Posted on Mar 9, 2022
Sick veterans demand medical coverage for illnesses caused by burn pits
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https://www.npr.org/2022/03/09/ [login to see] /sick-veterans-demand-medical-coverage-for-illnesses-caused-by-burn-pits
Army veteran Rafael Rivera didn't always think much about his future or his health, especially while on patrol in southern Afghanistan, smoking cigarettes when he was deployed there for 13 months starting in May 2010.
"Having made your last will and testament three times by the time you're 20, you don't have thinking, long-term," Rivera said.
When he came home from Afghanistan, Rivera focused on his health, quit smoking and changed his diet. He also started teaching yoga. Despite these efforts, he said he never started to feel healthy.
"A year went by without having smoked a cigarette. And like, 'I'm still a coughing up this (expletive),'" said Rivera, who was a mechanic and driver while in Afghanistan. "Like, wait a minute, two years goes by and I'm still struggling?"
Like millions of troops, Rivera was exposed to open pits of trash burned with jet fuel, which is a known carcinogen. Now he gets winded from seemingly simple exercise; his doctors tell him he's got constrictive bronchiolitis.
Army veteran Rafael Rivera didn't always think much about his future or his health, especially while on patrol in southern Afghanistan, smoking cigarettes when he was deployed there for 13 months starting in May 2010.
"Having made your last will and testament three times by the time you're 20, you don't have thinking, long-term," Rivera said.
When he came home from Afghanistan, Rivera focused on his health, quit smoking and changed his diet. He also started teaching yoga. Despite these efforts, he said he never started to feel healthy.
"A year went by without having smoked a cigarette. And like, 'I'm still a coughing up this (expletive),'" said Rivera, who was a mechanic and driver while in Afghanistan. "Like, wait a minute, two years goes by and I'm still struggling?"
Like millions of troops, Rivera was exposed to open pits of trash burned with jet fuel, which is a known carcinogen. Now he gets winded from seemingly simple exercise; his doctors tell him he's got constrictive bronchiolitis.
Sick veterans demand medical coverage for illnesses caused by burn pits
Posted from npr.org
Burn Pits
Afghanistan
Hazmat
Cancer
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 1
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