Fig. 1

U.S. Military Burn Pit Locations in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. The images illustrate the environmental and health hazards posed by burn pits, highlighting the scale of smoke and airborne toxicants released and providing context for discussions on toxic exposures and their potential health impacts on military personnel. A, Regions and countries where burn pits were located. The fire icons indicate the approximate locations of U.S. military sites with burn pits. B, Burn pit emissions at Balad Air Base, Iraq. Photos of the Balad Burn Pit by Dr. Julie Tomáška (Ret. Air National Guard) in 2005, with permission. C, The Balad Air Base burn pit was one of the largest documented and equivalent to 7.6 American football fields. For reference, one football field is 5352 m², and the burn pit size was approximately 40,466 m². Images adapted from Perveen et al. 2023 [5]