Gonz here, founder of Silent Professionals. You know our mission—to support you, our military brothers and sisters, in providing vetted resources that are helpful to you and are free to access.
Today, I’m sharing critical information and resources about something that might already be affecting you or someone you care about: the AFFF lawsuit.
If you’ve seen discussions of this floating around in forums or on Reddit, you might be wondering: “Is this lawsuit legit? Should I even bother?” As someone who values your trust, I’m here to break it down, no fluff, no BS.
What is AFFF and Why Should Veterans Care?
Let’s be real: we’ve survived everything from mortar attacks to IEDs, VBIEDs, and ambushes. But cancer from a chemical we didn’t even know was harming us? That’s not how we should be going out. Unfortunately, this is how I recently lost two very close friends.
AFFF (Aqueous Film-Forming Foam) is a firefighting foam used by the military, firefighters, and others to quickly extinguish fuel-based fires.
Here’s the problem: AFFF contains toxic PFAS chemicals that have been linked to severe health issues, including life-threatening cancers, Parkinson’s disease, ulcerative colitis and other debilitating conditions.
The reason this affects military veterans more than anyone else is that on military bases, the runoff from using AFFF to extinguish fires on our equipment has contaminated base drinking water in such high concentrations that it’s causing far more severe illnesses and rare cancers in military veterans than in non-veterans.
And while AFFF is a valuable lifesaving tool, it came with a hidden cost that could have easily been mitigated by simply disclosing to servicemen and women that potable water sources on almost every single US military base was contaminated with AFFF runoff.
And when I say it was being contaminated, the numbers almost seem made up because they’re so high. The current guidelines are something like 4 parts per trillion (ppt) of PFAS chemicals is considered safe in drinking water – but most military bases have thousands or even millions ppt of contamination. The ultra-high contamination numbers are unique to military bases because of the high frequency and concentration of AFFF usage in the military compared to anywhere else.
For decades, drinking water contamination on military bases was known to the corporations who manufactured AFFF and secured lucrative contracts to supply the DoD. And even though toxic PFAS chemicals in AFFF can be filtered out of water with various kinds of commercially available filters, such filters weren’t provided.
It would have cost money to provide that.
But what’s even worse is that this toxic contamination was not disclosed to servicemen and women. So, you were drinking the water on base without knowing how contaminated the water actually was. What’s worse is that if you lived on base with your family, then your family drank this toxic water too. If you were told about the water contamination situation, you probably would have chosen to drink bottled water or buy your own water filter. But like most people, you probably didn’t because you just trusted that the water was clean.
And this is why you should care: because veterans and their families are getting seriously sick far more than any other American from drinking highly contaminated water on military bases. And all of this was avoidable if it weren’t for the greed and negligence of those who kept it a secret.
And that’s why there’s a lawsuit.
Why I trust Andrew Cobos and his firm
If you’ve been with Silent Professionals for a while, you’ve seen me reach out and defer to Andrew Cobos whenever a legal matter pops up that specifically impacts veterans. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of attorneys or lawsuits, but sometimes there are exceptions. Andrew is one of those exceptions and so is this lawsuit. Andrew is one of us—a combat veteran from the early days of the Iraq War (GWOT) who’s now fighting for veterans in the courtroom.
Andrew and his team aren’t your average attorneys. Unlike many lawyers out there who only focus on making money, Andrew focuses on making actual, positive changes happen in the courts and legal system for veterans as a whole. He’s already gone to bat for many of us in the 3M earplug lawsuit, and his mindset and passion secured more significant compensation and settlements for thousands of veterans than any other law firm involved in that case.
Now he’s spearheading the effort to fight for veterans in the AFFF lawsuit.
I trusted Andrew then, and I trust him now. That’s why I’m personally recommending anyone impacted by AFFF exposure straight to his team. And as the chief veteran legal counsel at PFAS Water Experts, Andrew is not only committed to understanding illnesses caused by PFAS-contaminated water, he is specifically focused on using his first-hand knowledge and experience to fight on behalf of other veterans who were uniquely exposed to the toxic chemicals in AFFF.
How to Take Action
1. Sign-up for the AFFF Lawsuit
If you have (or end up developing) a cancer or severe illness, you may qualify to sign-up for the AFFF lawsuit and potentially win a financial settlement which would not impact your VA disability rating or any other disability compensation that you might be receiving.
Not all cancers and illnesses qualify for the lawsuit but, as of now, certain cancers like testicular, kidney and thyroid cancers do qualify. Parkinson’s disease and ulcerative colitis are a few other conditions that qualify, but from what Andrew says, more conditions could be added to the lawsuit going forward depending on what the courts decide.
The best way to figure out if you qualify for the lawsuit is to check out the AFFF Lawsuit Signup Page that Andrew’s team set up, since that’s where information about the lawsuit is kept up-to-date. You can use the straightforward online case evaluation tool which you can find about halfway down the page and it will immediately tell you whether or not your condition qualifies for the lawsuit. If you do qualify, you’ll have the option to sign up for the lawsuit and have Andrew’s team represent you without having to wait for someone to get in touch with you.
2. Get your VA Disability Rating Adjusted
If you do have cancer or a severe illness that can be tied to your military service, get your VA disability rating adjusted. If you are diagnosed with any type of service-connected cancer, your rating will automatically be raised to 100% throughout the duration of your cancer treatment.
3. Get regular physicals at the VA
Make sure you get regular checkups at the VA, even if you feel healthy otherwise. Our exposure levels to the toxic chemicals in AFFF far exceeds any civilian’s so it’s important to monitor your condition. It can take years for a cancer or illness to develop from these exposures, but early detection can increase your odds of fighting and beating cancer.
4. Get the facts and spread the word
When it comes to lawsuits like this, there’s always a mix of truth and bad info. Let’s set the record straight.
Myth 1: The AFFF lawsuit is only for firefighters and people in the Navy.
Truth: ALL military veterans, regardless of branch are impacted by AFFF contamination and can join the lawsuit if they have certain cancers or illnesses that have been scientifically tied to consuming contaminated water.
Additional context from Andrew Cobos:
>>There are many law firms that are taking injury cases due to AFFF exposure. Each law firm may have a different group of people that they are choosing to represent, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t have a case. For example, some law firms are specifically focused on firefighters and their direct occupational exposure to applying the foam. Other law firms are specifically focused on people who completed Navy bootcamp to narrow down cases that were all from a specific military base (i.e. Great Lakes) where everyone had direct exposure to fighting foam. But this does not mean that the lawsuit is only for people from these groups. A law firm might simply reject your case because they don’t understand the military and how servicemen are exposed to AFFF in different ways. It is harder for an attorney without that knowledge to make a case for you. But in reality, the AFFF lawsuit is not only about direct, occupational contact exposure to AFFF – it’s largely about how AFFF-contaminated drinking water (particularly on military bases) was consumed without manufacturers providing adequate warning or available countermeasures to filter contaminated water.<<
Myth 2: I can’t prove my exposure or it’s not in my VA medical records so it’s pointless to try.
Truth: You don’t have to figure it all out yourself. That’s the job of an experienced attorney—to investigate your case and fight for you on your behalf.
At the end of the day, let someone who is an actual expert evaluate your case instead of leaning on bad, mixed, or incomplete information being shared on a forum. Help your brothers and sisters in arms by sharing accurate, more complete information and pointing them to a good, vetted resource – much like I am doing by writing this post.
Why Your Participation Matters
Corporations involved in this lawsuit are trying to deflect the blame and use old laws that protected government contractors from lawsuits from military servicemen to shield themselves from liability. These old laws were established so that industries could supply our military with cutting edge warfighting technology without worrying about liability, but the laws ended up providing a loophole for companies to dodge basic responsibilities involving the safety and health of military servicemen, maximizing corporate profits. Because of the abuse of these laws, things are beginning to change. But they are only changing because attorneys like Andrew are shining a light on the worst of these offenders.
Ultimately, our collective participation will force government contractors that are doing business with the DoD to be more responsible towards our servicemen and women instead of sacrificing our lives and health for the sake of lining their pockets even deeper.
Even if you don’t have cancer or a serious illness now (and I pray you don’t), this fight against AFFF exposure isn’t just about getting money for yourself—it’s about protecting your family, your future, and honoring the sacrifices of those who’ve already been impacted.
It’s also about standing up for what’s right, holding corporations accountable, and making sure no veteran or family is left to deal with this alone, now or in the future.
We’ve faced enemies on the battlefield. Now, it’s time to face this new threat together.
Let’s take action—not just for ourselves, but for every veteran and family member who deserves better.
– Gonz
