Nuclear Veterans
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Veterans who were exposed to radiation in the military between 1945 and 1992 are eligible to apply for the newly created Atomic Veterans Service Certificate signed by Acting Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan.
Application for the certificate is open to retired and former service members, or next of kin in cases of deceased veterans, Defense Department officials said.
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VA Atomic Veteran's Brochure
https://www.publichealth.va.gov/docs/radiation/atomic-veteran-brochure.pdf
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Stars and Stripes Article
This is the first part of a three-part series looking at the plight of veterans exposed to atomic radiation testing. The second part detailed the multiple types of exposure vets have had to endure. The third was about how the dangerous cleanup scarred troops for life.
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Atomic Veterans 1946-1962
http://www.atomicheritage.org/history/atomic-veterans-1946-1962
Many of these tests took place at night or very early in the morning, before the sun rose. The brightness of the nuclear blast’s light shocked and initially blinded these soldiers. It was “[b]righter than the brightest day”[22] that anyone had ever seen. Many recalled the light was so bright that the soldiers could see through their skin and muscle and see their veins and bones. Rex Montgomery, who was at the Hood test of Operation Plumbbob in 1957, recalled the surreal experience and the questions he asked: “How did that come through all that to get to your bones? That you can visually see them like an x-ray?”
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