Dark Waters movie - is that actually what happened with DuPont and the Navy

Yeah that stuff actually happened, DuPont knew and buried it for decades. Navy was the same way with us at Camp Lejeune and on the Iwo Jima, they knew asbestos was killing people and just didn't care. Movie's pretty accurate on that part, if anything they toned it down.

The movie gets the bones right but yeah, Hollywood polishes it. What they don't show enough of is how calculated it was. DuPont had internal memos going back to the 1950s saying "this stuff will kill you" and they just kept using it anyway because it was cheap. Same playbook the Navy ran.

What got me was finding out later that the brass at Camp Lejeune knew about the asbestos in the barracks insulation during my time there 1978-1982, but they didn't tell us squat. Just let us live in those buildings. My VA claim is still sitting in limbo since November but I've got buddies from the Iwo Jima who've been fighting their claims for three years now. The movie makes it look like one lawyer took on DuPont and won. Reality is thousands of us are still grinding through the system trying to prove what they already knew.

For your claim after that pleurectomy, get everything documented. Every base you served at, every ship, every year. The VA will drag their feet otherwise.

Dark Waters is pretty accurate on the main stuff. DuPont knew. They had internal memos going back decades about asbestos dangers and they buried them. The lawsuit in the movie actually happened, and yeah, the company knowingly contaminated water supplies while selling PTFE products. It's not Hollywood dramatizing things, it's actually worse in some ways because the real documents showed they didn't care.

Your situation on the Oriskany is exactly what I'm dealing with. I was at Camp Lejeune 1978 to 1982 in the barracks with asbestos insulation wrapping the pipes and overhead. Also did a tour on the Iwo Jima. You breathe that stuff every single day on a ship and nobody says a word about it. The Navy knew. They had studies. They just figured it was cheaper to let guys get sick later than spend money on removal or even telling us to wear masks.

Got my diagnosis October 2025, pleurectomy in December. VA claim filed November and I'm still waiting like everyone else. The system moves slow but you need to file that claim if you haven't. Document everything from your service records that mentions shipboard duty and any medical visits. I included my service dates and which ships, made it clear I was in spaces with known asbestos.

The real story is the companies and the military both knew the risks and chose profit over our health. That's not Hollywood. That's just how it was. Glad you caught it early with the VA screening. A lot of guys don't find out until it's stage 3 or 4.

Dark Waters got the bones of it right. DuPont knew what they were doing. The lawyer in that movie, Rob Bilott, he's real and the case actually happened. That's not Hollywood stuff.

On the Oriskany we had asbestos insulation wrapped around the steam lines in the engine room. Asbestos tape on the pipes. Gaskets in just about every fitting. And yeah, nobody said a damn word about it being dangerous. You just worked around it. That was the Navy in the 70s and 80s. We didn't know what we didn't know, but the companies making that material, they knew. The documents in that lawsuit proved it.

The movie leaves some stuff out but the core story about DuPont hiding what they knew about asbestos poisoning, that's documented fact. Not dramatized. The thing that gets me is they had the data. Internal memos. They knew workers were getting sick and they kept selling it anyway. Kept telling people it was safe.

Got my diagnosis at the VA in June this year after they flagged something on a routine chest scan. The pleurectomy in August went as well as that kind of surgery can go. Took about three months before I felt like myself again and could move without feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. Still doing the follow-up imaging every few months.

Point is, what happened in that movie, what happened to us on that ship, it's all connected. The companies knew. They just didn't care until lawyers like Bilott made them answer for it.

Dark Waters is pretty close to what actually happened, though yeah Hollywood adds some drama. The DuPont stuff with the C8 contamination in West Virginia, that's real. But the asbestos piece goes way deeper and involves a lot more players than just one company.

Here's what I know from my own situation. We were on the Oriskany from 71 to 91 doing hull maintenance, crawling through spaces packed with asbestos insulation, cutting gaskets, working with materials that shed that stuff like nothing. Nobody briefed us. No warnings. No protective gear beyond maybe a dust mask if you were lucky. The Navy knew. The manufacturers knew. There's documentation going back decades showing they all knew asbestos caused mesothelioma and lung cancer. They just didn't tell the guys actually handling it.

The movie focuses on one lawyer fighting DuPont, but the real story is broader. Multiple companies, multiple military branches, decades of cover-up. I got diagnosed June 2025 after a routine VA screening caught something on imaging. Had the pleurectomy in August at the VA hospital here in Norfolk. Recovery's been solid so far but obviously this isn't something you just walk away from.

What the movie doesn't really show is how systemic it was. It wasn't some rogue operation. It was standard practice. And yeah, a lot of what they did was deliberate. They tested the stuff. They knew the risks. They chose profit over people.

Your diagnosis, the timing, the Oriskany exposure, that's not coincidence. Document everything you remember about your service. The VA's been helpful on my end but having your own records matters.

Yeah Frank, the calculated part is what gets me. I filed my VA claim back in November and I'm still waiting, right? Meanwhile I've got documentation from my service record showing I was in those barracks at Lejeune from 78 to 82 and on the Iwo Jima, but the VA is dragging their feet like they always do. What the movie doesn't really capture is that this wasn't just DuPont being greedy. The Navy knew too. They knew asbestos was in those ships and barracks and they just kept us there. I've talked to other guys from my unit and we're all dealing with this now. The difference between your situation and mine is at least you can point to a specific company. With military exposure it's harder to prove because the government was involved and they protect their own. That's why I'm pushing other vets here to get their VA claims filed immediately, don't wait like I did. The paperwork takes forever but once it's in the system it counts from the filing date, not the approval date. November 2025 for me so we'll see what happens.

The movie's actually pretty close to what happened, though yeah there's some dramatization for effect. DuPont knew PFOA (the chemical they were using) was toxic and they did suppress a lot of data. The lawyer in the film, Rob Bilott, is real and he actually won that case. So that part wasn't Hollywood.

What I've learned managing my dad's care since his diagnosis is that companies absolutely knew asbestos was dangerous way before they admitted it publicly. There's documentation going back decades. The Navy especially has this weird history where they just... didn't tell sailors. My dad worked in a shipyard in the 70s and 80s and it was the same deal. Insulation, pipe wrapping, brake components, all of it loaded with asbestos and nobody said a word about the risk.

The thing that gets me as a medical professional is how much they buried the latency data. Mesothelioma takes 20, 30, sometimes 40+ years to show up. So by the time people got sick, the companies had already moved on and the exposure was this distant thing nobody could prove. We're dealing with that right now with my dad. Trying to document exactly where his exposure came from and it's like pulling teeth because the records are scattered or lost or conveniently incomplete.

Congrats on getting through the pleurectomy. That's major surgery. Are you on any follow-up imaging schedule with the VA? We had to really advocate for regular CT scans with my dad because they don't always default to that.