The Kunia Exposure Matrix: Looking at the Whole Picture

One of the biggest challenges veterans face when filing a disability claim is that the VA often evaluates one exposure at a time. Military service, however, rarely works that way.

At Field Station Kunia, many of us lived and worked in an environment where multiple occupational hazards existed simultaneously. Some exposures were obvious. Others were invisible. Some lasted only minutes, while others occurred daily over the course of years. Individually, each exposure may appear insignificant. Collectively, they may tell a much different story.

That realization led me to begin building what I call the Kunia Exposure Matrix.

The purpose of the matrix is simple: document every reasonably identifiable occupational and environmental exposure that may have existed at or supported the Kunia mission, gather the scientific and historical evidence surrounding those exposures, identify the personnel most likely to have encountered them, and compare those exposures with the medical conditions reported by veterans who served there.

This is not an attempt to prove that every exposure caused every illness.

It is an effort to organize evidence so that physicians, researchers, attorneys, and VA adjudicators can evaluate each veteran’s history using the most complete information available.

Why This Matters

Most scientific studies examine one chemical, one hazard, or one workplace at a time. Military service is different.

A communications technician may have spent one day maintaining microwave relay equipment, another inside equipment shelters containing industrial solvents and electrical transformers, another climbing antenna structures, and another working in confined underground facilities with limited ventilation.

A maintenance specialist might have been exposed to degreasing solvents, diesel exhaust, lead solder, PCB-containing electrical equipment, mold, asbestos insulation, pesticides around the installation, and radiofrequency energy—all during the same assignment.

These are not isolated exposures.

They are overlapping occupational environments.

Understanding that cumulative picture is one of the primary goals of this project.

The Current Kunia Exposure Matrix

Radiofrequency (RF) and Microwave Energy

Field Station Kunia operated as one of the United States’ premier Cold War signals intelligence facilities. While many antenna systems in the Hawaii SIGINT network were dedicated receiving arrays, the overall mission depended on an extensive network of microwave relay systems, satellite communications, radio transmitters, communications equipment, waveguides, coaxial distribution systems, and supporting electronics located at Kunia and neighboring facilities throughout Oahu.

Current research regarding long-term RF exposure remains mixed. Some occupational studies have reported associations with certain cancers and neurological symptoms, while other studies have not found consistent evidence of causation. The purpose of this project is to document actual military exposure conditions rather than rely solely on civilian occupational studies.

Trichloroethylene (TCE) and Industrial Solvents

Numerous military facilities historically used chlorinated solvents such as trichloroethylene (TCE) for cleaning electronic components, precision instruments, and mechanical assemblies.

TCE exposure has been associated in scientific literature with kidney cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, liver toxicity, neurological disorders, immune dysfunction, and other adverse health effects. Historical environmental investigations indicate that TCE contamination has occurred at numerous Department of Defense installations, making it important to determine whether similar exposures occurred within the Kunia mission environment.

Petroleum Products and Fuel Vapors

Backup generators, fuel storage systems, maintenance operations, hydraulic fluids, lubricants, and aviation fuels were integral components of military communications facilities.

Personnel working around these systems may have experienced repeated exposure to volatile organic compounds, combustion products, and diesel exhaust.

Mold and Chronic Humidity

Anyone who served underground at Kunia remembers the constant humidity.

Warm temperatures, moisture, condensation, enclosed workspaces, and aging infrastructure created conditions where mold growth was possible in many areas.

Chronic mold exposure has been associated with respiratory disease, chronic sinus problems, allergic reactions, and, in susceptible individuals, inflammatory responses.

Electrical Equipment

Cold War communications centers relied upon large electrical distribution systems containing transformers, capacitors, batteries, switchgear, and electronic equipment.

Depending upon the era and equipment involved, maintenance personnel may have encountered lead, cadmium, mercury, PCBs, asbestos-containing materials, and other industrial hazards.

Herbicides and Pesticides

Grounds maintenance around antenna fields, security perimeters, utility corridors, and communications infrastructure often required vegetation control.

Determining exactly what herbicides and pesticides were used, when they were used, and where they were applied remains an important area of ongoing research.

Drinking Water

Water quality has become a recurring topic among Kunia veterans.

Historical environmental investigations, water distribution records, and contamination reports are being reviewed to determine whether drinking water or industrial water systems may have represented an additional exposure pathway during specific periods.

Looking for Patterns

Perhaps the most important aspect of the Kunia Exposure Matrix is not any individual exposure.

It is the possibility that veterans experienced multiple low-level exposures simultaneously over many years.

Medicine increasingly recognizes that cumulative occupational exposure can be more complex than evaluating a single chemical or hazard in isolation. Although research has not established that combined exposures at Kunia caused specific diseases, documenting those combined exposure histories is essential for understanding potential health risks and for supporting informed medical evaluations.

Building the Historical Record

This project is only as strong as the evidence behind it.

That means collecting engineering drawings, environmental investigations, maintenance manuals, technical orders, exposure surveys, historical photographs, safety procedures, facility layouts, declassified documents, and personal accounts from the men and women who served there.

Every document adds another piece to the puzzle.

Every veteran remembers something different.

Together, those memories and records become a historical archive that future veterans, physicians, attorneys, and researchers can use long after paper records have disappeared.

The Kunia Exposure Matrix will continue to evolve as new documents are discovered and additional veterans contribute their experiences. My hope is that it becomes one of the most comprehensive historical references ever assembled for those who served at Field Station Kunia—not to advocate for predetermined conclusions, but to ensure that no relevant evidence is overlooked when veterans seek answers about their health and their service.