Cohort of Overpressured Warfighters Action Council

Grassroots Guerrilla Style Advocacy

Todd Strader began raising awareness through social media by creating a Facebook group in 2020. A skilled visual storyteller, he put together videos, lengthy articles, and studies highlighting blast overpressure as an issue affecting him as a former infantry soldier (11C). 

Tim Grossman, another former 11C and professional advocate who had worked for veterans’ organizations DAV and Wounded Warrior Project, recognized the issue Todd was raising and offered to lean in and assist him in his mission, offering his skills and background in research, writing, and legislative policy.

Together, they came up with Cohort of Chronically Concussed Mortarmen (C3M) as a Facebook group, and a registered 501(c)(3) organization in NC, began a petition online for recognition of BOP as an issue to be recognized before Congress and the VA, and published the C3M Resolution for Change in Law 2020 and 2024.

In 2025, C3M was expanded to include all affected military personnel, including conventional and special operations forces, and was redesignated as the Cohort of Overpressured Warfighters. In 2025, the Cohort introduced the Blast Overpressure Defense Act (BODA) and the Blast Overpressure Accountability Act (BOAA).

Together, Todd and Tim traveled to Washington D.C. to the House Veterans Affairs Committee (HVAC) round table meeting held by Rep. Mark Takano in July 2025, where Todd presented the BODA and BOAA to the committee with an oral presentation.

In 2025, language from the BODA was included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2025.

In late 2025, discussions began on strategic planning for concerted efforts to get the Cohort’s legislative priorities accomplished. In 2026 Cohort of Overpressured Warfighters Action Council (COWAC) was established as a dedicated 501(c)(4) organization to pursue legislative action and VA/DoD oversight, led by Tim Grossman as President, while Todd focuses on current service members facing issues pertaining to personal protective equipment (PPE).

The Issue:

Blast overpressure (BOP) from heavy weapons like mortars, breaching charges, shoulder-fired weapons, artillery, and other heavy weapons endangers troops during training and combat alike, risking brain, spine, lung, vision, and hearing damage.

Since at least 2015, peer reviewed studies link repetitive low-level blast overpressure, and toxic particulates from gunshot residue and artillery fire, whole body health effects to include but not limited to neuroinflammation, neurocognitive decline, respiratory issues, vision impairment, hearing loss, and long-term brain health risks such as astroglial scarring similar to what is found in blunt trauma concussion syndrome chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Veterans face barriers to clinical care and readjustment after service as BOP and its associated effects not recognized as presumptively service-connected, therefore placing the heavy evidentiary onus on veterans to prove what can be a complex cluster of symptoms borne out in the literature to be associated with their profession as heavy weapons warfighters.

COWAC is tackling these gaps through bold legislative advocacy with the Blast Overpressure Accountability Act (BOAA) 2026 to protect troops and veterans. Our founding members, infantrymen who’ve felt the blast, have driven targeted initiatives that realistically and effectively tackle BOP and its effects. Refined from the earlier Resolutions for Change in Law 2020, 2024, and BOAA 2025, these efforts are streamlined for clarity, impact, bipartisan, and cabinet-level support.

The Problem:

• Tier-1 heavy weapons firers and teams, explosives ordinance, breaching, mortar and artillery crews, combat arms, and special operations personnel engage in varying degrees and scenarios of highly kinetic training, exposing them to routine BOP exposure.
• These cumulative exposures have been found to cause patterns of injury detailed in our BOAA 2026 that can no longer be ignored, and show a positive association with up to a fourfold risk of suicide within these high-risk occupations, as seen in Dave Phillips and reporting here and Daniel Johnson’s here and as evident in Navy SEAL Ryan Larkin’s story 60 Minutes, March 2025.

Despite 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 “suggestive evidence” standard used when promulgating presumptive conditions under the Agent Orange Act, Gulf War Act, and PACT Act.

This threshold is clearly met and exceeded by years of peer-reviewed studies.

We outright reject any overt or underlying sentiments that an addition of presumptive conditions associated with BOP exposure on behalf of our tip of the spear warfighters -both conventional and special operations – would constitute a “strain on the system”.

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 and veterans by supporting the BOAA 2026.

Sign the Petition.

Please contact your Congressional representative, ask them for their support.