It started with an online Facebook interaction; another member had sadly passed away from circumstances which were far too difficult to understand. We were young when we began working there, perhaps a bit naive. But we believed strongly in the mission to be accomplished. And, we believed that our command would provide for our safety.

Sadly, we were wrong.

Our mission was shrouded with security; tucked away from public view under the literal covering of the Del Monte Pineapple fields. There just over 200 soldiers working in rotating shifts just six feet below plantation workers spraying industrial pesticides. Our service was designed to ensure seamless operational support to one of our nation’s most critical intelligence missions, but - who looked after our care?

Day after day, we soldiers shuffled in; oblivious to the longer term, cumulative pathogenic effects of known carcinogens, endocrine disruptors and deadly neurotoxins. All of which, became inadvertently sealed within the BN Main Operations Floor.

We were the 'Silent Sentinels of the Pacific' – watching from our hidden perch, unaware of the dangers lurking in the soils overhead. Though the pesticides had been banned for sale in the United States, they were still widely in use by the Del Monte plantation. And, with each new rain their poisons lurched further still; through the porous dirt and cement walls; into the lead pipes which supplied our only water source; from the ventilation pipes set ironically in the center of their fields. At night, the roads were sprayed to control the clouds of fumigant dusts; as were the fields used for our military formations.

And, with each passing year the soldiers stationed here became increasingly ill.