Gamberi in eastern Afghanistan. He was granted emergency home leave to help his family resettle.

The next year, in 2015, the Defense Department’s Inspector General found that a Clark and Michaels partnership had failed to correct lead paint hazards in homes at Fort Belvoir in Virginia. The Army pledged to address the issue with contractors, IG records show.

At Benning, meanwhile, children had 14 more high lead tests.







DANGER ON RAINBOW AVENUE

Fort Benning’s Rainbow Avenue seems a perfect spot for families, the yards of its 1920s homes filled with toys, American flags fluttering from front porches.

Behind this idyll, children face poisoning risks.

Since 2015, state lead inspectors have visited at least three of the 33 houses on the street in response to calls from worried residents, state environmental records show. “The homescontained 50 percent lead, or 100 times the federal hazard level. In April, a reporter visited the home, where Karla Hughes lives with her husband, an Army captain, and 4-year-old daughter, who doesn’t have elevated lead levels. In a grassy area where children play nearby, paint chipping from an abandoned electric switch house contained 16 percent lead.



Several historic homes on the Hughes’ street had old paint peeling from exterior trim, porch or window areas. Knox Hills, the landlord for more than 2,300 homes on base, removed exterior lead paint from many older homes in recent years, but left others untouched. When Hughes complained about paint conditions in April, the company sent a maintenance worker, who repainted a porch beam but conducted no testing. Later, Hughes pointed out the