Compensation is finally on the way for veterans who have developed long-term medical issues and injuries due to exposure to burn pits on deployment. The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced that they will be offering disability to those exposed after along push to account for the medical conditions sustained.
Burn pits that servicemen and women have been exposed to may have contained trash, jet fuel, ammunition, toxic waste, and other dangerous chemicals. Much of this occurred in the Persian Gulf War as well as in Afghanistan, with soldiers being exposed to the burning material on US military bases. This has unfortunately left many veterans with medical issues from anywhere from asthma and sinusitis to potentially deadly forms of cancer. In addition, the research in terms of the effects of the burn pits is ongoing and not all of the detrimental effects may be known yet.
The amount of payment that veterans who may qualify should expect could be anywhere from $130 to $3,400 a month, depending largely on how severe the medical issues are.
Although the VA has taken years to get these benefits officially passed, it has been in the works for quite some time. In 2014, the VA added a registry program for veterans with medical conditions that have been scientifically linked to burn pits. The delay in passing these benefits essentially came down to more research needing to be completed to prove the correlation between the burn pits and medical conditions.
Many claims from veterans citing the burn pits for their medical concerns had been rejected in past years, making this a welcome development for a concern that has impacted veterans and their families for several years.