In the Vietnam war the U.S. military sprayed the herbicide Dow Chemical created, Agent Orange (also Purple, Green, Pink, White and Blue) for the improvement of road and waterway visibility and clearing camp perimeters of weeds....

IMAGE above: Japanese campaigners investigate a DU contaminated tank graveyard in Iraq, 2002. Credit: Naomi Toyoda

Memorial Day makes us remember that no matter how many wars, generations and decades go by, we as a human race never seem to learn. The...

While the war in Iraq winds down, the cases of soldiers being diagnosed with rare, aggressive forms of cancer post deployment heats up. Not only do soldiers have to contend with side stepping roadside bombs during their tour, but radiological dust from depleted Uranium,...

NASA came forward today, not to discuss their erroneous decision to lob a Centaur rocket at the moon on October 9, 2009---but to share their probe into ice on Saturn. In October, the mega ton missile blasted a hole in the lunar...

In November, CNBC's program "Biography" highlighted gazzilionaires, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett. William H. III has become the official gate to the buffet of money left behind by his partner in wealth, who is...

As early as 2007, four years after the war in Iraq, the medical journal Lancet Oncology observed a trend: that several cancer registries were being locked out of Veteran's Administration [VA] data beginning late 2004 (a year after the war in Iraq). For...

In September when CNN reported on Marines being diagnosed with male breast cancer at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, the Marine Corps skirted the issue, taking the stance of it not being a "war wound." Even though water contaminated with toxic chemicals [benzene and the dry-cleaning solvent perchloroethylene, a...

In 2003 General Petraeus led the troops into the massive battle of "shock and awe" in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 101st Airborne was the first to pave the way in what would become a six-year war. My sister, Army Chaplain Captain Fran E. Stuart, deployed with the 101st that cold...

From Hell's Kitchen on the morning of September 11, 2001, I watched the horrifying slow motion terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on television. An hour later, when the numbness and denial faded, an urgency to volunteer swelled within. Needing to care for the city the way she comforted...

As a young boy, from first to sixth grade, Travis Bromfield rode to school on the back of his father's motorcycle. Wedged between his Dad's back and the sissy bar, the wind caressed his innocent cheeks and his taste for the road was born. He developed a passion for not...

The black craters that have carved out the city streets have been a nuisance for drivers for decades. As you wheel down the avenues they're scattered across the pavement---like land mines---one slip in the wrong direction sends a shudder right through...

Long gone are the days when Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil could roast a turkey, and cook the airwaves to receive local broadcast stations. Black and white television was dramatic to watch, with the porcelain skin, shiny hair and led colored lips exemplified in many...

As a child, Marine Staff Sergeant Ryan J. Oyster emulated his father, a Marine. Even though his biological father was in the background of his life, the adventurous youngster who had a penchant for uniforms had his sights on the military. An outdoorsman, he...

While the country is ravaged by a crippling economy it is a lightweight problem compared to what's happening to a portion of American families---military families. They are experiencing something more severe than financial loss---emotional devastation----as their loved ones; son's, father's, husband's and...

After the inauguration, Oprah visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center. My breathing became shallow as I watched the February episode. I sat motionless while waiting for her to finally visit the Oncology Wards of soldiers stricken with cancer post Iraq. As the hour edged...

In 2003 Army SSG. Steven G. Ochs deployed from the Scholfield Barracks in Hawaii to Iraq. At the time, the 27 year-old Long Beach California native departed the States in excellent health. The Avenger Section Sergeant was an MOS --...

Over the course of nine months, my sister (pictured above), Army Captain Chaplain Fran E. Stuart 41, who was diagnosed post Iraq with a rare stage IV Dysgerminoma cancer, was as of November 2006 clinically diagnosed in remission. Her long, dark journey of 35...

As I travel down a new path, one with the Army, and one with Cancer; at the fork where they both meet, is my sister Fran -- pictured above-- a Captain Chaplain, who as the military calls her, an OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom)....

Recently, the Chaplains at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in DC who houses 800 ill and recovering soldiers at a time, has begun weekly tributes at their mass formations for soldiers who have died at WRAMC. Honoring the fallen soldiers---they read their...

A collage hangs on the wall of the 6th floor Oncology Ward 65 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Proudly amongst the staff photo's is the former President Clinton beaming for the camera. When asked how often he'd visited the soldiers stricken...