In 1999, the US Navy wound down its operations in Vieques after a civilian employee’s accidental death in a bombing mishap triggered mass protests from the island’s residents. According to a report by the US Department of Defense, biological weapons were tested in Vieques, but no further details of the operation have been publicly disclosed.

In addition, over 250 rounds of ammunition tipped with depleted uranium were fired in 1999. The US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) noted that the naval training in Vieques included the handling of the chemicals napalm and Agent Orange. Every year, an estimated 3 to 14 million pounds of live ordnance were detonated within the live impact area, which encompassed about 3.6 square kilometres – a mere 12.5 kilometres from the residential population. Shelling took place on 105 of those days. US naval operations in Vieques averaged between 180 and 250 days each year over the six decades. The island’s population of about 9,300 (as of 2010) live in the centre. Military training and operations were conducted in the eastern end of Vieques, while the western end was used to store munitions. We found that the sudden end of bombing drills in July 2000 coincided with a 56 to 79 percent decrease in the incidence of congenital anomalies.įor the 60 years until 2001, Vieques, a tiny island off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico, hosted a range of US Navy exercises including ship-to-shore gunfire, air-to-ground bombing by naval aircraft, and Marine amphibious landing. Bombing activity there led to short-term increases in water pollution, which has been linked to increased frequency of miscarriages and congenital anomalies. My latest paper, “ Military training exercises, pollution, and their consequences for health ”, co-authored with Gustavo Bobonis and Leonardo Tovar, studies the effect of US Navy drills on the health of babies born in the Puerto Rican territory of Vieques. Given that armed forces continue to hold training exercises around the world, we would benefit from a better understanding of the potential impact of these practices on the physical and mental health on nearby populations. While the toll war games exacts on soldiers is well-documented and often well-publicised, less understood is their impact on people who live near military bases and training grounds. Elsewhere in the world, military training mishaps likewise make the headlines whenever they happen. Between 20, accidents accounted for about 32 percent, or 5,605, of military deaths in the United States Armed Forces, twice the number killed in action. Militaries around the world train regularly to ensure troops stay fit for combat, but for one army at least, the drills have become deadlier than the real deal.

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