Disclaimer: This article provides general educational information and isn’t legal or medical advice. VA disability rules and presumptive conditions can change. Verify current requirements with VA or an accredited VSO, claims agent, or attorney before filing. Always defer to the VA website to ensure you have the latest information and updated forms.
How to File a VA PACT Act Claim: A Veteran’s Guide
If you spent years as I have in Naval Aviation working around military aircraft, flight decks, hangars, maintenance shops, fuel systems, or aircraft support equipment, you probably remember the smell of JP-5, solvents, paint, jet exhaust, and hydraulic fluids.
Back then, most of us were thinking about getting the aircraft ready for the next launch. We were young and dumb right? Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, faster that a speeding bullet and stronger than a locomotive!—The last thing any of us were thinking was what those chemicals might do to us 20, 30, or 40 years later.
Today, toxic exposure is receiving much more attention from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The PACT Act expanded VA benefits and health care related to toxic exposures, while VA’s Toxic Exposure Risk Activity—or TERA—process can also be important for veterans whose exposures don’t fit neatly into one of the PACT Act’s presumptive categories.
If you’re wondering how to file VA PACT Act claim paperwork for a disability you believe resulted from military toxic exposure, this guide will walk you through the basics.
What Is the VA PACT Act?
The full name is the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022.
The law represents one of the largest expansions of VA health care and benefits in VA history. Among other changes, it expanded eligibility for veterans exposed to toxic substances, added more than 20 presumptive conditions related to burn pits and other exposures, expanded certain Agent Orange and radiation exposure locations, and requires VA toxic-exposure screenings for enrolled veterans.
A presumptive condition can make a disability claim much easier.
Normally, you must establish a connection between your current disability and military service. When VA recognizes your disease and qualifying service under a presumption, VA generally presumes that connection instead of requiring you to prove exactly how the exposure caused your disease.
But here’s something us older Navy and Air Force veterans (any military aviation veteran) should understand:
The PACT Act isn’t limited to veterans who stood next to burn pits.
Toxic-exposure claims can involve occupational hazards as well, although the rules for proving service connection may be different. Veterans should verify the current VA presumptive conditions list for the PACT Act through the official VA website. Lists and eligibility rules may change, and not every illness is covered.
To file your initial claim under the PACT Act claim online, use VA Form 21-526EZ (Application for Disability Compensation and Related Compensation Benefits)
How To File A VA PACT Act Claim: United States Military Bases with Toxic Exposure
Military base toxic exposure occurs when service members come into contact with hazardous chemicals, contaminated water, fuels, solvents, firefighting foam, asbestos, pesticides, molds, heavy metals, or other harmful substances while living or working on military installations.
Unfortunately our work place exposure aren’t the only risk areas. It’s also our barracks and base housing where we lived that exposed us to chemical hazards as well. Furthermore, its not just the service member who can be affected by these toxins, but often our spouses and our children as well.
These exposures can happen through breathing contaminated air or fumes, drinking contaminated water, skin contact, or performing everyday military or household duties. Base housing, maintenance shops, flight lines, fuel storage areas, fire-training facilities, industrial sites, and waste-disposal areas are examples of locations where hazardous substances may have been present.
Documenting where, when, and how the exposure occurred can be important. Some exposures and medical conditions qualify for VA presumptive service connection, while others may require additional evidence connecting the veteran’s condition to military service. Veterans should provide as much detail as possible about their assignments, duties, dates, chemicals encountered, and current diagnosed medical
You can find military bases with known toxic exposure issues on the Hill and Ponton Veterans Disability Attorneys website. I have no affiliation with this group other than using their site map as a resource. You can search google for similar sites.
Military Aviation Veterans Will Have a Different Exposure Story
As an sailor or airman working around military aviation from the late 1970’s through the early 1990’s you will have encountered an entirely different toxic environment than a veteran deployed near an Iraq or Afghanistan burn pit.
Anyone who spent time cleaning aircraft parts remembers how common solvents and degreasers once were. VA identifies industrial solvents as a military occupational exposure category and notes that service members may have used them for cleaning, degreasing, paint stripping, and thinning oil-based paints.
Examples identified by VA include: Benzene, acetone, tetrachloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE), xylene, and methylene chloride. Your exposure history could have occurred during routine work.
Depending upon your rating, duty station, aircraft, ship, squadron, and actual duties, possible aviation-related exposures could have included:
- JP-5 and other aviation fuels
- Petroleum products and lubricating oils
- Industrial cleaning and degreasing solvents
- TCE and other chlorinated solvents
- Benzene and other fuel-related chemicals
- Paints, primers, and coatings
- Lead and other heavy metals
- Asbestos aboard older ships or facilities
- Aircraft exhaust and combustion products
- Firefighting foam and PFAS
- Occupational radiation in certain specialized duties
The VA specifically recognizes fuels, industrial solvents, asbestos, lead, heavy metals, special paints, PFAS/firefighting foam and other substances as potential military occupational hazards.
What matters is reconstructing what you did, where you did it, what products or chemicals were involved when known, how often you encountered them, and how exposure occurred.
Not sure what chemical you were exposed to in your military service? You don’t need to remember the chemical formula of every solvent you touched 40 years ago. I have compiled a list of PDF files of the chemicals in the 1970 to early 1990’s that were in use. You can download it here Military-Chemical-Exposure zip file. Open the .zip file to access the PDF’s and you can attach these to your claim. Also be sure to bring copies of these to your doctor visits to hand over for their documention.
How to File a VA Disability Claim: A Step-by-Step Guide
How To File A VA PACT Act Claim: Jet Fuel Exposure Deserves Special Attention
For a Navy or Air Force aviation veteran, JP-5 exposure may be particularly important. This CDC article explains the risks of Aviation fuels. Its also important to note that the CDC has linked JP-5 jet fuel to hearing loss.
VA states that veterans may have been exposed to jet fuel while fueling aircraft, transporting fuel, maintaining fuel storage tanks, or through accidental spills. Further exposure can occur through inhalation, skin contact, or accidental ingestion.
That doesn’t mean breathing JP-5 fumes automatically qualifies you for VA disability compensation. VA currently evaluates jet-fuel-related disability claims on a case-by-case basis, and research concerning long-term effects remains incomplete.
That’s where documentation becomes extremely important.
How To File A VA PACT Act Claim: What Is TERA?
TERA means Toxic Exposure Risk Activity. This is extremely important for veterans researching PACT Act disability claim requirements.
VA considers certain activities and occupational exposures to be TERAs. VA guidance specifically identifies categories such as industrial solvents, asbestos, lead, paints, firefighting foams, radiation, contaminated water and other chemical or occupational hazards.
VA may use military records and exposure information, including information contained in the Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER), when evaluating toxic exposure.
Think of TERA as another path VA uses to examine whether your military activities exposed you to something hazardous. That can be particularly valuable to an older aviation veteran whose condition isn’t automatically presumptive under the PACT Act.
How To File A VA PACT Act Claim: Build Your Personal Exposure History
One of the smartest things you can do before filing is write down your military exposure history.
Don’t simply write:
“I was exposed to chemicals in the Navy.”
Give VA something useful.
For example:
“I worked as an aircraft mechanic from 1979 through 1991. My duties routinely involved aircraft maintenance, cleaning and degreasing components, working around JP-5 fuel and petroleum products, and working in hangar and flight-line environments where I encountered fuel vapors and aircraft exhaust.”
Then identify your:
- Navy rating and NEC
- Squadron or command
- Aircraft types
- Ships and duty stations
- Deployment dates
- Maintenance duties
- Chemicals or products you remember
- Frequency of exposure
- Protective equipment used—or not used
- Spills or unusual exposure incidents
- Witnesses who worked alongside you
Your service records, evaluations, cruise books, orders, training records and buddy statements may help establish where you worked and what you did.
How To File A VA PACT Act Claim: PACT Act Claim Evidence Requirements
The strongest claim usually tells a simple story:
Current disability + military exposure/service event + medical connection when required.
For a presumptive PACT Act condition, proving the medical connection may be much simpler because VA presumes service connection when the applicable requirements are satisfied.
For a non-presumptive aviation chemical exposure claim, evidence becomes especially important.
Useful evidence may include:
- Current medical diagnosis
- VA medical records
- Private medical records
- Service treatment records
- Personnel and duty records
- Statements describing your exposure
- Buddy statements
- Relevant occupational records
- Exposure documentation
- Medical opinions when appropriate
Don’t exaggerate your exposure. Describe what actually happened. Credibility matters!
How To File A VA PACT Act Claim: The Forms You Need For Your VA Claim
For most veterans filing an original disability compensation claim, the primary form you’ll need to use is VA Form 21-526EZ — Application for Disability Compensation and Related Compensation Benefits.
VA revised this form in January 2026. The current version specifically contains an Exposure Information section asking whether you’re claiming conditions related to toxic exposure. It allows veterans to identify exposures including asbestos, radiation, MOS-related toxins, Camp Lejeune contaminated water, SHAD and other exposures and provide approximate dates and locations.
That’s particularly useful for an aviation-related TERA claim.
VA Form 20-0995
What if VA previously denied the same toxic-exposure condition? You generally shouldn’t simply submit another initial claim for that same issue.
VA advises veterans whose toxic-exposure-related claims were previously denied to consider filing a Supplemental Claim using VA Form 20-0995 so VA can review the claim under current law and any new and relevant evidence.
25 Plus Powerful VA Disability Benefits to Claim!
How to File VA PACT Act Claim Step by Step
Here’s a practical PACT Act claim step by step approach.
Step 1: Identify your current disability.
Start with what you have actually been diagnosed with rather than beginning with a chemical and trying to find a disease to match it.
Step 2: Check whether the condition is presumptive.
Review VA’s current PACT Act presumptive conditions and qualifying locations or service.
Step 3: Build your exposure timeline.
Write down your commands, duty stations, dates, Navy rating, aircraft, ships, maintenance duties and likely toxic exposures.
Step 4: Gather your evidence.
Collect medical records, service records, private treatment records and supporting statements.
Step 5: Identify the toxic exposure clearly.
When completing the claim, explain the actual exposure rather than merely writing “PACT Act.”
Step 6: File the claim.
You can file PACT Act claim online through VA.gov. You can also file VA Form 21-526EZ by mail, in person, or with assistance from an accredited Veterans Service Organization representative.
Step 7: Attend your C&P examination.
VA may schedule a Compensation & Pension examination to evaluate your disability and obtain additional medical information. Don’t miss it.
How To File VA PACT Act Claim: Consider Getting a VA Toxic Exposure Screening
If you’re enrolled in VA health care, ask for a Toxic Exposure Screening.
VA says enrolled veterans can receive these screenings, including at VA medical centers and clinics. During the screening, you’ll be asked whether you believe you experienced toxic exposures during military service and may be connected with additional resources.
Remember, however, that a toxic exposure screening and a disability compensation claim are not the same thing.
One Final Warning for Older Navy Veterans
Don’t assume you aren’t eligible simply because you never served next to a burn pit.
At the same time, don’t assume that working around JP-5, solvents, asbestos, paint, hydraulic fluids, or firefighting foam automatically qualifies your medical condition as a PACT Act presumptive disability.
The VA PACT Act claim requirements process depends on your diagnosis, service history, exposure history, applicable presumptions and supporting evidence.
For an aviation veteran from the 1970s, 1980s, or early 1990s, your strongest approach may be to document your occupational exposure carefully and make sure VA considers the appropriate TERA.
The Bottom Line
Learning how to file a VA PACT Act claim paperwork isn’t just about filling in VA Form 21-526EZ.
It’s about telling the story of your service with PACT Act claim evidence.
Document where you served. Explain what your aviation job actually required. Identify the fuels, solvents and other hazards you encountered as accurately as possible. Document your current medical condition. And make sure VA understands why you’re claiming that condition is connected to your military service.
You spent years maintaining aircraft, supporting flight operations, keeping squadrons running and getting the mission accomplished. Forty years later, you shouldn’t expect a VA claims examiner to automatically know what your working environment was like.
Document it. Explain it. Support it with your evidence. Then file your PACT Act claim step by step.
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