An open burn pit is an area of land used for open-air burning of trash and other solid waste. The term almost always refers to the large-scale waste disposal sites operated on U.S. military bases in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other overseas locations during the post-9/11 wars. These pits burned everything from food scraps and plastics to medical waste and electronics, often around the clock, sending thick plumes of toxic smoke over bases where thousands of service members lived and worked. The largest known pit, at Joint Base Balad in Iraq, burned up to 200 tons of waste per day in 2007.
Why the Military Used Burn Pits
Forward operating bases in combat zones typically lacked the infrastructure for conventional waste management. There were no landfills, no recycling facilities, no municipal trash collection. Open burning was the quickest, cheapest way to dispose of the massive volume of waste generated by thousands of personnel on a single base. The Department of Defense has acknowledged that burn pits were a common waste disposal practice at military sites outside the United States, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, from the early 2000s through the 2010s.
The pits themselves were sometimes little more than large trenches or cleared areas of ground. Waste was piled in, doused with jet fuel, and set on fire. On busy bases, these fires ran continuously. The smoke drifted directly over living quarters, workspaces, and dining facilities, meaning personnel breathed it in for months or even years during their deployments.
What Was Burned
Burn pits didn’t just handle ordinary garbage. They consumed virtually every type of waste a military base produced: food waste, plastics, styrofoam, rubber, treated wood, paint, solvents, medical and human waste, batteries, ammunition packaging, and petroleum products. Many of these materials release highly toxic compounds when burned in uncontrolled, open-air conditions. The resulting smoke contained dioxins, cancer-linked hydrocarbons, and fine particulate matter small enough to penetrate deep into lung tissue. Unlike an industrial incinerator, which burns at carefully controlled temperatures and filters emissions, a burn pit has no temperature control and no filtration at all.
Health Effects on Veterans
The health consequences of burn pit exposure have become one of the defining medical issues for post-9/11 veterans. The damage centers on the lungs but extends well beyond them.
Among 760,621 veterans studied between 2003 and 2011, the rate of asthma nearly tripled, from 1.1% to 3.1%. Deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan specifically increased the risk of developing new asthma, with rates reaching as high as 14% in some groups. Many of these veterans had no respiratory problems before deployment.
One study followed 31 non-smoking soldiers who were healthy before deployment but developed breathing problems during or after their time overseas. Biopsies of their lung tissue revealed scarring and a condition called constrictive bronchiolitis, where the smallest airways in the lungs become inflamed and permanently narrowed. What makes this condition tricky is that standard breathing tests came back normal in 26 of the 31 patients, even though most showed abnormal airway sensitivity when tested more thoroughly. This means many affected veterans may appear fine on routine screening while still having real lung damage.
The effects extend beyond the lungs. Veterans exposed to burn pits develop chronic sinus and nasal problems at significantly higher rates. In one study of 186 patients, nearly 28% of those with burn pit exposure had chronic sinus disease with nasal polyps, compared to just 8.5% of deployed veterans who weren’t exposed to burn pits. Studies have also suggested connections to cardiovascular disease and several types of cancer, though the data on these links is still developing.
The PACT Act and Presumptive Coverage
For years, veterans who believed burn pit exposure caused their illness faced an uphill battle proving the connection to the VA. That changed in 2022 with the PACT Act, which established “presumptive” conditions for burn pit exposure. If you’re a veteran with one of these conditions and you served in a qualifying location, the VA presumes your illness is service-connected. You don’t have to prove the link yourself.
The presumptive respiratory conditions include:
- Asthma diagnosed after service
- Chronic bronchitis
- COPD
- Chronic rhinitis and chronic sinusitis
- Constrictive or obliterative bronchiolitis
- Emphysema
- Interstitial lung disease
- Pulmonary fibrosis
- Sarcoidosis
The presumptive cancers cover a broad range: brain cancer, glioblastoma, gastrointestinal cancers, head and neck cancers, kidney cancer, lymphoma, melanoma, pancreatic cancer, reproductive cancers, and respiratory cancers of any type.
Who Is Eligible for the Burn Pit Registry
The VA maintains the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry for tracking and supporting affected service members. You’re eligible if you deployed to the Southwest Asia theater of operations, Egypt, or Somalia between August 2, 1990, and August 31, 2021, or served in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Uzbekistan, or Yemen between September 11, 2001, and August 31, 2021. The qualifying region spans a wide geographic area: Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Oman, and the surrounding waters of the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, and Arabian Sea, plus the airspace above all of these locations. Many eligible veterans have been automatically enrolled.
Joining the registry doesn’t file a benefits claim, but it creates a record of your service location and any health concerns, which can support a future claim. It also contributes to the larger body of evidence researchers use to understand the full scope of burn pit health effects.