Three reasons why I’m writing this journal

1. We want to persuade the press, the VA, the military, the federal government, that there are consequences to the military’s policies. Even the little ones.

  • In March 2003 Bethany completed the Army’s “Field Sanitation Course” (see image below).
  • In May 2003, especially, when Beth was part of an advance group, she was heavily involved with “burning trash and human waste”, shown in the photos below.
  • She wrote about it in a letter dated March 14, the scan of the hand-written page.
  • This activity, “burning diesel fuel” is known to produce the chemical Benzene.
  • Benzene is a known human carcinogen. And, being directly involved with this activity, Bethany was heavily exposed to the benzene that was produced.
  • Thus, we hope to persuade that, because of the U.S. Army’s official policies, Bethany was exposed to Benzene in large enough quantities that it is clearly identifiable that these incidents are the cause of her current cancer (leukemia), as well as similar ailments in other soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

2. Beyond persuading the official parties listed above of the sequence of events listed above, we hope to reach a wide and sympathetic audience, and persuade them that we continue to need financial help as we work through this time in preparation of a bone marrow transplant.

3. We want to tell a compelling story of a family’s struggles through this past decade when it was said that “9/11 changed everything.”

Beth was trained for "burn pit" activity
Burning trash and human waste
Describing the activity in a letter, dated May 14, 2003

More photos are here:
http://www.facebook.com/BethanyBugay

Please share this information. Hover over the “share” button just below this paragraph. You’ll see the various ways in which you can share this message with others. If anyone knows of other soldiers who have come down with leukemia because of burn pit activities, we’d love to know that story. We’d love the opportunity to put our voices together and tell a larger story. We’d love to make certain that this story gets the kind of publicity that it deserves.