Redesigned Airborne Hazards and

Open Burn Pit Registry

On August 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) launched the redesigned Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry (the Burn Pit Registry).

The registry is an important research tool that enables VA to identify and study health challenges spanning the Veteran and service member population as a whole – providing Veterans and service members of this generation an opportunity to help improve the care and benefits of Veterans and service members in generations to come. Ultimately, the registry is a database that combines Veteran and service member data to help VA better understand, research, and ultimately improve treatment and benefit options for the health challenges experienced by Veterans and service members exposed to airborne hazards and burn pits during their military service.

Importantly, participation in the registry is optional and does not impact nor determine eligibility for VA health care or benefits. 

If you meet the eligibility criteria listed below, there is no action required by you – you will be included. However, if you do not wish to be included in the registry, you can opt out anytime by submitting an “opt out inquiry” at https://vethome.va.gov/BurnPitRegistryOptOut/  

Important updates to the registry include:

• The automatic inclusion of 4.7 million Veterans and service members who, according to U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) records, meet the participation criteria outlined below.
• The removal of a cumbersome 144-question registry questionnaire.
• Establishment of an easy registry opt-out process.

Veterans and service members (living or deceased) who, per DOD records, served in the military campaigns or theater of operations listed below from August 2, 1990, through August 31, 2021, will be automatically included:

• Operations and Campaigns: Desert Shield and Desert Storm (ODS/S); Iraqi Freedom (OIF); Enduring Freedom (OEF); and New Dawn (OND)
• Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, United Arab Emirates, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, and waters of the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, and Red Sea
• The Southwest Asia theater of military operations and Egypt
• Afghanistan, Djibouti, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Uzbekistan, or Yemen any time after September 11, 2001
• Associated airspaces of the countries and bodies of water listed above

Please note, if you’ve already begun enrollment in the Burn Pit Registry, thank you for the steps you’ve taken, and no further action is required. You will have already been enrolled in the redesigned registry if you are eligible.

Veterans can check their status by contacting their local Environmental Health Coordinator. Active-duty service members can check their status at https://vethome.va.gov/inquiry.

We look forward to sharing the Burn Pit Registry’s future research findings and the better future made possible by the nearly 4.7 million Veterans and service members participating. Thank you for your service and for helping VA provide better care to all Veterans.

Submit a VA disability compensation $$$ claim.

• Schedule a virtual or in-person appointment with a VA benefits specialist.
• Submit your VA disability claim online.
• Get help from a VA accredited representative or Veteran Service Organization.