LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — A push to recognize forgotten veterans who served in Nevada.
Senator Jackie Rosen is sponsoring the FORGOTTEN Veterans Act. It would classify sites in the Nevada Test and Training Range as contaminated from decades of nuclear testing and toxic activities.
It would require the Department of Defense to document service member exposures to radiation so vets can finally have a basis to submit medical claims for related illnesses like certain types of cancer.
Back in 2023, FOX5 sat down with a Henderson veteran, founder of the Sound of Silence Project who for years has been fighting for thousands of vets who say they were exposed to radiation working on nuclear weapons in Nevada and around the world.
Tuesday, we sat down with him as he’s more optimistic than ever their call for help might finally be heard.
“We are ghosts. People don’t see us, they don’t know of us. Even other military members aren’t aware that we existed,” explained Rick Workman.
Sworn to secrecy working on nuclear weapons during the Cold War, Workman says many vets take what they’ve been exposed to to the grave.
“I had two, three friends that died in February that I became friends with through this process and them and several others, said we do not want benefits. We do not want anything. We just want recognition,” Workman recounted.
“This is really a full time job for you?,” FOX5’s Kim Passoth questioned.
“Yeah… until about six months ago, I was spending an average, I’d say a minimum of 18 hours a day, seven days a week, minus Sunday mornings when I cut the grass,” Workman responded.
At just 17 years old in 1973, Workman dropped out of high school and joined the Air Force as a Nuclear Weapons Technician serving 20 years around the world and ending his service in Nevada.
“Talk to me about back when you were 17, how different it was,” Passoth asked.
“I just got chills thinking about it…. We were all of the understanding that it was perfectly safe and there was no radiation exposures, leakage. Our heads were in and our hands were in it… It depends on the kind of weapon system. I’ve sat on, small little stools and got my head as far as I could get up into the weapon so you could reach and grab a few things… As you learn more and more, it gets goes from scary to mad,” Workman responded.
Although Workman would be covered by Senator Rosen’s FORGOTTEN Veterans Act having served within Nevada’s Test and Training Range, he’s fighting for a broader bill.
“Radiation is radiation, it’s just how you got it,” Workman contended.
The bill Wokman is pushing for would ensure benefits for Cold War period nuclear weapons technicians from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps who served at sites across the world including on subs and ships.
“Quite frankly, there’s been a lot of days where I promised myself that… I wouldn’t quit. People would like to have benefits if they get benefits, but after so many years they don’t assume they’re ever going to get them and it’s just making sure that the public understands that we existed,” Workman shared.
Workman has been working with Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s office on a bill that would cover Cold War era nuclear weapons technicians regardless of where they served. Senator Rosen’s FORGOTTEN Veterans Act covering those who served at Nevada test sites is part of the National Defense Bill. That’s now advanced out of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
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