In this special episode, Captain Torres explains how landfill-like burn pits in Iraq gave him a chronic lung injury and a toxic brain injury.
Captain Le Roy Torres served in the U.S. Army Reserve for 24 years, and spent a year on duty in Balad, Iraq. While there, Torres lived and worked in close proximity to a burn pit. These burn pits act as landfills, where everything from trash, to jet fuel, to medical waste was burned. They were extremely large, and the one near CPT Torres was approximately 10 acres in diameter. It burned 24/7, pumping toxic chemicals and smoke into the air, and into the lungs of soldiers.
As a result of breathing in these fumes, CPT Torres developed chronic lung and brain injuries, which forced him to visit the hospital over 400 times in 10 years.
Burn Pits 360 was founded by Torres and his wife in an attempt to improve post-deployment health outcomes for veterans, especially those caused by the burn pits. Recently, they helped pass the PACT Act, which expands benefits for veterans who were exposed to the burn pits.
You can find CPT Torres on Twitter at @leroytorres01
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sgt. Bill Taylor: Close Calls in Vietnam
BONUS: Aerial Combat, No Fly Zones, and the Skies Over Ukraine
BONUS: Former Navy SEAL Dan Barkhuff Discusses the Russian Invasion
Sgt. Josh Remillard: A Mortarman in Iraq
Lt. Col. Darrell Bogan: Air Force Flight Medic
LCDR Donnelly Wilkes: Battalion Surgeon on the Front Lines in Iraq
Dave Lewis: The Journey of an Apache Helicopter Pilot
Lt. Col. Fred Wellman: Survivor’s Guilt as a Black Hawk Helicopter Pilot in Iraq
Col. Charles Bussey: Christmas in Korea
Sir Ludovic Kennedy: Chasing the Bismarck
A Message to Our Listeners
Capt. Joseph K. Taussig Jr: The Attack on Pearl Harbor
Joseph Lockard: The Hours Before the Attack on Pearl Harbor
Lt. Col. Thomas D. Ferran III: Sniping in Vietnam, Part II
Lt. Col. Thomas D. Ferran III: Sniping in Vietnam Part I
Lt. Col. Amy McGrath: The First Female Marine to Fly a Combat Mission in an F-18
James E.T. Hopkins: WWII Combat Surgeon in Merrill’s Marauders
Kris Goldsmith: The Horrific Documentation of Death
Col. Logan E. Weston: The Fightin’ Preacher and Merrill’s Marauders in WWII
Master Sergeant Michael ‘Top’ Washington: Counterintelligence in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Recruiting Future with Matt Alder
Conflicted: A History Podcast
This American President
Professional Book Nerds
FIVE MINUTE NEWS