One of the military’s loudest critics amid the Red Hill fuel contamination fiasco said her boss tried to keep her quiet.
After Oʻahu military families were sickened by drinking fuel-contaminated water in 2021, Army Maj. Mandy Feindt became a crusader for their cause.
She posted online, attended town hall meetings and communicated with members of Congress about faults in the military medical care system. It was personal. Feindt, her husband and their two children all suffered serious health impacts after drinking water tainted by fuel that leaked from the Navy’s Red Hill storage complex.
Feindt’s supervisor, however, was displeased with her advocacy, and discouraged her from contacting members of Congress, according to a June report from the the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General. The agency substantiated a whistleblower complaint Feindt made in February 2022.
In an interview, Feindt said she feels vindicated but also frustrated that a complaint was necessary at all.
“I am literally doing what you trained me to do, which is when you see something, say something,” she said.
“I just felt this huge conviction to speak out, but folks did not like it. We like people to bury their head in the sand and fall in line and not speak out. My command completely turned their back on me.”
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