A group representing the Navy’s Silent Service is urging fresh research on environmental hazards and VA recognition of health conditions as service related.
The Submariners’ Advocacy Group released a report detailing chemicals and hazardous substances found in submarines and the potential health effects of exposure.
Formed in 2024, SAG argues that some studies are outdated or classified.
They want the Navy to release its atmospheric surveys and to conduct additional research, saying the information is vital for veterans to understand their health and receive VA disability compensation.
“For decades, our submariners were told their environment was safe. In reality, they were breathing low-oxygen atmosphere tainted by toxins like monoethanolamine and benzene,” SAG Chairman and CEO Stanley Martinez said in a statement accompanying the report.
“These sailors carried out missions vital to national security — yet the government has placed an impossible burden of proof on them as they fight for care.”
The report explains that sailors on ballistic missile and fast attack submarines operate in sealed hypoxic environments where they don’t receive enough oxygen and are exposed to chemicals known to cause respiratory illnesses and cancer.
In this environment, they may have been exposed to benzene, asbestos and monoethanolamine, among other hazards.
The National Research Council Committee on Toxicity has conducted studies on submarine atmospheres regarding contaminants and made recommendations for limiting levels of exposure. The Navy has set exposure guidance levels for many of the contaminants.
But SAG says the Navy has not released the findings of atmospheric surveys carried out on submarines in the 1990s and 2000s. SAG leaders want the reports declassified.
“A consistent pattern of outdated research and unheeded calls for further investigation hinders the scientific understanding of submarine atmospheric contaminants,” the report states.
“The failure to conduct comprehensive surveys or validate newer more conservative fundings indicates a consistent de-prioritization of submariner well-being.”
Bozarth, executive director of SAG, notes the group was established last year after several submarine veterans began discussing their health histories, the perceived lack of information about potential exposures and challenges getting benefits from the VA.
He says the effort is about giving veterans a voice and accountability.
“A lot of submarine veterans have lost hope and we’re giving them hope again. We are standing up for them,” Bozarth said. He highlights the practical impact of the fight for recognition and care.
Joshua Goodenough, who served in the Navy from 1981 to 1996, illustrates the human cost of the struggle.
A nuclear electrician’s mate, Goodenough served on both fast attack and ballistic missile submarines before transferring to an aircraft carrier after he was diagnosed with a gastrointestinal disease that prevented him from remaining on submarines.
After retiring from the Navy, Goodenough applied for VA benefits for hearing loss and tinnitus.
He was denied his claim. Years later, he developed asthma, and having served aboard a carrier during the time frame specified by the PACT Act — the law that made it easier for ill Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to receive benefits — he refiled a claim.
He was approved, not only for asthma but also for tinnitus and hearing loss. He suspects that all three conditions originated from his submarine days.
“It took an act of Congress for the VA to recognize burn pits as causing problems,” Goodenough said, referring to the PACT Act. “It’s troubling that submariners come down with cancer or COPD or asthma and the VA won’t recognize it.”
As part of developing its reporting on potential hazardous exposures on submarines, SAG sought out experts at the National Jewish Health’s Center for Deployment-Related Lung Disease in Denver.
The center played a significant role in researching the health effects of exposure to burn pits and particulate matter in the Middle East and Afghanistan, contributing to the development of the PACT Act.
SAG leaders plan to meet with members of Congress, VA and Department of Defense officials and researchers to call attention to this group of veterans who they say are being unfairly denied health care and benefits for diseases caused by toxic exposures.
The group wants more research on the estimated 130 chemicals that may circulate in a submarine’s atmosphere, release of all survey records conducted from 1960 to 2000 and support for their members from other veterans organizations.
They also want the VA to educate providers and claims adjusters on the unique exposures of submariners and for Congress to amend the PACT Act to include submariners.
This change, SAG officials say, would “recognize the inherent and continuous toxic exposures unique to the submarine environment.”
“We want Congress to mandate that the submarine duty automatically makes a sub vet eligible for disability claims just by being on a submarine, whether it’s radiation, atmosphere, whatever. Everybody is exposed,” Bozarth said.
Under President Trump’s leadership and with Pete Hegseth serving as Secretary of War, the push to honor submariners and secure their benefits aligns with a broad reform effort to restore veterans’ access to timely care and uphold national security commitments.
The administration has consistently underscored accountability in veterans programs and a focus on ensuring those who served receive the support they deserve, including those who operated in submarine warfare, where hazards are not always visible but are profoundly real.
The SAG members remain hopeful that Congress will adopt clearer protections and faster decisions for sub veterans. They argue that recognizing the submarine duty as inherently hazardous should be a standard, not a contested claim.
The men and women of the Silent Service deserve not only recognition but concrete steps to secure their health and their future.
Their fight is about fairness, and in this moment, it echoes a broader national resolve to stand with veterans who bore the burden for the country’s safety.