K2, Cancer, and Congress: The Full Story

The air base that sits 90 miles from the border of Uzbekistan and Afghanistan has changed hands on several occasions, but its history of toxicity and radioactivity has spanned decades.

Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it. In order to ensure this never happens to our service members again, we must understand the full story of what happened at K2.

After 9/11, thousands of American soldiers were stationed at K2, which was renamed Camp Stronghold Freedom. On November 27th, 2001, a then-classified Department of Defense (DOD) Operational Health Risk Assessment found that soil contaminated with jet fuel left over by the Soviets at K2 could have adverse health effects if the vapors were inhaled. Among those vapors were industrial chemicals including acetone, ammonia, benzyne, glycol ethers, methanol, and twelve other compounds with side effects like liver and kidney damage, asphyxiation, bone marrow depression, chemical pneumonia, cardiac sensitization, and many others. 

Retired U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Kliengsak Nimpchaimanatham flew into K2 about three weeks after 9/11 with the Air Force 1st Special Operations Wing, 16th Civil Engineering Squadron. He said that “there was no warning for us. We just went in and we just dug.” His team was tasked with digging deep trenches to set up the base’s water lines. They dug eight feet down with backhoes, or sometimes by hand. This would have been in direct violation of the November 2001 Operational Health Risk Assessment that instructed teams to dig no deeper than one meter (about 3.3 feet) into the ground, especially around the living quarters, showers, and mess hall. Nimpchaimanatham said, “It was hard to breathe. It was kind of like being in [a] room with gas fumes. There was no heads up of, ‘Hey guys, [...] there’s a lot of contamination in here. Be sure to wear protective gear.’” His group finished their work by unearthing more dirt to build a 20-foot berm, or dirt wall, to protect the base. It wasn’t until after the berm was completed that signs were mounted to the side of the berm facing outward that read “Danger. Off Limits. Radiation Hazard.” 

K2 Army veteran Mark Jackson kept a daily journal of his time in Uzbekistan during the summer of 2003. On day one, he reported that “[his] throat and [his] eyes [were] stinging from…this rotten smell.” His journal was filled with yellow tabs, marking every day he felt sick while at K2, noting coughs, headaches, rashes, shortness of breath, and fatigue. After leaving K2, Jackson lost the use of his thyroid, was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome, and was told by his doctor that he had the bone density of an 80-year-old. He was 46. 

In a February 2020 House Subcommittee on National Security Hearing, Kim Brooks, the widow of Lt. Col. Timothy Brooks, told Congress that “K2 families and veterans deserve to know the full extent of what they were exposed to so that they can focus on their health and plan for their futures.” In her testimony, Mrs. Brooks told the Subcommittee of the emails she would receive from Tim after his arrival to K2 and the “thick layer of dust” that covered his eyes, mouth, and ears as well as the “‘black gunk’ that oozed from the floor of his tent.” Lt. Col. Brooks was part of the 10th Mountain Division HHC that deployed to K2 in late 2001. He would later share with his wife that the special forces group he was a part of was assigned to clear out bunkers below the air base where they found “degraded uranium, among other hazardous waste.” Within a year of returning home, Lt. Col. Brooks developed a stage 3 astrocytoma, a type of star-shaped glioma that can develop from a single cell to a lethal mass within a year. He was 36 years old when he died in 2003, leaving behind four children.

These are just some of the stories of veterans who were exposed to toxic materials at K2. 

In June 2002, another DOD Health Risk Assessment was released on the risk of elevated compounds in the air at K2. The report detailed that it was “essential that no digging be allowed in large portions of the tent city and hangar area in order to minimize health effects [including] the areas around the former mess hall and shower facility [which] also contain visible petroleum contamination in subsurface soils.” The tent city is where the soldiers lived and slept. A final environmental assessment just one month later was likely the reason why the DOD allowed American troops to remain stationed at K2 despite the previous damning assessments. The report detailed that “volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were detected at low levels” despite the fact that the area “was obviously impacted by minor amounts of leaking fuel (probably jet kerosene) in the past.” How can an area be “obviously impacted” by jet fuel if it only spilled in “minor amounts” 20 years prior to U.S. occupation? 

Another health and safety report about K2 was not sent to the Department of Defense until 2004. The report’s reassessment concluded that “contaminant levels observed in the lone breathing zone sample do not pose an acute health hazard to personnel working in this hazard area sign (HAS).” As part of this new assessment, leadership was instructed to communicate to both active occupants and incoming troops about the risks to their health and safety and “provide periodic updates through the chain of command and in public forums.” Many K2 veterans claim these briefings never took place. The DOD hoped that regular briefings would “compensate for personnel turnover,” but clearly someone in the chain of command didn’t follow orders. 

On November 24, 2004, the Army released a classified memorandum confirming that “up to 100%” of the nearly 16,000 service members stationed at K2 were likely exposed to hazardous petrochemicals as well as radiation on a daily basis. Yet, nothing was done. The Pentagon neglected to notify Congress or K2 soldiers about this report. In fact, it wasn’t until the House Oversight Committee demanded the release of these files in 2020 that this came to light. Almost exactly a year after the report was released, Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov ordered the U.S. military facility at Karshi-Khanabad to close down and U.S. Armed Forces were completely evacuated by November 25th, 2005.

As the years went by, K2 veterans began developing cancer. In 2012, Air Force Master Sgt. and K2 veteran Paul Widener started a private Facebook group to help Air Force veteran Tech Sgt. Mike West to connect with other K2 veterans and figure out why this was happening. Through this Facebook group, it came to light that the 5th Special Forces Group had a particularly higher incidence of reported cancer than regular Army battalions deployed to other bases. That same year, Tech Sgt. West was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and, two years later, passed away. His last wish to Master Sgt. Widener was to continue the mission of connecting K2 veterans. The nonprofit I (Matthew) now lead, the Stronghold Freedom Foundation, was founded in February 2020 by Master Sgt. Widener and his friends, David and Sarah Puerner—dear friends of Tech Sgt. West. Today, the Stronghold Freedom Foundation has expanded its efforts and partnerships and will continue to serve those who served us.

A 2015 study by the U.S. Army found that K2 veterans are up to 5.6x more likely to develop malignant neoplasms of lymphatic and hematopoietic tissue, a specific type of cancer, than their counterparts who deployed to South Korea. When veterans came to the DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for help, they were told that “there were no K-2 exposures of health consequence.” Many K2 veterans were denied cancer treatment because the VA did not recognize cancer as a “presumptive condition” for serving at the air base. That decision cost lives. 

Air Force veteran Andrea LaForce recalled workers visiting the air base dressed in hazmat suits and carrying Geiger counters during her service at K2 in 2003. She also confirmed the toxicity of a series of ponds in the middle of the base that would change colors, earning the nickname “Skittles” to represent the various colors the ponds would change to, typically green and red. Just six months after leaving K2, LaForce developed an ovarian cyst that eventually burst. This was the first symptom of a 20-year-long battle with chronic abdominal pain that could still turn into cancer at any point. Her disability rating from the VA for the ovarian cysts: 0%. 

Air Force veteran Clayton White lost so much weight during his service at K2 that he could barely keep his watch on his wrist. After he returned home, White was diagnosed with thyroid disease, chronic hypertension, gastrointestinal issues, seizures, respiratory problems, pancreatitis, and tinnitus. The only service-related care he received was for the tinnitus. His wife, Natalie, became his caregiver as he was too sick to live a normal life. The day after his 41st birthday, Clayton White passed away in his sleep. His wife was 30 weeks pregnant at the time.

In January of 2020, Subcommittee on National Security Chairman Stephen F. Lynch and Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney launched an investigation into the hazardous conditions at Stronghold Freedom and requested information from the DOD and the VA about potential contamination at K2 and related adverse health effects of U.S. personnel who served there. A month later, Chairman Lynch and I (Mark) introduced the K2 Veterans Toxic Exposure Act to establish a registry of U.S. servicemembers who may have been exposed to toxic substances while deployed to the K2 Air Base. At that time, there was so much we still didn’t know. Over the coming months, the House Oversight Committee held a hearing to better understand the conditions at K2 and lawmakers sent letters to both the DOD and the VA with the same goal. Following the hearing, one of our witnesses, Dr. Patricia Hastings, Chief Consultant for Post Deployment Veterans Health Administration at the VA, wrote a letter to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on National Security agreeing to conduct a follow-up study on the K2 population. We thought we were finally making progress. Yet, five years later, we’ve yet to see that study. Congress has yet to see the results of that report, which is why I (Mark) recently sent a letter to the VA requesting the results. 

Rep. Lynch and I (Mark) also worked to get the environmental hazards document related to toxic substances at K2 declassified. It was an uphill battle, but we succeeded. Yet, this wasn’t the end of the fight. Following the declassification of those documents, the DOD changed positions. In July of 2020, a military investigation revealed that 50-75% of servicemembers at K2 were exposed to “elevated levels of compounds in the air.” 

October of 2020 hailed a major breakthrough in the K2 investigation. Nick Nicholls, a U.S. Army veteran responsible for investigating initial reports of chemical contamination at K2, gave Mark T. Jackson, head of the K2 veterans charity Stronghold Freedom Foundation, a 17-slide presentation that he and his fellow investigators compiled after their initial investigation of K2. Not only did the investigators find the soil of K2 was suffused with a mixture of jet fuel and industrial solvents, they also found that K2’s air was contaminated with enriched yellowcake uranium. Breathing in air contaminated with yellowcake uranium not only causes immediate damage to the lungs, it also irradiates the lungs, causing long-term damage. The substances within the soil at K2 had poisoned those quartered there. 

As news of K2 veterans’ exposure and subsequent cancer diagnoses continued to gather steam in the media, a CBS News investigation found that nearly 2,000 veterans self-reported life-altering health conditions, which they believe to be linked to their deployments to K2, including hundreds who were diagnosed with cancer. That same month, former Chairman Lynch and I (Mark) introduced an amendment to the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) requiring the VA to determine whether K2 veterans diagnosed with certain health conditions should be eligible for disability benefits and to make K2 veterans eligible for the VA burn pits registry and depleted uranium follow-up program. That amendment was included in the final version of the FY21 NDAA—yet it's been over four years and we have still never received this study. That’s why I (Mark) recently sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth urging the Pentagon to complete this overdue study.

Once it became impossible to deny, the U.S. government finally moved to assist K2 veterans. The VA expedited care for all K2 veterans regardless of whether or not they filed a claim. In December 2020, I (Mark) was approached by Former Acting Defense Secretary Christopher C. Miller to help draft an executive order on my bipartisan legislation. Less than a month later on January 19, 2021, President Trump signed an Executive Order modeled after my K2 Veterans Toxic Exposure Accountability Act that directed the Secretary of Defense to recognize Uzbekistan as a combat zone for purposes of medical care.

Meanwhile, in Washington, momentum was underway to rectify the damage done by K2. Local news channels and national networks shared the stories of the K2 veterans suffering from cancer after serving at the Uzbek air base. By 2021, CNN, the Associated Press, CBS, Politico, and the Washington Times all raised K2 awareness, giving veterans the chance to tell the whole nation about the conditions they faced. 

While we are glad our K2 veterans received the attention they deserved, it is also frankly shameful that veterans were allowed to die with no assistance from the U.S. government after being exposed to toxins while fighting for our country. It is ridiculous that it took years of Congressional oversight and pressure on the Pentagon for our veterans to begin receiving a presumption of service connection for their illnesses related to toxic exposure. 

As veterans who served in the War on Terror, this is personal for us. I (Mark) also have the honor of representing Fort Campbell in Congress, home of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Night Stalkers) and 5th Special Forces Group, both of which spent substantial time stationed at K2. A 2015 study claimed that of all of the servicemembers who served at K2, an estimated 75% will develop an illness related to exposure. As someone who developed two primary cancers, likely due to burn pit exposure from my (Mark) time serving in Iraq, I am dedicated to this fight. One thing is clear, neither of us will stop until we know without a doubt that these men and women are getting the care they need. 

Following President Trump’s 2021 executive order, which demanded a rigorous study on the health consequences for servicemembers deployed to K2, we never received such a study from either the Biden VA or the Biden Pentagon, despite being asked for an update by my (Matthew’s) organization, Stronghold Freedom. Congress and the American people have no way of knowing whether or not that study was completed or its results. That’s why I (Mark) sent letters to Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Department of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins requesting the release of this study or that it be completed if the Biden administration failed to do so. 

Finally, with the support of the Stronghold Freedom Foundation, I (Mark) sent a letter to DOD Acting Inspector General Steven Stebbins requesting an investigation into the decision-making process to use K2 as a base of operations for the invasion of Afghanistan and to continue using it once toxins were discovered. We look forward to learning how the DOD will ensure that K2 veterans, Congress, and the American people have the answers they need in order to take the next steps to ensure that K2 veterans have the coverage and accountability they deserve. 

While there is still work to be done, none of the achievements of the past two decades would be possible without the bravery of the K2 veterans who came forward and demanded accountability. What started as an unproven rumor has now expanded into congressional hearings, executive orders, and legislation signed into law. As we continue through the 119th Congress, I (Mark) reintroduced my K2 Veterans Total Coverage Act of 2025, with support from the Stronghold Freedom Foundation, to ensure that K2 veterans have access to the resources needed to fight the various forms of cancers and diseases associated with their service at Camp Stronghold Freedom. The fight is far from over, but time is not on our side. The veterans of Karshi-Khanabad Air Base need our nation’s leaders to be their voice in Washington. Together, we can get our veterans the care they need, achieve accountability for years of injustice, and live up to our creed as Americans to care for those who have sacrificed so much in defense of our nation. 

Congressman Mark Green is Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Matthew Erpelding is a 1998 graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and holds an Executive MBA from the College of William & Mary. As a senior pilot, he flew the C-130 Hercules in multiple deployments throughout Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, including a pivotal early mission to Karshi-Khanabad (K2) Air Base in Uzbekistan following 9/11. He now serves as Executive Director of the Stronghold Freedom Foundation, advocating for K2 veterans impacted by toxic exposure.