A Veterans Battle
Chad Farley is a U.S. Air Force veteran whose life took a devastating turn after a documented line-of-duty toxic exposure left him with permanent injuries, including traumatic brain injury and vision loss—yet his story is not one of retreat, but of accountability, resilience, and unfinished justice. Once publicly celebrated as a peer mentor and spokesperson for national veteran programs, Chad’s life unraveled after critical federal supports were abruptly withdrawn during the worst week of his life—amid medical catastrophe, family tragedy, and cancel culture. What followed was not just personal collapse, but the implosion of a veteran-led community project, the loss of livelihood and home, and years of unanswered questions about discrimination, due process, and broken promises to wounded warriors. This site exists to document what happened, why it matters, and why Chad’s fight is bigger than one family—because systems meant to protect the vulnerable must be held to the truth when they fail.
‘Wounded Warrior” project.
The story so far….
Chad Farley is a U.S. Air Force veteran whose life was permanently altered by a documented line-of-duty toxic exposure while serving as a B-1 bomber maintainer. During operations, one of more than a dozen B-1 bombers lined together experienced a catastrophic failure when its main fuel line broke, dumping thousands of gallons of JP-8 jet fuel across the active tarmac.
Senior Airman (SrA) Farley was assigned to another aircraft at the time but noticed the potentially catastrophic situation unfolding. Without hesitation, he ran across the active flight line to the emergency. He first grabbed the 50-lb coupling and 100 feet of hose attached to the fuel truck that had just finished fueling the aircraft.
SrA Farley’s split-second decision to evacuate the fuel truck behind a blast fence was significant. He was witnessed running behind the fuel truck while carrying the metal coupling and 100 feet of fuel line to ensure it would not spark during the emergency evacuation of the 100,000-gallon fuel truck. He then returned to the emergency continuing to unfold on the flight line.
SrA Farley then made a personal decision based on the core values he was taught: service before self. Chad was “fully immersed” in the massive waterfall of fuel for more than 10 minutes as he worked by feel alone to access the aircraft’s emergency fuel shutoff. During this time, Farley was exposed to toxic fuel through inhalation, ingestion, and absorption.
SrA Farley was subsequently admitted to the ICU for treatment. As a result of his “heroic” actions in the line of duty, he suffered life-altering injuries, including traumatic brain injury, legal blindness, seizures, and hearing impairment. These injuries stripped him of a career he loved and forced him into a long, difficult process of learning how to live with invisible disabilities that visibly affect cognition, speech, mobility, daily functioning, etc.
For more than a decade, federal support carried Chad throughout his daily life. Through veteran programs designed to assist those with complex neurological injuries, he stabilized, reconnected with his family, and re-entered his community. He and his wife became deeply involved in helping others—traveling to programs, speaking engagements, mentoring couples, and serving publicly as peer leaders and spokespeople. With the right accommodations, Chad was not only surviving; he was contributing.
By 2020, that progress grew into a larger vision of Farley’s: “serving those who serve us.” This was a veteran-led community project intended to create purpose, work, and belonging for other warriors navigating life after injury.
In April 2021, his federal stability collapsed in a matter of hours amid a convergence of catastrophic events born from systemic state and federal failures. These events included Mrs. Farley’s first of seven bouts with COVID-19 and the sudden loss of a child. Each of the critical disability supports Chad depended on was abruptly withdrawn without notice or due process.
The life coach who helped him function day to day was removed. A business coach supporting the veteran project was “paused” and never restored. Without accommodations for his documented brain injury and vision loss, Chad could not manage the complexity of daily life or sustain the project. What followed was a rapid cascade: the collapse of the veteran enterprise, financial ruin, legal exposure, foreclosure risk, and profound long-term health consequences.
In 2022, a recorded conversation with senior leadership revealed that the removal of services was not tied to safety, policy, or medical concerns, but rather to perceptions about Chad’s family and donor approval—raising serious questions about accountability within systems meant to serve wounded veterans. Since then, services have not been restored, and the consequences continue to reverberate through every part of the Farley family’s lives.
This website exists to document that journey—clearly, accurately, and accessibly. Chad is not seeking pity or publicity. He is seeking truth, accountability, and reform. His goal is to ensure that disabled veterans are not abandoned at their most vulnerable moments, that accommodations are not treated as optional, and that organizations entrusted with public confidence are held to their stated missions. Chad’s story is personal—but the implications are systemic, and the stakes reach far beyond one family.
A veterans battle 