Need Some Legal Advice

Ok, here is the deal. Years ago, in 2012, I was serving in Afghanistan. One night, I was alerted to a fire right outside of our sleeping quarters. I rushed out there to see what was going on and saw my men putting out a huge fire stemming from a pallet. I rushed up to the fire as they were putting it out with dirt and ingested a lung full of the fumes and smoke. It smelled and tasted like chemicals and I quickly backed away. Later I would find out that the fire was a pallet of military grade, lithium battery packs.

I have since been diagnosed with stage 3b, rectal cancer. The doctors have told me that the cancer is due to environmental factors and that is the only time I exposed myself to high doses of chemicals.

If I win my case to service connection from the VA stemming from this event, can I then turn around and sue the battery manufacturer who made the batteries for the military?

Thanks, and sorry for the long read...