in the slides.
In a statement to the AP, Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said “senior leaders are aware of the concerns raised about the possible association of cancer with missile combat crew members at Malmstrom AFB.”
Stefanek added, “Information from this briefing has been shared with the Department of the Air Force Surgeon General and our medical professionals are working to collect data and understand more.”
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which affects about 19 out of 100,000 people in the United States each year, according to the American Cancer Society, is a blood cancer that uses the body’s infection-fighting lymphatic system to spread.
By comparison, only about 3,300 troops are based in Malmstrom at any one time, and only about 400 of those are assigned as missile carriers or support those operators. It is one of three US bases that operate a total of 400 Minutemen III ICBMs, including camps at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and FE Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.
The average age for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in adults is 67, according to the National Institutes of Health. The former affected rockets are much younger. Officers are often in their twenties when assigned to guard duty; the dead officer, who has not been identified, was a Space Force officer stationed at Schreiver Space Force Base in Colorado with the rank of major, a rank typically attained by age 30. Two of the others are in the same Space Force unit with the rank of lieutenant colonel, which is typically attained in the early 40s by a service member.
It is not the first time that the army has been alerted to several cases of cancer in Malmstrom. In 2001, the Air Force Institute for Operational Health investigated the base after 14 cancers of various types were reported among missiles who served there, including two cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
But the review found that the base was safe for the environment and that “sometimes diseases tend to occur just by chance.” The report complained that the list of people diagnosed was drawn up because it “perpetuates the level of concern”.
The discovery of new cases comes as the US government has shown greater openness to acknowledging environmental hazards or toxic exposures that troops may face while on duty.
In her statement to the AP, Air Force spokeswoman Stefanek said, “We are heartbroken for everyone who has lost loved ones or is currently dealing with cancer of any kind.”
It was unclear whether some of the nine officers identified in the January briefing slides, whose diagnoses occurred between 1997 and 2007, overlapped with some of the cases identified in the 2001 Air Force investigation. There have been similar reports of cancer in other nuclear bases or if this is being investigated by the Air Force.
“Rockets have always been concerned about known hazards such as exposure to chemicals, asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls, lead and other hazardous materials on the job,” Sebeck said in slides from January. “All missiles should be monitored and tracked for the rest of their lives.”
Last year, President Joe Biden signed the PACT Act, which greatly expanded the types of illnesses and toxic exposures that would be considered presumptive, meaning a service member or veteran would not have to face an uphill battle to convince the government that the injury was related to them. military service to receive covered care.
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