Published April 30, 2023 | 250 pages | Hardcover
Meet John Patrick Lyons—former Navy Special Operations Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen, or SWCC.
Throughout his career in the Navy, Lyons showed again and again that he was willing to give his life for his superiors, his government, and his country. What he didn’t know was that they had already taken it.
In 2014, after retiring from the Navy, Lyons learned horrifying news: He had been systematically poisoned with lead for years while in the line of duty. After whistleblowing about the pervasive health risks, he was asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement. Lyons refused. Instead, he began to research and write this in-depth exposé. In Treason and Betrayal, Lyons uncovers a conspiracy that the US military and government have been keeping under wraps for the last fifty years.
In the United States, employers are supposed to create a work environment that protects its employees from recognized hazards. But, as Lyons reveals, the US military has been failing to do that for the people who already sacrifice so much for their country, allowing veterans, their families, and the environment to be exposed to 146 hazardous and toxic compounds produced by weapons of war.
The result? Sickness, disease, and even death. Yet the military, Veterans Affairs, and the government continue to exploit their authority and US law so that our veterans and their families suffer the crushing financial burden from medical bills on their own. Don’t believe it? Neither could Lyons until he saw the evidence for himself.
John Patrick Lyons was born in Houston, Texas. At the age of 15, John went to work at the Port of Houston and later in the oilfields of South Texas. John enlisted in the United States Navy in 1985 to become one of the first Navy Special Operations Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen (Navy SWCC). Chief Lyons would go on to become a Navy and Special Operations accredited weapons, ordnance, LASER, and firing ranges expert and instructor. Retiring from the Navy in 2009, John continued working for Naval Special Warfare Command instructing, training, and qualifying West Coast Navy SEALs, SWCCs and other Special Operations personnel in weapons proficiency and gun and LASER firing range safety. In 2014, John would learn that he had been massively poisoned with lead. Fired for whistleblowing, he then went to work to find out why. Suffering from congestive heart failure and other degenerative poisoning symptoms, author John P. Lyons continues his whistleblowing in an effort to help his fellow veterans, their families, and the nation overcome the disdain shown by the Navy, government, and its leadership for those they poison. An avid outdoorsman and conservationist, Retired Navy Chief John P. Lyons, his wife of thirty years, autistic son, and loyal dogs, Shelby and Diesel, currently reside in his home state of Texas.
