CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Members of the West Virginia National Guard who were exposed to a highly toxic chemical in Iraq in 2003 will receive special medical monitoring, the secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs pledged Thursday.
Sec. Eric Shinseki's assurance came in a letter to U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller in response to the West Virginia Democrat's concerns about the long-term health ramifications for soldiers who were exposed to the carcinogenic chemical sodium dichromate.
Members of the 1092nd Engineer Battalion, as well as National Guard units from Indiana and Oregon, helped guard the Qarmat Ali water plant near Basra in 2003. Civilian contractors employed by KBR Inc., a former Halliburton subsidiary, were repairing the facility, which helped provide the pressure needed to extract oil from the ground.
Bags of the toxic chemical were ripped open at the plant, and the desert wind scattered orange dust all over the facility, Russell Powell, a Moundsville resident who served as the 1092nd's medic, told members of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs on Thursday at a hearing on various exposures to military personnel.
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