Veteran Families for Education and Awareness

09/08/2026

9/8/2026 House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Military and Foreign Affairs Report:

"UNSEEN IMPACTS: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE NAVY'S RESPONSE TO POTENTIAL TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY AND MENTAL HEALTH RISKS IN NAVAL AVIATION"

"The Committee’s investigation into brain health in naval aviation reveals a complex and
evolving issue supported by internal Navy documentation, external reporting, and briefings from
the Navy. While the Navy has made significant investments in medical policy, research, and
mental health resources, the evidence reviewed by the Committee indicates that these efforts are
not aligned with emerging concerns about cumulative neurological risk and barriers to care.
The following findings highlight key gaps in the Navy’s current approach, including the
absence of long-term research on the potential impacts of cumulative brain injury, cultural
barriers that discourage treatment, and a tendency to frame aviator health challenges primarily
through the lens of operational stress rather than potential psychological harm. Collectively,
these findings suggest that, despite growing awareness of the issue at senior levels of leadership,
the Navy has yet to develop a comprehensive strategy to understand the full scope of long-term
risks to aviator brain health."

United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

09/07/2026

https://medium.com//military-aviator-cancers-the-rotary-wing-story-02dc12e87c19

The Military Aviator Coalition for Health’s (MACH Coalition) Medium article series pivots to the rotary-wing cancer story.

08/28/2026

Newly digitized footage. 📼

In 1997, Bryan Murphy, Environmental Protection Specialist at NAF Atsugi, delivered this presenation on the U.S. Navy's air quality investigation into the Shinkampo Incinerator Complex.

On April 17, 1997, Naval Air Facility Atsugi’s Environmental Protec...

08/27/2026

More analysis by Burn Pits 360 of the GAO Report GAO-26-108483 on the Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER).

An often overlooked drawback to ILER is ILER does not automatically include records for all veterans who served prior to its implementation. The database has historical limitations regarding who is included and the data available for earlier service periods. Prior to 2000, military deployment tracking and occupational health data were largely paper-based, inconsistent, or non-digitized. As a result, electronic deployment and location records for pre-2001 service members are sparse. Older veterans (such as those who served during the Vietnam Era, Gulf War, or Cold War) are generally included in ILER only if their legacy data was migrated via specific VA registries (e.g., the Agent Orange, Gulf War, or Ionizing Radiation registries) or through integrated VA health records. As of March 2026, Service Members can access their ILER record and add self-reported updates; by September 2026 they should be able to request corrections. October 2026 is the target for veterans to have access to their records and request corrections.

Another concerning aspect to the ILER is a recent modification where veterans will be given the ability to request corrections to their ILER records BUT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ADD SELF-REPORTED UPDATES ON THEIR OWN, yet service members are able to.

Also, see Veteran Families for Education and Awareness July 24 article on the GAO report at: https://www.vfea.org/news/iler-access-coming-for-veterans

GAO released its report on the Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER) on July 22. Burn Pits 360 was one of six military and veteran service organizations GAO interviewed for the study.

The findings, briefly:

→ ILER draws from 16 DOD and VA databases and covers about 11.9 million service members and veterans.

→ Staff use climbed sharply after the PACT Act. VBA claims staff have consistently been the largest user group — in January 2023, VBA began requiring its staff to use ILER on certain toxic exposure claims.

→ Service members got read-only access and a self-reporting function in March 2026. A correction process is targeted for September 2026.

→ Veterans have neither, as of the report. Access is planned for October 2026. In June 2026, VA modified its approach: veterans will be able to request corrections, but will not be able to add self-reported updates.

→ Classified mission data is excluded, with no plan as of May 2026 to include it. The FY2026 NDAA requires DOD to brief the Armed Services and Veterans' Affairs Committees on how it intends to handle classified ILER data. As of May 2026, no briefing date had been set.

The structural risk is one GAO names directly, and one we raised: the burden of proof quietly shifting to the veteran. When adjudicators work from an exposure record the veteran cannot see, cannot correct, and that is known to be incomplete — particularly for pre-2001 deployments — the practical effect is a veteran defending a file they never had access to.

VA policy is clear that ILER is not to be used to deny a claim, and that a missing record is not grounds for denial.

Start assembling your deployment history, locations, and exposure timeline now, so you're ready to correct the record instead of reconstructing it.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/46l99L5

08/27/2026

https://www.stripes.com/veterans/2026-08-25/veterans-push-gulf-warn-illness-designation-22658298.html

The inclusion would, for the first time, enable veterans to qualify for disability benefits specifically for a diagnosis of Gulf War Illness.

08/19/2026

An Important 2009 Senate Hearing on Military Toxic Exposures

We recently obtained a copy of the October 8, 2009 U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs hearing, “VA/DoD Response to Certain Military Exposures” (Hearing 111-437) and are making the video available on YouTube for future reference.

The hearing was previously available online, but the video was subsequently archived and disappeared from public access. While the official hearing transcripts and written testimony remained available online, the video itself was no longer readily accessible.

Chaired by Senator Daniel K. Akaka, the 2009 hearing examined how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD) identified, documented, researched, and responded to certain military toxic exposures.

The hearing covers several exposure issues that remain highly relevant today:

🔹 Camp Lejeune contaminated drinking water — including TCE, PCE, benzene, and vinyl chloride
🔹 Burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan — including respiratory and systemic health concerns
🔹 Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan — incinerator emissions affecting service members and dependents
🔹 Qarmat Ali, Iraq — hexavalent chromium/sodium dichromate exposure
🔹 The need for accurate exposure records, long-term medical monitoring, research, healthcare, and fair disability benefits

The testimony includes veterans, family members, physicians, scientific experts, and VA/DoD officials discussing the real-world health impacts of these exposures, gaps in exposure documentation and research, scientific uncertainty, and the challenges veterans and families faced in obtaining recognition, treatment, and compensation.

This hearing took place years before the PACT Act and many of the subsequent changes in how military toxic exposures are recognized and addressed. It therefore provides valuable historical context for understanding what was known, discussed, and presented to Congress at the time- and more importantly, what has, or has not, been addressed since.

If you are researching Atsugi, Camp Lejeune, Qarmat Ali, burn pits, or other military toxic exposures, this hearing is well worth watching.

📄 Official hearing transcript:
https://www.congress.gov/111/chrg/CHRG-111shrg53367/CHRG-111shrg53367.pdf

📄 Prepared written testimony:
https://www.veterans.senate.gov/2009/10/va/dod-response-to-certain-military-exposures

This video presents the October 8, 2009 hearing of the U.S. Senate ...

08/18/2026

For more than 17 years, VA has identified 1985–2001 as the exposure period for pollutants from the Shinkampo Incinerator Complex adjacent to Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan.

But what does the historical record actually show?

VFEA examined Navy records, congressional testimony, Japanese government documents, and other historical sources indicating that the incinerator complex began operating in 1980—five years before the exposure period currently used by VA.

The historical record also documents open burning, unauthorized waste disposal, and inadequate pollution controls during those early years, raising important questions about VA’s recognized exposure period and its implications for veterans who served at NAF Atsugi before 1985.

https://www.vfea.org/news/exposure-period

Historical records reveal that NAF Atsugi's airborne hazards began five years earlier than VA's official 1985 start date.

08/16/2026

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2026-08-13/red-hill-navy-water-hawaii-jet-fuel-22546183.html

The Navy awarded a $309 million contract to Hensel Phelps, a Colorado firm, to build a permanent water treatment plant for a well in Hawaii that has been shut down since late 2021.

08/16/2026