02/23/2026
In the years following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a different kind of battlefield injury has begun to emerge one not caused by bullets or blasts, but by smoke.
A sweeping medical study conducted by the National Institutes of Health in coordination with the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs examined the health records of nearly 440,000 service members who deployed between 2001 and 2011. Their focus was not combat wounds, but exposure specifically to the thick, chemical laced smoke rising from massive open air burn pits used to dispose of waste on military bases.
For years, those pits consumed everything from plastics and medical waste to electronics and fuel-soaked debris. The smoke hung low over living quarters, motor pools and work areas. Troops breathed it in day after day.
Researchers found that the longer service members were stationed near burn pits, the greater their risk for serious mental health conditions and brain trauma. Those who spent at least 129 days near the smoke were 27% more likely to report severe stress symptoms and 37% more likely to suffer intracranial injuries.
Among troops exposed for more than 474 days, the numbers rose sharply a 68% higher likelihood of severe stress and a 124% increase in reported intracranial wounds.
Sleep disorders also climbed with prolonged exposure. And across all exposed groups, su***de rates were higher.
While the study did not establish direct causation in part because the military did not systematically record the exact chemical composition of the smoke the associations were strong enough to raise concern. Researchers noted that uncontrolled combustion in burn pits releases a wide array of toxic substances, some known to have harmful neurobehavioral effects.
The mortality data added another layer. Duration of deployment to burn pit bases showed a modest relationship with overall mortality. Although no clear link was found with cancer or heart disease in this relatively young cohort, there were unexpected associations with unintentional injuries, stroke and su***de.
Christian Hoover, a research fellow with the NIH and one of the study’s authors, cautioned that more investigation is needed. But he acknowledged the implications are significant.
In recent years, Congress addressed the respiratory consequences of burn pit exposure through passage of the Honoring our PACT Act of 2022, expanding health care and benefits for affected veterans. Much of the public discussion has centered on lung disease and rare cancers visible, measurable injuries.
This new research suggests the damage may also be neurological and psychological less visible, but no less real.
For thousands of veterans, the wounds of war may not have ended when they left the battlefield. The smoke that once drifted across distant bases may still be lingering not in the air, but in the mind.
