Shortly after the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in the
early 2000s, the military and its associated contractors had a basic logistics
problem to solve: what to do with all of the trash piling up on every facility
from small outposts to giant installations such as Joint Base Balad, Iraq?
In most cases, officials decided to burn it in open-air
pits. In the years since, thousands of veterans have pointed to those exposures
as the source of serious, debilitating, sometimes fatal health problems.
Joseph Hickman, a former Marine turned soldier who
previously helped expose prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, began
interviewing veterans and active duty military members exposed to burn pits
about their health problems and struggles with getting help from the Department
of Veterans Affairs. After more than 1,000 interviews, records requests and
queries to government officials, Hickman has written the book, “The Burn Pits:
The Poisoning of America’s Soldiers,” which was released earlier this year.
Editor’s note: this interview was edited for content and
clarity.
Q: What drew you into this topic and what kept you pushing
you to develop it into a book project?
A: I knew nothing about burn pits when I served in the
military. After leaving service in 2009, veterans I knew told me about medical
problems they were having since they served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Using
skills that I’d learned as a private investigator I started to check out into
their claims. I was gathering information and I just kept hitting barriers. I
asked for simple stuff like plume samples that they were taking. No one seemed
to have them. It made me suspicious.
Q: In an author’s note in your book you first mention how
Vietnam War veterans were exposed to Agent Orange and the struggles they had
and still have getting recognition and treatment. Why did see that as necessary
to include?
A: It’s the same patterns. Burn pits automatically remind me
of Agent Orange. They had no problems they were sent to war quickly and come
back with these rare health issues. The same procedures put into place to
handle Agent Orange as burn pits. First they lied there was any such thing as
Agent Orange. Then there wasn’t a problem. Then they admitted it could be a
problem but they would have to do more studies. Then they needed a registry and
monitoring. Then it was denial, denial, denial and then years later the
government could actually afford it so they started doing something. Years and
years and years of research that they’re doing until they say, ‘we did poison
these people and we’ll make restitution.’ The burn pit victims don’t have that
time.
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