Marines on the USS Boxer are still dealing with rampant health issues after many were poisoned in 2016 by the ship’s fuel-contaminated water supply, according to new reporting from Military.com. “The fumes were overpowering. You smelled it when you washed your clothes in it, showered in it, when you flushed the toilet,” said Sarah Blanton, a former Marine sergeant who was aboard the Boxer. “The smell was in my hair.” At the time, no one was certain what was causing their water to smell ripely of diesel. But a yearslong investigation found that the Boxer crew accidentally contaminated the water themselves when members intentionally dumped fuel into the ocean, only for it to get sucked back up by the ship for its water supply—a potentially illegal act that went undisclosed for years. “The ship is actually trying to kill us,” said then-lance corporal Travis Sellers at the time. Now, many former Boxer crew members are reportedly suffering from a slew of illnesses they believed to be the result of the contaminated water, including gastrointestinal problems, skin rashes, irritable bowel, excessive menstrual bleeding, lung cysts, and even lung cancer.
