Soldier Exposing the Risk of DU

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Soldier's new mission is exposing risk of depleted uranium

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ivy VogelAugust 15, 2004

The children resemble fictitious, freakish figures better suited for a horror movie than ordinary life.One child's enormously bloated stomach prevents it from doing anything but lying in bed.Another child lies in its mother's arms. It's impossible to tell if the child's smiling or crying. Its mouth, which is a huge, purple, scarred, messy hole, is so disfigured it doesn't change from its permanent position: wide open.Perhaps the most disturbing picture is one of a uniformed American soldier holding his young son in his arms. The child's wrists are attached to his elbows and his legs are so bowed it looks like he was born on a horse.These pictures are just a few examples of what happens when humans are exposed to vast amounts of depleted uranium, said Dennis Kyne, a former U.S. Army sergeant.Depleted uranium, or DU, is a by-product of uranium, which is the earth's heaviest metal. During the first Gulf war, the U.S. military used DU to coat missiles fired at opposing tanks.Once DU penetrates a substance, it burns everything around it, disabling enemy weaponry and omitting deadly radioactive particles.Dennis Kyne, a sergeant and medic during the Gulf war is concerned continued DU use will effect the men and women that will return from Iraq.Kyne recently recounted his horrific experiences with DU in a speech at the Blue Acacia in Glenwood.An effective agent of war, DU is extremely deadly and is responsible for the deaths of more than 9,600 veterans of the first Gulf war, Kyne said."I know people who came home and their skin literally melted away from their bones," Kyne said. "The military told men they had pneumonia, and two days later they'd tell their wives they died of cancer. How does that happen?"During the Gulf War, soldiers were exposed to large amounts of depleted uranium particles. Unless cleaned up by professional teams, the particles are radioactive for 4.5 billion years, Kyne said.In many cases, Kyne's soldiers were exposed to the particles for more than five days. When they came home, they suffered psychological disorders, tumors, unexplained cancers and other physical ailments the government labeled "Gulf War syndrome," Kyne said.After the military loosely defined Gulf War syndrome, it did little to find out why soldiers were dying, Kyne said.Capt. Doug Rokke, who was part of the DU cleanup team, blew the whistle on the use of DU and its fatal effects. The military removed him from his rank and Rokke became a schoolteacher."People who know about it get railroaded out," Kyne said.The military, which is still using DU, doesn't want to acknowledge that it's killing its own people, Kyne said.Any scientific study on DU that doesn't support the military's agenda is brushed aside and considered invalid, Kyne said."The army does whatever they do, and they say whatever they say without any empirical evidence," Kyne said. "The soldiers are the greatest study group in the world."In a documentary about DU, Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, deputy director of the Department of Defense's Deployment Health Support Directorate, said DU does not cause any of Gulf War Syndrome's symptoms."It cannot hurt your body," Kilpatrick said in one clip. A moment later he said, "It has to be ingested to be harmful."The Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses works in conjunction with the Defense Technical Information Center. In a report issued by the Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illness, a report said DU is a "heavy metal that's slightly radioactive" and as long "as it remains outside the body, it cannot harm you."Misconceptions concerning the health risks from DU radiation are over exaggerated, according to the report."They made us feel safe," Kyne said. "Feel safe, soldier; come, walk into anything. It can't getcha."But soldiers were far from safe. Most of the soldiers ingested DU while kicking around sand covered in DU particles, Rokke said. Soldiers spread the contamination to their families by bringing war souvenirs such as duffle bags into their living rooms. Covered in particles, the souvenirs immediately infect the families, causing death in infants, retardation in younger children and infertility in parents, Kyne said.According to the Gulf War Resource Center, more than 250,000 of the 700,000 men returning from the war asked for health care for DU symptoms.Many of the men are turned away or told their symptoms are "nothing," Kyne said.Kyne has made it his mission to expose what he considers the deceit and betrayal the U.S. Army offered soldiers who risked their lives for the sake of their country.Many commercial aircraft use DU for balance, Kyne said. DU particles are found all over the United States including California and Colorado, he said."I would have been a professional musician by choice, but this is what I have to do," Kyne said. "I'm begging for someone to prove me wrong."Contact Ivy Vogel: 945-8515, ext. 534ivogel<http://www.postindependent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040815/VALLEYNEWS/108150002