My deepest respects to those men and women.
Does anyone know how much their protective gear can really protect them from the continuous presence of high levels of radiation?
It's been a few years, but my recollection is that there are three types of radiation involved here: Alpha, Beta and Gamma. Alpha is stopped by just about anything (it's basically a helium atom IIRC), and Beta can be stopped by clothing or other similar 'armor'.
Gamma needs about 6 inches of concrete or a good heavy layer of lead plate to keep out. In other words, there are no suits that can protect you from gamma radiation. You just need to get the heck out of dodge when it comes to gamma radiation, and leave the clean-up to robots or extremely well-shielded bulldozers (like a main battle tank or something).