Iraq VA claims: burn pits, Gulf War illness and what the Board grants

Is there a burn pit presumption for service in Iraq?

Yes. Iraq is part of the Southwest Asia theater of operations, and VA presumes exposure to fine particulate matter, including burn pit smoke, for any service there since August 1990, with no minimum time (38 CFR 3.320(a); M21-1 VIII.ii.2.A). Asthma, rhinitis and sinusitis are presumed at any time after service, to any degree. Since the PACT Act took effect in August 2022, the list also covers chronic bronchitis, COPD, emphysema, constrictive bronchiolitis, granulomatous disease, interstitial lung disease, pleuritis, pulmonary fibrosis and sarcoidosis, and many cancers: head, neck, respiratory, gastrointestinal, reproductive, kidney, brain and pancreatic cancers, lymphoma, melanoma and glioblastoma (38 U.S.C. 1120). Bladder and ureter cancers, leukemias, multiple myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes and myelofibrosis were added in January 2025 (38 CFR 3.320a and 38 CFR 3.320b).

How the Board decided Iraq claims

8,144 Board decisions from 2020 to 2025 with a service-connection claim name Iraq. The decision records burn pit exposure in 1,402 of them (17.2%). The list below shows every burn pit list condition and Gulf War illness condition claimed by 15 or more veterans, and the other conditions claimed by 100 or more.

Bar: share granted for Iraq veterans

Red mark: all veterans with the same condition

On the burn pit list (PACT Act)

VA presumes these for veterans who served in Iraq since August 1990, at any time after service.

• Sinusitis DC 6510 / 6511 / 6512 / 6513 / 6514

  41.7% · 144 of 345

  all veterans 22.1%On the burn pit list

• Rhinitis DC 6522 / 6523 / 6524

  57.5% · 150 of 261

  all veterans 27.7%On the burn pit list

• COPD DC 6604

  26.8% · 57 of 213

  all veterans 12.4%On the burn pit list

• Asthma DC 6602

  60.1% · 128 of 213

  all veterans 25.0%On the burn pit list

• Interstitial lung disease DC 6825

  33.3% · 17 of 51

  all veterans 20.5%On the burn pit list

• Prostate, bladder or kidney cancer DC 7528

  47.8% · 22 of 46

  all veterans 33.7%On the burn pit list

• Digestive cancers DC 7343

  50.0% · 19 of 38

  all veterans 24.4%On the burn pit list

• Leukemia DC 7703

  48.3% · 14 of 29

  all veterans 34.2%On the burn pit list

• Chronic bronchitis DC 6600

  8.0% · 2 of 25

  all veterans 9.7%On the burn pit list

• Lung cancer DC 6819

  26.1% · 6 of 23

  all veterans 21.2%On the burn pit list

• Emphysema DC 6603

  33.3% · 5 of 15

  all veterans 12.0%On the burn pit list

Other conditions Iraq veterans claimed most

The most common other claims, and the Gulf War illness conditions.

• Sleep apnea DC 6847

  32.9% · 620 of 1,883

  all veterans 26.2%

• PTSD DC 9411

  43.1% · 430 of 998

  all veterans 27.1%

• Knee DC 5257

  23.7% · 187 of 788

  all veterans 16.3%

• Hearing loss DC 6100

  16.4% · 121 of 740

  all veterans 23.5%

• Migraine DC 8100

  34.9% · 220 of 631

  all veterans 24.6%

• Tinnitus DC 6260

  71.4% · 432 of 605

  all veterans 52.8%

• Back or neck strain DC 5237

  24.0% · 138 of 576

  all veterans 15.8%

• Shoulder DC 5201

  28.2% · 142 of 503

  all veterans 16.7%

• Back (disc disease) DC 5243

  28.1% · 137 of 487

  all veterans 20.0%

• Back (degenerative arthritis) DC 5242

  44.1% · 199 of 451

  all veterans 28.1%

• Hypertension DC 7101

  16.0% · 64 of 401

  all veterans 19.0%

• Acid reflux (GERD) DC 7206

  25.6% · 101 of 395

  all veterans 19.2%

• TBI DC 8045

  25.8% · 90 of 349

  all veterans 13.9%

• Ankle DC 5271

  24.3% · 77 of 317

  all veterans 16.6%

• Chronic fatigue syndrome DC 6354

  10.4% · 31 of 299

  all veterans 9.0%Gulf War illness

• Irritable bowel syndrome DC 7319

  40.0% · 116 of 290

  all veterans 23.7%Gulf War illness

• Hip or thigh DC 5253

  27.6% · 58 of 210

  all veterans 16.1%

• Depression DC 9434

  45.2% · 85 of 188

  all veterans 39.0%

• Dermatitis or eczema DC 7806

  27.5% · 50 of 182

  all veterans 17.5%

• Nerve damage, legs DC 8520

  28.9% · 50 of 173

  all veterans 23.0%

• Degenerative arthritis (other joints) DC 5003

  46.2% · 79 of 171

  all veterans 32.5%

• Erectile dysfunction DC 7522

  20.4% · 33 of 162

  all veterans 19.5%

• Anxiety DC 9400

  36.4% · 56 of 154

  all veterans 21.4%

• Flat feet DC 5276

  17.0% · 26 of 153

  all veterans 20.1%

• Plantar fasciitis DC 5269

  27.1% · 35 of 129

  all veterans 21.9%

• Diabetes DC 7913

  21.6% · 27 of 125

  all veterans 24.0%

• Fibromyalgia DC 5025

  27.7% · 31 of 112

  all veterans 16.0%Gulf War illness

• Chronic adjustment disorder DC 9440

  33.9% · 37 of 109

  all veterans 23.7%

One count per veteran per condition; a remand counts as not granted. Conditions with at least 15 veterans.

How did Iraq veterans do at the Board on burn pit claims?

On conditions on the burn pit list, the Board granted 44.8% of claims in decisions that name Iraq (583 of 1,300), against 23.4% for all veterans with the same conditions. Asthma was granted for 128 of 213 (60.1%), against 25.0% for all veterans.

Rhinitis was granted for 150 of 261 veterans (57.5%, against 27.7% overall), sinusitis for 144 of 345 (41.7%, against 22.1%) and COPD for 57 of 213 (26.8%, against 12.4%).

Iraq veterans did better across the board

The lift is not only on the burn pit list. PTSD was granted for 43.1% of Iraq veterans, against 27.1% for all veterans, and knee claims for 23.7%, against 16.3%. The decisions do not show why the shares are higher. Hearing loss went the other way (16.4%, against 23.5%), and so did hypertension (16.0%, against 19.0%).

To compare fairly, each group's share is set against what all veterans' rates for the same conditions would predict:

Conditions in decisions that name Iraq	Granted	Expected from all veterans	Times as often
On the burn pit list	44.8%	22.4%	2.0 times
Gulf War illness (fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, IBS)	25.4%	16.2%	1.6 times
All other conditions	30.7%	22.9%	1.3 times

The burn pit list stands out beyond the general lift. The Gulf War illness conditions did a little better than the other conditions, measured the same way, but not by much: irritable bowel syndrome was granted for 116 of 290 veterans (40.0%), chronic fatigue syndrome for only 31 of 299 (10.4%).

Do Iraq veterans qualify for the Gulf War illness presumption?

Yes. A veteran who served in the Southwest Asia theater, Iraq included, during the Persian Gulf War is a Persian Gulf veteran (38 CFR 3.317(e)). That covers undiagnosed illnesses and medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illnesses such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and irritable bowel syndrome, if they appear by the end of 2026 (38 CFR 3.317(a); 38 U.S.C. 1117). The same service carries a presumption for nine infectious diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis (38 CFR 3.317(c)). On fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and IBS together, the Board granted 25.4% of claims in these decisions (178 of 701), against 16.4% for all veterans.

Before and after the PACT Act

Decisions that name IraqAll veterans, same conditions

2020

26.1%

16.4%

2021

34.0%

20.5%

2022

51.3%

24.3%

2023

54.1%

24.8%

2024

53.9%

27.6%

2025

40.8%

25.4%

Share of decided claims granted; a remand counts as not granted. One count per veteran. Burn pit list: 38 U.S.C. 1120, 38 CFR 3.320, 38 CFR 3.320a and 38 CFR 3.320b. The PACT Act took effect in August 2022.

On burn pit list conditions, the Board granted 30.2% of claims in decisions from 2020 and 2021 (285 claims) and 48.4% from 2023 to 2025 (822 claims). For all veterans with the same conditions, the shares were 18.4% and 25.9%. Decisions from 2022 sit across the change. Before the PACT Act, the regulation already covered asthma, rhinitis and sinusitis for Southwest Asia service, but only within ten years of service.

Many also served in Afghanistan or elsewhere in the Gulf

Of 514 decisions that granted a burn pit list condition, 318 (61.9%) also name Afghanistan, Kuwait or another place with the same burn pit presumption, against 38.3% of all Iraq decisions. Either deployment can carry the claim.

Why are Iraq burn pit claims denied?

Mostly for want of a diagnosis, not exposure. For 220 denials of burn pit list conditions, the Board's note named a missing current diagnosis in 43.2% of them, a missing medical link in 35.0% and the exposure or service in only 9.5%.

Read the decisions

Recent decisions, with the Board's reasoning as summarized by AI and checked against the decision text:

• A25108154, December 2025: chronic sinusitis granted under the burn pit presumption (38 CFR 3.320) for a veteran who served in Iraq; chronic fatigue syndrome was granted in the same decision as a Gulf War illness.
• A25103497, December 2025: chronic sinusitis granted; the symptoms began during a 2008 deployment to Iraq, VA examiners had diagnosed rhinitis instead, and the Board found the sinusitis was caused by particulate matter in Iraq and Kuwait.
• A25109529, December 2025: irritable bowel syndrome granted as a medically unexplained chronic multisymptom illness (38 CFR 3.317) for a veteran who served in Kuwait and Iraq, on a gastroenterologist's findings.
• A25110053, December 2025: COPD and emphysema denied; burn pit exposure in Iraq was conceded, but the Board weighed conflicting VA exams and found neither diagnosis established.
• A25107481, December 2025: rhinitis denied; the veteran described constant congestion while deployed to Iraq, but the VA examiner diagnosed sinusitis, not rhinitis.

What the data cannot tell you

The Iraq group comes from the places each decision names (Iraq or a city there such as Baghdad, Balad or Fallujah). Decisions that name it only in a quote of the law, or in a finding that the veteran was not there, are left out; 280 such decisions were left out here, and that check is automatic and misses some. A mention is not proof of service there. The group mixes the 1990 to 1991 Gulf War and the deployments since 2003. The burn pit list is matched by rating code, and a code can also hold conditions that are not on the list. Service-connection claims only; rating appeals are left out. The burn pit flag and denial notes are AI-extracted. These are historical outcomes, not predictions.

For representatives

• Confirm the Iraq service first: discharge papers, deployment orders, post-deployment health assessments or the VA's toxic exposure record. No minimum time there is required.
• Get the diagnosis on record. Burn pit denials here turned on it more than anything else: a chronic sinusitis or rhinitis diagnosis from a treating provider, or lung function tests for asthma or COPD.
• Make sure the examiner names the right condition; a claim for rhinitis can fail when the exam finds sinusitis, and the reverse.
• For fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue or IBS, cite 38 CFR 3.317; the condition needs no medical link to service.
• A veteran denied before August 2022 can file a supplemental claim under the new presumptions.