Service members who lived or worked on contaminated bases, handled AFFF, or worked in occupational specialties with high foam exposure face elevated PFAS body burdens. Military firefighters are among the most heavily studied groups.

• Military firefighters trained and fought fires using AFFF as their primary suppression tool for decades.
• Aircraft crash and rescue crews deployed AFFF in live-fire training multiple times per year.
• Fuel system maintenance personnel worked in environments where AFFF had been used and PFAS-contaminated water was present.
• Flight deck personnel on carriers were present during foam deployments.
• Anyone who lived on a base with contaminated drinking water was exposed through their daily water supply over months or years of assignment.

The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act — the PACT Act — was signed in August 2022. It is the most significant expansion of VA benefits for toxic exposure in decades.

The PACT Act expands eligibility for VA health care to veterans who served at locations with documented toxic exposures, including PFAS-contaminated military bases. It establishes a framework for presumptive service connection for certain conditions linked to toxic exposures, reducing the documentation burden veterans must meet for disability compensation.

• File for VA health care enrollment if you have not already done so.
• Inform your VA provider of your duty stations and any firefighting or AFFF-related work.
• Ask specifically about exposure screening for PFAS.
• Document your service locations, particularly if you served at a base with known contamination.
• The VA has a toxic exposure hotline at 1-800-698-2411.

If you have potential PFAS exposure through military service, these conditions have the strongest documented links to PFAS and are worth raising with your provider: kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, liver disease, and immune system disorders.

See the Health Effects page for the full evidence summary on each condition.

The Department of Defense has been conducting site investigations and remediation under the Installation Restoration Program. At contaminated sites, the DoD typically installs groundwater treatment systems using granular activated carbon or ion exchange to remove PFAS from extracted groundwater. On-site soil remediation is more difficult and expensive. The technology to permanently destroy PFAS in soil at scale is still developing.

The EPA’s 2024 CERCLA designation of PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances gives the agency new authority to require cleanup at military sites and to compel cost-sharing from AFFF manufacturers — a development with significant implications for how cleanup is funded.

3M agreed in June 2023 to pay up to $12.5 billion over 13 years to resolve claims by public water systems contaminated by PFAS from AFFF. DuPont and its spinoff companies agreed to a $1.185 billion settlement with water utilities in the same year. These settlements addressed claims from municipal water systems, not from individual veterans or community residents.

The PACT Act created a specific legal pathway for veterans, family members, and workers harmed by contamination at Camp Lejeune between 1953 and 1987. Claims can be filed directly with the Department of the Navy. If denied, claimants can pursue a federal lawsuit. The statute of limitations for new Camp Lejeune claims ran two years from the PACT Act’s signing in August 2022. That deadline has passed for new filings, though claims filed before the deadline remain in process.

Residents of communities near military bases have filed lawsuits against AFFF manufacturers in federal multidistrict litigation. These cases are separate from the water utility settlements and remain active. If you believe you have been harmed by PFAS contamination from a military source, consult an attorney with environmental or toxic tort experience.