Since then, the military has been fighting efforts by Brocks widow, Doris Brock, to get benefits for her and service members who worked for decades at the base. It denies PFAS is behind Peases high cancer rates, and helped kill legislation to fund a cancer study that could have proved it wrong.
Doris Brock is now leading the charge in a two-pronged David-versus-Goliath battle: she and a group of veterans advocates aim to prove Peases toxic water is behind the bases cancer levels, and, on her own, she is pushing to change federal law so career national guard members who do not have suffi
When denying Brocks benefits, the military has said it cannot be proven that Brocks and others cancers stem from PFAS exposure, Doris Brock said. And though Ken Brock worked full-time for 35 years and deployed around the world to serve during combat, the military initially claimed he did not have
In 2016, Brock applied for Veterans Affairs benefits that would have paid for his care, given him access to VA hospitals, and qualified him for disability payments, and Doris Brock for survivor payments after he died.
The group is now exploring how to chart a new path forward. Separately, Doris Brock continues pushing for a bill to scrap the active duty requirements for career national guard members, and the issue is now being studied.