War-zone burn pits - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

War-zone burn pits

A snapshot of some of the people who became sick after their time at H6 housing at Joint Base Balad, by the year they left. They believe their symptoms are due to exposure from the former 10-acre burn pit at Balad:

2003

* A 43-year-old nonsmoking Army staff sergeant was diagnosed with asthma and a chronic cough.

* A trauma nurse was diagnosed with asthma, shortness of breath, chest pain and airway closure when exposed to smoke after she returned home from Balad.

2004

* Air Force Tech. Sgt. Anthony Roles was diagnosed with increased platelets in his blood — or ecentral thrombosis. This makes him sluggish and causes aches and cramps.

* An Army sergeant again deployed to Iraq has had two lung function tests to try to determine why he can no longer run. The tests come up normal, and X-rays show nothing. He’s hoping he can find a doctor who will perform a biopsy.

* An Army chief warrant officer suffers pain in both arms and numbness in his right hand, and an MRI recently showed a calcification that wasn’t there before.

* A 32-year-old nonsmoking Air Force staff sergeant, Wendy McBreairty, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and suffers shortness of breath.

2005

* An Army staff sergeant in her 20s — a former marathon runner — has been medically retired because her asthma is so bad she can’t walk without using an inhaler. She said three people who worked with her at Balad have also have been diagnosed with asthma.

* A 48-year-old nonsmoking Army sergeant major was diagnosed with reduced lung capacity. Testing is still being done to find out why.

* An Air Force master sergeant now serving in Qatar was diagnosed with asthma.

* A 31-year-old nonsmoking Air Force captain was medically retired for sleep apnea, chronic fatigue and anemia.

* A 38-year-old Air Force major developed breast cancer soon after returning home. She also has chronic sinus issues.

* A 46-year-old Air Force senior master sergeant says he becomes winded walking up a flight of stairs or even bending over to tie his shoes. He’s awaiting a lung function test.

2006

* A 46-year-old nonsmoking airman was diagnosed with asthma and sleep apnea, and now has chronic bronchitis and problems taking a full breath. X-rays show signs of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The medic who treated him at Balad now has a brain tumor.

* An Army staff sergeant who served as medic while living in H6 said many of his soldiers complained of respiratory problems while at Balad. He now has an abscess in his esophagus and thickening in the walls of his small intestine.

* An Army captain was diagnosed with a nonmalignant brain tumor and had to have a craniotomy.

* An airman developed lymphatic and testicular cancer and two people in his unit suffered from partial facial paralysis after living in H6.

* Army Master Sgt. William Krawczyk, 47 and a nonsmoker, has a chronic staph infection and has been diagnosed with respiratory and heart problems. Stateside military doctors say he has eosinophilic panniculitis, an autoimmune disease.

* An Air Force sergeant deals with constant allergy-like symptoms, a pulmonary disorder, asthma and sleep apnea.

* An Army sergeant has been diagnosed with bad sleep apnea and asthma, as well as shortness of breath.

* A 38-year-old nonsmoker’s doctor told him to quit smoking after an X-ray showed signs of hyperinflation — an early marker for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. “I’m winded to the point of nearly passing out if I try to run three miles,” the airman said.

* A 38-year-old non-smoking Air Force master sergeant suffers from chronic fatigue and joint pain.

2007

* National Guardsman Sundance Miller, 29, was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer. She quit smoking when she was 21. “My doctor said that at the least, it was accelerated by the toxins in Iraq,” she said. “They can’t pinpoint what it is.”

* A 37-year-old nonsmoking Army staff sergeant serving her second tour in H6 housing was diagnosed with asthma.

* Army First Sgt. Lynette Streitfield, 41, has constant upper respiratory congestion and has been diagnosed with bronchitis and asthma. She can hear popping noises in her chest and her large muscles feel weak.

* A 46-year-old nonsmoking Air Force sergeant major suffers a chronic cough, soft tissue sarcoma, asthma and sinus problems that did not exist before he deployed.

* Three soldiers from one army engineering company say they were diagnosed with cancer after living at H6.

* A retired nonsmoking Army first sergeant has a constant sore throat and the left side of his body is numb.

2008

* A 27-year-old Army captain, Craig Henry, was diagnosed with asthma.

* A 40-year-old airman was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma while in Iraq. He had developed a cough, then had trouble breathing. Doctors, in his medical records, called his disease rare.

* A 48-year-old nonsmoking Air Force master sergeant deals with headaches and constant coughing. “When I breathe deeply, I still feel a tightness in my chest that wasn’t there a year ago,” he said.

* A 29-year-old Army specialist was diagnosed with a rare breast cancer and had a full mastectomy.

* An Air Force staff sergeant came back with constant headaches.

* An Air Force staff sergeant suffers breathing issues and bad headaches.

* A 25-year-old Air Force senior airman suffers constant headaches, has problems breathing, and wakes up in the middle of the night because of his breathing problems.

* A 29-year-old nonsmoking Air Force senior airman has been diagnosed with chronic asthma.

* A 41-year-old nonsmoking Air Force master sergeant was diagnosed with lymphoma.

2009

* A contractor who lived in H6 had to return home for a thyroid gland removal, and also suffers headaches, labored breathing, a scratchy throat and coughing.

* Air Force Master Sgt. Jonathan Hilliard, 54, suffers shortness of breath, fatigue and muscle pain.

* Air Force Maj. Jerry Molstad, 52, has an undiagnosed mass in his lungs. He’s also been diagnosed with early chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Read Military Times’ previous coverage

* Report: Army making toxic mess in war zones

* Burn pit at Balad raises health concerns

* Nine burn-pit lawsuits filed against KBR