Health hazards of exposures during deployment to war.

OBJECTIVE

This article serves as an introduction to the history of military environmental exposures, both man-made and naturally occurring. It also discusses exposure hazards of concern to US military members who have served in armed conflict in the past 40+ years.

METHODS

A review of the literature of the historic exposure concerns as well as those of the recent and current conflicts.

RESULTS

In recognition that there have been no significant compilations of articles regarding exposure hazards and concerns faced by US Service members returning from the recent and current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, this dedicated issue of the Journal contains 14 such papers. This articles provides a brief overview of these reports.

CONCLUSIONS

Environmental exposure hazards during deployment to conflict are not new. Concerns about these exposures are not new. Many conflicts have similar, if not identical exposures of concern, but also often have some that are unique to the particular conflict. In 2001 the Department of Veterans Affairs established a new program to address some of these concerns of Veterans.