In combat zones and remote bases, the military burns human waste because there’s simply no plumbing, no sewage system, and often no way to haul it out. When thousands of troops occupy a forward operating base in a place like Iraq or Afghanistan, getting rid of waste quickly becomes a matter of both sanitation and security. Open-air burning, typically in large pits or cut-down metal drums, was the fastest and most practical solution available, especially in the early stages of a deployment when infrastructure doesn’t exist yet.
Why Burning Was the Default Option
Forward operating bases are often set up rapidly in hostile territory. In the initial phase of any military operation, forces have to deal with conditions “as is” until security and supply lines are established. Logistical space on transport vehicles is extremely limited, both going in and coming out, so there’s no room to truck waste to a distant disposal facility. Burying it in large quantities risks contaminating groundwater. Leaving it exposed creates disease and attracts insects and rodents, which in a war zone can be as dangerous as the enemy.
Burning solves the problem immediately. A pit is dug or steel drums are cut in half, waste goes in, diesel fuel is added, and it’s lit. The process destroys pathogens, reduces volume dramatically, and can be done with materials already on hand. No specialized equipment needs to be shipped in, no trained sanitation workers are required, and no local infrastructure is needed. For a base that might be established and abandoned within weeks, that simplicity matters.
How the Burn Process Actually Works
The procedure is more structured than most people imagine. According to U.S. Army standard operating procedures, burn pits are supposed to have two separate areas: an active burning zone and a disposal staging area where refuse is deposited before being moved into the fire. Waste is never supposed to be thrown directly into an actively burning pile, partly because explosive or pressurized materials in the trash can send shrapnel flying.
Diesel fuel or JP-8 (a kerosene-type jet fuel) is the approved accelerant. Gasoline is explicitly prohibited because it’s too volatile and dangerous. The Army recommends using waste fuel whenever possible to avoid straining base supplies. Before ignition, sifting the waste helps with airflow, which leads to a more complete burn. During the process, the material needs to be turned periodically to allow air to circulate. Without aeration, the fire smolders instead of burning cleanly, producing far more toxic smoke.
Burning is restricted to daytime hours, starting no earlier than three hours after sunrise and stopping at least three hours before sunset. No new material can be added within an hour of the planned end time. Once the ashes cool, the debris is pushed to the end of the pit and backfilled with soil.
The Scale of Exposure
This wasn’t a niche practice. Nearly 3.5 million U.S. service members have been exposed to smoke and fumes from open burn pits. A study tracking over 400,000 veterans deployed between 2001 and 2014 across 109 bases worldwide found that 85 percent of personnel served at locations with active burn pits. The median deployment lasted over a year, meaning most troops were breathing burn pit smoke daily for months on end.
The pits didn’t just burn human waste. They burned everything a base produced: plastic bottles, packaging, batteries, electronics, medical waste, paint, solvents, and rubber. That mix of materials, when set on fire in an open pit, generates a toxic cocktail of particulates, volatile organic compounds, and heavy metals that drifts across the entire base. Troops who lived and worked downwind had no way to avoid it.
Health Consequences for Veterans
The respiratory effects have been severe and widespread. Veterans exposed to burn pits report higher rates of chronic breathing problems, and studies have linked the exposure to a range of lung diseases including constrictive bronchiolitis, a condition where the smallest airways in the lungs become scarred and narrowed. Unlike asthma, this type of damage is often permanent and doesn’t respond well to inhalers.
In 2022, the PACT Act formally recognized the connection between burn pit exposure and a long list of medical conditions. The VA now treats the following as “presumptive,” meaning veterans don’t have to prove their illness was caused by service:
- Respiratory conditions: asthma diagnosed after service, COPD, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis, interstitial lung disease, constrictive bronchiolitis, and sarcoidosis
- Chronic sinus and airway problems: chronic sinusitis, chronic rhinitis, pleuritis, and granulomatous disease
- Cancers: brain cancer, glioblastoma, pancreatic cancer, kidney cancer, melanoma, lymphoma, and cancers of the head, neck, gastrointestinal system, reproductive organs, and respiratory tract
That list reflects how deeply burn pit smoke can affect the body. The toxic particles aren’t just inhaled into the lungs. They enter the bloodstream and can cause systemic inflammation, which helps explain why the recognized conditions extend well beyond respiratory illness. Former burn pit sites themselves remain contaminated, with pollutants lingering in surrounding soil and water. Some research has connected contaminated groundwater near military sites to congenital heart defects and developmental abnormalities in children.
The Shift Away From Burn Pits
The Department of Defense has moved to restrict open-air burning, but the transition has been uneven. Policy now formally discourages burn pits and requires reporting of active ones, yet a 2024 Inspector General advisory revealed a significant gap: there’s no policy requiring commanders to identify or report burn pits operated by non-DoD entities (contractors, host nation forces) near U.S. personnel. If a burn pit is within 4,000 meters of where troops live, eat, or work but isn’t run by the U.S. military, it may go completely undocumented. That means exposure data in service members’ health records can be incomplete, which later affects their ability to access VA care.
On the technology side, the military has developed alternatives. One example is the Tactical Garbage to Energy Refinery, a trailer-mounted system that converts waste (paper, plastic, packaging, food scraps) into electricity through a combination of gasification and fermentation. The solid waste is thermally broken down into a synthetic gas, while food waste and liquids are fermented into ethanol. Both fuel a standard 60-kilowatt diesel generator, effectively turning trash into power for the base. The system was specifically designed to fit on existing kitchen support trailers so it could deploy without adding new vehicles to the supply chain.
Tracking Exposure After Service
The VA established the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry in 2014 to document and study the long-term health effects. Veterans and service members who served in operations including Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, and New Dawn, or who were stationed in Southwest Asia, Afghanistan, and surrounding regions between August 1990 and August 2021, are automatically included based on DoD deployment records. You don’t need to have a diagnosis or even a known exposure to be part of the registry. The data feeds ongoing research into predictive care and helps the VA identify new presumptive conditions as patterns emerge.