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23 Comments
- wtrwlkr, on 07/06/2009, -0/+15I just returned from a deployment to Camp Anaconda (now called Joint Base Balad). I've heard stories about the burn pit before I arrived and didn't really know what to expect. I never had it as bad as the author, but I did have one encounter with the burn pit that I distinctly remember. It was about 6 am and my unit was running around the main housing area. I was doing fine until I turned on the main street that ran right past the hospital. The smoke was hugging the ground like a dense fog. As soon as I ran into it my throat got dry and I started gagging. I immediately stopped running and held my tshirt to my mouth. I could've gotten in trouble for stopping but at this point I really didn't care. All I could think about is getting back to my housing and washing that nasty taste in my mouth out with water.
The USAF supposedly sent in a health inspection team a few months ago and certified the burn pit as "safe" but I have a hard time believing that considering how ***** I felt that day.
One note about the article: a uniform can be "unserviceable" for a number of reasons. Holes,tears, and ripped buttons are a few examples. Uniforms are burned in order to prevent them from getting into the hands of insurgents who might use them in an attack. I'm not saying that it's not a possibility that uniforms from the hospital don't go to the pit, just that that conclusion shouldn't be reached automatically. - yocouchdigga, on 07/06/2009, -2/+16Camp Anaconda, we hold you in our hearts and when we think about you, we burn body parts! :D
- UltraMegaFilms, on 07/06/2009, -1/+10The author's title choice seems a little bit on the dark side of humor.
- walruspanzer, on 07/06/2009, -0/+4a dark thumbnail as well O_o
- Coven, on 07/06/2009, -3/+7He was also on the wrong side of a guard tower with armed soldiers, holding what could easily be mistaken for a mortar tripod.
rtfa a little more closely next time. - zbeast, on 07/07/2009, -1/+4burning human flesh is fine.. it's no different than any other burning meat.
it's thinks like plastics, rubber and Styrofoam that are bad for you.
Want to see someone instantly puke there guts out..
Burn some white packing foam, not packing peanuts but the big white block foam.
Just let the smoke hit them and up comes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
- nospinhere, on 07/07/2009, -0/+3"The photo that accompanied LaPlante’s article shows an airman dropping in “unserviceable uniforms” into the burn pit. The only reason I can think of a uniform being so unusable that it would have to be burned is if it has blood or human parts on it."
I have my doubts that this guy was stationed there for a year, or even in the military if he can't think up of any other reason a uniform becomes unserviceable other then "blood or human parts" on it. Are you kidding me? lol
In the line of duty you can easily get a tear in a uniform; once that happens it is unserviceable. You can’t just sew it up because military dress code won’t let you wear a uniform with a big stitch line going across it. And if this guy really has been deployed for a year, he would know that by the end of their tour people are trying to unload two or three sets of their 4 pairs of uniforms to lighten up the load on the way home. The uniforms are faded from the deployment, so most never wear their deployment uniforms again. Most bases over there have programs where people can turn their old uniforms in so they can destroy them (which is most likely happening in the photo). Earlier in the war they had a problem with people throwing their uniforms in the trash before they went home. The insurgents then got a hold of the trash outside the base and took the uniforms. You can guess what they ended up doing with them.
One other thing, what the person who wrote the article most likely smelled was not burning flesh, but burning sh!t which smells exactly the same. Early in the war we had to burn our own sh!t because there was no disposal method and it is the worst smell you ever smelt. My guess is that they are burning human waste in this burn pit.
“body parts”, I never laughed so hard when I read that. Almost as ridiculous as Big Foot. - denizen42, on 07/07/2009, -0/+2Most likely, tax dollars
- scooby074, on 07/07/2009, -0/+2With all the technology we have and money being spent on the war, why hasn't any country set up a portable incenerator??? The technology is there to have next to no emissions such as the ones from the burn pit.
I can understand a burn pit for hygiene reasons in a small,temporary base, but Anaconda is a large, semi permanent establishment. To subject our soldiers to these toxins on top of the other risks they face daily is ridiculous. - kartman2001, on 07/07/2009, -0/+2Article is a little old and most of the bases in Iraq and Afghanistan have burn pits. You have to get rid of waste some how. It was no exaggeration the movie Jarheads when he had to burn *****. Anybody that has ever driven through Hit on the way to Al-Assad Airbase in Iraq can attest to the way that city smells because they have basically just thrown their trash on the outside of the town for years.
- thcobbs, on 07/07/2009, -0/+2Apocalypse Now?
- grungemusic3001, on 07/07/2009, -0/+2epic comment
- Tarkaan, on 07/07/2009, -0/+1"General, would you like some barbeque? It's fresh. There's no bread, though."
"CAMP ANACONDA DON'T WANT NONE UNLESS YOU GOT BUNS, SON." - Auto, on 07/06/2009, -5/+6The author is being a bit dramatic. "Here are the pictures I almost died to get." A wild pack of dogs passed him from afar while he took some pictures. I'm not convinced that this is a near death experience.
- nospinhere, on 07/07/2009, -2/+2If so, it was pretty dumb on his part. He was lucky he wasn;t killed. Was he really expecting to find body parts? lol
- wjappe, on 07/06/2009, -2/+2I can just imagine how nasty the odor can be, I wonder what else they are burning.
- martzmart, on 07/06/2009, -2/+2I'm going to start sending troops more marshmallows.
- haikuFU, on 07/06/2009, -1/+1NO! THIS IS SPARTA!
- loneraver, on 07/06/2009, -2/+1I love the smell of burning.....wait what?
- celticspringers, on 07/06/2009, -2/+1The link to the Salt Lake Tribune article is down. Does anyone have a alternate link?
- FreddyBoy1, on 07/06/2009, -3/+1That's a lot of power going to waste...!! They should be using that power to generate electricity. I thought we had a 'hi-tech' military...
- MysticKatDaddy, on 07/06/2009, -8/+0You have to admit that burning trash is pretty awesome!
- ach111es, on 07/06/2009, -9/+1this is blasphemy.
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