LV grad helps destroy deadly chemicals

Dick Benoit

Thursday, Nov. 2, 2000 | 9:39 a.m.

Cimarron-Memorial High School 1997 graduate Frank Padur never leaves home without his gas mask.

Padur, son of Frank Padur of Las Vegas, is presently serving a one-year remote tour on Johnson Atoll, a one-square mile island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Since 1985 the atoll has served as a base for the destruction of chemical weapons, and Padur's job as an Army security specialist includes both guarding the dangerous weapons and transporting them to the chemical agent disposal plant on the island for destruction.

The mask that Padur carries could well come in handy. He and the 220 other soldiers who guard and transport the rockets, projectiles and one-ton containers of nerve and mustard gas agents are dealing with some pretty old weapons, some dating back to World War II.

According to Army officials, the fact that there never has been a major accident at the site is a testament to stringent safety measures that Padur abides by and enforces when working with potentially leaky casings and faulty mechanisms.

Since operations began in 1985, the plant has destroyed more than 3 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents. While awaiting destruction, the weapons are stored in buckets with 3-foot thick walls. Once they are delivered to the disposal plant, the chemical agents are released and burned, and the casings are incinerated down to scrap.

No family or friends are allowed to visit the remote atoll, and there is no local population or any other attraction on the speck of land that is no bigger than a golf course.

"There's not a lot to do on the island, so everything becomes monotonous," Padur said. But he adds that it's still rewarding because "we play a key role in ensuring the chemical weapons in the United States arsenal are destroyed."

Padur may be one of the final contingent of soldiers on the atoll, with the mission there nears completion. After 15 years of operation, the site is about out of chemical weapons, and transporting more there is considered too dangerous.

About 13,000 land mines remain to be destroyed. Then the Army and Air Force plan to clean up and turn the island over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Military retirees

Military retirees of all services are invited to a retiree information day and health fair Saturday at Nellis Air Force Base. The program will begin at 9 a.m. with welcome remarks by the 99th Air Base Wing commander at the base Conference Center in Building 555. A variety of speakers will follow, including commander of the 99th Medical Group to provide an update on health care issues.

Identification card and vehicle registration services as well as Cold War service certificates will be available during the day. Health fair services will include some immunizations.

A special tour of the Threat Training Facility that houses a variety of Cold War Soviet-bloc weapons, many still in former Soviet satellite country arsenals, will be conducted from 1 to 2 p.m. Flight line tours will depart each hour from the conference center.

For additional information call 652-6910.