Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry.

[Chopstick]

I was given this info on one of our Marine Family pages today. Not sure if it news to folks here but thought I would pass it on.

https://veteran.mobilehealth.va.gov/AHBurnPitRegistry/index.html#page/home

Is this for me?

• The registry is a database of information about Veterans and Servicemembers collected through a questionnaire.
• OEF/OIF/OND or 1990-1991 Gulf War Veterans and Servicemembers can use the registry questionnaire to report exposures to airborne hazards (such as smoke from burn pits, oil-well fires, or pollution during deployment), as well as other exposures and health concerns.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/art...ervice-members-can-now-register-burn-pit-list

More than 18 months in the making, the registry is open to active duty and former troops to report exposures to airborne hazards such as burn pits, oil well fires and other forms of pollution and document their health problems.

 

[DA SWO]

problem is they are only addressing the open pits from ODS/OIF/OEF.

Haiti, Kosovo, Bosnia all had open pit burning but no one wants to talk about those AO's.

 

[pardus]

problem is they are only addressing the open pits from ODS/OIF/OEF.

Haiti, Kosovo, Bosnia all had open pit burning but no one wants to talk about those AO's.

Yes, but if we can get the VA et al to recognize it for the ODS/OIF/OEF pers, it will be a short(er) step to have it extended to those that came before.

ETA, I just looked at it, and it might not be just for the campaigns you mentioned...

OEF/OIF/OND or 1990-1991 Gulf War Veterans and Servicemembers can use the registry questionnaire to report exposures to airborne hazards (such as smoke from burn pits, oil-well fires, or pollution during deployment), as well as other exposures and health concerns.

17. What is the definition of Servicemember?
For the purposes of the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, a Servicemember is a person who is serving on active duty in one of the following branches of the United States Armed Forces: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, National Guard, or the Coast Guard.

Although it does say IS serving... Hmm

 

[Florida173]

Just filled out finally.

Reminds me how much I hate using any site that uses DS logon.

 

[Kraut783]

Thanks for this site for reminding me.....done!

 

[compforce]

problem is they are only addressing the open pits from ODS/OIF/OEF.

Haiti, Kosovo, Bosnia all had open pit burning but no one wants to talk about those AO's.

The question on where you served with open burning has a long list and includes an "other, fill in the box" option

 

[Ooh-Rah]

Saw this tonight. Does not really resolve anything, but st least it is top of mind.

GAO says Pentagon needs to do more about burn pit exposure

 

[Ooh-Rah]

- update -

Iraq, Afghan vets may have their own Agent Orange

ROCHESTER – They are known as the Agent Orange of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars: Massive open-air burn pits at U.S. military bases that billowed the toxic smoke and ash of everything from Styrofoam, metals and plastics to electrical equipment and even human body parts.

The flames were stoked with jet fuel.

One of the most notorious was in Balad, site of the largest and busiest air base operated by the military in Iraq. More than 10 acres in size, the pit burned at all hours and consumed an estimated 100 to 200 tons of waste a day. It was hastily constructed upwind from the base, and its plumes consistently drifted toward the 25,000 troops stationed there.

During two deployments to Balad with the Minnesota Air National Guard, Amie Muller worked and lived next to the pits. And now, she believes, she is paying the price.

Diagnosed last month with Stage III pancreatic cancer, the 36-year-old mother of three from Woodbury has just completed her third round of chemotherapy at the Mayo Clinic here. As she undergoes treatment, she struggles with anger and awaits a VA determination on whether a host of ailments from migraines to fibromyalgia is connected to her military service at Balad.


“It makes me really mad,” said Muller, who monitored and edited video feeds from Air Force fighter jet missions while in Iraq. “I inhaled that stuff. It was all day, all night. Everything that they burned there, is illegal to burn in America. That tells you something.”

The link within the story takes "forever" to load the attachment to this post is a spreadsheet with a list of the affected burn-pit sites. (within Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, and Qatar) There is a searchable database within the story.

 

[Ooh-Rah]

During two deployments to Balad with the Minnesota Air National Guard, Amie Muller worked and lived next to the pits. And now, she believes, she is paying the price.

Diagnosed last month with Stage III pancreatic cancer, the 36-year-old mother of three from Woodbury has just completed her third round of chemotherapy at the Mayo Clinic here. As she undergoes treatment, she struggles with anger and awaits a VA determination on whether a host of ailments from migraines to fibromyalgia is connected to her military service at Balad.


“It makes me really mad,” said Muller, who monitored and edited video feeds from Air Force fighter jet missions while in Iraq. “I inhaled that stuff. It was all day, all night. Everything that they burned there, is illegal to burn in America. That tells you something.”

I've followed this story for some time, sad to say that Sergeant Muller died last week. Rest in Peace, Sergeant.

Hundreds say goodbye to Amie Muller, who sounded alarm over toxic risks for Iraq veterans

Obituary for Amie Marie (Dahl) Muller

 

[CDG]

RIP Amie.

 

[Kraut783]

Damn.... rest in peace.

 

[Ooh-Rah]

<UPDATE>

Veterans who say burn pit exposure made them sick await judge's decision on lawsuit

WASHINGTON – Hundreds of veterans and their families who have spent eight years in federal court trying to prove that burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan made U.S. troops sick are worried they’ll hit a legal dead end if a Maryland judge decides the company that ran the smoke-belching disposal sites can’t be sued because it was working on behalf of the government.

 

[Gunz]

KBR: No evidence that breathing fumes from burning trash pits is harmful bwaaaahaaabwahaaa

Any company that can come up with a bullshit line like that needs to be sued until they bleed out.

 

[AWP]

I honestly expect to die from some rare form of lung cancer having never smoked a day in my life. Some nights you could smell the burning plastic in your clothes long after you went inside. A good temperature inversion would leave Bagram's valley with a layer of smoke and pollution starting about 200' and up. Kabul is worse from what I'm told. I wouldn't be surprised in the long run if you weren't better off at a FOB and its physical dangers.

 

[Kraut783]

heh, locals also burned their trash.....to include animal carcasses.

 

[R.Caerbannog]

@AWP I dunno about the FOB's, but at our JSS and many of the smaller outposts all trash was burned. I dunno if this will lighten the mood, but when fresh JP8 was added to the pit it would cause the piss bottles to explode and you'd get the occasional golden rain at the JSS.

It was incredible how much trash a small group of us created; from plastic protein tubs, food wrappers, and all the junk in between was pretty crazy. So I'm wondering what it must have been like at a one of the main bases. To be fair though, most trash was burned or just discarded in Iraq by locals and service members alike and I have no idea what Afghanistan was like.

 

[AWP]

@AWP I dunno about the FOB's, but at our JSS and many of the smaller outposts all trash was burned. I dunno if this will lighten the mood, but when fresh JP8 was added to the pit it would cause the piss bottles to explode and you'd get the occasional golden rain at the JSS.

The smaller FOBs would burn their trash, but the volume compared to Bagram was real small. At time the pit was this massive hole in the ground that burned 24/7. Then the incinerators arrived and you could have 4 of them going at once. I think the only time I noticed a burn pit at a FOB was the old Jalalabad PRT. Bagram was also extra stupid (which says a lot in a country overrun with stupid) because it put the burn pits upwind of the base. No kidding, the wind was almost always out of the north, so the pits were placed at the north end of the runway.

The gov't deserves to pay if only because it did something colossally stupid for well over a decade, a problem anyone with more than a few days at the base could identify.

 

[R.Caerbannog]

The smaller FOBs would burn their trash, but the volume compared to Bagram was real small. At time the pit was this massive hole in the ground that burned 24/7. Then the incinerators arrived and you could have 4 of them going at once. I think the only time I noticed a burn pit at a FOB was the old Jalalabad PRT. Bagram was also extra stupid (which says a lot in a country overrun with stupid) because it put the burn pits upwind of the base. No kidding, the wind was almost always out of the north, so the pits were placed at the north end of the runway.


The gov't deserves to pay if only because it did something colossally stupid for well over a decade, a problem anyone with more than a few days at the base could identify.

This makes me wonder about the huge amount of waste that was created by us, like if there was a way to have made use of it. I mean we shipped god knows how many tons of material overseas to only discard and burn it later on. The whole burn pit issue also makes me wonder if anyone has done a garbology analysis of the material tossed / burned, which could really shed light on the behavior and lifestyle of people to whom the garbage belonged to.
At the end of the day, this burn pit debacle is the governments and KBR's fault for being negligent idiots, but I wonder if another issue is our culture. What I'm saying, is that culturally we are used to tossing things away and not using every material to it's max potential. In the US tossing stuff in the garbage is fine, but when supplies have to be shipped overseas and through contested areas every piece of tonnage should have some accountability. I also wonder how much our dependence on consumer goods has affected our ability to fight and the way we plan bases and occupation strategies.

 

[compforce]

The smaller FOBs would burn their trash, but the volume compared to Bagram was real small. At time the pit was this massive hole in the ground that burned 24/7. Then the incinerators arrived and you could have 4 of them going at once. I think the only time I noticed a burn pit at a FOB was the old Jalalabad PRT. Bagram was also extra stupid (which says a lot in a country overrun with stupid) because it put the burn pits upwind of the base. No kidding, the wind was almost always out of the north, so the pits were placed at the north end of the runway.

The gov't deserves to pay if only because it did something colossally stupid for well over a decade, a problem anyone with more than a few days at the base could identify.

And then there's this from the attached Memo for Record

 

[RackMaster]

I honestly expect to die from some rare form of lung cancer having never smoked a day in my life. Some nights you could smell the burning plastic in your clothes long after you went inside. A good temperature inversion would leave Bagram's valley with a layer of smoke and pollution starting about 200' and up. Kabul is worse from what I'm told. I wouldn't be surprised in the long run if you weren't better off at a FOB and its physical dangers.

I'll have to really dig to find it but I remember reports in Kabul that in the city centre it had very, very high % of airborne fecal matter and we had to wear dust masks; which were useless. I'd just wear a scarf over my face. I was still coughing up black shit for about 6 months after I got home.