Jon Stewart’s new Apple+ series posted a Veterans Day podcast on Thursday that features an interview with Staff Sergeant Wesley Black, who died on Sunday, shortly after the episode was recorded.
Black, 36, was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer that his oncologist linked to exposure to burn pits while he served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The exposure to the military’s burning of waste in open air pits has been called “the Agent Orange of the post-9/11 generation.”
Stewart has called attention to the need to extend benefits and pass legislation to help those veterans. He’s spotlighted specific cases, including that of Black, who himself has been trying to raise awareness of the issue, the need for early detection and the urgency for the Veterans Administration to take greater action.
In the interview with Stewart, Black said that he hoped to leave a legacy for his son, and that “in some small way that my choosing to stand up for what is right will forever last in the mind of, ‘My Dad is a good person.’”
“I don’t regret my service, I regret what my service has done to me — that is unfortunate — I would do it all over,” he told Stewart. “I wanted to ensure that my sacrifice and how far I have moved the ball forward, a few inches, a few yards, whatever it was.”
The White House in Thursday announced that they were taking a series of steps to try to expedite the process of getting care for veterans exposed to burn pits. That includes having the VA use a new model to assess evidence of a connection between exposure and a wider range of illnesses.
In a Veterans Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery, Biden said that
it means “expanding presumptive conditions for toxic exposure and particulate matter, including Agent Orange and burn pits.”
“We’re going to keep pushing on this front to be more nimble and responsive,” Biden said. “We’re reviewing all the data and evidence to determine additional presumptive conditions that make sure our veterans don’t have to wait to get the care they need.”
Black reached a $3 million settlement with the VA last summer after he filed suit for misdiagnosing his symptoms.