RECA is the Radioactive Exposure Compensation Act that gives financial compensation to people who are sick due to exposure to nuclear testing, uranium miners, and people who’ve been exposed to nuclear waste that was improperly dumped in waterways around the country. These exposures have led to incredibly high rates of cancer in the most impacted communities.
While it might not seem like an issue that is important to the military spouse and family community on the surface, it absolutely is. Not only is this an issue of justice, but it is a national security issue. The communities that were most impacted by nuclear exposure are Indigenous and rural. A large number of military recruits come from these two communities; in fact, Native Americans join the military at higher rates than any other racial or ethnic demographic. Uranium mining that occurred on the Navajo reservation was almost exclusively staffed by Navajo, Hopi, Pueblo, and other southwestern people. Today every single Navajo code talker has either had or died of cancer. Yet most of those people – the people who not only were instrumental in a World War II victory, but also mined the materials for the nuclear arsenal which turned the U.S. into an international superpower – have been abandoned by the government as various exposure-related cancers destroyed their bodies.
Military families have given so much to this nation, yet many who were exposed to radiation during their service or while living near toxic facilities still lack recognition and medical care. Passing an expansion to RECA honors our military community and fulfills our moral obligation to those affected by our nation’s nuclear legacy.
This is where you come in!
Write a letter to your Congressional Representative and tell them to support H.R.10115 – Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act of 2026. You can use the handy tool below to make it easy: