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One man's trash is another man's trash, too

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Rey Ramon
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan (AFNS) --  Ask Tech. Sgt. James Thompson to describe what he does for the Air Force, and this is what you'll hear: "I take trash, analyze trash, and tell you how to handle the trash."

Sergeant Thompson, an analyst with Det. 3 of the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, a tenant unit at Kadena Air Base, spends his days working with chemical compounds and crazy mathematics, applying first the one and then the other to samples gleaned from the detachment's consulting division or other U.S. Pacific Command bases.

While Det. 3 is an Air Force Materiel Command asset assigned to the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks City-Base, Texas, the staff here have provided direct support to the Pacific theater from Kadena AB for nearly two decades.

Detachment members' projects range from assessing occupational and environmental exposure, providing hazardous material incident response training, to developing sampling and analysis plans to ensure safe drinking water for Pacific Air Forces installations. They also take care of industrial hygiene and environmental laboratory issues and support more than 42 different units, spanning 7,500 miles throughout the Pacific. Det. 3 members are charged with the responsibility of ensuring Department of Defense installations are complying with U.S. and host-nation standards.

Sergeant Thompson said his work is directly linked to the protection of this generation and generations to come. Currently, he analyzes samples for the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls, a toxic group of chemicals commonly found in electrical transformers manufactured prior to the U.S. production ban in 1979.

"These carcinogenic and mutagenic chemicals can affect people for many generations to come," he said. As most of these older transformers were replaced, "there are still some out there and we get samples daily to test for PCBs all around PACOM."

The detachment is comprised of two divisions: the consultant division and the analytical division. Members of these divisions rely on each other to conduct their mission. The lab has in-house capabilities for testing drinking water, wastewater, hazardous waste, air filters and bulk samples for potentially dangerous compounds.

"We work hand-in-hand with our analytical division," said Maj. Timothy Allmann, the Det. 3 USAFSAM consultant division chief. "The lab provides the capability to analyze samples we may collect, or from individual bases we're supporting."

A large portion of the lab's work comes from testing material containing polychlorinated biphenyls, heavy metals and asbestosm, of which all are disease or cancer-causing materials. When projects exceed a base's capabilities or expertise, the detachment has functional experts to take on those special projects.

"We are an integral part of keeping our environment safe for our generation and generations to come," said Maj. Michael Pope, the Det. 3 USAFSAM analytical division chief. "Our personnel analyze environmental and occupational health samples to support decisions about the best ways to protect military members, their families, and our environment."

Det. 3 provides a unique career broadening opportunity for medical laboratory technologists typically charged with analyzing clinical samples to help with patient diagnoses, to analyzing environmental and occupational health samples to support decisions about the best ways to protect personnel and the environment.

Only 1 percent of medical laboratory technologists get to work as analytical chemists, and Sergeant Thompson spends countless hours in the lab running test after test. He said he enjoys what he does; keeping Western Pacific bases PCB (aka trash) free.