Guernica Magazine runs an interesting article on burn pits, open dump sites used to dispose of waste in Afghanistan, and the health problems that may result from their use for both soldiers and Afghani civilians.
Veterans Administration and private physicians have seen a significant increase in respiratory problems in soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Other physical problems among war veterans include shortness of breath, headaches and coughing up blood. Almost all of these soldiers had exposure to burn pits as well as battlefield smoke and dust storms. It seems unlikely that the thousands of Iraqis and Afghans working on U.S. military bases or living nearby have escaped such debilitating ailments themselves.
“If we know American soldiers are being affected, then we know it is quite possible for local laborers on bases and the local population to be affected,” said Steven Markowitz, a physician and professor of environmental sciences at Queens College, City University of New York.
The military, of course, is a male-dominated profession, so most of the veterans with health problems from the burn pits are male. The United States military’s chemical endangerment of mostly-male soldiers’ lives has a long and opprobrious history– from mustard gas in World War I and II to Agent Orange in Vietnam to Gulf War Syndrome during the Gulf War. One wonders how much more outraged Americans would be if it were mostly women coming home from war unable to breathe and hacking up blood; in fact, one of the original arguments against including women in the military was that people would be far more upset if a woman died or had long-term health problems from her military service, and that would reduce support for the military.
Afghan civilians also are affected by the burn pits. It should not escape masculist notice that every vignette in the Guernica piece is narrated from the point of view of a man. Why?
An Afghan translator earned upwards of $800 a month; Afghan laborers on U.S. military bases brought home $200 a month, soldiers even more. In Afghanistan the average income is less than $50 a month. Why risk a well-paying job because of a bad smell [from the burn pit]?
This is a classic case of the disposable male and how a sexist society ends up harming both men and women. Nearly a quarter of Afghan men believe women should not be allowed to work outside the home; presumably an even larger number believe the man should be the primary breadwinner, or would feel emasculated if their wife worked to support the family when they stayed at home to take care of the children. Therefore, in a country with 35% unemployment and slightly more in poverty, a man has to take what kind of job he can get in order to support his family and retain his manhood.
And if that job ruins your health… well, that’s the price you pay to support your family and discharge your responsibilities. Men are supposed to sacrifice themselves to protect and provide for their families and others who need them. This is noble, of course, but it shouldn’t be necessary. Everyone should be able to work a job that won’t cause them permanent long-term health damage, and no one should be forced to choose between feeding their families and their lives.
Karla: I am a disabled US veteran who has spent a lot of time since I was medically discharged in 2005 working my way through the VA system, trying to get treatment, and benefits. I am also a woman. I have to say that this perception- that female veterans would be received more sympathetically than men when injured- doesn’t hold up in reality. Perhaps that gets overridden by the way people will talk a good game about taking care of veterans but then just leave them by the wayside. I think people don’t like the idea of vets because they… Read more »
@Karla, women can suffer along with the men so long as the public doesn’t believe that they’re suffering along with the men. Ozy is quite correct in her assessment that this is allowed to go on because men are seen as more disposable than women. I would say that your suffering as a woman is collateral damage. As far as the burn pits are concerned, it’s either get sick from a lack of sanitation, get sick from the fumes, or die driving a garbage truck off the base. I had to burn feces with jet fuel a couple times (think… Read more »
Geez. Shows how limiting one’s own viewpoint can be. For years I’ve been pissed about burn pits because private contractors use them to destroy perfectly usable equipment on the grounds that it’s slightly more expensive to move the stuff than to destroy it and order a new one from Uncle Sam, effectively using the United States military as their personal piggy bank. Turns out that wasn’t even the most offensive or upsetting thing just about burn pits, never mind the war in general. That’s depressingly sobering.
“I am also a woman. I have to say that this perception- that female veterans would be received more sympathetically than men when injured- doesn’t hold up in reality.’ That sounds about right. The VA is an equal-opportunity puzzle palace. It’s clearly not true that women get any kind of preference inside the actual bureaucracy. Outside though, in the realm of public opinion, there is the preception at least that the public cares more about females. Do yu rememebr that womean who was captured in the early days of the Iraq invasion? (I won’t use her name because it’s been… Read more »
Thanks for this post, Ozy. I suppose this job might be made safer if the people doing it could be provided with some proper respiratory gear and other anti-contamination clothing. I’m not sure you can avoid disposing of trash this way in a war zone, one doesn’t often have access to any municipal waste treatment plants. Indeed, my brother brought home a book from 1941 that described basic infantry tactics, drills, military courtesy and such things. But it also had a whole section of disposing of waste and constructing field latrines (could be as basic as dig a ditch, possibly… Read more »
Karla: Your point is, of course, correct. 🙂 People don’t want to think about dead or injured soldiers of any type; it makes us feel bad about a war (or three wars) a lot of us are trying to pretend doesn’t exist. My contention is only that (in addition, of course, to the class and race issues, which are of overwhelming importance) one of the ways people manage to Not Think Of injured soldiers is pretending that injured female soldiers, which our culture tends to find a lot more depressing than injured men (notice how often people say “women and… Read more »
Mm… I am almost instantly brought to the parallel of coal mining. Instantly I think of black lung, the thousands that die each year in mining accidents around the world (from all mines, not just coal), and the physical risks involved with it. And I wholeheartedly agree: men fill the vast majority of jobs with high risk of harm. I personally have had on-the-job injury, but I don’t think a dog bite can quite hold up to the possibility of a cave in that may mean you never see the light of day again. While I know there are women… Read more »
“One wonders how much more outraged Americans would be if it were mostly women coming home from war unable to breathe and hacking up blood; in fact, one of the original arguments against including women in the military was that people would be far more upset if a woman died or had long-term health problems from her military service, and that would reduce support for the military.” I am a disabled US veteran who has spent a lot of time since I was medically discharged in 2005 working my way through the VA system, trying to get treatment, and benefits.… Read more »