SCOTUS Gives a Whiff on Burn Pits
Several news agencies, including Reuters, have reported that the Supreme Court of the United States has rejected appeals from military veterans who claim they suffer health problems because of open burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The lawsuits said military contractor KBR dumped tires, batteries, medical waste and other materials into open burn pits. The suits claimed the resulting smoke caused neurological problems, cancers and other health issues in more than 800 servicemembers. The complaints said at least 12 servicemembers died.
Servicemen have complained for years about burn pit duty and much of the time it was not batteries or chemical waste.
Please continue to pour in the diesel fuel, light, stir and take a whiff. It is as we always thought, complaining does you no good.
Category: Politics
Burn pits = oil well fires set by So Damn Insane ’91 (and on this date in history how many of y’all were jumping over the line?)
Burn pits = troops sitting on case of depleted uranium rounds, now have prostate cancers.
Burn pits = Agent orange!
Burn pits = Close in, live observation of atmospheric atomic/hydrogen bomb tests.
Need we go on?
I’m from the government and I’m and I’m here to help. Which is the true statement?
From the sounds of the problems it sounds like Burn Pits = Agent Orange but facts are a little short as was somewhere around 3 million affected and less than 850,000 still alive and waiting. Govt does not = help. Govt= B/S, red tape and we’ll be there for you after you die if we have time.
This would be the same government that poisoned Marines and their families for 30 years from the 50s to the 80s and then lied about it for another 30 years if I’m not mistaken….
It’s the same government that now appears responsible for poisoning some of the local wells near the Air Reserve base in Western Mass…
You know, the same government that would fine a private company right out of existence for doing what they’ve been doing and lying about for decades.
It’s time we the people really understand that taken as a whole our government is not at all on our side, some segments of the government really work hard for our protection but much of it works to simply strengthen its hold on the people and continue to grind your civil liberties under their heel.
The tree of liberty must be watered at times with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
The Milwaukee Sewerage District dumps billions of gallons of raw sewage into Lake Michigan every summer.
Whenever it rains they dump…
I’ve flown over it and you can see the difference from the air. Brown sludge vs pretty clean water thanks to the Alewives…
Nothing has ever been done about that either…
VOV, this was the basis for my comment yesterday about the Fitzgerald families suing the government for their losses. Suing a sovereign state is a far different thing than suing a corporate entity. A government may be held liable but only to the extent that government wants to be held liable and there’s nothing can be done about it because the courts tend to circle the wagons of the state when it comes to sovereign immunity.
Been exposed to the oil well fires, burn pits, and questionable uses of CARC paint. Testicular cancer in ’92, and currently getting radiation for prostate cancer. COPD. Pretty sure there’s a connection. Try again, SCOTUS. Service members, speak up, raise hell.
Don’t forget exposure to asbestos and painting underway.
Good times. Good times.
As I said, need we go on? Just as we were the tip of the Spear, these headlines are the tip of the iceberg.
It turns out that the spear was up our asses.
The smell of diesel fuel combined with human waste used to trigger me.
Unfortunately they reformulated diesel back in the nineties and I no longer enjoy those fond memories of sitting around the barrel shooting the shit with my pals.
Registered on the VA Burn Pit site years ago – as I remember the questions asked gave Uncle Sam plenty of wiggle room.
Was just looking at the Congressional Budget Office’s recommendations for Tricare last night – nothing surprises me anymore…
Depending on what was burned, some of these guys could very well have legit complaints. There are undoubtedly some freeloading whiners in there as well.
Smoke is always nasty, but some items produce nastier smoke than others. LA City Fire Department has to medically retire two truckies a couple of years ago who had been on the aerial staffing the elevated master stream on an industrial warehouse fire when a wind shift enveloped them in smoke. They absolutely should have been masked up on the aerial, regardless of which way the smoke was going, but they weren’t, and they wound up sucking down whatever ethylmethylbadshit was offgassing in that place. As a result, they’re crippled for life, with barely enough lung capacity to stand unassisted.
TOW, you all(smoke eaters) have nothing but respect from me. After the Army I worked on the civilian side as a paramedic (municipal third service), I’ve seen you all go into places I’d damn well would stay clear of, even with an SCBA.
Gone are the days when I was on Ladder 2 (LBFD) and wore my boots rolled down and my nomex lined rubber coat’s bottom came to the top of my knees and wore a Cairn’s New Yorker leather forever helmet with an FDNY bend in the back. Got caught using a cheater instead of the face piece so that was that. Two Volley friends of mine who were local 3 NY electricians worked at the Twin Towers site and one maybe has five years left and the other has had lung problems now for a couple of years. The EPA said everything was okay but I smelled the stuff when working in the area and mentioned to people that the EPA was full of shit.
The statistic that always makes me skeptical of claims of cancer being caused by (fill in human caused blank) is this:
• Approximately 38.4% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics
Correlation is not causation until a decent statistical analysis shows causation. Anecdotal stories are not causation. So far, burn pit studies cannot identify a correlation much less a causation to cancers being caused by burn pits. Admittedly, the cohorts are very small which makes it nigh on impossible to establish any correlation/causation.
It is human nature to look for blame upon getting a personal cancer misfortune. Sometimes there is a causative agent. Most times it is just nature being the bitch she/he/it is.
Sometimes it is our own behavior. I smoke. I am running a risk of lung cancer. I like red meat – in large quantities – which has a strong correlation (unproven causation) to colon cancer. So my behavior lands me unfavorably in two of the top three cancer potential categories.
Additionally, sometimes cancer is the result of familial genetics. See anyone suing mom & dad?
There are far, far more naturally occurring carcinogenic chemicals and agents than human produced carcinogenic chemicals and agents. Good luck trying to avoid all the natural ones.
Cheery thought of the day: nearly 40% of us reading this will get a cancer during our lifetime. Blame whoever has the deepest pockets, but it does not necessarily make it true.
Agree with you 100%. There’s no definitive way to know if any or all of my ailments were a result of something I was exposed to in the military. I’m not asking for a payout. I’d just like to know.
Comes with the job. Do artillery propellants cause cancer? Cancel arty MOS. Bad stuff in grenades? Get non-dangerous explosives. Fumes from tank main gun rounds in the turret? Ban tanks.
Well if we just give jobs to all the terrorists, we won’t have to go to war. That means we won’t have to worry about spent uranium, burn pits, arty propellant, pollution of other countries, etc.
Then, DoD can go back to their previous #1 National Strategy being combating Climate Change!