The Army, Asbestos Exposure, and Mesothelioma Cancer

The U.S. Army used asbestos for decades in vehicles, buildings, equipment, and more. Asbestos exposure causes serious illnesses. Qualifying veterans and their families can make claims for benefits through the VA.

If you or a loved one were diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, or asbestosis, you might be entitled to substantial compensation. Fill out our form to receive our free Financial Compensation Packet. Our packet is loaded with information on experienced mesothelioma attorneys in your area, how to file a claim for asbestos trust funds, how to get paid in 90 days, and more. 

History of Asbestos Use by the U.S. Army

Since its formation in 1775, the U.S. Army has been the largest branch of America’s military. Tasked to carry out land-based military operations, the Army has hundreds of facilities scattered throughout the U.S. and overseas. It also operates tens of thousands of military vehicles.

Army trains, trucks, tanks, armored personnel carriers, and Humvees are deployed worldwide in support of U.S. foreign policy, defending America’s allies, and providing homeland defense. 

As with all other military branches, however, the Army’s heavy reliance on asbestos resulted in a multitude of soldiers developing life-threatening diseases such as mesothelioma and asbestosis.

The Army first used asbestos in the 1800s. The mineral, which is now classified as toxic to humans, was mixed with rubber to make gaskets and other parts for steam engines.

Steam engines were used in railroad trains that could quickly haul thousands of men across long distances. They were also used in steamboats, cargo ships, and other seagoing vessels that could carry American soldiers and their equipment on U.S. waterways or to battlefields overseas.

Like the civilian construction industry, the Army also used asbestos as insulation to protect its facilities from fire or excessively high temperatures.

Military bases and their various supporting facilities were built with asbestos-containing materials. Every building in an Army base built from the early 1900s to the 1980s included flooring, wiring, insulation, drywall, and roofing material that contained asbestos.

As the Army became more mechanized during the 20th Century, asbestos was mixed liberally with rubber and other materials to manufacture various mechanical parts and equipment. This was done to protect vehicles and facilities from heat damage caused by friction.

Army motor pools and train depots carried huge stocks of brake pads, gaskets, and clutches made with asbestos-containing materials. This exposed many mechanics to asbestos while performing routine maintenance on Army vehicles, especially during World War II.

Asbestos in Protective Gear and Clothing

The Army exploited the minerals’ innate flexibility and wove asbestos fibers into soldiers’ protective gear. During World War I and the years that followed, U.S. Army gas masks contained filters made with asbestos fibers.

Intended as a safety feature to protect soldiers from breathing deadly chlorine gases, these filters made it easy for asbestos to enter their respiratory systems.

The Army also wove asbestos fibers into certain types of clothing, particularly in jackets, gloves, and trousers used by firefighters on Army bases and auxiliary facilities.

During World War II, asbestos could be found in nearly everything the Army used. Parachute flares, rockets for bazookas, parts for Sherman tanks and Willys jeeps, wiring in B-17 bombers, and field dressings used by battlefield medics contained asbestos.

It is doubtful that many of the 8,267,958 men and women who served in the Army from 1941 to 1945 were spared from even minimal exposure to asbestos.

Vitality of Asbestos

Asbestos was considered vital to national defense, and every effort was made to secure a steady supply from overseas. The Army even kept tabs on enemy efforts to acquire asbestos, especially a German attempt to purchase and smuggle asbestos mined in South Africa covertly.

The Army even feared that Nazi researchers had created a chemical replacement, but postwar investigation proved this rumor to be baseless.

The Hidden Menace of Asbestos

After World War II, the War Department and the Department of the Army continued using asbestos. The asbestos manufacturers suppressed data that demonstrated a link between asbestos and its health dangers.

Well-connected companies such as W.R. Grace and Johns-Manville ensured that information gathered by doctors as early as the 1890s remained out of the public eye.

With the belief that asbestos was safe and necessary material, the federal government kept purchasing and utilizing it in substantial quantities.

Researchers at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) carried out numerous studies that officially linked asbestos to three debilitating and fatal illnesses: asbestosis, asbestos-related lung cancer, and mesothelioma cancer.

Asbestos-related illnesses had been recorded much earlier, however. As early as Roman times, chronicles described cancer-like diseases that affected workers who had mined or processed asbestos. But these accounts were not widely known.

When asbestos was first used on a massive industrial scale, the miners and distributors marketed the fibrous minerals as being beneficial and even healthy.

Eventually, medical studies in Great Britain and other asbestos-using countries established a causal link between the previously beneficial minerals, cancer, and asbestosis.

As a result of the EPA’s research on the growing number of mesothelioma cases, the U.S. government, including the Department of the Army, finally stopped purchasing asbestos.

The High Cost of Asbestos Use

Although the Army phased out using asbestos to construct new bases and limited its use considerably after 1980, the damage had already been done.

Tens of thousands of veterans who had served in the Army between the turn of the 20th Century and the end of the Vietnam War had been exposed to asbestos. Not all of them developed an asbestos illness, but the number of new cases each year is around 3,000.

Mesothelioma is the deadliest and most challenging to treat of the three asbestos-related illnesses. It is not curable and is particularly insidious because it takes many years to develop. Many Army veterans can live 30, 40, and even 50 years without knowing they have mesothelioma.

Help for Army Mesothelioma and Asbestos Victims

If you’ve been injured by mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, or asbestosis, keep in mind that there is a good chance that you’ll qualify for considerable compensation. Remember to fill out our form to get your free Financial Compensation Packet, with information on experienced asbestos and mesothelioma lawyers in your area. If you have questions or need additional assistance, contact us at 800-793-4540.