What Are Military Burn Pits? Origins, Health Risks, and VA Claims

Open-air trash-burning sites operated on bases across Iraq, Afghanistan, and the broader post-9/11 theater, earning them recognition as a defining veteran exposure.S. military ran on forward operating bases during post-9/11 operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait. Service members lived, worked, and slept within close range of pits that burned plastics, solvents, medical waste, and jet fuel in the open, releasing dense smoke laced with fine particulate matter and toxic chemicals. That smoke has since been linked to respiratory illnesses, cancers, and other chronic conditions among veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

This article explains the origins of military burn pits, breaks down what the smoke actually contained, and walks through the health conditions now tied to that exposure.

Where Military Burn Pits Came From and Why Bases Used Them

Forward operating bases across Iraq and Afghanistan produced enormous volumes of waste every day, and most sat hundreds of miles from any municipal landfill or waste contractor. Troops generated the same trash any small city produces, plus items unique to a war zone: ration packaging, chemical solvents, vehicle parts, medical sharps, and human waste from portable latrines. Something had to be done before piles attracted disease or compromised security.

Open-air burning became the default method because it required almost no equipment, no fuel budget, and no trained disposal team. A concrete pad, a ditch, or a pit ringed with Jersey barriers was enough to start. At Balad Air Base in Iraq and Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, crews fed pits around the clock, sending columns of thick black smoke across barracks, dining halls, and flight lines. Service members at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait described the same routine: jet fuel accelerant, a match, and a fire that never fully went out.

Materials That Ended Up in the Fires

Almost anything burnable made it into a pit because sorting waste took time units rarely had:

• ▸Plastics from water bottles, MRE wrappers, and shipping materials
• ▸Chemicals and solvents from vehicle maintenance and cleaning supplies
• ▸Medical waste including gloves, tubing, and sharps containers
• ▸Electronics such as broken computers, cables, and batteries
• ▸Human waste from portable latrines and burn-out bathrooms

Incinerators existed, yet they were too few, too small, and often out of service during peak demand. Logistical constraints kept pits burning well into the late 2000s, when pressure from medical data and congressional scrutiny pushed the Department of Defense toward formal disposal contracts.

Knowing what fueled these fires for decades explains why the smoke itself carried such a hazardous chemical load.

What Burn Pit Smoke Actually Contains

A chemical soup of combustion byproducts rises from each pit, and nearly every component carries its own documented health risk. Combustion in open air is far less complete than combustion inside an engineered incinerator. Lower temperatures, inconsistent oxygen, and mixed fuels release more unburned particles and more toxic byproducts into the breathing zone of anyone nearby.

Fine particulate matter, often called PM2.5, is the most immediate hazard because particles that small reach deep into the lungs and cross into the bloodstream. A 2011 study from the Department of Veterans Affairs measured PM2.5 at Joint Base Balad at levels several times higher than the World Health Organization’s daily guideline, a finding that put airborne exposure on the map for researchers and policymakers.

The Main Toxic Components

• ▸Fine particulate matter (PM2.5): the size class most linked to lung and heart disease
• ▸Dioxins and furans: released when chlorinated plastics burn at low temperatures
• ▸Volatile organic compounds: benzene, toluene, and related chemicals from solvents and fuels
• ▸Heavy metals: lead, mercury, and cadmium from electronics and batteries
• ▸Polyaromatic hydrocarbons: byproducts of incomplete combustion linked to cancer risk

Wind patterns, fuel mixing, and burn duration made exposure profiles wildly uneven between bases. A Marine sleeping 200 meters downwind of a pit in Iraq faced a very different daily dose than an Air Force mechanic working near a smaller, better-managed burn site in Kuwait.

Health Effects Linked to Burn Pit Exposure

Veterans began reporting unusual respiratory problems shortly after returning from deployment, often years before doctors had a clear name for what they were seeing. By the 2010s, several large studies had identified conditions that appeared more often in service members near burn pits than in those who had not been exposed. The Department of Veterans Affairs now treats a defined list of those conditions as presumptively service-connected.

That list keeps growing as research continues, and it already covers more respiratory disease and more cancers than most veterans realize.

Respiratory Conditions

Constrictive bronchiolitis, a scarring of the smallest airways, showed up in deployers with severe unexplained shortness of breath, sometimes after a single tour. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma-like syndromes, and chronic bronchitis have also been reported at higher rates among exposed veterans. Granulomatous disease and rare lung conditions remain under active study at the VA and academic medical centers.

Cancers and Other Conditions

The VA now recognizes several cancers as presumptively linked to burn pit exposure, including lung, head, neck, throat, kidney, and pancreatic cancers, along with lymphoma and mesothelioma. Cardiovascular disease, autoimmune conditions, and rare disorders such as constrictive bronchiolitis continue to be evaluated in long-term cohort studies.

Those mounting diagnoses ultimately forced the military to reconsider how it disposed of waste on overseas bases.

“Worth knowing: separating burn pit effects from other deployment hazards, including desert dust, blast overpressure, and general air pollution, remains a major research challenge. Symptom onset can also appear 10 to 20 years after separation, which is why many veterans are only now connecting chronic illness to service.

The Shift Away From Burn Pits and the Path to Recognition

The Department of Defense began phasing out large open-air pits in the late 2000s, replacing them with contracted incinerators and standardized waste removal at major bases. The shift was slow, uneven, and driven as much by base commanders and field conditions as by central policy. By the mid-2010s, congressional hearings had turned into formal inquiries, and advocacy groups such as Burn Pits 360 had pushed burn pit exposure into the national conversation.

The 2010 passage of the Open Burn Pit Registry, later renamed the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, gave veterans a way to self-report exposure and laid the groundwork for a much larger study. The 2021 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, titled “Assessment of the Long-Term Health Effects of Deployment-Related Exposures,” concluded that sufficient evidence exists to link burn pit exposure to several respiratory conditions and suggestive evidence for some cancers. That finding became the scientific backbone for the next major legislative step.

How Science Translated Into Law

The NASEM findings moved quickly from technical report to political action. Veterans service organizations, congressional champions, and a steady drumbeat of media coverage built pressure on both sides of the aisle. Within roughly a year, that pressure produced the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022, better known as the PACT Act, signed into law in August 2022.

The PACT Act and VA Benefits for Burn Pit Veterans

The PACT Act is the largest expansion of VA health care and benefits in more than three decades. It added more than 20 presumptive conditions for burn pit and other toxic exposures, removed the deadline that had blocked many earlier claims, and required the Veterans Health Administration to provide a free toxic exposure screening to every veteran enrolled in VA health care.

Who Qualifies

You generally qualify for PACT Act coverage if you served in a covered location during a covered period, even if you never filed a claim before. Covered areas include Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and certain parts of the Philippines. Covered periods stretch from the Gulf War era through the present, with specific windows depending on the country.

Conditions Now Covered

The presumptive list covers a broad range of respiratory, head, neck, and lymphatic cancers, plus several non-cancer conditions. Some of the most commonly claimed include:

• ▸Lung, head, neck, and throat cancers
• ▸Pancreatic, kidney, and bladder cancers
• ▸Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and mesothelioma
• ▸COPD, asthma diagnosed after service, and chronic bronchitis
• ▸Constrictive bronchiolitis and other rare respiratory conditions

Practical Steps for Filing a Claim

1. 1Schedule a toxic exposure screening at any VA medical center, which takes about 15 minutes and creates a record of your exposure history.
2. 2Pull your service records through the VA’s online portal or a Veterans Service Organization, focusing on duty stations, deployment dates, and any medical notes mentioning burn pits.
3. 3File a claim online at VA.gov, by phone, or with the help of a VSO such as the American Legion, DAV, or VFW.
4. 4List the presumptive condition explicitly and reference the PACT Act in your claim narrative so the VA rater connects your diagnosis to the correct legal authority.
5. 5Follow up on medical appointments before you file, since a current diagnosis from a VA or private provider is the most common reason claims stall.

The VA Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry is still active, and signing up remains free, even though the registry is no longer required to file a successful claim. Treat it as one extra piece of evidence rather than the path to benefits.

Limits, Uncertainties, and What to Do Next

Individual exposure assessment is still hard. The military rarely monitored air quality near burn pits, so claims often rest on duty station records, buddy statements, and self-reported proximity. That evidence usually works under the PACT Act’s presumptive framework, but conditions not yet on the presumptive list still require direct service connection, meaning proof that the illness is at least as likely as not tied to service.

Conditions requiring direct service connection include some autoimmune disorders, certain rare cancers, and cardiovascular disease outside the newly expanded list. Ongoing studies at the VA, the Department of Defense, and academic partners continue to evaluate these conditions, and the presumptive list is expected to grow.

Common Mistakes That Delay or Weaken Claims

• ▸Skipping the toxic exposure screening, which creates a documented record in the VA system before the claim is filed
• ▸Failing to list the presumptive condition by name, so the claim is rated under the wrong legal authority
• ▸Missing current diagnosis evidence, even a single progress note from a provider
• ▸Relying only on the burn pit registry instead of also filing a formal disability claim
• ▸Filing without a VSO, since accredited representatives know the wording that triggers the correct presumptive code

Immediate Actions if You Are Experiencing Symptoms

Schedule a VA primary care visit and ask for the toxic exposure screening plus a referral to a pulmonologist if you have shortness of breath, persistent cough, or unexplained fatigue. Gather your service records, including deployment orders and any letters referencing burn pits, and write a short personal statement describing proximity and duration. Then file the claim and follow up every 30 days. If the claim is denied, you have one year to appeal, and a VSO can often strengthen the appeal substantially.

Even so, the wider story of burn pits extends well beyond any single claim or appeal window.

The Big Picture

Routine waste disposal on overseas bases became a defining post-9/11 exposure, and the PACT Act now lists it as a covered hazard for veterans. If your service put you near a pit, the VA presumes the link between your illness and your service for a wide range of cancers and respiratory conditions. Your next step is concrete: book a toxic exposure screening, gather your records, and file the claim, even if you filed before and were turned away.

FAQ