Marine Corps Veterans Association, Sacramento, CA (2026)

09/30/2026

Eight Marines Injured With Smoke Inhalation and Possible TBIs in Previously Unreported Iranian Attack
By Katherine Plummer

An Iranian cruise missile reportedly attacked a U.S. ship in the Strait of Hormuz, injuring eight U.S. Marines.

NBC News, citing anonymous officials, said the attack happened on Sept. 14 but had not been previously reported. The publication reported that while the Marines were not seriously injured, they sustained smoke inhalation and potential traumatic brain injuries (TBI). The officials said some of the Marines had symptoms of concussions, like headaches.

Military.com reached out to DOD for comment and confirmation.

It comes as the war with Iran, which began on Feb. 28, continues and ushers in its seventh month today with no indication of any imminent ceasefire. The ramifications of the military operation have led to major economic effects in the United States, notably within the energy market in the form of high gas prices as well as increased grocery costs.

Eighteen service members have now died and over 800 Americans have been wounded in the conflict, according to the Pentagon's own data. Last week, Army officials told Military.com that Capt. Bianca C. Wilkerson, 37, of Norfolk, Va., died on Sept. 18 as a result of "a non-combat related incident." She was posthumously promoted to major.

NBC News reported that the Marines were not on a Navy ship, and that all returned to duty soon after the attacks. They were reportedly operating as part of a battalion landing team.

The non-commissioned commercial vessel was in the Strait of Hormuz when the cruise missile struck. The Pentagon did not announce the injuries but integrated them into the Defense Casualty Analysis System.

Deaths and Injuries During the Conflict

Those who have died during the war include all six crew members aboard a plane who died in a crash in Iraq in March, when an unspecified incident involving another aircraft occurred while their KC-135 Air Force refueling aircraft was in “friendly” airspace.

In July, Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii; and Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, died in Jordan.

The DOD also named a soldier who disappeared after the Jordan attacks as Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, N.Y.

On Sept. 18, however, The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, reported that more American service members have died than the Pentagon has disclosed publicly. The publication said there have been at least 22 military fatalities, but the Pentagon refuted the claims. Military.com could not independently verify the Post report.

President Donald Trump announced on Sept. 26 that he had rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz and end the current blockade.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in response that Tehran is fully prepared for hostilities to resume, warning of readiness for a "doomsday war."

09/30/2026

Rucking Is Familiar to Many Veterans. Could It Help With Anxiety, Too?
By Matthew Reisdorf

Get good at rucking in soft sand as well for distances of 3 to 5 miles. I would add 1 ruck per week to your training. Keep running too though - you get graded on weekly timed runs - you CANNOT fail those.

Just a backpack, tennis shoes, and a nice day (or perhaps even a rainy day) makes for a great source of exercise that has huge benefits. For those that have served, this form of exercise is more familiar than a stereotypical gym routine. It is also easily conventional.

One thing that it could help with is anxiety. There is some research that shows a connection between walking and physical activity and lowering anxiety.

Before diving into the studies, it is worth stating that any form of anxiety-inducing events is something everyone should strive to check out, as long as it works for them.

How Common is Anxiety Among Veterans?

One Department of Veterans Affairs study found elevated anxiety symptoms in 9.9% of veterans ages 50 and older. Researchers examined data from a 2006 survey of men and found no statistically significant difference between veterans and non-veterans in the same age group. The figure describes symptoms in that older group; it is not a current estimate for all veterans or a count of diagnosed anxiety disorders.

Anxiety can mean persistent worry, restlessness, difficulty sleeping or trouble concentrating. The Defense Health Agency advises people to speak with a health care provider when anxiety interferes with daily life or relationships. Its guidance also lists physical activity as one way to help manage stress and anxiety alongside other care.

Research and Movement

The strongest motivator for starting a rucking routine could be the simplest part of the exercise: walking. Recent research on exercise and anxiety has found some promising results, and studies have had different participants and boundary conditions, but a recent survey from 2025 of exercise reported that walking can moderately reduce anxiety levels. This is a very general finding, and while it is for walking in general, this could be applied to veterans and rucking.

Veteran specific research also shows some clues. In regard to walking and veteran-specific conditions. A recent study by the NIH has shown that posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms can be reduced by exercise.

PTSD and anxiety are separate conditions. This is true, and the findings from this study don’t perfectly correlate with anxiety and walking.

A small randomized pilot study of nature hiking for veterans with PTSD found the approach feasible and acceptable to participants.

Its authors said a larger trial would be needed to test outcomes and sort out the roles of physical activity, time in nature and support from the group. The hikers were not testing weighted packs.

Mission That Can Be Solo and At Your Own Pace

Rucking gives a walk something a little extra. You can just pick a road or path, pick your pace, and go one foot in front of the other. A veteran can go with a friend or explore a local trail. The route and the company make the activity easier and more enjoyable.

That sense of purpose is part of rucking’s appeal, but it remains an individual experience rather than a proven anxiety treatment. Someone might enjoy carrying a light pack. Someone else might get the same benefit from walking without one. The research available does not show that heavier is better for mental health.

There is a physical trade-off, too. The Defense Centers for Public Health warns that carrying loads can stress the body and contribute to injury. Its prevention guidance calls for reducing load and distance, adjusting equipment properly and building up gradually. Veterans with back, joint or foot problems may want to discuss a weighted walk with a clinician before trying it.

If a veteran wants to get back into rucking, the easiest way is to just go out and do a regular walk. After a while, they can slowly add weight or length to their walk as they build their endurance up. A light pack can be added without hurting themselves as well. The goal is to just get a routine and stick to it. No weight or records need to be broken.

An easy way to get active is rucking and spending time outside or walking with people. This can be a great social activity as well. These are plausible reasons it can help someone feel healthier and more robust. A pack on the back can carry relief, as some studies suggest. The pack does not need to be heavy, and the route does not need to be long. For a veteran managing anxiety, the value may lie in having a reason to step outside, move forward and do it again tomorrow.

09/30/2026

VA Travel Reimbursement: Who Qualifies and How to Get It
By Brandon Wile

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ Beneficiary Travel program reimburses eligible veterans and caregivers for the cost of getting to and from approved VA health care appointments. It's a genuinely simple benefit once you understand the pieces, but the eligibility rules, the deductible structure and the filing deadline all trip people up, and many veterans who qualify simply never file a claim.

Who Qualifies

You qualify for Beneficiary Travel reimbursement if you meet at least one of several conditions:

• A service-connected disability rating of 30% or higher

• Travel to treat a service-connected condition regardless of your overall rating

• Receipt of a VA pension, including Survivors Pension

• Travel to a VA compensation and pension exam

• A gross household income at or below VA's means-test threshold

The provision for the compensation and pension (C&P) exam matters more than it sounds like it should. A veteran with a 0% rating, or no rating decision yet at all, still qualifies for mileage reimbursement for travel to a C&P exam, according to VA.gov. Certain other veterans are also automatically exempt from the standard deductible, including Purple Heart recipients, former prisoners of war, and veterans with a qualifying vision impairment.

Certain caregivers, donors and support people can also qualify for reimbursement, according to VA.gov, including:

• A traveling attendant who's medically required to support a veteran's care

• A family caregiver enrolled in VA's Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers traveling for required training

• A transplant donor

• A veteran generally needs to already be eligible for beneficiary travel before an accompanying caregiver can qualify.

The Money: Rate, Deductible, Monthly Cap
Reimbursement Rate

VA's mileage reimbursement rate is 41.5 cents per mile as of this writing.

Deductible

A deductible applies to most claims:

• $3 for a one-way trip

• $6 for a round trip

The deductible is capped at $18 per calendar month. Once you've paid $18 in deductibles within a single month, VA pays the full cost of any additional eligible travel for the rest of that month with no further deduction.

Beyond mileage, the program can also cover approved meals and lodging when preauthorized, as well as special-mode transportation — meaning an ambulance, wheelchair van, taxi or public transit — when that mode of transport is medically required and approved in advance.

How to File

The fastest way to file is online through the Beneficiary Travel Self Service System, known as BTSSS, accessible through AccessVA or directly at VA.gov using a Login.gov or ID.me account, according to VA.gov. First-time users should confirm that their direct deposit information is current before submitting a claim, since electronic payment is both faster and the preferred method that VA recommends.

Veterans who prefer not to file online can submit a paper claim using VA Form 10-3542, available at the Travel Pay office or check-in kiosk at most VA medical facilities, according to guidance on VA.gov's beneficiary travel pages. Same-day filing at the facility, right after an appointment, may be the simplest option for veterans who don't want to deal with the online system.

Claims must be submitted online or in person or postmarked within 30 calendar days of the completed appointment, in accordance with federal law, according to Benjamin Williams, director of the Veterans Transportation Program at VA. Veterans who believe a claim was incorrectly denied on timeliness or any other grounds can pursue the appellate rights outlined in the denial notice.

File Even If You're Not Sure If You Qualify

Given how many eligibility categories exist, and how easy it is to qualify under a provision such as the C&P exam exception without realizing it, checking eligibility directly rather than assuming you don't qualify is the safer approach. VA's Beneficiary Travel eligibility requirements are laid out in full at va.gov/health-care/file-travel-pay-reimbursement.

Once a claim is filed, turnaround time is generally fast: The national average time to payment is 17 days, dropping to five days for veterans who submit electronically, according to Williams. Actual processing times can vary by facility depending on local workload, staffing and submission method.

Veterans with questions about a specific claim or their eligibility can contact the Beneficiary Travel office at their local VA medical facility, or call the national Beneficiary Travel contact line at 855-574-7292.

09/30/2026

Why Low Testosterone and PTSD Get Confused in Veterans
By Brandon Wile

After testing and treating close to a million men for low testosterone, Dr. Haleem Mohammed said he’s noticed a pattern: Symptoms often get attributed to one condition when it may belong to a different one — or to both at once.

Same List of Symptoms, Two Possible Causes

Mohammed described low testosterone in veterans as showing up through:

• Belly fat that persists despite hard training
• A shorter temper
• A flat or tanked mood
• Brain fog
• A drop in s*x drive

Each of those also appears on standard lists of PTSD symptoms, which commonly include:

• Irritability
• Difficulty concentrating
• Emotional numbness
• Disrupted sleep

"A lot of guys chalk it up to age or the job, but it's actually their hormones," Mohammed said.

Mohammed said the overlap runs deeper than two conditions that happen to share a few symptoms. Irritability in particular, he said, cuts against a common assumption about testosterone.

"That idea of 'roid rage — the opposite actually happens, too, where low testosterone makes someone more irritable," he said. That means a veteran already prone to irritability as part of a PTSD diagnosis has little reason to suspect a hormone problem underneath a symptom his diagnosis already explains.

What the Research Shows

The link between testosterone and PTSD symptoms has drawn growing research attention beyond Mohammed's clinical observations. A 2025 study published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, analyzing more than 130,000 UK Biobank participants, found a U-shaped relationship between testosterone levels and future PTSD symptoms in both men and women: Symptom scores were lowest at mid-range testosterone levels and rose at both the low and high ends of the scale, with the association strongest among participants with a higher body mass index. The study drew on a general civilian population rather than veterans, but its authors described it as the largest analysis of the relationship to date.

A separate case report published in the American Journal of Psychiatry documented a 29-year-old Marine veteran with PTSD and a history of blast-related concussions who was found to have severely low testosterone tied to pituitary damage from his injuries. After starting testosterone treatment, the veteran's sleep, concentration and energy improved, and clinicians noted his irritability and explosiveness eased into what they described as a sense of calm. The report involved a single patient rather than a broader trial, but it illustrates the mechanism Mohammed described: A physical injury common in combat can suppress testosterone in a way that produces symptoms nearly identical to PTSD.

Where the Overlap Starts, Physically

Mohammed pointed to blast exposure and head injuries as a direct physical link between combat and low testosterone, since trauma to the pituitary gland can impair the signal that tells the te**es to produce the hormone in the first place. He also cited sleep loss, sustained training on limited calories and sleep apnea as contributing factors common to military service. "There were studies out of Ranger School that showed testosterone levels falling to what you'd see in much older men during the course of training," he said.

That combination, Mohammed said, means veterans can develop low testosterone through the same experiences — deployments, blast exposure, chronic sleep disruption — that also put them at risk for PTSD, without either condition being ruled out or in.

Why That Matters for Treatment

Mohammed said the distinction is not academic. A veteran treated only for PTSD, without a hormone panel, could be missing a physical cause that responds to a different kind of treatment. A veteran treated for low testosterone without addressing trauma could see hormone levels improve while the underlying condition goes unaddressed.

"They may be putting on belly fat even though they're training hard," Mohammed said, describing how metabolically active fat tied to low testosterone can compound the fatigue and low mood a veteran may already be attributing to PTSD alone.

Mohammed said the fix starts with a lab test rather than a guess. Diagnosing low testosterone requires both a blood level below 300 nanograms per deciliter and a matching set of symptoms, confirmed on more than one morning draw because testosterone is highest early in the day.

Roughly half of the men who come through his clinics for low testosterone, he said, turn out to have reversible causes — excess weight, poor sleep, stress — that resolve without a prescription once addressed and retested months later.

What a Veteran Should Ask For

Mohammed said a veteran experiencing fatigue, low mood, irritability or brain fog — with or without a PTSD diagnosis — should ask a provider for a testosterone panel alongside any mental health evaluation, rather than assuming one diagnosis explains everything.

"If they're skeptical, I'd want them to know this is something normal we're seeing, and we're seeing it at younger ages," Mohammed said. "There are things we can help with before jumping to a prescription. Getting tested isn't a stigma."

09/30/2026

'You Could See the Pride': A Dozen WWII Veterans, All Centenarians, Gather in Rare Joint Appearance
By Adam Gramegna

It was a rare gathering involving American service members from a bygone era, exemplifying a sense of "pride" as many of their military colleagues have long since passed.

About a dozen World War II veterans, all older than age 100, gathered Sunday at the Texas Military Forces Museum at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas, drawing hundreds of visitors who came to hear firsthand accounts before all the war's survivors are gone.

The event, called the Gathering of WWII Heroes, was organized by The War Remembered, an oral history project hosted by the museum on Austin Museum Day as part of an annual event that draws crowds to the city's museums.

Patrick Reed, who founded the project, told Military.com he timed the gathering to that day to give the veterans the largest possible audience.

The scarcity of those veterans is what made the day notable. Fewer than 0.2% of the 16.4 million Americans who served in World War II are still living as of 2026, with the youngest in their 90s, according to the National WWII Museum.

Just under 2,000 WWII veterans live in Texas.

One moment captured what the gathering meant to the men it honored.

Chester "Buck" Sloan carried a Browning Automatic R***e with the 2nd Infantry Division from Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge, where he was wounded. He uses a wheelchair and has difficulty standing.

When a member of the museum's living-history detachment, Beckett Pogue, offered to let him hold a BAR, Sloan managed to stand and take the weapon in his hands.

"The moment he did that, Buck was solid as a rock, and you could see the pride in his eyes," the museum's director, Jeff Hunt, told Military.com. "He wasn't over 100 years old any longer. He was in his 20s again and still a soldier."

Hunt said Sloan told Pogue it meant a great deal to hold a BAR one more time.

The Stories They Told

The veterans recounted combat, captivity, and the lives they built after the war.

Joe Cucinotta, who served with the 143rd Infantry Regiment of the 36th Infantry Division, was captured after the Rapido River crossing in Italy and spent 15 months as a prisoner of war, according to the Texas Standard.

Bernard Snyder, who served in the Pacific, spoke about the antisemitism he and his brother had known and a promise the two made overseas to return home and fight it.

"There was a lot of discrimination," Snyder said. "And we said, 'When we get back to Austin, we're going to change that.'"

Jose Mendez, who served with the 1st Infantry Division, described the discrimination Latinos faced afterward.

Karl Schmitt did not soften what he had lived through. "War is a dirty, nasty thing," Schmitt said at the event, according to Reed. "He trained to kill me, and I trained to kill him. That's awful."

A Fate Learned Finally

The most striking moment came the day after the gathering, when Cucinotta returned to tour the museum.

In its gallery devoted to the 36th Infantry Division, a Texas Army National Guard unit, an interactive exhibit lets visitors look up men who served in the division.

Cucinotta asked the museum's curator, Jeremy LeCrone, to search for his old tent mate named Emory T. Butts, whom he remembered as a big West Virginian who had worked on the railroad before the war.

Cucinotta had not known his friend's fate for 82 years, Hunt said, and learned it at the museum.

Gathering a Dozen Centenarians

Assembling the veterans took months of work.

Reed said he extended roughly 65 to 70 invitations to World War II veterans across Texas, by telephone and letter, reaching out to men and women he had met through his oral-history interviews, to local nursing homes, and to veterans he found in news articles.

Some he could not reach, and some who responded were physically unable to attend.

The War Remembered covered travel and lodging for those coming from out of town, Reed said. Much of the effort went into coordinating with the families most veterans depend on, keeping the centenarians safe and comfortable.

The Texas National Guard took part in honoring them. Brig. Gen. Tanya Trout, director of the Joint Staff of the Texas Military Department, and Col. Kenneth "Ross" Walker, acting commander of the 36th Infantry Division, greeted the veterans, Hunt said.

A living history honor guard in period uniforms let the men handle weapons like the ones they carried 80 years ago. Volunteer John Klier gave some of them rides in his restored World War II jeep.

Why It Matters Now

Both organizers said the value of the day was the direct connection between the veterans and the public.

"The overwhelming majority of those individual stories are already lost to history," Hunt said. "Events like the one just hosted at the Texas Military Forces Museum will soon become impossible because the veterans will be gone.

"We have to capture the last few remaining stories while we still can."

Reed said the in-person encounters reached people in a way that books cannot, pointing to a woman from France who wanted her children to meet the men who liberated her country.

A fifth grader who reads everything he can about the war was also present, as was a veteran who had believed he was one of the last of his generation still living—until he met the others in the room.

Reed said The War Remembered hopes to hold more gatherings and wants to reach families whose relatives served, so their accounts can be recorded for posterity. Hunt said they had already begun discussing another event, possibly around Veterans Day.

Families can contact the project through its website, thewarremembered.org.

09/30/2026

Pentagon Investigating How F-35 Fighter Jet Parts Bound for US Were Diverted to Hong Kong
By Derricke Dennis

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have launched an inquiry into reports that sensitive F-35 fighter jet technology was somehow sent to Hong Kong this summer in an unexplained mishap.

Politico was the first to report how the shipment of F-35 parts was bound for the United States for repairs but was rerouted over the Pacific Ocean from Australia. The incident has raised concern over the possibility that Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China which has become an increasing U.S. adversary, could have access to key components of the highly classified weapons system.

The report claims an intermediary was transporting the parts on behalf of manufacturer Lockheed Martin. It’s not clear why the equipment was rerouted to Hong Kong or who has possession of it now.

Military.com reached out to the Pentagon's F-35 Joint Program Office for further details of the diverted F-35 parts, asking specifically how it could happen and whether national security could be at risk by having sensitive military jet components in the hands of China.

"The F-35 Joint Program Office and Office of the Secretary of War are aware of a shipment issue of unserviceable F-35 Lightning II components," the office told Military.com. "We are actively working with U.S. authorities and industry partners to retrieve these components, investigate the incident, and place safeguards to avoid a future occurrence."

Lockheed said in a statement: "Our teams handle every shipment with the utmost diligence and safeguards to ensure the integrity of the F-35 program and the security of our allied partners.”

What Was in the Shipment?

The shipment reportedly included one of the jet’s cockpit canopies, which contains stealth technology that only the U.S. and its allies can access.

It's an acrylic bubble that tops the cockpit and is coated with a thin layer of transparent radar absorbent material that helps hide the plane from enemy radar.

The incident has led to a series of inquiries and briefings among congressional lawmakers and staff serving on key national security committees. Many are concerned an adversary could study the parts and potentially copy or reverse-engineer the technology for their own use.

Politico reported that U.S. State Department and Pentagon officials were first briefed staff in June, according to sources, and that additional briefings are expected in coming weeks.

The shipment’s unexpected diversion to Hong Kong would have brought it under Beijing’s command, which has in recent years kept a tight hold on Hong Kong. There are strict national security laws that allow Chinese authorities to influence Hong Kong’s political system and crack down on dissent.

Complicated F-35 Supply Chain Protocols

Politico reported the diversion could be related, in part, to the F-35's vast and complex supply chain that relies on facilities across multiple countries to transport and repair parts.

According to an Air Force description, the canopy's thin layer of stealth protection can degrade over time, prompting a process of repair or replacement parts for the more than 1,300 fighter jets produced for the U.S. and its allies.

Australia operates a number of maintenance depots for the jet, but none are capable of repairing canopies. F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin manages the program’s overall supply chain and uses commercial shipping providers to transport parts.

The F-35 program, which includes the U.S. and other nations including the U.K., Australia, Denmark, Norway and Poland, has an unprecedented way of managing aircraft parts. Countries have access to a shared pool of spare parts that are stored around the world.

Although the Department of Defense has stepped up oversight of the F-35 supply chain in recent years, Lockheed actually accounts for the spare parts in the pool. In a Government Accountability Office report from 2023, more than 1 million F-35 spare parts were found to have gone missing in the past five years.

“The F-35 Joint Program Office does not track or enter these spare parts into an accountable property system of record that would enable it to capture and store real-time changes to property records,” the report said. “The prime contractors maintain this information.”

The F-35 fighter jet program is on track to be the world’s costliest, with the Pentagon expected to spend almost $2 trillion over the course of the program's lifespan.

09/30/2026

Veterans Under 40 Have More 'Forever Chemicals' in Their Blood Than Other Americans Their Age
By Adam Gramegna

Military veterans under 40 have higher levels of the "forever chemicals" known as PFAS in their blood than civilians their age, according to a new peer-reviewed study led by Brown and Harvard researchers. They recommended that younger veterans consider getting tested.

Three researchers at Brown University conducted the study, including lead author Christian Hoover, who is affiliated with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. It was published Sept. 14 in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Researchers analyzed nationally representative federal health data to compare PFAS levels in veterans and non-veterans.

Among veterans ages 20 to 39, concentrations of individual per/polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) compounds ran 13% to 24% higher than in non-veterans the same age, the study found. The findings drew on federal health survey data collected from 2003 to 2018, representing an estimated 22.8 million veterans.

PFAS are a large class of synthetic chemicals used for their resistance to heat, water and grease in products including firefighting foam, nonstick cookware and stain-resistant materials. Routinely called "forever chemicals," they can persist for years in the environment and the human body.

Levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) were 13% higher, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) were 19% higher, and perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS) were 24% higher. A combined measure of seven PFAS was 17% higher.

Younger veterans were also 18% more likely to have PFAS levels above 20 nanograms per milliliter. This is the point at which the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recommend monitoring by a health care professional.

Findings Behind the Research

Elevated levels were concentrated in just one group. After adjusting for other factors, the study found that veterans overall had lower PFAS concentrations than non-veterans—not higher.

Among the youngest veterans, levels were higher than those of their civilian peers.

The pattern also varied by race and s*x. Non-Hispanic white veterans had lower concentrations of PFOA, PFOS and PFHxS, as well as the combined seven-PFAS measure.

For the question of how many veterans had elevated levels, female veterans had a 37% lower prevalence of readings above the threshold. Male veterans showed no significant difference.

Why Younger Veterans are More Susceptible

The researchers offered a likely explanation for the age gap.

Younger veterans are more likely to have had recent exposure to PFAS through their work and training, said study co-author Joseph Braun, a professor of epidemiology at Brown.

Since the chemicals leave the body slowly, older veterans have had more time to clear them.

"The common PFAS chemical PFOA, for example, has a half-life of about one and a half to two years," Braun said, adding that it can take years for the body to excrete a single exposure.

As veterans age and move away from active service, he said, they encounter less of it and clear what they have.

The researchers said they do not know the source of the excess exposure. Possible contributors include firefighting foams, mu*****ns and groundwater contamination. Their analysis was cross-sectional, meaning it identified an association rather than establishing that military service caused the higher levels.

Asked whether the department covers PFAS testing for veterans, Department of Veterans Affairs spokesperson Quinn Slaven said VA physicians can order the testing through commercial lab partners when it is deemed medically necessary.

Slaven pointed to the department's public health page on PFAS exposure for more information.

He did not address whether the study changes the VA's assessment of the evidence, or whether any PFAS-related conditions are under review for the presumptive list.

Military Bases and How Veterans Can Respond

PFAS contamination at military installations has long been recognized as an issue.

The Defense Department reviewed hundreds of installations for known or suspected PFAS releases, with many requiring cleanup.

PFAS has been associated with a range of health effects, including kidney and testicular cancers, liver and cardiovascular disease, and thyroid dysfunction, according to the study.

The study came with a recommendation.

"If you're a male veteran between the ages of 20 and 39, it would be advisable to speak to a physician about getting tested for PFAS levels," lead author Hoover, a pre-doctoral fellow in epidemiology at Brown's School of Public Health, wrote.

He said older veterans may still want to raise the subject with their doctors, and that the findings may inform Veterans Health Administration policies on PFAS testing coverage.

For veterans weighing that advice, the benefits landscape is mixed. PFAS-related conditions are not currently on the VA's presumptive list under the PACT Act, which would automatically connect them to service.

However, the PACT Act extended VA health care eligibility to veterans exposed to toxic substances—including PFAS—and the department offers a toxic exposure screening to enrolled veterans.

Claims for PFAS-related conditions are currently handled through the standard process, not the presumptive one.

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