America Trends Podcast

America Trends Podcast


EP 848 Not Again! U.S. Veterans Exposed to Toxins Having to Fight for Just Compensation

March 26, 2025

  Whether it was Agent Orange in the Vietnam era, burn pits in Iraq, contaminated water at many bases across the country or 9-11 first responders, why do we, as a nation, make it so hard for these heroes to collect just compensation when we have subjected veterans and first responders to risks unimaginable to most?  And that’s beyond the fact that many signed up with the full understanding that basic duties, apart from environmental and chemical hazards, might lead to horrendous medical outcomes, up to and including death.  It’s disgraceful.  Well, here’s one more.  While civilians exposed to toxic chemicals at a nuclear test site in Nevada received compensation for their illnesses way back in 2001, totaling some $25.7 billion, the veterans, because of their classified service in this secret site, have not received one dime for the cancers and other malignancies caused by their exposure to the ionizing radiation which cannot be seen and yet it’s in the dust that they breathed, the water they drank and the food they consumed.  David Crete, thanks to social media, began to share stories with other veterans of the Tonopah test range, sometimes referred to as Area 52.  It’s where the U.S. government once tested and detonated nuclear bombs.  He then founded The Invisible Enemy non-profit to pass legislation to address this injustice (theinvisibleenemy.org). He makes his compelling case on this podcast and urges you to call your U.S. Senators and Congressman to pass H.R. 1400.  You have to hear his compelling presentation.