Home Fires: In Balad, Smoke and Fire

Balad Air Base in northern Iraq was once nicknamed “Mortaritaville” by the soldiers and airmen who called it home. When I was there from 2007 to 2008, mortar attacks were so common and seemingly ineffective that the frequent interruptions were often a welcome break from the daily grind.

For most airmen on base, a trip beyond guarded gates of Balad was unthinkable. Beyond the usual mortar or rocket attack, I know it’s strange to say, one would have to go to the hospital to be sure there was a war going on.

Yet, a dark cloud loomed above us, never letting us forget that we were not on home station.

Balad, like bases throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, burned its own waste. Hundreds of tons of Styrofoam, plastic, uniforms, oil, fuel and other trash went into the air from an open, smoldering pit.
When I first arrived in Iraq, I thought a portion of the base was under attack. We later learned the floating plume was the source of Balad’s signature stench.

At times, the wind would change directions and a toxic cloud would hang low and overwhelm the housing area. It could influence flight line operations, limit visibility and make eyes and lungs burn. It was inescapable. More than once it made me sick. I went to medical for help and was told that my nausea and symptoms were minor compared to people who were coughing up black phlegm and having constant attacks.

As a member of the public affairs team, I was surprised the obvious health concerns the burn pit caused had not reached the media. The release of information was inevitable.

Long before our deployment, in late 2006, Lt. Col. Darrin Curtis, then bioenvironmental flight commander at Balad, wrote a letter analyzing the situation.

He spoke of acute and possibly chronic health hazards associated with the smoke. Like hundreds who deployed before me, I came off of active duty with Colonel Curtis’ letter.

Since details from the burn pit were brought to light by Military Times reporter Kelly Kennedy, then subsequently by CNN and other news sources, hundreds of veterans have come forward who have mild to severe health concerns that they attribute to burn pit exposures in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Kelly Kennedy’s latest update on Balad’s burn appeared in the Military Times this week.)

Stories of soldiers, veterans and widows who attribute cancers and life-threatening illnesses to exposure to the burn pit are coming to light, as are more numerous reports of unexplained shortness of breath, asthma-like symptoms, respiratory issues and other problems. Nearly 500 have come to the Disabled American Veterans to be counted.

The military initially dismissed its own reports on any longtime exposure concerns associated with the burn pit. It has since relented and is looking closer at the matter. The issue has gone as far as the Commander in Chief.

Recent headlines reported the president saying burn pits would not be another Agent Orange — harkening to the exposure hazard that plagued Vietnam veterans. I’m hopeful that he is right. Especially because that exact comparison was made by a military official when I was in Iraq.

Recently, I was contacted by a Navy chief who was stationed a quarter-mile from the burn pit at Balad from November 2005 to March 2006. He told me about a helicopter pilot he knew during his deployment who was diagnosed with unspecified asthma-like conditions.

He wanted to be on the record also, and said he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in June 2007 and underwent five months of chemotherapy and one month of radiation. He has no family history of the disease and was exposed to cancer-causing agents in paints early in his Navy career — but he feels nearly certain the burn pit was the cause of his illness. He said his physicians just shrugged their shoulders when he asked about the burn pit.

His illness cost him $400 a month in military flight pay. There’s no telling how much time it will take off of his life.

It makes me feel fortunate that my V.A. diagnosis is minor — shortness of breath. My inhaler is working and aside from a persistent cough and sinus problems, I can hope that any exposure I faced won’t cost days or months of my life.

Beyond the traditional threats that service members face in a combat zone, there are, inevitably, invisible injuries we bring home. It will take additional studies and perhaps decades for us to fully understand any long term impacts the burn pits may cause our fighting men and women.

But if we owe them anything, if we share an obligation for their service and sacrifices, we have to answer every question and own up to our responsibilities in the case of potentially deadly exposure issues.

Anything less would be unpatriotic.
Home Fires

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