The Overpressured Warfighters Acts of 2025 - BODA/BOAA

Welcome to the Fight for Military & Veteran Health - Fighting for those who fight for us. Blast overpressure (BOP) from heavy weapons like mortars and artillery, combined with toxic exposure from smoke and dust and intense noise impulses, endangers troops during training, risking brain, spine, lung, vision, and hearing damage. Studies link repetitive low-level BOP, toxic particulates like gun smoke, and noise trauma to neurocognitive decline, respiratory issues, vision impairment, hearing loss, and long-term risks like CTE. Yet, no dedicated oversight ensures BOP safety at training ranges, leaving troops vulnerable to preventable harm. Veterans face further barriers, as BOP and toxic smoke injuries are not recognized as service-connected, denying them VA care. Overpressured LLC, a Veteran-owned, U.S.-based small business, is tackling these gaps through bold legislative advocacy with the Blast Overpressure Defense Act (BODA) and the Blast Overpressure Accountability Act (BOAA) to protect troops and veterans. Our founding members, mortarman who’ve felt the blast, have driven two new targeted bills that realistically and effectively tackle BOP and its toxic byproducts. Refined from the earlier Overpressured Warfighters Act, these bills are streamlined for clarity, impact, and bipartisan support, earning praise from stakeholders and Capitol Hill for their focus on troop and veteran safety.
  • Blast Overpressure Defense Act (BODA): click to view
  • The Problem:
  • Military Tier-1 heavy weapon ranges and explosives training sites where mortars and artillery conduct live-fire exercises, and operators practice breaching, all currently do so without a single expert dedicated to mitigating the health hazards of blast overpressure exposure. Current Range Safety Officers focus on a multitude of concerns, but they are not equipped to also sufficiently address the invisible risks of blast waves, which science shows can devastate neurological health. 2024’s Blast Overpressure Safety Act mandated protective measures, and the Pentagon’s RMA Memos reinforced the need for immediate action, yet no one on these ranges is tasked with enforcing these critical policies. Without a designated blast safety expert, the military cannot effectively implement or monitor compliance, this gap leaves troops exposed to preventable harm, undermining existing laws and DoD directives designed to keep them safe.
  • OurSolution:
  • The Blast Overpressure Defense Act (BODA) solves the critical gap on Tier-1 weapons and explosives training sites by creating Blast Safety Officers. These specialized experts are dedicated to preventing blast-related brain injuries during live-fire training events, will be trained to implement and enforce protective measure mandates and directives by ensuring compliance with safety doctrine that currently go unenforced, bridging the divide between policy and practice. Their primary responsibilities: to equip and monitor troops with protective gear and blast sensors, advise and coordinate with Range Safety Officers to minimize harmful blast exposure, informs range medical personnel of health hazards to detect early injury signs and to train soldiers and staff on blast overpressure awareness, hazards and prevention.

  • Blast Overpressure Accountability Act (BOAA): click to view
  • The Problem:
  • Repetitive low-level blast overpressure and associated toxic airborne particulate matter exposures are inherent to the occupational duties of veterans who fired heavy weapons like mortars and artillery or did explosives training like breaching. These cumulative exposures cause traumatic brain injuries, lung disease, and a fourfold suicide risk, as seen in Navy SEAL Ryan Larkin’s story (60 Minutes, March 2025). In spite of robust evidence linking these exposures to TBI diagnoses and respiratory diseases, the VA does not recognize them as a ‘toxic exposure’ under the PACT Act. Concerns over the need for “conclusive science” overlook the VA’s own “as likely as not” standard (38 U.S.C. § 5107(b)), which requires a 50% probability of a link not certainty. This threshold is clearly met and exceeded by years of peer-reviewed studies and available VA data. Similarly, fears of PACT Act “strain on the system” ignore its purpose and the VA’s own binding commitment to service and care. Ignorance and inconvenience will no longer suffice as alibis in delaying its responsibilities to deserving veterans who have been marginalized too long by nuance and semantics.
  • Our Solution:
  • The Blast Overpressure Accountability Act (BOAA) amends the PACT Act to recognize low-level blast overpressure and associated airborne particulate matter as toxic exposures, ensuring presumptive service connection for affected veterans. By acknowledging these occupational hazards, BOAA delivers care to veterans, supports their families, and honors their sacrifices, as the Department of Defense’s spending on other priorities shows resources exist to address these service-incurred injuries.

  • Join the Mission
  • Support our troops. Back BODA and BOAA. Partner with us to make BOP and toxic exposure protection standard issue. Please contact your Congressional representative, ask them for their support.