How to File a Claim For VA Disability Compensation

Part I

There are several different types of VA claims, but the claim for disability compensation is likely the most popular of them all. There are a great number of troops who were wounded or injured in combat, but they are not the only ones entitled to disability compensation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). The fact is that almost anyone who served on active duty in the United States military is eligible for these benefits, so long as they meet the minimum service requirements and received a Honorable Discharge (or General, under honorable conditions). Since there is usually someone at each military facility to assist those service members who are terminating their service in obtaining their VA benefits, I will only address the older vets that have not been in the military for some time in this writing.

So, you have a medical condition that you think was caused by your military service, but you hung up your BDU's ten years ago (or more). What do you need to do? The first things that you are going to need is the evidence of your current medical condition, evidence of a in-service event that caused the current medical condition, and a nexus that links the in-service event to your current medical condition. But where do you get all of this evidence? That can be the tricky part.

Gathering the Evidence

I served in the Army from 1990-94. When I was out-processing from Ft. Bragg, my unit's medic urged me to sign out my medical records from the troop medical clinic and make a copy of them for myself. This was a suggestion that was repeated later that day in a briefing by the DVA. Thus, I walked away with a complete copy of my service medical records (SMR). Your SMR's can prove invaluable when it comes time to file a disability claim with the VA. They usually contain a record of every time that you had to be seen by a physician for anything from a cold to a major surgery.

What if no one told you to get a copy of your SMR's though? In that case, you need to request a copy of them from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri. The easiest way to accomplish this is with the online order form, which is easily found on their web site. If you prefer to obtain them the old fashioned way you will need to print off a SF-180 form and mail it in. Even if you made a copy of your SMR before leaving the service, it would still be wise to visit this web site and order a copy of your DD-214 and your Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF).

There are two things worthy of note here. First, there was a disastrous fire at NPRC in 1973 which destroyed approximately 18 million army and air force records. It is estimated that 80% of the Army personnel records with discharge dates between 1 November 1912 and 1 January 1960, and 75% of Air Force Personnel records with discharge dates between 25 September 1947 and 1 January 1964 (with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.) were destroyed. Also, between 1992 and 1998 all of the service branches began retiring their SMRs to the DVA.

Next you will need to gather all of your other medical records. If you have seen any civilian physicians, been hospitalized, received chiropractic care or any other type of professional medical care, then get a copy of the record. You may have to make several phone calls, and possibly visit the doctor's office or hospital to get these. You may also have to pay for a copy of them. I personally had to pay over $50 to get a set of my records from a local hospital, but it is worth all the effort and the cost when it comes to your VA claim.

You will also need to gather all of your VA medical records. This is usually the easiest evidence to get. If you live nearby a VA medical center (VAMC), then visit the Release of Information office and simply request a copy of any records that you have there. If you use a VA clinic, then they should have the most recent records, but they usually send older records to the parent VAMC. In this case, you should contact the records custodian at the clinic for information on obtaining a complete set of your medical records.

There are other various types of evidence that can be useful. One is the "buddy letter." This is just what it sounds like, a letter written from a friend who you either served with which makes them knowledgeable of the in service event that caused your disability, or someone who knows first hand how your disability currently impacts your life. A buddy letter can also be very useful from a parent or sibling, and especially from a spouse. These people can often speak to your health prior to entering the military, while you served, and after your military service was over. They can usually paint a descriptive picture of a veterans decline over a period of many years. Be aware, however, while buddy letters are accepted as part of the overall disability picture, they are considered "lay" evidence, and do not usually carry a great deal of weight in the final decision.

A commander's statement can go a long way, especially if the officer is still in the military, when trying to prove a stressor in a PTSD claim. These can prove very difficult to obtain, however. Former unit commanders, just like former military buddies move on with their lives, and tracking them down can be hard to do. A couple of ideas to begin a search for someone like this is to simply Google the person's name, or search Military.com. I am sure there are a number of other great resources for finding past military acquaintances, and a search of military oriented web sites would reveal them.

Morning reports from your former units actions can be useful to prove service in combat and battles where wounds may have occurred. These reports are also stored at the NPRC, and you can request them by writing a letter, or by using the SF 180 form. When requesting a morning report, you need to provide the exact unit of assignment, down to the company level, a description of the action (i.e. you were wounded), and an approximate date. The collection of reports covers from 1 November 1912 through 1974 for the Army, and from September 1947 through 30 June 1966 for the Air Force.

Lastly, there are some claims where VA documents or scholarly articles written about the specific condition can be quoted. In these cases, a copy of the document should be included with the evidence for reference. These scholarly articles are sometimes discounted as "internet documents," but this varies from regional office to regional office. To have a better chance of your article being used in the claim, stick to well known publications such as the Journal of the American Medicine Association (JAMA) and the New England Journal of Medicine. It is even better if you can find a article specific to your condition in one of these publications that was written by a VA physician, or sponsored by the VA.

A example of a VA document that can be useful to a claim is the 2002 VA Training Letter of Intervertabral Disc Syndrome. This training letter is packed full of good information that you can use in your claim. It spells out other names used for this condition so that the rater cannot become language focused on this type of claim, as well as listing many conditions that are secondary to IVDS. It even tells the rater exactly how to rate a claim for this condition, and provides clear cut examples to go by. I used this letter extensively in my claim for IVDS. There are several other VA training letters and documents that can be used, and a search of VA.gov can find most of them.

Lastly, you can use Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) and Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) cases as examples in your claim. While the majority of CAVC cases, and no BVA case is precedent, they can still be useful to point the rater in the right direction on a claim. They also will help to bolster your knowledge of how the process works and what to expect. Moreover, it shows the rater that you are doing your homework, and you will not accept any funny business. BVA cases are easily searched from the VA.gov web site, and CAVC cases can be found at www.vetapp.uscourts.gov.

I think we have covered enough in this segment. Start gathering your evidence and doing the research that is necessary to win your claim, and I'll get to work on the second part of this blog where we'll cover making the nexus and reviewing your C-file.