the last book I ever read (The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics, excerpt four)

from The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics by Dan Kaufman:

For decades, Fort McClellan, the base where Bryce trained, had been used as a training site for chemical, biological, and radiological warfare. Mustard gas, Agent Orange, DDT, and other toxic materials had leached into its soil and water. Additionally, the base was adjacent to the town of Anniston, where, until the 1970s, a Monsanto plant poured millions of pounds of cancer-causing PCBs into the town landfill and creek. The company paid a settlement of $700 million to 20,000 residents of Anniston, which was once described in a 60 Minutes report as “America’s most toxic town.” But the settlement did not include the soldiers who trained at Fort McClellan, a disproportionate number of whom were stricken with cancer at an early age. The army has maintained there were no adverse health effects from training there, but in 1999, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered the base to close. After his discharge, Bryce enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, but he dropped out after one semester when he too was diagnosed with cancer.