he thanks for making it to Veterans infot tap I am glad you made it John Stewart you are a patriot sir thank you for your continued hard work pressing the United States government to do the right thing I really appreciate it we all appreciate it whether it's uh military or First Responders uh you have been there uh boots on the ground uh at at the capital and we appreciate you sir thank you so much for all that you do uh I just came across another article uh with your name in it John Stewart and uh just again want to say thank you I'm going to share this article with the folks and I really do appreciate all that you're doing so with that hit the thumbs up subscribe share it with a friend all that good stuff I really appreciate it the two ask for look hit the thumbs up Let the video run those two things tell YouTube to send it to more people that's important uh if you want to support the channel in other ways consider being a member thank you to all you members I truly appreciate your support uh it means the world to me and I really really do appreciate every single one of you I do my best to get back to you in the comments and acknowledge your comments thanks again all right so let's jump into this the headline here on uh the AP news is John Stewart presses for a breakthrough to get the first 911 troops full care uh that is a great cause let's move on the first US troops to deploy after the September 11th attacks are suffering from radiation exposure that the government has yet to officially recognize 23 years later they are a final group of 911 service members that uh comedian John Stewart a champion for the First Responders can't leave behind Special Operations forces were sent to a former oh yeah I know this one this sent to a former uh Soviet base uh in usbekistan in early 2001 October 2001 actually in early October 2001 where they launched the first missions against the Taliban in Afghanistan including the secret horseback um operation uh depicted in the movie 12 strong over the next four years more than 15,000 US troops de deployed uh to K2 okay now it was abandoned for a reason and I hope they jump into it because oh it looks like they are uh this is just it's horrifying is what it is if you were not there uh in K2 you should absolutely support your brothers and sisters who were uh let's move on imagine this for a moment troops found clumps of yellow powder scattered near bunkers where Soviet troops had stored missiles testing showed it was radioactive uranium according to a Declassified November 2001 defense department assessment in the years since thousands of K2 veterans have reported cancers kidney problems and other medical conditions some of which are known to be connected to radiation exposure but exposure from K2 is not covered under a major veterans Aid Bill known as The Pact act uh that the president signed into law in 2022 K2 veterans were the tip of the spear they were the first group deployed in the war on terror and they are still on a lazy Susan of bureaucratic nonsense keeping them from getting the benefits in health care that they have earned Stuart said in an interview this week with the Associated Press Stuart is pressing the Biden Administration for changes to get the K2 veterans fully covered and he called into a meeting Monday between veterans and the defense department assistant secretary for health Affairs a 2001 Army Health Team site assessment found uranium littered around K2 and pellets discreet pockets of yellow residue and finally uh and finally distributed throughout the soil testing to date implies that the uranium is not depleted uranium but rather an enriched product the now Declassified report found despite those records the defense department has not officially identified the base as a location where radiation exposure took place do it and the Department of Veterans Affairs has not added it to the presumptive conditions troops experienced there the White House has said it remains a priority for the for Biden but has deferred to the agencies which say more information is needed really more pressure more pressure we're in a voting time frame right so um election year all that good stuff reach out to your Congressional members too tell them that uh they need to get on the Department of Defense and let them know that they need to class IFI K2 as a uh toxic uh Wasteland Right Moving on uh there's a quotation here it says uh President Biden believes veterans harmed by toxic exposures while they were stationed at K2 should have access to the benefits they earned and deserve White House spokes spokesperson Kelly School whatever scolly said in a statement to the AP okay great well I believe they should be covered but I'm G to defer to the agencies to make that happen how about put a little bit of pressure on the agencies to make that happen all right anyway the Pentagon also said in a statement it remains committed to thoroughly reviewing all information related to K2 and that ensuring the health and safety of our service members and Veterans remains a top priority a spokesperson uh at the VA Terrence Hayes said in a statement that since the p message of the pack act almost 12,000 K2 veterans have been approved for at least one service related condition and have received on average a yearly payment of $3,878 to compensate them for their disabilities that they now have so here's my thing if you served in K2 try to and I'll try try to get your hands on this Declassified um report that states that there was uranium there then if you get that report or any other study or whatever you can find that shows that uh uranium was present take that to your doctor and have your doctor write a Nexus letter with rationale from that report stating that it is more than likely that your whatever you have is contributed to your time and service specifically at KT to uh and rationale uh provided by way of report such and such stating that uranium was there right and your own personal statements of you know kicking the dust around right or sleeping outside on the ground so moving on uh but K2 veterans have also died waning for the Pentagon and the VA to recognize their radiation related illness claims and further studies and reviews just prolong the process said mad [Music] uhing who leads the K2 veterans group stronghold Freedom Foundation thanks Matt we appreciate you uh it needs to get done now said uh Matt with honold freedom Foundation who deployed to K2 as a C130 pilot in December of 2001 now remember that in that what we're really talking about here is creating a presumptive list for those that served at K2 okay if you don't have a presumptive list you can still file a claim you just need to prove the Nexus and you can do that if you could find any evidence that shows that there was uranium found at that location then with your own personal stories and so forth your letters maybe a buddy statement saying oh yeah there was you the yellow powder you know all over and you know it would puff up and go in the in the you know as you rolled over if you shoveled or whatever right have that statement get a statement from a buddy find that report take all that to your doctor have your doctor write a Nexus letter utilizing that as the rationale now you're proving your Nexus and you don't necessarily need to have it be a presumptive you have a good chance of getting it approved and if the VA denies you the board on average I'm just going to throw it out there if you take your appeal to the board uh uh as an appeal there's about a 30% chance that they get uh approved the board approves around 30% of the uh ones that they receive so anyway let's move on based on a review of the Declassified K2 data Declassified K2 data try to find that get it somewhere I don't know work with your Congressional member maybe the dod has it and you can ask your Congressional member's office to get it for you so you can file a claim with the VA um and uh since it's Declassified right radiation levels documented at K2 in 2001 uh were as much as 40,000 times what would have registered if the uranium was naturally occurring that is huge and again rational from your doctor on the Nexus letter uh and this was actually stated from a nuclear Fusion specialist and the president of the Institute uh for energy and Environmental Research radiation exposure from uranium can cause kidney damage to kidneys create a risk for bone cancer and affect pregnancies among other harmful effects uh uh he said who who previously worked with veterans sickened by radiation at uh the at to at at to during the nuclear weapons tests in the 40s moving on the VA does not have statistics on how many of the 15,000 plus troops deployed at K2 got sick the veterans Grassroots organization has contacted about 5,000 of them and more than 1,500 reported serious medical conditions including cancers kidney and Bone problems reproductive issues and birth defects us Force has left the base in 2005 since then usbekistan uh has taken on a greater role in the region in the regional or excuse me the a greater role in Regional counterterrorism efforts particularly after the US lost its foothold in Afghanistan after the 2021 withdrawal all right uh just over a dozen US troops have been regularly deployed to usbekistan over the uh last few years according to the Pentagon uh and uh um let's see use uh usbeck I don't know what this means anyway uh some official uh met with another General uh CQ Brown chairman of the joint chief of staffs at the Pentagon on Monday to discuss shared efforts to defeat the Islamic State uh group and uzbekistan's desire to develop a strategic partnership with the US a readout about uh about that is on Brown official site moving on K2 did not come up according according to the US official who spoke on the condition uh of anonymity I think that's how I say it it's me with words to discuss uh at the private meeting the veterans don't understand why the US Agencies will not officially acknowledge the radiation exposure particularly because it's been reported in agency documents they're clearly weirdly sensitive about this place Stuart said good point Congress obtained detailed information uh in environmental assessments of the base and reams of data from the Pentagon and made it public four years ago in a bipartisan effort to get the K2 veterans toxic exposure recognize uh representative Lynch and representative green recently announced new legislation to that end in response to multiple queries by by the AP officials at the White House VA and Department of Defense have pointed to other aspects of expanded care for K2 veterans both from The Pact act and supplemental care that the VA announced last month adding more conditions that they face when it comes to the radiation exposure the government refers to a John Hopkins study on depleted uranium impacts on veterans that won't be complete until 2031 so when you hear the phrase deny until they die you try to you try to go you know that's not the case right but then you see stuff like this and you're like really really so the 30th anniversary of the attacks is uh when that uh report from John's Hopkins should come out because DOD and by extension the VA do not acknowledge it was there it is a sticking point for every K2 bill or Rule and was left out of the packed act because it was non-negotiable K2 veteran Mark Jackson said all right so again I'm going to throw it out there that if there is a report that you can get your hands on that says that there was uranium underneath your feet on the surface around you in the dirt at extreme extremely high levels compared to naturally occurring uh and what sort of impacts that could have you can have that conversation with your doctor and you could tell your doctor hey look here's a report that shows it was 40,000 times greater than if it was naturally occurring and here I am with these issues can you draw a correlation between that the answer is yes and now you have a great Nexus letter and you're just submitting your claim as a non-resp of condition so you are showing your time and service I would prove that I was in that location show show whatever you can that shows that you were there if you happen to take any pictures that you kept for yourself now is the time to bust those out and um get that letter from uh Nexus letter from your doctor your diagnosis a letter from yourself explaining it on a 4138 that's the form 21-4138 you explaining the circumstances you can get a buddy statement from other folks that you served with stating that they've seen and experienced the same things that you did very important I would feel pretty comfortable that if you had that report the Nexus letter and all that stuff and you submitted it and it was uh uh denied if it was denied by the VA that you would have a really good shot at getting that overturned at the board so really you should get it approved through the VA so I think that it should get approved through the VA if for some reason it doesn't I think the board would do it for you so K2 veterans don't think that there's no no hope right the fact that they Declassified that report has now given you a gold mine to work with as far as filing your claim as just a standard claim and get your doctor to write the Nexus letter with that thanks so much for watching I appreciate you have a great one and remember if we don't take care of each other something went wrong